Finally (A Law Enforcement Romance)

Chapter 11

When Gabe told me the story of his first case, I could hear how difficult it was for him to do it. He was opening up to me, his guard was down and it meant so much to me.

I thought it meant that we were moving forward. Maybe a relationship was in the cards. Then he told me it was normal and to not get worked up about it and I don’t what snapped in me but something did.

He played down our nightmares and made me feel like I was overreacting. Maybe I did. After dwelling over it, I realised he was ‘normalising’ it because I didn’t have to be ashamed. He was trying to help and my emotions got the best of me, as they always did.

A new wave of sadness crashed into me and I started crying again. We were polar opposites. He was right when he said I hide my emotions. You can see them, but I never talked about them. But he denied his outright as if feeling anything is the worst sin known to man. We were both wrong.

I moved to my room, picked up my guitar and started strumming away. It always made me feel better. A million thoughts went through my mind. I should apologise, but so should he. So who goes first?

*****

Monday morning brought rain and low, dark grey clouds. It was cold and not even two jackets were keeping me warm. I tied my hair into a long ponytail, grabbed my coffee mug and left for work.

I didn’t know what to expect from Gabe. He was a professional, it’s not like he would make my work life hell, but still. We sat three desks apart, far too close for my liking right now.

It was a torrential downpour by the time I got to work and cursed myself when I realised I had forgotten my umbrella. I was running late so all the covered parking was gone. It was a long walk to the building.

“f*****g typical,” I seethed. I prepared myself, jumped out and ran as fast as I could in heeled boots. I hadn’t seen the oil slick on the road and fell hard onto my hands and knees before falling on my side and scraping my arm.

“Damn.” Everything hurt, and I was definitely going to bruise. I carefully got up, trying to avoid slipping and just walked the rest of the way. I was soaked now. I had every thought to turn around, go home and put in leave indefinitely.

All this over a man? Come on, Jodi. I shook it off, straightened my shoulders and walked in with all the confidence I could muster up.

Andrew started greeting me before he looked me up and down and frowned. “The hell happened to you?”

“Good morning, Andrew.” I threw my bag down and sat. I started shivering from my wet hair and clothes.

“Seriously, Jo, what happened?” He looked truly concerned now. I looked down at myself and noticed I had oil stains and scuff marks on my knees. My hands started burning and I realised I had scraped the skin off.

“I fell in the parking, and slipped on oil.” I got up and groaned at the pain now in my knees. “I should probably try to clean up a little.”

“Do you need help? A first aid kit?” Andrew stood up, already helping me towards the bathroom.

“Perhaps some disinfectant and plasters, please and thanks, Andrew.”

“No problem, I’ll be right back.” He hurried off and I went into the bathroom.

I nearly fell over at the sight before me. I looked pale, my mascara had smudged and the wet dog look was not working for me. My clothes were ruined. I fought back tears, I had cried enough over the last two days.

I heard the door open and started speaking without looking. “Thanks, Andrew, I really...” It wasn’t Andrew. I turned around and froze when I saw Gabe holding the first aid kit and a towel.

“What are you doing here? Andrew was getting that for me,” I nodded to his hands.

“Well, now it’s me. Take your jacket off.” I didn’t have the energy to argue with him. Gabe opened the kit and pulled out all the necessary tools to clean up my wounds while I quickly towelled the ends of my hair.

I hesitated at first to comply but the radiating pain in my palms forced me to get over my pride. I removed both jackets and had a look at my elbows. They didn’t look too bad at least. Gabe stepped forward and took my right hand first.

His hands were hot against my cool skin, pain shooting through my veins from the contrast. I jerked slightly from the sensation.

“Sorry,” Gabe whispered. He dabbed cotton wool gently on my hands, the antiseptic stinging my wounds.

“It’s ok, your hands are really warm and mine are quite cold.” My teeth started chattering and my shivering got worse.

He moved on to my next hand and said softly, “You should go home to shower and change. Your clothes won’t dry in this weather.”

I wasn’t going to protest. He finished off and when he put the stuff away he came closer and took both of my hands in his. He brought them up to his face and kissed my knuckles lightly.

“I’m so sorry, Jodi. I wasn’t invalidating your nightmares, I was...”

“No, I,” I took a deep breath and tried again. “I’m the one who should be apologising. I overreacted. I knew you were trying to help. I just didn’t want you to see me at my worst or vulnerable.”

He moved his hands to cup my cheeks. “Why?”

“I didn’t want you to think I was weak. I don’t like people seeing me like that. Or ever seeing me be too emotional. I was always really sensitive as a kid and I guess I never really grew out of it. I was always mocked for being a ‘crybaby’ or made fun of when I expressed how I was truly feeling.”

Understanding dawned on his face. He wrapped me in a tight hug, kissing the top of my head. “Jodi, I would never do that and I could never think you’re weak, either.” He pulled back slightly and looked at me intently.

“I’m sorry people made you feel that way and I’m sorry it sounded like I was doing the same. I was no better. I shouldn’t have run away when you needed me most.”

Without thinking I kissed him. He responded, a moan vibrating in his throat. My hands ran through his hair and grabbed onto the longer bits. He cupped my ass, pulling me tight against him. He suddenly shuddered and pulled back.

“Your clothes are making mine wet, too,” he chuckled.

I jumped back. “Oh my God, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that.” I smoothed his clothes down and giggled.

“Go home, get warm then come back.” He moved towards me again but the door suddenly flew open and one of the uniforms walked in. They always used our bathroom. She stopped in her tracks and looked between us. Luckily we had enough distance between us that it didn’t look too suspicious. Still, we were in the women’s bathroom.

Gabe cleared his throat and stood straight. “Right, well that should do, Detective.” He picked the first aid kit up, making it very obvious that he was using it. I had to fight the smile erupting on my face. “Try not to run in heels again.”

“Yes, Sergeant. Thank you, Sergeant.” As he walked towards the door, he nodded and acknowledged the uniform and left.

I stood awkwardly and grabbed my jacket. “Hey Sue,” I waved and rushed for the door. She didn’t say anything but my stomach started doing flips. The uniforms were notorious gossips. s**t.

*****

Once I was back at the office, Andrew and I were putting together a preliminary report for a new case when he suddenly looked up at me.

“Holy s**t, it’s been a week since the bomb incident.”

I looked up and frowned. “What?”

“The bomb that you unarmed? That was a week ago.” He leaned back and smiled. “Happy one-week anniversary, Jo.”

“Oh.” A week? It felt like a lifetime ago. So much had happened since then. “Well, it’s nearly been one week since you got the smoking gun on the pornography case.”

“Who knew a bunch of Cyber nerds could be such amazing heroes?” He reached across and gave me a high five. “Oh, Madison made these,” he handed over a storage container with two chocolate and caramel cupcakes. “They are really good.”

I eyed him and looked down at the oversized container for a couple of cupcakes. “There wasn’t perhaps a repeat offence of last week, was there?”

Andrew feigned innocence and gasped. “Whatever could you mean?”

“A slice of cake that mysteriously vanished and now cupcakes? We have a serial pastry thief on our hands.”

The rest of the day was spent joking with Andrew, stealing glances at Gabe and even having a sneaky, and steamy make-out session with him in the filing room. Things were starting to feel right.