A/N: I'm sorry for such random updates here and there, but with college and work my schedule can get kinda hectic. But now that mid-term grades are in and my classes are settling down and I have my ducks in a row, I should be able to get one a regular updating schedule! Hopefully... but school will alwas come first. Enjoy :) xx Mariah
"Ten bucks says I can bank this off the coffeemaker and get it to land right in the trash can." Ned hold up the wadded up report, and arched his arm through the air to loosen it up. His uniform strained as his bicep flexed, straining the navy fabric.
Paul leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, a cocky grin on his face. "No rim."
"That's not what your mom said last night," he fired back, earning a guffaw from him, but a disgusted noise came from his left. He swivelled to flash Erin his best smile of apology, that made him resemble a guilty puppy dog, and sure enough, her blue eyes softened immediately before she stood to grab something from the printer. "Get your wallet out, Collins," he declared, extending his arm and letting the paper fly across the room.
As it approached the table where the printer sits, Erin's hand snuck out and snatched the wad mid-air. Quick instincts that one had. She grabbed her papers from the printer and her warm eyes met his as deliberately dropped the paper into the trash by her feet. His eyes followed her ass in those slim work slacks that she always wears as she walked back toward her desk.
"I don't know why you two don't just fuck and get it over with." Paul snorted and crumpled up a new sheet of paper.
He shot him a look and snatched the paper from him, firing a line drive at the trashcan. He didn't even bother to see if it goes in and instead cut his gaze to Erin.
She'd already busied herself behind her desk, quickly putting the papers in order. He kept watching, waiting for her to begin her little afternoon ritual. She gathered the papers she'd just put together and neatly stapled and put them into a new manila folder as she always did before turning a report in for approval to LeTrai. Lastly, she pulled out her neon Post-It notes and grabbed a pen from her top drawer. She gnawed on the end, those lush lips wrapped around it while she chewed, and by the time she was done with her file, it looked like the Lucky Charms leprechaun had done a mad jig over the pages. She was always so prepared for her briefings.
There was just something about her that undid him, that made him lust after her. God, he wanted her so bad sometimes. Suddenly she looked up, directly at him. That mouth of hers twisted into a scowl, but rather than glance away or show any remorse for blatantly staring at her, he smiled again.
"Wipe that shit grin off your face Banks," Erin laughed. "Before I come do it myself."
"Yes ma'am," he teased and spun back around on his chair.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored it as the Captain's office door opened. He quickly resumed what he was to be finishing in order to get home. He'd been here since dawn, it was already four.
"Banks," LeTrai's voice came into earshot as he exited his office. "What are you still doing here? Weren't you to leave an hour ago?"
"Yeah," he straightened his slacked posture and pressed print on his report. "I'm printing out my report sir." He cleared his throat.
"Get on that then," LeTrai muttered. "I want to see you before you leave."
"Sure thing, Captain." he replied and stood, only needing to reach o.
He nodded his approval and then walked over to Erin's desk, collecting the folder she'd prepared for him before slipping back into his office.
Ned knocked before he entered his Captain's office, file in hand.
"You wanted to see me sir," he muttered.
"Close the door," Josh cleared his throat and closed his laptop, leaning back into his chair. "Have a seat."
"Here's my report on the Henderson case." He sat in the chair and held the file out. "It's complete. I was able to get all of the photos from evidence and I put three separate witness statements in there as well."
"I'm glad to finally see this case closed. Good job Ned," LeTrai nodded, taking the file, opening it and glancing at the first page. He tossed the file onto the others on his desk and sighed. "Do you know why I called you in?"
"No sir," he replied.
"Well I want to first off congratulate you on all of your hard work you've done this past year. You're a great asset to our team Ned. I commend you on that." LeTrain explained, sitting up straight. "But there is something I want to speak with you about." He paused, looking to Ned. "I've sensed something from you. You're going to do great things for this town, but that doesn't mean I don't worry. You're very hot headed Ned."
"That's something I've learned to control sir," he explained. "It has never come up on the job."
