The next morning, he woke Rose up and got dressed, saying he had to go to work. She reluctantly moved over to let him and with one eye opened, spied he was wasn't wearing anything on his lower half, thinking to herself he had a nice bum and was going to tell him so. He turned round and smiled at her, she was pretending she wasn't taking any notice so to get her attention, he leaned over and kissed her.
"I know you were watching a minute ago so don't pretend you're sleeping Rose."
She knew the game was up. "Ok but you do have a nice bum you know, shame you never turned around."
"Well if we're having an overnight truce, then better luck next time. Once I leave this room though, we're at war until tonight. I'm not going to help you write that article under any circumstances. Last night was nice, I've not had chance to relax like that for a long time without feeling pressure to go further. But that's all Rose, I won't give you any information and if you come back to my office, you'll not get back in, the desk sergeant had learned his lesson after I threatened him I'd put him back walking the beat."
Rose had to smile, at least the poor man hadn't been kicked out. "Ok, last night was more than nice Alec and I won't come back to your office. I'll have to find other ways of getting what I need and if you don't like the article, don't say I never warned you. Why don't I meet you after you get out of work? We could have a late lunch."
"I'm not going to be seen outside with you Rose, well not in a friendly manner anyway, I can't have the town thinking I give press statements. I may appear more than a little hostile to you but I won't stop you trying, don't take it personally. So, if you want, come to my room after eight tonight and we'll have more of what we had last night."
"Ok but I won't stop trying to get something out of you for my article so you may as well get used to it."
Alec sighed, believing she would keep her word. It had been more than he'd dared to hope for last night but he wasn't going to make it easy for her though.
Sure enough, Rose didn't bother him at work but she was sat on the wall opposite the Police Station when he came out. She got up when she saw him come down the steps and walked over to him.
"Can I buy you a tea of coffee?" she offered as he shook his head.
She gestured to an outside caterers and several empty tables and he strode towards one and sat down and just answered "Tea, milk, no sugar."
Rose went to order and came back with the drinks. "So Detective Inspector, are you prepared to give me that interview then?"
He remained silent and sipped his tea. "No but they don't have decent tea in the station so I wasn't going to refuse the offer of a drink. I told you, I don't give interviews. Why are you being so persistent? What possible story is there that concerns me? I gave a statement during my last case. Also, I never talk about my personal life so there's no story there either. Why don't you just save your time and give up?"
Rose was hoping he was only putting on an act. She didn't know him well enough yet to wonder if he really meant it but he had said for her to go to his room that night and so far, he'd not come out and said not to bother.
"I never give up on the subject of an article I'm writing. I can do it on my own. I just thought you'd want the chance to tell me it yourself."
Alec shook his head and put his empty cup down. "Thanks for the tea, please, don't bother me at dinner tonight, I'm not going to tell you anything. Good day Miss Tyler." He got up and walked along the seafront towards the hotel.
Rose was sincerely hoping he hadn't meant it. All through dinner, she was trying not to stare at him without success and thought she had detected him looking back a few times. She went to get changed, a rather skimpy outfit and tucked a thin nightdress under her arm and gathered her mobile and keys and went to knock on his room door. He opened it a second later, he had been expecting her. He pulled her inside and spying the nightdress told her she wouldn't be needing that. She said it was for later.
"I just can't sleep without wearing anything and don't worry, it's not much of a nightdress anyway."
He looked at her skimpy outfit, low-cut sleeveless top and short skirt, one he found he could run his hands up without too much effort to find very little underneath. He began kissing her neck as she clung to him.
"You taken your pill earlier?" she asked, just checking.
He nibbled her ear and whispered "Yes."
The truce had begun as there was more kissing and Rose lost her top and Alec was relieved of his t-shirt, he had remembered to remove his shirt. They collapsed on the bed, Rose losing her bra as he unzipped her skirt and pulled it off, leaving her in extremely skimpy knickers that just about covered her lower area. Alec still couldn't believe she was willing to indulge him and not want more than he could offer her, he was beginning to wonder exactly why she would settle for it. Maybe she was just scared and never been with a man before, not fully but she would have to tell him, he couldn't just ask her. He had her laid on the bed, kissing her all over.
Rose looked up. "So, you didn't mean what you said earlier then? About me giving up?" she asked, grabbing hold of his neck and pulling his head up for a kiss.
"Only about you continuing to try to get a story out of me, Miss persistent," he managed, getting back to where he had left off.
