Careful What You Kiss For (21 page)

Every Tupperware container in her brain popped its seal at once to spill its contents. “Oh my God,” she moaned as he fondled the most sensitive parts of her with his tongue, with his fingers, over and over, until the building intensity turned her fog from red to purple. Her head thrashed from one side to another as she arched toward him, pleading for more.

Once she came, in a crescendo so strong she could have sworn she heard someone — probably her — hitting a glass-shattering note, it took a few minutes for her brain to clear. When it finally did, she focused in on Max lying beside her, his head propped up with his elbow. He appeared to be doing his best to give her a casual grin. And failing. The gleam in his eye and the way his body strained toward her without moving an inch said otherwise.

“Damn,” he said.

“Damn,” she agreed, closing her eyes.

She felt him lean in and then pull back. Her eyes flew open. “You’re not done here.”

“Ten, I can’t — ”

She looked down at his erect, ready-to-rock penis. “That’s a lie.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You don’t know — ”

“I don’t care.” She reached for him.

He groaned, taking her in his arms and pressing their bodies together. “If it was anyone but you,” he said, his whiskers rough against her cheek, his mouth hot on her body, his hands powerful and gentle at the same time.

She didn’t give him time to finish the thought. When he entered her, she gasped at the roller coaster ride of memories and feelings she’d thought long stored away. She smelled the freshly mown grass of the field, felt the caress of summer air on her face and reveled in the secrecy of it all, the danger they might be discovered making love.

She drove her fingers into his shoulders and then let them travel down his muscled arms, holding on tight as each thrust took her farther toward the edge. The man must have hacked into her fuck-me wish list and hit every single thing on it while throwing in a few extra —

Ohhhhhh … hell … .

They came together, in a joint, shared shudder, and collapsed into each other’s arms, damp and spent. Tensley’s throat was raw. And Max, the man she’d never been able to forget because she’d never wanted to, was still deep inside her. In more ways than one.

This had been the best bad idea
ever
.

• • •

The birds woke her, trilling their songs directly outside the window. Tensley opened her eyes one at a time, luxuriating in the feeling of Max’s naked body wrapped around hers. He’d held her all night.

She could hear his even breathing, feel it whispering across her shoulder. It had been a long time since she’d felt so relaxed, so a part of someone else.

Fifteen years and four months, to be exact.

She burrowed even closer.

“Mmmmm,” she heard him say in her ear.

“You awake?” she whispered.

“No.”

But she felt his grin against her hair.

“Too bad,” she said, a playful lilt to her voice. Pressed against her back, his cock sprang into action. Always ready to answer the call of duty, that one. Now she grinned. “Get much sleep last night?”

“Almost none. It was great.”

“It was,” she agreed, her voice soft. She turned and as she did, caught sight of his gun on the nightstand. Somehow, he’d put it there during the night. Kate was right. There was something sexy about it.

She rolled onto her back, eyes on the ceiling, reveling in the feeling of his warm, strong arm across her. “So tell me about being a detective.”

“Okay.” He inhaled. “Haven’t been one that long, though.”

“A recent promotion?”

“Yes. I was a beat cop for several years. In northern California. And then here.”

“What’s the best part, chasing down bad guys and putting them in cuffs? Throwing them in the slammer?”

He chuckled. “You watch too much TV.”

“Okay, then. Tell me what I don’t know.” She ran her fingers across the broad muscles of his chest.

He was quiet for a minute and then said, “Once in a while, I could get through to a kid. A kid who was heading somewhere he wasn’t going to be able to climb back out of. I liked that. And I liked the idea that I was keeping people safe. Watching over them at night when they were asleep and there were creeps out there who might want to harm them.”

“I can see that,” she whispered.

He looked down at her, rubbing her shoulder with his hand.

“So why did you decide to be a detective, instead?”

His answer was quick this time. “Justice.” Now he turned his gaze to the ceiling. “And puzzles. I like being smarter than the bad guys, figuring out what they’re up to and making sure they don’t get away with it.”

“Great material. You should be writing about it. That life.”

