Sexy Dirty Cowboy

Chapter One

 

“Why don't detectives wear uniforms?” 

I cast a glance over my shoulder at Karsten watching in the mirror while I applied my ChapStick. With the balm smeared across my lips, I rubbed them together before turning to flash my badge at him. “Because they give us these nifty little things in order to identify ourselves. No need for a uniform.”

Karsten gripped me by the hips and pulled me toward him. His mouth twisted into an exaggerated pout. “But you’d look so good in a uniform, babe. Your ass…”

His palms slid down my hips and around to cup the cheeks of my butt.

“Is still pretty good, even in a pair of jeans?” I cocked one eyebrow, challenging him.

“Damn straight.” Another squeeze and a swat to my behind reminded me he’d always loved my body, even though I wasn’t a tiny delicate woman. I’d never lost my curves, despite the amount of exercise I had to do in order to pass my department-mandated physicals.

Outside, a horn blared, and I craned my neck to see out the window. Mia sat behind the steering wheel in the police cruiser we used when we had no need to conceal who we worked for.

Karsten cringed and peered at his watch. “Doesn’t she know what time it is? The neighbors will complain.”

I laughed, capping the ChapStick and tossing it back onto the bathroom vanity. “To who? The police?”

Karsten shrugged, his cheeks pinkening a little. It was a bit adorable. So I grabbed his hand, and he followed me down the stairs. It was technically my house, but Karsten had lived here almost as long as I had, so I never really thought about the fact it was my name on the mortgage.

From within neatly aligned picture frames, hanging in the hallway, images of the two of us smiled back. Photos of our travels and accomplishments were mixed in between photos of Rusty, the dog we’d adopted. No kids yet, but they wouldn’t be far behind. I wanted them. Desperately. I’d felt my biological clock ticking every day since I’d turned thirty. Now at thirty-two, the ticktock was making a bit of a racket, reminding me constantly I wasn’t getting any younger. I just had to convince Karsten we didn’t actually have all the time in the world, as he kept proclaiming.

We reached the front door, and Karsten leaned around me, opening it so I could leave. But when I stepped out onto our porch, he tugged my hand, spinning me back to face him. Before I could say anything, he pressed his lips to mine, hot, hard, and branding.

Despite the fact the streetlights lit up the evening enough that Mia would be able to see us, I kissed him back. Like I always did. It didn’t seem to matter where he wanted me. It could be in the privacy of our own home, in a park as we jogged together, or on our darkened porch while my partner waited for me to start our shift. I always responded. He had some weird sort of pull on me, which made me forget I was normally a Sensible Sally. I’d never been one to lose my head over a guy, but Karsten had swept me off my feet two years ago and hadn’t put me down since.

His tongue invaded my mouth, and he walked me back to the wall. A brief flex of his hips against mine told me we should have started this earlier.

The horn blared again, and I pulled away from my man with a groan, peering over his shoulder at Mia.

“Quit making out like you’re sixteen-year-old virgins on prom night!” Mia yelled through the open car window. “Or at the very least, make me a bag of popcorn while I watch the free porn!”

I choked on a laugh and shoved Karsten away.

He rolled his eyes at Mia’s antics. “Seriously, you need to talk to her about appropriate neighborhood behavior. If Mrs. Toadley next door corners me in the morning and bites my head off because Mia disturbed her cats, I’m not going to be happy.”

I burst out laughing at his all-too-serious face, and eventually, his pressed-together lips widened into a smile. I kissed him lightly and skipped down the steps. “See you tomorrow,” I called over my shoulder.

He lifted his hand in a wave. A lingering glint of heat in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I yanked open the passenger seat door and climbed inside with the hugest grin on my face. Maybe I’d ask Janice if I could leave early tonight. If I could get home before dawn and slide into bed before Karsten’s alarm went off, we’d have a whole hour of naked time before he needed to be at work. He was going away for work again next week, so I wanted to make the most of the time we did have together.

Mia shook her head, and with a quick blind spot check, she guided the cruiser into the suburban street. “You guys make me sick. You’re really there, aren’t you? In that honeymoon phase where it’s all kissing and sex and hot, stolen glances when you think no one is watching. Or even when you know people—your partner specifically—are watching. When are you going to get over that?”

I shrugged. “It’s been two years. Maybe this is just what we are? I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.”

“Ugh. As I said, sickening. That phase lasted three months with Lucas and me.”

“So push him up against a wall before he leaves for work?” I side-eyed her. “Works for me.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” she grumbled.