Rose took the lead again, leaving him to just lie back and enjoy himself again, something he knew he was beginning to wish it was going to last for more than the few days she would be here. He had a murder trial to attend in just over a week and Rose would be the perfect distraction, the relaxation he would need when the time came and someone to come back to or maybe someone to go with him and hold his hand, stop him getting worked up. He knew that couldn't be though, why would she stay once her story was finished? She would just publish it and move on to her next assignment, he was just one in a long line of people she had interviewed and she seemed to have been a bit hasty with the last one from what he had heard. He had sneakily risked a look at the magazine while in the break room to see what she wrote about.
He was surprised she did actually write about people who had been unfairly treated or misjudged but had always left it up to the reader to decide, she never passed judgement on them but tried to steer the reader onto their side in most cases. He actually felt sorry for the last one she interviewed. There was no way he was giving in though, well not without something in return – maybe getting her to consider sticking around when she should be going back to London and onto her next assignment. It was something he would have to work on but he wasn't going to admit it to her.
The next morning, he woke to find Rose draped over him. She had slipped her nightdress on during the night but he could still feel her through the thin material. He was liking this, waking up with a beautiful woman laid asleep across him. He had slipped his shorts back on when she had gone to the bathroom, not wanting her to think he was going to try to attempt more than they had already done. He wanted to do something about it, it was only natural. Who wouldn't with someone like Rose? But it was going to have to wait until after the trial and after his operation and she would be gone back to London, just when he could be with her. He told himself that tonight he was going to ask her why she only wanted what he had to offer and see if she gave him an answer.
Rose watched him get dressed again, silently willing him to turn around while he put on some clean shorts and meaning to say something to him about it. Maybe she would, if she was sticking around but the clock was ticking, she had an article to write and it was Thursday, she had to send her opening paragraphs to her editor by tomorrow afternoon and they were still in a jumble on her laptop, waiting for her to decide which ones to go with. She was hoping for some new ones, hoping he would talk to her after they had spent time together but he didn't.
"So are you coming to my room tonight or maybe you want to go out somewhere? Somewhere where no-one knows you? We could drive out of town, have a meal somewhere perhaps?" Rose asked as she slipped out of bed, making sure he saw her take off her nightdress and slipping her knickers back on, slowly.
"Are you trying to bribe me by asking me out on a date?" he laughed, watching her get dressed.
"Well not bribe you exactly but yeah, we could go on a date if you want. You still bothered I might ruin your reputation?" Rose replied.
"No, because I'm not going to let you ruin my reputation. We could go out of town, there are a few places around here. There's a village a few miles from here, we could go find a pub and have a meal but I'll meet you down by the harbour, I don't want to be seen getting in your car." He told her exactly where he would wait for her. Maybe later when they got back, he might ask her how long she was intending to stay and maybe persuade her to stay a bit longer, in return for him changing his mind and maybe helping her just a little bit.
They agreed, kissing goodbye but it was back to being stone-faced with each other once they entered the dining room. They didn't realise they were amusing Becca with their little charade, she knew there was something going on between them, she had played the same game many a time, the game that was meant to deceive people into thinking they hated each other when they were sharing a bed. Becca knew the detective would never admit it and he wouldn't speak to the press knowingly and maybe Miss Tyler had perfected the art of pillow talk. Whatever it was, she was looking forward to reading the next edition of the magazine to see how it had all worked out.
Rose was going to be persistent, not knowing that Alec was planning on giving in if she agreed to stay a while longer. There was no way she was going to give up but was still drawing the line at just sleeping with him to get a story, she was sleeping with him because they were both lonely and she wanted to feel close to someone when she went to sleep and if it meant him giving her the cold shoulder during the day then she was willing to put up with it. She had got to work after Alec left, putting her few paragraphs together and sending them off. She had got a reply from her editor saying she liked it so far.
It was lunchtime, she went to sit in the outdoor café across from the Police Station and thought she could wait around an hour for him coming out. It got past two and there was no sign of him. He should have been coming out by now, she was on her second coffee as she waited. He had told her he wasn't supposed to work more than three hours, had something happened to him? He had his own office where no-one probably bothered him. What if something had happened to him? She finished her drink and crossed over and leapt up the steps and through the front door, it was faster than getting the phone number, Alec still hadn't given her his mobile number. What if he was slumped at his desk, no-one would have seen him.
The desk sergeant looked up and saw who it was. He wasn't getting fooled again.
"You can't come in this time Miss, DI Hardy instructed I was not to let you in again."
