"Well, we have to start somewhere. It would hardly seem appropriate if we had sex without kissing first."
Now, she laughed. It was low, rich and filled with nerves. Jason knew how she felt. Every nerve in his body was on edge.
Her scent curled around him, blending with those of the cool, damp air-conditioning and the spring night. There were undertones of her arousal. Subtle. Yet not subtle to his own body. He wanted his scent on her skin. Her scent, on his. Hell, he just wanted her.
He skimmed his thumb over her bottom lip.
"Jason—"
He didn't let her finish. Fitting his mouth to hers, he kissed her. It was quick and light. No urgency. No demands. Almost immediately he lifted his head to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were wide, her mouth pursed in what appeared to be surprise. Or maybe outrage. It wasn't quite the reaction he'd hoped for. He'd hoped to see a punch of lust in those ocean-colored eyes.
So, he kissed her again.
This time her breath quickened. Her clenched hand trapped between them relaxed, for just a moment, before she gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him closer.
It was the only invitation he needed.
Running his hand into her loose hair, he recaptured the back of her neck and gently angled it so he could deepen the kiss. She made a little sound, just enough to part her lips. Enough for him to slip past the sweet barrier of her lips and discover plenty about Lilly Nelson.
* * *
LILLY HAD BEEN so sure that Jason would taste like a combination of mint and ice. But there was nothing cool and minty about him. He was all fiery hot, as was the possessive grip he had around the back of her neck.
She didn't fight the kiss, the grip, him or anything else. The only fight she had was to get closer to him. Jason did the same. Fighting and grappling, they came together, and she felt the solid muscles of his chest. Felt the sinewy strength of his arms. And with all that feeling, the kiss continued.
Jason escalated things. If he hadn't, she would have. The kiss was already French and immensely pleasurable, but he used that clever mouth to make her want more.
He was aroused. Lilly felt his erection brush against her stomach. She wanted to feel even more of it, but she braced her hand on his chest to stop herself from doing that. It would be wrong to touch him, to move against him.
But it would feel darn good. She was sure of it.
His kiss had created a fire inside her. An ache. And that ache was already demanding relief.
Her hand on his chest must have caused him to stop, because Jason tore his mouth from hers and looked down at her. Judging from the just-kill-me-now expression, he'd come to his senses and wasn't pleased about this momentary surrender to passion. She hadn't come to her senses yet, but Lilly knew she'd have to, soon. Having sex against the wall probably wasn't a good idea.
Probably.
Even if it suddenly seemed like the best idea in the world.
"You're a good kisser," she confessed. His breath gusted against her face. "I'd hoped you wouldn't be."
His breath continued to gust, and he sounded as if he'd just run a marathon. "Then we're even. I'd hoped you wouldn't be, either. It would have put an end to this in a hurry."
"All right. The kiss doesn't have to mean anything. In fact, I insist that it not mean anything."
He nodded. "So do I."
"Good. We're in agreement. Maybe a first for us."
But agreeing didn't make it so. Lilly knew that kiss meant something. She could already feel the difference between them, and it wasn't just about heavy breathing, racing pulses and the most primitive of urges. There were now huge dents in those barriers between them. But maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't be adding any more dents in the near future.
"We have a lot of things to work out," Lilly reminded him. And while she was at it, she reminded herself.
He considered that a moment. Nodded again. But what was missing was the part about him truly believing that the kiss didn't matter, that it meant nothing. She could see his skepticism written all over his face.
"We won't even discuss it again," she continued, hating that she'd become a motormouth, hating even more that Jason wasn't offering a thing to explain all of this away. Heck, she shouldn't be the only one tripping over her tongue. "We'll concentrate on the case, on getting the files and getting out of here."
There. Finally, she saw it. The slow, necessary transformation from hot kisser to hot cop. Correction: hot, dedicated cop. Which was exactly the persona she needed with her tonight. The reminder had worked. Jason no doubt remembered the danger, the person who wanted her death and the seriousness of their situation.
Good.
At least one of them now had the right mind-set.
Before she could do anything else stupid, Lilly moved away from him, something she should have done before they'd started their little verbal foreplay that'd led to that kiss. And she moved quickly. Well, as quickly as her impaired legs would allow. She went down the hall to her office.
Jason stepped in front of her and did his cop thing by surveying the place. He then stepped to the side. What he didn't do was say a word. Or look at her. He kept his attention on the room itself.
Oh, yeah. They'd really ruined things with that kiss.
"Your attorney had planned to move all your things out in five months," Jason explained, his gaze still surveilling. "Everything would have been placed in storage until Megan became an adult."
Five months. That would have been the two-year point of her coma. Lilly was a little surprised that her attorney had waited so long to do that. But maybe there'd been legal issues involved. Maybe even issues that involved declaring her dead. A thought that sent goose bumps over her skin.
She switched on one of the overhead lights and forced herself to concentrate on something other than the coma and Jason. She started with the basics and checked to see what was familiar and what wasn't. Her functional, no-fuss desk was there, as was a computer that was no doubt hopelessly out of date. Across from the desk was a trio of saddle-brown leather chairs and a small table—bare. No plants, but then they'd probably died and been removed. Other than that, everything was the same.
