Dangerous Deputy (2 page)

His gaze ran over her body at her words. A shiver ran down her back. She could have sworn a look of appreciation spread across his face. Oh, God, what she wouldn’t give for it to be authentic and not just a figment of her imagination. She’d love to jump his bones. Change of subject was in order, definitely. “What was I doing?”

“Excuse me?”

“What was I doing? Why did you stop me? I didn’t think I was speeding.”

“You weren’t. I recognized the car but knew Carrie wasn’t driving it.”

Julia glanced behind her. Earlier she’d been wondering why he hadn’t recognized it. Now she wasn’t so sure it wouldn’t have been better if he hadn’t.

She grimaced. “Yeah, it’s kind of noticeable, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

She thought for a minute. “They could have changed their minds and decided to leave in the morning. Carrie could have been driving, you know?”

“I hope not. I’m working Jim’s shift tonight.” He smiled. “At first I thought maybe they had, but when you didn’t take the turn, I got suspicious.”

“I’m not used to these roads in the dark yet. I was going to turn around up a bit farther. There’s that little inlet where the statewide bike path crosses the road.”

He frowned. “I thought you had your own car.”

“I do. It’s in the shop. That’s what I decided to use the first month’s pay on. I figured if this job isn’t permanent, I needed to make sure it was up to snuff if I had to drive around half the state on interviews. Better use the money now that I have it than need it later on and
not
have it.”

He nodded.

“Okay now, let’s get to proving I’m not drunk.” She kicked off both heels before hopping off the car. She expected him to take a step back. Instead, she ended up sliding down his body as she continued her unstoppable movement off the car.

She closed her eyes as every inch of his hard body pressed against her.
Oh my God, is that an erection?
She didn’t have the courage to reach down and check. Hell, she couldn’t even make herself look.

Eyes opened again, she looked up at him. “Sobriety test?”

“Which you have assured me you don’t need three times now.” He stepped back, leaving his hands on her waist. God, she really needed to keep her mind on the situation and not on her body’s reaction to him. She took a deep breath and pulled her attention back to the conversation at hand.
Calm down.

“I know. I know. But the evidence is stacked against me. One, I panicked before you came up to my car.”

“Rightfully so. Deserted road, no bar lights, no uniform, late at night.”

“Okay, well then I stumbled out of my car, right into your arms, then again, breaking my shoe. So far if I were you, I wouldn’t have much confidence in my sobriety.” She kicked her shoes out of the way, trying to pull her attention to something other than his body.
Relax
. “So I figure I might as well do all those roadside tests you always see on TV and get it done with. Do you need me to take a breathalyzer?”

“How much have you had tonight?”

“Two beers. One before dinner and one after…which I nursed for almost two hours.”

“Okay.”

“Which test first?” She pushed herself away from the car and stood ready to do whatever he wanted.
Anything
he wanted. She shook her head. Hell, maybe she was drunk after all. What the hell was this urge she had to get all naughty with him? She really needed to keep her mind on the issue at hand or she’d be doing or saying something she would probably regret as soon as it happened. “Do you want the balance test? Or the nose test?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I believe you.”

“Just like that?”

He laughed, and her body tightened again. God what she wouldn’t do to get the man in bed with her.

“No, not just like that. I’ve talked to you for a couple minutes. I’ve assessed your condition. You don’t present as even mildly inebriated. “

“Phooey.”
What are you doing, Julia? Stop this right now. Before you get yourself in trouble.

“Phooey?”

“Yeah, I was hoping to coerce you with my womanly wiles.” Oops, and there it went. Exactly what she was afraid of: her mouth getting out of control of her brain. And she couldn’t even hope he thought she really was drunk, ’cause that would open a whole ’nother can of worms.

“Womanly wiles?” He reached out and brushed back a curl of hair that had fallen across her eye. Tiny sparks of electricity shot through her at the touch.

In for a penny, in for a pound
. She was so going to kill herself later when she had time to think. “Yeah, you know, a wink here, a touch there. That kind of stuff.”

