Page 10 of Mess With Me
“Really? Huh.” She worked on looking suitably surprised. “I’m very sorry about that. Won’t happen again.” She smiled, really hoping he’d let her off with a warning.
He remained cop-faced tough. “You put yourself and others in danger when you speed.”
“Won’t happen again. Promise.” She widened her eyes and sent him an urgent telepathic message.Friends don’t give friends expensive tickets.
He didn’t get the message. “License and registration.”
She made a valiant attempt to change the subject while complying with the hard-ass. “Do you enjoy working out?” she asked while she fetched the license and registration from the glove compartment.
“I lift weights, run, hike, and swim.”
She handed him the requested items. “Wow! You’re like a quadrathon athlete.”
He stared at her driver’s license. It wasn’t the most flattering picture. She’d smiled and the guy had told her not to smile, so it had a weird half-frown, half-pursed-lip look. Also, her hair was frizzy from a terribly humid day.
“Never heard of a quadrathon,” he muttered. He lifted his head, stared at her, and then looked at her license again. Like he wasn’t sure if it was really the same person.
“I know it’s not the best picture, but it’s just me on a bad hair day. Anyway! Quadrathon athletes do four things. I made that up, but it seemed fitting. I bet you spend a lot of time at the gym.” She tried not to notice since he was with Cali, but the man wasrippedin the sexy way that appealed to all women everywhere. Massive shoulders, broad chest, and bulging biceps were clearly outlined in his short-sleeve blue cop shirt. Flat stomach too. For sure, she could bounce a quarter off those abs. And his forearms were tanned and ropey with muscle. She took all this in with a thoroughly objective eye, not a lusty haze, which was perfectly respectful of his couple status. Her gaze wandered lower to his utility belt full of cop gear and then lower to more…gear. She jerked her gaze back to his face and ordered her body to stop overheating. His face was quite handsome too—dark blue eyes, sharp cheekbones, clean-shaven square jaw softened by his full lips. If you weren’t scared off by his hard expression, you might conclude he was a hottie of the highest degree.
His expression softened a bit. “I skip the gym since I’ve got weights at my place. I prefer outdoors for exercise.” He abruptly turned and went back to his cruiser.
She sighed. She was definitely getting a ticket.
He returned a few minutes later and gave her a stern look. “You already have four points on your license for speeding. Two more points and you’ll be required to go to a driver retraining program.”
“Oh, Ethan,pleasedon’t give me a ticket. I was just excited to get my steps in.” She held up her wrist. “Look, I got my Fitness Mind today. Charlotte says I need ten thousand steps a day.”
He gave her a dead-eye cop stare for so long she knew he was thinking about letting her off. She blinked frantic telepathic messages at him:friends don’t give friends tickets, friends don’t give friends tickets.
He handed back her license and registration. “You get a warning for today—”
“Thank you!”
“On two conditions.”
“Anything.”
“You swear never to speed again.”
“I do, I swear!” She made a small cross over her heart. “Cross my heart and spit in my mother’s eye.”
He cracked a smile that catapulted him past hottie to spectacularly gorgeous. “That’s not…never mind. That’s fine. Other condition is, you get those steps in on a hike today with my hiking club.”
“That’s perfect! One of my new goals is to spend more time in nature. I’ve been so glued to the TV, my phone, and classroom work. In fact, I should get the kids out more too.”
“Hike’s one o’clock today at the reservation over in Fieldridge. I get off at noon. You want to go over together?”
She beamed. “Sure! Will Cali be there?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I’ll check in with her if you want. I mean, if you’re not comfortable with just me.” He leaned closer. “She’s my partner.”
She nodded once. Message received. It was rather enlightened the way Ethan called his girlfriend his partner. Obviously he had a great deal of respect for Cali. “Either way is good,” she assured him. “Thanks again! You’re a great cop.”
He gave her a small almost shy smile. “I was recently promoted to sergeant. I could’ve taken the test earlier, but I wanted more experience before I supervised other cops. Course, I still do patrol work, but the pay’s better.”
It was the most he’d ever shared and she knew the promotion must’ve meant a lot to him. “Congratulations!”
He saluted. “Thank you, ma’am.”
