The Ex File (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 1) (6 page)

“I think they make your ass look amazing,” he murmured as he enjoyed his drink. She did always have great taste in whiskey.

“Shut it, you.” She snickered and pushed at his leg with her toes. “If I wanted your opinion, I’d have—”

“Removed the duct tape,” he finished for her. He set down his drink and caught her ankle. Despite her squeals of laughter and protestations, he began slowly massaging her foot. “I’m sorry about the other night.” It seemed inadequate to apologize for the near-meltdown in the parking lot, but there was no easy or quick way to explain why he avoided Italian Fest and the memories that particular venue engendered.

“S’okay, you had to be up early.” Ellie sighed contentedly and closed her eyes, still sipping her drink occasionally. When he looked up again, he saw her watching him closely. “I thought your allergies were acting up,” she mentioned in a light tone as she poured more whiskey.

He raised an eyebrow, but kept massaging, thinking the punchline would be coming any second now. “I don’t have any allergies.”

“Mmm,” was her only reply as she continued to drink, which was surprisingly concerning to him now. “No allergies. Interesting.”

Sean released her foot and watched as she took it back and tucked it under her on the couch. “None since I was a kid. Why?”

“So then,” she leaned over and set her glass on the table, “you also weren’t out last week at a park with Guinness and Pia?”

His jaw hit the floor in understanding. Ellie had seen Pia. He didn’t know how or when, he could only assume the festival down the street, but the apparent lack of bloodshed left him unsure. However, she had apparently had time to ruminate over the conversation and come to some spectacularly bad conclusions. Sean decided to go with the truth. “Yes, I was, but—”

“And what, you were just reminiscing, thinking about the good old days when you were married? How much you missed her? How much you still love her?” She got up off the couch and collected the glasses and the bourbon. From over the half wall in the kitchen, she asked, “Am I just a random, substitute piece of ass while you get your house in order?”

“Substitute piece of…?” He got to his feet to the sound of banging cabinets and chunky glasses being abused in the sink under running water. “I saw her that Sunday. A few hours after you went tearing out of my house like you were on fire and I had bedbugs.” She hated bugs of any kind and he knew that.

Her shoulders hunched as she suppressed a shiver. “Yuck. And I didn’t tear out of your house.”

Sean crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter facing her. “Oh, and what would you call it?”

“Irrelevant to the conversation.” She grabbed the hand towel next to the sink and quickly wiped her fingers before throwing it back down. “You answered my first question, but the next three are conspicuously absent.”

He pushed off the counter and began to pace. “I went to see her in the park. I guess I wanted some closure or something like that. I deserve that much.” He ran his fingers through his hair as he remembered it. “She was all, ‘I love you, let’s get back together.’”

“And your response to that was…?” He’d never seen her look so suspicious, but otherwise she was devoid of emotion. She was almost vibrating from the effort of maintaining impassivity.

He ran both hands through his hair before lacing his fingers behind his head and facing her. “I told her that a lot had changed since she’d left and I was sorry she’d come all that way for nothing.”

Ellie hummed, but her expression didn’t change, nor did she move from her spot in front of the sink. “So, she shows up out of nowhere, after what, a couple years? And suddenly she wants you back. Did you love her?”

He felt a bit taken aback by the question. “Of course. You were at the wedding.”

She shook her head, dismissing his response. “I’ve been to many weddings. Not the point. Do you love her now?”

He crossed the kitchen until they were merely a good deep breath apart, his hands braced on the counter boxing her in. “No.” He couldn’t be emphatic enough. “No, I don’t love her. No, I don’t want her back.” He watched her dark eyes search his face, practically feeling her inspection for even the faintest hint of untruth. He couldn’t think of any other way to convince her. “I don’t want her.”

Tempting fate, he cupped her cheek, heartened when she didn’t turn away from him. “I may be a lot of things,” he started, “but I’m not that kind of bastard. That much I can promise.”

“But you didn’t call.” Her voice was small, full of confusion and accusation even as she hooked her fingers through his belt loops.

Sean rested his forehead against hers, feeling the heat of her whiskey breath against his lips. “You said you were going to call me right before you ran out the door the other morning.” He hoped that by showing the parity of their situations, it would make her feel better.

“I didn’t run.” Ellie tilted her head back to look him in the eye, “I walked, with dignity and great haste.” She held a straight face for only a moment before breaking into a quiet chuckle.

He could feel himself grinning like an idiot. He nuzzled his nose against hers. “Fine, you left with great haste.”

She turned her face away and mumbled something that sounded like, “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Eleanor,” he purred as he placed a finger under chin and turned her face to his. She looked…scared? Ashamed? It was several shades of emotion at once, and he wanted nothing more than to hug her as tight as he could to make them go away. “El. You know what I did last week?” She shook her head. He licked his lips and laughed slightly. “I arrested a couple hookers, did some buys. Hung out with Guinness. Went a little nuts on eBay for a couple antique swords. It’s an exciting life I lead, huh?”

Ellie’s eyes fell from his to his lips, finally landing on his chest. “I’m sorry for doubting you.”

Sean threaded his fingers through her hair as he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “No, don’t apologize. We’re both kinda new at this.” When she looked back up at him, she looked like she was about to cry. That wouldn’t do at all. He brushed his lips across hers, pleased to see the surprise in her eyes. “We’ll work it out.”

She reached up and tucked his bangs behind his ear, her fingertips igniting little sparks against his skin as she trailed them down his neck to his shoulder. “I’m sure we will.” When she arched up into him as she kissed him, he knew the heaven he’d experienced the other night hadn’t been imagined. Her fingers wound in his hair, the way her breath caught when he bit her neck, her leg hooked around his, damn, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed this.

