Tortoise Tango

by Mary Wine

  “But I like my ideas better.” Placing his mouth over hers, Joe captured the shriek she let out. And then he took his time.

  Chapter Four

  He kissed her like a man. Amber clung to his shoulders. She suddenly understood that every other person who had ever kissed her had been a boy.

  Joe didn’t grab her. Instead he was molding her body to his. Their frames fusing together as desire raced along both their bodies. His touch was solid and steady as his hand moved down her back to the cheek of her bottom. Amber felt each finger as it curled around the curve of her bottom.

  Her belly was pressed into the hard reality of his desire. His cock was stiff as he continued to probe her mouth with his tongue. His tongue traced her lower lip as pleasure rippled through her mouth, and as a little moan opened her jaw, Joe sent that hot tongue in towards her. The full taste of desire hit her as her belly quivered, and tempted her with the reminder of the hard cock pressing into her belly.

  His hand kneaded her bottom as Amber felt the smooth slip of fluid from her body. Her passage clamored for attention as her hips gave a little jerk born from some deep instinct inside her womb.

  Ripping her mouth away, Amber pushed against his chest. His arms fell open and she scrambled around the bed before facing off with him.

  “No, no, no, no, no.”

  Little Red propped her hands on her hips but her lips were still shiny from his kiss. Joe let a smile lift his lips. Oh yes, she was full of sass. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to kiss her some more or watch her throw a tantrum. Both ideas made him more determined to get back into contact with her body. The sparks lighting her eyes beckoned to him just as strongly as her little hard nipples did. The combination of fire and spunk fused into a driving force to conquer her objections. Maybe that was a primitive idea but Joe enjoyed the way it burned across his brain. Want didn’t describe the feeling, this was need and it rode him hard.

  “You can’t do that to me.” Amber glared at Joe as she forced her heart to slow down. All right! So the man could kiss! Big deal! She couldn’t let it get to her. She didn’t want a boyfriend and that was final.

  “You mean kiss you? I just did.” He moved with those long strides around her as his eyes watched the way she shifted in response. “You’ve got a sexy little bottom, Amber. I’ve wanted to touch it since I met you.”

  His deep voice washed over her and set off a reckless desire to let him do whatever he wanted with her. It struck her once again that Joe wasn’t a boy. His dark eyes promised her a battle that her body leapt with delight over. If this man decided he wanted her, he would take her. “You can’t just talk to me like that. You’re the sheriff.”

  Joe reached one strong hand up and deliberately pulled on the collar of his shirt. He was wearing a burgundy button-front shirt today. It lay over the hard muscles of his chest far too nicely, reminding her that she’d had her fingertips resting on those shoulders and she’d wasted the chance to flatten her palms onto the hard strength that filled out that shirt.

  “I’m off-duty and there’s no law against a man telling a woman he likes what he sees.”

  He stepped closer and Amber felt her belly tighten instantly. One corner of his mouth lifted along with a dark eyebrow. “I liked what I tasted too, and so did you.” His eyes darkened to midnight as he stepped closer and watched her reaction. “You kissed me back, honey, and I love that little tongue of yours.”

  Amber glared at him but what could she say? Well, there was one thing she could say.

  “Get out of my bedroom!”

  “Fine. I’m going.” Joe pulled the box from the top of the closet before he turned towards the door. So much for being honest with a woman. All that got a guy was a temper tantrum.

  “Red hair suits you.” He turned at the door and looked at her bed. His black eyes made a slow investigation of it before slipping over her body once more. Amber felt her lungs seize as she very clearly read the message in those dark eyes.

  “I guess I could get used to that bed after all.”

  * * * * *

  Ah hell.

  He shouldn’t have done that. Joe had a list of chores a mile long and all he wanted to do was invent a few to do that included his guesthouse.

  Well, he wasn’t sorry. Little Red’s lips were potent. He could still taste her an hour later. He was going to savor those lips the next time he got the chance to slide his own along them. He cast a long look at the guesthouse and grunted.

