Chapter 15

Allen

I pushed my coffee away and looked around the empty living room with a frown. I should be happy. The club bust went down without a hitch, and there was no mention of Nicole thus far.

In theory, we were out of the woods, but she wasn’t here with me. She hadn’t been for too long at all, but I missed her. I didn’t know what the silence between us meant, but I knew that I didn’t want it to be the end for us. I liked talking to Nicole, and being inside of her was the best feeling in my life. She gave herself to me of her own free will, and it was passionate and perfect. It was hot as hell, and I wanted it again, along with the chance to get to know her.

There was a strict protocol to be an undercover cop. I could tell nobody close to me anything about a case until people were in custody and it was well on the way to going to court. It was a rule that I had to follow. But in a typical situation, Brandon was my closest friend and almost always with me.

I’d never had to hide so much from someone before now, and I didn’t like the feeling in the pit of my stomach. Everything else in my life was going well. If I were focused on work, I’d be living on adrenaline right now.

I reached for my cell phone and stared at the screen. How was a guy supposed to chase a woman who so willingly ran away from him at the first sign of trouble? I’d sent a few messages to her and even called, but there was no response.

Fuck it. I dialed her number and leaned back against the couch. The phone rang three times before I heard her voice, and I blinked in surprise. “Nicole?”

“What do you want, Allen?”

She sounded tired, and I felt the guilt stab at my heart as I tried to think of what to say. Women usually chased me, and I felt lost on the other end.

“I want to see you,” I told her while she remained silent on the other end. “I miss you.”

“You withheld the truth from me,” Nicole reminded me as she made some noise on her end.

“Can we talk? Can we have dinner? I want to explain this to you. I’m off tonight so I can pick you up anytime you want me to.” I knew that I sounded desperate and cringed inwardly as I waited for her answer.

“I’m busy tonight,” she told me shortly, and I shook my head. I doubted that, but it was cute to see her playing hard to get. “I can’t.”

“When aren’t you busy? I can make it work,” I said.

She sighed heavily on the other end. “What is there to talk about?”

She sounded so resigned, and I hated that I did this to her. Nicole had to realize that I saved her from what could have been a dangerous situation though. I needed to make that clear to her. I needed to let her know just how much I’d risked for her to be safe, and I wouldn’t give up before then.

“I need to explain everything about this to you, Nicole. Have dinner with me. After that, I’ll leave you be.” I was working with the bit of hope that I heard in her voice as I spoke, also using the powers of persuasion I knew I had. I’d seen them work too many times before.

“You will?” There was a tone in her voice that suggested that Nicole missed me as well.

I knew that I meant something to her no matter what our beginning was. She gave herself willingly to me and had enjoyed it.

“Of course.” I lied. I wanted her back in my life, and I wasn’t going to give up easily after all I’d risked. “Just have dinner with me where we can talk. I want to take you out.” I wanted to romance her and win her over, right back into my house. I wanted her in my bed again because it was pretty fucking lonely these days. “One dinner. I know you miss me, Nicole.”

She muttered something on the other end of the line that sounded like she didn’t understand why, but she sighed again. “Noelle is working on Wednesday night on a new show. I guess we could do something that night.”

She sounded bored, but I knew that she wasn’t. I knew she was acting because Nicole didn’t have enough experience with dating to do anything else. She was always taking care of her sister and never had any time to enjoy herself since nobody ever seemed to help them.

“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at seven.” I wanted to tell her to pack a bag for the night, but there was no need to get ahead of myself.

“Fine. I’ll see you then.” Nicole ended the call, and I went right into action.

I called Brandon to ask him where I should take her to dinner, and he offered me another suggestion. “Why just do dinner? Go big.”

I laughed at his words, knowing that Brandon was right. I made a few calls and set the evening up before meeting him for dinner and explaining everything that happened at my house. He listened, constrained by the same rules that I had to follow but never having anyone close to hide it from. Tonight, I was a little jealous of him.

“You did everything on your end properly, but maybe you should have given it to her a little gentler. You kind of jumped in, Allen.” Brandon offered as he sipped his iced tea on the other side of the booth.

“I didn’t want to do it that way, but I know shit about having conversations with women.” I was willing to admit that, but I knew deep down that Nicole was different from anyone else.