The knock at the door broke them apart for only a second. She looked at the door, and the clock on the stove, before pulling him tight against her again. “Wrong house. They’ll figure it out.” 

That was all the permission to continue he needed, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her onto the counter. Stepping between her legs, he dropped his hand to her knee, moving it slowly up her thigh and dragged her dress with it. Ellie tugged at the collar and sleeves of his button down shirt, until he stopped only long enough to toss it into the living room over the half-wall.

He framed her face in his hands and peppered her lips with tiny kisses and nibbles as she wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed herself as close to him as she could be while still dressed.

The banging on the front door recommenced, this time with the familiar timber of a cop on a mission. “Eleanor Gardner. Open the door now or I’m coming in there.”

* * *

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ellie would know that voice anywhere. And this was karmic payback for last Sunday’s unfortunate timing on her part. She looked at Sean, his lips swollen and tinted from her lipstick, one hand on her hip under her dress and the other working on the back zipper. “You better let me down,” she harrumphed. “He means that.”

Sean nodded and deposited her lightly onto the kitchen floor and zipped her dress before she made a beeline for the door. “I’m coming, keep your drawers on.”

She opened the door to find Josh, strapped up with his gun, radio, and badge, and Dane the Giant, toting a halligan bar that looked more like a warhammer than a firefighter’s tool. “Costume party’s down the street, boys.”

Josh pulled her to him in a crushing bear hug. “Jesus, I’m glad to see you. Are you okay? Is your phone broken? I’ve been calling for the last half an hour.”

Fuck.
In all the emotional turmoil, she’d forgotten to let him know she’d made it home safely. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. I just… I’m sorry.” She stepped back from Josh so her lungs could actually work, and he and Dane followed her into the house.

Josh’s eyes fell to Sean, who was leaning back against the counter next to the sink refolding the hand towel. Even with kitchen wares, the black tank top and jeans still made him look dangerous. “Oh. I see.”

“Josh.” She had no idea what he was thinking or planning, and she wanted no macho displays on her behalf.

Josh waved off her concern and took a seat at her kitchen table. Dane looked to her for permission before he sat next to him, she shrugged. “It’s okay. Good to know you were home safe with a cop. How you doin’, O’Leary?”

“Not too bad, Graham. Yourself?” His voice still sounded all rough and aroused and her thighs clenched involuntarily.

She needed to move this along. There were other things she could be doing, naked things, and it just felt weird having her best friend and his friend there. “I’m sorry I didn’t call. I got distracted, as you can see.”

He looked her up and down and she knew he was taking in every mussed and rumpled inch of her. “Oh,” he replied slyly, “I can see that fine.” He picked up her purse and plucked her cell phone from the top. “Did you mean to turn it off?”

She took it from him and looked it over, hitting the power button. It jumped to life in her hand, dinging with her several texts and voicemails, ostensibly from Josh. “Hell, I must have shut it off when I was talking to Pia.”

“Excuse me?”

All eyes in the room swung to Sean, whose expression demanded an explanation. Josh turned to Dane for a moment and then back to her. “Okay then, that’s our cue. You two have a lovely evening.” The two men stood and started for the door.

Ellie hugged Josh at the door. “Thanks for looking after me.”

He kissed her cheek. “Someone’s got to, clearly.”

Dane actually leaned way down and hugged her, too. “He was really worried,” he whispered, casting a quick glance at Josh.

“I know, and I’m sorry,” she murmured. When he stepped back, she looked him over again. “Really? You just happened to have a halligan?”

He shrugged, a play of muscles so large it should have had sound effects. “It was in the trunk.”

“Of course it was. Have a good night, boys.” She closed the door behind them and rested her head on it for a moment. Now for the real issue. She turned to find him leaning against the wall just behind her. “Sean.”

His head was down with his face obscured by his hair, but she could see him watching her from beneath his lashes. “You saw her today.”

She nodded in embarrassment, not proud of the emotional tailspin she’d sent herself into and inadvertently dragged him with her. “I did. Not on purpose, believe me.”

His lips curled into a small smile. “I don’t doubt that for a minute.”

“She said these things, like you and she were, and I just…” if she could find something that didn’t make her sound like a raving lunatic, she’d complete a thought, finish a sentence.

He reached for her hand, and pulled her in close to wrap his arms around her. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” he whispered into her hair.

Ellie shook her head and brushed her lips over his jaw. “Don’t apologize for her. She doesn’t deserve it.” She rested her head on his chest and sighed, feeling all the angst and inner wildness drain out of her. “I’m sorry the rescue squad intervened.”

His chest shook under her cheek with laughter as his fingers played in her curls. “They care about you, I can relate. More interrupted, less intervened, anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” Ellie looked up at the tone of mischief in his voice and found it mirrored in his cobalt eyes.

“Yeah.” He took her hand and turned toward her stairway. “I’d be more than happy to discuss this further in a more comfortable setting.”

“Oh,” she said on a laugh, starting up the stairs, “and did you have one in mind?”

“In fact, I do.”

The light in the room was confined to the clock on the cable box at the end of the bed. When she reached for the light switch, he stopped her with a hand on her wrist. Her eyes rendered useless by the night, all she had was the warmth of his fingers on her pulse point and the sound of his breathing, calm and steady.

Ellie felt him move behind her, the shift in her hair, his breath on her neck. The zipper of her dress gave up with no fight at all and pooled around her feet without so much as a whisper. He took his hand from her wrist and lightly grabbed her hips, moving her until she was pressed so close she could feel his hardness against the small of her back.

She reached up and tangled her fingers in the long silky strands of his hair, pulling his mouth down to hers. He wasn’t the only one who could appropriate the darkness for his advantage. A hand on her hip traveled up her side, leaving a trail of fire as he cupped her breast.