Rose didn't have time for this. "DI Hardy should have been out of work by now, he's not supposed to work more than three hours and he's twenty minutes late." The sergeant looked at her. "Don't bother asking how I know but you have to ring his office right now. Please do as I ask. Just tell him I'm waiting downstairs for him, he can't shout at you for that." She wasn't sure everyone knew about his condition so she didn't want to say that Alec may have been taken ill and not got his medication in time. She was more than worried.
The sergeant lifted the phone reluctantly and dialled Alec's number. He shook his head and said there was no reply. Maybe Alec was on his way down. She told him to call his mobile, she was panicking now. The sergeant did as he was asked but got no reply.
"Then get someone to his office, there may be something wrong with him – now."
The sergeant just looked at her, he wasn't going to do it and Alec could be dying or he could have collapsed and this idiot wasn't doing anything. She turned to the door and dashed towards it just as he realised what she was doing and he called for the officer outside to come in and follow her, he knew his job was at risk if she got to Hardy's office, he'd taken his threat very seriously after the other day. Then it dawned on him, Hardy should have come down over twenty minutes ago, he was on short hours with a medical problem and wasn't supposed to work over three hours. He got on the phone and rang the CID office, adjacent to Hardy's office and told the woman who answered to get into Hardy's office now.
Rose was up the stairs two at a time, she knew someone was following her, she wanted them to. If Alec was slumped at his desk she would need all the help she could get and that idiot downstairs had delayed her. She was through the door and in front of Alec's door in a few minutes, the uniformed officer just behind her and two people coming out of the door at the end looking puzzled. She daren't look through the glass door. Alec was leaned over his desk. Rose flung the door open and was by his side in a flash, the others behind her and she was telling them to call an ambulance but as they were doing so, he suddenly looked up as Rose was checking his pulse.
Alec looked around at everyone who by now were relieved to see he hadn't died on them and they began filing out. Alec sat up and motioned it was ok for the uniformed officer to also leave. When they had all left, he looked sheepishly at a very concerned Rose and smiled at her.
"What happened Alec? If I hadn't been waiting for you opposite and noticed you were late coming out, no-one would have bothered about you and you never even gave me your mobile number. You can't keep working on your own, what if something had really happened to you?"
Alec got up and pulled the blinds over then put his arms around her. Had he passed out or had he fallen asleep? He didn't know as he tried to assure her he was ok now.
"I might have passed out Rose, I really don't know. It was almost two, I was just finishing going over a report when I felt myself go a bit dizzy and I remember looking at the desk as it got nearer then the next I know, you're holding my wrist and people are standing over me. Did that desk sergeant let you in again, I'm really going to have words with him," he grinned, kissing her cheek.
"No, he didn't let me in, he tried to call you twice and got no answer, then I made him call someone in CID but before he had chance, I was through the door and halfway up the stairs. So don't you go giving him a hard time. Do they actually know what's wrong with you Alec, why are you working alone?"
Before he got chance to answer, there was a knock on the door. He let go of her and opened it. It was his boss, she had been informed of the incident.
"What's going on Alec?" she asked, looking at Rose.
"Nothing, I never answered my phone when the desk sergeant rang to say Miss Tyler was waiting downstairs for me and they all panicked." He was not going to admit he had passed out, she would stop him working and he'd go insane and he wouldn't be able to give evidence at the trial and he owed Ellie Miller that much.
"And who exactly is Miss Tyler," the super asked, looking again at Rose.
Alec wasn't about to admit exactly who she was and spoke before Rose got the chance. "She's just a friend, she was waiting outside for me and got concerned when I was late coming out."
His chief looked a little unconvinced. "Alec, if you're not well, I can't allow you to work. It was agreed you did three hours and if it's too much then I'll have to put you on medical leave again. I'm sorry but you're putting yourself at risk by working alone. What if Miss Tyler here hadn't got concerned about you? No Alec, you have to stop working, at least alone." She saw the look on his face. "I'll allow you to work but someone comes in and checks on you every 15 minutes or you get a desk in the main office where you're with people. It's that or you're out again until after your operation."
Alec wasn't pleased but she was right, he shouldn't be working alone, he knew it was risky and now with his nightly rendezvous with Rose, well she wasn't helping by being so sexy and doing things to him he shouldn't even be thinking about doing anymore. It was either stop sleeping with Rose or be in everyone's view for the next week. After that, it wouldn't matter. Rose would be gone, the trial would be taking place then he could go for his operation. He didn't like the first bit at all, he didn't want Rose to be gone, he didn't want to think about the fact she was going, maybe now she might stay.
