Armed With Steele (32 page)

“Oh, and one other thing.”

“Now wait a minute,” I said with a scowl. “You can’t make a deal and then change it on me.”

“Relax. All I was going to say is whoever loses has to buy shots.”

“You’re on.”

* * * *

Nate held the door to the bowling alley open for me, then shook his head as he followed me outside. “You could have warned me.”

“What, and spoil the fun?”

It was just after nine o’clock. I’d kicked his butt—soundly—all three games.

He threw me a half-hearted glare. “You know I hate losing.”

“Oops.” I giggled. The ground seemed to sway beneath my feet. “But why didn’t you do shots with me?”

“I ran out of money buying them for you, Miss Sandbagger. I’m just a poor cop, trying to make a living, and look at you—drinking it away.” He winked at me.

“Whatever. You have a side business with Charlie. And you’re driving…
this
.” I waved my hand at the beautiful Camaro we’d just reached.

“Regardless.” He tossed my bag into the virtually non-existent back seat. “You could have clued me in.”

We drove back to our side of town in silence. Me, silently scolding myself for having that last beer. Nate apparently lost in his own thoughts. He finally spoke up when we were nearly to my place.

“Do you mind if we stop by my place first?”

My alcohol-induced buzz was still picking up steam. All I really wanted was to go home and crawl into bed. But then I realized stopping by his home would mean I’d finally get to see where Nate lived. “I guess not.”

A sly grin stretched across his face. He reached over and put a hand on my knee. Its warmth radiated through me. Its location chipped away at my resolve.

The buzzing in my head grew stronger, making it hard to focus on where we were headed. Nate turned his car into the neighborhood next to ours. A right, a left, another right.

Turns out, Nate lived only five blocks from us. I’ll be damned.

He pulled into his driveway, which was off the main street instead of an alley, eased the Camaro past his take-home cruiser, and pulled slowly into the garage. He got out of the car and I settled back into my seat to wait for him to run in and do whatever it was he needed to do. Only, no sooner had I closed my eyes, than my passenger-side door opened.

I squinted as the blinding interior light kicked on.

“Would you like to come inside?” Nate offered me his hand. “It’ll just take me a minute to grab what I need.”

I hesitated. Once I stepped out of the car, there was no guarantee when I’d be getting back into it. But all that thinking was too hard on my semi-drunken brain, so I decided what the hell—we had a deal. I took his hand and allowed him to help me from the car.

Nate led me down the driveway to his side door. He unlocked it, held it open, and waved me in. There were no lights on inside, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dark. Up ahead I could see the kitchen, awash with moonlight streaming in from a window over the sink.

I resisted the urge to go over and check to see if he actually locked his kitchen window, mainly because I couldn’t seem to find a light switch. “You gonna catch the light?”

“Don’t need the light. I know exactly where what I want is.”

I heard him toss his keys onto the kitchen table. Next thing I knew, Nate had his arms around my waist. He spun me around, pulled me close, and leaned in for a kiss.

“Stop right there, Officer Steele.” I put my hand on his chest to halt his progress. “We had a deal, remember?”

Even in the dark I could see his responding smirk. He peeled my hand from his chest as easily as if he were turning the page in a magazine. Lifted it to his mouth. “Of course I do,” he said, his lips starting to travel up my arm. “Loser buys shots. I held up my end of the bargain.”

“No, no, no. That was only part of the deal. The rest was—”

“That if you won, you’d get to sleep in your own bed. Alone.” He reached down and collected my other hand in his.

I cleared my throat. “Precisely. So, what are you doing?”

“Kissing you. What does it look like?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

My head was still humming, but my quickened breath had nothing to do with the alcohol in my system. “Aren’t you supposed to be taking me home?”

“Nope.” He stepped forward, and I instinctively stepped away from him. My back grazed the wall. He lifted both my arms up and over my head, and secured my wrists with one large, strong hand.

“But we had a deal,” I said, my voice sounding higher than usual.

He leaned his face down to mine and kissed me gently on the lips. “I never promised to take you home. Just that you could sleep in your own bed. Alone, if you so choose.” His teeth gently nipped at my lower lip.

“That’s not fair!”

He pressed his body against mine, pinning me to the wall. “No, I’ll tell you what’s not fair,” he said, blue eyes blazing only inches from mine. “Watching that perfect little ass of yours strut in front of me all night and not being able to grab it. At least, not then.” He reached down and slid his other hand along the curve of my jeans.

I tried to pull my hands free. “But…I won fair and square!”

His smirk spread into a devilish smile. His hand traveled north from my hip and slid under the hem of my shirt. “And I told you. I hate losing.” Before I knew it, my shirt was up and over my head. I inhaled sharply as Nate tossed it aside.

“Nate! I—”

His lips found mine, silencing the cease and desist order I was about to issue. Only, this kissing wasn’t as gentle as before. There was more behind it.

That hunger I’d sensed all week.

The humming in my head increased. My lips broke free from his, and I gasped for air. Everything was happening so fast! I tried to think of a way out. To escape before…before…

Before what?

Before I become vulnerable
, the voice of doubt whispered somewhere deep inside me.

