Page 109 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

Out of the corner of hers, she saw him rise at the same time the garage door did. By the time she was done pulling in, shutting off her AMG and getting out, he was waiting for her in the garage.

“Sorry I’m late,” she started, climbing out. “I had to pick up something for breakfa?—”

Before she could even finish her excuse or close the driver’s door, the rucksack was dropped to the floor, and she found herself shoved against the car when he latched onto her neck and took her mouth.

Damn.Somebody was hungry, but not for the groceries in her trunk.

His tongue swept through her mouth, then began a deep exploration. She clutched his T-shirt like a lifeline when he very successfully turned her bones to liquid with the intensity of his kiss.

Not soon after his cock turned rock solid, he released her by taking a step back.

“Well, then…” she breathed, surprised but pleased with his greeting.

He held out his hand and when she took it, he pulled her upright.

“Hello to you, too,” she finished.

He picked up his baseball cap that had fallen to the floor during the kiss, beat it against his thigh, folded it in half and shoved it into his waistband at the small of his back.

Funny… Mark used to do that, too. If she had to guess, they must have been instructed to do that as cadets in the police academy.

Or in Nox’s case, he might have gotten into that habit in the Army.

Either way, it didn’t matter. His hands were now free to help her carry in the groceries. “I wasn’t expecting you to beat me here.”

“I wasn’t, either. You said a half hour.”

“And you said an hour, so I did an unscheduled stop at the grocery store.”

His hazel eyes swept the interior of her car before slicing to the rear of her Benz. “Pop the trunk.”

She was thrilled that she didn’t have to even ask for his help and knew what was expected and appreciated. She had to ask Keenan and Devyn twenty times to help and by the time they finished considering it, she already hauled all the groceries into the house herself and would find them digging through the bags she had already dragged inside and stuffing food in their mouths.

She really needed to train them better for their future spouses. She put that on her mental to-do list.

The second she pressed the trunk release on her key fob, he was opening it and grabbing bags.

When she came around, he shook his head. “I got it. You can unpack them as I carry them in.”

“I can carry a couple in with me.”

“Take your purse, I got the rest.”

Huh.There was no point standing there and debating it, so she headed inside and toward the kitchen with him on her heels.

“On the island?” he asked as he followed her through the house and into the chef’s kitchen that was one of her favorite rooms in the house.

“That’s fine,” she answered and dumped her purse on the counter. When she turned, he was already gone.

Damn.The man was on a mission.

Maybe he figured the sooner she got the groceries put away, the sooner they could get naked.

She could get on board with that plan.

She took him in when he returned to the kitchen and dropped off the last four bags on the counter. The man’s outfit tonight was a pair of jeans, boots and a T-shirt.

No thousand-dollar suit. No shined dress shoes. No jewelry except for the simple gold band he still wore on his left ring finger. Not even a drop of hair gel.

---