Seducing Officer Barlowe by Paige Tyler

Chapter One
    Royce Barlowe scanned the deserted streets on either side of him as he slowly drove his patrol car through San Diego’s industrial section. Since it was Sunday afternoon, he didn’t expect to see much of anything, but there had been some vandalism and break-ins in the area recently, so Robbery wanted uniforms doing regular patrols there. Police presence could sometimes be a damn good deterrent.
    He glanced down the next cross street, expecting to find it as empty as the others, and was surprised to see a car parked there with its hood up. His eyes narrowed, his cop senses immediately tingling. A stranded motorist wouldn’t normally be enough to raise his suspicions, but this was a damn strange place for someone to break down. In a city like San Diego, this area was as in the middle of nowhere as a person could get.
    Royce grabbed his radio and thumbed the switch as he turned onto the side street. “Dispatch, this is Five-Twenty-Five-John, I’ve got a 10-46 on Carlton. I’m going to check it out.”
    “Roger that, Five-Twenty-Five-John.”
    Royce frowned when he rolled to a stop behind the vehicle and didn’t see anyone inside. That might not mean anything. For all he knew, the driver could be hoofing it back to civilization right now to get help. But five years on the force had taught Royce to cover his bases.
    The car was a newer model Ford with a rental car company sticker on the right rear bumper. That didn’t mean it wasn’t stolen, and that whoever had stolen it wasn’t stripping it for parts. Which was why he was damn sure going to run the plates before checking it out further. He input the tag numbers into the MDT computer outfitted in his squad car and waited. When the information came back from the central police database a moment later, it confirmed the car was indeed a rental, and that no, it hadn’t been reported stolen.
    Maybe it really was just a stranded motorist.
    Royce got out of the police cruiser and looked around, then cautiously approached the car, his hand resting lightly on the butt of his weapon. He did a quick visual sweep of the vehicle’s interior, but other than a woman’s purse with half its contents strewn across the passenger seat, it was empty.
    The sound of metal scraping metal under the hood made him jerk his head up. He unsnapped his holster and wrapped his hand around his gun.
    An “Ouch!” came from the front of the car quickly, followed by a “Shoot!” in what was a decidedly female voice. That explained the purse on the seat.
    Royce relaxed his grip on his weapon. Snapping the holster closed, he made his way around to the front of the car, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of two long, shapely legs and an unbelievable ass, which at the moment was high in the air because its owner was currently bent over the hood inspecting the engine.
    Daaaammnn.
    If he wasn’t sworn to serve and protect—and assist stranded motorists—he probably would have been having all sorts of inappropriate thoughts. Who the hell was he kidding? Police officer or not, he was having them anyway—in the form of a very vivid fantasy involving the woman bent over the hood of the car like that while he fucked her from behind. The image made him go rock-hard inside his uniform pants, and he swore silently.
    Down, boy. One of us needs to be professional here.
    He cleared his throat. “Need some help?”
    She jumped and took a startled step back, her hand flying to her chest as she teetered on her high-heels. Fear flashed on her beautiful face, but it disappeared the moment she took in his uniform and realized he was a cop.
    She sagged with obvious relief, letting out a nervous laugh. “God, you scared me. I didn’t hear you come up.”
    Royce gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I saw the hood up and figured you could use some help.”
    She blew out a breath, making her long bangs flutter, and he wondered if she knew how sexy that