Mia and I had been partners for years, though, so I knew her complaints were in good fun.

“What are we doing tonight, anyway?” I asked, steering the conversation away from how physical Karsten and I still were. “A fraud case or something, right?”

Mia made an affirmative sound in the back of her throat. “Wilson and Stavos are meeting us there at twenty-one hundred. We drew the short straw. Everyone else is at the rodeo, bringing in the ex-gang member.”

I blinked. “From the rodeo?”

Mia hit the blinker to maneuver the car around a sharp left turn before answering me. “All I know is that he’s a professional on the bull riding circuit now, but seems he was once mixed up with the Kings of Chaos Motorcycle Club. Some cold case they got a new lead on.”

I nodded, running through the facts in my brain. I’d heard bits and pieces about the case but hadn’t paid a lot of attention since it wasn’t assigned to me. I wish it had been. Sounded a hell of a lot more interesting than what we had to do tonight.

Mia’s chatter about her kid’s softball game filled the time it took us to drive to the suburban home of our target. I let out a long, low whistle when we stopped the car outside a sprawling, two-story mansion. The lawn was perfectly neat, interrupted only by gardens full of flowers and a rock path that led to the painted wood door. Lights glowed in the downstairs windows, and I heaved a sigh. It was so beautiful on the outside, but it just went to show, you never knew what people did behind closed doors. Did the other people on this street know their neighbors were embezzling money? Did they suspect that underneath the good morning smiles, lay someone who cared so little for the law that they would break it, just so they could have all this material wealth?

“You’ve got that look on your face again.” Mia glanced at me. “The one where you seem disappointed by what we’re about to do.”

I shook my head. “Not just disappointed. Angry, too. We have laws for a reason, you know? I just can’t stand when people don’t respect them.”

“You and me both, girl. But let’s just get this done, huh? I want to get back to the station. Lord knows we have more interesting cases to work on.”

She wasn’t wrong there, and Wilson and Stavos were already out of their car and waiting for us. Mia locked our cruiser, and we took the lead, the two uniformed officers trailing behind. I liked being in control, even on something as mundane as this. Mia rapped her knuckles across the door, and after a moment’s pause, a woman appeared in the doorway. Dim light spilled out around her pajama-clad form, and a young baby in a onesie sat propped on her hip.

Mia flashed her badge and handed her a folded piece of paper.

“What’s this?” the woman asked, struggling to unfold it with her one free hand.

“It’s a search warrant, Mrs. MacIntosh.”

“For what?” Her fingers gripped the door tighter, her knuckles turning white with the effort.

“Ma’am,” I said gently, aware she had a child with her and unwilling to upset him. “Please. You need to let us in.”

With clear reluctance, she opened the door wide, and we all traipsed through. The baby’s gaze followed me curiously, and my heart skipped a beat at the sight of his pudgy little hands, grasping at his mother’s sleep shirt.

Mrs. MacIntosh caught me staring and tucked him tighter against her chest. “I don’t know what you’re searching for. Don doesn’t bring his work home.”

I ignored that statement. It didn’t matter whether it was true or not. We had another team at her husband’s office, doing exactly the same thing we were. We were merely covering all bases.

“Where is your husband right now, Mrs. MacIntosh?”

“Away. For work.” She smoothed her palm over her son’s back in a calming motion that seemed more for her benefit than for his.

The little boy twisted in her grasp and gave me a gummy smile that I had a hard time not returning. But I needed to focus on his mother. Not the fact my ovaries were squealing with delight.

“We’ll get out of your hair as soon as possible. Just sit over there, please.” I pointed to an armchair. The woman turned stiffly and walked the few steps to where I’d indicated. She sank down onto the cushions, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

“You ready, Whit?” Mia asked with one foot on the bottom of the staircase that led to the second story.

“Yeah, I’ll be right…” I narrowed my eyes at the framed photo on the table beside where Mrs. MacIntosh sat. I didn’t know what it was about the image that had caught my attention. Perhaps it was the familiar blond flop of hair…

I picked up the frame, blinking hard. Three people, enjoying what looked to be a picnic smiled back at me. Two of the people were Mrs. MacIntosh and the baby currently gurgling on her lap. And the third…

I thrust the photo into Mrs. MacIntosh’s face. “This man.” The words came out squeaky, and I cleared my throat and tried again. “Is he your brother?”

Though from some place deep inside me, a place where a whirling current of unease now swelled, I knew what her answer was going to be.

“I don’t have a brother. That’s my husband, Don.”

