The two cops that had been chatting it up a few feet away. Jackson felt a chill walk up his spine and a sickly rush of regret and pain swam in his gut. It was a command he had given over and over again for years. It was still second nature.
And, God love him, as thoughag. Sargent stood up and came immediately to heel, clearly knowing what Jackson had meant to say and making no notice of the slip. He took no offense. It only solidified Jackson’s admiration and connection toward the canine cop.
But the humans around them were another story. They were suddenly watching him with an almost eager sort of wariness, as if they were staring at the high adrenaline danger of a ticking bomb.
“It’s only natural to become victim to longtime habits,” Marissa said softly, soothingly, as she put a gentle hand atop his biceps, her fingers warm through the fabric of his uniform shirt. He could smell her now and almost instantly the calamitous emotions caused by his faux pas were forgotten and other sensations rushed up to replace them. She smelled of sweetness, like fresh-baked cookies made with warm, gooey chocolate. It made him want to nibble and lick and …
He jerked his thoughts away when he felt himself getting hard. He drew away from her, turning his back to her, shutting down her empathy and ignoring her nearness the best he could.
“It happens,” he said with a shrug. He paused to give a hard look to the other two cops in the hall who immediately moved along and resumed their conversation.
“Do you want to …?” Marissa began predictably.
“Jesus, Doc,” he snapped shortly, “why does every little thing need to be talked about? That’s a hell of a world you live in. If I took time to kick around every stray feeling or negative thought I had I’d never get anything done.”
She bristled, as she invariably did when he dismissed the effectiveness of her work.
“I was just—”
“Well don’t,” he bit out, cutting her off. “I don’t need your mothering and fussing.” Then, without understanding why he did it, he turned back to her and stepped into her personal space. She immediately took a step back, but the wall was directly behind her now and she found herself pressed back into the painted cinder blocks. Oh, he knew it was playing with fire, bordering on insubordination and about to cross into sexual harassment, but he also couldn’t seem to make himself care enough to back off. “Unless you have other ways you’d like to fuss over me,” he said, his voice dropping so only she could hear him, and so there was no mistaking the intent of the remark.
She drew in a small, startled breath, holding it as she stared up at him and searched for a response that wouldn’t immediately come. As he looked down into her eyes he confessed to himself that he’d always found the blue-green color of them to be compelling and beautiful.
Pupils dilated. Pulse beating rapidly at the base of her long, beautiful neck, he heard ghosting through his thoughts. Whatever she says, she is aroused by our suggestion.
Our.
The pronoun in his mind caused him to falter and he stepped back awkwardly. Our. He was no longer a “me” or an “I.” He was a “we” and an “us.” He no longer spoke for only himself, and he no longer had his own mind and solely his own impulses to control.
He was searching for a graceful exit out of a situation of his own making when someone came running up to him, out of breath and clearly overexerted. Then again, Tim McMullen was always out of breath and overexerted. He’d put on as thoughag. quite a bit of weight over the years and probably hadn’t seen the inside of a gym since academy training.
“Jacks! Jacks, there’s a kid missing. Riley’s on vacation in Albany with his family,” he puffed, even though Jackson already knew the other K-9 officer was away. “The captain wants to know if you think Sargent is ready to help us out.”
“Whether he is or isn’t,” Jackson said, “it’s better than nothing.”
“I’ll come too,” Marissa said. “The family is going to need someone.”
“Took my next words out of my mouth, Doc,” Tim said with a toothy grin.
Marissa hadn’t realized that going to the scene of the missing child meant she would be forced to ride shotgun with the very officer she’d been trying to avoid for weeks. She