“All in an attempt to get out of a traffic ticket?” His eyebrow arched and lips twitched as though trying to keep back a smile.

“Of course. With the car being in Jim’s name, I’d do practically anything to keep a traffic stop off the record.”

“And what does practically anything entail?” His voice was low and deep. Rumbling. Excitement curled in her belly.

Julia leaned into him and fiddled with the top button of his shirt. “What woman hasn’t wanted to play bad cop and innocent motorist?”

He didn’t say anything for what seemed like an eternity. When a frown crossed his face, she felt it in the bottom of her stomach.

“Miss Sharp, could you please get back into the vehicle?”

What the hell? Shit
. She’d gone too far. She knew it. She should have shut up minutes ago. As soon as he’d said he didn’t think she was drunk, she should have said thank you and gotten in the car and left. But no, her freaking libido had to take control of her mouth and fuck it all up. Maybe a DUI would be the better option. Maybe a hiccup?

“Really, I prom—”

Before she could go any further, he cut her off. “Ma’am, I asked you to get back into the vehicle. Please pull up to the inlet you mentioned earlier and shut your car off. This road is not very wide, and I would prefer to continue this traffic stop where it is safer.”

Julia stood there dumbfounded for a long moment. One minute they’d been flirting like old friends, the next he had gotten all cold and distant. She bent down to pick up her shoes, but Dennis already had them in his grasp. After he handed them to her, she climbed back into the car. She felt the prick of tears in her eyes, but she was determined not to let the embarrassment take her over.

Wouldn’t she ever learn? Her judgment in men sucked. She never could tell when they were really interested in her, obviously. And when they were, she went too far too fast.
Stupid idiot.

She started the car and watched Dennis go back to his own vehicle. Once he was in, she put the car in gear and headed toward the walking park. When she got there, she pulled in as far as she could and immediately shut the engine and lights off and sat there in the dark.

She figured she might as well save the battery life. She already had her information out for the ticket that was obviously coming. She did, however, reach for the driving slippers her sister always left in the car. A ticket for driving barefoot as well as whatever charge he was coming up with was something she didn’t need.

When he didn’t show up at her door right away, she looked back. He had his trunk open. She couldn’t tell if he was putting something in or taking something out, but when he walked back to her, his hands were empty.

Dennis opened her door. “Please step out, ma’am.”

With a sigh, she did as ordered. He grabbed her arm and tugged her to the side. He slammed her door and turned her around to face the car. Cold metal snapped around one wrist.

“Hey!” she yelled.

He snapped the second cuff closed. Panic engulfed her. What the hell was happening?

“What are you doing?” She tried to swallow down her panic. She knew this man. Jim knew this man. This wasn’t like him. Dennis moved forward pressing his body against hers. He whispered in her ear, “So you think I’m a bad cop, huh?”

Julia opened her mouth to protest when the realization hit her. God, she had to be the stupidest woman on the planet. Her body tingled in response to his against her back. His erection pressed into her ass. She pressed back. “Well, I was hoping for a dirty cop. But I guess I can be happy with bad.”

Once again he moved so quickly she didn’t have time to register what he was doing until after he was done with it. She found herself in a fireman’s carry, hanging over his shoulder as he strutted into the park.

Julia wondered how far to take the innocent-motorist act. She’d never actually done anything like this before. Saying “oh, no, please don’t” seemed over the top. But she couldn’t just let him carry her without saying a thing.

“Put me down! You can’t do this to me!” She hoped the excitement in her voice was obvious despite her feigned indignation. Well, she never was a good actress in school, so he could probably tell the difference. She wished she could slap his ass as he walked with her, but since her hands were behind her back, that wasn’t possible.

Dennis put her down gently and uncuffed one hand but left the other trapped. He turned her around and urged her to take a couple steps back. Holding her arms, he brought her hands up and secured them around a branch that was inches over her head.

He leaned in and whispered, “When you want me to stop, say doughnut.”

She didn’t say anything.
Doughnut? What did he mean?
Then it hit her.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes. Doughnut.” The words came out in a rush.

