Page 42 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

It didn’t matter that she was thirty-nine years old and quite capable of making her own life choices. The drawback of reestablishing her relationship with her father was that he thought he had a say in everything she did.

In everyone she did.

His opinions were both strong and loud.

But this was only a kiss and nothing more. A knee-jerk reaction by Nox and most likely a way to release some of his frustration with her pushing him to the breaking point.

However, this kiss most likely didn’t only stem from frustration. Not with the way she kept catching him staring at her tits and ass. Plus, being a cop, he probably noticed that she had been checking him out, too. But visually checking each other out was a whole lot different than actually getting physical.

Though, she was enjoying it and not discouraging it.

Despite Nox being moody and closed off, his thorough kiss made just about everything on her tingle. Including one spot that had been ignored for longer than she’d like to admit.

She hadn’t even done any self-help in a while. Working long hours, running the group, dealing with family and raising two boys on her own kind of put a crimp in that. Even if she locked her bedroom door, either Kee or Dev would be pounding on it and asking where the peanut butter was. They’d still ask even if it was hanging from a fishing line in front of their faces.

The “unable to find the most basic stuff” gene was deeply embedded into the Y chromosome.

The individual with a Y chromosome sharing the closet with her was also making her nipples ache and stand at attention. Her pussy kept clenching and getting slicker by the second.

But she wasn’t the only one the kiss affected. The steel rod in his jeans was proof it was stirring him up as much as her.

Huh.

Just as quickly as the kiss started, it dropped from a hundred miles per hour to zero in a second flat when Nox ripped his mouth free, released her and took a step back.

With his eyes a bit wild, his chest pumped and his nostrils flared as he sucked in oxygen. The lips she recently enjoyed now no more than a slash.

The man was not happy. All because for a moment there, he had let himselfwant. He let himself be human. Let himself remember what it was like to be attracted to someone other than his late wife.

Whether that kiss came out of frustration or desire, hefeltsomething and had been driven to take action.

That terrified him.

That disappointed him.

That made him feel like he was cheating on his late wife’s memory.

He was doing his best to hide it, but she recognized the signs because for the longest time, she also had been scared to move on. She’d been afraid to give her heart to someone else, worried it would get beaten and bruised all over again.

And, like she feared, it did. Badly.

The relationship she hoped that would last, ended up being destroyed.

Luckily, she was older, more experienced and stronger when it happened, so she was able to handle it differently.

Like Mark’s death, she survived Jason abandoning her and leaving her to raise their son on her own.

Nox drug the back of his hand across his mouth like that would magically undo the kiss, his erection and Liyah’s damp panties. Since it wouldn’t, she had no doubt he’d beat himself up for giving in to the urge to kiss her.

He flinched and jerked his head back when she reached up and wiped a spot of lipstick off his bottom lip. “Missed a spot.”

“I gotta go,” he grumbled. Bending over, he snagged his fallen hat and slapped it back on his head, pulling the brim low.

Disappearing once again into his shell like a turtle protecting itself.

“Of course you do,” she said dryly, trying to keep up as he shot out of the closet and across the room toward the exit. “You don’t want to talk about what just happened?”

Of course he wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to ask. She had a point to make.

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