Accidentally in Love (26 page)

She took a couple of steps toward him, slowly, carefully, in case any sudden movement would burst the image. “Nice goggles.”

And just like that he smiled—big, bright, and beautiful—as he dragged them up and over his head. “Well, you know how it is. Safety first.”

Another step closer. “Looks like you’ve been here awhile. You missed a fun game.”

“Yeah. Jayne tried to talk me into going.”

“Jayne?” Understanding all but clubbed her over the head. “Oh…
you’re
the guy….”

“I’m the guy.” His shrug was slow, unsure, as he twisted the goggles in his hand. “She had this big flashy plan, you know, where I’d show up at the game and surprise you, but that’s not us.”

Us.
Such a beautiful word.

“So you decided to build a shed instead?”

Finally he started toward her. “Well, you know how it is: I was feeling kind of useless and I didn’t have anyone to yell at, so I had one of the guys at work bring all this shit over for me.”

“Work?”

“Yeah. With me gone, they were even more shorthanded here, and not so much back there, so because it was just a lateral transfer between detachments…turns out it wasn’t such a big deal to undo it.”

“So you’re back?”

He half-shrugged, half-nodded, as though he wasn’t quite sure he’d be ready for her response if he came right out and said yes.

“That’s nice.” She nodded slowly. “And you’re here, in my yard, building me a shed because…?”

Slowly his smile began to grow again.

“Well, obviously because you need one.”

“Obviously. But do you really think you can just waltz back into my life after two months and we’ll just pick up where we left off?”

“It’s been seven weeks plus a day, and yeah, that was kind of the plan.”

“I see. Well, tell me this, then.” She tipped her face up to his. “Is the shed as far as you got with this grand plan or were you thinking about maybe kissing me at some point?”

Goggles tossed, he closed the distance in two long strides, tugged the bat from her grip, and gathered her up in his arms.

“Kissing you is all I ever think about,” he murmured, breathing the first feathery kiss against the corner of her mouth.

Ellie wrapped her arms around him and hung on tight, then tighter still when he pressed his lips against her neck and sighed.

That sound, a simple, quiet exhale that said so much, settled inside her, filling the void and making everything else she’d thought she needed meaningless. This was all she needed, and from the way he was holding her, with a strength that went deeper than his arms, it was what he needed, too.

“You stopped calling,” she whispered. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Nah. I was just trying to wean myself off you, to give you some room in case you wanted to, you know, let Jayne set you up with some other guy.”

Ellie took his face in her hands so she could look right into his eyes, through the storm clouding them.

“That wasn’t going to happen. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, Ponch, and you were my lightning.”

His brow furrowed. “I have no idea what that means, but the more I thought about you with anyone else…
Jeezus
…All I wanted to do was crawl through the phone line and strangle Jayne for even suggesting it.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to think our little plain Jayne’s been playing both of us.”

“It worked.”

“Yeah.” She smiled. “Thank God it worked.”

He smoothed his thumb across her cheek with a tenderness she’d never felt. “Would now be a good time to tell you I’m kind of in love with you?”

“Kind of?” she laughed. “Is that all? Just kind of?”

“Well, yeah.” He shrugged. “But it’s kind of a lot.”

“Good, because I’d really hate for this to be a one-sided thing here.”

His smile actually took her out that time, but he just tightened his hold on her.

When his leg vibrated against hers, they both laughed. “I’m going to guess that’s not just you being happy to see me.”

He dug down into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Hale…Hey, Jayne.”

Closing her eyes, Ellie let her forehead drop against Brett’s chest. Dinner at Jayne’s. Ugh.

“Thanks, but I’m going to have to pass. Got a lot going on tonight.” As he spoke, he tucked Ellie under his arm and led her around to the front door, where she’d left the key dangling in the lock.

“I started building a shed,” he said, giving the key a pointed look before pushing the door open and stepping aside to let Ellie in. “No, I don’t need Nick’s help.”

Tucking her fingers inside one of his belt loops, Ellie pulled him inside behind her, then locked the door while he stood stock-still with his phone up, watching her.

“Okay, well, uh, maybe I’ll swing by a little later.” As he spoke, Ellie shook her head at him while she kicked off her cleats and reached for the hem of her uniform shirt. “No? No! No to swinging by.”

Shirt off, she tugged the phone out of his hand. “Tell Maya she’ll have to drive herself tonight.”

Ellie could still hear Jayne sputtering when she hit the End button and tossed the phone onto the couch. Walking backward toward the stairs, she unsnapped her uniform pants and shimmied out of them.

There, that was the look she’d been waiting to see: his mouth open, eyes wide, and then…yup, there it was…the smile. He caught up to Ellie on the bottom step, where he wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her up tight against him.

“I should probably warn you right up front.” He leaned in and kissed her again, nipping her bottom lip and teasing a small moan from her. “I’m probably gonna hover a little bit.”

“Keep kissing me like that,” she said with a wink, “and I probably won’t care.”

Making it up the rest of the stairs took time as every kiss turned into two or three, every touch softer and longer than the last, until they collapsed on her narrow bed in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Did you ever think we’d be here?” she asked, marveling at the way he sucked in his breath when she trailed her fingers down his chest.