  That chance wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon. Little Red had turned the bolt the second he cleared the doorjamb. He took a moment to laugh over that immediate click his ears had noticed. She’d promptly stomped away into her kitchen too.

  His little neighbor was just as affected as he was by that kiss. All amusement vanished as Joe considered the pulse rising along his bloodstream. He shouldn’t have looked at that bed a second time. The image of her in those pajamas was giving him too much fuel for a mental picture of her lying bare among all that satin and lace.

  Maybe there was nothing wrong with all that estrogen—his cock was twitching as testosterone filled his blood in response to her ultrafeminine bed.

  Joe shook his head and went back into the yard. The gale-force winds had uprooted two of his trees and he had to get them cut down and hauled over to the curb for removal.

  The work was hard and the sun beat down with unrelenting rays but there was satisfaction in the job. A man’s property was worth the sweat of his labor.

  Joe stopped and listened to the afternoon air. There was a distinct buzz hitting his ears. Moving down the length of land that separated the main house from the guest one, he tried to get a fix on where the sound was originating.

  His cell phone chimed for attention and he pulled the thing off his belt. A line of numbers came across the digital screen making him grunt. So, much for a day off! Turning around, he headed for the house at a dead run.

  * * * * *

  “About time you got here.”

  Joe slipped into a dark apartment as the door was quickly closed behind him. The four men in the room were sitting amongst piles of video and sound surveillance equipment.

  Pulling his glasses off, Joe scanned the monitors looking for the faces of his criminals. Pullman County was remote and its lack of sophistication had attracted the wrong sort of new resident.

  Phil Dantrolp was known by a wide range of names and titles. Most referred to him as The Bear. What ticked Joe off was the fact that the drug dealer was currently walking around his town. His thousand-dollar linen suit stuck out at the local greasy spoon and his polished Spanish leather shoes didn’t fit the working-class community.

  The biggest dope problem his county had was the locals trying to grow their own stash of marijuana for their private consumption. Dantrolp dealt in more deadly forms of addiction. It was too much to hope that the recent hurricane would have sent the man and his business looking for some other town to pollute while making his transactions.

  Instead, the monitor clearly showed him smoking a thin cigar as he leaned against a pillar next to the local mall. Moms with kids walked right by, and there currently wasn’t a thing he could do about it. They needed evidence first. So far, the man was a master at getting out of convictions by lack of evidence.

  That was why the FBI was sitting on stakeout at his local shopping center. It was the center of town. Right off the highway. Easy in, quick exit and a straight shot into Dallas.

  “He’s waiting for a drop, is my guess.” Special Agent Krimmer looked over the rim of his glasses at the monitor. The man never took the shades off, instead he let them slide down his nose just enough to look over them. The man would jerk his head and send those shades back into place in a second. He stuck his thumb towards another set of monitors.

  “Got a pair of traffickers hanging out in the parking lot with a backpack on one man. My guess is cocaine headed for Dallas. Now all we need is to get him with his hands on the product.”

  The commu
nication line crackled as the field team reported in. Dantrolp chucked his cigar to the pavement a second later. He didn’t bother to stomp his butt out. He turned and moved around the corner of the mall entrance. He slipped through a truck bay and the camera lost him.

  “Shit!” Krimmer surged to his feet as he shouldered the door open. He sprinted around the corner as Joe charged after him. The mall passed in a blur as they took the truck bay in two long strides.

  “Pleasure doing business with you.” The words floated through a fence but it was one of those chain link ones with slats of solid wood sent down the links to give more privacy. All Joe saw was a jumble of puzzle images. He hit the fence still running and pushed his body right over the top of it.

  Gravity slammed him back to earth as he landed on steady feet. A flurry of motion met his eyes as one of the men took a swing at him. Deflecting the blow and securing the suspect took only a minute but the chase had moved on without him. Joe ground his teeth together as he hooked his suspect by the biceps and propelled him after the rest of Krimmer’s team. That’s the thanks he got for being faster. Left behind with the first catch of the day.

