Lawmakers (16 page)

“The blue button-up behind you. It’s easier to get my arm in without wrenching my shoulder.” Her voice was husky.  Sean had a small smile on his face because he knew she was affected by his proximity.

He took his time closing the buttons and at her direction left the top two open.  A hint of cleavage showed and he thought about kissing the mound of her breasts, too.

“Could you button them any slower?” she asked when he stood up.

“If I had my way you wouldn’t be wearing a shirt or pants for that matter,” Sean said. “This would be a whole different scenario.”

She stepped away. “I’m on the injured list, remember, and besides I hardly know you, Sean Gilead.”

He gave an amused laugh. “I call bullshit on that. You’ve known me since I was a beat cop.”

She rolled her eyes at him as he held the bedroom door open. “I know your work credentials not your man status. You could be a dog who has a cache full of women in your phone with little icons beside them to show which one is the best lay.”

He made a mock face of hurt and put his hand over of his heart. “You wound me with your words.”

“I’ve seen some of the women you’ve dated.”  She grabbed her purse from the chair and he opened the door.

“They’re not hookers or strippers.” Sean closed the door and heard the click and he knew the lock was secure.

“Exactly.” She pressed the button to the elevator. “I’d actually feel better if it was a stripper, but you date these wholesome types that want to make babies and raise a family.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Sean said.

“Not at all if that’s what you want, but if that’s what you’re expecting of me that’s a different story,” R.J. answered as they rode down in the elevator. “Don’t sell my parents the idea that being with you will settle me down. And if that’s what you think you’re mistaken as well. I like my life and if I’m not a cop I’ll be doing this.”

“Don’t you want kids and a family?” Sean asked.

“Eventually, but when I choose, and not that won’t be used as a collar to curb me,” she answered, meeting his gaze. “Remember that.”

They stepped out of the elevator and through the foyer of her building. Outside he saw her lift her head to the sky and take a deep breath. Only a true New Yorker would smell the different scents of foods blending, hear the noise that was a constant hum, and listen to the controlled chaos and enjoy it.
You couldn’t help but love the city that never slept, the people who moved around it twenty-four hours a day.

Rosalie belonged there and he could see her nowhere else. Did he want her to join the ranks of the police force? On that subject he was torn. She’d make a damn fine cop, but she was impulsive and wouldn’t go for a safe job. She wanted to be in Special Investigations and that meant each day her life would be on the line more than others.  The thought of her being hurt was more than he could bear. Seeing her that night when she took Brandy back from her father pissed him off but put fear in his heart. But that was Rosalie, and how could anyone expect her to be anything else than who she was at her core? Badge or no badge, she had the heart of a cop. He got her in his car and drove to the restaurant.

“Man, I wish I could walk instead of being in the car.” She sighed.

“Only you would want to walk in this steam fest of heat,” Sean said. “The car’s air conditioning is on high.”

She turned and grinned at him. “But that’s the fun of living here, blending with the crowds, seeing the hodgepodge of people from other countries all looking at the lights and sights of New York with wonder.”

“I see the dinginess behind all the glamour and the pictures of Times Square,” Sean said brutally. “I see women throwing away their babies because they’re high on crack. I see men callously shooting up the streets just to say they’re the big dog on the block. To claim it as turf even though innocent families, children have to walk those streets.  I’ve gone into apartments and picked up babies in dirty clothes and their parents are living between crack pipes and syringes. I may have become jaded but I’ve seen too much to fall for the glamour.”

“There’s other parts,” R.J. protested. “Women who got off drugs to take care of their kids, gang bangers who become street activists to promote peace in their neighborhood. I’ve seen hardened men give my father their guns because they want better lives. Everyone can change and as the law we change it one step at a time.  9/11 brought everyone together in unity and no one cared about skin color. We grieved as one and rebuilt as one. I see the gray, but I see the good as well.”

“The people who delivered a baby in the subway, a person that would jump between a mugger and his victim, and more. This city was built to survive, to withstand whatever trials come our way. I love very part of it, good and bad. I’ll do my part to make it better.” R.J. smiled at him and it carried to her eyes. Every word she said he knew she meant from her soul.

