"This is dispatch to Unit 2643 Officer Bennett."

"Bennett here."

"Bennett, can you respond to a 10-23 in progress? He's in front of the county courthouse." Disturbing the peace.

"Dispatch, what are we dealing with here?"

"Sounds like a protest march."

"Other units en route?"

"From what I understand, you won't need more than yourself."

Strange. "Unit 2643 responding."

"10-4."

Bonnie pulled up in front of the courthouse with no idea what to expect. It was one guy, with a cheap sign, yelling and walking a wide circle. Bonnie stepped out and slid her aviators off. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought she was watching one fool demand they put cheetos in the courthouse vending machines.

Unreal.

She squared her shoulders and strode toward him. "Sir. Can I talk to you for a second?"

One thing became clear as she got closer; he was really tall. "Sir."

Finally, he turned around and looked at her. He took one look at her and broke into a massive smile. It was beautiful, if a little cheeky and manic. It was like the sun had just come out from behind the clouds. Hot damn, he was fine.

"How are you today, Officer?" He spun on his heel and kept marching, waving his stupid sign.

Bonnie followed next to him.

"I'd be better if you'd put an end to your display here and move along."

"I'm peacefully protesting. It's within my rights as a Mystic Falls citizen." He did an about face and she turned with him, already irritated.

"You're protesting over Cheetos. Cheetos do not fall into any of the protected groups under the Civil RIGHTS Act of 1965, or even anything human, or animal, or even plant life. Therefore, you are disturbing the peace."

"I have to stand up for what I believe in. You're gonna have to arrest me."

"Alrighty then. You're under arrest." Bonnie drew out her handcuffs. He looked her up and down in a slow, salacious way. Then he grinned at her, and it was so sly she knew she was fucked, in more ways than one. He took off running.

He shouted over his shoulder, "Cheetos are really good, Officer Bennett! The people of the courthouse deserve better!"

Bonnie shot off like a track star. "Sir, do not run. Sir. Do not resist arrest!" She didn't have time to wonder how he knew her name. He made her chase him. Bonnie was quicker than she looked, on account of being tiny and agile. She also was in better running shape; she hadn't passed the academy test with flying colors because of her looks. Problem was, every time she got close the man would dodge or turn, making it into a game of keep-away. Bonnie could feel her face turning red. Anybody watching would be in stitches. Bonnie hated to be embarrassed on the job, even if the perp was perfect and tall and beautiful and had an ass that wouldn't quit that she wanted to bite as she watched it run from her.

"Sir, if you don't stop immediately, I'll be forced to use other methods to apprehend you."

He froze. He turned to her again, still with that stupid, sexy smile on his stupid, sexy face.

"Other methods?" he panted, waggling his eyebrows.

Bonnie glared at him. She pulled her baton out and flicked it out, extending it in one smooth move.

"Uh oh," the guy said, but the look in his eye was anything but worried. Bonnie could see the moment he decided to bolt. She didn't hit him with it, but she did catch his leg as he was pushing off and tripped him. The moment he stumbled she tackled him, knocking the air out of hi s lungs with a loud "oomf". The second he was on the ground Bonnie straddled his back. It was a broad, rock-hard, sexy back.

"You have the right to remain silent." She mirandized him as she slapped handcuffs on him, trying not to admire his well-muscled forearms and big hands. She hauled him upright, none too gentle.

"The way you're handling me right now, I don't know how I could stay quiet." It was so dirty Bonnie had to suppress a shiver while she gritted her teeth against the anger.

"I don't like being made a fool of." She slammed him against the car. He huffed as his stomach hit the turn and he folded over.

"That was never my intention, Officer Bennett. In that uniform, I can't help but take you seriously."

"Are you flirting with me, Sir?"

"That depends. Do you like it?"

Her knee in his ass as she shoved him in he squad should have answered the question for him, even if she wasn't completely sure herself.

