Page 52 of Break Away
“Jesus. You’re making me crazy.” He took hermouth again, then moved his lips over her chin, her collarbone, theflower-scented area below her left ear. Every bit of her tastedbetter than the last, and the breathy little sounds she made hadhim feeling like he could gobble her up in one big bite.
She wiggled until his erection was nestledmore firmly where he wanted it despite the layers of clothing. Itmust have been where she wanted it too because she made a littlehum of satisfaction.
His hand on her neck brought her lips back tohis. Tongue, teeth, and the sweetness of Zoey made him want more.He flipped so she was under him. He braced himself with one armwhile he skimmed his hand under her shirt, over the smooth skin ofher belly, and found her gloriously braless. He cupped her breast,his thumb grazing over a nipple, and he caught her gasp with hislips. He had it in mind to tug her shirt up and off when a loudbuzz from the kitchen broke the moment.
“What the hell is that?” he murmured, handmoving to the other breast, his lips now busy on the underside ofher jaw.
“Timer.” She pushed against him.
“Ignore it.”
“Can’t. Dinner will be ruined. And you’llreally like dinner.”
“You’re killing me.”
She kissed him and pushed up.
“Oh good lord.” The words came out in a groanwhen she ground against him. He wasn’t entirely sure it was anaccident.
He reached for her but was grasping atnothing when she slid out of reach. Standing, she gave him a swiftkiss on his chin and retreated to the kitchen. He took the icepackfrom the coffee table, debating whether to hold it to his crotch tocool things off or return it to his cheek. Deciding against either,he rolled off the couch to follow her. She twisted theold-fashioned timer in the shape of an egg and the buzzing stopped.With padded mitts she opened the oven to pull out a deep ceramicdish topped with a browned crust. It smelled amazing.
“What’s that?”
“Chicken pot pie.”
“Really? You made that?”
“Yep. I made two about a month ago and frozethis one for a night like tonight. Feed Lucy while I cut up awatermelon to go with the pie, then you can see if it tastes asgood as it looks and smells.”
Thirty minutes later, Levi was swallowing thelast bite of crust from the generous portion of pie Zoey had heapedon his plate. “That’s the best damn thing I’ve eaten in a month,which says a lot because my mom brought me lasagna when I firstmoved back. This is better. I’m never buying a frozen chicken potpie again now that I know how good it can be.”
She took a sip of her wine and smiled. Heloved how the gesture warmed her eyes. “Glad you liked it.” Herexpression turned thoughtful and maybe a little wistful. “I want tolearn more about you being a cop. Tell me something you love aboutyour job and something you hate about it.”
He sat back in his chair. “Love about it?That’s easy. I love making the world a safer place. Sometimes it’smessy because there’s always someone who gets caught up in otherpeople’s shit and it messes up their life. But taking a bad guy offthe streets who’s a danger to other people? That’s what does it forme.”
“What do you hate about it?”
He thought for a moment. “I hate when I’m inuniform and walk into the grocery store or wherever, and there’ssome lady with poor parenting skills. Her kid is giving hertrouble, and she points to me and says, ‘Look, there’s a cop. He’sgoing to arrest you and take you to jail if you don’t behave.’ Andthen you’ve got this poor little kid staring at you with big eyes,learning from his mom that cops take kids away from theirparents.”
“Geez. What do you say?”
“I carry badge stickers, and I get down tothe kid’s level and tell them I don’t arrest children. Then I givethem a sticker. And I usually tell the mom to cut it out.” Heshrugged. “Beyond that, there’s not much else I can do.” He turnedhis wine glass in his hand. “Same questions back at you about beinga wildlife biologist.”
She smiled. “The absolute best thing about myjob is that I get to work outdoors and go to some of the mostbeautiful places in the world. Also, I have a hand in protectingplants and animals that are at risk. I also like the educationaspect, like when I team up with rangers to do talks at thecampgrounds. That never gets old.”
“Anything you dislike?”
She shrugged. “Some of those talks includeclimate change. It’s part of our job to educate the public aboutthe impact a warming planet is having on ecosystems in the Sierras.But every now and then we’ll have someone who wants to argue withus. They’ll deny science, deny climate change, and accuse us ofhaving some sort of political agenda. With my job, I see the impactof climate change every single day, but these people want tochallenge me about it. You can’t even have a conversation with thembecause they don’t accept basic facts as facts. And I’ll get off mysoapbox now. Sorry.”
He shook his head. “You have nothing toapologize about. You’re doing exactly what you should be doing. Anddespite the naysayers, my bet is there are a lot of folks wholisten to your talks and learn something valuable. Maybe they’ll bemotivated to step up and do their part.”
“Hopefully.”
He liked this, talking with Zoey, learningabout her, seeing the gold in her eyes light up when she showed herpassion for her work. She sipped her wine, and he found himselfstalling, delaying when he’d have to crash the evening and bring upClauson. “How’s Charlie doing?”
There was that smile again. He was absolutelybecoming addicted. “He started a new job in the computer center athis dorm. It’s what he wants to do, but I worry because untilpeople get to know him, sometimes they treat him like he’s afreak.”
“He has to learn to deal with that. You can’tprotect him all the time.”
