Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(28)
“My first informant?”
“Yeah, you, Ryker, and Ivy will all be way ahead of the other officers when you graduate recruit class. You’ll have informants almost immediately. Once our pawn shop operation is revealed as the sting it is, anyone who doesn’t end up in jail and is willing to pass information in exchange for money will be all over you guys when they see you on the street. You’ll be their pet cops. They’ll feel like they know you.”
“I never thought about that. I didn’t realize patrol officers had informants.”
“The good ones do. And I know you’ll be a good one.”
Jen felt her body go warm at his compliment. “Thanks, Sgt. Foley.” Jen saw his eyes flash, although with what she wasn’t sure.
“Look Jen, you might as well call me Hunter. This is going to be a long road with a lot of hard work in front of us. We don’t need to be quite so formal, at least not until you are in recruit class.”
“OK.” Jen smiled shyly. “Hunter.”
***
Hunter felt his groin tighten when she said his first name. He’d been doing so good not thinking of her in that way and then one not-even-intimate word from that adorable mouth and scenes of lust went flashing through his mind. Disgusted with himself, he hurled silent insults across his mind’s path. He noticed Jen sit up straighter and pull back from him a bit, like he’d said something scary.
Relax, relax. Berate yourself later.
He stood up and paced the kitchen, so as not to be so close to her. “Look Jen, I think at this point I just want you to be aware that this happened, and that it may have been Savoy Sr. who was behind it. That way you’ll be extra careful, especially if Coleton ever runs across his dad while you are with him, or if he ever wants to take you to see his dad.”
Jen nodded. “Do you think this will go on that long? I just thought it would be a few dates, I’d ask him some questions, and that would be it.”
“That certainly could be all it is, but I think Sadler was imagining you becoming his long-term girlfriend. A permanent fixture on his arm. You going to holiday dinners at daddy’s mansion.”
Jen pulled back, her eyes wide. “Oh my God,” she breathed. “Really?”
Hunter smiled. She was sweet. And impulsive. She had jumped in without really knowing what she was getting into. And now it was his job to make sure that didn’t bite her in the ass. Again he damned Sadler for pushing her into it so eagerly. And while he was at it, he damned Chief Carval too. Neither of them gave a shit about this woman sitting in front of him. All they cared about was numbers, busts, arrests, convictions.
Well he cared. He cared about all three of them. And he would make sure nothing happened to them.
“I have to go. Ivy wants me to come look at some prototype she’s created to track the cash that’s moving in and out of the pawn shop,” Hunter said.
“Wow, she’s amazing.”
“She is amazing. I’m glad she’s on our side.”
Jen laughed and followed him to the door. He turned back. “Oh, and Jen, you are on for Saturday if you want to go surfing with Coleton Savoy. Sadler and I have already cleared the overtime with the Chief.”
Jen nodded, eyes wide and vulnerable. Hunter thought she’d never looked so beautiful. He gazed at her a moment too long, desire burning his brain, and felt a kind of electricity pass between them. He thought Jen felt it too. She gasped a little and pulled back, like she’d been shocked. What was that?! He turned quickly to hide his confusion and mumbled a goodbye, practically running to his truck.
Chapter 15
Jen looked at her face in the mirror. No makeup, she decided. And she wouldn’t even brush her hair. She pulled it back into a ponytail and tucked the tail of it roughly under the elastic. If she looked messy, maybe Coleton Savoy would lose his attraction for her.
Since it was Saturday, she’d gotten to sleep in. But now she was headed out to meet Coleton at Bowls for some surfing. She checked her phone. 11:43. Low tide was in one hour and fifteen minutes. She was to meet him exactly at noon. She waggled her eyebrows at her phone and puckered out her lips a few times. Then she laughed and said, “Are you guys watching yet?”
A text came in almost immediately. The name it showed was Hunter. A small thrill went through her when she saw it. She’d changed the name from Sgt. Foley to Hunter in her phone as soon as he’d left her house the night before last. She loved his name and thought it was incredibly masculine. She tapped the message notification and read it. We’re here. All business.
Here we go, she thought, and headed to her car, blinking in the strong late-morning sun. Fifteen minutes later she pulled into a stall at the address Coleton had given her. He was waiting for her, leaning on a beat-up, Dodge pickup truck. His expensive car from the other day was nowhere in sight.
He hadn’t crammed himself into his wetsuit yet and she was surprised to see how defined his chest and abs were. His build was much smaller than say, Sgt. Fo— Hunter’s was, but it was well-developed and attractive. She realized she was staring at his chest and whipped her eyes up to his face.
He smiled lightly at her. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“The waves look perfect. They are building now. We should get out there.”