identify what it was. Not sure I’ll ever be able to eat another candy bar.”
Leo’s head fell back as he laughed uproariously. “Damn, he chuckled. “That had to have been a special kind of hell for you. Stuck playin’ baby games and shit instead of out chasing tail.”
While that bastard got off on my misery, my mind flashed back to a particular part of the weekend that had been pretty fucking spectacular.
This wasn’t the first time images of that night had popped into my head. Far from it, actually. I’d jerked off more in the past couple days than I probably had in years. Every time I thought back to that night I got hard as stone, unable to get it under control and left with no choice but to fuck my fist until I came with the image of Hayden on the backs of my eyelids.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that night, and it was really screwing with my head. I’d never had a woman invade my thoughts the way she had, but it had just been so damn good. The best I’d ever had. I wanted a repeat. Then another. And another. That was uncommon for me. The feeling . . . the need was so goddamn strong it was unnerving.
Not only was it a pain in the ass, it was also a bad time for my head to be fucked up, considering everything that was going on.
For the past five months, Leo and I had been investigating the murder of a fellow officer. At first we’d gotten a whole lot of nothing. Each lead we ran down took us to a dead end. Then we hit pay dirt when a woman tied to ex-drug kingpin and current resident of the state penitentiary, Malachi Black, came forward with information on the shooting of Officer Darrin Callo.
It was worse than anything we could have expected. Not only was a cop dead, but it looked like there were other cops involved. We were now investigating our own, which meant we didn’t know who the hell we could trust.
Unable to bring in other officers to assist in the investigation, we’d connected with Lincoln Sheppard, a former Marine who ran a private investigation and security firm based here in Hope Valley. The man and his team had a gift for uncovering dirt, as well as a litany of other skills most civilians wouldn’t be able to wrap their heads around.
With everything we were doing needing to be covert and completely under the radar, I couldn’t risk my head not being in the game.
“You make it sound like all I care about is getting laid.”
“Maybe not the only thing,” he said. “But I’d be willing to bet it’s up there in the top two.”
I leaned back, kicked my boots up on my desk, and smirked. “Don’t hate me just ’cause you got yourself tied down and have to live vicariously through my incredible bachelorhood.”
He chuckled, giving his head a shake. “Keep telling yourself that, man. One of these days you’re gonna meet a woman you can’t get out of your head, and you’ll be fucked. And I’ll be the first to tell you I told you so.”
Red hair and eyes the color of sapphires came to mind . . . glorious curves and flushed, creamy skin. And fuck me, I was getting hard again.
Gritting my teeth against my body’s uncontrollable reaction, I tried to shake off what my partner had just said, only it was harder to do this time. “Not a chance in hell.”
My cell went off just then. One ring, then the call dropped. It was a signal from my informant to call her back. It was a code we’d come up with for when I was at the station and unable to talk.
Knowing exactly what that ring meant, Leo pushed to his feet, asking, “Feel like a coffee run?”
“Cup of joe sounds good.”
We exited the bullpen and headed out of the department. As soon as we were far enough away, I pulled the phone from my pocket and hit speed dial.
“What do you have for me,” I asked the instant the call connected.
My CI’s voice came through the line a moment later. “Not a lot. But, Micah . . . I think we may have a problem.”
Fucking shit. “Are you safe?” I growled through the line, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Yeah. I mean, I think so . . . for