by Lori Wilde
“Take advantage of me. You have my permission.” Katie stepped right onto the couch cushions and reached for him, her breasts swaying gently, his gray sweatpants knotted at her hips.
His body cried, Yes, yes, yes.
How he wanted her! What he wouldn’t give for the freedom to scoop her into his arms, carry her into the bedroom, and make love to her until the sun came up.
But he could not. He would not. Katie wasn’t in her right mind. She did not know what she was doing. She wasn’t giving herself to him. Tess Dupree was.
“I can’t.” He wagged his head back and forth.
“Sure, you can. It’s easy.” Katie planted both palms on the back of the couch and stared at him. “I’ll show you.”
Before Truman could run, she leaned forward and kissed him full on the lips.
He’d felt nothing like it. The pure shock of her lips overwhelmed him. The feel of her bare breasts pressed against his chest took his breath.
Truman’s fingers ached to thread through her golden-brown hair. His groin throbbed with pressure. The blood rushed from his head to his lower regions, leaving him lightheaded and hungry for more of her touch.
“Katie, Tess, whoever you are, stop.” He was babbling, and he realized it. If he didn’t do something quick, he’d have his pants peeled off and his body plunging into her soft, willing flesh in less than two seconds.
Turning, he fled, running into the bathroom and locking the door securely behind him.
What had gotten into Zack?
Tess tilted her head and stared at the bathroom door he’d just slammed in her face. What was this ridiculous nonsense about her having amnesia? There was nothing wrong with her memory. Tess knew exactly who she was. So why was Zack insisting she was some woman named Katie Prentiss?
Did it have anything to do with the case they were on? Or was her frolicsome husband merely teasing her? Was this some elaborate seduction designed to whet her appetite for his lovemaking?
If so, it was working.
Big time.
She wanted him more than she wanted chocolate chip cookies, and Tess was a cookie hound from way back.
She touched her upper lip with the tip of her tongue. Zack knew how much she adored the thrill of the chase. She turned and went to the bedroom, a mischievous grin on her face. Two could play this game.
Shucking off Zack’s sweatpants, Tess kicked them in the corner and then bent over the dresser drawer. She shuffled through her sexy lingerie until she found an outfit to her liking.
A fire-engine-red, see-through negligee.
Perfect.
Tess slid the silky garment over her head and twirled before the mirror. The skirt flared high above her upper thighs while the bodice molded to the gentle curve of her breasts. Sizzling. But the white cotton panties had to go. She stripped them off, replacing them with a matching
red thong.
Yes siree, Zack Dupree was in deep trouble.
Returning to the bathroom door, Tess took a deep breath. Her heart dashed excitedly. That man sure knew how to rev her engine. She tapped on the door. “Zack, honey?”
“Go to bed, Tess,” came his muffled reply.
“Not without you, lover boy.”
He groaned. “I’m not sleeping with you, Tess.”
“Zack, you’re giving me a complex. Please open the door.”
“Nope.”
“You can’t sleep in the bathroom,” she protested.
“Wanna bet? This tub is huge.”
“We can play your favorite game,” she coaxed. “Kiss and tickle.”
“No.”
“How about the cheerleader and the high school quarterback?”
“I’m not interested.”
Slightly wounded, Tess hesitated. “Is it me? Did I say something wrong? Have I unwittingly hurt your feelings?” Her idea that Zack was playing some kind of game waned. This wasn’t fun.
“Sweetheart, I swear you’ve done nothing wrong.” His voice softened.
“Then come out and make love to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“We’ve already been over this, Katie.”
“You’re calling me that name again; please stop.” Tess sighed and pressed her ear against the door. She kept quiet and listened but heard nothing. Maybe she had unknowingly made him mad, though Zack wasn’t one to pout.
He was a passionate man who spoke his mind and didn’t mask his feelings. Normally, if her husband was angry with her, they’d hash it out then make up afterward with unbridled passion.
But apparently, not tonight.
What if it was true? What if she was this Katie person?
Tess shuddered. How could she be someone other than herself? It made no sense and caused her head to hurt.
Gingerly, she reached up and fingered the cut at her temple. Her memory was a little foggy, she conceded that. Tess recalled getting into the fountain to eavesdrop on that red-haired woman, but she didn’t remember the details of their assignment or the conversation she’d overheard.
Zack wouldn’t lie to her.
Would he?
Then another, more disturbing thought occurred to her. If she was Katie Prentiss, then who was the man hiding out in the bathroom?
She glanced down at her bare ring finger and gulped. Where was her wedding ring?
If she’d truly lost her memory, she was at his mercy. For all she knew, he could be a bad guy bent on feeding her misinformation. Perhaps he wanted her to believe that she was this Katie Prentiss, and he was using her slip in the fountain as an opportunity to confuse her.
No. That was stupid. She knew the love of her life as surely as she knew her own face. She had loved this man since childhood.
“Zack.” She rapped gently on the door once more. “If I were the crybaby type, I’d be bursting into tears right now.”
