Free Playin’ Cop (Heroes of Henderson ~ Prequel) by Liz Kelly Page B

the place,” Brooks said. “The women of Henderson are loving this. They’ll probably have a statue erected in your honor. Anyone with a daughter is singing your praises right about now. Of course,” he said, taking a swig of beer, “anybody with a pair of balls would like to cut yours off.”
    Duncan squeezed his eyes shut and stood contemplating all the ramifications of his conversation with Annabelle. And the one he focused on was the horror of Annabelle finding out the actual truth. Because for someone who prided himself on valuing truth above all else, he’d gone and bent it twice in one day. And he knew himself and his temper well enough to know that, had Annabelle been the one doing the truth bending, he’d be walking away and not looking back.
    He knew he should keep it to himself, but the guilt had started to grow the moment he’d seen the emotion in her eyes. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t keep this in. He had to tell somebody.
    “Look,” he said, releasing a huge breath. “I wasn’t trying to be a gentleman. The truth is, I just couldn’t find the damn zipper on her dress.”
     
    ***
     
    By the time Duncan stood on the doorstep of Annabelle’s condominium in Raleigh, ready for date number three, he’d considered and rejected a million ways to tell her the truth.  
    What he’d said was true. He damn well didn’t want a one-night stand. And he had no intention of making love in that crazy-ass car of hers. But he was only a man for God’s sake, and a weak one at that. Things had heated up faster than he could keep ahead of, and his saving grace was that her dress had zipped up the side, not the back. So he’d fallen back on Plan A and told her the truth. But when she didn’t respond, he’d felt vulnerable and threw out the five date rule bullshit. And now she’d gone and told the debutantes and who knew who the hell else. No wonder her mother and sisters were looking at him with big ol’ eyes all afternoon.  
    He wanted Annabelle to fall in love with him, but not under false pretenses. He had to tell her the truth.
    But date number three at the sports bar went so well––eating hamburgers and discovering more and more about each other––including a bunch of mutual friends––that Duncan literally forgot the dark cloud hanging over everything. Who would have guessed that a red-headed Southern belle liked to ski the double black diamond slopes, or had her own bookie?
    The date went later than either of them planned and for the second night in a row, at the stroke of midnight, there was a kiss that set off fireworks.
     
    ***
     
    OMG falling fast. Annabelle texted Grace and Tess the next day. Sending pictures of possible lingerie for Saturday night. Stand by.
    Annabelle snapped pictures of a combination camisole and boy-shorts, nude in color and adorned in French lace, a baby pink bra and panty set, and a sexy but fun black strapless negligee that tied under the bust with a big red bow.  
    Your signature white? Grace texted.
    Wearing a killer white dress, she texted back. Her phone rang and Tess was on the other end.
    “I like the red bow. Like he’s opening a gift,” Tess teased.  
    “Yeah.” Annabelle smiled into the phone. “I thought so too. It’s flirty. I just want to make sure it’s not too flirty. Too much.”
    “Annabelle, you are planning to consummate this relationship, right? I don’t think anything is too flirty at this point.”
    “I know,” she said, moving to a corner of the store so her voice wouldn’t be overheard. “It’s just that Duncan is such a gentleman and I basically threw myself at him the other night. I’m nervous. Everything about him, us, seems so good. What if it doesn’t hold up in the bedroom? What if he expects me to be all prim and proper? Or worse––what if he’s all prim and proper?”
    “You told me there was plenty of chemistry.”
    “On my side, yeah. My body is having its own nuclear meltdown. But he was the one who