"Malachai James Parker, twenty-nine years old, Mystic Falls citizen. Says he has a couple low-level priors, including a juvey record which is sealed up good. Nothing to hold him on. It would be a waste of resources." Bonnie rolled her eyes. Not a surprise. Sometimes they just arrested annoying but ultimately harmless idiots. Now she had a name to put to his sickening, gorgeous face.

She sent him on his way.

"It's your lucky night, Parker."

"Yes, ma'am, it most certainly is," He agreed with a wink.

"Get out of my sight," she growled.

"Thanks for a lovely evening, Officer Bennett." He folded one arm in front of his presumably perfect abs and the other behind his back and bowed. Bonnie sneered at him, watching until he was well out of the station and into an Uber.

"Why do I get the feeling this is all fun and games to him?" She asked herself.

A week later there was another, very familiar sounding call on her radio. She didn't think much of it until she heard the location; the courthouse.

"Officer Bennett, can you respond?"

"I'm on it, Dispatch."

Bonnie's blood boiled when she saw who she was dealing with.

"Not again."

Bonnie slammed her door, already fully fed up. This time he was protesting about the lone llama at the Mystic Falls petting zoo. According to Malachi Parker, it needed a friend. According to Malachi Parker, it was his job to lobby the courthouse on the llama's behalf. The fool even had a t-shirt, for Christ's sake.

"Mr. Parker."

"Well if it isn't the lovely Officer Bennett. We meet again." Bonnie could swear his eyes pierced right through her uniform, slipping beneath it like fingertips peeling back the straps of her bra.

You are an officer of the law. You will not let this cocky asshole manipulate you.

"I think you know why I'm here."

"Because there's a new Thai place that opened down the street and you want to take me? Honestly, officer. Im a gentleman, it would be my treat."

Bonnie stomped up to him, snapping, "Do not make me run again, Parker. I won't go gentle on you this time." He gazed at her from beneath lowered lids, sucked his beautiful bottom lip into his mouth. He bit it, and when he smiled it was shiny.

All it took was one stride to invade her space. All it took was the drop in tone when he said, "Last time was gentle? I'm curious. I want to see what rough looks like." She felt that one. All the way down her spine, until the heat pooled between her thighs. Enough. She was so hopped up on adrenaline, anger and lust that snatching his new sign and throwing it down seemed the most logical step, just to get some of the energy out.

"But what about the llama?"

"You have some nerve sounding like you care about it." Bonnie yanked him around, pulling his arms behind his back.

"Him. The llama is a he. He needs a girlfriend. He's not the only one." She handcuffed him and slammed him against the squad car, same as before.

"Wait, wait, wait." He turned, and faster than Bonnie could follow reached behind her ear and pulled away a red rose, stem cut short like a corsage.

"For milady."

"Do stupid magic tricks really work for you?"

"I don't know, this is my first time trying it." The corner of his mouth lifted into a half-smirk.

"It's not even real." She said as she shoved him into her back seat.

"But did you like it?"

She did, in a corny, ass-backwards kind of way. Smug bastard.

"Wipe that filthy smirk off your face."

"Yes. ma'am." He sounded amused. And teasing. There was definitely teasing there.

"Is this turning you on? This better not be turning you on."

"Yes, I mean, no ma'am." but clearly it was. Problem was, it was turning her on, too. Feeling his hard body up against hers…Bonnie opened the door and shoved him in.

"Get your ass in the car."

Bonnie pointedly ignored the way Malachai Parker's eyes pierced hers through the rearview mirror as she took him in.

Once again, they let him go.

Would nothing stick for this guy? "Not even a resisting arrest?"

"Did he resist this time?" Her Captain asked. Bonnie fumed silently. He'd sung bad eighties love ballads in the backseat until she banged her baton against the separation grate, but that was it. Damn him for coming along mostly quietly. "Chief says we gotta let him go. My hands are tied on this, Bennett. I'm sorry."

That night, Bonnie's law enforcement background-and curiosity- got the best of her. Sitting in her comfy chair with a blanket and a glass of cabernet, it was nothing to find him on LinkedIn.