"Not yet it hasn't," LeTrai muttered. "It's something I hope will never come up, but still. This job is about more than pride Ned. It's not about the chase or the heroism. It's about making this town a little safer every single day. Do you understand that?"
"Very much so," he said. "I take this job very seriously."
"You're reckless and slow Ned. This report should've been on my desk a week ago." LeTrai stated.
"I've been swamped with trying to pick the best witnesses to record." He explained. "I dropped the ball. I apologize."
"You're good Ned. I don't want to lose you," LeTrai said. "But you need to get your shit together. I can tell that you're missing something from your life and until you find it, your work isn't going to get any better and neither will your position on this team. I want you to climb the ladder. I want you to even be Captain one day, but you sure as hell won't be until you settle down."
"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here." He muttered, itching his head.
Was LeTrai telling him to get married? Or was he just trying to get him to stop drinking as much? Or maybe he even wanted him to stop flirting with more than one girl at a time.
"What I'm trying to say here is I don't know if I want someone on my team who doesn't have a reason to go home after work." LeTrain explained. "I don't want one of my men out there with something to prove. I want someone stable. Can you do that for me?"
"I don't know sir," he muttered.
One thing Ned did know was that he didn't know if he could be that person for LeTrai. Not yet.
After picking up Katie from the train station, Melinda talked her into eating some food at their favorite breakfast joint in town.
"I guess I needed to eat," she muttered, wiping her mouth and setting the empty plate to the side. "I also hadn't realized how much I'd missed Rosie's place."
"There's not a better place in the world for breakfast food!" Her father exclaimed, taking a big bite of his waffles.
"You just say that because you love breakfast daddy," the edges of her lips perked up and she almost smiled, but turned to finish her coffee.
"Maybe so, but still, Rosie's is fantastic," he grinned and finished his food.
"I can agree on that," she laughed and looked up as her mother sat beside her again.
"Sorry, the line was long for the ladies room." Melinda huffed and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "I'm glad to see that smile."
"Me too," Jim reached across the table for her hand and she squeezed his. "You gonna tell us what happened yet?"
"Toby proposed last night," she breathed.
"He did? Oh my goodness Katie that's great." Melinda smiled and looked to Jim, kicking him under the table.
"Yeah. Great." Jim mumbled, crossing his arms. "I love that guy."
Suddenly, she was laughing so hard. She couldn't stop. Her father was just so priceless. The way he shrugged and crossed his arms. And then there was her mother, her sweet, loving mother who hated Toby just as much her father did.
She waved her hand in the air, her flag of apology. She didn't know why, but the waves of laughter kept coming. She tried to catch her breath and snorted and her parents bursted out laughing. This was her first genuine laugh in weeks.
"What's so funny?" Melinda grinned.
"Both of you," she said, her laughter catching in her throat. "I love you both so much."
"Oh Katie," Melinda pulled her daughter into her arms. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," she mumbled, breathing in her lavender scent. Her body instantly relaxing to the familiarity. "You don't know how much I missed you mom. Both of you."
"We do," Jim said and she looked at him. "We haven't seen you since your birthday Katie."
"I know. I know. I'm so sorry. I let Toby get in my head. He doesn't like coming here." She explained. "He knows you both hate him."
"Good," Jim muttered. "I don't feel bad for him."
"I don't hate him sweetheart," Melinda sighed.
She looked at both of her parents and shook her head. Her father, the honest brute and her mother, who lied through her teeth to be polite.
"You don't have to say that. I know you hate him mom," she laughed.
"I don't hate him," Melinda said. "I just… don't like him as much as I wish I did."
"Well, I didn't say yes if that makes both of you feel better," she said.
"Oh thank God," they both laughed.
She laughed with them as the waitress stopped by to pour coffee in both her and her mother's cup.
"I didn't say no either." She explained. "I told him I needed to think on it, and he didn't like that answer, so he left me on the steps of our building in the cold to get drunk at a strip club."
"So you came home," Melinda whispered. "How long are you staying?"
"As long as you let me," she grinned, reaching for her mug.
"Oh then forever baby," Melinda smiled and kissed her forehead. "You can stay forever."
It was her siblings' last day before winter break so Katie ended up going with her mother to the shop; her dad was on his way to the hospital and kissed them both goodbye as their ways parted.
