Page 15 of He Sees You

For now. Dragonfly-sanctioned or not, this stops tonight. Most of Dove’s dealing took place at Waverly’s, with customers coming for a ‘picture’ and leaving with an addition to their personal stashes. On the few occasions when she had to come down to this empty alley, I was never in time to break it up—until tonight.

After seeing that Eclipse junkie looking like he was about to jump her for the drugs, I’m beginning to realize just how dangerous of a game she was playing. Fuck, no. Never again.

She’ll understand that soon, and if I have to use my job against her to get her to give it up, I will.

For now, though, I’ll use the promise of what Icoulddo to her to get her to give me what I want.

And what I want more than anything this Christmas?

IsDove.

I push the drugs against her palm. “If I take it, it goes into evidence. I’ll have to arrest you. Book you.” I wait for her to close her fingers around the bag. “Take you downtown, Dove.”

I’d been so careful to call her by her last name, especially after she supplied it. But,fuck. It’s so formal to refer to my future wife by the surname she’ll shed as soon as she takes mine. Calling her Dove, though? It’ll do until I can call hermine.

She blinks, slightly stunned. “You know my name?”

I knoweverything.

She frowns. “I didn’t tell you my name.”

No. She didn’t.

Dove takes a step closer to me, peering at my face. “Hang on… don’t I know you?” Her gaze dips down to my nameplate. “‘Coleman’,” she murmurs before her eyes go wide. “Idoknow you! You’re the cop that helped me when that crazy chick punched me in the face at work!”

Ah. I swallow my grin.

So shedoesremember.

Something changes in the air. It feels charged somehow, and I’m not sure if it’s me or if it’s Dove. It’s like some of her nerves disappeared as quickly as she vanished the baggie of Eclipse into her coat pocket.

Her lips twitch, a hint of a smile appearing on the corner of her mouth. “You were nice. Helpful. Thank you for that.”

“It was my pleasure,” I tell her—and I mean it.

Dove tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “So… since you gave me my supply back… is it okay if I just go?”

Oh, Dove. You know better than that.

“I wish I could let you off as easy as that,” I tell her, my tone mournful even as my heart races in anticipation once more. “But this isn’t like running a red light or a stop sign. I can’t just giveyou a warning and send you on your way. This is serious. I’m sure you know that.”

She drops her eyes to the dirt, but not before I see the flashes of frustration and annoyance. “I… yes. I do.”

“Exactly. So I’m sure you understand that I’d be a real shitty cop if I didn’t do something about this. Then again,” I add, smirking slightly when Dove’s eyes shoot back to my face, “it’s almost Christmas. The paperwork alone… maybe we can come to an agreement.”

Her tongue darts out, dabbing the corner where her lips meet. “Look, I think I can guess what you’re getting at.” She exhales softly, resignation flashing across her face. “You’re a cop, but you’re also a guy. What is it you want? Head? Sex? If that’s what you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

I’m sure she will. In fact, I intend to take everything she has to give me—but not like this. Not when she can consider anything that passes between us pure blackmail and not desire.

I’m not offended that she’d jump to that conclusion, either; that I’d let her go if she let me have her. Dove’s not the first perp to offer favors to me or Burns to get us to look the other way. Most only make the suggestion once before realizing it’s pointless. If there’s one thing the criminals in Springfield learn quickly, it’s that Burns is fanatically loyal to his wife. I’ve seen him book a hooker for promising him a quickie when he would’ve let her go if she hadn’t gestured flippantly at his wedding band before mentioning that what his pretty little wife didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt her.

Burns is too devoted to his wife to entertain the idea. Me? Maybe before I met Dove, I would’ve… but now the only woman I want in this world isthisone.

But not like this. It’s blackmail, sure, but when I fuck her for the first time, it’ll be because she wanted to welcome me into herluscious body, not because I made her… unless I have no other choice, that is.

“It’s Christmas,” I say again. “There’s no mistletoe out here, but I’ll take a Christmas kiss anyway.”

There. That’s harmless enough. And if I don’t tell her that I’m feeling magnanimous enough to accept just a kiss because she already gave me an orgasm earlier tonight when I came watching her fuck the Christmas dildo I gave her, well… there’s a reason I’m on Santa’s naughty list, too.

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