Point of No Return (9 page)

With one last look at the alarm clock on the bedside table, I saw it was just after two in the afternoon. Knowing Kira wouldn't be home for at least another four hours, I closed my eyes.

* * * *

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I was being watched. Even in my sleep, I could feel eyes on me. My skin prickled, my blood pounded in my ears. I was suddenly very aware I was not in my house…

and then I remembered where I was.

I opened my eyes and saw a silhouette in the

doorway.

A huge, well-defined figure with spiky black hair and dark, smiling eyes was standing in the doorway, watching me. A slow smile spread across his face as he walked toward the bed. "Do all cops know how to break and enter?"

My voice was croaky. "Only the really good ones."

He grinned. "I saw your shoes at the door," he said softly.

I smiled. "Good detective work."

"You're on my side of the bed," he said, and the bed dipped as he put his knee on it.

"It smells like you," I told him.

He moaned softly, leaning over to press his lips to my still-sleepy eyelids. I reached out my hand, finding his forearm. "Babe, I'm all sweaty," he said.

"Mmm," I hummed. "Sweaty Kira's my favorite," I told him. He chuckled but didn't protest when I pulled him down beside me. "We can shower later."

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He lay down, and I quickly settled into his side, resting my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. "I missed you."

I gave him a squeeze. "I missed you, too. I'm sorry I've worked so much this week," I told him. "I'll make it up to you."

"Hmm?" he hummed suggestively. "How do you propose to do that?"

"This weekend, I'm all yours," I promised him. "I've done enough hours to give me a weekend off."

"But that's three days away," he whined.

"Then I'll make it up to you tonight as well," I conceded, looking up at him.

He smiled and ran his fingers along my scruffy jaw.

"You didn't shave."

"I didn't go home."

"You work too hard."

Ignoring his comment about my job, I rubbed my jaw along his hand. "Don't you like my scruff?"

"Mmm, I do. It suits you," he said with a smile.

"But you still work too hard."

I didn't think he'd let me get away with not

answering. I laid my head back down on his bare chest.

"I'm a cop. It's what I do."

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I could feel his chest vibrate when he chuckled.

"But this weekend, you're not a cop. You'll just be my boyfriend, to do with as I see fit."

Lifting my head and resting it on my hand, I looked at him. "Now that sounds promising!"

He laughed, but then his smile died. "Oh, shit… I'm supposed to be having dinner with my parents on Saturday night."

"Oh."

"You could come with me?" he sounded unsure and hopeful at the same time.

"To your parents' house… for dinner?" I asked.

"Would they mind?"

He grinned. "They like you. Of course they won't mind." He got some far-off look in his eyes as though he was concocting some sort of plan. Then he flipped me over, leaned over me and grinned. "What time will you finish on Friday?"

Suddenly a little scared by his excitement, I told him, "Well, we normally hit the gym around five-ish, I have my boxing lesson at five-thirty and then we hit the bar. Home by seven-ish." And then the loaded question,

"Why? What are you planning?"

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He laughed at me, but leaned down and pecked my lips with his. "If I can change dinner with Mom and Dad to Friday, then we can go camping. All weekend."

Huh?

Camping?

C
amping
?

Was he kidding me?

He thought my expression was hilarious.

I tried to explain. "I don't do camping. I don't do tents in the wilderness with wild animals. Put me in a concrete jungle with drug dealers any day."

But he only laughed louder.

When he'd stopped laughing, he climbed off me. As he walked out to the living room, he told me, "I need to call Mom to see about changing our dinner plans."

"Tell her Saturday is fine," I yelled back to him.

"We can stay in a fancy motel, where there's room service and television, hot showers and flushing toilets."

He laughed again then told me from the next room to get my pretty ass out of bed and order some dinner because he was starving. I rolled my eyes. He was always starving because he exercised too damn much.

"There's no home delivery in the wilderness!" I called out. "What will you do then?"

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He laughed again, but then said, "Hi, Mom… no, no, I was laughing at Matt. He's just being funny."

I was being funny?

I walked into the kitchen and pouted at him on my way past. He chuckled at me as he talked to his mom, and I could tell from this side of the conversation, dinner was now on Friday night.

Which meant I was going camping.

Fuck.

Looking through the take-out menus, I decided on Thai for dinner. As I ordered from my cell, Kira disconnected the call to his mom and stood behind me in the kitchen. He trailed his mouth down the back of my neck to my shoulder, with wet, open-mouthed kisses.

With dinner ordered, I put my phone on the kitchen counter, but didn't turn around. Kira kept kissing all the skin his mouth could find. "This weekend will be fun. Just you and me," he said breathily, in between kisses. "A secluded cabin… log fire…"

"Mm," I stretched my neck, giving him better access. "Now that kind of camping, I can do."

He chuckled into my neck. "The big, brave Detective Matthew Elliott is afraid of the great outdoors?"

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I turned to face him, and he was clearly amused.

"Not afraid of," I clarified. "It's just out of my comfort zone."

He raised one eyebrow. "And dealing with crazed drug dealers is in your comfort zone?"

I nodded. "Yep."

He shook his head at me. "You're crazy."

"Must be if I'm considering going camping."

He laughed. But then he frowned and walked into the living room, coming back with his keys. He unthreaded one key and held it in his hand. When he looked at me, he bit his lip.

"This is a key to my apartment," he said with nervous smile. "You should have one. So, you know, you don't have to break in, if I'm not here."

A key?