“Sure.”

“You did?” Stunned, she raised up a little so she could look down on his beautiful mouth, which he was trying to stop from grinning.

“Obviously not the first couple times I pulled you over, ’cause those were the times you kept telling me to shove my badge up my ass.”

Ellie flopped back on the bed and pressed her hands over her face, but he just laughed and pulled them down again. He pressed a slow kiss to the swell of her breast, sighing when she slid her hands over his head, raking her fingers gently through his hair.

“I knew you’d come around eventually, once you realized I wasn’t writing those tickets to amuse myself, that it was for your own safety.”

“Right,” she murmured, arching up into his touch. “Safety first.”

“Damn right.”

He smoothed his hand across her belly and up over her hip until she squirmed, restless and needy, urging him to…

“Shit!”
He leapt off the bed and scrambled around for his jeans, shoving his hand into each pocket and coming up empty. “Okay, you’re not going to believe this, but…
damn it!
Okay, don’t move, I’ll be right back. Don’t start without me!”

Stumbling and crashing, he tugged his jeans on as he headed for the stairs, then did an abrupt turn and came running back when she called his name.

“Top drawer.” She barely had the words out before he was yanking open every drawer in her dresser. “Top one, probably under the—”

His breath came out in a whoosh as he turned, one of her thongs in his right hand, the unopened box of condoms in the other.

“What?” Ellie laughed. “I figured if you ever came home, I should be prepared.”

“Always thinkin’.” He tossed the thong, ripped the package open, then stopped, his blue eyes twinkling. “But, you know…it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if safety didn’t come first all the time.”

“Nice try, buddy.” Ellie’s grin made him smile even more. “Now suit up and get over here.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He landed on the bed a full second before his jeans hit the floor.

“Tell you what.” Ellie pushed him back on the bed and crawled over him, her knees straddling his hips, her hands on either side of his head. “When the box is empty, we’ll talk about it, but for now…”

She kissed him slowly, dancing her tongue against his mouth…
wow, that mouth
…and wiggled down against him until he groaned, wrapped his hands around her hips, and held her still.

“Oh no,” she laughed, trying to squirm out of his grasp. “There’s no speed limit in here, Constable Hale. I can go as fast as I want, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Yeah?” Before she could catch her breath, he flipped her onto her back and hovered over her, his hands pinning her to the mattress, his grinning mouth a breath from hers. “Slow down, Ell, and just enjoy the ride.”

“But speed’ll get us there a lot faster,” she laughed, twisting beneath him.

“True enough.” He breathed a trail of kisses down the length of her neck, stopping to slide his tongue across her collarbone. “But the real fun is in the getting there, and holy shit do I have a lot of fun planned for you, so you might want to hold on to something.”

And that’s exactly what she did.

She held on to him for dear life.

To Kathy Works—because I still miss our morning coffee and because Elton John doesn’t tour nearly often enough.

Thanks to my agent, Holly Root, who makes me believe; to my editors, Sarah Murphy and Junessa Viloria, for their enthusiasm and brilliance; and to Bonnie Thompson, who worked her own kind of magic with her red pen. Thank you to Gina Wachtel, Katie Rice, Kimberly Cowser, the art department, and everyone else behind the scenes at Loveswept who work hard to make it all happen.

Thank you to Tracey Arnold, Greg Fisher, Andrea Hunter, Sergeant Wayne Pride, and Diane and Corporal Darren Stevens, who let me ask more questions than they probably thought I would, but who also answered each one with patience and good humor. The information I used may have been altered slightly to fit the purpose of the story, so any errors are mine and mine alone.

To Ann Christopher, Kristi Cook, Lori Devoti, Caroline Linden, Sally MacKenzie, and Eve Silver—I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—you ladies rock! Thank you for everything. No, seriously.
Everything.

To Ron, Thomas, Michael, and John…thank you for every single minute of every single day.

And a huge heartfelt thank you to the readers—you make it all possible!

Plain Jayne

Prima Donna

Accidentally in Love

L
AURA
D
REWRY
had been scribbling things for years before she decided to seriously sit down and write. After spending eight years in the Canadian north, Laura now lives back home in southwestern British Columbia with her husband, three sons, a turtle named Sheldon, and an extremely energetic German shepherd. She loves old tattered books, good movies, country music, and the New York Yankees.

lauradrewry.com

Facebook.com/LauraDrewryAuthor

@lauradrewry

Summer is here! Are you ready to take the vacation of a lifetime with Loveswept? Come on, let’s go places…

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And author Charlotte Stein releases
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the first novel in the Dark Obsession series, which tells the story of a beautiful wallflower who falls for a chiseled street fighter—and learns just how dangerous love can be.

Plus a special treat for romance fans—welcome to Vegas, as the entire
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bestselling author Tracy Wolff is now on sale as one book! Sebastian and Ethan—oh my!

Travel the country with Loveswept and stay tuned for more in July, because next month’s travels are just as exciting!

Happy romance!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher