Page 3 of Enticed

I glance back at her in the rearview mirror and see the naughty smile on her face, but I attempt to ignore her.

“Oh, so now you’re not talking to me? Pity,” she rolls her eyes but then scoots closer to the metal cage between us, getting as close to my ears as she can. Conversations between dispatch and cruisers on patrol filter in and out of the background, but all I can feel is her hot breath reach my neck while she contemplates her next thought.

“Cooper, you know it’s really sweet that you always come to my rescue, even though you’re on duty,” she purrs, and I can hear the intention in her voice.

“It’s my job to make sure no one drinks and drives, Clara. Can someone take you back to the bar in the morning to get your car?”

“I’m not worried about that right now,” she mumbles before finding her voice again. “Like I was saying, you’re always there every time.”

“Because Tony calls me.”

“He could call someone else… Olivia, Kane, Perry… hell even Amy would get out of bed to drive me home. But you’re always the one who shows up. Why is that, Cooper? Is it because you want me as bad as I want you?”

I close my eyes momentarily—picturing Clara and I together as I have ever since she showed back up at my parent’s house for Sunday dinner six months ago—before popping them open, remembering that I’m driving a vehicle right now.

When my sister, Olivia, came back home to Emerson Falls, Oregon, after she caught her ex-boyfriend cheating on her—Clara, Perry, and Amy, her three best friends, started coming back around again. At my mother’s insistence, she rekindled our Sunday night dinners now including Olivia, and Clara showed up to one when I hadn’t seen her in years. Even though Emerson Falls isn’t the biggest town, it’s big enough that Clara and I never crossed paths very often in the years after she left for college, except for the occasional visit when she came home for the holidays.

But when I saw her that night, I didn’t see the annoying friend my sister used to bring around. I saw a woman—curvy and confident, and sexy as all hell. And call me crazy, but I felt like she saw me differently too.

Olivia sensed the vibe and warned me away, giving me her sisterly look and putting the kibosh on any impure thought that entered my mind. I didn’t think much of it, focused on my job and the life I had created before Olivia came home, and vowed that nothing had to change now that my sister was back.

But all of that shifted three months ago when I got a call to a scene that changed Clara’s and my life in an instance—and the interactions between us.

It’s been three months of playing this cat-and-mouse game with her and I can feel my frustration grow with each one of these calls from Tony.

I pull into her driveway, shutting the engine off and checking the clock, knowing I’m officially off-duty once I return to the station.

Opening the door for Clara, I offer her my hand as she slides off the seat and falls into me, giggling as she catches her balance.

“Easy tiger,” I joke as I keep my hold on her and walk her to the door. She fiddles with her keys before finally unlocking her door and throwing her purse to the side. I glance around her home and see that everything is as it should be before turning back to her, meeting her devious grin again.

“You never answered me, Coop,” she whispers, pulling on the front of my shirt, drawing me closer to her.

“And I won’t, Clara. Not like this,” I growl out, looking down at this woman and knowing that there’s something here, but like hell would I act on it with her drunk like this.

“Why not? I know how much I want you, how much I need you, how often I think about what it would feel like to have you inside of me…”

“Fuck, Clara.” Why does she do this when she’s drunk? Why can’t she be this bold with me when she’s sober? Lord knows that subtlety is not her strong suit normally, but she’s never uttered these words without an ounce of alcohol in her system.

Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, pulling my eyes to the sight. I find her brown eyes next and see the desire there. This woman is trying to entice me and it’s working. But little does she know, I’ve got the control of a saint. I won’t touch her like this, but that doesn’t mean I can’t say everything that’s on my mind.

“Tell me, Cooper. Tell me that you feel the same…” she mewls and any other time, I would brush her off, change the subject, and tuck her into bed. But tonight, I decide to lay it all out there because chances are, she won’t remember it tomorrow—and I’m innately curious to see the reaction I get out of her.

“You want to know, Clara? Are you sure?”

She nods, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth, staring up at me.

I lean down close to her ear, watching goosebumps appear on her skin while she waits for me to speak. I tease her neck with my nose, inhaling the scent of her perfume and the copious amounts of tequila she’s consumed.

And then I lay it on her.

“I do want you, Clara—so fucking bad, my balls ache every night I have to pick you up drunk from Tony’s and you pull this shit. I wonder what you sound like and look like when you come. I wonder how your nipples would feel in my mouth and what your pussy would taste like on my tongue. I think about how your ass would feel in my hands and what your cunt would feel like gripping my dick like a vise. I do want you, Clara. You are a sexy woman now, not the same girl who hung out at my house and looked at me as just Liv’s younger brother. We’re both adults now and it would be fun, spectacular even.”

I can hear her breathing quicken with every word and a soft moan escapes her lips as I retreat, the look on her face changing as she realizes I’m moving away from her.

“But that won’t ever happen, not with you drunk off your ass and not while you avoid dealing with therealreason why you’re drinking. That night fucked me up too, Clara. But I’m dealing with it. And I’d say from your track record that you’re not.”

“Fuck you, Cooper,” she spits out, clenching her jaw as she inspects me.

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