by Karen Anders
“Are those the only kinds of dreams you have of me?” She looked away from the blatant look in his eyes and wished she hadn’t. His shirt still rode up, the taut thick-ridged muscle of his stomach enticing her fingers. If it was his body she was interested in, why did she care so much about his dreams?
“My dreams are uncontrollable, part of my subconscious. Wouldn’t it be more important to know what I think when I’m awake?”
“What makes you think I care what you think about me at all?”
“You were just looking at me as if you wanted to devour me. I can only wonder at what you’re thinking. The female mind is so intricate, so beautifully complicated.”
“And men aren’t complicated.”
“No, we’re not. I want to be inside you. That’s a fact and if you need evidence to back that up…”
She couldn’t help it. Her eyes fell to his groin and the enticing glimpse of that black ink. Did he have a tattoo there? Jericho the straitlaced, dedicated deputy district attorney didn’t seem loose enough to get a tattoo.
Games were never Kate’s strong suit. Especially games where the rules weren’t defined or were hidden. Jericho was good at games, mind games, sexual games, word games. She’d seen him in court enough to know that the man could talk circles around anyone and make them think exactly what he wanted them to think. When it came to him, she felt as if she needed to deal with him on a basic level.
She reached out and cupped him in her hand. He was hard and hot. She raised her eyes to his. They were filled with shocked pleasure as if this was the last thing he’d expected her to do. “That’s some hefty evidence there. Maybe I need to examine it.”
She squeezed and stroked up the length of him. Pleasure washed over his expression as his eyes slid closed and he moaned softly in his throat.
It was a difficult thing to want to make this man suffer. The more she teased him, the more she ached. She wanted to feel that hard, hot flesh against her bare hand, run her palm over the silky tip, take him into her mouth and use her tongue on him.
Thoughts came swirling out of the deep recesses of her mind. Decadent thoughts that were alien to her. Something stirred inside her, something dark and needy. It tingled in the tips of her hardened nipples, rippled along her skin, sunk deep into the folds of her groin.
Something that had slumbered unaware until now.
But he’d known all along about her secret desire. It irked her, making the anger slam into her again. She let go of him. “Did it make you feel powerful to know that I wanted you?”
He opened his eyes and gave a quick shake of his head.
Her breath caught in her throat. “Yet, you pretended not to notice me at all.”
“Kate. I wanted you. I’ve wanted you for a long time…”
“But you didn’t do anything about it. Did you? Now I feel like a fool.”
She stood up abruptly. “You make me crazy.”
“Kate…”
He got off the couch so quickly that she didn’t have time to step back.
“It wasn’t my intention to make you feel like a fool.”
“What was your intention?”
“To keep our relationship professional. I didn’t think it would be smart to give in to my baser needs. We work together.”
“So all you’re interested in is sex, too?”
“I think that if we give in, we can get back to normal.”
“Slake our desire?”
“Right.”
“That’s fine.”
Slanting her a look filled with resignation, he inquired, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, Kate?”
“As a matter of fact, I am. Very much.”
When he raised his hand to drag it through his hair, the cuff slid down, revealing the strong, bronzed skin of his forearm. The movement also pulled the tailored shirt away from his body and she glimpsed hard, muscled ribs before his hand fell and her view was cut off. Something spiraled inside her tight and warm.
Kate dragged her gaze away from his face. She took a deep breath. “The M.E. said he’d have his report for you tomorrow afternoon.”
Jericho took a deep breath as well and started to fasten the studs on his shirt.
“Like I said, I’ll start the DNA process tomorrow, since it’s getting pretty late.”
“I feel guilty for sacking out on you,” Jericho said, shrugging into his tuxedo jacket.
“Don’t. I appreciate the ride.”
HE PULLED UP in front of Kate’s building. She held out her hand and it connected with his chest.
She snatched it away as if she’d burned it. “There’s no need for you to walk me up. You must be exhausted.”
“I’m the one who slept on the couch while you were working and I insist on walking you up to your apartment.”
She sighed and got out of the car and he followed her into the building and up to her door.
She fitted the key in the lock and turned to him. “Thanks.”
“Aren’t you going to let me in for a moment, Kate?”
She bit her lip and asked, “Why?”
“I’d like to talk to you and I don’t want to do it in the hall.”
She reluctantly moved into her apartment. He followed and closed the door.
He reached out and with his thumb very lightly brushed her lush bottom lip. Such hot desire gripped him that he had to close his eyes to control himself before he could speak again.
With his voice thick and husky, he said, “How long are you going to be mad at me?” He brushed at her hair with the back of his hand.
“I don’t know,” she said breathlessly.
He looked away. “It wasn’t personal, Kate. It was because we worked together.” His voice wasn’t convincing. Even he could hear it.
She gazed up at him, her eyes such a clear blue-gray glistening with skepticism. He wanted those eyes full of desire for him, knowing himself to be insane, but he was tired of fighting himself.
“What’s the other reason?”
