Snapped (14 page)

The moan was definitely his this time.

He drew her face up to his again and they
kissed. He lowered her to her feet then picked up the edge of her sweater, drew
it up past her waist, her breasts, still braless because of the bruise.

"Beautiful," he murmured. The
forgotten sweater slid to the floor as he collected both breasts in his big
palms. Gently. He rubbed the pads of his thumbs along the nipples, around, up,
down until they peaked.

Fire shot through her belly to her groin.
"Yes. Oh, Nick, yes."

Warm, tender lips enveloped a nipple,
laved and stroked until liquid pooled between her thighs. She'd never had such
an instant response to such a simple gesture. Then again, she'd never had her
nipples nipped and stroked by a man like Nick Dante—raw, masculine and oh-so
good.

She wanted to feel him. To hold his
length in her hand and admire. He would be big—she knew that already from last
night's tussle on the couch—and he was all hers. The words
for now
crept
into her brain and plucked at her insides, but she ignored it.
For now
was better than
never
.

She tugged at his jeans, found the belt
and unbuckled. Fumbling like a virgin with his button fly, she managed to get
it undone. Without looking down or unlocking her lips from his kiss, she
fingered the band of his boxer shorts. Anticipation and need throbbed deep
inside. She became wet just from wanting to stroke him.

She plucked at the boxer shorts and
prepared to dive.

Just as the doorbell rang.

Nick jumped back. A rush of cold air
swept into the space he vacated, cooling Lucy's damp panties. They looked at
each other for a long moment and she recognized the desire and frustration in
his eyes. Did he see it in hers?

He glanced away and looked over his
shoulder as if expecting to see someone there. When he turned back, his chest
still heaved and his face was still flushed but the desire had vanished,
replaced by...disgust?

Of her?

Or of himself?

He buttoned up his fly and his shirt then
bent to pick up her sweater. "Better put this back on." His voice
rasped. He coughed to clear it.

She took the sweater and put it on as he
strode down the hall to the doorway. Lucy took the moment to collect her
strength. She smoothed her sweaty palms down her black jeans and drew in deep
breath after deep breath. She sat on the couch, drummed her fingers on her
knees. She stood again, unable to sit still. Energy zipped through her nervous
system and blood pumped between her ears. Her skin tingled in places she
couldn't see and she knew a deep rose flushed every inch.

She'd never been this aroused before. Never
experienced such heightened senses from just a kiss and having her nipples
licked. She wanted him so bad, still did, that she could scream in frustration.

What made it worse was she knew that he
wouldn't want to continue where they left off when he returned. She'd seen the
change. He didn't want to take it further. He'd been overtaken with lust, but
jolted out of it. Despite his erection, despite his desire and need, he was
going to deny himself because he didn't want to make the mistake of sleeping
with her. A slut.

Tears pricked Lucy's eyes. Her past was
coming back to haunt her.

She wasn't supposed to care this much.

Voices echoing along the hallway snapped
her out of those thoughts. They had visitors. Which meant cops.

Nick entered the living room again
followed by his partner, Dave, and another man and woman Lucy didn't recognize.

"Hey, Luce," said Dave in the
smarmy voice she'd quickly come to dislike.

She nodded at him and smiled at the
newcomers. She avoided Nick's gaze altogether.

"This is Detective Tina Tunesco and
Detective Gary Feldman," said Nick. "They're down from Stanton."

"Oh?" Lucy shook their hands. "For
this case?"

Tina, a statuesque brunette with eyes the
color of melted chocolate, nodded. "Dante can't cope without us." She
turned a brilliant smile on him. "Can you?"

He scoffed and shoved his hands in his
jeans pockets. Did he have something going with Tina back in Stanton? Or was he
still reeling from the kiss?

"Actually, we volunteered when it
became clear Mollino's scam had reached Stanton," said Gary, a stocky man
packed with muscle. Although he had a young face, Lucy guessed him to be in his
late thirties based on the gray flecks in his hair. His grin was completely
charming as he clapped Nick on the back. "We miss you, mate. It's not the
same up there without you, especially now that it's footy season."

"Nick was the best in the team,"
said Tina with a half-grin. "We play every week against the fire
department and ambo's. We used to win, now we're fourth because Nick decided to
live it up down here in Morethorn."

"You never said you play," Dave
accused. "Man, we could use a big guy like you."

"Maybe next year," said Nick. "And
I'm hardly living it up here," he said to Tina. "Too busy with this
damn case."

"Yeah, Mollino got around,"
said Gary.

"And not just with his securities
scam, either," said Lucy.

Tina, Gary and Dave laughed. Nick gave
her a warning glare. Well, screw him. She wasn't going to stop her smartass
comments just because he didn't think ladies should make crude jokes.

"I like her," said Tina to Nick
with a flick of her brown ponytail. "My kind of girl. You're the one who
took photos of Mollino and his tart weren't you?"

Lucy nodded. She liked the ballsy Tina. Definitely
someone she'd want to get to know further. "Unfortunately." She
mock-shuddered.

Tina screwed up her nose. "I saw
Forensics' crime scene shots. Mollino wasn't a pretty sight, dead or alive, I
imagine, especially doing the dirty. And Annabelle Smith...well, let's just say
she had an enormous future in
front
of her."

"She had a lot behind her too."
Both women giggled.

"Poor, stupid girl," said Tina,
frowning. "She didn't know she was in over her head."

"She should've been more selective
with her partners," said Dave. He crossed his arms and pointed his chin in
Lucy's direction. "Shouldn't she, Lucy?"

"Yeah, maybe she should've got him
to fill out a questionnaire." She pinched the thumb and forefinger of her
right hand and poised above her flattened left hand as if writing on an
imaginary notepad. "Have you cheated hundreds of people out of their hard
earned cash recently?" Her pretend pen made a tick on the pretend notepad.
"Do you work with a crazy psycho who wants to kill you?" Another
tick.