"A stockbroker? Jesus Christ. No wonder he's so slimy." His list of career accomplishments and education was impressive, though. Nothing but expensive, exclusive private schools all the way through undergrad. He held a middle-management position at a prestigious firm, where he handled hundreds of millions of dollars. It was very rich-privileged-white-guy.

His picture, she hated to admit, was mouth watering. It was a professionally done photograph, and boy could that man work a camera. He was in an expensive navy suit, perfectly tailored to those broad shoulders, with a pressed white button up and spun-gold tie. He was looking out at his profile viewers like he was undressing them. Bonnie suppressed a shiver at the thought.

"He's probably a damned sociopath," She muttered.

She found him on Facebook under "Cobra Kai Parker". That made her roll her eyes so hard it hurt. His background picture was him in swim trunks with his arms around several bikini clad beauties of different shapes, sizes and colors.

"Bastard."

Who were those bimbos? Not that she was jealous that they were touching him, or anything. Not that she wanted them far the hell away from him. Never that.

He was hot, hot, hot. Everything under those clothes was what she had fantasized about and more. He was just as much the handsome devil in his profile picture. It was a candid, caught at the perfect moment, showing a genuine, joyful smile. It looked like it was taken right at the beginning of a belly laugh. Without all the innuendo and eye sex he looked like a regular person, which made that picture the most dangerous of all. Bonnie got so frustrated she slammed her laptop shut. She needed another glass of red and a cold shower. More than anything she needed him out of her head.

"Dad, I've been having some trouble with this repeat perp, and it's the strangest situation. He's successful and seems to be leading a cushy life, but he keeps causing trouble with stupid one-man protests and the chief keeps telling me to let him go, scott-free." Bonnie was sitting in her dad's office.

"What his name?"

"Malachi James Parker." That got Mayor Bennett's attention.

"Kai Parker? The Parker kid?"

"You know him?" Bonnie sat forward in her chair. Her dad sat back and groaned.

"He's the governor's kid." The governor's kid. Why hadn't she made the damn connection?

"So, what, you're telling me he's untouchable?"

Mayor Bennett sighed. "He's the classic privileged golden boy, sweetheart. There isn't much his daddy's money and power couldn't get him out of. There's not much he can't have or do, if he wants it. He likes to party, he likes the ladies, so on and so forth." Bonnie wrinkled her nose at "likes the ladies." She knew all about that.

"I heard he's excellent at his job-"

"I'm sure he excels at conning people." She said wryly.

"He knows what he can get away with, Bonnie. It could conceivably be murder, but with all this slap-on-the-wrist stuff, my hands are beyond tied."

"Dad-"

"Bonnie, you know how this works."

"Politics." She threw her hands up in frustration. Kai Parker was turning out to be everything she couldn't stand. Filthy rich and a playboy, with a cushy job and flying high above the law thanks to his dad's money and power. His rap sheet was certainly not clean. No respect for the law? Absolutely not. He was so far under her skin that she itched.

All the more reason for Bonnie to stay away from him.

The third time she got the call from dispatch, almost exactly a week later, Bonnie already knew who it was.

"I'm gonna shoot him. Right in that pretty ass."

She climbed out of the car and approached him, hand already on her baton.

"What is it today? Not enough golden girls on Nick at Nite?"

"The Golden Girls doesn't even come on Nick at Nite, so the joke's on you. Actually, today it's rip-off arcade games. How come I've never been able to beat any version Mortal Kombat? If I can beat Pac-Man, Big Game Hunter, and Dance Dance Revolution, I should be able to beat Mortal Kombat. There ought to be a law." He turned toward the building and raised his voice. "You hear that? There ought to be a law!"

"I'm getting tired of this little game, Parker."

"How else can I get you to put your hands all over me?" He was starting already. She ignored him. He held his hands out and let her cuff him, no resistance, no arguing, nothing. Just a big dumb grin. Bonnie led him to the car, her hand burning where it rested on the exposed skin of his wrist.

