Cop's Passion

Cop’s
Passion

By Angela
Verdenius

(Big Girls
Lovin’ trilogy)

Smashwords
Edition

Copyright 2011
Angela Verdenius

Cover images
courtesy of Talaj, Daydreamsgirl, wrangel & istock.com

Cover by
Joleene Naylor

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I found with
Doctor’s Delight that some readers were having difficulty with the
Australian slang, so I thought a list of the slang I’ve used will
help while reading the following story. If I’ve forgotten any, I do
apologise! Angela

Australian
Terms/Slang

Golden Link
Nursing Association
- fictitious nursing organisation that
visits patients at home. In reality, there are organisations that
do this.

Moosh
-
slang for face/mouth

Torch
-
flashlight

Mobile
phone
- cell phone.

Bloke/s
- men

Iced
coffee/chocolate
- a milk drink flavoured with chocolate or
coffee.

RAC
-
Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia. Covers insurance,
holidays, loans, etc.

Tim Tams
- a brand of Arnott’s Biscuits. Yummy!

Chemist -
pharmacy

Buggered
- many Aussie use it as a slang word for ‘broken’ (it’s buggered),
‘tired (I’m buggered), and ‘no way’ (I’m buggered if I’m going to
do that). Just some examples.

Bloody
-
a swear word ‘no bloody good’, in place of ‘no damned good’

Tucker
-
food

TLC
-
Tender Loving Care

Biccies
- biscuits. The same as cookies.

Boofhead
- idiot, simpleton, etc. It’s an insult, though sometimes we use it
as a term of affection. It depends on how it is said and meant.

Sheila
-
female.

Hoon/s
-
person/people who indulge in antisocial behaviour. Great
explanation in Wikipedia

Primapore
- sticky patch with a pad in it. A medical
dressing.

Panadol
- paracetamol.

Milo
-
chocolate malt drink. Can have it hot or cold. Yummy!

Budgie
smugglers
- men’s bathers, small, brief and tight-fitting.

Tea
-
some people call the evening meal dinner. In my family, we’ve
always called it tea, as in breaky, dinner and tea, or breaky,
lunch and tea.

Donger
-
penis

Yamaha &
Suzuki
- ‘brands’ of motorcycles.

Before anyone
says how stupid is Maddy for not having a mobile phone, I will tell
you now that I don’t have one! Loath them, in fact .

Chapter
One

Drip
.

Swearing, Maddy
glared up at the drop of water coming through the ceiling. The wet
patch was spreading and a water drop plopped down into the saucepan
she’d placed beneath it.

Chaz meowed
from his position on the dressing table, his deep blue eyes
watching in fascination as another water drop plopped down into the
saucepan.

Maddy glanced
at her seal point Siamese cat. “Oh yes, it’s just another exciting
moment for you, isn’t it?”

One seal paw
stretched out towards the saucepan, but as it was on the foot of
the bed and Chaz was on the dressing table, there was a good eight
feet reach.

“Don’t overtax
yourself,” Maddy said. “Heaven forbid you actually put some effort
into it.”

Drip
.

Who the hell
could even predict that a rain storm would hit while it was still
summer? Okay, it was more like going into autumn, but with the
continued heat it felt like summer. Everyone was still running
around in summer clothes. She’d personally thought they’d never see
rain again, so the storm, even though predicted by the weather
channel, was still a surprise.

Unfortunately,
it looked like she was going to have to put some effort into
repairing the leaking roof. Typically, anything that went wrong
always did so at the worse possible time. Looking back up at the
ceiling, Maddy listened to the rain pelting down outside. If she
didn’t do something soon, the whole damned ceiling was likely to
become wet and more damage done.

Swearing to
herself, she left the bedroom and went to the kitchen to gaze out
at the rain teeming down. Everything was grey outside and wetter
than she’d seen in a long time. Parts of Western Australia had been
suffering through droughts, so the rains were a welcome sight. They
also brought to light the fact that her tin roof had a hole in it,
one she was going to have to find and fix.

Going to the
door, she stepped out onto the front veranda and glanced around.
The other half of the duplex next door had a light glimmering
through the curtains in the lounge room window, so the neighbour
was obviously home. She hadn’t actually met him yet, but she’d been
busy with moving in and besides, she wasn’t one to run around
introducing herself to the neighbourhood.

The rain easing
up reclaimed her attention and crossing to the edge of the veranda,
she looked up at the sky. Yep, the rain was easing off and that
meant that as soon as a break came in the storm, she was going up
onto the roof to fix the hole before her ceiling was damaged
further.

With a shiver,
but a resigned determination, Maddy went down the three steps to
the paving and walked to the garage, thankful that she’d had the
veranda extended to cover that area as well, for it offered
protection from both rain and sun. But that’d be a moot point, she
thought darkly, if she fell off the damned roof. She’d just have to
be careful that she didn’t slip, and thank God it was just rain and
no lightening. Yet.

The roller door
slid up smoothly and she went in to search out the extension ladder
and the water-proof silicone she had put aside for emergencies.
Locating the new tube of silicone, she slid it into the gun and cut
the tip off the top of the tube. Within minutes she had it capped
and she crossed over to the door to peer out at the rain. Drops
dripped from the veranda and the water still ran in the gutters
overhead, but there was a definite break in the rain. Now was the
time to act.

