Chapter 22

Mike cracked eggs into a bowl, whisking them up like an expert before pouring them into a pan. He put the burner under them on low while, in the meantime, he draped bacon strips over the plastic arms of a doohickey that was designed for microwave cooking. He was fully capable of browning the strips in a pan, but he found that zapping them was quicker and a helluva-lot easier to clean up.

He checked the clock. Six-twenty.

The kids would be down any second to grab breakfast before they left. Since their mother had walked out, Mike never missed making them their first meal of the day. Even when they complained that he was delaying their plans, or that what he cooked wasn't exactly what they wanted, Mike continued with his efforts, and he knew, one-hundred percent, they appreciated it.

Dilly was first on the scene, tromping down the stairs to confront him with a sly look in her eyes. "Well look who's awake. I thought maybe you'd sleep late and call in sick to work today."

Huh.That was one very "smirky" face his daughter was giving him.

"Why would you think that?" Mike asked, as innocently as possible.

"Uh, duh," Tim came barreling down the stairs into the middle of the conversation, walked right over to the counter, and snagged a piece of buttered toast from the plate Mike had loaded up. "Maybe because you didn't get home until a million o-clock," he instigated.

Busted.Mike thought he'd been able to sneak in without either of them knowing. "It wasn't that late," he decried.

"Two AM," Dilly countered smartly, and it didn't take long for Mike to hear the reason she was calling him out. "Considering you don't think that hour is outrageous at all, I believe our curfew should be changed." She regarded her brother. "What do you think, Tim? Should Dad move our pumpkin time from eleven-thirty to one?"

Mike needed to nip this one in the bud, stat, before Tim could get on board with Dilly. "Don't even go there," he warned. "I'm forty-two, and you guys aren't even legal yet. So there's no discussion. We'll renegotiate when you're a senior next year, Dilly." He pointed at his son with the spatula. "And it'll be two years for you."

"Spoilsport," Dilly grunted, but he could tell she hadn't expected much from her fishing expedition. "Sooo, what did you do so late, since everything around this town that's interesting closes down at midnight?" Dilly continued to prod.

Mike tried to play it cool, but he could feel the color moving up his neck at the memory of exactly what he and Joe had been up to.

Dilly looked both shocked and pleased as she took in his countenance and came to a conclusion. "What? You've got to be kidding me," she squealed heartily. "My Dad was out…making out?"

Tim, who clearly hadn't given it too much thought, stopped, mid-bite, his mouth hanging open.

"Really?" His voice squeaked.

Mike sighed. He might as well ‘fess up. His shit with Joelle was only going to get deeper…he hoped.

"I'm not dead, you know," he chastised his children grumpily. "And Elle is a wonderful woman."

"Pretty, too." Tim chewed the bite he'd almost lost, clearly having gotten over Mike's bomb drop. "I'd tap that if I were your age."

Mike glowered at his son, a little shocked, and a lot appalled. "You did not just say that," he growled. His two adolescent demons sure knew how to ring his bell, but they were clearly doing it on purpose, so he needed a moment to regain his equilibrium. "Tim, can you check on the bacon?"

Tim shrugged with a grin, then went to the microwave and removed the steaming plate. "No offense or anything about your girlfriend," he responded easily, snagging the first piece for himself, and stuffing it into his mouth. "I'm just letting you know I approve."

"Nice of you," Mike grunted, amused despite himself. "Not that I need your blessing. But it's good to know you two aren't going to stage a protest."

Dilly chimed in with an eye roll. "You think we'd do that? Geeze, Dad. We're happy for you. It's been over a year since Mom left, and we thought you were going to grump around and be single forever. This thing with Elle is very healthy for a man your age," she ended, with what Mike assumed she thought was a well-thought-out dollop of wisdom. But seriously?

"Again, with the age thing?" he snorted. "I'm not in my dotage, you know."

"Whatever that means." Tim shrugged. "Now can you dish up the eggs? I'm supposed to meet Aiden in…" he picked up his phone and looked at it. "…ten minutes."

"Fine. Eat," Mike grunted, dividing the eggs between three plates.

He needed to get a move-on, too. His shift started in twenty minutes.

As much as he loved his job, he wasn't really looking forward to it today. Both Kyle and Spence from his precinct and his SWAT team, knew he'd been going to meet Joe last night. They'd been introduced to her previously at the quarries, and had gotten an eyeful of the chemistry between them which had resulted in a combustive reaction. Which meant they'd be attempting to pry information out of him regarding last night's activities. And even though Mike wouldn't tell them everything that occurred, his poker-face sucked.

He"d get a razzing, and that wasn't on his to-do list.

"Okay. I'm finished." Mike pushed his plate away. "Dill, you need a ride to school this morning?"