Tina and Gary laughed and even Nick
grinned. Dave flushed red to the roots of his matching hair.

He sniffed. "Well, she got what she
deserved if you ask me."

"I don't remember anyone
asking," said Tina, straightening. At her full height, and with the two
inch heels on her boots, she was much taller than Dave. "And why does
sleeping with a man mean she
deserved
to die?"

"Being the other woman." He
glanced at Lucy again, accusation written all over his freckled face.

What did this have to do with her? She'd
never been the other woman as far as she knew. Sleeping with a man who was
involved with someone else wasn't her style, and she resented the little twerp
for the unspoken implication.

She opened her mouth to tell him to take
it back, but Gary cut in. "You're a sick man if you think murder is
fitting punishment for cheating on someone." He looked across at Nick with
a suddenly pained expression etched into his bullish features. "Ah, sorry,
mate."

Lucy looked at Nick but he wore his
impassive face. She made a mental note to ask Nick later what that was all
about.

When Tina put a hand on his arm, he moved
off into the kitchen. "I'll put the kettle on."

"Very domestic of you," said
Dave sitting in the middle of the couch.

"I'll help you," said Lucy
trailing after Nick. In the kitchen, she reached into the cupboard and picked
out the mugs with the least amount of chips on the rims. "They're nice
people," she said. "Were you good friends in Stanton?"

Nick nodded, a smile touching his lips. "Yeah.
Gary was my first partner when I became a detective. Taught me everything I
know. Tina was my second."

"And taught you...?"

To her surprise, and dismay, the smile
only grew broader. She didn't think she wanted to hear the answer. "Not
what you're thinking. We were both heavily involved with other people and just
became good friends."

She relaxed but only a little. He might
not have been involved with Tina, but he'd already admitted to her yesterday
that he'd been married. He'd never said why he'd divorced.

"I don't mean to pry," she
lied, "but I was wondering why Gary apologized to you just now for talking
about cheating partners. Does it have something to do with your divorce and
moving to Morethorn?"

Nick didn't say anything as he spooned
instant coffee into the cups. "Forget it, Lucy. It's history I don't want
to talk about right now."

She considered pressing him, but
something in his tone made her drop it.

"Do you miss them?"

"Who?"

"Tina and Gary and your other
colleagues in Stanton?"

He shrugged big shoulders. "Yeah. Sometimes.
But I made the decision to come here. There's no point regretting anything I
left behind."

Did that include his cheating wife? Or
had he been the cheating one? "So why
did
you come here?"

The spoon clattered in the last mug. "I
said drop it."

"What are you two up to in
here?" said Tina from the doorway. She was tall, thin and gorgeous like a
catwalk model but Nick looked at her as if she was just another cop. A mate.

Lucy smiled. "Just making tea. No
time for anything else."

"Lucy," Nick muttered, glaring
at her.

But Tina grinned. "Aha, I thought
so. I could tell when you answered the door that something involving heavy
breathing was going on. Of course, I thought you were doing some kick boxing
moves."

"That too," said Lucy, enjoying
the play.

"Cut it out, you two." Nick
gathered four mugs in his big hands and swept past them, glaring at Lucy again.

"I don't think he wants to talk
about it," said Tina when he'd gone. Her smile vanished and she sighed. "He's
like that. Bottles everything up inside until it explodes. And when it does,
look out. But," she picked up the last mug from the bench, "you look
like a girl who could handle him."

"You two coming?" said Nick
from the doorway.

"Don't want us sharing secrets, eh,
Dante?"

He shook his head but he cast a lop-sided
grin in Lucy's direction. He was playing it cool. She was surprised that he was
playing along at all. She hadn't expected him to participate in this sort of
friendly banter, especially when it was laced with sexual innuendo.

Tina led the way back into the living
room. As she passed Nick, she didn't look at him. When Lucy passed, she didn't
look either but she couldn't help touching him. Her shoulder brushed against
his chest and her hand swept over his crotch. She heard him suck in air but he
said nothing.

Gary sat in the chair opposite Dave on
the couch and Nick produced one of the kitchen chairs for himself so there was
nowhere else for Lucy and Tina to sit except on either side of Dave. They both
looked at each other above his head, rolled their eyes, shared a grin and sat.

They talked for the next hour about the
case and Lucy learned how little evidence they had. The killer had been
careful, clean. The only leads related to the fraud case against Mollino. Mack
Thompson's and Rocco Mollino's names featured prominently in the discussions. As
did Janet Mollino.

"Janet?" asked Lucy when her
name first came up. "You don't think she did it?"

"She's a smart woman and a scorned
wife," said Nick, his long legs stretched out in front of him and crossed
at the ankles. "A lethal combination."

"Even so, I don't think she'd be
capable of murder. Fraud, maybe, but why would she be in league with the
husband who cheated on her?"

"That's why she killed him,"
Dave cut in with a shake of his head. "Why don't you leave this to the
experts and go make us another cup of tea."

"And why don't you f—"

"Guys!" Nick held up his hands.
"Can we keep it civil."

Lucy bit her tongue. He was right but it
grated that a little jerk like O'Connor could speak to her like she wasn't fit
to breath the same air as him, let alone have a valid opinion. But she guessed
his attitude had nothing to do with her civilian status and everything to do
with his opinion of Juicy Lucy, the easy lay who'd never laid
him
.

What made Dave's attitude sting even more
was that Nick didn't seem to care what his partner thought, as long as they
kept the conversation
civil
. Not surprising really, since he did agree
with Dave's assessment of her, even if he wouldn't use the same tone or words.