Free ROMANCE: Mr. Mystery: (New Adult Bad Boy Romance) (Contemporary Mystery Short Stories) by Viva Fox Page A

she had let her professional judgement slip so rapidly. 
    “Um, yeah….ok.”  She was all right with getting away from him.  It was becoming abundantly clear how well they worked together.  It was too natural.  She was letting her guard drop again.  This was the Steve she knew…the Steve she had fallen in love with. 
    “Go.”  He reached out for her, and then stopped.  He used his outstretched hand to awkwardly pat her shoulder.  Laura smiled just as awkwardly, and then turned to head out to her car. 
    ******
    Someone was once again knocking on her door.  Laura lifted her head wearily.  She’d napped, but she felt so dirty she didn’t even know herself.  She’d been thinking of a shower, but she didn’t have the energy.  But out of obligation, she dragged herself to the door. 
    Steve stood on the other side of the door. He was holding a bag from a fast food restaurant, and a drink holder with two Styrofoam cups in it. 
    “Hey.” 
    “Oh…hey.”  Laura’s hostility towards him had dropped since that afternoon.  “What’s going on?” 
    “I…thought you might be hungry.  So I brought you some grease.”  He smiled, holding out the bag.  Laura gave him a soft smile in return. 
    “Ok.  Come in.”  He did so without hesitation.  Laura felt relieved.  They needed to talk.  With everything that had gone on between them, she’d managed to lose herself.  It was all that she had thought about lying in bed that afternoon. 
    Steve was already setting up burgers and fries on the desk in the corner of the room.  He dragged two chairs over, one across from the other. 
    “I guess this is the dating life of cops, huh?”  He put a straw into the cup before offering it out to her.  Laura took it. 
    “I didn’t realize we were still dating.”  Steve sat down.  He began slowly unwrapping his burger. 
    “Laura…. I…. I’m so sorry.  Things with Stephanie…”  He shook his head.  “I don’t know what I was thinking.  She and I were working that one case, and we were spending time together….  She feels as bad as I do.  We know we were wrong.” 
    Laura sat down across from him.  She picked up a French fry, eating it.  It was the first time all day that she was hungry. 
    “What’s the saying?  Once a cheater always a cheater?”  Steve frowned. 
    “Laura.”  He set his burger down.  “Please.” 
    “If I hadn’t seen your text messages, would you even have told me?”  She remembered the day that she had found those all too well. 
    “Honestly,” Steve shrugged, “I don’t know.  Because as much as I wanted to be honest with you, I knew that you would react exactly as you did.” 
    “You know me so well.”  Laura ate another fry.  “You always have.”  Steve nodded, returning to his burger. 
    “Laura, I love you.  Stephanie isn’t a woman that I want to be with.  I want you.  I love you.”  Laura bit her lip.  She had to tell him. 
    “I slept with someone else last night.”  Steve’s face hardened. 
    “You?  Who?” 
    “That one State Trooper detective.  Jones.” 
    “Him?”  Steve looked as though he might fall out of his chair.  “What on earth did you see in him?”  Laura shrugged. 
    “Nothing, really.  I was drunk.  He…thought we should drink.” 
    “So he got you drunk and had sex with you?” 
    “No, no.  Don’t say it like that.  That’s not how it happened.  I went along with it.”  She shrugged, staring down at her food.  “I don’t know what I was thinking.  You know me, I never do things like this.” 
    “No, you don’t.  I’m completely shocked.”  Steve took a sip of his drink.  “But I get it.” 
    “You do?”  Laura was glad one of them did.  “Then please explain it to me.” 
    “You’re hurting.  And you’re hurting because of me.  I did this to you.  Because I did an asshole thing.  And I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”  Steve was staring at