She laughed again, shaking her head. It never occurred to her that she could be so happy. After what she’d gone through with her first husband, it was like living in a dream. One from which she hoped she’d never wake up.
“In my considered opinion, I’d say that Lisa is officially worn out,” Riley told her partner, inclining her head close to his so that Sam could hear her.
It was almost ten o’clock and Riley’s description could have fit almost any one of them—except for Andrew who seemed to literally thrive on spending hours cooking for his family and friends.
When Sam looked at her, Riley indicated the sleeping child on her lap. A number of them had adjourned to the family room and she had commandeered the corner of one of the sofas for herself and Lisa. Lisa’s head now rested against Riley’s chest and the little girl was curled up into her. Somewhere in the last half hour, Sam’s daughter had grown progressively more and more subdued, then, after protesting that she was wide awake, had fallen asleep.
“Here, I’ll take her,” he said, slipping his arms around his daughter and lifting her into his arms. “Never saw her fall asleep without a fight before,” he commented with a touch of amusement.
Riley glanced at the few children still milling around. Most were asleep, like Lisa, resting securely in one of their parents’ arms.
“This group’ll do that to you, tire you out until there isn’t an ounce of energy left inside your body,” she told him, a fond smile curving her mouth as she remembered. “My brothers, sister and I were exactly the same way.”
Sam nodded. “I wouldn’t know about things like that. I didn’t have any siblings.”
Riley thought of what her childhood would have been like without her siblings. Achingly lonely.
“I’m sorry.”
Curiosity entered his eyes. “Why are you sorry?” He didn’t see being an only child as missing out on anything. His mother had walked out on his father when Sam was young and that had hurt, but being an only child hadn’t. “It’s not like I didn’t have enough to eat.”
She saw it differently. “In a way, yes. You were deprived.”
The shrug was careless in nature. “You don’t miss what you don’t have.”
But Riley shook her head. “I don’t think that’s absolutely true.”
The woman was something else, he thought, amused. “You’d argue with God, wouldn’t you?”
The smile came into her eyes as she considered his question. “Depends on what point of view He was advancing.”
Sam just laughed and shook his head. “Look, I hate to drag you away from this, but since you insisted on being my ride today—”
She was on her feet, ready to leave before he could finish his sentence.
“Don’t say another word,” she told him. “Of course I’ll take you and Sleeping Beauty here home.” She looked around, trying to locate their hosts. “Just let me find either Andrew or Rose and make our goodbyes.”
He had no intentions of leaving without doing the same. “You implying I’m not capable of saying my own goodbyes, McIntyre?”
She knew she had a tendency to take charge, especially when it came to the family. She would have to watch that, Riley told herself.
“Never even crossed my mind,” she deadpanned, holding up her hand as if taking a solemn pledge.
With a chorus of goodbyes still ringing in her ears and a feeling of both contentment and unexpected anticipation, Riley drove her partner and his daughter the short distance home.
“You know,” he pointed out again, “if you’d have let me drive to the barbecue in my own car, you could still be back there.”
“Gaining more weight?” she speculated. “No, this is the right cutoff point,” Riley assured him. “You were just my excuse for leaving before I put on another five pounds. In case you haven’t noticed,” she went on, squeaking through an amber light, “it’s hard saying ‘no’ to Andrew, especially when the food he’s trying to push on you tastes so good.”
“I noticed.”
I also noticed a lot of other things better left unsaid, he thought, covertly watching her profile as she spoke.
The close proximity had him entertaining thoughts that had no business coming up. He and McIntyre were partners. They worked together and needed clear heads and lives that weren’t tangled up with one another’s.
He knew all that, and yet…
Sam forced himself to concentrate on what she was saying.
“I’m surprised that Aurora doesn’t have the fattest police force in the country. Thank God everyone in the family’s so into physical fitness and working out.” She made a mental note to get to the gym herself the first chance she got. She would need to add some reps to her workout. “Otherwise, we could probably just roll over the perps and squash them instead of taking them in.”
The visual made him laugh. “Save the county a lot of money in court costs,” he theorized.
Riley realized she was close to the apartment complex. That was fast. How was it that trips back from their destination always seemed so much quicker than the original trip there? She could have sworn that they’d gotten here in the blink of an eye.
“Please don’t say that around Andrew,” she begged. “The man will use it as an excuse to insist that we all eat more.”
“My lips are sealed,” he said as Riley guided the car into a spot in guest parking.
“Oh God, I hope not.”
Did that just come out of her mouth? How the hell did she let that happen? Riley chastised herself. When in doubt, offer a diversion. She’d learned that, oddly enough, from her father.
“Um, let me help you with Lisa,” she volunteered, then quickly got out of the car before Sam had an opportunity to say anything.
Riley had the rear passenger door open and unstrapped Lisa from her seat before he could reach his daughter. Sam stepped back, watching her.
