Page 58 of Special Agent Murphy

Chapter Thirty-six

“You feel like a beer?”

Murphy waited for her answer. He craved rye and coke himself, but that would have to wait until he got home.

By the time they’d overseen the cops’ arrests on Somers and his boys, and got Rob comfortably ensconced in a hospital bed with Talin beside him, it was nearing midnight. Finally, they could leave and get back to their original idea to stop at Coopers.

Kayti had sat beside a terrified Talin, talking quietly to keep his mind occupied until they allowed him into his dad’s room. Now free of commitments, she turned to him with that lovely warm smile. The one she saved only for him and had been flashing his way all night.

He almost decided the hell with the bar. He’d just take her home with him and show her how she made him feel – like a young kid with his first crush.

“Sure.” Her answer didn’t surprise him at all. This woman was a pleaser, and he had to admit to being a certified control freak who needed someone able to handle him. If he was in charge, his world sat solid. The few girls he’d tried to get serious with rocked that particular ship so badly, the rot started seeping in within a few weeks.

It’s not that he didn’t believe in equality for the sexes, and in women’s rights. And most certainly, to earn the same as a man if they’re doing the exact job. Especially in law enforcement where they took the same risks.

Somehow, he just didn’t know why the girls wouldn’t let him treat them gently. Like a cherished female creature rather than having to always compete for whose balls were bigger.

In the car, he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? That bastard was squeezing you damn hard.”

She laughed. “Not for long after you appeared.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t rip his face off. Hitting a woman. Jesus, there’s no limits for these low-lives.”

“Murphy, you know you sound like a chauvinist, right?”

“So! It’s the way my mom brought me up. The guys I trained with were always going on about how if a woman chose to be in the game, they needed to take the hits without tears. And they’re right. But somehow, I still think women deserve just a little more respect – not for how strong or smart they are, but for their capacities to nurture. Not saying some men don’t have that gift also, of course they do. But it’s not the same. God made males responsive to certain stimuli, or at least he did so with me. I like valuing the femininity in a soft-hearted woman.”

“I’m okay with that. More than okay. If that makes me the weaker sex, I’ll let you believe it.”

“Jesus! See… you’re my kind of girl.”

“What kind is that?”

“A lady who knows her place.”

***

Giggling, Kayti caught on he was pulling her chain. “You said it like that to get a response, admit it.”

“Who, me?” The innocence rang false.

“Yes, you. First, you call me a lady and then you try and insult me.”

He laughed huskily; a sound so sweet it twisted her insides. And made her want to lean across the seat and kiss the hell out of the teasing devil.

“Busted. Doll, you’d be surprised at how many females take that kind of talk the wrong way and get all huffy about what they consider an insult.”

“Not me. If my man wants to treat me like I matter more than anything else in his world, how could I take offense?”

Murphy wheeled into the bar’s lit-up parking lot and stopped the SUV near the outdoor tree, lit up for the holidays. Then he leaned across the center console and whispered, “Come here.”

She went immediately, and let his mouth find hers in a kiss so mind-blowingly sweet, she knew another spike had just been driven into the gold-lined container where she’d tentatively placed his heart.

Rowdy yelling and drunken slurs shared between friends stumbling to their vehicles brought them back to earth. He held her face away and stared into her eyes. His were big and soft and brown and sultry with passion and… oh God, she didn’t want him to ever stop looking at her like that.

“We’ll pick this up later, doll. Okay with you?”

“Very okay.” When she heard what she’d said, she understood his grinning response. Flustered, she pulled away, got out of the SUV and headed for the entrance.

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