“You’re too good for this city,” Sean said impulsively. “Being a cop would dull all this positivity you got going on.”

She snorted. “I’m not raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. I just chose to see the good with the bad not let the bad parts claim me.”

Sicily’s was of course packed and they had to wait for a booth. By the time they sat down, he was as hungry as she was and they ordered one whole meat lovers pizza. The size of each slice was huge, so much so they ate it New York style: fold it in half and take a big bite.  She met his gaze as she pulled it away and the cheese stretched from her mouth and she grinned. At that point he let the true feelings he’d been holding back for such a long time break free.  He loved the woman across from him. Probably loved her from the time she walked in and told him to keep his arrest rate high because she was about to smash a hole in everyone’s record.

“You’re looking at me funny,” she said around her next bite.

“I’m not,” he denied.

She nodded. “Yep, you were. You want to date me and possibly were in the process of thinking about me naked.”

He almost choked on his sip of coke. “Well geez, finesse it a little.”

She chuckled. “Why? Do you want me to say, ‘For sooth sir, I fear you may be having untoward thoughts about my person and want to release the laces of my bodice?’”

It was his turn to laugh. “Did people really talk like that in the old days?”

“My mom’s bodice rippers romances said they did,” R.J. answered. “I was traumatized for months thinking they reenacted what she read when I was at school or asleep. Started sleeping with ear plugs so that I would never hear a sound.”

He shuddered. “That’s a disturbing thought.”

“You’re telling me.”

They each had two slices, and he took the leftovers to the car in the pizza box before coming back.

“Let’s take a walk and get some gelato before we head back,” Sean invited.

She feigned surprise. “Wait, what? Hardened detective Sean Gilead wants to walk in the sultry summer heat?”

“Shut up, Punk, what flavor do you want?” Sean pulled a lock of her curly hair.

“Black cherry, in a waffle cone with two scoops, please,” R.J. requested politely.

“And you just ate two huge slices of pizza,” Sean said. “You have a hollow leg.”

“I’m a growing girl,” she teased.

He bent down low to her ear. “I’ll determine that.”

Sean was rewarded with a shiver and thought,
Yeah, I’ll make you shiver soon
.

He went up to the counter and got himself a pistachio gelato and her black cherry in a waffle cone. They stepped into the busy evening crowd and began to walk a path down the sidewalk.

“I think I should buy street art for my apartment,” Rosalie said conversationally.

“You always liked the unconventional.” Sean chuckled. “Remember when you got into ‘crunking’ after your dad got shot and you used to do those shows? I remember one before the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden: the big hair and glow lipstick. Then your mom found out crunk meant a mix of crazy-drunk dancing and almost had a heart attack. I thought for sure after that your mom would let you out of that promise.”

She shrugged and took a lick of her gelato. Sean paid more attention to her tongue that his own desert.

“Yeah I thought so too, but you forget that my mother has the tenacity of a Rottweiler pit-bull mix.”

“This is true. I remember the horror on her face then the stiff smile that she put on when you came off the court.” Sean chuckled. “She gushed and clapped.”

“Then later I heard her telling Dad that I needed structure and maybe college away from New York would be better than my choices,” R.J. said. “Anything to keep me from something I love.”

“I don’t think she wants that. I think she’s worried about losing you,” Sean said. “She doesn’t want you to die from a bullet from some perp’s gun.”

“I could be standing here and a car runs off the road onto the sidewalk and kills me. I could be in a stake out and get blown up by a stray grenade.”

Sean laughed. “Really, a stray grenade?”

She gave him a dirty look. “It could happen. The point being I’m never going to fall in line with whatever plan they have for me. I’ve always been my own woman.”

“Yet you hold true to a promise you made when you were eighteen.” Sean smiled. “You’re a good daughter, but I agree with your parents. Being an investigator in this city on your own is completely dangerous.”

She nudged him with her good shoulder. “I have you as back up.”

“What if I’m on a call, or worse, I don’t get to you in time?” Sean stopped and faced her.  “I’m going to let you know right now I couldn’t stand losing you.”

He saw her swallow thickly. “I don’t plan on being lost. Come on, let’s go home.”