But there was no use going to an empty house.
And Melinda had a meeting with a potential seller today so she had to go straight there.
Katie stood in the front behind the desk, as Delia and Melinda hurried to finish getting ready for the seller.
"We need to prove he can do without an auction," Melinda was fretting. Both women were a little frazzled; Delia had barely greeted Katie before she'd rushed to finish things with Melinda.
So Katie was watching the front door. This was so typical and she loved it. That after all her time away she could still fit seamlessly into her family's life.
Her mind started to wander; she went over to the wall where a few dresses were hanging and she remembered one of the last days she had worked for her Mom. It had been a terribly hot day; the AC had been broken.
And Ned, of all people, had come to fix it.
She felt her whole world still, inhaling a little at how just the thought of Ned made her heart quicken and her breath catch.
Still.
After so freaking long.
She wondered if this was how it was just always going to be. After all, she'd crushed on Ned from such a small age. Maybe it was just biological that she have this reaction now.
It was like he was in her DNA. She shivered, arms closing around herself, remembering the heat of the day and the intensity and warmth of Ned's gaze on her body that day.
The shop was empty. No one was out when it was this hot even inside.
She ducked into the back, not bothering to lock the front door of the shop, and tugged her jeans off.
The wind chimes sounded to signal a customer. "Just a second!" She called, unbuttoning her shirt and shoving towards the jeans. She was just pulling the dress over her head when she got a bit stuck—it had looked loose enough to get it on with unzipping it but now she was reconsidering that assumption—when she heard a throat clearing.
A male throat.
And she was standing there, in her underwear, in the middle of changing her clothes.
She gave a gigantic tug, resigning herself to her fate, and the dress came down, falling in graceful folds down her body.
"Hey, Katie. Your dad sent me over."
Her cheeks were already red. Upon the realization that it was Ned, Katie felt like she was about to have a heart attack. No! Just no. There should be some sort of universal ban against one's crush seeing oneself in an embarrassing situation.
She couldn't even speak for a few too long moments. Ned was looking anywhere but her, and yet she noticed something else: even as he avoided looking at her, there seemed to be some sort of pull: every few seconds his eyes darted back to stare at her before jerking away.
"Oh, god," she whispered, fingers at her throat, perhaps unconsciously imagining that they were Ned's.
She exhaled, hearing the door open, slowly turning away from the wall to face whoever had walked in.
"Welcome to-"
"Mom!"
The pair spoke the words at the same time and the pair froze at the same time, registering the unexpected but forever familiar voice they'd just heard.
"Ned," Katie whispered, stepping forward, revealing herself to him, and finally placing eyes on the man who'd previously had her heart.
But as she met his green eyes, let her gaze travel over a body that seemed impossibly tall and definitely more muscular than she'd remembered, she realized something else. The real reason she'd never been able to tell Toby about her gift. The real reason she hadn't been able to say yes to him when he'd asked her to marry him.
Because she didn't love him. And she wasn't even in love with him.
God help her.
She was still in love with Ned Banks.
It wasn't that he needed his mother, Ned reassured himself.
But he had to talk to someone.
Why wasn't he ready? And those reasons...barely made sense.
He headed across the snowy square, heading straight for the shop, reluctantly beginning to see that LeTrai might have a point.
There was no one he really wanted to tell. No one he could run to. There hadn't been in a very long time.
He wondered how it would feel to have that kind of person in his life. That steadying presence. And all of the girls that he'd been flirting with...lusting after…
He knew that they would never be truly important to him.
Not as he was right now.
He walked into the shop, looking down, wanting to know from his mother if he really was still unreliable and unsteady. Because he'd tried. So hard. To prove himself to LeTrai. To be the man his father had been. To be the man Jim was. To be a man.
And not the little boy he was scared he still was, deep inside.
"Mom!"
"Welcome to-"
And he froze. Because Ned knew that voice. In the first instant he heard it, the first syllable. It was like it had been carved into his soul. Like something had ensured that he would never forget or misplace it.
Katie.
Katie was back.
"Ned," she breathed, stepping forward.
