Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (57 page)

“That’s too bad.  I thought we could have a little fun.  You know.  Since no one’s around,” she pouted.  Letting her hands move up her stomach, she cupped her breasts as if offering them to him then plucked at her nipples.

Mmm, that felt good.

He swallowed then pointed at her, his voice taking on a scolding tone.  “Stop it, Em.  I mean it.”  He swallowed hard again and stared at her breasts.  “It’s not gonna work.”

She put her hands down to her side, looking dejected.  “Okay.  You’re no fun.”

“I plan on having all of the fun in the world when I win.”  He walked closer to her.

She wasn’t done playing.  “No one’s here, though.  And I didn’t wear panties tonight.”  She let her voice take on a playfulness that she normally didn’t show while her fingers played at the waistband of her Yoga pants.

He blinked like someone smacked him in the head.  “What the hell are you telling me this for?  I’m winning this rematch,” he said pointing at her again.  “I’m serious, so just quit while you’re ahead.  It’s not gonna work, whatever it is that you’re doing.”

She began shimmying out of her pants, pulling the waistband down one slow inch at a time.

“Shit, Em. 
Stop.
”  He looked around to make sure they were indeed alone and she made her move. 

The poor guy didn’t know what hit him.

She had him flattened on his back in two quick movements, pinning him to the mat.  He wasn’t going for it and immediately rolled her so she was on her back.  And so it went for several seconds while they grappled for supremacy. 

“I’m winning this, Em,” he said with a disgruntled laugh.

“That’s what you think,” she growled around a giggle.

He almost had her to her back when she did a move with her legs, flipping him to his back.

They continued to struggle, each of them trying to pin the other.  She looked into his eyes and he looked into hers.

“You’re not gonna win, Em,” he said, this time with frustration.  His eyes told her that he was realizing she really
didn’t
want him to win his wager, and it was causing him to sputter.  “You really don’t wanna live together?”  And just like that, the fight went out of him.  He fell onto his back. 

“What are you doing?  You’re not supposed to just let me win!”

“I’m not letting you win.  I just wanna know why the hell you don’t wanna live together.”  He took her face in his hands.  “Talk to me, baby.”

She let out an exasperated breath.  “Do you wanna know what I wanted my prize to be if I won?” she asked, ignoring his question.  She touched his face so his attention was fully on her.

He sighed.  “I wanna know why you don’t wanna live together.”

“Shut up and listen.”  She leaned down and whispered in his ear, “You.  I want
you
to be my prize.”

Her words caused him to bring his hands up to her hips which were straddling him.  “You already have me.  Tell me why you don’t wanna live together, Em.  Seriously.  I want us to talk about this.”

She leaned back from his ear and looked down at him, her chest resting on his, their skin slick with clean sweat, their breathing still labored.  Then she repeated the same ideas he’d said to her when he’d first told her he wanted to live with her.

“You’re not listening, Detective.  I wanna come home each night and wrap my arms around your waist.”  She kissed his mouth softly.  “I wanna make meals with you, spar with you, argue with you, talk about our days together.  I want us to love each other with hot sex, sweet sex, dirty sex and slow sex.”  She ground her hips into his.  “I want you to keep me warm every night when I get cold and wake up each morning snuggled into your side.” 

She paused so he would understand what she was saying.  His body was now relaxed and his eyes had gone from dejected to relieved as understanding lit up his face during her speech.  His hands came to her face while she continued talking. 

“I want that.  All of it.  And I’m not gonna be completely satisfied until I get it,” she said sternly, repeating his words to him from weeks earlier.  “That’s what my wager was gonna be.”  She gave him a pointed look.  “Now do you understand?”

He smiled, the twinkle back in his eyes.  “I understand completely.  You could’ve told me you wanted to live together at the beginning, you know.  And I’ve already begun looking at apartments.  So,” he said sheepishly, “there’s that.” 

“Have you, now?  So confident, Detective.”

“And I found one that’s a little bigger than my current one, and is a little bigger than yours, too.”  He looked at her as if to say
Are you followin’ me, here, GC?

He rolled their bodies so he was on top. 

“I’ll call the realtor when we get home,” he said.

She let out a laugh.  Who would’ve thought she could’ve been this fulfilled, this happy?  The revelation that all this time there had been a man out there who was her perfect fit…she hadn’t been sure it would ever happen.  She’d hoped, but until Detective Michael Callahan, she hadn’t truly believed there was a loyal man who would stay for the long haul, making her so happy every day...like her own personal sunflower.

“That sounds like a plan, Detective,” she said, then grabbed his face and kissed him. 

“I have something else to tell you,” he said seriously.

Oh, God.  This was it.  This she was sure was going to be about the comment she overheard from Lacey.

“I’m listening.  First,” she began, “is everything okay?”

“Everything is better than okay,” he said, kissing her nose.

“Go ahead.”

“Next month, I’m applying for a promotion,” he said looking into her eyes.

“Baby!  That’s great!”

He smiled.  “It
is
great.”

“For Sergeant?  That’s the next step after Detective, right?”

He nodded.  “That will also keep me off the streets more.”  He paused significantly until she finally realized what he was saying.  He wouldn’t be in as much danger as a Sergeant.

She reached up and touched his face.  “Mike.  Do you wanna be a Sergeant?  Will you enjoy it though?”