“You mean your place,” Sean pointed out. “It’s kinda cramped.”

“Yeah, whatever. You know you like being there, and besides, compared to some apartments mine is a condo,” she said.

“That’s because you’re pocket-sized, like that doll Polly Pocket. A big guy like me needs more room.” He ushered her down a side street that would take them around the block to where he was parked.

“And here I was going to let you sleep in my bed with me instead of the sofa,” R.J. said. “You may have to go home to your own bed.”

“We should. Come on, let’s go.”

She laughed. “Okay, I’m game. You can spoil me at your place as much as you could at mine.”

“I’m spoiling you now? Man, what did I sign up for?”

She dropped the rest of her uneaten cone in the trash and used her free hand to gesture in a big circle. “All of this, yummy, yummy goodness right here.”

Sean laughed out loud. “You’re a nut, Punk.”

Instead of taking the usual turns to her place, he bypassed Thirty-fourth Street and the chaos that was Times Square.  He lived right outside the city on the border of Manhattan and the Bronx. He didn’t want to go to the hustle and bustle of the city streets when he went home.  Instead he lived in a two-story brownstone he’d bought and converted in his spare time. He parked in his small driveway and stepped out to close his white wrought iron gate. Sean helped her out of the car and walked up the steps to his house.

Now the brick on the brownstone was pristine and the bronze light fixtures came on automatically when the sun went down, lighting the steps to the glass and wood front door. They entered a small foyer that had enough room for an accent table against the wall. He turned to the second door, solid oak with a diamond square cut out at the top. This enabled him to see who was at the front door.  He’d reinforced the doorframe and the lock with a steel strip so no one could kick it in.  He lived in a nice neighborhood; he knew criminals weren’t smartest people in the city. A glass main door could provide an easy entry to break the glass and kick in his secondary door. They could try but he knew he’d come outside to find some fool with a broken leg before they got that door to go down.

“I haven’t seen it since you finished the renovations,” R.J. commented and looked around.

“Yes, I noticed you were absent from the party I threw,” Sean said.

“I didn’t want to be the cop’s daughter at a shindig of all cops and trophy girlfriends,” R.J. answered simply. “I wasn’t one of you. I won’t ever be unless I get a badge.”

He locked the doors and led her in. “Don’t worry about that now. You’re not going to solve that issue overnight.”

“The downstairs has the family room, kitchen, and one extra bedroom with a half bathroom. The upstairs has two bedrooms with one master bathroom and a media center kinda deal,” Sean explained as he turned lights on.

She ran her hand along the contemporary metal banister as she followed him upstairs. “You do good work.”

“After some of the things I see, it’s cathartic to take my frustration out on some metal and wood,” he admitted.

She gave a nod to one door on the right. “Master bedroom?”

Arousal that always simmered under the surface when he was around her kicked in. Having her mention the word
bedroom
didn’t make it any easier.

“Yes.”  He watched as she went into the room. He followed her in and she was standing by the bed.

“You know I need help getting out of these,” she said.

He walked over and, just like he dressed her, he helped her undress until she was down to her soft pink panties and bra. This time he did kiss the flat surface of her tummy before she slipped into his bed.

“I won’t take you until your arm is better,” he said.

“I know you won’t, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be close,” R.J. smiled invitingly and patted the bed. “Come get close to me, Sean.”

He undressed down to his boxers and climbed into bed on the side where her hand was not in a sling. Sean cupped her face in his hand and turned it to him so he could kiss her softly. Soon that wasn’t enough and while he demanded more from the kiss, she struggled to get closer. He loved the way she trembled and moaned as he invaded her mouth with his tongue. He would take her right now if he could, sink himself so deep inside her they wouldn’t know where he ended and she began.

“Touch me,” she said against his mouth.

Sean gave in to her request and cupped her breasts through the cotton material of her bra. He wanted to feel her skin and pushed her bra aside so he could feel her nipple against his palm. She whimpered his name and arched against his hand. Sean kissed his way down her body and took the pert nipple into his mouth and laved it with his tongue. He ran his hand down her stomach and between the cotton barrier of her panties against her skin.