The Guardian

just beginning. He had to stop feeling paranoid. It was just a nervous twitch. He’d get over it. He had other things to worry about.

Part Eight
    Third Time, Not a Charm
    Chapter 75
    Laura was sure she was making a big mistake. Common sense wasn’t her strong suite. She and John had been spending a lot of time together the past few months. Even though they weren’t really partners, they functioned really well together like partners. They thought a lot alike, even though they seemed to poke fun at each other all the time. The result was always good and they always agreed.
    She also knew that he was a very attractive man. He was no slouch, was well built and he took care of himself. Chuckling to herself, she thought about his knees. That wasn’t his fault. However, she couldn’t help teasing him about it. She was however going to use it to get her foot in the door.
    As she drove home, she decided that she would go over to his house and administer some tender, loving care to his injured knees. God, she must be crazy to be considering such a thing. Oh well, it wasn’t like she had them lining up at her door. She knew that was her fault though. It was her attitude that got her where she was. It was her tougher than nails, take no shit, make no excuses attitude. The sad truth was they were afraid of her. It seemed that most often men were intimidated by good looking women with a brain. They felt threatened for some reason. Moreover, it was a known fact that women in the business world were far more successful. The majority of men who were successful, more often than not, had an intelligent woman either behind them or beside them. The good looks part was irrelevant.
    Shortly after arriving at home, she fed her fish, cat and the one best friend she had, Buster. He was her German shepherd that she had gotten as he just turned six weeks. He was almost four now and had been thoroughly trained in every aspect imaginable from house pet to serious guard dog. Buster and her cat, Jasmine got along like best friends. They didn’t even know that they weren’t supposed to be. Having both been fixed and Jasmine having been de-clawed, could have been what mellowed them out so. It really was irrelevant. They didn’t care. Whenever she would come home, they’d both rush to meet her. She would get up in the middle of the night and they would be curled up together on the little sofa bed she’d had made for them.
    After taking care of everyone and was sure they were comfortable, she quickly stripped off her clothes. She tossed them into the hamper and started a shower.
    Walking past the mirrored closet doors, she caught her reflection. She paused for a second, looking at herself. She really was in damn good shape. She knew it, and she knew that the guys she worked with knew it. Built incredibly well, she was all real as well. There were no plastic parts here. She refused to allow herself to turn into another piece of plastic, Las Vegas, made over wanna-be whatever. She hated that part of the Vegas life style. Any woman worth their salt in this town was expected to have that certain look. They wanted that certain appearance. The women in Vegas spent God awful amounts of money for all sorts of make over’s from boob jobs to Botox to crowns and bleaching to whatever they could. All just so they could look the way these self-righteous men that ran this town wanted them to. Smiling to herself, she padded off to the shower.
    Laura let the hot water soothe her aches and her tired muscles. She should have taken a bath, but she was in a bit of a hurry and knew that she’d overindulge herself if she were to do that. She knew if she submerged herself into a hot tub of water, she’d never get out.
    She turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and quickly dried herself off. After wrapping the towel around her, she went to the closet to find something appropriate to wear. She didn’t want to appear too sexy or too pushy. Yet she wanted him to look at her, not as a fellow police officer, or the too hard to crack nut that the guys were afraid of. However, she did want him to want her. After all, if she had to be very honest with herself, that’s exactly why she was doing this?
    Laura wasn’t much for makeup. She wore little if any. The fact that she didn’t smoke, and rarely drank and took care of her skin, she really didn’t need much. So, she did her hair, makeup and decided that little was more.
    Good God, she couldn’t