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“Oh, I think I remember that. Your brother, is he David McNally?” Jimmy asked, reaching out to shake the officer’s hand. “I remember him saying something about having a cop for a brother.”

“That’s him!” Officer McNally replied happily. “He’s my little brother, and we were all real happy you saved his neck.” McNally looked at Darrin. “Okay, you, time to go. Don’t bother Mr. Kinnell and Miss Birch again, got it?” Darrin nodded, and the policeman let him go, watching him walk off before turning back to them.

“You know my name?” she asked him, surprised.

“Yeah, your dad and my mom went to school together.” Sabrina rolled her eyes, and McNally laughed. “Yeah, I know, I know, small towns,” he said, still chuckling when his partner waved to him from the car. “I gotta run. You guys going to be okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” she said. Jimmy nodded.

“Okay then, take care. Just give us a call if you run into any trouble, hear?”

They agreed and waved as he walked off.

“Well!” Sabrina said. “That was a bit more excitement than I usually like with my morning tea.”

Jimmy laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. Let’s head home, shall we?” She agreed and he took her hand.

As they headed home, Sabrina pondered what Officer McNally said about Jimmy, how he “took down” two men by himself. She knew he was strong and had probably been in sticky situations as a journalist, but didn’t realize he’d had training.

“Jimmy?” she asked, stroking his hand with her thumb. “Where did you learn how to fight? How did you take down two guys in Afghanistan like that? You weren’t armed, the cop said.” She looked at him and Jimmy glanced at her as they walked, but didn’t say anything for a long moment.

Finally, he sighed. “Remember the guy I told you about, Gabriel?”

She nodded. “Yeah?”

“Well, we were wrestling one night, just fooling around as we watched the game, and suddenly, he flipped me over his head as easy as if I were a pillow. He stood there, laughing while I stared at him in shock, the wind knocked out of me.”

Sabrina snorted, picturing Jimmy flat on his back, gasping.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he said, smiling. “Later he told me his training included lessons in Krav Maga, a type of hand-to-hand combat. It’s a quick and dirty way to bring down an opponent. After he left, I went on one of my first assignments to Philadelphia, writing about some gang- and drug-related crimes there. I had to go out late at night for research, and of course I was mugged. Luckily, I only lost my wallet, but I realized that it might be a good idea to learn how to defend myself if I was going to become a journalist. I took some self-defense classes, then got hooked on Krav Maga. I love the economy of it, its practicality. It’s not about trying to put on a show and it doesn’t use a lot of formal rules. It’s about survival.”

Sabrina watched him as he walked, his body moving so gracefully, and she realized that when he’d grabbed her and shoved her under the table earlier, he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Thanks,” she said.

“For what?”

“You probably saved my life, jumping on me back there. Who knows what could have happened with those bullets?” Sabrina felt a surge of gratitude for his quick thinking.

“Well, I couldn’t let my new girlfriend get shot on our first day together, could I?” he teased, smiling.

“Girlfriend, huh?” Sabrina still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around the idea of it. He was fun and handsome and incredibly sexy and for some reason, he seemed to want her just as much as she wanted him. Amazing, since before this week she’d never even had a date. Sure, she’d liked Jimmy since she was thirteen, but crushes never worked out in real life. She thought about what it was going to be like, spending the summer with him, remembering the softness of his lips. She looked over. He seemed happy, swinging their hands a little as they walked, then winking slyly at her. She wondered how long this would last before reality came crashing down.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Sabrina cleaned up the house a little and Jimmy worked on his latest article. They’d just finished eating the last of the leftover spaghetti and settled on the sofa in the living room when Jimmy turned to her, looking serious. Even when he wasn’t trying, he looked sexy. He’d changed into a button-down shirt but hadn’t bothered to close it. Her eyes kept straying to the smooth strip of skin visible between the open sides. She licked her lips. Occasionally, the silver metal of his nipple ring glinted as he moved.

“What do you think your dad would say if he knew we were dating?” he asked her, stroking a strand of hair back from her face. Sabrina peeked at his left nipple for maybe the thousandth time in the past hour until she caught the look of amusement on his face. She blushed.

“I think he’d be fine, actually,” she replied. She and her dad were very close since it was just the two of them. He’d always been supportive and encouraging. “He approves of you, you know,” she said, smiling at Jimmy. She leaned in and dropped a quick kiss on his lips, just because. He pouted when she didn’t linger. What she really wanted to do was lean over and bite his nipple ring. She wanted to suck it into her mouth and play with it until he moaned. Didn’t he realize how sexy he looked with his shirt open?

“Yeah, but liking me because I’m his neighbor and his friend’s son and wanting to kill me for sleeping with his daughter are two separate issues,” he said, faking a look of dismay.

Sabrina felt a thrill at his words. “I don’t think you need to worry,” she said, wishing they could stop talking and go straight to the “sleeping together” part of the conversation. “My dad knows I’m twenty-one, and he met my mom when he was sixteen, younger than I am now. They were really happy together until the car accident.” She cupped Jimmy’s cheek, savoring the warmth of his skin, the prick of his stubble. She wished he would stop worrying and kiss her already. She looked forward to telling her dad about Jimmy. More than once, he’d told her he wanted her to be happy, to find someone who would care about her for who she was, someone who saw the person, not just the package. Although, she had to admit, she enjoyed Jimmy’s obvious attraction. She eyed his lap. His arousal pushed against his jeans, and she imagined running her hand along the thick length.

“I hope you’re right, because I don’t think I can go another minute without touching you,” he said, returning her quick kiss with one of his own.

Her eyes fluttered shut; then he reached for her and kissed her delicately, teasing her lips with his until she moaned and he opened his mouth, swiping his tongue against her top lip. Sabrina gasped and kissed him back. He smelled like mint, and she breathed deeply as she sucked on his lower lip. He pulled back to look at her face, which she was sure was pink, and he smiled. When his eyes dropped to her lips and he bent toward her, she held her breath, but he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he tilted his head and rubbed his cheek against hers, breathing into her ear and sucking her earlobe into his mouth for a brief nip.

Sabrina shivered, moving her head to give him better access and sliding her hands down his shoulders onto his arms. His muscles flexed beneath her palms as his mouth moved back to hers, his tongue stroking her lower lip gently before slipping inside. She gasped again and tightened her grip as he growled low and soft, deepening the kiss. She deliberately stroked his tongue with hers and then drew back to suck on his full lower lip as he groaned softly. Then, without warning, she nipped him. She’d wanted to do that for ages. He inhaled harshly and hauled her closer, tangling their legs together on the couch.