laugh.”
He wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to him. Was he supposed to respond? If so, he had no idea what to say. No one had ever talked to him the way she was at this moment. No one had ever looked at him like she was looking at him right now. Like she saw him. Every part of him, including the parts he wasn’t proud of.
It was more than that. She didn’t just see those parts of him—she accepted them.
For one insane moment he felt like all of his sins had been washed away. All of the dirty deeds he’d done all in the name of “the ends justify the means” was water under the bridge. He could start fresh because this beautiful creature saw it all and pardoned him.
He nearly groaned aloud at his own stupidity. What was happening to him? He was a world-weary, been-there-done-that, seen-it-all cop, for crying out loud. He did not do feelings.
Whatever she saw right now, it was enough to make her back off a bit. She dropped her arms to her side and some of the tension seeped out of her. “Okay, look. You don’t have to tell me all your secrets. But because this camera and its pictures belong to me, I think I have a right to know why you want them.”
She had a point. Unfortunately the truth would only lead to more questions. Questions that he couldn’t answer. “Could you just trust me?” Even as he asked it, he knew it was a ridiculous thing to say. Who was he in her life that he could ask that? But to his surprise, it worked.
Blowing out a long exhale, she flipped some pink hair over her shoulder and gazed up at him. Did she have any idea how beautiful she was?
“Okay, here’s the deal,” she said. “I’ll trust you, but you have to trust me too.”
What did that mean? He bit back the initial urge to refuse. He didn’t trust people as a rule. It had taken him years to trust Eddie and they worked together.
She held up the camera. “I hold on to this, and tomorrow morning you and I will go through the pictures together.”
Yeah right. Also, big time no. For the first time since she walked into his tattoo shop earlier that day, Cole started to come to his senses. Who did this woman think she was? She’d been either throwing him off his game or outright playing him all day. This woman was sweet and loveable, but that didn’t mean she could run this show. There was more on the line here than she realized.
It was time he got the upper hand. He needed to man up now or be stuck watching her dangle the camera like a carrot until he played by her rules. No, thank you.
With that in mind, he moved closer. Not enough to intimidate or scare, but enough to throw her off balance, just like she’d done to him. He was a trained detective—he knew how to read tells. He’d noticed how she’d blushed around him earlier. She might be able to turn him on with just a whiff of her shampoo, but he’d made her uncomfortable and he hoped it was because she felt an attraction too.
There was one way to find out.
He edged closer, leaning down slightly so he was in her space, just as she’d done to him. When he was close enough he could reach out and grab the camera, he closed the distance between them.
It was a gamble. She could run screaming in the opposite direction, or even kick him out of her apartment. But when his lips met hers, she did neither of those things.
The contact was brief but electric and her quiet gasp told him she felt it too. He hovered there—for one split second he forgot why exactly he’d decided to kiss her. He was too focused on the feel of her soft lips beneath his that he lost track of the fact that this was a game.
She, on the other hand…
“Nice try,” she whispered against his lips. As she spoke, she moved the camera behind her back and out of reach unless he wanted to terrify the girl and use brute strength to grab it from her hands.
He might be desperate but he wasn’t willing to resort to scaring an innocent, albeit irritating, young woman.
He watched his opportunity to snag the camera walk away from him as she padded barefoot