Page 31 of Fall Back
Now that I’m standing in front of the man, I’m not at all impressed. He’s shorter than my 6’3” height. While I tend to be on the lankier side, I’m still strong and fit. Dave though? He’s round around the middle and not in the dad bod kind of way women find hot. Everything about him screams sedentary and lazy.
“Why would I threaten you?” I cock my head to the side as I study him. “I’m just informing you about our little town. You aren’t from around here and might need an education.”
My words sound innocent, but my tone is anything but. It’s all hard edges and sharp corners sharpened to the point of cutting.
I can only hope he bleeds out with my words. It would save me a lot of time.
When he puffs up his chest, I sigh internally. He’s not taking the hint.
“I’m here to visit with a former employee, if you must know.”
The way his eyes sparkle with malice tells me he’s expecting me to lose my cool. What he doesn’t know, what he would have no way of knowing, is how I’ve faced scarier men than him and walked away with my life and morality intact.
Even with him being a threat to my woman, I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of getting under my skin. Now, if I weren’t in uniform? I don’t know if I could be quite so noble.
But that’s not how I found him.
“Is that so,” I sound condescending as fuck and Dave bristles under my tone. “Did this former employee know you were coming, or did you just show up like some psycho?”
He scoffs, “I’m not a fucking psycho.”
I hold up my hands in mock surrender. “No reason to get upset,” I offer, a casual grin stretching my lips. “It was a valid question since stalking isn’t exactly a good look. You should know the judges in this town don’t take too kindly to it and are extremely helpful when it comes to restraining orders. Once oneis in place, there are a lot more hoops for said stalker to jump through. Is it worth all of that or is it time to just head home?”
Dave stares at me for a long time, the moment stretching between us. I’m not sure which way this is going to go, but I know he’s going to back down so he can go lick his wounds and regroup somewhere else. He’s rattled, even if he tries to hide it from me.
“Unless you’re detaining me, Officer,” he sneers the honorific like it’s a bad word, “then I think I’ll be on my way.”
“Now, who said anything about detaining you? We were just having a friendly chat,” the underlying promise of violence in my words are clear to hear.
Dave steps back, once and then again, before he swallows hard. We stare at each other for another long moment, my resolve clear to see as he struggles with himself. It would be amusing if he weren’t here to fuck with my woman.
Without another word, not even a goodbye, Dave turns and scurries away. I hate letting him go, but I don’t really have another choice.
He’s lucky I’m on shift right now or else I would be devoting my time to following him all day and night. But that’s not really feasible. Or legal.
When I glance at my watch, I blow out a breath and then turn to head toward Big Sky, not even bothering with walking back to my cruiser. It’s about lunch time and Carson should have a break right about now.
I need to see my woman and hold her, even if it is only for a moment.
Coming face to face with Dave and knowing that he’s not going to just leave and go back to Colorado has me feeling on edge. I’ll do my fucking best to ensure my little criminal is safe, but I can’t be with her all day, every day.
Even if I could, it would probably annoy the shit out of her. As amusing as it would be to watch her get all huffy, it would only add to her stress which is the last thing I want to do.
When I swing the door to the tattoo shop open and step inside, Carson is going over aftercare instructions with a client near the reception desk. Her head comes up as the bell chimes and the smile she gives me is full of sunshine and hits me square in the chest.
After she’s done with her client, she practically skips over to me. I thought about telling her about my run-in with Dave, but this is the lightest she’s been in a few days and I’m not going to do anything to bring her down. Not right now.
“Hey,” she breathes before her voice drops slightly, “have I ever told you how sexy you are in your uniform?”
I groan softly as my cock thickens in my uniform pants. “If only I could drag you into the bathroom and make all your cop fantasies come true.”
Her eyes sparkle with mischief and she bites her lip. “Maybe another time. You know, at night at home, when you’re not on shift.”
Fire races through my veins and my hands itch to grab her and haul her against my chest to ensure she can feel just how hard I am for her. How I hold off, I’ll never know.
“Is this a good time for a lunch break?” I force the question out instead of giving in to the lust arcing between us.
“I could eat,” she murmurs, the innuendo in her words not lost on me.
