Chapter 6

This is a dumb idea. Her scent fills the entire car. I've had some disgusting folks in my squad car, one man smelling so bad that I had to have the car detailed. I consider the same for Lorelei as soon as I get in and close the door, but for very different reasons. I don't know if I can not jerk off in my squad car if I don't get the body wash scent out.

I inhale deeply in the guise of breathing like I'm annoyed. Good. She'll think I'm irritated with her and definitely won't think I'm trying to identify what scent is wafting to the front of the car. It has a fruity smell but a little spice mixed in.

"Which station are we going to? I'll need to give Kailee the address so she can bail me out," she asks from the back seat. Her voice trembles, and a quick glance in the rearview mirror shows her lip trembling.

Fuck, I made her cry. I don't want her to sell drugs, but I didn't mean to make her cry.

I almost unbuckle my seatbelt and climb into the back seat so she can cry against my chest, getting my shirt wet with her tears, but I put the car into gear and straighten my face. I don't cuddle any other dealers that are upset in my car. Why would I cuddle her? "It'll take a long time to write the citation and process the paperwork. It's Friday night. You can call when you're ready to be picked up. You know you won't be put into general population, right? It's just procedure that I process you at the station and give you a higher fine. We're not taking your shoes and putting you in a cell. Just fingerprinting and mugshots. Nobody needs to bail you out, but you'll need a ride."

She sits back in her seat and looks out the window. The silence in the car, without her sassing me back and extolling the virtues of weed, is so unbearable that I clear my throat to keep from going crazy.

"Is Kailee the other woman at the truck? What's her story?" Fuck, I don't know why I'm talking. I can't help it. Must. Keep. Mouth. Shut.

She turns back to the front and scowls at me in the rearview mirror. "Do you actually care? Oh wait," she says, leaning forward. She puts her cuffs on the middle seat between us. I didn't put up the partition because she's not violent. It almost feels like an Uber ride. "You're going to look up Kailee as soon as we get to the station and write her up a fine, aren't you?"

"Why? She's trying to work and did a job. You're the owner and selling drugs out the back of your truck."

"I sell them from an attractive window with frosting and nuts added. Get it right."

"So, you admit that you sell drugs."

She cocks her head to the side and looks at me like I'm a moron. "Yeah, Dr. Watson. That's kind of the point. Drugs. Legal drugs that taste like heaven." She squints at the back of my neck. "Why do you hate me so much?"

I stomp on the brake so hard that Mom's library books in the front slide to the edge of the passenger seat, along with some entertainment magazines I checked out for her. I catch them with one hand before answering Lorelei. "I hate drugs, and I hate dealers. Thus, I have to hate you. I mean, I don't hate you on a personal level." I clear my throat. "You seem like an alright lady if I met you at the grocery store or something."

"The grocery store? Would you talk to me about the National Enquirer if we were in line together and I struck up a conversation about aliens?"

The realization I'd talk to her about aliens while holding laundry detergent and a gallon of milk creeps down my neck like an ice cube. Hell, I'd have a three-hour conversation with her about syphilis, complete with old-fashioned PowerPoint presentation, if that's what it took to talk to her.

This is bad.

I need to get this woman to the station, try not to get an erection when I touch her hand to guide her into the precinct, and never go back to the truck again. Maybe I'll call the health inspector I know from city hall happy hours and send him over to get Lorelei's drug den shut down. Maybe I should go after the food aspect instead of worrying about the drugs. A bad health inspection grade will shut it down faster.

Yeah, that's it. I'll just drop Lorelei off and never suffer this again. I'll go to a bar, drink until the bartender looks good, and take her home for a fun night. I'll squeeze my eyes shut when I pass pink trucks and never go into a perfume section of a store or look at a rottweiler mix again.

"I didn't figure you for a daddy dom guy."

I almost hit the brakes again, and we both lean to the side as the car swerves. "Excuse me?" Did she just ask if I was dominant sexually? It takes a few seconds to right the car as I think about what she'd feel like squirming under me.

"Did you just almost get in an accident because I asked about your books?" she shrieks from the back seat. "Jesus fucking Christ!"

The fucking books. I look in the mirror and notice she's staring at them in the front seat. "I didn't almost get in an accident. There was a squirrel in the road."

"There was no squirrel."

I bang on the steering wheel. "There was a fucking squirrel. Right back there!" I yell, jabbing my finger over my shoulder.

"There wasn't a squirrel, Liam," she deadpans in a calm voice.

Silence fills the space between us. My heart speeds up, and my stomach feels like I'm in a falling elevator. "How do you know my first name?"

"It was on the first fine you gave me. I'm a good citizen and read my paperwork, Liam Lane." She smiles, and my pants feel tight. Even if the smile is sarcastic and a blatant attempt to get one up on me, I can't help but admire it and revel in the fact that I made her smile.

She sits back again, and the sound of my car leather squeaking as she moves away from me makes my teeth grind. "They aren't my books. They're my mother's."

"Sure, Liam," she laughs. "Blame your mommy for your car smut."

I blow out a real sigh this time. "She has cancer and doesn't feel the best after the chemo treatments. I run errands for her until she feels better. She asked me to return books and get her more and a few magazines. I went to the library on my lunch today and picked some out I thought she'd like." I run my hand through my hair, and the back of my neck reddens like the skin there knows she's staring at it. "I don't know why I'm explaining any of this to a drug dealer."