“You seemed to jump pretty quickly into buying this one to marry. I’d work on that if I were you,” he teased me as I glared at him and sipped my soda.

“I am trying. I called her and gave her some time though I wanted to straighten her out without delay.” I wanted to run from the house and grab her, but something told me women liked space when they were angry.

“Good call. They never want to talk right after a fight,” Brandon told me knowingly as I rolled my eyes. He played a lot of women and knew all the games.

“I suppose I should consult with you before making any big decisions, then?”

“Absolutely. I’ll steer you right,” he assured me with a cocky smile as I considered introducing them to one another. She hadn’t been around long enough for that. “She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”

“We only had a couple of nights together and only slept together once, but they were different from anything before. You know what I mean? I felt like she was everywhere inside of me. It’s crazy.”

Brandon’s eyes widened as he leaned back to look at me. “She slept with you?”

I nodded, looking around carefully.

“Yeah. It was her first time, Brandon. There’s a story there but I haven’t found it all out yet. She was so into it, and I knew that it was special to her, and hell, to me as well. I felt amazing with her, and I don’t want to let that go.” I shook my head. “I can’t walk away from this.”

“It was a hell of a way to meet a woman, but if she means something to you, fight for her. I just want to meet her somewhere along the way. That’s all I ask,” he reminded me as I looked at him thoughtfully.

“If I can get into her good graces, maybe we can do something with her sister sometime. She’s cute, and they’re close like we are,” I explained as he raised an eyebrow. “If it happens, don’t treat her like shit. I need to keep things good with Nic.”

“Nic, huh? She must mean something to you.” He teased me while I shook my head.

“She does. I just have to prove that to her.” I wasn’t afraid of being honest with him since he was like a brother to me. He knew every detail, but we both knew that we couldn’t talk about her to any of the other cops that we knew. Not yet.

“I think you have a great plan. That’s going to blow her mind, and she might come back to you. I think I would.” Brandon chuckled, and I threw a napkin at him before we discussed what to do from here.

We ended up hitting a pool hall where we knew the guys we were staking out hung out often. We played a few games and made some casual contacts along the way, faking drinking beers and feeling a little drunk to make them think we were just some dudes. They seemed to warm up to us, and I went home feeling good about the case, but still unsure about Nicole.

I tossed and turned all night before finally rising to take a run before work. I needed to keep in shape for the job since undercover cops tended to keep physically fit. The sun was coming up as I ran through the neighborhood to the main road that looked over the strip a few miles away, breathing in some of the only cool air that Vegas had to offer this time of year. It always took my breath away, and I pressed forward, moving toward my favorite little coffee shop before running back home to change for work.

At the station, there was the usual talk about Ricky. He was still locked up, and everything was going smoothly though there were reports that he was pissed off and muttering about rats telling on him. That was normal, and I tried not to think much of it since Nicole’s name still wasn’t mentioned. I hoped that it wouldn’t get to that even as I started thinking of lies to tell if it did. I always heard that telling one lie led to only telling more, but I never thought too much about it. Now, I realized that it was painfully true.

I headed to my desk after the meeting, and Brandon and I worked on our plan for the drug bust. It seemed like such a small thing to me after meeting Nicole, and I could feel myself drifting out of the moment as I thought about her.

I thought about her happy, bright green eyes and perfect body with just enough curves to hold onto. I thought about her kiss and taste. I thought about feeling her wrapped around me as we moved together, with such neediness before she cried out my name.

Fuck. I was hard again. I had no idea when I’d get a chance to be with her again. I was taking her out tomorrow but there was no guarantee it was going to end at my place. Nicole wasn’t like the others. I liked that about her. I liked that she made her choices carefully. It told me that tomorrow evening was difficult and meant a lot to her.

“Where are you?” I heard Brandon’s voice as something tapped my arm. “Are you thinking about her? You are whipped.”

“Not whipped. It hasn’t been long enough. I just want to know what it’s like to be with her but she’s gone,” I replied tersely as he clapped me on the back.

“It will work out. Let’s get out of here and hit the pizza place they frequent. We can work on our in and maybe ask for something tonight. We need to have proof before they go down.” Brandon looked at me expectantly, and I nodded, running a hand through my messy hair.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I needed the distraction until tomorrow. I stood up, grabbing my keys so I could drive.