Page 104 of Man Cuffed
He groans. “Hurry then. I already have issues. I’m going to burst unless we’re using this headboard in a more exciting way.”
Amen to that. Luckily, I’m able to free him quickly. The click of the cuff opening up is the best sound I’ve heard in weeks. Mac lets me free both his hands. But then he’s a blur of motion—tossing the cuffs off the bed, whipping off his T-shirt, rolling the two of us over.
“You okay?” I ask from my back, staring up into his beautiful gray eyes.
“Never better. I can’t feel my arms, but I’m thinking I don’t care right now.” He leans down and kisses me deeply, until we’re both panting. “Now take this off,” he says, tugging on the bustier. “I need all of you spread out underneath me.”
“Do you now?”
“I do. Oh, and one last favor?” he asks. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Just one? I freed your ass from bondage, and you’re still asking favors?”
“Deal with it.” I get another kiss. “Can you leave the stilettos on?”
“Sure,” I say, untying the leather strap at my breasts. “But you’ll owe me a favor. Fair’s fair.”
He rolls his eyes. “We can’t be back to this. I mean—I could still have you arrested.”
“On what charge?”
“Driving me crazy without a license.”
“I plead guilty, then.”
He kisses me.
30Two Months Later
Maguire
I’m tugging my ill-fitting uniform into place when I hear Meg’s voice out in the hallway. “Copper! Emergency! Help!”
I take off like a shot, darting through my apartment, flinging the door open. I’m at her side in less than five seconds. And I’m happy to say that the “emergency” at hand is just a matter of too many grocery bags. Meg has staggered out of the elevator, arms full. My first act of mercy is grabbing the bag that’s perilously close to sliding out of her grip.
“Oh my God, thank you. I don’t like to pull the helpless female card, but it would be a crime if one of these bottles of wine broke.”
“I hear you, babe.” I relieve her of two shopping bags, leaving her with just one to manage as she reaches for her keys.
“My hero.” She gives me a grin and then a head-to-toe once-over. “New uniform? That’s a funky shade of blue.”
“Yeah,” I grunt. Hopefully she won’t look too close. The uniform is part of a surprise I have brewing. So I change the topic. “Feeling hungry? I think you bought out the store.”
“I bought three kinds of chips. Grapes, cheese, and some fancy crackers…” She leads me into her apartment, where we deposit the bags on the counter. “…Red wine, white wine, rum, guacamole, and—my piece de resistance—little frozen pigs in the blankets. All I have to do is put them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 22 minutes!”
“A miracle!” I chuckle. Meg still doesn’t cook and it’s doubtful that she ever will. She says that’s why God invented frozen foods.
Let’s just say that I do a lot of the cooking around here. And she mixes the drinks.
“I’m having a spur of the moment party.” She’s pulling a metric ton of snack foods out of those grocery bags. “Look—this is for Hemingway Daiquiris.” She holds up a pink grapefruit. “Just in case I can entice you to blow off your event tonight.”
“Ah.” The very last of Meg’s episodes onPierson of Interestairs tonight. Meg and I watched the first five of them cuddled up on the sofa together.
But I don’t plan to watch this one. Even if I haven’t told her exactly why. Anyway, tonight there’s a town meeting at City Hall that I plan to attend, because police relations is one of the items up for discussion. Meg knows this already, and she doesn’t really blame me for missing her show.
Even so, I move around the kitchen island to a place where I can stand right behind her at the counter. I wrap my arms around her.
And because I can’t help myself, I place a soft kiss on the back of her smooth neck. And then another one. She stops fiddling with the groceries and leans back into my embrace. We’re quiet for a moment together. I’m used to this now—to being half a couple. It doesn’t even feel strange anymore. She feels right in my arms.
