Page 4 of One Tough Love

Wes watched as she started her car. He was trying to figure out an appropriate way to ask her to go for coffee, a drink, anything so he could see the beautiful woman again, but for some reason he knew she would turn him down, the timing was totally wrong. Instead he leaned into the open window.

“Jo put your belt on and use your blinker.” He said using a low ‘obey me’ voice that made Jo’s insides melt. He looked over to Officer Laramie and then back to her.

“You don’t have your license now do you?” Wes knew if the cop knew that, he could arrest her.

She shook her head no and she heard Wes mumble ‘shit’ under his breath. Officer Laramie honked his horn to get Jo moving. Jo quickly buckled up, put on her blinker, and mumbled a polite but quiet thank you to Wes. Her Good Samaritan had probably saved her from receiving two more tickets.

Wes walked to the sidewalk and watched Jo pull away. He noted how the officer stayed behind her and he hoped she would make it home without the dick- head cop pulling her over. B. J. Ross, where the hell had he heard that name before? Wes walked up the street thinking about the woman he’d just met.

She was pretty, but not in a delicate, fragile sense. She was curvy and had great legs, his hands could attest to that. Her hair was a mixture of colors all within the honey blond to golden wheat range. Her eyes were captivating, and he knew he'd see them again in his dreams. They were pale blue and rimmed with dark long lashes. She had a cute nose and pink full lips. When she had chewed on her bottom lip he had thoughts that made even him feel guilty. He chuckled to himself as he remembered how the feisty little thing had grabbed on to the car when she thought he was stealing it. He liked women with a little spunk.

B.J. Ross, B.J. Ross, he needed to Google her name. He knew he’d heard it before. Wes turned into the doorway of a three-story nondescript, brick building and inserted a card key into the slot next to the door. A buzz sounded and Wes pulled open the door. Once inside he felt the cool air from the central air conditioning waft over him. He then diligently buttoned his collar and pulled up his tie needing to look presentable in case there were any clients inside.

Wes walked to the elevator in the foyer and pressed the up button and when the door immediately opened he stepped in and pressed 3. He leaned back against the wall and folded his muscled arms over his chest. He couldn’t stop thinking about Jo, B.J., who ever she was. Her shirt had been almost transparent from her sweat, molding to her like a friggin' wet tee shirt, and he had done a damn good job of not looking at her breasts, even when they were at his eyes level when he had stooped down to care for her skinned knees. She had a beautiful smile and she was so unassuming. Wes knew she had no idea how gorgeous she was. She had to be athletic; he had felt her small, well-defined calf muscles when he had held her legs while cleaning her cuts. Wes shut his eyes and all he saw was Jo’s sad blue eyes silently begging him to stay quiet. Wes rubbed his large hand over his face trying to wipe that haunting image from his mind.

The elevator doors opened and Wes stepped into the large reception room. No one was sitting on the couch so Wes pulled his tie’s knot down then turned his neck to the side as he unbuttoned his collar. Betty chuckled seeing him make himself comfortable.

She smiled cheerily at him. “Hey boss. Hot one today.”

“Hi Betty, yup, brutal. Anything I need to know?” He asked his receptionist.

“Nope, it’s been quiet.”

Wes nodded and walked through the smoky glass door that separated the reception area from the offices. The door that he stopped at was opened and Wes turned to stand in the doorway. Inside he saw that Jace, one of his partners and good friend, was standing by an open window smoking.

“Jace, come on man, we talked about this. This is a no smoking area.”

“Wes it’s too fucking hot to stand outside.”

“Quit man.” Wes replied with no sympathy.

Jace snuffed out his cigarette onto an ashtray that was on the sill of his window and then shut the window leaving the ashtray outside.

“So what’s new?” Jace asked seeing that his friend had an odd look on his face.

Wes thought of Jo.

“Ever hear of a B. J. Ross?”

“B.J. not a good name to be saddled with.” Jace smirked.

“Yeah, ever hear of her?”

The door next to Jace’s office opened and behemoth of a man appeared.

“B.J. Ross?” The giant repeated.

“Yeah, ever hear of her?” Wes said turning slightly towards his other partner and friend.

“She’s the journalist that shook up the station house last year, remember?”

Wes slapped his forehead. “Oh man, of course, I’m an idiot. Well that certainly explains a lot.”

“Explains what?’ The big man asked.

Wes proceeded to tell his two best friends about meeting Jo.

When he finished the story Jace said, “No shit.”

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