Working with her day in and day out was like walking a tightrope with no net. Then having to face her in her newfound sexuality was wearing at his self-control. It was harder and harder for him to keep his hands off her. His body wanted her, craved intimate contact with that soft, velvet skin.
“I’m afraid that if I start touching you, wanting you, I won’t be able to stop,” he murmured.
She blinked up at him, a fire igniting in her eyes.
He leaned toward her, his thumb moving across her jaw with deliberate slowness, savoring the way she felt against his skin. “Like silk,” he whispered against her ear before his eyes lowered to her mouth. He just stood there, his thumb brushing along her jawbone.
His other hand came up, his thumb gently sliding across the back of her hand and around to her wrist.
She swayed toward him and he breathed deeply. Discovering how much Kate wanted him hadn’t been a good thing. Although the wild side of him howled at the thought, the rational part was convinced that he would have taken her against his desk long ago if he’d realized the extent of her passion.
“Tell me,” he coaxed. “Tell me how much you want me.”
She made a small sound in her throat and shook her head.
“Come on, Katie.”
Somehow his shirt studs had come undone. With his foot he shut the apartment door.
The silence stretched out as he pulled her toward him, very deliberately pressing her palm to his bare chest. “Tell me what you want to do to me,” he sighed raggedly.
She leaned into him, placing her cheek against his chest and refusing to speak. “Okay. I’ll tell you what I want. It’s you. You tantalize me. I wonder things, things that make me hard with desire.”
She slid her palm along the sleek muscles, making a small heated sound. The sweet husky noise teemed with need and excitement.
He closed his eyes against that small murmur. His fingers tightened on her wrist, stopping her exploration, just holding her han
d against him.
“Little witch,” he moaned in a voice laced with a combination of denial and desire.
Slowly, as if in a dream, she raised her hand to gently touch his cheek. And like the witch he named her, enchantment flowed from her through that gentle touch. Warmth spread with gentle probing fingers, seeking out the coldest, deepest part of his soul, filling it with light.
He closed his eyes to better concentrate on the way her hand felt against him. “Have you wanted to touch me?” he demanded hoarsely.
“Yes, forever,” she whispered, her hands traveling over the contours beneath her probing fingers.
Kate’s hands on his chest felt like two fiery brands burning his skin. He was burning up with need.
Her hand moved down his torso, running over the ridges of muscles along his ribs to the thick, seriated muscle of his abdomen.
When she reached the waistband of his slacks, she tucked her fingers inside and ran them around.
She groaned heatedly and the sound of it skated along his nerve endings like quicksilver igniting pleasure centers.
With a quick, lithe movement, he grabbed her hands and twined them around his neck. He jerked her against him with such power that the force of it wrung a cry of surprise out of her. Without giving her a chance to even think, his lips descended to hers, fiery and demanding, as if his very life depended on her response.
Her breath was dammed in her lungs and the hard pressure of his mouth sent delicious sensations to pool with hot tingles in her lower body.
She wanted more, yet felt as if she couldn’t possibly get close enough to him. She was aware of the hardness of his big, strong body and she wanted to explore every muscled inch.
His hand slid over her buttocks, holding her in place as he pushed against her softness, kneading the firm curves while he pulled her tighter to him. And Kate stilled suddenly, her breath caught between breathing in and breathing out as she felt the hot, rigid length of him pressed against her clothed hips.
Unable to help herself, her hands went to the part of him that was quintessentially male. With the flat of her hand, she pressed against him, then cupped him, squeezing gently. It was so arousing to touch a man like this. To take him like this. She hoped she wasn’t being clumsy.
A full-throated grown escaped Jericho’s lips as he abruptly stopped moving. Kate could feel the coiled need in him as he strained to hold on to his self-control. She felt the quivers throughout his body as he tried to master his raging desire, and she felt him lose the battle with himself. He gripped her buttocks tighter and drove himself upward, grinding his hips against her hands and stomach.
“Jericho,” she breathed. Kate had had sex before, but Jericho made her feel inept. Beneath her innocence pulsed the need to be filled by this man.
His hand closed around her breast, his thumb brushing over the nipple. Kate felt as though she was going to come out of her skin.
He wrapped his arms around her and whirled, setting her on the edge of her writing desk. His eyes captured hers, a glittering light so full of stark desire for her that it made Kate groan.
He pulled her T-shirt over her head, forgetting her protests as his warm hands caressed her through the lace of her bra. She arched her back instinctively giving all that she had.
He filled his hands with the soft weight of her exquisite flesh; flicking his thumbs over each nipple, liking her soft gasp each time he did it.
“We don’t need to wait, Kate.”
The words reverberated in her head. And she managed to say, “Jericho, no. Stop. Now.”
He convulsed against her, his mouth going back to hers. She could feel the trembling in his hands, his body—or was it her shaking? She couldn’t tell.
“What are you saying? Are you teasing me, Kate?”
“Every time you come near me, I lose control.” She pushed against his chest. “I told you it’s my call.” Her breathlessness betrayed her state of arousal.
He braced his hands against the desk and breathed in and out forcefully. “You’re kidding?”
