Page 43 of Dragon's Desire

"Sounds good. Let's go."

28

PETER

Peter woke up the next morning feeling a little stiff and sore. After all, there was only so much Kiercy's magic could do for him. She'd healed him twice in less than twenty-four hours. If not for her magic, he'd be dead.

His parents would be appalled that he'd accepted that much magic into him. But it wasn't like he hadn't done plenty to piss off his parents before, and he was very likely to do it again several times.

He thought about the way Kiercy seemed so concerned when he'd lied to that brutish warlock about his parents being dead. He hadn't expected that. She was full of surprises. Though he had a few surprises of his own.

He started to get ready for work. He'd taken a quick shower last night before passing out. But he decided to take a more thorough one this morning. He still thought he smelled too much like coffee. Some people might have liked that, but the scent was too off-putting for him right now.

Nothing like almost dying in amongst coffee roasters to get you to cut back on caffeine.

After his shower, he got dressed and packed up his stuff. After the debrief, he knew he was going to have to finish out his reports and then contact Gil Xander and tell him that he'd broken one of his fancy toys. Peter didn't know how well that conversation would play out, but it had to be done.

It wasn't like Gil didn't have more money than a reasonable person could spend in seven lifetimes. What was one scanning device compared to that? Peter was just hoping the higher-ups didn't receive an invoice.

He tossed a few extra things in his pack and went down to his car. He still had time to spare before he'd have to get into work, so he made a few quick stops before pulling up in front of Kiercy's apartment.

She came out the door before he could even text her he was there. As soon as she got in the car, he handed her a paper cup with a cardboard collar.

"I'm with you. I'm done with coffee for a while," she said.

"That's fine. It's hot chocolate. I figure you could use something to warm you up since you didn't have me to keep you warm last night."

Kiercy rolled her eyes but took the cup from him and had a small sip.

"Okay. You're right. I did need something warm."

Peter laughed.

"Not because you weren't there," Kiercy said. "God. You really do have a one-track mind."

"What can I say? A beautiful woman is hard to resist."

"Yeah, any beautiful woman."

Peter could hear the tinge of jealousy in her voice, but he left it alone. He'd smooth that over later.

She drank her hot chocolate as they headed to work in almost complete silence. When they arrived at PEACE HQ, they walked in together.

They had a meeting to debrief in an hour and a half. There was so much paperwork to fill out, especially when someone dies in custody. He looked over from his desk to Kiercy. She looked as hard at work as ever.

He sent her a text that said, "You look like you need to relax. I think Kaminski's office would be a nice place to let me help you with that."

He looked over as she checked her phone. He could see the eye roll from across the room. But then she was texting something back. "We only have forty-five minutes, and I'd like to avoid the freshly fucked look."

"I promise to make you 'relax' at least twice with still plenty of time to look presentable."

There was another eye roll from her, but then she replied, "Okay."

They met in the hall outside Kaminski's office. Checking that no one was watching, Peter popped the lock. The office was small. Kaminski wasn't high ranking enough to get an office with windows, but high enough that he had a space to himself.

Besides, windows might be a discouragement. As soon as the door closed, Kiercy's hands went to his belt, but he grabbed her wrists and said, "I don't know if we have time for that, but," he rubbed her mons through her slacks, "I was thinking of focusing on you, just to make sure you relax. Now take off your pants."

"Who said you get to boss me around?" she asked.

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