When he didn’t answer her, unshed tears pressed hard against her throat. Something must be gravely wrong with her marriage. She couldn’t remember a time when Zack wasn’t starving for her. He loved touching her, kissing her, making love to her for hours on end. He was a romantic guy who believed in giving pleasure as much as receiving it.
“Would you answer me? Please?” She heard the catch in her own voice and wondered if he detected it, too. Her fingers trembled as she ran them over the doorframe.
The thought that Zack was mad at her struck pure terror in Tess. She must have done something awful to have chased him away like this.
“Z-Z-Zack?” She hiccupped, trying her best not to let tears slip from her eyes.
“I’m here, Tess.”
“Do you love me?”
“Oh, sweetheart, of course I do.”
There! She couldn’t have imagined that. He’d spoken clear and true and swift, without a moment’s hesitation. Her spirits rose. “I’m scared, Zack.”
“What are you scared of, Tess?”
She could tell he was pressing his face as close to the door as she was. She could hear his voice vibrating in her ear, could almost feel the heat from his body emanating through the thin wood.
“Losing you,” she whispered.
“Aww, Tess.”
“I just wanted to make love to you.” Tess moved her fingers over the smooth grain, touching where she imagined his face might be.
“I know, sweetheart. But we can’t. Not now. Not until the investigation is over. Not until you know exactly what you’re doing and why.”
“You’re right,” she whispered.
“Listen,” he said. “I’ll come out if you’ll let me just hold you and nothing else.”
“Really?” She brightened.
“Really.”
“I promise.” Tess stepped back, and the door opened.
Zack strolled out, arms flung wide.
Tess launched herself into his embrace and buried her head against the comfort of his chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “So sorry.”
He squeezed her tightly
. “It’s okay. There’s nothing to be sorry for. It’s my mistake. I shouldn’t have brought you along on this caper. I never thought you’d get hurt.”
“But we’re a team.” She looked up into his eyes and fell headlong into something so powerful she had no words to express the emotions zinging through her. There was no mistaking him for anyone else. He was her love, her soul mate, the man of her dreams. He’d dominated
every fantasy she’d ever held. “You and me.”
“Yeah.” He smiled wistfully. “A real team.”
He took his shirttail and blotted the moisture at the corners of her eyes. “Let’s go to sleep. It’s late, and we’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
Tess nodded and allowed him to guide her to the circular bed. This felt so good, so right.
Zack turned back the bedspread. “In you go,” he said, holding the covers aloft while she slipped under the soft sheets. He got in beside her and pulled her close, his body forming a protective arch around hers.
Snuggling closer, Tess breathed a sigh of contentment. Her ardor had dissipated in favor of closeness. Sure, she wanted to make love to him, but this cherished cuddling was more intimate.
His arm cradled her head. Her bottom curled into the curve of his body, contacting his smooth, flat belly. She felt the rise and fall of his chest, and soon she picked up his rhythm and synchronized with him. They breathed as one.
Tess floated on a joyous cloud. This man wrapped so lovingly around her body belonged to her, heart, mind, body, and soul. She knew it by the tender way he draped one arm over her waist and held her like cherished treasure.
He loved her, and she loved him.
Only one thing stood in the way of her utter happiness.
Tess wasn’t really sure who she was. If she wasn’t Tess Dupree, then this man wasn’t her husband, Zack. If she was Katie, then who was this man holding her so possessively in his arms?
Truman lay watching Katie long after she had fallen asleep. The nightlight plugged into the wall socket beside the bed illuminated the darkness just enough for him to make out her curvy figure.
Reaching out a hand, he trailed his fingers starting from her shoulders downward. He brushed his skin against hers, letting his fingers slide across her arm before derailing that path to follow the dip at her slender waist and the swell of her hips.
His body grew hot. Fever hot. Truman licked his lips and swallowed back the dryness in his throat.
He wanted her. The scary thing was, he didn’t care how reckless his desires might be. He wanted her. And that perturbed him almost as deeply as her amnesia.
Listening to the soft sounds of her breathing, Truman fought off many scenarios. Each one of them included him awakening her with a kiss and proceeding with his removal of that very sexy, very skimpy red negligee.
Truman nuzzled his head close to Katie’s neck. His nostrils flared at her scent. Sweet yet spicy. His groin tightened.
How he longed to press his lips to her throat and kiss her beating pulse. How his arms longed to hold her against him for eternity.
Eternity.
That was an awfully long time. A word reserved only for the most compelling of relationships.
Did he love Katie Prentiss?
Truman was unprepared to answer that question. Not even to himself in the dark of night. But earlier, when he locked himself in the bathroom and Katie had asked him if he loved her, his reply had been swift and unhesitating.
You were responding as Zack Dupree, not yourself.
It surprised him how easily “I love you” had rolled off his tongue. He’d always had a hard time saying it to Rhonda.
That’s because you didn’t really love her.
What was love? Was it the tightness that twisted his chest whenever he thought of Katie? Was it the powerful surge of hormones that shot through his lower regions when he saw her scantily clad? Was it the pain he’d experienced when he heard her crying outside the bathroom door, knowing he’d been the one to cause her pain? Was it any of these things or a volatile combination of all three?
