Free Chance Encounter (God's Reapers MC Book 1) by Kara Parker

makes the problem worse.” Olivia sat back in her chair, not fully agreeing with him but not arguing with him either.
     
    “I thought we weren’t going to talk about work,” she said, giving him a familiar smile.
     
    “I agree,” David said. “Barkeep! Two more shots, please.”
     
     

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    Olivia Waters was getting rather tipsy. That shouldn’t have been an issue. She had walked to the bar, and so she didn’t need to think about driving home. It was a Friday night and she had the next day off. She should have been free and clear to drink the night away—until David Creely had sat down next to her and started buying them both shots. Until he had shown up looking as handsome as possible and being far more charming than he had any right to be. He kept holding his beer in one hand and looking down to the floor when she said something that made him smile. He would look down, and then when he looked back up at her, he had this smile on his face that was slowly melting her formerly strong resolve.
     
    He made her laugh. He was telling some story about a man, his motorcycle, and an armadillo, and Olivia couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so hard. She told him about one of her first trips on patrol when she had spent forty-five minutes trying to convince a panhandler to put some pants on unless he wanted to be charged with indecent exposure. But the man just laughed at her threats, ran a few feet away, and shook his bare ass at her before begging for change all over again.
     
    They were incredibly different, but so similar at the same time. It became a game of weights in Olivia’s head. He was a criminal; she was a cop—but they found the same things funny. They liked to do the same sorts of things; they had similar tastes in music and television. She didn’t know which one of the things was supposed to matter more. She wanted them to cancel each other out and leave David and her even—to see where their flirtations would lead them.
     
    Last call came upon them with a great surprise. They ordered one last drink and talked until the bar turned the lights on and sent them out into the night.
     
    “Did you drive?” David asked her. “Because you should not be driving now.”
     
    “No, I walked,” Olivia answered. Once outside she closed her eyes and breathed in that desert smell. She never regretted moving down here. She loved the weather and the look of the place, the large empty spaces that went on for miles in every direction.
     
    “Can I walk you home?” David asked.
     
    “As long as you promise that this isn’t some elaborate hit on me,” Olivia answered with a wan smile.
     
    “No offense, Officer Waters. But that seems like a lot of work to go through for a beat cop.”
     
    “Fair enough. And you should call me Olivia,” she answered, walking towards her apartment a little unsteady on her feet. David matched her pace, walking casually by her, his long legs easily keeping up. His hands were jammed in his pockets, and his eyes were on the expanse of sky above them. Stars as far as the eye could see. They’d traveled through the deep reaches of space solely, it seemed, to add an ambience to the evening walk.
     
    The streets around them were silent and empty, only the occasional car drove past, appearing and disappearing quietly. The night was cool, and Olivia enjoyed the feeling of the cool air as it poured over her shoulders, down her back, and over her bare legs. She looked over at David and found that he was looking at her, a mischievous grin on his face. For the last few hours she had been able to forget that she was a cop and he a gang member. She had gotten to know the man behind the bike, and she had liked what she found.
     
    “Well, this is me,” she said, gesturing to her tall building. David stood in front of her and then took a step closer until he was less than a foot away. It was their meeting in Hillary’s trailer all over