Nate’s lips began skimming my jaw line as his hand traveled to areas previously unexplored. Thoughts of worry and self-doubt swirled through my muddied mind. But then Nate’s thumb slipped under my bra and my resolve evaporated with a sharp exhale.

Suddenly all my worries and fears were replaced by something infinitely stronger: need. My body arched into his, now set on its own agenda. He let go of my wrists and slid his free hand to my back. In the blink of an eye my bra fell slack.

And then just plain fell. To the floor.

I laced my fingers through his thick, dark hair, pulled his face down to mine, and kissed him with all I had. It was like throwing gasoline on an open fire. A growl rumbled in Nate’s chest as he lifted me up, sandwiching my hips between his and the wall.

I wrapped my legs around him, wishing there weren’t several layers of clothing yet between us. Because him pressed up against me felt good. Damned good. Too much more of this teasing and I’d spontaneously combust.

I turned my face, breaking the kiss to catch my breath. The sound of our ragged breathing echoed through the hallway.

“Nate, I—”

His mouth flew to mine once more. A second later, he cupped my breasts.

Damn those thumbs of his!

I broke free from his kiss and gasped for air, at the same time clawing at his broad shoulders for more. Which he gave me. When I could stand it no longer, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him tight.

“Okay,” I breathed. “You win. I—”

The doorbell rang.

We both froze.

“Were…you expecting someone?” I whispered.

Nate shook his head and pulled back a few inches. We both turned our eyes to the front of the house and listened.

Silence.

He shrugged, and turned his eyes, still hungry with desire, back to mine. “You were say—”

Someone knocked on the front door. The knocking soon became more of a pounding. Then a muffled voice called out, “Nate?”

I recognized the voice instantly—would know it anywhere. Without thinking, I lifted a hand to protect my nose.

“Ignore her,” he whispered, and began tracing my jaw line with his lips.

Sadly, I wasn’t feeling as combustible as I had been a moment ago. And unlike him, I couldn’t ignore the fact that his violent ex-girlfriend was still standing on the front porch.

“Nathan Andrew Steele! I know you’re in there. And I am
not
leaving until you let me in!”

Nate muttered a string of profanity and carefully set me down. “I’m so sorry. I’ll…try to get rid of her as quickly as I can.”

I swiped my clothes off the floor. “I need to hide. Please don’t let her find me here!”

He placed a hand on my elbow and led me to a door at the far end of the hall. “The basement. You’ll be safe there.”

* * * *

I yawned, and plucked another cobweb from my hair.

“Jess, I am so sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. How were you supposed to know she’d be so hard to get rid of?”

Nate pulled his car up in front of my place and shifted into park. “Well it sure as hell wasn’t how I’d planned to spend this past hour, that’s for damned sure.”

I grinned, but kept my eyes down. I’d had a good long talk with myself in that dark basement. About how close I’d come to opening my heart up for more misery, when what I should have been doing was behaving myself. And working to solve the mysteries surrounding Grace’s case, not making out with my partner in anti-crime.

Of course, that talk was much easier to swallow without Nate pressed up against me.

“I really should get inside. Brutus is probably dying for a potty break.”

Nate snorted. “Brutus is probably dead asleep.” He took in my determined look and sighed. “Alright. I’ll go.” He pulled me close for a steamy kiss goodnight. The kind of kiss that threatened to weaken even the strongest resolve.

A dog began barking like mad from somewhere inside my house. I pulled back, steeled my resolve, and reached for the door handle. Saved by Brutus.

Chapter 25

I awoke to the feeling that something large had crashed down upon me. It snapped me right out of the middle of my dream—a dream where no doorbell had interrupted what Nate and I started last night. With a startled scream, I pushed my comforter back and scrambled to escape from beneath whatever it was. My feet hit the floor and I whirled around with fists at the ready.

Whatever had attacked me was still on my bed, thrashing about beneath my thrown covers. I heard a growl, and watched as the face of my attacker emerged from under the comforter. It was snub-nosed, covered in slobber, and its tongue—as if to add insult to injury—proceeded to loll out one side.

I groaned.

“Brutus!” I took a seat on the edge of the bed and waited for my heart to stop racing. He army-crawled over to me, nudged my elbow with his slimy nose, and whined. A quick glance at my alarm clock proved it was almost nine AM.

“Sorry, buddy,” I said and rubbed under one of his ears. “I guess I overslept a bit. Let’s get you outside before you have an accident.”

At the word “outside,” Brutus took a flying leap off my bed and raced from the room. I pulled on a pair of lounge pants and followed after him. Was halfway to the back door when my cell phone began to ring. I snatched it from my purse, which I’d left hanging off the back of a kitchen chair last night. I’d been much too preoccupied with thoughts of Nate and those damned thumbs of his to do much more than that with my handbag.

Brutus’s whining grew to a fevered pitch as he scratched at the inside of the back door.

“Hang on, buddy.” I grabbed his leash and tried to hold him still long enough to get it clasped onto his collar. “There.”

I opened the door, and Brutus shot out, yanking me along with him. My still-ringing cell phone flew into the air. Somehow I managed to keep hold of the leash, not do a faceplant on the cement walkway, and catch my cell phone before it hit the ground and shattered into a million pieces.