Totally, Sweetly, Irrevocably(4)

Her eyes narrowed. “I was talking about Mrs. B’s in there.”

“Oh? You don’t have one?”

“A friend of mine gave one to me once. I used it for dart practice.”

He laughed, a husky, throaty sound that resonated deep in her gut. She cleared her throat and almost dropped her gaze. But there was no way she was going to let some cop intimidate her. For any reason. She stuck her chin up.

He sighed and took hold of her arm. “If you’ll step inside, please.”

The warmth from his skin soaked into hers, and she pulled away. The man was a cop. Who’d ruined what was probably the perfect chance to catch Tony in the act. No warm and fuzzies were allowed.

“I don’t see why I need to go inside. I came from down there,” she said, pointing to the street below. “I’m sure Mrs. B doesn’t want me in her apartment. She called the cops on me, after all, and—”

“Don’t mind at all, dear,” Mrs. Bogetti said, popping her head out the window. “I just didn’t want you on the fire escape spying on who-knows-who with those goggles of yours.”

The cop gestured toward the window.

Gina sighed. “Fine, Officer…” She squinted at his name badge. “Boyd. Whatever you say.”

She gathered up her spy gear and shoved it all in a backpack before ducking into Mrs. Bogetti’s apartment. Nat was going to give her so much shit for this. The cops had been busting Gina’s balls for months because of her parking, driving, jaywalking…pretty much anything she had done, they’d seemed to find fault with. And now, she finally had an opportunity to really let a pain-in-the-ass cop have it and she only got a few words out, before the fact that the officer was the most gorgeous specimen of hunked-up manhood she’d ever seen made her go soft in the head.

This day so needed to be over. Unfortunately, Officer Boyd looked like he was gearing up for a world-class lecture. Perfect. Exactly what she needed after the craptastic end to her almost-successful stakeout. He droned on and on about the rights and wrongs of spying and trespassing to the point that even he looked bored with it.

Gina was so done. He’d said she must go inside. And she had. But he hadn’t said she had to stay there. She turned on her heel in the middle of a quote of some statute or law and marched through Mrs. Bogetti’s living room to the front door. Gina had her hand on the knob when he stopped her.

“We’re not quite through, Miss…?”

“Silvano,” Mrs. Bogetti supplied helpfully. “Gina Silvano.”

“I’m cutting you off, Mrs. B. No more free cupcakes,” Gina said, scowling at her neighbor.

The old woman just smiled at her and went to get the officers a glass of iced tea.

Gina turned around to grasp the doorknob again, but stopped in her tracks when Officer Boyd’s finger touched the back of her neck.

“Did that hurt?” he asked, lightly running his finger over the tattoo on the sensitive skin beneath her hairline.

She turned back around, breaking the contact, though a large part of her wanted to lean back into his touch, not move away from it. What the hell? She really needed to get a grip.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Why do it then?”

She frowned at him, trying to figure out his game. Why in the world did he care? “I liked the sentiment.”

“‘Always’? With a lightning bolt?” he asked with a small grin.

Her lips stretched into an answering smile before she could stop herself. “I like Harry Potter, too. Sue me.”

He laughed. “Seems like ‘I solemnly swear I’m up to no good’ would be more appropriate for you.”

She turned and blinked innocently at him. “Who says I don’t have that on some other part of my body?”

His eyes widened. There. She’d let him chew on that thought for a while. Served him right.

Officer Boyd cleared his throat, all business again. “Miss Silvano, I meant what I said. If your truck gets vandalized again, call us. Don’t try to find or confront the culprits yourself. It could be dangerous.”

“I know who the culprit is. I just can’t prove it yet. I can handle Tony. Are we done?”

The officer looked her over, his forehead creasing in a frown. “I think it’s best if I escort you home. Make sure you don’t get in any more trouble on the way.”

“Are you going to cuff me, too?” She held up her wrists, making sure her tone was as sarcastically sweet as she could make it.

His gaze burned into hers, heating up until she could feel an answering warmth spreading through her. He leaned closer so only she could hear. “Only if you want me to.”