Once a Lawman. Lisa Childs

      “Well, you didn’t give me a free pass.” Which didn’t say much for her wiles since he hadn’t been a bit interested then—or now.

      “And the judge didn’t give you a free pass, either,” the lieutenant said. “Despite your recent attempt to sweet-talk him.”

      Heat rushed to Tessa’s face. “Uh…”

      “The judge e-mailed to warn me that you’re trying to get out of the academy,” Chad said, his voice sharp with disapproval. “Interesting that you weren’t above using your participation to score points with the chief, though.”

      “I am participating,” she said. Because she hadn’t been able to talk the judge into changing her punishment. She’d even offered to pick up trash along the highway instead.

      “But not of your own free will, like you wanted the chief to believe.”

      “What are you—the sales spiel police? Do you take exception to everything I do or say?”

      “Only when it’s not the entire truth.”

      “You sound like you’re my father,” she said, not that she had a lot of experience with what a father sounded like. Hers hadn’t stuck around long; he hadn’t even waited for her to be born. But then, given her mother’s taste in men, that might have been a good thing; some of her siblings’ dads had stuck around too long.

      A muscle twitched in his cheek. “I’m not old enough to be your father.”

      “No, but you’re stuffy enough.”

      “I’m not stuffy,” he protested. Clearly she’d struck a nerve.

      “Oh, Lieutenant…” She emitted a pitying sigh. “You have no idea how stuffy you are.”

      “Just because I didn’t let you flirt your way out a ticket?” he asked. “Flirting has surely failed you before, like it just did with the chief.”

      “You think I was flirting with the chief?” she asked, thoroughly insulted now. Not that the chief wasn’t a good-looking man. Despite his having the highest position in the department, he probably wasn’t quite old enough to be her father, either.

      “You were wasting your time,” he said, as he released a pitying sigh of his own. “The chief just lost his wife last year. He’s too loyal a man to notice another woman yet. Even you.”

      “Even me?” He may not have meant that as a compliment, but Tessa took it as such.

      Chad squeezed his eyes shut as if he regretted what he’d revealed. Then he admitted, “Even you. You know what you look like.”

      She smiled. “My mama passed on good genes.” For physical appearance. For picking men, she had also passed on her lousy judgment genes, regrettably. Tessa had dated too many losers to be flattered by any man, yet the lieutenant wasn’t trying to flatter her. If anything, he was still insulting her. Her smile widened. “I hadn’t thought you noticed what I look like, Lieutenant.”

      The elevator bell dinged as it reached the lobby, but Tessa reached out and pressed the door button, holding them closed.

      “Your flirting doesn’t affect me any more than it did the chief,” Michalski assured her.

      “I wasn’t flirting with the chief,” she pressed. “You’d know if I was flirting.”

      “I would,” he agreed—too easily—then added, “but I don’t think you do. It’s probably just second nature to you, kind of like your speeding.”

      “I know when I flirt.”

      Unfortunately, so did he. Since her traffic stop, he hadn’t been able to forget the way she’d trailed her fingers over his and leaned in through her open SUV window, her breath nearly tickling his ear. His pulse quickened at the memory and at the reality of being alone with her. The elevator dinged again as someone probably stood on the other side of the doors, pressing the Up or Down button. But Tessa held the Close button again, trapping them inside the small car.

      He could have easily brushed aside her hand and opened the doors, but he leaned against the wall of the elevator and wrapped his hands around the brass railing to prevent himself from pulling her into his arms.

      “I don’t think you do know when you’re flirting,” he argued with her arbitrarily. Was he wanting to rile her as much as she had tried to rile him with her “stuffy” insult? “I think you act just as recklessly with your…wiles as you do your driving.”

      “Recklessly?”

      “Some day you might flirt with the wrong man,” he warned her, “one who doesn’t understand that you’re not really aware of what you’re doing.”

      “I know when I flirt,” she repeated, jabbing the Close button again. Then she crossed the small space separating them, swaying her hips with just a couple of steps. She didn’t stop until her body touched his. Then she lifted her chin, staring up at him, her blue eyes wide and bright.

      “Lieutenant…” she murmured as her fingers trailed up his chest to tap his badge.

      He knew she was playing with him, teasing the stuffy police officer and trying to prove her point. But his heart beat hard beneath his vest. “Tessa…”

      She bit her full bottom lip and then swiped the tip of her tongue across it, moistening her mouth. Her lips parted and she breathed the word, “Yes…”

      He hadn’t realized he’d asked a question. To what was she giving permission—for him to kiss her? He leaned forward…just as the elevator dinged again. Without her finger on the button, the doors slid open to a trio of rookie officers standing in the lobby. Heat climbed to Chad’s face from where it had pooled lower in his body, where Tessa’s curvy body brushed his.

      One officer whistled.

      One whispered, “Oh, man…”

      And the third spoke coherently, “Lieutenant, we didn’t want to be late for roll call. But we’ll take the stairs.”

      “Sorry,” muttered the whistler as they whirled away from the elevator.

      The rookies weren’t going to be the only ones late for roll call. Chad closed his eyes and groaned.

      Tessa’s body, lush and soft, settled fully against his. He swallowed another groan, fighting to keep his body from reacting to her closeness. He dragged in a breath, but it smelled of her—some light floral scent and fruity shampoo. He gripped the brass railing so hard he nearly snapped it free of the elevator wall. But he wouldn’t reach for her. Even though his body hardened to the point of pain, he couldn’t give in to temptation.

      Her lips brushed his throat as she murmured, “Now that’s flirting.”

      Feeling her gaze on his face, Chad kept his eyes closed. He couldn’t see her this close and not lean down those few inches to press his mouth across hers, to find out if she tasted as sweet and naughty as she smelled.

      She eased away and added, “And no matter what you claim, my flirting affects you.”

      He opened his eyes just in time to watch her hips sway as she sashayed out of the elevator and walked across the lobby. She was right. She affected him. And he couldn’t have that—he couldn’t have her.