Well, almost.
Lilly certainly didn't feel the same. She felt like a visitor to a place where she'd once spent seventy-five percent of her time. The work had seemed so important then. Vital, even. It didn't seem that way now.
"Well?" Jason prompted, his voice tight and impatient. Probably because he was anxious to leave. "Does being here trigger any memories?"
"Only that I'd become a workaholic those weeks before the coma." Pressing her cane against the floor, she took a step inside and pulled in a deep breath. The place smelled like dust and lemon air freshener.
Probably a sicko metaphor for her life.
She went to her desk and opened the bottom file drawer. The folders were still there. Right where she'd left them. She pulled out the one that was marked Urgent and sat so she could study it. Or rather, study what was left in it. The file had once been huge, at least two inches thick, and now it contained less than a dozen pages. Someone had obviously removed the majority of the documents; after thumbing through the file, she decided the missing pages pertained to the investigation into her father's activities.
Jason turned on the computer, pulled up one of the leather chairs and got to work, as well. "Should I remind you that the police have already been through all of this?" he quipped.
"Should I remind you that people, even cops, miss really obvious things when they look for evidence?" Lilly countered.
He gave her a flat look. "There's a fine line between the lost art of sarcasm and being a smart-ass." But the corner of his mouth lifted into a semismile when he said it. A smile that warmed her in places it shouldn't have. Especially her heart.
Oh, sheez.
The man had dimples. What kind of defense could a woman have against those? Her twenty-nine-year-old brain had obviously regressed to that of a hormonally
pumped teenager.
It was obviously time for a change of subject. And a change of attitude. Lilly knew just what it would take to do that. "By the way, I want to thank you for helping Megan adjust to being around me."
Just like that, Jason's semismile faded, and she watched by degrees as he closed down. Now he wasn't just a cop, but the hard-nosed officer she'd come to know. Kissing and becoming aroused were okay. Ditto for light flirting. But talking about Megan was still touchy territory. Lilly wanted it to stay that way for a while. Until she got over her lust-fest for Jason. She needed that to make sure she kept her hands, and the rest of herself, off him.
"I think Megan's getting used to me," Lilly added.
"Yes." Just a yes. It was practically a roadblock.
"Not Erica, though." Lilly tested the waters. In fact, this was the first time she'd been able to discuss Erica with Jason, since the woman always seemed to be around. "She doesn't like me."
He shook his head. "It's not that—"
"She's possessive, I know," Lilly interrupted.
"And she's jealous."
Okay, so Jason hadn't closed down as much as she thought. Nor was he oblivious or blind to Erica's feelings for him. "Just how much influence does Erica have over you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.
The water testing was over and she'd apparently jumped in headfirst. "Nothing sexual." Lilly knew that now that she had seen the two of them together. That didn't mean Erica was powerless in this weird quadrangle of a relationship. "It's just when the time comes to work out Megan's custody, I don't want Erica to interfere."
"She won't," he said gruffly. He didn't add more. In fact, he didn't even maintain eye contact. Instead he checked his watch. "I told the officers in the parking lot that we'd only be here an hour at the most."
In others words, cut the custody chat, the flirting and any residual lusting and get down to the business at hand. She did. Lilly skimmed over a copy of the initial report that she'd sent to the police. The report that detailed some of her father's shady dealings. There was nothing surprising about it. She remembered writing it, remembered the effect it had. In short, it had led to an investigation that had in turn led to Wayne Sandling and Raymond Klein's disbarments. She'd crossed all the t's. Dotted all the i's.
So what if anything was missing?
"Have I overlooked something so obvious that it's staring me right in the face?" she mumbled. "What if this isn't connected to my father's business?" The question was meant more for herself than Jason.
"You have another theory?" He moved closer. Probably to see what she was reading that had prompted her comment. But he also must have remembered what'd happened the last time they'd gotten close.
Jason moved back.
Lilly sighed.
"Road rage, perhaps?" she suggested. "Maybe I was in some kind of driver-to-driver altercation that night, and it turned bad."
He made a sound of disagreement. "And this person is carrying a grudge after nineteen months?"
She turned toward him and lifted her eyebrow, a reminder of the grudge he'd carried all this time.
"Sarcasm," he complained. "I've heard it's a lost art form."
Except she was no longer sure he was holding a grudge. Lilly rethought that. Or maybe that kiss was nothing more than just that—a kiss. A basic physical reaction and nothing more.
Hey, it was possible.
And what with his fatherly duties and high-pressure job, it'd probably been a while since Jason had kissed or been kissed.
He leaned closer and whispered, "Best not to think about it."
She knew what he meant. He wasn't talking about her road rage/grudge-holding theory. He was referring to them. And Jason was right.
"Think about Wayne Sandling and Raymond Klein," he continued.
Oh, she was thinking about them. Even the kiss couldn't diminish that. "Means, motive and opportunity. They both have that in spades. And while I know they're guilty of illegal business practices, is either of them actually guilty of wanting me dead?"