His eyes fell on her, drank her in. Her tired eyes. Her hair, coming loose from a braid.
She was beautiful. Long hair. Curved body. Long legs. And her eyes.
He met her eyes and somehow didn't flinch. Didn't turn away. Somehow he was able to meet her gaze and once their eyes were locked he found that he couldn't look away from their depths. God in heaven above.
Her lips froze, her eyes flashed dangerously and he knew what she wanted to say, but he knew what she can't say.
He wanted to tell her that it didn't need saying, which he already knew. He wanted to say that he could hear it in the silence, see it in the color of her eyes, and feel it just walking toward her.
That it was in his hands whenever her fingers finally touched his and in the breath she took before she said his name. He never said any of those things because he was always a little too good at being selfish when it came to Katie.
He wanted her to finally see her struggle with the insignificant words that mean so much. He wanted her to say it because bloody hell, he loved her.
Katie.
She was the one.
The only one who could be to him what LeTrai had told him he needed. Ned's reason to come home.
And then his mind came to a screeching halt.
Katie couldn't be his reason to come home. She had a boyfriend. Didn't she?
And words that Ned would regret for a very long time tumbled from his mouth. What a way to start a conversation.
"Where's Toby?"
She blinked back at him, her silence was a better answer than she could ever give.
How could she tell him? What would she tell him? The truth? Oh right. Toby's back at home because he proposed and she ran here. Or would she lie and tell him everything was great, like she always did.
"He stayed home," she finally said.
"Katie! I just heard the fantastic news!" Delia squealed, hugging Katie. "Toby proposed! Isn't that just fantastic Ned? Can I see the ring?"
"Delia I wasn't finished yet... She doesn't-" Melinda came around the corner a second later and stopped the rest of her sentence when she saw Ned. More particularly when she saw how Ned was looking at her daughter and how her daughter was looking right back at him. "Hi Ned."
"Hi Mel," Ned shoved his hands in his pockets and met Katie's eyes, which were anything but what he'd expect after the news his mother had just shared. "That's great Katie."
"Where's the ring?" Delia asked, holding her hand up.
Katie was swamped with every emotion at once. Why hadn't her mom told Delia the whole story?
"Let's give Katie a minute. There has been a lot going on for her these past few days," Melinda said and ushered Delia a few steps back. "I need to talk to you in the back. Now."
"But I wanna hear every detail about this proposal..." Delia sighed.
"That's why I need you in the back." Melinda jabbed her friend's side.
"Fine," Delia said and reluctantly went with.
The second the double doors closed, she sat on the couch and laid her head in her hands. She could feel the tears building up again, but she was so sick of crying over Toby. He wasn't worth it.
She didn't know what to tell Ned. Should she tell him the truth? Or would his mom tell him once her mom finished the story?
"Hey, what's wrong?" Ned sat beside her. "You know anything you tell me is safe with me, right?"
She looked up at him, her breath too shaky to hide anything from him now. She felt his hand on her back and she laid her head on his shoulder.
"He asked me to marry him," she sighed.
"I know," he attempted a small smile, halfheartedly, and she wanted to tell him to stop it. He couldn't keep looking at her like that, like he didn't have a heart except anyone except her. "I guess he took hearing about your gift well then? I know the last time we talked was a while ago, but you hadn't told him yet. I remember."
"You remember what?" She asked, looking up at him as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"We were at the lake house," he said, reaching over to wipe it away. "It was your birthday and you were dancing. You looked so happy, but then you stopped and for a second, I thought you were staring at me, but I knew that look. You were staring down a ghost and Toby stormed off because to him, you were staring at me."
His hand lingered on her cheek, his thumb tracing her jaw. He was so far from the man that she used to know.
The player.
The boy.
She wondered if there was any of the old him left, she always did, but he blinked and it was in his eyes. That look that was only ever saved for her.
"Ned, there's another piece of the story that you're missing," she muttered, touching his hand and moving it to his side.
Because as much as she loved the way it felt for him to touch her... she wasn't his to touch. She was still with Toby and that was something she would never do.
"What?" He asked.
"I didn't say yes."