He had to reluctantly agree. He would have someone check on him every 15 minutes, he couldn't concentrate if he was in the main office. The chief was satisfied and thanked Rose for being so prompt at raising the alarm on him. The chief didn't need to be told what had happened, she knew he was out of it when everyone had arrived or he would have every one of them pounding the beat for daring to disturb him, she knew what he was like. What she didn't know was that Rose was responsible for his predicament in the first place, with her tender ministrations of him for the past few nights nor that she was responsible for the desk sergeant being threatened for letting her in the other day, which had amused the chief.
Rose told Alec he should leave with her, glad that his boss had not asked who she actually was. If she had, Rose didn't know what either of them would say. Would it have been she was a journalist trying to get a story or that she was his girlfriend because if the last few nights meant anything at all, then she was definitely his girlfriend. They went to get Alec something to eat and they sat at a table, Rose insisting he ate something and for him to tell her exactly what happened and if he'd done the same before. He had to admit that he had, twice and the medication was supposed to prevent that. He had scared Rose to the degree that she was no longer interested in getting her story. She had to stick with him, make sure he was ok and get the operation he so badly needed and she had to help him, even if it meant quitting her job. What had started out as a challenge to get him to talk to her had changed to getting him through his operation.
She wasn't going to let him in on it just yet though, she decided she would tell him next week and wait and see if he asked her to stay. Alec finished his sandwich and they walked back to the hotel. Rose said she wasn't keen on keeping up the pretence they were ignoring each other and Alec had to agree to a certain extent. He said if she came to sit with him at dinner he wouldn't throw her out, that was as far as he was willing to take it. Rose had to smile, half the hotel probably thought they were already involved anyway and not much got past the hotel owner. She was going to confront him later and tell him it was no use pretending in front of others that he didn't like her.
They went to Rose's room when they got back and she insisted he just lie down for a while so they lay on the bed, Alec's arms around her and holding each other.
"Rose, you know you probably saved my life earlier, if you hadn't found me. No-one even noticed I was still in my office. I bet the desk sergeant will get told by the chief he should have made sure I left. If you hadn't been waiting for me to come out, I may not have come round. I was feeling ok one minute then I was feeling light headed. I know I scared you Rose, I'm sorry and you're right, we should stop this stupid charade when we're out. I need you Rose."
Rose turned to look at him, did he mean it? "Alec, I may have started out just trying to get a story out of you but it's no longer the case. You did scare me, I thought the worse and I was right. You should have had someone checking on you, why didn't they? From now on, I meet you every day at two and give me your mobile number so I can call you to make sure you're ok, alright?"
Alec had to agree with her if he had any hopes of getting her to stay and it sounded like she might consider it, at least until he finished work. He had to make it up to her. "Rose, why don't we stay in tonight then tomorrow, you come and collect me and we'll go off for the weekend where no-one knows me? You book a hotel for two nights and we'll talk about what happens next?"
"OK, we could go down to Weymouth for the weekend. I have to get my article finished by next weekend then I'm going to take some leave and make sure you make it through that trial deal?"
Alec leaned over and kissed her, he never even asked her to stay, she had volunteered to look after him.
"There is just one thing though, I'll have to go home next weekend and get some more things if I'm staying longer."
Alec looked disappointed. She was still going to leave him the weekend he was going to need her the most. "Rose, please don't go that weekend, I'm going to need you, the trial starts on the Monday."
"Alec, I have to, I've not brought enough with and I'll have to meet with my editor, tell her I'm taking some time off and if I can't get it, then I'm going to quit. I probably will anyway, I don't want to be travelling around interviewing other people when you need looking after."
"You're going to look after me then?" he asked with a smile on his face.
"Yep, until you get well then we'll see. You said you wanted to be with me but you can't and you asked why I still wanted to be with you. Do you still want to be with me?"
Alec turned to face her. Was she kidding? "Rose, you know I want to be with you and I really don't know why you even kissed me back the other night, especially after you slapped me, which did hurt by the way. All the time I've been a Police Officer no woman has ever slapped me before, even when I've told them I don't want to go all the way, they've just got up and walked out but you, it didn't bother you in the slightest. Why?"
"Alec, there's a reason why, it's not that I don't want to, it's not because you can't." She stopped, not sure she should make her confession to him but if knew the reason for her reluctance, it may put him off permanently but there again he may understand.
"Rose, whatever it is, tell me because I can't understand your willingness to go along with this, to be satisfied with what I can offer you and why you're still here with me. I want to know."
