Page 110 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

Simple. But still hot as hell.

Though, she was damn sure he looked like fire in his uniform.

She frowned when it hit her that not once had he mentioned working a shift at Shadow Valley PD, his place of employment.

She opened her mouth to ask him about it but was derailed when he said, “This can’t be all for breakfast.”

She shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t sure what you liked.”

“I like anything not labeled ‘ready-to-eat.’”

It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the MREs served in the military. “Damn. I knew I should’ve had that tattoo removed from above my pussy.”

With a low, soft chuckle, he came up behind her, circled his arms around her waist and pressed her into the counter. “I guess I can make one more sacrifice for my country,” he murmured against the side of her neck, his erection pushing against her ass.

She reached back and cupped his face. “That’s the spirit. But if you keep doing that, I won’t finish putting away the groceries and the sacrifice will be the perishables.“

With a last brush of his lips along her jaw, he released her and stepped back. “Can I help put anything away?”

Damn, maybeheneeded to train her sons. Either his mother did a good job teaching him manners or his late wife did.

“No, it’ll be faster for me to do it myself than taking the time to explain where everything goes. Grab a cold drink out of the fridge, if you want, and take a load off.” With a now empty bag in her hand, she turned and pointed toward a stool at the large center island. “So tell me, Officer Lennox, do you get every weekend off? Don’t they have rotating shifts at SVPD?”

“They do.” The deep baritone of his voice was so damn delicious.

She tipped her head and regarded him closely when she stated, “But you have no problem getting off for the Wednesday night meetings, either.”

He dragged his thumbnail across his forehead and as he stared at the counter, she could see him making up an excuse.

“You’re about to lie to me.”

He lifted his head. “Why do you think that?”

“A mother’s instinct.”

“You’re not my mother.”

“But Iama mother. We tend to develop certain skills to deal with our offspring.”

“A sixth sense,” he surmised.

“More like a woman’s instinct on steroids. Or hormones, more like it.”

He pulled in a breath as he considered her. “I’m currently on a special assignment.”

Or was he on temporary leave because of his debilitating grief? “A secret squirrel assignment?”

“Something like that.”

Interesting.“I’ll respect that and not dig any further.”

She caught the relief in his eyes before he hid it. “Thanks.”

“You can thank me with something besides words once I’m done here.”

* * *

The first timewas while they were standing.

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