Not in the Cards Read online

  Delta gulped down her excitement. “Sounds good.”

  “Just good?” Megan took more of Delta’s breast in her mouth and sucked firmly. Then, she slowly slid her hand over Delta’s taut stomach until her hand reached the curled patch of brown hair.

  Delta shuddered. It had been so long.

  Megan’s fingers ran through Delta’s hair, barely touching Delta’s growing hard spot. Moving her mouth from the nipple, Megan kissed Delta’s chest and shoulder before tenderly biting the soft curvature where her neck and shoulder meet.

  “God...Megan.”

  “Oh, I see this is a little better than good?” Returning to bite Delta’s neck, Megan slowly slid one finger into her. Delta’s hips immediately raised, allowing Megan’s finger full entry. “You’re very wet,” Megan murmured, moving her lips to Delta’s ear.

  But Delta was past responding verbally. Instead, she let her body do her bidding. Wrapping her arms tightly around Megan, Delta pulled her completely on top of her.

  Megan slid easily onto Delta, still keeping her finger inside. For a long moment, she stared down into Delta’s face before planting tiny kisses on Delta’s cheeks, eyes, and lips.

  “I love you, ” Megan said, lightly chewing on Delta’s bottom lip. As Delta’s hips moved into her, Megan slowly slid her tongue into Delta’s parted lips and caressed her eager mouth.

  Taking in Megan’s tongue, Delta pressed her hands harder into Megan’s back. She didn’t want this to end, but the explosion building inside her was nearly unbearable.

  “You ready?” Megan asked, again moving her lips over Delta’s ear. This brought a spasm of chills to Delta’s skin and made Megan smile. She knew every inch of Delta’s body and needed no verbal response to know the answer.

  Slowly moving her finger in and out, Megan let her tongue travel down the length of Delta’s neck and over her shoulder before coming to a stop at the rigid nipple begging to be sucked. As Delta’s hips rose to meet the fluid movement of Megan’s hand, Megan pulled harder on her clit until it was perfectly erect.

  “Megan...”

  With her final plea escaping her mouth, Delta’s body exploded in a wave of spasms as she gripped Megan tightly, pressing her face deep into her chest. Wave upon wave rippled through Delta’s body, cleansing her, pleasing her, releasing her from the stress and heartache of the day. Her stomach muscles tightened, her legs straightened, and every fiber in her body cried out in erotic delight. As the surge ebbed and flowed through her body, each muscle in her body expanded and contracted with satisfaction until she very slowly released her grip on Megan’s body.

  Raising her head from Delta’s chest, Megan smiled. “Whew. That was a big one.”

  Delta barely managed a grin. “It’s been awhile.”

  Megan snuggled up next to Delta and nodded. “Too long.” Kissing the top of Delta’s head, Megan hugged her tightly. “So what’s made you feel so little today?”

  Delta sighed, grateful for the release of tension. “Puny.”

  “What’s made my knight feel so ‘puny’ then?”

  Delta explained about being put on Training Patrol and her meeting with Captain Henry. Then she told her what Connie had said, and how maybe this was the kind of break she needed to put her life in perspective.

  “Do you want to put your life in perspective?”

  Delta raised up on one elbow. “I agreed to counseling, didn’t I?”

  Megan’s eyes smiled. “That’s not what I asked.” Tracing her finger along Delta lips, Megan paused for a second, before tapping Delta’s chest. “What does your heart want to do?”

  Laying her head back down on Megan’s chest, Delta thought for a moment before answering. “I want to keep you, keep my job, keep my sanity. I want to be the best at my job without sacrificing my relationship with you. I want us to work.” Looking back into Megan’s eyes, Delta very lightly, very gently, kissed Megan’s mouth. “I want us.”

  Delicately returning the kiss, Megan drew Delta closer. “That makes two of us.”

  Delta reached a hand up and lightly laid it on one of Megan’s breasts. Funny thing, she thought, how comforting breasts were. “It seems I’m having to work at everything these days. Does it ever get easier?”

