I was…

Well, shocked didn’t begin to describe how I felt.

I had been pretty certain Aria had developed a deep hatred toward me until I watched her whip out her phone and call Brad.

It only took her a few seconds to decide she had to introduce him to the person who mattered most to her, and within seconds, I knew that was me. The person who mattered most to her was me.

My girl had come through for me even before I could hope she loved me enough to introduce me to her boyfriend.

Now the orchestrator of that play had a smug expression on her face as Brad stood in my living room, looking like he was about to shit himself.

Brooke hung back, watching the story unfold.

“Ryan Donovan,” I said, giving Brad a firm handshake.

The poor kid looked worse because I had a firm grip on his hand.

“Brad Mead, sir.” He nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

At least he was well mannered. No leather jacket today, either, and the hair had been cut shorter—military short.

“You too. So, you’ve been seeing my daughter?” I was trying not to be scary, but Brad’s face turned red.

“Dad,” Aria snapped, giving me a hard stare.

“I’m just confirming,” I said with a smile.

“Yes sir, if it’s okay with you.”

Was it okay with me? Not really. I didn’t want her to have a boyfriend.

Aria looked at me with pleading eyes. The expression on her face screamed Please don’t mess this up.

Since I knew I was the person who mattered most to her, I decided I wouldn’t.

“You seem all right kid,” I answered, to her great relief. Even Brad loosened up a bit.

“Thank you, sir. I promise to have her back by ten—we have a study group in the morning.”

Okay. This guy wasn’t as bad as I’d first imagined. I still had questions, though. He’d drawn that hummingbird on Aria’s hip and he rode a motorcycle, although he’d driven a car tonight.

“All right, don’t let me keep you.”

Aria actually sighed with relief.

“Great to meet you both.” He looked from me to Brooke, who still hung back. She nodded toward him.

I realized the whole evening must have been truly awkward for her between Aria and me arguing and then me meeting Brad, my daughter’s boyfriend.

Aria couldn’t leave quick enough. She grabbed Brad’s arm and practically fled with him through the door, leaving me with Brooke, her dinner guest.

I looked over at Brooke as she reached for her little purse. It was the same peach color as her summer dress.

She was leaving too.

She smiled when she saw me looking at her. “That’s my cue to dash.”

I didn’t want her to go just yet.

Apart from the fact that she’d impressed the hell out of me because Aria was completely fascinated with her, I was fascinated with her.

“You’re going to let me drink that wine all by myself?” She’d brought a bottle of pinot noir.

“You want me to drink it with you?”

“Why not?”

“People may think you’re my sugar daddy.” She laughed.

When she tried to move past me, I caught her arm and pulled her back.

“I don’t tend to care what people think, and you don’t seem to either.” I’d realized that right off the bat.

She gave me that seductive smile. I released her arm when she looked down at my hand holding on to her elbow.

“I don’t.”

“Then stay. I’m still trying to impress you, and Aria took up all the time.”

“I’ve decided I’m not sure you can impress me.”

She had to be kidding.

“So, you still haven’t forgiven me?”

“I forgive you for yesterday. I can see how it would be tough thinking I’d discouraged your daughter from going to college, but I still feel traumatized about my first day here.”

She was trying to say it with a straight face but ended up smiling.

“Fresh start, remember? So it’s like none of that actually happened. Now I’m just a guy asking you to stay and have a drink with me. I’ll even make you a cocktail.”

“You make cocktails?” She looked me over in disbelief.

“Yes, I do.”

“I highly doubt you can make my drink, and if I’m going to drink then I need to make sure it’s good.”

“Try me.” My grandfather was a bartender, and I’d worked in his bar for a few years before joining the force.

She folded her arms under her breasts and stared at me. Something wicked flashed in her eyes. “Sex on the beach, mixed with…a screaming orgasm.”

Of course. Why in the hell would I be surprised she would say that?

I knew how to make those drinks individually; that wasn’t the problem. The problem was I was now thinking of her having sex on the beach and screaming as an orgasm took her over.

Somehow I thought that was her intention, either to shock me or turn me on.

I wasn’t sure which.

I whipped up her drink in a jiffy and when she sipped on it, she closed her eyes and seemed to savor the taste. When her eyes fluttered open, she smiled and set the glass down on the counter.

We were at the island in the kitchen. Next to us was a collection of fruit and drink mixes I’d used to make her beverage.