A key to his apartment.

Oh my God.

I reached out slowly and took it. It was just a simple silver key, but what it meant wasn't simple at all. I looked up into his dark eyes and couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face. "I shouldn't really break in, you know, being a cop and all."

He chuckled and breathed out a sigh of relief. Then he shook his head. "I still can't believe you did that."

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I shrugged. "I needed to see you." Then it occurred to me, I really should return the favor. "I should get you a key to my place."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't think I need one, considering I've only been there twice."

"Oh."

He lifted my chin. "But thank you for the offer."

Then he kissed me, all languid and lovely, until there was a knock at the door telling us dinner had arrived.

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Chapter 10

When I told the guys at work I was going camping, they laughed for a full ten minutes.

Funny bastards.

I waited until we were about to leave for the gym to tell them, so there was less interrogation time, and they laughed the entire way there. When we hit the treadmills, the comments started.

I should have known better than to say anything at all.

Kurt wagged his eyebrows. "Must be serious if she's getting him out of city limits."

Tony snorted. "She's sunk her hooks in him already.

Got him trained!"

Mitch grinned at me and nodded in agreement. "Oh partner, she's done a number on you already."

She. She. She.

They wouldn't believe it when I told them it wasn't a '
she'
at all.

It wasn't lost on me, that I was now thinking
when
and not
if
I told them. Coming out to my workmates was something I'd never dreamed I'd ever do, and there I was considering how they'd take the news, not
if
I told them, but
when
.

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Something I'd never dreamed I'd ever do, before Kira.

And when Mitch called out, "Hey, Frankie?" my feet lost their rhythm on the treadmill.

"Wassup?" Kira answered with a smile.

"When you spar with my partner here, would you smack some sense into him? Please?"

Kira's eyes flickered to mine, and he grinned. "I'll try, but he's pretty quick."

"Not quick enough," Kurt puffed as he ran. "The new girlfriend's quicker."

Kira's eyes lit up, and he smirked at me. "Is that so?"

I kept running, not looking directly at any of them, and particularly not at Kira. This conversation was hitting a little too close to home.

"Yeah," Tony said with a laugh. "But sshhhh! It's all a big secret."

Mitch snorted. "It's a secret because it's Keira Knightley."

Kira laughed, and I shook my head in disbelief at the conversation. Kurt reached over and slapped my shoulder. "Well, whoever it is, our boy here is in l-o-o-o-ve."

And I tripped over my feet.

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Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

The guys all laughed at me, and I could feel Kira's wide, amused eyes on me, but I didn't look at him. I hit the stop button on the treadmill but didn't wait for it to slow down. I jumped off the machine and told them all, very maturely, to get fucked.

I could still hear them laughing when I walked into the boxing room.

Soon after, Kira followed me in. He didn't say anything, just smirked as he set up the room while I strapped my hands, pretending I wasn't embarrassed.

But he stood right in front of me, and eventually I looked at him, not knowing what to expect. I couldn't deny it. The L word threw me off guard.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't scare me. Scared me, because it wasn't something I was expecting. Scared me, because I'd never been in love before… not
real
love. It really scared me, because I think what Kurt said could quite possibly, might be, just a little bit true.

Kira took my hands, pulled at and tightened the tape strapping. "So… they've been giving you hell, huh?"

I barked out a laugh. "You have no idea."

He chuckled. "Uh, yeah, I heard."

"Sorry about that," I said quietly.

He grinned. "Don't apologize."

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I shook my head. "And that was just me telling them I was going camping for the weekend!" I looked at him seriously. "Imagine if I'd told them I was having dinner with your parents as well!"

Kira laughed. "You mean dinner with Keira Knightley's parents."

I groaned. "Oh, don't you start."

He laughed again, clearly amused by the whole

thing. He pushed the punching bag toward me, and our boxing session started. He took what he did very seriously.

And so he should. He was very good at it.

He had me on the bag, practicing jab-kick

sequences, using both sides of my body. After I'd done my rounds, he sparred with me. He kept his dark eyes focused on mine, his hands protecting his chin, but he somehow still saw what I was doing with my feet.

He kept getting into my personal space. It distracted me and limited my kicking range, which was, I presume, the exact reason he did it. He grinned at me and tapped my face with one hand and my ribs with his other. I looked at him, asking him with my eyes what he was doing.

"I can't wait to get you alone tonight," he whispered gruffly.

And just like that, with just his words, my cock twitched.

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I jumped back from him, and still bouncing on my toes, I palmed my dick.

He threw his head back and laughed, then with a spectacular smile, called our session over. He started to pack up the room, telling me he was done for the day. "Just a quick shower," he said. "Then I'm going straight home."

I found myself grinning, despite myself, as I pulled the tape off my hands. "I'm not going for drinks with the guys," I told him. He stacked the mats and turned to look at me. I bent over to pick up my towel so he got an eyeful of my ass, and when I looked back at him, I very slowly, very deliberately, raked my eyes up his body. I moaned. "Mm, yeah. I've got somewhere else I'd rather be."

His eyes grew impossibly darker, and he smiled slowly. I looked at the clock on the wall. Five thirty-two.

I worked out roughly how long it would take me to get home, showered, and back to his place. I palmed my dick deliberately and smiled. "See you in thirty."

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Chapter 11

As per his instruction, I pulled into the undercover parking lot of Kira's apartment. He met me there with a duffel bag of clothes, a box of food and another bag of God only knew what.