"Nope. Caden is picking me up."

Mike's mind slipped off the Joe bandwagon for a moment as he wondered if he should be worried. Yeah, Dilly and Caden had been best buds since toddlerhood, but they'd kind of gone their separate ways in early high school. This was the second time in just a few days they'd seen each other as new friends.

"Anything you want me to know?" Mike asked, quirking a brow in his daughter's direction as she shoveled in her breakfast. He'd just managed to snag the last piece of bacon before Tim-the-vacuum sucked the rest in.

Dilly looked contemplative for a minute, then shook her head. "Nope. Not yet."

Mike didn't know whether to be worried or relieved at her demurral, but he trusted his daughter. He'd give her space. And he supposed, for what it was worth, Dilly would eventually talk to Melanie about any…personal questions she might have.

"Hey, Dad?" Tim asked, finishing up the last of the toast. "We forgot to ask. Did you ever find out who put those cameras up?"

Damn.Mike was hoping they'd forgotten all about that. He should have known better, but he had his excuse ready.

"Yeah," he lied. "It was an awareness drill. Mason put surveillance up at a bunch of the teams' houses to see how long it would take before they got noticed. I was honest with him. I told him it was you who'd discovered the cameras, and he said he'd give you points for paying attention, while I got some big fat demerits," Mike teased.

Would that explanation fly?

"Cool," Tim stated happily, although Dill looked a little skeptical. "I haven't even joined the team yet, and I'm already earning points."

Mike knew Tim was planning on going into the police academy, following in his old man's footsteps. At least that was his trajectory for now. Teenagers changed their minds all the time, so Mike wouldn't hold his breath.

"Okay. Now I've really got to go." Mike stood up, grabbed his cap, dropped a kiss on each of his kids' heads, then headed for the door. "Have a good day. Last one out, lock up," he said.

"We will," Dilly assured him, and Mike wasn't worried they'd forget. The pair were very conscientious. He was lucky as hell he had these kids.

Mike was halfwayto work when his phone rang. He looked at his dash, and saw it was Joe.

Grinning, he pushed to connect the Bluetooth call. "I thought you'd still be asleep," he answered.

There was a sound, much like a purr, that filled his cab. "I woke up missing your big, warm body next to mine," she murmured sleepily. "And knowing what time you said you roll into work, I figured I'd catch you between children and co-workers to tell you that."

"You timed it perfectly," Mike beamed, pleased with her assertion. "And I miss you, too," he admitted.

"Excellent. So how about some hot phone sex before you get to the station?"

Mike groaned. "Seriously, Joe? Please don't do this. I'm only three minutes away from parking, and I don't want to walk into the precinct sporting wood."

Just imagining her in bed, naked and luscious… She'd be stretching, her hands above her head, her tits arching upward, her pussy?—

Fuck. Too late.

"You are so bad," he grumbled, adjusting his hard-on so he could continue driving as Joe laughed huskily.

"Ready for me, are you?" she cooed. "I'm a little sore this morning, but I'd be willing to go a few more rounds if you've got something going that's ready and willing."

"Joe. I. Have. To. Work." He pronounced each word succinctly.

Now she pretend-whined. "You can't take the day off? I'd love some company. When was the last time you called in sick?"

"Nineteen ninety-eight," he answered without missing a beat. "Which means if I phone in today, I'm going to get all kinds of shit. The entire department will know something's up."

"Mmm. They're going to know something is up the minute you walk in with a tent in your PDU's."

Mike was amused but not surprised that Joe realized he had an actual boner, and that she knew what to call his every day tactical pants. Maybe the DEA were outfitted similarly to police officers with their daily uniform. He couldn't wait to find out by stripping her out of it one day after she'd come home off a job.

Joe must have known she'd pushed him enough on the erection thing, because she changed the subject. "I was actually wondering if you might stop by the bar tonight?"

"You want to see me again?" he teased, knowing the answer. After a combined five orgasms last night, there was no doubt in Mike's mind that she wanted to continue exploring what they had together.

"Would you even believe me if I said…meh?"

Mike burst out laughing. "Uh, no," he quickly rebutted. "I barely made it out of your bed last night, and I have the scratch marks to prove it. You were really hanging on to me so I wouldn't leave."

"And you would have stayed if not for your kids," she responded smugly. He could hear the satisfied smirk in her voice. "And FYI, I would have been completely onboard for an all-nighter."

Mike chuckled. Joe didn't hold back on her feelings, and he loved that about her…

Wait. Love?

Had he just thought that? Seriously?

Mike's gut clenched and his stiffy shriveled to half its size.

When Mel had left, Mike had told himself he'd never fall for a woman and her duplicity again. He didn't enjoy feeling like a chump, and that's what had happened with Melanie; being blindsided by her infidelity. Mike knew damned well that the only way to keep the same thing from happening in the future, was to keep his feelings under control at all times.