"Time will tell." He paused. "Any other names that jump out at you?"
She shook her head. "Not really. But that's what scares me. It could be some person that we don't even know about. Someone who was smart enough to keep his name from drawing attention. My father wasn't exactly discriminate about his business associates."
Jason's cell phone rang and Lilly was in such deep thought that it took her a moment to realize what it was. He snatched his phone from his pocket and answered it. And Lilly immediately became alarmed, because he'd told the two officers in the parking lot to alert him if anything went wrong.
So, had something gone wrong?
She closed the file folder and reached for her cane in case they had to dive for cover. With all the danger of the past four days, she would have thought her body had grown accustomed to the fear.
It hadn't.
Lilly reacted as if this were the first time. The racing heart. The thin breath. The sickening feeling of dread that came from having little or no control over a potentially deadly situation.
Because there was nothing else she could do, she waited, watching for any cues on Jason's face. There were emotions there, all right. Confusion. Questions. Concern. It was the concern that created all sorts of wild scenarios in her head.
"Is Megan okay?" Lilly asked the moment he took the phone away from his ear.
"This isn't about Megan. Your former secretary, Corinne, is downstairs, and she wants to see you."
Well, it wasn't the threat she'd tried to prepare herself for. "Corinne's here?" Lilly checked the time at the bottom of the computer screen. It was already past 11:00 p.m. Hardly the hour for an office visit.
"She says she was just driving by and saw the lights." Jason paused. "You want to see her?"
She almost said no, because she wanted to continue to go through the files, but there was something about Corinne's visit and her saw-the-lights explanation that piqued Lilly's curiosity.
"Sure."
Jason relayed that to the cop and ended the call. "You think Corinne knows something?" he asked.
"Probably not. If she did, she would have already given the information to the police." Still, that didn't rule out Jason's theory about Corinne having some information. Like the cops and everyone else who'd been through the files, Corinne might have missed something.
Because time was preciously short, Lilly reopened the file folder and continued to go through it while they waited for Corinne's arrival. Jason did more than wait. He put the computer on a screensaver and withdrew his weapon.
That got her attention. "You think Corinne's an assassin coming in here to finish me off?" Lilly asked, conveying her skepticism.
"I'm not taking any more chances."
Lilly was about to point out that Corinne was almost fifty. A grandmother at that. On a profiling scale, she wouldn't be in the top one hundred suspects. Still, she didn't object to Jason's diligence. It was that diligence that'd kept her alive so far. More so, she trusted him, and she swore to herself that her change of heart had nothing to do with this odd intimacy that was now between them.
She heard the elevator door open and then the footsteps. Two sets. Probably Corinne's and the police escort's. Several moments later, both appeared in the doorway.
Like her office, the changes in Corinne were minimal. A few more gray hairs threaded through the rich chestnut strands. Maybe she'd put on a pound or two. But that was it. No sinister vibes that she was a killer. Then, Lilly hadn't expected to get such vibes, anyway.
"It's so good to see you." Corinne went to her, reached out and hugged her. "How have you been?"
"Better. I think." Lilly returned the hug while staying seated. "It's good to be among the living."
Corinne pulled back and the sadness crept into her blue eyes. "What happened to you was horrible. I still can't believe it."
Corinne glanced at Jason's unholstered gun, the file folder and finally
at the computer screen that, thanks to Jason, was now spewing stars and other celestial objects. Corinne's bottom lip quivered. Not an unusual gesture. Lilly had experienced lots of Corinne's lip-quivering when they'd been embroiled in the police investigation. The woman wasn't very good at hiding her nerves.
Corinne clamped her teeth over her bottom lip to stop it from quivering and waited a moment until she'd gotten control of herself. "You think you'll be reopening the office any time soon?"
"I'm not sure," Lilly answered.
In fact, she hadn't given it much thought. What with getting acquainted with Megan and the near-smothering, Lilly was still trying to find equilibrium. According to her financials, she had more than enough money to keep the business closed for another year or two. It might take that long to resolve the custody issues and find the person who wanted to kill her. Getting back to work definitely wasn't high on her list of priorities.
"What about you?" Lilly asked. "What have you been doing for the past nineteen months?"
"Well, after I tied up some loose ends around here and after the police were finished with their search, I went to work for an investment firm over on St. Mary's. Still, I like to drop by here every now and then to check on the place."
"And you decided to check on it tonight?" Jason couldn't keep the cop out of his voice.
"Because I saw the lights on. Usually I just stop by during regular business hours because I no longer have a key to get into the building." She blew out a nervy breath and turned her attention back to Lilly. "What about you? Where are you staying now that you're out of the hospital?"
"A police safe house," Jason volunteered before Lilly could answer for herself. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it was obvious Jason didn't want Corinne to know where she was. "It has lots of security," he added. "Someone tried to hurt Lilly while she was in the hospital, and we don't want anyone coming after her again."
"I see." Corinne's breath quickened, and she made a vague motion toward the door. "Well, it's obvious you two are working, and I need to get home. So, I'll just be going."
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