Page 68 of Cop Daddy Next Door

“Sure you can carry that?” the guy running the game asked teasingly.

Mav leaned around me and flashed him a wolfish grin. “If she can’t, I can.”

I elbowed him in the gut and he danced backward, holding my giraffe hostage.

When he noticed me sniffing the air near the cider stand, he bought us big cups of hot apple cider with cinnamon swizzle sticks, and we sipped them as we walked beside the softly rippling lake.

“You’re cold,” he murmured after I’d tossed my cider cup in a trash can. He didn’t wait for me to agree before he set the giraffe on the sidewalk and tucked my hand into his jacket pocket, enfolded with his own. “I’d do the same with the other, but we’d probably have trouble walking that way.”

“Not to mention carrying the giraffe would be a little tough.”

“I could strap it on my back.”

“There’s an idea.”

I laughed and used my free hand to bring his mouth down to mine. Within no time, the usual urgency built between us, heat flaring low in my belly as he took the kiss from leisurely to hungry. His soft lips tasted of sugar and rich apple and cinnamon, all the best fall flavors offset by the crisp wind coming off the water.

All my earlier fears drained away. There was just this cozy, perfect moment.

“I want to take you to bed,” he murmured against my mouth.

“Mmm-hmm.”I didn’t open my eyes. “How about taking me on the grass?”

“In front of the whole town? You really want me to get fired?”

“Sure. I can support us both. Well, depending how good you make it for me. If I’m paying the bills, I have certain standards.”

“Oh, do you now?” He tugged me against him.

Playfully, I struggled, and my shoe slipped off, getting caught on the stones that lined the lake pathway. I overcorrected and tried to grasp my shoe.

Then I slipped on the wet rocks.

I couldn’t even make a noise as the sky seemed to pinwheel. I grabbed frantically for him, fisting his shirt as his arms locked around me and we nearly fell into the lake together. He hauled me back and clamped his mouth to mine, kissing me with far more desperation than he had even a few moments ago.

“Are you okay?” His hands roamed over me and not for purposes of sexual congress. “Christ, Van, you scared a lifetime off me.”

“Especially because I can’t swim.” I framed his cheeks in my hands, my heart throbbing so fast, I could barely hear him over the wild beat.

His phone went off in his pocket, and he pulled it out with a hand that shook. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Big, strong Maverick McNeill was shaking because ofme?

He scanned the readout and lifted it to his ear. “Tab? You okay?” He glanced down at me. “She’s fine. I swear.” He chuckled. “No, really. I didn’t bury her body in the woods.” He turned the phone against his shoulder. “You scared the hell out of your sister too. So freaky. You two are better than 911.”

I took the phone and sucked in a deep breath before speaking. “I swear I’m okay.” I frowned down at the softly lapping waves of the lake. “But the lake ate my shoe.”

Once I’d convinced Tab I was truly fine, we hung up and I scuffed my foot over the gravelly path. The stones were minuscule, but they still didn’t feel pleasant on bare skin. “Well, this will be a fun walk back to the truck.”

“Go sit on that bench near the sidewalk, and I’ll pull the truck around.”

I made a face. “Think I can’t walk through some grass? Look, I’ll show you.” I pried off my other shoe and, grabbing my giraffe, took off across the lawn, weaving around the families and couples still wandering around the festival.

More than a few of them watched us with amusement as if we were adorable. Others stared as if we were a circus attraction.

I was pretty sure we were somewhere between the two.

He chased after me across the grass and the sidewalk and even across the street, swearing at me as I darted between cars. “There’s a damn crosswalk, Monaghan!”

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