A self-conscious laugh as she heard his breathing quicken. “You said that before.”

“You’re a good writer.”

“Haven’t done anything in — a while.”

She sat up. “Max Hunter. You’re working on something, aren’t you?”

He looked at her, then back at the ceiling. She could tell he didn’t want anyone to know, but he wanted to tell her.

“You are. That’s great!” She laid her hands on each side of his face, loving the feel of his morning whiskers against the tender skin of her palms.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. When will it be finished?”

He laughed as he pulled himself up, talking while his arms went around her and he began kissing her, teasing at her mouth. “It will be finished when I get it finished. When I figure out the ending. But right now I have something else to finish.”

“Oh yeah? And what would that be, Detective Hunter?” Her heart began to beat faster, as her body pressed against his.

The sound of a ringing cell pierced the air.

Max abruptly pulled away, shaking his head. “Shit. What time is it?”

“I don’t know.” Tensley blinked and tried, but not that hard, to find a clock, or her cell, in the unfamiliar bedroom. “Don’t answer it.”

“Have to.” He was up and across the room in a flash, locating his jacket on the floor and going through it until he found his phone. “Hunter.”

As he stood, listening, Tensley put one arm behind her head and let her eyes travel up and down the back of his sculpted physique, from his broad shoulders to the hard mounds of his butt cheeks to his powerful legs and bare feet. She saw now a tan line she hadn’t noticed last night, from swim trunks or shorts. That part of his skin was a few shades lighter than the rest.

Max had always loved the outdoors. She let her mind wander down a bunny trail of memories. She and Max would go swimming together. Somewhere remote, so they wouldn’t need her bikini or his swim trunks. She smiled, remembering it. Then she looked down at her own body in the early morning sunlight. Pale, no tan at all.

Great. She was nocturnal, living in a strip club.

Ah, well. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed. A little sunlight wouldn’t hurt these new boobs. What were they going to do, melt?

After another curt response into the phone, Max turned. Tensley grinned. She flung the covers away from her body and dipped her chin, looking up at him through her lashes. Then she patted the spot next to her on the bed. “Come on back,” she drawled. Right before she giggled.

“I have to go.”

“What?” She scrambled upright. “Why?”

Max was already pulling on his clothes. First his jeans, then his shirt. By the time he’d finished strapping on his gun and shoving his arms into his jacket, he still hadn’t looked at her.

“You can’t,” she sputtered, pulling the sheet from the bed to wrap it around herself.

He looked down at the floor, his jaw muscles working. From the other side of the door, Gemini yowled.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said to the floor. “I let things get out of hand.”

“Out of hand?” she screeched, pulling the sheet tighter. “What are you talking about?”

“I have to leave.” She heard a warning in his voice.

A warning she chose to ignore. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

“It shouldn’t have happened, that’s all. I’m sorry.”

Icy fear crept over her. She began to tremble. “I don’t understand.”

“Let’s just forget it, okay?”

“I can’t forget it.”

“You’re going to have to.”

“You’re sorry that, what, you slept with me? A — A — ” She couldn’t say it. Damn him, anyway.
Ow
. She pressed her fist to her heart, forcing the words out. “A stripper?” If only he knew the truth. If only she could tell him, make him understand.

He still couldn’t look at her. “I’m a cop.” He turned away abruptly, striding toward the door. When he threw it open, Gemini hissed at him.

Good cat.

She followed Max, tripping and stumbling over the sheet. “I don’t believe we did anything illegal, detective,” she snapped.

He turned back, right before reaching the door of her apartment. “Dammit, Tensley. You’re a police department informant. Working with me. I don’t know what I was thinking. Any kind of relationship between the two of us — ” He broke off to rake a hand through his hair. “Could make it impossible to build a case against Gary.”

“We’re back to Gary.” She began to jam all that had happened last night into a mental Tupperware container, but she couldn’t find a lid to save her life. Where were the damn lids?