She jammed some
rags into her back pocket and then dragged out the ladder. Placing
it against the side of the garage, she gripped the silicone gun in
one hand while climbing the ladder carefully, and then she swung up
onto the roof. The tin was slippery, but she negotiated her way
across it carefully, inspecting the roof as she did so. While there
was a leak somewhere over the bedroom it was a good idea to check
the whole roof while she was up there. The hole could be nearby, or
there might even be - heaven forbid - a couple more holes just
waiting to let the rain into her ceiling.

Finding one
hole, Maddy used a couple of rags to dry it off and then uncapping
the gun, she squeezed the silicone liberally into and around the
hole. Once satisfied with the job, she stood up carefully and
continued her examination of the tin roof. She found another hole
just about over her bedroom and repeated the drying and applying of
silicone. Satisfied, she remained squatting on the roof and looked
around.

The street was
quiet, the late afternoon dark grey with the heavy clouds overhead.
A lone car drove past, water spraying up from under the tires.

“What the
hell?” A deep voice rumbled through the quiet, disturbing Maddy’s
contentment, and she glanced down into her front yard…and
gaped.

There was a
bear of a man standing in her yard glaring up at her out of eyes so
pale that they were startlingly clear, even in the gloom. He was so
tall that she estimated him to be at least six foot six. The
t-shirt he wore emphasized the broad shoulders and big chest, and
his jeans were fitted to long legs with thick thighs. The man was
huge, and any fool could see that every bit of that was muscle

He was looking
damned furious, too. Gripping the silicone gun in one hand, Maddy
bit her lip. Those pale eyes were blazing up at her from under
lowered, thick, dark brows, and his features were handsome in a
tough, rough, ‘don’t-piss-me-off’ kind of way. The dishevelled
black hair added to his dangerous demeanour.

The man looked
huge and dangerous and furious.

Bloody hell. He
was looking up at her with that expression.

A little
bewildered, Maddy stood up and glanced behind her in case someone
was actually stupid enough to get up on the roof with her, but no,
she was alone.

“Lady!” The
deep tones barked it out. “Get off that damned roof now!”

“What?”
Disbelieving, she stared down at him.

“Get off that
damned roof now, before you break your fool neck.”

“I’m not going
to break my neck. I-”

“Lady.” That
was all he said, ‘lady’, and there was a clear order in his
tone.

That pissed
Maddy off big time. “Listen, mister, I don’t know where you think
you get off telling me what to do, but you can shove it.”

His posture
changed. In movements slow and deliberate, his big hands came to
rest on lean hips, the motion pushing his jacket back. His gaze was
fixed steadily on her. Power, order, and full expectation of her
obedience, practically vibrated off him.

Oh yeah, like
that was going to work. Folding her arms, she dangled the silicone
gun from one hand and eyed him back angrily.

After several
seconds passed, he growled, “Lady, don’t make me come up there
after you.”

“You could try,
mister, but I’d beat you over the head with the silicone gun.” Even
from where she stood, she could see a muscle jump in his square
jaw.

And then he
started to walk towards the garage, arms swinging loosely and
purpose in every long step he took.

He was heading
for the step ladder.

Alarmed, Maddy
swung around and stared towards the ladder where it peeked over the
edge of the roof. Her heart started beating a tattoo, but anger
continued to surge as well. Who the hell was this bear, standing in
her yard and yelling orders at her? And if he got to the roof, what
was she going to do, fight him? What did he want, apart from her
off the roof?

A light patter
of rain started to fall, and with a curse she started to walk
carefully back along the roof. Flat ballerina slippers weren’t the
wisest choice for a wet roof.

“Lady!” The
deep tones sounded nearer, this time from the direction of the
ladder. “Get down off that damned roof. This is the last time I’m
telling you. Get down right now or I’m coming up, and you don’t
want that.”

Just the idea
made her laugh derisively. “You could come up, but there’s no way
you could get me down if I didn’t want it, unless you mean to push
me off.” She wiped a drop of rain off her forehead, cursing
inwardly as the rain pattered down a little faster.

“Trust me, I’d
get you down, and it wouldn’t be over the edge, but over my
shoulder.”

“Neanderthal.”
Her upper lip curled derisively, then the ladder moved slightly and
her heart skipped a beat. “Don’t come up!”

There was no
answer from below, and she got to the ladder and peered down. Yep,
the bear was standing at the foot of the ladder, the scowl on his
face and his pale eyes blazing. He didn’t say a word, but the big
paw wrapped around one of the rungs of the ladder was threat
enough, as was the big boot planted firmly on the second rung. If
she didn’t come down, he was coming up.

Irritated
beyond all belief, and a little afraid because really, who the hell
was this bear and what did he want? Maddy placed one foot near the
ladder. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking out
for you. Now move it.”

“Who the hell
are you?”

The rain
started to come down in a steady light pour, and that muscle ticked
in his jaw right before the sudden fury of the storm hit with full
force and obliterated his face completely from her sight.

“Shit!” They
both exclaimed it at once.

Tossing the
silicone gun over the edge of the roof, Maddy swung around and bent
down, her foot searching for the first rung of the ladder. Within
seconds she was over and climbing down, her hands gripping the
rungs as she descended.

She nearly
shrieked when a big hand clamped around her ankle. Even as she
froze, undecided whether to kick out and knock the threatening
giant to the ground, or climb back up, there was a movement beneath
her and then suddenly something large and hard was pressed against
her bottom and lower back. Big hands clamped on the rung either
side of her smaller hands, and the deep voice of the giant yelled
above the pounding rain, “Keep coming down, but slowly. I’m right
behind you.”