  The excitement was over. The other two suspects were cuffed and backed against a wall. The smirk sitting on Dantrolp’s face made Joe cuss.

  Krimmer joined him. “He dumped the evidence.”

  Joe looked back along the truck loading bay they were in. Nothing was on the pavement. He looked at the semi-solid chain link fence.

  The bastard had tossed his load into the parking lot. It was public enough to shed reasonable doubt on the case.

  The radio crackled to life. “We got it and a witness.”

  Dantrolp cussed this time. Krimmer’s eyes almost glowed over the rim of his shades.

  * * * * *

  A witness.

  Those were sweet, sweet words. Joe turned around the end of that fence and smiled as he looked at the best damn luck he’d had all month.

  “Get your paws off me, mister.”

  Holy Christ in heaven! Joe stared and tried to make the image fade. Instead, Amber propped her hands on her hips and shot Krimmer’s teammates a scathing look.

  The backpack was lying at her feet. White powder decorated her black top like powered sugar. The stuff was even in her hair. Dantrolp had slung the thing over the fence and hit her with it.

  No one could possibly have that bad of luck…except his Little Red.

  “Ma’am, we need your statement.”

  “That doesn’t include touching me.” Amber glared at her tormentor again before taking a swipe at her clothing. She was a mess.

  Her wrists were grabbed before she’d finished swiping over her breasts.

  “Hey!” The grip was solid steel and she lifted her face to stare into a pair of familiar black eyes. “Let me go.” Her voice lacked the firm authority she’d had just seconds before. She snorted under her breath as she tried to jerk away from Joe.

  “That’s evidence, Amber. Leave it alone until we get you something else to wear.”

  A camera appeared and began taking shots of the backpack that had landed on her. The thing had split open and dumped its white powder all over the place. Her head throbbed from the collision.

  “I’m not pressing charges against the guy.”

  “No, I am.” Joe let her hands go slowly. He enjoyed the feel of her soft skin. The simple contact brought their morning encounter to immediate recall in his brain.

  “No statement!” No way! Amanda stepped away from the continuing photo shoot as she glared at Joe. His face had gone solid as stone at her words. A stupid lump on her head wasn’t worth getting subpoenaed to court over.

  “Just let the guy go with a warning to save his dunk shots for the basketball court.” The guy in question sent her a smirk. Amber glared at the polished exterior he presented along with his casual attitude. You’d think she might have earned a thank you for not hauling him into civil court. Joe glared right back at him. In fact, Amber found the urge to move back pestering her brain.

  “You two have issues,” she announced after watching their mental battle as it continued.

  “Yeah, I’ve got a thing for out-of-town scum messing up my town.”

  The tone of his voice suddenly made Amber take a second look at the scene. The two guys were actually handcuffed and being guarded by two other large men. One man looked at her through his shades as he directed the photographer around the area with silent hand gestures. Joe looked like he was standing within arm’s reach of her on purpose.

  Her head was shaking back and forth as she refused to accept that the situation was some sort of crime scene. She looked at her feet at the backpack. The white powder was spilling out of plain zip-lock bags, not a package of powdered sugar as she’d assumed.

  A camera flashed in her face, making her jump. It just couldn’t be. Amber looked at her hands and the white residue coating her fingers. She lifted her hand to her face and sniffed her fingers. No sweet smell of sugar filled her senses. Instead another flash made her vision sparkle.

  “Oh Jesus!” She ripped the loose top over her head and flung it away from her body. The cameraman jumped as her top went sailing over his shoulder.

  That was Little Red for you. Joe watched her shake her head like a dog after a bath. She shook her hands so hard her wrists popped. And her breasts bounced in the lace cups of her bra making him shift as he was torn between the need to laugh and the urge to groan.

  His Little Red had just the right mixture of curves and spunk. Joe suddenly noticed that Krimmer was taking notice of the same things he was. He yanked his jacket off and took one long step towards Amber.

