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Authors: Maya Banks,Karin Tabke,Sylvia Day

Men Out of Uniform: Three Novellas of Erotic Surrender (6 page)

BOOK: Men Out of Uniform: Three Novellas of Erotic Surrender
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Truitt rolled back over. “No, we damn well can’t. I don’t want her sleeping with anyone else. Hell, I don’t even want her
looking
at anyone else. Now that means complicated. No matter how you look at it, because if I don’t want her with another man, that means we’re committing to something deeper here. Not that I want to look at another woman, not after her, but shit. This has complicated written all over it. I don’t like the way I’m feeling right now. Gut-shot with my balls flapping in the wind.”
Silent laughter shook Rick. So like Truitt. Uptight. Always overthinking things. Rick shook his head. “You’re a mess, man. Seriously. We’ve had sex with her twice. How do you know that’s not all she wants? Maybe she won’t want to hang around. We have to sell her on the idea of even sticking around us, both of us, before we can worry about whether another man is looking at her.”
“I’m a fucking pansy,” Truitt said in disgust. “I swear to you the moment I saw her I knew I was fucking done. Over. Stick a knife in me. Done. And the hell of it is, I don’t even mind.”
“Quit your bitching. You’re getting way ahead of yourself.”
“Oh, like you aren’t thinking the same damn thing,” Truitt muttered. “You’re over there plotting ways to convince her to stay with us. You don’t want her going back to work. You want to keep her home so you can fuss over her and that bum knee.”
“Am I that obvious?”
“No, I just know you. You like to take over. You’re a black-and-white kind of guy. You see what you want. You hatch a plan. Then you carry it out to the letter.”
“I think I hear an insult in there somewhere.”
“Nah, it’s what makes you a good cop. You’re focused.”
“Okay so maybe I do want her to stay. I may want that, but I also know that when she wakes up, if we start spouting that kind of shit after only being with her a few hours, she’s going to think we’re freaks and she’ll probably break her neck getting the fuck out of here. And, hell, I wouldn’t blame her. The cop in me would warn any woman away from a man who’s thinking the things I’m thinking.”
Truitt frowned again. “This is crazy.
We’re
crazy.”
“That might be true, but no matter how crazy we are, we damn sure don’t want her leaving with the idea that this is a one-time fling and that we’re adding her to the notches on our bedpost.”
“Speak for yourself. I’ve been celibate. Mostly.”
Jessie stirred, turned her head so that her other cheek rested on Rick ’s chest. She did one of those sweet snuggle moves and sighed as if she was perfectly content. Rick stroked a hand over her hair.
“I don’t know what it is about her,” Rick said in a low voice. “But you’re right. She’s it. When I see her I can’t look away. There’s something that’s just irresistible about her. And the thing is, she’s just as sweet as she looks. She hugged me for God’s sake.”
“Awww, are you sad because I haven’t hugged you?” Truitt drawled.
Rick scowled and held up his middle finger. “Fuck you, man.”
Truitt chuckled. Then he stretched and put his arm above his head. “I’m beat. It’s been a long-ass week. If we aren’t planning to let her go, I vote we get some sleep, let her rest, and spend the day fucking her brains out tomorrow.”
“Smooth,” Rick said. “Real fucking smooth.” He shook his head again. Truitt was ... well, he was Truitt. After being partners for five years, Rick knew it was hopeless to comment on Truitt’s lack of tact.
Truitt could fight his own battles anyway. If Jessie was going to be with them for any length of time, she’d learn to deal with Truitt’s uncouthness. Or not.
Carefully he rolled, easing Jessie down onto the bed between him and Truitt. Truitt was quick to tuck an arm around Jessie and pull her into his chest.
“Get some damn clothes on,” Truitt grumbled. “Jessie’s not awake and I don’t want to see your naked ass.”
Rick swung his legs over the bed and then went to get a pair of shorts from his room. By the time he returned, Truitt was sound asleep, his cheek resting against Jessie’s ear.
Yeah, his partner had it bad all right. But Rick couldn’t say a damn word because he had it every bit as bad.
Chapter 5
 