“Is it good?” I asked. I knew for damn certain it was good, and if she said no, she’d be lying.

“It’s good.” She nodded.

“Impressed?”

Her brows knit together. “By a cocktail?”

“My cocktail didn’t impress you? That’s an Irish mix I gave you. It’s damn good.”

“Irish?”

“I’m half Irish, so I know how to make a drink.”

“Is the other half monk?”

I narrowed my gaze at her. “What?”

She laughed and the sound filled me again. “Monk, as in member of a religious order who lives in a monastery.”

“What makes you think that?” I was real interested to hear.

“I just assumed. You seem so goody two shoes, like a priest who just took his vows.”

“I’m not a priest.”

“No? Well not that I’m trying in any way to tell you how to raise your child, but I should tell you Aria’s only going to get worse. Also, the more you push, the more she’ll defy you.”

I took a sip of my own drink and regarded her. “I don’t know what kind of magic you worked but she listened to you, and I owe you big time.”

“You don’t owe me anything. It’s clear from the way she acts that the most important person in her world is you. I was just trying to show you both what’s obvious.”

“Thank you.” I nodded. “How did you know to do that?”

She lifted a shoulder into a shrug, drawing my attention to the daintiness of her.

“I was a sixteen-year-old girl once.”

And I hadn’t been. “Tonight could have been much worse if you weren’t here.”

“What would you have done?” She picked up her drink again.

“Freaked out and said something I shouldn’t. I certainly wouldn’t have met Brad.”

“My dear detective, what you need is to get a life.” She nodded as if that was the simplest answer.

“Get a life? Is that you insulting me?”

“No. If I was insulting you, you wouldn’t need to ask.” She giggled and shook her head. “But honestly, you need to get a life, or possibly buy a dog—something that will fill up your day more.”

I chuckled knowing I was a hundred percent certain I’d never met anyone like her. The woman had just told me I should get a life or buy a dog.

“Brooke, are you always like this?”

She nodded. “Am I wrong? Think about it: if you keep going the way you are, you’ll probably go crazy. If you allow her to live, it will be so much better. Also, she knows what you fear the most, and I’m seventy percent certain she won’t disappoint you.”

“How do you know what I fear the most, and why are you only seventy percent certain she won’t disappoint me?”

“You’re worried she’ll sleep around, and I’m only seventy percent certain because I’m speaking from experience.”

I was about to agree with her until she said that last part.

Experience.

“Do you want to elaborate?”

“If I’m going to have sex, I don’t stop to think who will or won’t be disappointed. All I can think of is the act and how I feel then and how I’ll feel after, and then the next time if the guy is lucky enough to have me twice.”

I had to swallow hard and blink.

“Oh,” was all I could say. “Does said guy normally get to have you twice?”

I don’t know why I asked that. Whatever spell she had me under must have charmed my mind and pushed me further into the enchantment of her.

“It depends.” She leaned forward and my eyes dropped to her cleavage.

“Depends on what?”

“Whether or not said guy can impress me.”

Impress—there was that word again.

She knocked back the rest of the drink and slid off the stool.

“You still haven’t told me how to go about that.”

She shook her head at me. “Nope, sorry detective. You’re going to have to figure that out all on your lonesome. Brooke 101 is over for tonight.”

She backed away and picked up her purse.

“Brooke 101?”

She focused on me and smiled. “Brooke 101.”

“I don’t know how I ended up taking that class, but here I am. Are you going to be taking Ryan 101 too?”

She laughed. “Be careful Detective—I’m the same woman you thought was on drugs less than a week ago. Should I really be taking a class on you?”

“If I’m taking your class, you take mine. What’d you say?”

This…whatever it was that drew me to her had taken me to this point, a point where my interest had grown and stuck on her.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. You make good cocktails—would be nice to see what else you’re good at.” I totally didn’t miss the flicker of sexual heat that sparked in her eyes, and neither did my cock.

“I can assure you, Brooke, I’m good with many things.”

She bit back a smile and glided away, hips swaying and oozing sexiness.

My eyes went straight to her ass and when she glanced over her shoulder, she caught me looking.

When she smiled, I got that feeling of being in trouble again.

Unlike the other day though, this trouble was mixed with the temptation of a woman who’d gotten me to make her sex on the beach mixed with a screaming orgasm.