“Actually, I think I will.  I’d oversee the team of detectives and whatnot.  It would be more administrative, but I’ve talked to my current Sergeant, and I think I’ll enjoy it.”

“I just wanna make sure you’re happy.  You went into police work so you could be in the middle of it all.”

“Listen.”  He looked down at her lips, then into her eyes again and stroked her hair away from her face.  “When I was shot and saw how much that affected you, that affected
me
.  Then when we took down Strover and I thought for a split second I’d lose you -”  He stopped and shook his head, his eyes taking on a sheen of emotion.  “The terror I felt in that moment.”  He swallowed audibly.  “I wouldn’t wish that kind of fear on people I didn’t like, let alone you.  It made me realize the peace of mind you’d be sacrificing if you were worried about me, like I would be worried about you if the roles were reversed.”

“Oh, baby.  I would make it work.  Yes, I’d be worried, but I would rather you be happy.”

“If I was happy as a Sergeant, would that be okay with you?”

She snorted.  “Umm,
yeah.
”  They both laughed lightly but she continued.  “I’m just saying if you’d rather stay in the field, I would make it work.”

He shook his head.  “No.  I want this change.  For both of us.”

She choked back a sob and pulled him down until they were clinging to each other.  “Is this what Lacey was talking to you about when we went out to dinner?  I heard him ask you if you had told me something yet when I came back from the bathroom.”

He nodded, then asked, “You heard that?  If I’d known you heard him ask that I would’ve told you sooner.”

“At first I thought it was another woman, I ain’t gonna lie.”  She touched his lips.

“Silly.  I told you that will never happen.  Ever.”  He leaned down and kissed her.  “And all this time you didn’t ask me what it was about?”

“I realized I trusted you and figured you would tell me when you were ready.”

He looked at her with surprise, then a grin appeared on his face.  “That’s the best thing you could’ve said to me.  You
can
trust me.  With everything.”

“I know.”  She took a deep breath.  “The night you were shot, after you called me and I was
waiting for you at the apartment -”

“Yeah?”

“I got physically sick.  I thought about how close you came to dying and I threw up.”

He didn’t say anything but rested his forehead on hers.  They kissed and touched each other’s faces. 

“I’m so sorry, Em.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about.  I’m just so happy you’re mine and you’re okay.  And I know we can’t stop life, and like you said before, shit’s gonna happen that we have no control over.”

“I know.  But I think this promotion will help me explore other avenues of the job.  Maybe use some of the psychology background I have and things like that.  I don’t need to be a detective.  There are lots of opportunities in law enforcement that I can look at.  I want you to hear me say this.  I really am excited about trying something different.  And if it keeps me safer and you less worried, then all the better.”

She’d finally found that man who would sacrifice for her.  And the fact that he wanted to make this change made her even happier.

“We’ll find our risks in other ways then?  Like maybe hang gliding?” she smiled.

“Yup.  And picking locks,” he shrugged cutely.

She giggled.  “And having sex in public places?” she hinted and wiggled underneath him.  “How alone are we here?” 

“Very.  In fact I have the keys to lock up.”

“How the hell did you do that?”  She was stunned.

“Number one, I’m a trusting guy.  I mean, come on,” he said, giving her a ‘Duh, I’m a cop’ look.  “Number two, I paid for the studio for tonight.  Because I wasn’t sure what means I would have to exact in order to win my wager.”

“Hmm.  You gave up there at the end of the rematch,” she said grabbing his face.  “Don’t ever do that again.”

He rested his lips on hers.  “I didn’t really give up.  I just thought maybe I’d misread you all this time.  That you didn’t want to live together.  It scared me.”

Knowing that was a rare occurrence, she rubbed her lips into his, soothing him.  “Don’t ever doubt my love for you.  You’re it, Detective.  There was no one before you that compared, and there’s no one who will ever be after you.”  Then she slapped him on the arm.  “I can’t believe you just let me win.  I’m not too happy about that, Detective.  Or should I call you Sarge?”

“I didn’t let you win,” he smiled.

“Yes, you did.  You just laid there.”

“It was all a part of my strategy.  All I had to do was look sad and you caved.”

She knew he hadn’t been acting, but rather than call him on it, she kept quiet. He lifted her legs in a wrestler’s hold and pinned her shoulders.

“Now, I win,” he said, her shoulders pressed to the mat.

“I think we both won.” 

He smiled and released her so he was settled between her legs.  He pressed into her, allowing her to feel his erection.  “You really don’t have panties on?”

She smiled wickedly.  “Detective, I always wear panties when I wear Yoga pants.”

“I knew you were lying.”

She shrugged and gave him a look.  “Maybe.  Why don’t you do some detecting?”

He did, and it turned out she hadn’t been wearing
panties after all.

Read Janie and Luke’s story in Book 4 of the
Iris
Series,

REMEMBRANCE

coming in the Fall of 2014!

*****

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Revelation

and our other books in the
Iris
Series,
Release
and
Redemption
!

*****

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Thank you once again to our incredible Beta Readers who are forever indispensable; brutally honest, gracious, and encouraging.  Many thanks to
Doreen, Jennifer, Elisha, MaryEllen and Tina
for catching our grammar mistakes and offering thoughts on plot and character development.  We are eternally grateful for your feedback. In all honesty, we could not do this without your help!