Page 63 of Whatever It Takes

“Good Morning.”Charlotte’s sweet morning voice feathered against my chest while I ran my fingers through her hair. I wanted to chuckle because there was nothing sweet about the way she looked when I took her from behind last night on all fours.

I have officially been upgraded from the couch to the bedroom, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

After cleaning out Grant’s bedroom and ridding the house of his shit, we finally sat down and had “the talk” with Emery. At first she was quiet, but I think she understood more than she let on. I assured her that I wasn’t trying to replace her father. Even though I would in a heartbeat if she would let me.

“I’m headed into work early. I’m going to be working late this week, so I can take Friday off for Brody’s wedding,” I told her, while tucking a piece of her unruly hair behind her ear.

She slipped her hands under my shirt. The feeling of her soft fingertips caressing my skin had my dick swelling through my sleep pants.

“That’s a shame. I was hoping we’d have enough time to shower together before you left.”

It was cute watching her trying to persuade me. “I’m all for preserving water and saving the planet, but you wore me out last night, and the night before, so my dick is the one that needs saving right now. How about we give him a little rest.”

She smacked me in the chest. “Your dick will get a permanent rest with that attitude.”

I raised an eyebrow. She was feisty this morning. Over the past two weeks, I was starting to see parts of the old Charlotte reappear. Sure, she still called me out on my bullshit and put me in my place. But I liked how her eyes lit up whenever I walked into a room. The way she would laugh at my stupid jokes and turned my heart into a puddle just from a simple smile. And I loved how she made me feel.

Happy. Content. Peaceful.

“We’re official now, right?” I asked, staring at her mouth. For some reason I needed to hear her say the words. Maybe it was because the thought that this could all be pulled away from me weighed heavily on my mind.

“Define official, please,” she answered, stretching her bare legs out under the sheets and then wrapping them around mine.

I folded my arms around her, pulling her close. “Meaning you’re mine and I’m yours.”

God, I sounded like an insecure teenage girl. Normally, I wasn’t such a sap, but she still had no clue about what Grant did to her. My only hope was that she wouldn’t kick my ass to the curb when she found out I kept it from her.

She wet her bottom lip and dragged her fingers up to my neck. “I’ve always been yours, Quinn.”

I rolled her on her back, loving how easy things were between us. “I think I need to dirty you up a bit before we take that shower.”

She grinned. “Well, what are you waiting for? We don’t have all day, remember? You’ve got a job to get to. Ticktock.”

I laughed, crashing my mouth down to hers. She wrapped her ankles around my back and drew me closer. There was no rush, no urgency as I slowly made love to her like we had all the time in the world.

By the time I finally pulled out of her, I took the quickest shower of my life. Alone. Promising her a rain check because I really had to get to work.

When I got to the precinct, I spotted a few guys that I knew and gave them a brief hello. I hopped on the elevator and headed downstairs where the patrol cops were getting ready for roll call.

I was surprised to see my target already standing by the door. “Officer Garcia,” I greeted him and slipped my hands inside my pockets. I took quick stock of his appearance and liked the fact that I had to look down at him in order to talk to him.

He looked like Mr. Smooth, standing there all confident like he was some top-notch cop that thought he was better than everyone else. I had a sixth sense about people. We were taught that we were all equals no matter what our titles said. We were brothers. But Caleb Garcia hit on my woman and I needed to address that.

“Yes.” He took me in from top to bottom, sizing me up. “Can I help you?”

In smaller departments, where everyone knew each other this would have been a bit awkward. With a city the size of Philadelphia, we had over seven thousand officers expanding over one hundred forty square miles with fifty-five different locations, so not everyone was on a first name basis. Officer Garcia was going to learn who I was really quick.

“Detective Walker.” I held my hand out for a shake.

He must have sensed something was up because he squared his shoulders and met my gaze.

“What can I do for you, Detective?” His grip was equally as firm.

I pulled the card that he gave Charlotte out of my pocket and handed it to him. “I wanted to return this to you.”

He flipped it over and eyed it with confusion. “Did you find this somewhere?”

The briefing sergeant, Anthony Sardino, passed us by and patted me on the shoulder. “Walker, good to see you.” Then he looked at Garcia. “Two minutes, Officer.”

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