With those few words, my world tilted on its axis. The current turned into a tidal wave and dumped a load of lies, secrets, and betrayal right on top of my head.

“What’s going on?” Mia asked, coming up beside me.

Limply, I passed her the photo.

Her gasp of shock washed over me, but I barely heard it. I spun, searching the walls of the house, and wondered how they weren’t the first thing I’d noticed. To my left, another family portrait hung. This one more formally posed. But it was still his eyes. His smile, staring back at me. A familiar leather jacket was slung over a coat rack. I stalked toward it and fingered the cuff on the sleeve, knowing when I turned it over there’d be a smudge of red paint from when we’d painted our bedroom.

Our bedroom. In the house we shared.

But apparently, I wasn’t the only one Karsten shared a bedroom with.

All the late nights. All the business trips. I mentally pulled each one apart and put them back together in their true form. He hadn’t been late. He hadn’t been away. He’d been here.

Nausea rolled my stomach. Stavos asked what I was doing, but Mia shushed him, while everything I’d known for the past two years fell apart. My gaze bounced around the room, trying to imagine Karsten walking these floors. Watching TV on that couch. Making dinner in that kitchen.

Making love with his wife in the bedrooms upstairs.

With horror, I stared at the baby. He was the baby I’d wanted for years. The one Karsten had said he wasn’t ready for.

Now I knew why. Karsten was never going to marry me. Never going to give me a baby. Because he already had all that.

With someone else.

My nausea boiled into anger. “Your husband is away for work?” I asked Karsten’s wife.

“I already told you that.”

“Give me your cell phone,” I demanded.

Mia put a hand on my arm. “Whit, no. You don’t need to do this.”

But I did. I needed it like I needed air to breathe.

“Your phone!” I barked.

The woman fumbled to pick it up from the table. The baby was no longer smiling. He buried his face in his mother’s shoulder as she held the phone out to me.

“Don, right? That’s your husband’s name?” I asked.

She nodded, confusion written all over her pretty face.

Don. Seriously? At least when Karsten made up an alias, he picked a cooler name. Was Don short for Donald? Donatello? What did it fucking matter? It was short for lying, cheating asshole. I scrolled through the woman’s phone until I found his number and hit the ‘call’ button.

It only rang twice. “Hey, sweetheart. I was just thinking about you.”

I snorted on a harsh, bitter-sounding laugh. I didn’t say anything, just letting the long pause drag out.

“Belinda?”

“Not Belinda,” I bit out.

Another moment of silence, then, “Whitney?”

My lips twisted into a cruel smile. “Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.”

“Whit…fuck. I can explain.”

“Can you, Don? Can you really? I don’t think there’s any need for that. I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here.”

To my surprise, Karsten—Don—whatever his name was, burst into tears. I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it like it had just sprouted horns. Tears? What the actual fuck? Was this seriously the same hot alpha boyfriend who’d pushed me up against the wall just an hour ago? I’d never seen Karsten cry in two years, but when I put the phone back to my ear, great gulping sobs echoed down the line.

I ground my molars together. Did he think I was that stupid? That he could cry, and I’d somehow feel sorry for him? His tears had the opposite effect on me. I wanted to put my fist through the drywall. You know, since his face wasn’t handy.

“Please don’t say anything to my wife. I love you. I swear. I’ll talk to her. I’ll tell her it’s always been you. She means nothing to me.”

I let him continue, wheedling his way through the call, begging, crying, whining to me about how he’d make it up to me. How he’d leave her. How she trapped him with the baby.

That was the last straw. I looked into Belinda’s big brown eyes, just like her son’s, and prayed to God her son was more like her than he was his father. And then I hit loudspeaker.

“I never loved her, Whitney. I swear it. Just come home and I’ll make it up to you. I’ll do anything, everything! We can go away together. Maybe we can make that baby you’ve been wanting. It’ll be just like when we first started dating, and we’ll just put all of this behind us.”

Belinda’s eyes filled with tears, and she stood to face me. On the loudspeaker, Karsten carried on, his words now unheard by both the women who’d loved him. Loved. Past tense.

“You didn’t know about me?” his wife asked, ignoring her squawking husband.

I shook my head. “I swear it. You didn’t know about me?”

A single tear spilled down the woman’s cheek. “No.” She glanced around the big house. “What the hell am I supposed to do with all of this? We’re married. We have a child.”

I focused on her son, and though the walls inside me were breaking down, threatening to collapse my strong outside façade, I forced my words to sound determined. “You take your son and raise him to be a better man than his father is.”

Then I held out the phone and let her have the honor of hanging up.