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“Which means he now gets to bust my brawls whenever and however he wants. And one of the things he took exception to, early on, was my language. Which had always been an integral part of me,” she grunted. “I grew up in a male dominated home, my mother having died when I was a baby. I was brought up by my father, and we lived with his brothers, my two bachelor uncles who are retired military, but were often deployed while I was young. I learned from the best to cuss; never accused of having a sweet mouth. But I knew when to use my colorful words and when not to. I never had a problem choosing my venues before I…took my current job.” Joe shrugged. “Then once I was surrounded by a bunch of guys whose swears would concuss Cartman’s eardrums, I dropped my constraints and let fly. Like one of the team, you know?”
“So what was the problem?” Mike asked.
“There actually wasn’t one until that drink-head decided there was,” she glowered. “Every time I swore, he’d write me up. Which was really unfair, because he didn’t do it to any of my male colleagues. But fair or not, before I became a wash-out statistic, I learned to curb my colorful vocabulary. Although,” she snickered, “the words I use now make him equally nuts. He just can’t do anything about it. So, I guess you’d say the drouche has this antiquated idea about how women should sound and act, and I tromped on those nicely conceived notions. Of course, there’s more.”
Mike’s lip curled up in a semi-grin. “Right. The more you already mentioned. You have a propensity to go off on tangents while you’re working. Like now,” he pointed out. “Your boss curbed your language, but not your unauthorized excursions into worm holes.”
“Nicely put,” Joelle applauded. “Because of some past…indiscretions, he’d go flippin’ ballistic if he knew what I was doing here with you.”
Mike raised his brows. “Riddle me this. Are you still working your actual case to the fullest of your abilities?”
“Frogging right I am,” Joe replied with alacrity. “I forwarded good intel to the powers-that-be just this morning, as well as performing my own due-diligence. Which means I’m waiting for things to happen before I can take any further action.”
“Well then, your asshole boss can’t complain, can he,” Welker stated, clearly taking her side, for which Joe was appreciative.
“He shouldn’t be able to, but he’ll find a way if he finds out. Instead of wanting me to be involved with Mike’s intrigue, I’m sure he’d rather murder were done while I sit in my rental room knitting socks.”
“Then the guy is delusional,” Cisco snorted. “We’ve known you for…” he looked at his watch. “…forty-two minutes, and I already know there are no yarn-goods in your past, present, or future.”
“See?” Joelle replied happily. “You get me. That’s all I’m looking for. People who understand my need to…multitask.”
Mike grunted, but this time his amusement was showing. “I’ll bite. Besides your assigned operation and this segue into my shit, how many other things are on your docket?”
“Not a one,” Joelle told him honestly. “At least right now.” She smiled sassily at him, daring him to call her out.
If her look became flirtatious, it was because she was feeling pretty good. About this group. About becoming Mike’s fake girlfriend…which she hoped wouldn’t be too fake. She’d protect the man while hopefully scratching an itch that hadn’t been taken care of in a very long time.
“And then there’s that,” Kyle noted, pointing to her face. Clearly, he was seeing the sparks that shot from her eyes as she regarded his boss. “So spill. Because we’ve all been wondering about the blood in Mike’s beard, and whether or not it’s yours.”
It was time to see if their acceptance of her included letting her tease. “Oh, that. It’s mine alright.” She didn’t so much as hint at a grin. “When he threw me to the ground thinking I was a perp, I passed out and he had to give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
She managed to keep a straight face, but Kyle…
“Uh, huh,” the kidder in the group nodded sagely, but she could see his chin trembling with suppressed mirth. “Mike’s good like that. Which means I’m assuming he accompanied the rescue breathing with a little tongue, and chest compressions?”
Joelle’s nipples tingled, remembering how nice they’d felt rubbing against Mike, even through several layers that included his flak jacket. What would it feel like, skin to skin…?
“And of course if you hadn’t responded quickly enough to a secondary chest massage,” Cisco added cheekily, breaking her out of her fantasy, “I’m sure he would have thoughtfully loosened your clothing, and?—"
“Okay, assholes. Enough,” Mike snarled. “If you must know, I kissed the lady. Okay? It was a heat of the moment kind of thing, and it just…happened.”
With color rising in her cheeks at the unaccustomed save Mike had sent her way regarding which one of them had been the aggressor, Joelle wondered if she should call Mike out on who had initiated the contact, or if she should let him have his moment. Deciding she liked him taking over for now, she kept her mouth shut, but couldn’t help a wink she sent in his direction.
This time both corners of his mouth quirked up.
Score.
Although she’d already ascertained that Mike probably smiled and laughed a lot, she hadn’t been the recipient of many of those beguiling looks. She’d take this one.
Amidst additional light banter, the seven of them walked briskly until eventually Joe spotted a large group of men and women in various stages of undress. Shed of protective flak jackets, boots, and constrictive BDU layers, the SWAT teams’ discards were spread out over rocks, ostensibly to dry, while they lounged about, decompressing. There was a lot of good-looking flesh on display, but as Joe and her escort approached, Mike began pulling off his gear to toss it aside.
Joe lost total focus of everyone else.
Bullet proof vest? Gone. Long sleeve shirt? History. Pecs that went on for miles? Drool.
“Mase? Everlee?” Mike called out, dragging Joe from her stupor. “I want you to meet someone.”
Another male hotty walked their way, his arm over the shoulders of a raven-haired beauty who clearly thought her squeeze hung the moon and stars. Mike introduced them.