  She shrieked but the jacket muffled the sound. Solid steel arms bound the nylon windbreaker around her. Amber hissed and struggled to free a hand to wipe her hair out of her face. The hard, muscled arms of the local sheriff prevented even a finger from escaping. She flipped her neck up and glared at the man.

  She shouldn’t have done that. He was far too hunky for close quarters. Her eyes lingered on those firm male lips and the recent memory of them sliding over hers. Oh yeah…way too close for comfort.

  “I’ve got it. Thanks.”

  Joe let her go and held the corners of his lips down as they tried to twitch up. Her little blue eyes had practically devoured his mouth. The look went straight to his head and sent his blood racing south.

  The timing lacked a whole hell of a lot. He was going to have to remember to investigate Little Red’s effect on him before their encounters became too public.

  Joe grunted under his breath as he considered that idea. He didn’t need the hassle. He looked at the white mess covering her red hair and shook his head. His body had clear objections to his logic. His brain might be telling him to hightail it as far away from Red as his legs could carry him but deep down in the center of that same brain was the rising heat of need.

  Her blue eyes blinked as she considered the clear message crossing his. The tip of her little pink tongue appeared and traced her lower lip as she stepped away from what she saw. Joe let his lips curl up into a grin as he watched her.

  “I am moving to Idaho.” Amber eyed his badge as she announced her plan of escape. Joe lifted an eyebrow at her.

  “Doesn’t it snow there?”

  “I could learn to like snow. I might have real talent in the snowman-building department.” Amber didn’t try to understand where his comment might lead. He was a man and therefore completely illogical. Testosterone brain-damaged from birth. Doomed to annoy the female population until death.

  “And what will Flamingo do?”

  * * * * *

  Joe shouldn’t be able to use her pet against her. Amber snorted and hissed as she stood under the showerhead. She’d already used half a bottle of shampoo but she turned the bottle over and filled her hand again.

  Cocaine! Her hair was never going to be clean again. She’d have rather been doused with a bag of live fleas. Drug dogs could smell the stuff on luggage that
had just been transported next to a bag with the drug in it. She was going to get eaten the next time she went near an airport.

  But Joe was right, she couldn’t move to Idaho.

  Joe? Exactly when had she started thinking about him as Joe? Her memory decided to remind her of how well the man kissed. It had curled her toes and sent her body into heatstroke. Even standing under hot water she felt her cheeks flush.

  Sometimes, she detested her gender.

  “Are you ever coming out of there?”

  A handful of water came sailing over the top of the shower door. Joe jumped back through the doorway as it hit him square in the face.

  “And stay out!”

  She had to come out sometime. Joe looked at his watch and waited. Amber wouldn’t have any skin left if she didn’t emerge soon. The door to the department locker room opened barely a foot as she poked her head out to peer into the hallway.

  “Ready?”

  His deep voice sounded far too amused. Amber considered asking him why but looked down the hallway again instead. She had other worries at the moment.

  “Do you have any of those drug dogs around here?”

  “We have two in the county but they aren’t in the station. Why?”

  Little Red tossed her head and pushed the door open. Her hair was still wet and didn’t flip out of her face as she’d wanted. One arm rose as she used a hand to push the dark strands behind her ear.

  “Let’s just say I don’t want to test how keen their sense of smell is.”

  “Considering your luck, I wouldn’t want to risk their incisors either.”

  She propped her hands onto her hips and thrust those plump breasts forward. Her lips twisted into a pout as Joe let a little smile of amusement lift his lips.

  “That is not funny.” Well, it was sort of amusing, in a hysterical kind of way. But that didn’t mean anyone was allowed to laugh about it except for her. His eyebrow lifted before Joe pushed away from the wall he was leaning against. Amber tried to pull her eyes away from the man’s chest but they lingered over the hard muscles she knew lay under that shirt. Heat exploded in her face as she caught his eyes watching her. All amusement faded from his expression as his eyes became twin flames.