When they returned to his car, he cleared his throat and asked with hesitation, “Do you want me to take you back to work, or…?” His voice trailed off, and he held his breath.
“Or,” she responded, her voice low and husky. She laid a hand on his thigh, and his muscles tensed beneath her touch. “Oh, please,or.”
* * *
As soon as Justice joined his father in the kitchen after arriving home from the station and accepted a spicy Thai salad with a chunk of bread Franklin picked up for dinner, he sensed a difference in him. Franklin wore an expression on his face that Justice recognized all too well? sexual satisfaction.
Holy shit!
He wasn’t about to ask for details, but Franklin volunteered them anyway.
“I did it,” he suddenly announced, causing Justice to choke on a bite of salad. “I did it, and it was…incredible. But I betrayed your mother, so I…I have to leave, son. I can’t face the temptation again. I don’t expect you to understand this. My heart…my heart has always belonged to one woman, and damn…Damn!” Franklin lowered his head and held it between his hands.
Justice’s gut tightened with disappointment and a small twinge of fear. He didn’t know if he could do this job without his dad. “What about Adrienne? Does she know you’re leaving?”
Franklin’s eyes clouded. “Yes. She said she understands why, but…I feel like a… Please don’t judge me for taking advantage of Adrienne.” He paused. “I’m flying home Saturday morning.”
Justice pushed his salad away. “I’m not hungry. Let’s go to the gym. I need to work out.” He just couldn’t talk to Franklin right now. Maybe later, but not now.
Chapter 6
Justice approached the front desk at the local YMCA in order to sign up for a membership. When the young man behind the counter realized Justice was the new chief of police, he said, “There’s no charge for your membership, Chief. The Laguna Beach Police Department pays for cops to be members.”
“Okay. Great.” Justice accepted his membership card and added, “My father is my guest.”
“No problem. Let me show you around the facility.”
After a brief tour, Franklin started working out on a rowing machine while Justice headed toward a line of treadmills facing a bank of windows. He and another member stepped onto a treadmill at the same time. Glancing curiously to his right, his breath hitched, and he did a double take. It was the woman from the diner. As she began to run at an easy pace, her sassy ponytail swished back and forth. Justice set his speed to match hers; and although he looked straight ahead, his eyes darted toward her, drinking in her appearance.
A sports bra revealed her firm breasts and narrow torso. Following her form, Justice admired her flat stomach, her small waist, her tight, muscular thighs and legs (imagining them wrapped around him caused his blood to pump even faster through his veins), and her soft, round, perfectly shaped bottom. His mouth went dry thinking about it, and he wished he could see her eyes. From her profile and incredible body, he could tell she was lovely.
At the end of the one-hour time limit on the treadmill, Justice and the woman next to him gradually reduced their speeds until they hit STOP on the panel. They turned toward each other…and Justice stared into the most amazing pair of eyes he’d ever seen.
Amber with brown striations.
Set in a heart-shaped face with high, delicate cheekbones and jawline, pencil-thin eyebrows, a pert nose, and a mouth designed for kissing.
Taken aback by the startling effect of those eyes and the arrangement of her other facial features, Justice stumbled backward off the treadmill.
The woman snickered in amusement.
“That first step is a doozy,” she commented before she walked away.
It took several minutes for Justice’s heart rate to return to normal, which didn’t have anything to do with his workout on the treadmill. He watched the woman tackle the elliptical machine next; in fact, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her as she moved through her routine. Unable to focus on his own workout, he almost dropped a two-hundred-pound barbell, much to his father’s annoyance.
“Pay attention!” Franklin snapped. “Before you hurt yourself.” Following the direction of Justice’s gaze, he added, “Better yet, just go introduce yourself so you can quit ogling that woman.”
“No, no. I’m good, Dad. I’m good.”
“Terrific. Now, get your head back into the game.”
By the time Justice finished lifting weights, the woman was gone. Disappointed, he wrapped up his workout, and he and Franklin returned home.
Unable to sleep due to Franklin suddenly announcing his decision to leave, Justice lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Above the constant sound of the waves crashing against the shore, he detected the low thrum of a number of trucks. At first, he assumed teenagers were out raising hell, but the trucks were running without lights which would have flashed in his bedroom windows. And there was something stealthy about their movement on the beach. He didn’t find any evidence of tracks the next morning, and that bothered him.
* * *
Every time she pictured the gorgeous, hunky man falling off the treadmill, Brielle laughed to herself. She’d felt his deep blue eyes on her during her workout, but that was nothing new. She was used to guys constantly checking her out. Whatwasnew, however, was her reaction to him. His sexy, muscular, well-toned body caused a slow, sweet heat to burn in her. She’d watched him, too, surreptitiously, and liked what she saw. He possessed a quiet and dignified demeanor that was hard to ignore.
