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I had to chuckle at him and went to hug him. I kissed his lips, savoring the feeling of kissing someone I knew had my back one hundred percent. “You’re not going to tell me what this arrangement is?”
He smirked down at me, blue eyes impossible to look away from. “Sounds like you’re finding out anyway. You’ll have to handle the suspense.”
“Is that so?” I arched an eyebrow. “I can think of a way or two to work the truth out of you.” I winked.
He closed his eyes like I was already testing his willpower.
I stepped back from his arms, slipping my shirt overhead. “Good thing for you I like surprises.”
“You do?” he asked, unabashedly checking me out. I would need to get used to that, not turning away from him when I was changing just because my ex didn’t like my body.
I nodded and pulled on a tank top. Then I changed out of my scrub pants, saying, “Don’t you love the anticipation of knowing something good is coming?”
He leaned back on my bed, tilting his head to the side. “You think it’s going to be good?”
With my shorts on, I walked to him, straddling him on the bed. “Anything that makes you blush like that is good to me.”
A teasing look played on his face before he flipped me over on the bed and kissed me breathless, almost making me forget I had something to look forward to outside of this magical, heart-pounding moment.
36
KNOX
“Turn on the mower!”Liv yelled. “Yank that chain!”
I shook my head at her. It was one thing to stand in my brother’s front yard wearing nothing but cowboy boots, pink heart boxers, and a cowboy hat. It was another thing entirely to have my brother, sister-in-law, and the woman I’d fallen for as an audience. Thankfully, the kids were too busy swinging and playing in the backyard to be bothered by this fiasco.
Larkin’s face was pure joy as she wolf-whistled. “Get it, baby!”
Well, if Larkin wanted a show, I’d give her a show. I’d embarrass myself a thousand different ways to make her smile like that.
I pointed my ass their direction, bent over nice and slow, and made a show of pulling the lawn mower chain.
“Ow ow!” Liv yelled.
Fletcher guffawed.
And Larkin’s tinkling laugh hit my ears. God, anything to make her laugh.
I shook my ass and then theatrically pulled a second time, my arm muscles and abs flexing with each movement.
Larkin laughed even harder, gasping for air.
My smile had to be just as big as hers. With my back to them, I schooled my expression, then I finally pulled the cord so the mower roared to life. I slowly snapped back up, rolling my hips in a sexy dance move on the way.
Fletcher yelled, “You chose the wrong profession!”
“Cop, stripper, what’s the difference?” I tossed back. I turned up the throttle on the mower, then clamped the starting bar together. The self-propelled mower started moving, and I strutted along with it, moving my hips side to side, playfully adjusting my cowboy hat.
And then someone drove by. And slowed down.
And reversed.
Oh dear Lord. If one of the other cops happened to be out here...
But when I looked over, I didn’t see another cop. Rhett Griffen had pulled alongside the road and had his phone camera pointed right at me.
My jaw dropped, and I turned to Liv. “You put him up to this!”