Instantly he was back in character. “Bad cop? Oh, no, that’s not what you said. You said dirty. I wonder what a dirty cop would do to a little slut like yourself.” He gently pushed back the same lock of hair he’d pushed back earlier. His actions were the complete opposite of his hard words. She squirmed in anticipation.

When he brought his hand to the collar of her dress, she sucked in a breath.

He brushed her shoulder, down her arm, to her waist. With the knuckles of his other hand, he caressed the skin showing in the V of her dress.

Her breathing came in fast gasps. She leaned against the trunk of the tree and watched his face.

The park wasn’t lit. It wasn’t intended to be used at night, but the moon and stars were bright enough to see his face by. The desire and need she saw on it made her heart beat faster.

She tugged at her restraints, eager to touch him, to feel him against her body.

“Those are standard-issue cuffs, young lady. You are not going to get out of them that easily.” He reached for the tie on the side of her dress. “You know, I always wondered why a woman would wear one of these. As a kid I always wanted to reach out and untie one of them, just to see what would happen.”

Julia bit back a smile. She could see him as a young boy fighting the urge to pull at an older woman’s wraparound dress. “You can’t do this to me. Take your hands off me. I’ve done nothing to deserve this.”

He looked up at her, his face stern. “You are awful repetitive tonight, aren’t you? I think maybe you should be quiet now. If you can’t be, then I might have to gag you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.” His voice was full of a menace that promised a pleasure she wasn’t sure she was ready for. Julia snapped her mouth shut so fast her teeth clacked together.

Slowly, and without a sound, he tugged at the tie that kept her dress closed. She’d considered it sexy not only for the low-cut aspect and bright red color, but also the easy access the tie provided, even though she’d never gotten the chance to utilize it for that purpose until this moment.

She sucked in her breath, closing her eyes. The silky material skimmed against her breast and stomach as it slowly slid open. It was cool. Goose bumps popped up as it slid over her skin. His hands brushed against her stomach as he quickly took care of the small interior tie that kept it from falling completely open if the main belt came undone during the night.

When both sides of the dress were hanging open, she opened her eyes to see his reaction. She didn’t have the best body in the world; she knew that. She was forty years old and not the thinnest, but for her age she thought she wasn’t bad looking.

Apparently Dennis agreed, because the look on his face left her in no doubt about how he felt. Warmth flooded her body at the pleasure she saw there. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and his gaze flew up to her face.

He reached out to her waist and grabbed the edges of material. He slid his hands down, the backs of his thumbs skimming her body. She bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning. He pushed the material behind her, and she realized he had used the tie to keep the material of the dress behind her.

She shivered.

“Cold?”

She shook her head. The look in his eyes was enough to heat her body in the middle of the Antarctic continent.

He ran the backs of his knuckles across her breastbone, caressing where her bra met her skin. He smiled at her. “You know, I have to admit I’m really not very good at this.”

She raised her eyebrows. “At sex?”

He laughed. “No, I’d like to think I’m very good at that. The role-playing thing. You said you wanted a dirty cop, and my libido got away from me. In actuality all I really want to do is untie you and lay you down to make love to you.”

She kept herself from smiling. “To be honest, I’m not very good at it either. My ex never really liked to play games. I’ve always wanted to try it, but I never knew how. I don’t know what drove me to say what I did.”

He reached for the cuffs.

“No. Don’t.”

He looked at her, a question in his eyes.

“Unless you want to.”

“I have a beautiful woman cuffed half-naked to a tree in front of me telling me she wanted to have sex with me so badly she went completely out of her comfort zone. Why the hell would I want to stop?”

She lowered her voice. “Then don’t. We don’t have to playact, just do what you want to.”

He stood there for so long Julia wondered if she’d been completely wrong about the entire situation. When he put his hand on her waist and pushed her back against the tree, she relaxed. He wasn’t going to stop. Relief and anticipation nearly overwhelmed her. She hadn’t expected to want this, him, as badly as she did. If he had rejected her now, she didn’t know what she would have done.