Fuck.

Somehow Joe had gotten in under his well-constructed, fortified barriers, because what he was feeling right now was awfully damned close to infatuation, if not full-blown, fall-over-the-cliff love. He wanted to see the woman, talk to her, touch her, and breathe her in every single waking and sleeping minute.

Mike groaned silently.

Shit.

He had it bad, and there were no takesies-backsies for him. Mike was an all-in kind of guy. But to cut himself some slack over his misstep, he thought he'd been dealing with his lustful left brain, when clearly, all along, his sneaky right brain had been making long-term decisions. He'd gone into this thing with Joe, maintaining a healthy view of having a simple, physical relationship over the course of months, that would end up with them liking each other enough to hang out and be good friends with benefits, but now he wanted more. Nope. Not just more, as he"d fooled himself previously. He wanted it all.

And that was an entirely different ballgame.

"Uh, Mike? Are you still there? You've been quiet for a long time."

"Yeah. I'm here," he managed to get out. "I'm just trying to, uh, conjure something disgusting to get my dick under control," he lied.

"Okay," she said, agreeably. "How do you feel about spiders? Snakes? Ooh! Rotting zombie corpses?"

Mike barked a laugh, unable to help himself. "Spiders and snakes are actually cool. And do you, even for a moment, think I'd be run off by a few zombies?" he scoffed.

"Nope," she was quick to return. "Between the two of us, we'd damn well decimate an entire population of the undead."

Ahh.She'd said "damn". Mike had wondered about that. After Joe's swear-explosion the night before, post epic-orgasm, he'd debated with himself whether or not she'd go back to total curse-abstinence or not. Now, he had his answer. And as much as he'd liked her colorful replacement words, he was pretty pumped she'd dropped her verbal-reticence, at least around him.

Joe continued.

"What are you afraid of, then?" she questioned brightly. It sounded like she was getting out of bed and walking across the room. When Mike heard the distinct gurgle of a coffee machine starting up, he had his answer.

Of course, he pictured her naked, standing in her little kitchenette. Perky nipples in the morning chill, that high, tight ass?—

And there went his cock-control again.

"What am I afraid of…?" He tried to get his head back on track. "Umm…" He knew, of course, but he never admitted it.

He needed to throw something out there to get her off the actual trail of his insecurity. He gave a long-suffering sigh. "I didn't want to admit this, Joe, but I have…arachibutyrophobia."

He waited for a hot second.

"What the hell is that?" she finally snorted with incredulousness in her tone.

Mike was laughing like a lunatic inside, but kept his voice as serious as possible when he answered. "It's the fear of having peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth."

"Wha…?" Clearly she had no comeback for that, which amused Mike no end. But?—

"You are so full of shit." She finally called him out.

Mike laughed. "I had you for a minute, though. Didn't I?"

"Fine. You got me…" There was a moment of silence before a satisfied, mmm. "…but I hadn't sipped my coffee yet, so it doesn't count. Now tell me your real phobia."

Mike snorted. "Not a chance. Nobody in my current life except my parents know what it is. And I've sworn my folks to secrecy."

"Now I'm intrigued. Give me a few hints." Her speculative voice boded ill for Mike. Knowing her tenacity, she'd be all over it. But he'd play along. There was no way she'd be able to find out what gave him the willies.

"Fine. It started in high school during football practice, due to…an incident. So, besides my parents who were called in, only my coach and a couple of my friends at the time were aware of the after-effects of the episode."

"Thank you, Mike," Joe answered with a gleeful chortle. "You've given me enough to go on."

"You think?"

Mike doubted it. His coach had passed on, and neither of those football buddies were local. Hell, he didn't even know where Leeland lived these days. There was only one with whom he was still in touch, but… Nope. She'd never in a million years find Cruz. And if she did, she wouldn't get anything out of him. "Do your damnedest," Mike encouraged. "But Joe. Just saying, I've been over that phobia for a number of years, so there's nothing to uncover."

"Great," she agreed far too easily. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I'll ask my original question again. Will you be visiting me at work tonight?"

He could hear the hope in her voice, and he hated to shoot her down, but…

"I'm sorry Joe. After work I'm headed out of town for one of Tim's games, then Mason has called a squad leader meeting for later in the evening to discuss new recruits, budget items, and where next month's drills should be held. It's a snooze-fest, and it'll probably last until I'm close to passing out. Somebody kept me up well past my bedtime last night," he quipped.

"And you loved every minute of it," she responded cheekily.

"Yup. I did," he agreed.

Mike finally said goodbye after a little more chit-chat, and hung up quickly before he blurted out just what else he was figuring out he loved.