Unarmed

Chapter 1

Chantelle's POV

I lock up my office, say goodbye to my intern Graciela, then take the elevator down to the garage. Peeking at my watch, I see that it's 1 a.m. I cannot believe I have stayed this late, once again, just to meet editor's deadline.

"Would you like me to walk you to your, car Ms. Bernard?" Mateo asks when I exit the elevator. He works as our building's head of security.

"No thanks." I shake my head. "But have a good night." He nods at me once again and I make my way to my car. My lack of energy doesn't allow me to neatly store my stuff in the trunk like I usually do but instead, I toss everything into the passenger seat. A moment later, I am starting my car and speeding out of the parking garage. I cannot wait to hit my pillow.

My car drives smoothly on Interstate 90 as I head out of Seattle and towards my home across the bridge in Bellevue. As I get closer to my apartment, I feel my eyelids start to get heavy. I close them for a second before I remind myself that I'm behind the wheel of a car.

Get it together Chantelle.

I'm getting closer to home when I see a car pull behind me. I do a double-take and it's a police car. A moment later, red and blue lights are flashing behind me. Great.

I pull over like the law-abiding citizen I am and roll down my window. While I'm wait for the cop to walk up to my window, I dig through the crap on my passenger seat, trying to find my driver's licence.

"Hands on the steering wheel Miss." I turn my head to see a bright light shining in my eyes. I squint then put my hands on the wheel.

"Sorry," I mumble.

The officer takes the light out of my face and shines it into my car. "Would you turn on your interior light please?"

I nod and press my hand towards the ceiling to turn on the light. After the light is on, the officer turns off his flashlight and I finally get a good look at him.

Damn. I try to stop myself from staring but it's hard. The cop is beautiful. Chiseled jaw, dark blue eyes and jet black hair. He looks like the models that sometimes come into Cosmo. He also looks really familiar.

The officer tilts his head a little and gives me a small, yet confused smile. "You look familiar," he says.

"Yeah." I nod. "You do too." A light bulb goes off in my head. "Do you live at the Markham Apartments?"

He eyes me before answering. "Yeah. I've seen you in the parking structure."

I laugh lightly and the officer smiles bigger. He's absolutely gorgeous.

"Do you have your license and registration?" he asks after a moment.

"Yeah," I say. "My license is in this pile of crap and registration is in the glove compartment."

He motions for me to go ahead. It takes me a minute to pull out my license from my purse and finally my registration. I hand them to the officer.

"I'll be right back," he says. While he returns to his car, I close my eyes and rest my head against my headrest. I have seen a lot of sexy men working as an editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine but this officer takes the cake. I close my eyes and soon I'm imagining his hands wrapping around my waist, his lips against my—

"Ma'am." I'm startled when the officer approaches my window. I glance at his nametag and it reads Deputy Stevenson. "Here is your documentation." I take my license and registration back and drop it into my passenger seat. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" he asks.

I shake my head.

"You ran a stop sign."

I gasp. "Oh my goodness! That's crazy. I'm so sorry. I started early and worked really late tonight. I knew I was tired but I still drove anyway." I'm rambling. "I can't believe I did that. I'm sorry. Again. Really. I'm so—

"Ma'am," Officer Stevenson stops me from going on. "I understand. Life can be hard but that was incredibly dangerous. Your headlights are also off. I'm just going to give you a fix it ticket. Bring this into the station by the end of the month, prove that you have working headlights and you'll be fine. It won't be on your record."

I breathe a huge sigh of relief. In the state of Washington, running a stop sign means he could have suspended my license for up to a year. "Thank you so much officer. I will definitely do that." He hands me the ticket. "I don't know how to thank you."

The officer smiles. "No need to thank me. Just drive carefully, okay?"

I nod. He's still standing at my window and making eye contact with me.

"I guess I'll see you around?" I finally say.

"Most definitely. Goodnight Chantelle."