“Lotta women not worth that effort,” Dev returned. “Though, the one you got on your hands, boy, it is and it is ‘cause it’s not gonna be easy at all and that means… kaboom!”

Layne walked to the toothbrush and tagged it, saying, “Like I said, brace.”

Then he turned and walked up the stairs and into his room. He found Rocky in the bathroom in her bra, her back to him, zipping up the back of her skirt.

“Toothbrush, sweetcheeks,” he said and she whirled, one arm going to her middle, one arm covering her br**sts but not before he saw her bra, too, was deep pink and made entirely of lace.

Christ.

“A moment of privacy, Layne,” she snapped, her eyes full of fire.

Her hair was back in a ponytail and Layne tossed the toothbrush on the bathroom counter, set his mug down and walked up to her. He reached around, wrapped his fist around her ponytail, tugged her head gently back and kissed her hard and closed-mouthed.

When he lifted his head he kept his hand at her ponytail so she couldn’t move.

Therefore, she had to fight her fight verbally. “What was that?” she hissed up at him and he grinned down at her.

“Hot piece of ass in my bathroom wearin’ nothin’ but a sexy bra and a tight skirt after she spent the night pinnin’ me down to the bed, I walk in on her, I’m gonna kiss her.” He gave her ponytail a playful tug. “Just keepin’ it real, sweetcheeks.”

“Don’t call me a piece of ass,” she snapped, definitely pissed.

“Baby,” he replied, not pissed at all.

“And will you stop calling me sweetcheeks?” she asked on a demand.

“No,” he answered.

She glared at him then stated, “I did not pin you down to the bed.”

“Rocky, you were all over me.”

“Was not.”

“You were.”

“Was not!” Her voice was rising.

“Why do you think you got the wakeup call you got, Roc?” he lied through his teeth. “Man wakes up with a woman wrapped around him, he acts on instinct.”

She tugged her hair from his hand and stepped back, forgetting she was only wearing a bra and skirt, she planted her hands on her hips.

“I see us sleeping together is not going to work,” she declared.

“I don’t know,” he grinned, “worked for me.”

She leaned back. “You do know, every cop on the Force thinks of me like a sister? It’s highly unlikely they’ll arrest me for assault and battery.”

Layne couldn’t take it anymore, he tipped back his head and laughed and, since he didn’t have to fight the urge, his arm shot out and hooked her around the waist, yanking her forward roughly so her body slammed into his, he tilted his head forward and shoved his face in her neck so he could laugh there.

“Layne,” she called, her hands on his abs pushing.

“Give me a second, sweetcheeks, I’m tryin’ not to bust a gut here.”

“Layne!” she shouted.

His head came up and he smiled down at her. Then he kept smiling down at her as he wrapped his other arm around her shoulder blades and pulled her closer, trapping her hands between them.

Then he dipped his face close to hers and he whispered, “You’re cute as hell when you get pissed. You always were cute as hell when you got pissed. I used to piss you off just to see you get pissed, I liked it so much.”

Her hands stopped pushing and her lips parted as the fire died out of her eyes and she gazed up at him with that intensity in her eyes.

He dropped his head so his forehead was resting against hers. “And, baby, I don’t like it any less now,” he whispered.

He heard her suck in a soft breath but he ignored it, touched his mouth to hers and let her go.

Turning, he nabbed his coffee mug and didn’t look at her as he walked out of the room, saying, “Dev went to Hilligoss. There’s two dozen donuts downstairs. You better get down there before the boys do, sweetcheeks, or you’re gonna be disappointed.”

Then he walked out of the room.

Chapter Thirteen

My Kind of Partner

The security beep sounded and Layne, sitting at his desk in his office, turned to look at the monitor.

Colt was walking up the steps.

Layne glanced at his watch and clenched his jaw. He was late. He was supposed to go over to Rocky’s for a quick dinner before they went to the boys’ game. But that afternoon a bitter wind started to whip through the ‘burg and he needed to go home and get a sweater. To get to Rocky’s, he should have left ten minutes ago. To get home and then get to Rocky’s, he should have left twenty minutes ago.

He heard the front office door open and close and he reached out to the desk to pick up his cell. He started to flip it open when Colt’s tall frame filled the doorway and his thumb on his phone stopped when he saw Colt’s expression.

“Have a minute?” Colt asked.

“I didn’t until I saw your face,” Layne answered.

Colt walked in, sat down in one of the two chairs facing Layne’s desk and didn’t say a word or take his eyes from Layne.

“Give me a second, I gotta call Rocky. I’m already late for dinner,” Layne told him and Colt nodded.

Layne flipped open the phone and scrolled down to Raquel’s number as he watched Colt lean forward and tag a yellow legal pad from Layne’s desk then he nabbed a pen. He sat back and started writing on the pad while Layne put the phone to his ear.

It rang once then, “Hey Layne!”

Layne blinked and his eyes unfocused so much Colt was there but he’d disappeared.

She sounded excited and happy, excited and happy to hear from him.

It had been two days since Keira, pasta bake and Rocky spending the night in his bed.

After that, Rocky had put her shields up but it wasn’t the same game as she’d been playing. It was friendlier, more open but she was still on guard. He let her have that play and backed off, not because he intended actually to back off but because he wanted to soften her up, get her guard down, take her off-balance before he made his next play.

Not to mention, he had to wait until she was done with her f**king period.

They’d slept together both nights in his bed. Both nights she started with her back to him and both nights he’d woken with her pinning him to the bed. Each morning, Layne woke before Rocky, waited until she did and also waited while she slid carefully away and exited the bed. Layne never let on that he was awake before her and Rocky never spoke of it. He didn’t know if she knew he was awake and she didn’t share.