  Megan laughed. “I wonder that sometimes myself. You know, honey, it’s easier to break the law than to obey it.”

  Delta’s eyebrow rose in question. “I’ve never looked at it that way.”

  Megan nodded. “How many people drive fifty-five? Do you realize how hard it is to try and drive the speed limit? It’s a lot harder than just cruising along. You’ve got to keep watching the speedometer.”

  Delta studied Megan’s mouth. College had matured her so much that she had begun to sound a lot like Connie. “So what’s your point?” Kissing Megan’s nose, a sudden urge for round two streaked through her nervous system like a flow of electrical current. It felt like her entire body beat with her heart.

  “The point is, it’s hard for you to do your job when you follow rules in the same way that it’s hard for me to work so hard at the bookstore and make less money. And it’s difficult to make a relationship work without rules.” Pulling Delta closer, Megan held her tightly. “Affairs of the heart are never easy. You love your job, you love me, and you love our relationship. All of the things you love most are asking you to work hard and follow the rules. It’s no wonder you’re feeling puny.”

  Leaning forward, Delta lightly kissed Megan’s lips—softly, as if they might break. Moving in the rhythm of two lovers who knew their partner so well, their lips glided across each other’s, tongues barely touching—movement that expressed the depth of their love, the strength of their bond. It was a first kiss, the kind that lovers forget about once the fireworks have dimmed. The type that reminds you why you fell in love with each other in the first place. There was no better experience than to be understood by the one she loved, and to be embraced in Megan’s warmth and understanding. This kiss melded them together like steel. Neither one was a separate entity now, both were a composite of their union, a mixture of each other. Nothing else existed in that long moment, only a bright light that shone from within, bathing the two of them in a shower of intimacy.

  When the kiss had slowly, quietly, gently melted away, Delta gazed into Megan’s sapphire eyes, Delta reached up and stroked her cheek with the back of her hand. “I love you Megan Osbourne.”

  “I love you right back, Delta Stevens.”

  Laying her head back on Megan’s chest, Delta listened to the rhythmic sound of Megan’s heart until her eyelids drooped and her body twitched. “Meg?”

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  “Thank you.”

  “I assume you thought over my offer and are willing to give it a go?” Captain Henry asked after Delta closed the door to his office.

  Standing next to the leather chair opposite his desk, Delta wondered if it was too late to turn back. Instead, she nodded and replied, “I have and I am.”

  Captain Henry grinned. “Good. I’ve spoken with the instructors at the academy and I believe I’ve chosen the best rookie for you.”

  Delta’s eyebrow raised. “Rookie, sir? As in one?” Most Field Training Officers trained several rookies over the course of a month. This move was one unfamiliar to Delta.

  “Oh, don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you or your competence. With all of the blasted budget cuts, we don’t run TP like we used to.” Captain Henry’s grin deepened. “Or are you not into reading departmental memos, either?”

  Delta snapped her fingers. “That one must have slipped by.”

  Waving off her rebelliousness, he ran his fingers over his balding head. “Instead of sending you a bunch of lost babes in the woods, we’ll partner you up with just one.”

  Delta thought about this for a moment. Maybe this was the silver lining. At least with one partner, she could get used to him, instead of having to retrain him every time he came back from some slovenly officer who never moved his fat
butt off his engraved chair at the local donut shop.

  “I can go along with that.”

  “Good. Because we’re giving you a fellow that has about as much raw potential as I’ve ever seen. Kid has guts, smarts, energy, and can shoot the eyes off a fly.”

  Delta looked out the window but said nothing.

  “Delta, I don’t blame you for thinking I’m out to get you, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. I truly believe this is an excellent way to save your career and keep you on the streets where you belong. In any case, I’m not the villain here.”

  Delta cast a cold, hard eye at him. She had remained silent long enough. “Sir, can I express just one opinion without feeling like you’ll hold it against me?”

  Captain Henry smiled, but his pupils shrunk to pinpoints. “I suppose that’s only fair.”

  Placing her hands on the back of the chair, Delta steadied her nerves. “I’m a damn good cop. My arrest record and commendations speak for themselves.”