She stared at him, still unwavering, and she saw when he believed her.
“I guess the living room would be a little too adventurous for you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He did up the studs on his shirt, but left his bow tie loose. “Come on, Kate. You don’t seem very adventurous to me. Ask anyone. They’d say the same thing. Cool, calm and collected. Kate always gets the job done.”
“You’re just trying to goad me because I won’t give in. Sounds like sour grapes to me.”
“I can wait, Kate. But can you?”
With that he captured her lips and shot sensation through her body like lightning bolts, and all she could do was stand there and absorb the shock. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Whatever it was she had felt building between them hit her a hundred times over.
Her heart slammed into her throat, stayed there while his mouth continued to seduce. She should pull away, she thought hazily. Put distance between herself and this man who had started a war between need and doubt raging inside her.
But she couldn’t. Didn’t want to. The primal male taste of him was potent, like a dark, seductive dream.
“Jericho…” His name came hoarsely from her throat. “I…” In an open, mindless invitation, she parted her lips beneath his and surrendered.
Swearing, he fisted his hand in her hair, tipped her head back and deepened the kiss. Desire shot like a bullet through her.
Her hands streaked up. She dug her fingers into his hard, muscled upper arms while her senses staggered with the thrill of his touch.
His mouth was a banquet, and she was desperate with hunger. She smelled the inviting scent of him, felt the strength in the arms that held her, heard the thunder of his heart against hers. Sudden, searing need for him edged at her throat.
That need frightened her. It reduced her to a quivering mass, made every logical thought leave her head, had her desperate to lie naked in his arms while they engaged in wild, raging lovemaking.
She pulled her head back, her lungs heaving, her breasts rising and falling against his chest.
“That was a challenge, wasn’t it?” Her breath shuddered from beneath her lips.
“Damn right,” he agreed, his voice raw.
A scant inch of charged air separated their lips while she tried to think past the ache that had settled inside her. Against hers, his body was strong and hard and tense, and all she wanted was to spend the rest of the night in his arms.
“Time for you to go,” she said, even as a shudder of pure longing went through her. “I can hold out if you can.”
He smiled and she remembered that he loved competition. That smile cut through her, reminding her that she was so very far out of her league where Jericho was concerned.
“And I am too adventurous.”
He slid his hands in one long, possessive stroke down the sides of her body. Then back up. Light from her lamps slanted across the strong planes of his face. Desire had turned his eyes the color of burnt umber.
“Prove it.”
She broke eye contact and took a step sideways, forcing him to drop his hands. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Even now, when her brain could barely function, she knew that this man had touched something deep inside her, something that no other man had touched. And the intensity of those emotions scared her to death. She wasn’t used to chaos, had never liked the jumble of emotions taking over. She used her intellect, but it seemed to be lacking in this case.
That knowledge shook her. She had to regain control. Her fingers clenched into fists as she stared up at him. He looked dangerous. Compelling, reckless. Dangerous.
And if the man himself wasn’t dangerous, what she felt for him when he kissed her surely was.
She couldn’t let herself fall for him. This wasn’t about emotion or the long term. This was about a souvenir and who could hold out the longest. It was now also, surprisingly, ab
out adventure.
“Tomorrow, Katie.”
After her door closed, she sagged against the desk. Dazed, she lifted a hand, touched her fingers to her lips, lips that felt hot and swollen and thoroughly kissed. It took every ounce of her self-control not to pull her door open, go pounding down the stairs and drag him back into her apartment.
5
KATE WOKE UP before her alarm, before the sun had illuminated the horizon. In the still of the morning, as she lay in her bed, she thought about Jericho and his challenge.
She got out of bed feeling troubled and out of sorts. An hour doing yoga had always set her on a good path in the morning.
Kate walked into the spacious kitchen and picked up her diffuser, an electronic bowl with a lid that allowed aromatic oils to be heated, releasing their intoxicating smell into the air to relieve stress.
Her normal routine was to get up and do an hour of yoga to begin the day. She walked into her living room. Just looking at the desk made her heart beat rapidly.
She placed the diffuser on the lip of the fireplace and plugged it in. Automatically, she mixed the oils and then covered the concoction.
In her bedroom, she shucked her pajamas. Putting on a bodysuit, she adjusted the straps for comfort. Kate had been doing yoga since her early teens. She’d discovered that yoga could give her a measure of inner peace in her hectic life. Where Sienna and Lana preferred more physical activities, Kate liked the quiet wellness that the exercises brought her.
She ran a hand through her hair, coiling it tightly, then pinning the mass to the top of her head. Back in the living room, she pulled out her mat and went through her preliminary exercises.
For an hour she moved through her routine with fluid, graceful movements, feeling the pleasant and stimulating stretch of her muscles. The oils in the diffuser permeated the room with the scent of sandalwood, palma rosa and lemon. Kate breathed deeply through each exercise, and she felt some of the stress from the previous day and night dissipate.
Finally, her routine ended and she sat down on her mat. She placed her hands loosely on her knees and closed her eyes.
