I’d never really subscribed to the keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer logic, but in this case I always wanted, no needed, to know who in the hell she was seeing. If I didn’t, my mind wandered down roads it had no place going whenever I thought about Harmony’s love life.
As I stared down into Harmony’s emerald eyes I saw a flash of white as a lightning bolt reflected in her black irises. Automatically I started counting in my head: One, two, three, four, five, six. A booming crack exploded and Romeo squealed like a stuffed pig before jumping onto Harmony’s lap. She instantly wrapped her arms around the dog and held him tightly as she assured him that everything would be okay.
“See.” She huffed at me with the fierce look of a lion protecting her cub.
For safety purposes, the side of the road was not the place that we needed to be having this conversation. I pressed the radio and turned my head. “I need a tow out on I-thirty-five east between mile marker twenty-eight and thirty.”
When dispatch copied I turned my attention back to Harmony. “Get out and bring him with you.”
“Hudson Jasper Reed! You have lost your ever-lovin’ mind if you think you are going to arrest me!” she cried in outrage. “I had to save him!”
Damn. She really was cuter than a cupcake when she was spittin’ mad. Seeing her good and pissed was one of my all-time favorite things in this world. The wild look in her eyes, the flush that rushed up her olive skin, her breath coming in short pants…it was hotter than hell. She was so alive, so filled with passion. Sometimes I even riled her up on purpose, because apparently I’m a masochist. But this time had been completely unintentional. Either way, I couldn’t let her see how her reaction affected me.
“I’m not arresting you…yet. But you can’t drive. Not with him in this state. It’s not safe. I’m taking you home.” Straightening, I took a step back so that she would have room to exit.
Her eyes narrowed. “What about Romeo?”
I knew what the right thing to do was. I needed to return the dog to the animal shelter. It was my civic duty. I’d sworn an oath to uphold the law. But all that meant jack shit when I saw the bottom lip on Harmony’s mouth quiver and her eyes glisten with unshed tears.
Without running it by my head my mouth opened all on its own. “He can stay with you until we get this worked out.”
“Woohoo!” she whooped as she threw the door open. Romeo jumped out of the car and Harmony jumped into my arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
On pure instinct I caught her and immediately regretted it. The starch fabric of my uniform and even my utility belt were no match for the heat of her supple curves. She molded against me like my Tempur-Pedic mattress. And even though I knew better, my fingers tightened around her hips as she nuzzled against my neck. I closed my eyes as the sweet sensation of her breath fanned my skin.
For years I’d maintained an ironclad control when it came to Harmony Briggs. But every second that passed, I felt it slipping like a greased pig. The harder I tried to hold onto it, the faster it shot out of my grasp. My body wanted things that my heart and mind knew were off limits, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could rein in the primal desires that only Harmony Briggs inspired in me.
Thankfully, before I did something that I couldn’t take back, thunder cracked and Romeo howled with fear. In the blink of an eye Harmony was out of my arms and comforting her four legged friend. I watched in awe as she cuddled him, and talked in a soft, comforting tone. An image of her holding a baby, our baby, as she rocked her, popped into my head like an Internet ad. And just like a computer virus, I couldn’t seem to delete the sucker. Instead, more pictures filled my head.
Harmony Briggs was a lot of things. Smart. Sexy. Fearless. Loyal. Strong-willed. Funny. But nurturing wasn’t really her thing. All her life, she’d made it crystal clear that having a ring on her finger and being barefoot and pregnant was her equivalent of hell on earth. And I’d been raised to take people at their word. Maybe other men thought they could change Harmony. Tame her. Tempt her to the domestic side. But I knew better. She was a force of nature; just like the lightning that flared in the skies.
That was why I’d always kept my distance. Nothing could ever happen between the two of us, because as strong as her feelings against marriage and a family were, that’s how strong mine were for it. Being married, having kids—that’s what I wanted in my life. There was no way to bridge the gap between such polar opposite life goals. If we tried, I knew that it would undoubtedly destroy one or both of us. I’d seen it happen before. Out of all the married couples I knew, there were only a handful that were actually happy. Ironically enough, both mine and Harmony’s parents were among them. But the rest were not living in wedded bliss. The ones that settled or thought they could change their spouse were miserable. I would never let Harmony suffer that fate.
I needed to remember that. The only problem was, Harmony was kryptonite to my memory, my will, and worst of all…my heart.
Chapter 3
Harmony
“If you burn your seat, you have to sit on the blister.”
~ Loretta Reed