He hummed happily to himself as she put him in the car, her hands digging in his hair when she guided him into the backseat. She imagined her fingers there for an entirely different reason. Keep it professional, Bennett.

The humming turned into quiet singing under his breath; "All she wants me to do is fuck the police-"

"What did you say?"

"Uh, nothing, I didn't say anything."

"Is this a joke to you?"

What? No. I didn't say anything. I'm being a good boy." If she wasn't mistaken, his expression was a sheepish one.

Bonnie undid the handcuffs. "You know what? I'm not gonna throw you up against my car anymore or haul you in again. I know who you are, and I know your type. All you want is an audience, and I'm not gonna keep being that for you. You're wasting my damn time and the taxpayers' dollars. Enough." His face fell as she pulled him out of her squad car, then she climbed in the driver's seat.

"Officer Bennett, wait-"

"Go home, Mr. Parker." She drove off without another word.

No sooner had she set foot in the door the next morning were her coworkers harassing her.

"There's the lucky lady." Caroline at the front desk winked as Bonnie badged in.

"Way to charm the snake, Bennett." Officer Salvatore the younger ribbed her as she grabbed bitter coffee and a danish.

"Do you know how many women would kill to be in your shoes right now? You poor unfortunately soul." That was Officer Salvatore the elder behind her, always eager to give her a hard time. His desk was close to hers, so they traded insults and desserts often.

"Salvatore, what the heck is everybody talking about?" She asked. He just inclined his head towards her desk where several ornate bouquets of flowers rested.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"Take a wild guess."

Bonnie mouth dropped open when she realized. "No."

"Talk about overkill." It was garish and overly done, but still, no one had ever sent her flowers before. To send them to her job where everyone could see them… it was obnoxious and it put all her business on the street. It was so terribly romantic she just couldn't stand it. So many beautiful bouquets, so many different arrangements in so many different colors. Her face heated up as she plucked the delicate white card from the foremost bouquet of white lilies and blush pink roses.

"Officer Bennett-

Please accept my apologies, these bouquets and a

$5,000 donation to the Mystic Falls PD Charity or the charity of your choice.

-MJP"

Inside was a check all written out, simply waiting for an addressee.

"Fucking look at this, Salvatore." Damon took it from her hands, read it over, and whistled.

"Looks like somebody's got it bad. What did you do to the man? Got any tricks you wanna share?"

The other Salvatore had been reading over his shoulder. "He's got money to throw around, why not put it to good use?" Stefan said.

" Yeah, good use. I need a new squad car, Bennett. how bout it?"

"Shut up." She snatched the card back as Damon laughed and Stefan gave her the "sorry my brother's an ass" look that he so often wore.

"Bennett. My office, now." It was Chief Forbes. She sighed and sat, ready to get reamed out.

"Please explain to me what all these ridiculous flowers are doing in my building." She couldn't be sure, but it seemed there was a twinkle in the chief's eye.

"It's that perp, Parker. I told him off and refused to arrest him, and now he wants to have a conscious, I suppose." She rolled her eyes for probably the millionth time because of him.

"Isn't it obvious, officer?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "He has a crush."

"On who?"

"Oh my God." She rolled her whole head. "Do you think it's a coincidence that the man keeps up these protests on your route, on your shifts?"

Horror. That's what Bonnie felt, all over her body. That and…something else. The same thing that made heat build in the center of her chest when she read his note and saw his body, and remembered how it felt to pin him to her squad.

"You gotta admit, it's sorta romantic."

"I'm gonna put a stop to this, once and for all."

"You're gonna put a stop to it, huh?" Chief Forbes sat back in her chair, looking like the cat who ate the canary.

"Please don't give me that skeptical look, Chief."

"Ooooookay," the chief replied, her voice saying she didn't believe a word.

The moment Bonnie's shift was up, she changed into her civvies and she grabbed her purse, already on the war path.

She stormed into the big, fancy financial building in plain clothes, flashing her badge. She felt underdressed and somewhat intimidated, seeing all those powerful people in Armani suits when all she wore was a distressed white v-neck tee and a pair of boot cut jeans.