“Last night was amazing, wonderful. It was probably the best night of my entire life.” This time, he let his eyes meet hers and she could see what looked like genuine anguish flash through them before it was replaced with something else. Resolve. “But it isn’t going to happen again.” He cupped her chin with his hand and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Next time, we’ll meet at the diner. Apparently, I can’t be trusted alone with you.”

“So that’s it. You’re done.” She knew she sounded bitter and she didn’t care. This was Bryan-with-a-y-not-an-i on steroids. No. Scratch that. It was so much worse, there wasn’t even a comparison. “Went back to high school to have a little fun and now you’re done, out of here.”

He straightened. “You know it’s not like that.”

“All I know is that you’re making the decisions for both of us.”

“Looks like I have to.”

“I’m not like you. I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”

“And what do you think Gary’s going to do if he finds out you slept with a cop? You think he’s going to let that go? You think Razor is?”

She opened her mouth and then shut it again, remembering Gary’s fury over his stupid Maker’s Mark. This could be a lot bigger deal.

“I can’t let anything happen to you, Tensley, because of something I did. Not again.”

Her eyes filled. She blinked hard. “Let’s get this straight. It wasn’t just you here last night.”

His voice lowered. “I could have stopped it.”

“
I
could have stopped it. But I didn’t want to. And neither did you.”

Gemini rubbed up against her bare leg, poking out from under the sheet. He meowed.

“Better feed him,” Max said as he went to open the door.

“Don’t go,” she whispered.

He stopped, knuckles whitening as he gripped the knob. “Nothing happened last night, Tensley.”

Pieces of her heart broke off and shattered, one by one. “Yes, it did.” She lifted her chin. “Several times, as a matter of fact. Thanks for that, by the way.”

He grimaced, closing his eyes. Then he opened them and turned the knob. “I’ll be in touch.”

When he had gone, Tensley leaned up against the closed door and slid on her back all the way down until she landed on the floor, the sheet in crumpled folds all around her. She didn’t even care that her bruised backside screamed in pain. It could join the rest of her.

“Guess what, Max,” she said as she stroked Gemini’s fur. “I’m not a stripper. I’m vice president of Tanner, Inc. with a professionally decorated corner office. I have a beautiful condo and a gorgeous car and I vacation in fabulous, exclusive resorts where I swear they clean the sand every morning before I wake up.”

The cat looked up at her and she went on, her voice cracking on some words and cutting out altogether on others. “This was all a huge, cruel mistake. I wouldn’t have punched Rhonda. I
didn’t
punch Rhonda. This isn’t me. This is someone else’s life.”

She closed her eyes, leaning her head against the door. “And last night was the only time I was really me.”

A single tear leaked out to roll down her face, followed by another. A few seconds later, she felt paws on her legs and her shoulder and then a sympathetic sandpaper tongue on her cheek.

At least someone understood.

Max got through the morning by focusing his complete and total attention on the city’s hardware stores. Every time thoughts of Tensley nudged at his consciousness, he denied entry, slamming the door shut.

Except that only made him think about kicking the door to her bedroom open, sending everything flooding right back again.

“Hunter.”

Max’s chin flew up. His captain stood a few feet away.

“Yes, sir.”

“You deaf? I said your name four times.”

“No, sir. Sorry. I was just,” he motioned toward the screen, “concentrating.” Shit, what had he been thinking last night? Not about his job, that was for damn sure. Because he could kiss it goodbye if anybody found out he’d been with Tensley.

There were about four hundred rules and policies against that kind of thing and he’d probably broken every single fucking one of them. At least twice.

Make that three times.

“Uh-huh,” said his captain, making it clear in two syllables that he didn’t believe him. “Your CI come up with anything yet?”

“Uh, yeah.” Max raked a hand through his hair. “Yeah, she did. She found out Gary Burns has a side business he doesn’t want the police looking at.” He squinted at his papers.

“What kind of a business?”

“Lane Family Hardware. Mr. Lane sold it to Gary Burns a couple of years ago, but Burns kept the name.”

“Could be he wanted his own place to sell stripper poles.”

“The place was on its last legs when Burns bought it. A Home Depot moved in a block away. My CI says the neighborhood hardware store doesn’t have many customers.”