  “Agreed.”

  “But I think this is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever experienced and the sooner you get me back on the street with a real partner, the better it will be for all of us.”

  The practiced smile did not leave the captain’s face. “Well, now that that’s said and forgotten, I’d like you to meet your next assignment.” Captain Henry stood and walked past Delta to open the door, motioning for Delta to follow. As she stepped out the door, she was surprised to see him leading her to the indoor firing range.

  Captain Henry grabbed two set of ear protectors and handed one to Delta.

  “Watch the second one from the left. A real dead-eye. Haven’t seen a pure shooter like that since Pete Maravich. His file says he has twenty-ten vision in both eyes, and it shows.”

  “If he’s so good, why isn’t he being sent straight to SWAT?”

  “He needs to tone down some. He’s a little over-eager and carries an attitude with a capital ‘A’. He’s rough around the edges, but with the correct training he could be one of the best.”

  Placing the earphones over her head, Delta followed Captain Henry into the main portion of the range. Three of the twelve lanes were taken by officers wearing the orange headphones and yellow goggles, aiming their various weapons at black silhouetted targets. Even with the earphones on, the crack of the guns reverberated through the room.

  The officers’ backs toward them, Delta concentrated on the one the captain pointed out to her. She was instantly impressed by the complete lack of movement from his arms and body as he fired. His head never wavered, his four-inch .357 magnum barely kicked in his large hands. Six brisk shots in a row, and he ejected, rammed a speed loader into the chamber and fired off six more rounds, all with the precision and accuracy of a machine. Her silver lining began to look golden.

  “Damn,” Delta murmured, impressed with both his speed and efficiency.

  As the captain took his head gear off, so did Delta. “Wait until you see his scores.”

  The rookie holstered his weapon and waited for the silhouette to be mechanically reeled in. Not taking his goggles or headphones off, the tall, broad-shouldered young officer snapped his target off the clip and studied the holes carefully.

  Walking behind the rookie, Delta leaned over and stared down at the target he was still studying. All twelve shots were within three square inches of each other, many of which were overlapping holes already made. His accuracy was unerring.

  “As much as it pains me to say this, Captain, I’m impressed.” Captain Henry nodded. “Carducci, meet your FTO, Delta Stevens. Delta, this is your bucking bronco, Tony Carducci.”

  Turning around, Tony stripped off his goggles and headphones and offered Delta his hand. But Delta was staring at the bandage covering his left eyebrow and the discoloration surrounding his right eye.

  “No way,” Delta said, ignoring Tony’s hand. “Not you.”

  Smiling a crooked smile, Tony lowered his hand and scrutinized Delta’s face. “The Delta Stevens? You’re pairing me with her?”

  Delta backed away and shook her head. “I don’t think so, Captain. Not a chance. I’ll work with anybody but him. I’ve done my homework on him and he’s an even looser canon than I am.”

  “I know!” Tony’s lopsided smile grew wider. “You’re the one who pulled my ass out of that jam last night! Well, I’ll be damned! Officer Delta Stevens saved my butt. It’s a small world, isn’t it?”

  “Too small.” Resisting the urge to put some more color over his eye, Delta turned her back on him and toward the captain. “ You’ve got to get me someone else. This will never work.”

  “I take it you two have met.”

  Delta heaved a frustrated sigh. The lining had clearly been fool’s gold. “You could say that. Look, Captain, I said I would do this, but you can’t stick me with this...with—”

  “Yes? With what?”

  “With this jerk!”

  Coolly, Tony leaned against the wall, still managing his Huck Finn grin.

  The captain, however, wasn’t so cool. “I wasn’t aware that I’d given you a choice.”

  “You didn’t, Captain, but—”

  “But nothing. You will work with Tony Carducci whether you like him or not. This isn’t a romance, Stevens. It’s a job. And your job is to train this man the best way you can. Do you understand?”