"Malachai Parker. Where is he?" The surprised man just pointed. His cough seemed to cover a chuckle. Like he knew something she didn't know. Bonnie side-eyed him but kept right on marching. There he was, stepping out of a huge corner office-his?-yammering on his iPhone. Probably ordering 5 million shares of Bullshit Corp.

When he saw her he did a double take.

"Wow." The way he stared at her, as if she'd taken his breath away, made her feel something other than animal lust this time. Could she really have done that, little old police officer Bennett, in nothing but jeans and a t-shirt? Could he really have actual feelings for her? He looked at her like she held a piece of his heart.

She pushed through. If she thought about it too much she'd want to believe it, and she'd lose the head of steam she'd been building. She waved her badge at him like a battle flag.

"Aw, c'mon, not at my job." He smirked in the Kai way she'd come to know and loathe.

"Tell me the truth. Are you doing all this to get my attention?"

"What do you mean, Bon-"

"Don't call me that, we're not friends. Do you have a-" she spit the word out like it tasted disgusting- "crush on me?"

The silence that followed was so tense it was comical. The entire office seemed to slow down, grow quiet around them. All eyes were on them. Kai folded his hands behind his back and dropped his chin, worrying at that luscious lower lip with his teeth. He can't be feeling bashful. That can't be what I'm seeing.

"So, I came to my little nephew's school for career day a few weeks ago, trying to live up to my favorite-uncle status, you know? So there I was, sitting with him in the back corner of the class, drinking one of his juice boxes-"

"You're unbelievable." She shook her head and giggled, just a little. She couldn't help it.

"You went right before me. I saw you doing D.A.R.E. I mean I obviously thought you were hot but you also were great with the kids and I could tell you were passionate about your job. As a bonus, I learned an awful lot about saying no to drugs. The rest is history." He shrugged, trying to play it nonchalant. Damn him, why did he have such a charming story?

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should talk to me, like a human being?"

"Look at me, Bonnie. Do I look like somebody who has well-developed social skills? Besides, if you knew who I was, would you have given me a chance?" He was right. One word about his reputation, one look at his rap sheet, and that would have been it.

"Hell no. And I'm not giving you one now." He gave her big, round puppy-dog eyes and she deflated like a day-old balloon. Bonnie sighed. She couldn't stay mad at him.

"One date. One date to prove I'm not all the things people say about me. Most of them, yes. But not all. Please?" He poked out a pouty bottom lip and it was just so damn cute there was nothing Bonnie could do about it.

"And you'll stop making me come out for bogus calls?"

"Scout's honor."

She stuck out her hip and crossed her arms, doing her own kind of pout. Kai Parker had charmed her, in his own depraved way. For possibly the first time, her lips curled up at the corners and she smiled at him. "Fine."

"Yeah?"

"I said yeah, don't make me change my mind."

"She's going on a date with me. Officer Sexy's going on a date with me!" To say he was projecting his voice was an understatement. His staff shook their heads and chuckled. Bonnie got the feeling they were all used to his antics by now.

"You should all know how desperate I am to make the protests stop- Ah!" She shrieked as he wrapped his arms around her thighs, picked her up, and spun her around. Bonnie laughed then, caught up in the first totally carefree moment she'd experienced in a long time. Being held by him like this, it felt right.

"So nobody's gonna clap? This is tv-worthy, people." One of them did. Another did a sarcastic slow clap and yet another flipped him off. Bonnie giggled again. She got the feeling they antagonized him just as much as he antagonized, well, everybody he met.

A woman shuffled by, an amused look on her face. "Thank God. He wouldn't shut up about you." Bonnie tried to cover her embarrassed smile with her tiny hand.

"One date, Mr. Parker. And it better be a hell of a good one."

Kai gently took the hand that covered her smile and kissed it. The tingling on her skin made her smile even bigger.

"One date. It'll be the best. It'll be the first, Officer Bennett."