Acutely aware of him, Riley had no idea what was going on in Wyatt’s head. Maybe it was better that way.
Very gently, she removed the sleeping girl from her car seat and scooped Lisa up. “Just unlock your front door,” she requested.
Sam saw no reason to argue, or insist that he could take care of Lisa himself. Especially when he had a strong feeling that Riley, as usual, would win the argument.
Leading the way, he took out his key. “Why is it that when we were in the academy, I never noticed this ‘take charge’ personality of yours?”
They were friends back then, but for one reason or another, nothing more.
“Maybe because you were always surrounded by all those eager female rookies who were vying for your attention,” she speculated.
Sam put his key in the lock, turning it. The time spent in the academy was all a blur, as if someone else had lived it. “I don’t recall any eager rookies,” he told her innocently.
Right, like she’d believe that. “Alzheimer’s doesn’t usually set in this early,” she commented.
He held the door open for her. Riley walked into the apartment first. Behind her, Sam flipped the light switch, illuminating the area.
“Thanks,” she murmured, cutting through the living room.
Making a left, she headed toward the former guest room, now Lisa’s bedroom. The room had, in the last few weeks, undergone a major transformation. That was thanks in large part to the various things she had picked up for the little girl. Not to be left out, Brenda had donated a few things, as well. The anonymous feeling the room had had was gone. This was now definitely a room that belonged to a little girl.
Placing Lisa on the bed, Riley debated getting the sleeping child out of her clothes and into her pajamas. The next moment, she abandoned the idea. One night spent in her clothes wasn’t going to hurt. If she started to change her, Lisa might wake up. Judging from how tense Sam seemed, he wouldn’t exactly welcome an all-nighter.
Taking Lisa’s shoes off, Riley threw the bedcover over the small body and let the little girl sleep.
Sam
stood in the room, watching her and feeling a little useless—but not enough to take over. “Aren’t you going to get her into her pajamas?” he asked, curious.
Riley shook her head, backing away from the canopied bed. Nice touch, she thought, admiring the frills that outlined the canopy.
“Lisa might wake up. It’s not worth the trouble,” she assured him. About to leave the room, Riley noticed that rather than turn them off, he lowered the overhead lights until they were very dim.
“Lisa’s afraid of the dark,” he explained.
She could certainly relate to that, she thought as she slipped out of the room. He eased the door closed behind him.
“So was I for the longest time.”
She didn’t add that right after Sanchez’s murder, her fears had revisited her and she’d gone back to sleeping with the lights on. She’d continued doing that until sometime last week. The need to have every corner illuminated had passed, disappearing as mysteriously as it had come.
“I wasn’t allowed to be afraid,” Sam told her simply.
Riley stopped just short of the front door to turn around and look at him. “Wasn’t ‘allowed’?” she repeated in disbelief. What did permission have to do with it?
He didn’t think of his father often. Unpleasant memories were best held at bay. He supposed that suddenly becoming one himself on such short notice had roused a great many incidents from his own childhood. He was determined to do the opposite of whatever had been done to him.
“My father told me leaving the light on in my room once I was in bed was a waste of electricity. He maintained that there was nothing in the dark that wasn’t there in the light.”
Thank God she’d had an understanding mother. “How did that work for you?”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “I spent ten years sleeping with my baseball bat.”
Amusement entered Riley’s eyes as she visualized him as a small boy in bed with his Louisville Slugger. “Until you found that girls had more curves?” she guessed whimsically.
“And were a lot softer,” he added, playing along. In truth, it had taken him some time to get over his need to protect himself.
She was on dangerous ground and she knew it. Taking a breath, Riley told herself it was time to go home. She took a step toward the door, moving backward.
“Well, hope you had a good time,” she told him. Was that as inane as it sounded?
“We did,” he assured her. “Thanks for inviting us.” And then he hesitated.
Part of him would regret this, he thought. The other part would regret it if he didn’t at least try.
“You know, you don’t have to go just yet. Would you like something to drink?” he suggested.
“Why Detective Wyatt, are you trying to get me to take in spirits?” she teased. “If I do, I won’t be able to drive home for several hours.”
His smile was warm. Disarming. She felt herself sinking. “Maybe that’s part of the idea.”
Breathe, damn it, Riley, breathe. “And what’s the rest of the idea?”
His eyes slid over her. She could almost feel their caress. “I thought that maybe that could work itself out slowly.”
Why did she suddenly feel as if she was standing on the edge of a precipice? One that was utterly unstable and threatened to give way beneath her feet at any second?
“No previews?” she questioned. “I always love seeing coming attractions when I go to the movies.”
“Previews you want, previews you’ll get,” he murmured softly. So softly that she inclined her head toward him in order to hear.
That was exactly when her lips were suddenly captured.
Chapter 12
Riley knew she should pull away.
Sooner or later, most likely sooner, there would be hell to pay for this huge transgression, this blurring of lines that separated her professional life from her private one.