  Delta inhaled slowly. She couldn’t even stand to look at the rookie standing there with that smug look on his face. Everyone of her buddies said this guy was the kind of cop who got other cops killed. He was loud, cocky, and didn’t seem to know the law very well. After graduating at the bottom of his class, he strode into the precinct like a guy who took the gold home when he wasn’t even worthy of a bronze. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good, because I don’t give a rat’s ass what the history is between you two. From here on out, you’re on the same side, you got that?”

  Both parties nodded. Tony seemed unaltered by Delta’s attack of his character and merely shrugged off her insult. That was how dumb he was. “Can we start tonight, Captain?”

  Captain Henry looked over at Delta, but she did not return the gaze. “You ready to work tonight, Stevens, or do we find you a nice big desk?”

  Delta glared over at Tony Carducci. She hated this. She hated someone else co-opting her choices. And she hated the fact that this particular decision had already been made. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

  “Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

  “So is your choice of rookies.”

  Captain Henry let that one go. “Meet for muster and be sure to have the weekly FTO report on my desk every Monday morning by oh-nine-hundred sharp.”

  Every fiber in her body recoiled against the idea of suffering through ten hours or more with a punk she’d already seen bite off more than he could chew. This wasn’t a partnership, it was glorified babysitting.

  “You’re making a big mistake, sir. That kid is an accident waiting to happen.”

  A slight grin twitched Captain Henry’s moustache. “Well, it’s now your job to see to it that it doesn’t.” Whirling out the door, Captain Henry vanished, leaving Delta to nurse her anger alone.

  Watching her new partner strut over and flirt with the data entry clerk, Delta grit her teeth.

  “Accident waiting to happen?” Delta uttered to herself. “I’m afraid it already has.”

  Delta plopped down in the chair next to Connie’s work station.

  “I’m afraid to ask,” Connie said, glancing over at Tony.

  “Can you believe it? Of all the rookies, of all the people in the world, I have to be partnered with that moron.”

  “It’s bad karma, Del. You’ve already had to save him from himself. Word around the department is he makes up shit as he goes along. This doesn’t bode well at all. What are you going to do?”

  Watching Tony maneuver around the clerk, Delta shook her head. She should have let those guys pummel some sense into him. Instead, she saved hi
m just in time to be a headache for her. What luck. What joy. What a drag. “There’s not much I can do. The captain’s adamant about it.”

  Connie turned from Eddie. “So, you’re stuck with him?”

  Delta sighed loudly. “Appears so. It’s that, or sitting behind a damned desk all night long.”

  Connie faked a wince. “Oh, now wouldn’t that just be awful?”

  “I’m sorry, Con, but I just don’t know how you do it. It would drive

  me crazy to sit here all night.”

  “That’s because you’re a doer and I’m a thinker. They pay you to do and they pay me to think. Knowing this, you’re going to have to go out there and do the best you can with what you have.”

  Delta nodded and rose. “I hate it when you’re so damned logical.”

  “That’s what I get paid for.” Connie reached out and squeezed Delta’s hand. “That, and making sure you stay out of trouble.”

  “Oh really? And just how successful have you been in that venture?”

  Connie’s eyes glistened. “I’ve had better successes.”

  “I’ll bet.” Releasing Connie’s hand, Delta patted her on the top of the head. “And how successful have you been with yourself on those Elson nightmares?”

  “Much better. Gina has been a big help. Once we established that they weren’t guilt-induced, they disappeared. He only appears after late night Mexican food or David Lettermen reruns.”

  “Good for you.”

  “And yours?”

  Delta shrugged. “Every night. It hasn’t stopped. Even after two weeks off, I’m exhausted. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.” Seeing Tony approach them, Delta inhaled slowly and felt the muscles in her shoulders tighten. Everything about him made her cringe.

  “Hey, pard, you ready to roll?”

  Delta and Connie exchanged pitiful glances. No cops they knew called their partners, “pard.”

  Turning to him, Delta smelled the powerful scent of Brut aftershave hovering about him like an invisible cloud. “We’ll roll, Carducci, when I tell you we’ll roll. I don’t know what they’re teaching in the academy these days, but here, we muster before we hit the streets. You do know what muster is, don’t you?”