J
essie woke, the room dark around her. She was aware of a hard body behind her but she could feel the heat of another in front of her.
Her cheeks went warm and she rolled her eyes at the idea that she was lying here blushing in the dark because she’d had a wild night of sex with two hot-as-hell guys.
She raised her head, staring around for a clock, but didn’t see anything that was visible. Well, she had to pee anyway.
Carefully she eased down the bed, not crawling over either of them. She had no idea if they had to work today or not and she figured they needed the rest after being up so late.
She stumbled around for her clothing and dug into the pocket of her shorts for her phone to check the time. It was early. Or late, depending on your schedule. Often Jessie wasn’t getting into bed until now after a long night at the bar and cleanup.
Merriam would still be in her office as she always was until 6:00 A.M. every morning. She holed up doing God knows what, muttering over expenses. The waitresses heard her bitching regularly about cutting costs.
Once in the bathroom, Jessie sat on the closed toilet seat for a long moment weighing her options. Last night she’d been pissed and ready to say fuck it and find a new job. But she couldn’t afford to miss even a few days and there was no guaranteeing she’d find a job that quickly.
Which meant she really needed to swallow her pride and go back to try to convince Merriam that she hadn’t stolen money and to beg for her job back.
She grimaced because, man, it was hard to swallow her pride. She’d never been good at it. She rubbed absently at her knee and then stared down at the scars that lined either side of her leg.
Bill collectors weren’t particularly understanding, and she did have to eat and pay tuition. If she had any hope of getting back on her feet both literally and figuratively, she had to suck it up and go back to the bar.
If she went now, she could be back in time to cook breakfast for the guys. They wouldn’t even know she’d been gone if things went well with Merriam. And if worse came to worst, she’d collect her tips and her paycheck and resign herself to having to go job hunting instead of taking a long lazy day.
Saturdays were the only day she gave herself off. The rest of her time was spent studying or working.
She hurriedly dressed, splashed water on her face, and pulled the unruly mass of her hair back and twisted it into a knot. Then she tiptoed back through the bedroom, stopping in the kitchen to leave a quick note. Just in case they got up before she did.
On second thought, she’d better check to see if they had the fixings for breakfast, because if not she’d need to stop off at the twenty-four-hour grocery down the street. Eggs were cheap, as were cheese and mushrooms. She could make a mean omelet and she could make biscuits from scratch.
She shook her head after searching the fridge. Judging by the takeout cartons and the pizza boxes, they ate out often and weren’t much on cooking.
Satisfied with her plan, she quietly let herself out of the house and headed for her car.
Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of Powell’s Pub. As expected Merriam’s jeep was parked on the side, but the rest of the lot had long since been deserted.
Digging into her purse for the key she hadn’t yet returned, she got out and hurried to the door. After letting herself in, she headed toward Merriam’s office in the back, and sure enough, light shone from underneath the door.
Jessie paused, sucked in her breath, squared her shoulders, and knocked.
“Who the hell is it?” Merriam demanded. “I’ve got a gun, just so you know.”
Jessie was well acquainted with the gun Merriam kept behind her desk. Merriam liked to flash it around and generally let it be known she armed herself. She said it discouraged dumbasses from trying to score easy cash.
“It’s Jessie, Merriam. I need to talk to you.”
There was a long pause. “Come in.”
Jessie opened the door and peered in to see Merriam sitting behind her desk, a scowl on her face.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming back here after walking out last night.”
Jessie’s mouth dropped open. “You fired me! What the hell else was I supposed to do?”
“You seemed interested enough in working the night out until those two cops started sniffing around you.”
Jessie was convinced the woman had never smiled in her life. She was wrinkled, looked about seventy, even though Jessie knew she was in her fifties, and she had the deep rasp of a lifelong smoker.
“Look, Merriam, I didn’t steal anything from you. You have no proof and I want my job back.”
Jessie was absurdly proud of how confident and forceful she sounded.
Merriam’s lips thinned. “I know you didn’t steal the money. But I’m not happy about you skipping out of here last night so I haven’t decided if you get your job back yet.”
Again Jessie’s mouth flopped open. “You know I didn’t steal the money? And you fired me anyway? Are you crazy?”
“You aren’t making a case for me rehiring you,” Merriam said dryly. “I didn’t find out you didn’t steal the money until after closing. That’s all I’ll say about that. Now I’m short one more employee so if you’ll get your ass into work tonight to cover, you can have your job back.”
For a moment Jessie stood there at a loss for words. She’d expected to have to fight. She’d been prepared to fight. Then her eyes narrowed because, really, it had been far too easy and Merriam was anything but easy.
Merriam scowled. “Quit gawking. I made a mistake. You won’t hear me saying so again. You either want your job back or you don’t, but make up your mind so I can figure out if I need to hire
two
new employees.”
Jessie smiled then. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be in tonight.”
Merriam waved her hand in dismissal. “Get on out of here then. I’ve got work to finish up so I can go home and go to bed.”
Feeling giddy and triumphant, Jessie turned and hurried out of the office.
“Don’t forget to lock the door back on your way out!” Merriam hollered behind her.
Jessie shook her head and walked out, locking the door before she headed for her car. Halfway there, she stopped and did a fist pump. The day was definitely looking up.
And she had time to run by the store and be back before the guys were even out of bed.
 
Truitt stirred and automatically reached his hand out only to grasp air. He patted the place where Jessie had been and frowned when he felt the coolness of the spot. He raised his head, blinking bleary eyes to see Rick sprawled on the other side of the bed.
He sniffed as the aroma of cooking food wafted through his nostrils. Whatever it was, it smelled damn good. His stomach growled and he rolled over, rubbing his abdomen. Actual home-cooked food was a novelty. He and Rick either ate out, got delivery, or cooked out of a can. They’d given up on microwaving shit because, well, it tasted like shit.
He debated whether to shower first or go see what Jessie was up to. He finally decided to go check her out just in case she had plans to leave anytime soon.
He ambled into the kitchen to find Jessie bending over to peer into the oven. Her cute little ass strained at the not-much-to-them denim shorts and his morning hard-on just got harder.
Lord, but he had to learn to control himself around her.
Then she shut the oven and turned, her eyes lighting up when she saw him. That look warmed him to his toes.
“Oh good, you’re up! Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes.”
“Have I got time for a shower?” He looked self-consciously down at his rumpled appearance. He was lucky she hadn’t run screaming in the other direction. He rubbed his jaw and decided he’d have to be extra fast in the shower because he needed to shave too.
BOOK: Men Out of Uniform: Three Novellas of Erotic Surrender
10.53Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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