He didn’t know. Too long his heart had been empty. Now, suddenly, he found himself embroiled in a tangle of emotions so alien, and yet, so pleasurable he didn’t know how to unsnarl himself.
For too many years he’d lived for his job, determined to prove himself, resolutely dedicated to making a difference. He wanted to hunt down every criminal who pulled a trigger and killed an innocent.
Because he’d learned to compartmentalize his emotions, he’d became a better cop. But he hadn’t always been so distant, so in control of his feelings. Once upon a time he’d been Truman, and along with his cousin, Kael Carmody, had been a championship bull rider. Before that, he’d been Truman West, senior class president. He’d even been Truman West, the object of Katie’s unrequited teenage love.
Katie had changed so much since the old days. He was proud of her and how far she had come. He could scarcely believe the woman lying next to him was that same girl. And it wasn’t just the physical changes, although her new body was quite impressive. No, Katie had always been pretty, even with glasses and braces and a little extra weight. What had changed was her attitude, both about herself and the world.
This new Katie intrigued him.
He chuckled at the thought of her hiding in the fountain to eavesdrop on a phone conversation. He’d have given a hundred dollars to see that.
Even though he couldn’t say if he loved her or not, Truman knew one thing for certain. Katie muddled his thinking, intoxicated his senses. She was impertinent yet modest. Sassy yet reticent. Outspoken yet quiet. She kept him on his toes, and Truman found her utterly fascinating.
But he had to calm the chaos inside him. He needed a clear head to proceed. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to stop thinking about her.
Not for the first time, he wondered if he should call off the assignment because of her amnesia. Allow the swindlers to go free. Or should he brief her about the case and move forward? What about her health? What if her memory did not return of its own accord? Was it fair to Katie to delay treatment to advance his own agenda?
Guilt stole over him.
He should have insisted that she see a doctor. She wasn’t a detective. Hell, she wasn’t even getting paid for this. If he’d known she would get hurt, he never would have asked her to play the part.
Tomorrow.
If her memory didn’t return after a night’s sleep, he’d take her to a doctor whether she wanted to go or not. Her safety was paramount. If the con men got away, then the con men got away.
Satisfied that he was making the right decision, Truman pressed himself closer to Katie’s soft, warm body and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
11
Sun filtered through the drapes and played across Tess’s face. She looked over at her sleeping husband. Zack was lying on his side, facing her, his tawny hair adorably rumpled.
Tess snuggled closer. She loved waking up beside her man.
But wait a minute? Where were they?
She rolled onto her back and stared at the mirror mounted on the ceiling. Good Lord, were they in a bordello? She raised her head to inspect the room. Oh, right. They were at a hotel in the honeymoon suite on an undercover assignment. She touched her fingers to the cut on her temple.
Ah, yes. She’d hit her head against the fountain last night.
Tess remembered that Zack had told her a pretty strange story. He’d said that she was some woman named Katie Prentiss.
Well, she had better pretend she was this Katie person or Zack would end up hauling her off to some doctor. She knew him well enough to know he’d do exactly that. Even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with her.
“Good morning, early bird.” Zack’s deep voice drew her eyes to his face.
Like it always did when she gazed upon her beloved, Tess’s heart skipped a beat.
“Morning.” She smiled back.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Like
an angel.”
“You look like an angel.”
“That’s sweet.” She reached out and touched his lips.
He kissed her fingertips, and Tess shivered against the tingly sensation.
“Do you remember what happened?” he asked.
“I’m a little muddled about our assignment.”
“I’m talking about you. Do you remember who you are, Katie?” Zack sat up, his bare chest tauntingly out of reach.
She wanted to lean over and run her fingers through his chest hairs, but she didn’t dare. Last night he had refused to make love to her because he said she was not his wife. Then why in the heck did she feel so married to him?
“Sure,” Tess said, not knowing if she was lying or not. Was she Tess or Katie?
“As long as you know you’re Katie pretending to be Tess Dupree, then we’re okay.”
“That’s right.”
Except she didn’t remember being Katie. She knew she was Tess. She and her husband, Zack, were private detectives, married for three years, with an incredible sex life, and they had been on countless adventures together. She didn’t remember one thing about Katie Prentiss. How could she be her? Yet Zack had no reason to lie.
She had another problem. She couldn’t remember Zack’s other name. If he wasn’t her husband, then he wasn’t Zack. Who he was? She was afraid to ask. If he thought she still had amnesia, he wouldn’t let her continue with the investigation. He’d made that abundantly clear the night before.
And crime junkie that she was, Tess hated to lose a case.
“So, refresh me on the details while I order us some breakfast,” she said, alighting from the bed in her sassy red negligee.
There was no mistaking the fire in Zack’s eyes as he watched her.
Tess smiled inwardly. He might have avoided making love to her last night. Tonight, however, would be a different story. She would work him up into such a frenzy, he could not resist. She wanted this man and wanted him badly.
Zack threw back the covers and got to his feet. He wore only a pair of boxer shorts. Funny, he’d come fully clothed to bed. During the night he had gotten undressed, and she’d missed it.