I look in the mirror and see her brow furrowed. Before she can say anything sassy back to me, my phone rings, and I grab it. Lorelei laughs as soon as I press the green button and grumbles something like, "So much for hands free laws when it's a cop, huh?"

I ignore her and answer. "Yeah, Mom."

"Hi, baby," Mom says through the phone. "Did you forget to bring my books by? I made your favorite chicken and noodles with garlic bread."

"Shit! I'm sorry Mom. I didn't forget. I just got busy with something else."

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, my phone pings in my hand. I pull over and look at it quickly while Mom talks about what she made for dinner and how she has nothing to read while holed up on the couch tonight. I open the text message from Chase and curse.

"Why are you cussing, Liam?"

"Sorry, Mom. Chase texted and said there was a bar brawl, and the station is packed with bookings. I have a perp in my car and can't get her booked right now. I was hoping to come over, but I'll probably have to wait with her."

Tapping on my shoulder startles me, and I jump, almost dropping the phone. "Just take the books to your mom. We can swing by," Lorelei says with a shrug.

I look at her like she's crazy, my mouth open and my nose crinkled. "What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm taking you in for a fine process, and you want me to run an errand to my mom? I don't want criminals to know where she lives."

"Why not? I'll stay in the car."

"What the fuck do you mean? Do you want drug dealers knowing where your mother lives?"

She looks at me and cocks her head to the side. "So we're just going to sit out front of the station while your mother needs books and cooked dinner for you."

"Damn right."

"Liam, sweetheart, are you there?"

"Yeah, Mom," I say, holding the phone back up to my ear. "I was talking to the woman in my car."

"Oh, a woman! You have a woman in your car. Is it a date? You sure could use a date. When was the last time you had one?"

Lorelei blows out a laugh next to me, and I turn the volume down on my phone. She hears every word, and I put my finger in the air, telling her it'll be a minute.

"Mom, I have to take her in. I'm booking her."

"Kinky. She must have done something really naughty for you. Good for you, dear."

Lorelei falls into the seat behind her and covers her mouth with laughter as I turn the volume down on the phone so I can barely hear my mother. "It's not like your books, Mom. I'm arresting her."

"What'd she do?"

"Sold marijuana-laced brownies out of a truck. She's a wretched person, Mom," I growl, looking at Lorelei in the back seat as she holds her stomach and silently laughs. Great.

"Isn't that legal now?" Mom asks.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lane!" Lorelei yells from the backseat. "Tell your son."

I put the phone in my lap and turn to face Lorelei. "How can you still hear her?"

"I have excellent hearing. It's the brownies."

My stomach growls as soon as the words leave her mouth. Not that I want Lorelei's brownies, but I desperately love my mother's chicken and noodles with garlic bread.

As if reading my mind through the phone, my mother sighs. "I also made green beans with bacon fat."

"Mom," I groan. "I'm so hungry. This isn't helping."

Lorelei leans forward and taps me on the shoulder again. I put the phone down and turn back to her. She's dangerously close, and if it was any other drug dealer in my car, I'd take evasive action. Since it's her, it's all I can do not to push my lips forward a few inches and see if her lip gloss tastes as good as it looks. My tongue darts out of my mouth to lick my lips, and her eyes flick to my mouth. "Just stop at your mom's. She needs her books, and you need food. I can wait in the car. She sounds nice. I'd never hurt an innocent old woman."

"I'm not leaving you in the car. It's ninety degrees outside," I mumble.

"Leave the car on."

"You could steal it."

"Crack the windows like I'm a dog."

"Liam? Are you coming or not? I need to know if I have to put this in Tupperware," Mom's voice says from somewhere near my leg.

I put the phone back to my ear, still staring at Lorelei. I can't take my eyes off her. "Mom, that won't work. I can't leave the perp in the car."

Lorelei sits back and huffs. "Well, dear, you can bring your little friend."

"She's not a friend, Mom," I grunt, pinching my nose and squeezing my eyes shut in irritation.

"Then, why do you sound so friendly with each other?"

"We're not, Mom. She's a drug dealer."

"For pot brownies? She's not a drug dealer. Just bring your friend over. I have to get the garlic bread out of the oven. Luckily, I made enough. You bring that young lady over," she says in a stern tone she doesn't usually take with me before hanging up the phone.

I stare at the phone for a few seconds like I can't believe my mother told me to bring a drug bust over to her house for dinner. "This isn't happening," I whisper under my breath.

"Oh, it's totally happening. I'm hungry. Let's go to your mom's house." Lorelei claps her hands like this is all good fun.

I turn my head to face her again. "How are you hearing that?"

"I told you, Officer Half Inch. It's the brownies. It gives me mutant hearing." She smiles and leans back against my back seat. This isn't good. I can't have a woman smiling at me like that and take her home to meet my mother.

"Fine, but you stay cuffed. I don't need you trying to run off and break into a random garage to hacksaw your cuffs off."

"I find it funny that you think my life is like the plot of The Fugitive."

"Criminals are criminals, Ms. Rogers," I say, pulling back into traffic and turning toward my mother's house.