But she didn’t care.
Logic and common sense didn’t stand a ghost of a chance in the face of the heat generated by the mere touch of his lips on hers. The heat that she now found consuming her body.
Giving in to the pleasure, Riley wrapped her arms around Sam’s neck. As she did so, she curved her body into his. The fact that he wanted her, really wanted her, registered instantly. And just as instantly, it created a yearning within her.
The kind of yearning that she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
Maybe never.
His hands, which had initially framed her face when he first kissed her, now moved away, sliding along her sides. Encircling her body. Holding her closer than a heartbeat.
And all the while he deepened the kiss, silently making this moment an event to celebrate.
Riley desperately tried to hold up her part, kissing him back for all she was worth. Not just absorbing sensations but creating them, as well. Her pride demanded it.
She got caught in her own trap.
Riley’s head was spinning. Badly.
She wanted to attribute it to something common, like the lack of oxygen, but she knew better. Ever since she was a little girl, she could hold her breath an inordinate amount of time. This kiss went far beyond that.
Before she was fully conscious of her actions, she found that her fingers worked away at the buttons on Sam’s shirt, pushing them out of their holes, tugging out the ends of the shirt and swiftly moving it away from his chest.
As she slid the material from his shoulders, Sam caught her hands in his and forced himself to draw his head back. To draw his lips away from hers.
His eyes searched her face for his answer even as he asked, “Riley, are you sure?”
He’d called her Riley, which he’d never done before. This was the private woman, not the detective, he was addressing. The private woman who was being seduced, who was melting. And the private woman was oh so sure she wanted this, needed this no matter what tomorrow would demand as payment for her involvement.
“I’m sure,” Riley whispered, her breath feathering along his mouth, along his skin.
Something flared in his eyes. Desire? Oh, God, she hoped so.
“Then far be it from me to say no,” he breathed, trying to sound as if he was teasing her.
“It better be far,” Riley warned.
The truth be known, she was ready to explode right here, right now. And would have if he had pulled away. To stop just as everything within her had been primed to continue.
She hadn’t realized just how much she wanted Sam until he’d kissed her. Now, she was fairly certain that the world would come to an abrupt, jarring end if he just stopped, even if he was trying to be chivalrous.
Riley splayed her hands over his chest. Hard muscles seemed to ripple beneath her palms. She could feel her excitement literally multiplying with each moment that passed.
“I had no idea you were so ripped,” she murmured, her eyes on his.
“Lots of things you have no idea about,” Sam told her, his voice rumbling low.
Exciting her.
He was right. There was a great deal she didn’t know about this man. But she knew she placed her life in his hands every day, trusting him to have her back. Trusting him to be there for her.
How much more was there?
Trust was the most important ingredient in their relationship. In every relationship. The rest was minor in comparison.
Except that right now, it didn’t feel so minor, these things he was causing to happen inside her. His lips skimmed the sensitive skin just beneath her chin, just along her throat. The fire in her veins increased, raising to astonishing heights she wasn’t sure she could properly control.
His shirt stripped from his body, Sam began to return the favor. His lips pressed against hers, he undid the ends of her halter. The double knot stubbornly resisted, then finally came undone.
The two sides of the halter hung about her, tempting him. He could feel his breath catch in his throat.
His mouth curving against hers, he coaxed the mate
rial away from her body and discovered that, just as he’d suspected, Riley hadn’t worn a bra beneath the virgin white top.
With patient movements, he kneaded her skin, bringing his palms in closer with each agonizingly slow pass until he finally cupped her breasts.
When he heard her breath catch, felt the swell of her breasts beneath his hands, Sam was certain something had ignited inside his soul.
God, he wanted her.
But if this was going to go any further, it couldn’t be here, out in the open in the living room. They were completely exposed here. If Lisa suddenly woke up and came in search of him, there was nowhere to hide.
Rather than launch into any explanations, he scooped a surprised Riley up into his arms and moved across the room, heading toward his bedroom.
Her heart pounded harder. “How did you know?” she breathed.
He hadn’t a clue what she was referring to. Was she talking about their kiss? About the fact that they were about to make love? Or was it something else? Riley was not a woman he could read like a book. He needed a translation.
“Know what?” he asked as he shouldered his door open, then closed it again, this time using his back.
She laced her arms around his neck. “That I’ve always had this Rhett Butler fantasy,” she whispered, “about being carried off to a bedroom.”
Sam knew he should capitalize on this stroke of blind luck, play it up to his advantage. Most men, he knew, would have done just that. But he wasn’t most men. Besides, lies had a way of backfiring and he wanted to take no chances.
“I didn’t,” he told her. “The moment just called for it.”
And that, in part, was true. Because if he had remained out there a moment longer, things like protecting his daughter from too much age-inappropriate education would have plummeted to the bottom of his list of things to do in the heat of his desire.
In Bed with the Badge Page 12
