Free Courting the Cop by Coleen Kwan Page A

“You’re late. Again.”
    “I told you what happened.”
    “You said you wanted to help out.” She didn’t know why she was harping on like this. She could manage perfectly well without him. But she smarted at the realization of how dispensable she was to him, especially after the many hours she’d wasted thinking about him.
    “So I’m here, aren’t I?” A touch of frost threaded through his voice.
    Shaking her head, she proceeded to make Mrs. O’Brien’s hot chocolate. “If you have other priorities, that’s fine, but I wish you’d let me know at least.”
    Leaning a hand on the counter, he exhaled a sigh. “Yeah, well, my job doesn’t exactly stick to a nine-to-five routine. I’ve been up all night.”
    She looked at him fully and for the first time noticed the shadows under his eyes, the lines etched around his mouth, and the overnight stubble on his chin. He looked like he’d already put in a long day’s work. The urge to reach up and cup his cheek, to stroke his hair and kiss away his tiredness, rose so strongly she had to bite her lip to jerk her back to reality.
    “Why don’t you go home, then?” she said abruptly.
    His eyebrows drew into a V. “Are we having another spat?”
    She lifted her shoulders. “If you’re tired, you should go home and rest.”
    “No. I said I’d help you, so I will.”
    She tossed milk into a jug, sloshing some of it out. “Why are you so—”
    A muffled ringtone from his jeans cut her off. Brody pulled out his cell phone, listened for a few moments, said “I’m on my way” and clicked it off.
    “Abigail—”
    She held up a hand. “You don’t have to explain. You have to go.”
    He shoved the cell phone back into his pocket, his frustration clear. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    “Really?”
    “ Yes .”
    Maybe he honestly did want to talk to her. Despite everything, her heart did a little flip. Damn that treacherous, optimistic heart of hers. She managed to give him a noncommittal moue, before she dipped her head to concentrate on the milk. She forced herself not to stare after him as he left, and when the door shut behind him, she muttered a silent curse, ruing the day she’d decided to crash-tackle the orange thief.
    “Are you doing anything tonight?” Brody asked Abigail over the phone.
    “No,” Abigail said, surprised by his call.
    “Mind if I come over and do a bit of surveillance?”
    “On a Friday night? I thought you’d be hitting a bar or going out on a date.”
    “Now why would I do that when I could spend time with my gorgeous girlfriend?”
    Oh, be still, my beating heart . He was only teasing her. “I thought you said you wanted to do some surveillance.”
    “I’m good at multitasking.” Brody paused. “Well? Can I come over?”
    “Sure.” She ignored the little twirl her heart did. She told herself she wasn’t keen to spend more time with Detective Brody Donovan.
    “Great. I’ll see you at seven.” His voice lifted, like he was actually keen to see her. She told herself he was a player. He was used to getting his way with women. But she had to admit he had a certain charm about him, and even though she knew what the situation between them was, she enjoyed having some of that charm lavished on her.
    Brody hauled himself out of his car and locked it. He’d parked half a block away from A Coffee and a Yarn, the closest spot he could find to Abigail’s store. He zipped up his jacket against the raw evening wind.
    “Evening, Brody.” A small, upright figure paused on the sidewalk, whom he quickly recognized as Phyllis.
    “Evening, Phyllis.” He was surprised she’d stopped to say hello, since he was under the impression she didn’t approve of him much.
    She looked him up and down, unsmiling. “Here to see Abigail, I suppose.”
    “Yep.”
    “Taking her out to dinner or a dance?”
    “Uh, no. We’re just having a quiet night in.”
    Phyllis sniffed and tucked her scarf around her scrawny neck. “A quiet night