Body Heat

CHAPTER NINE

“YOU’RE LATE.” Jake spoke through clenched teeth while he held Brianne in a hug so tight she wondered if he ever planned to let go.

“I take it you missed me?” She forced into her tone a lightness she didn’t feel.

His big hands cupped her face and tilted her head back. “You don’t know the half of it.”

The intensity in his voice and the harshness of his features startled her and shook the rash decision she’d made earlier to call off the affair. After seeing him outside a victim’s hospital room with another detective by his side, she’d realized firsthand the danger he put himself into on a daily basis. She’d come far in the years since her parents’ death and she could cope with Jake’s job-if she decided she could handle returning to that kind of uncertain existence. She wasn’t sure she’d choose to live that way again.

But faced with reality-cradled in Jake’s strong arms, inhaling his masculine scent-her conviction wavered. Even as her more rational self fought against this, her emotional, heartfelt needs asserted themselves. She’d known he was a detective prior to going into this affair and yet she’d still agreed. Nothing had changed since then. He was still the man she desired as no other. Why not indulge during the short-term basis they’d agreed upon?

Because her feelings were stronger than the deal they’d made and her heart was at risk, that was why. But nothing seemed to matter when his lips covered hers and he demanded and received entry into her mouth. He devoured her with the same ravaging need that consumed her, his tongue tangling with hers and taking possession. But he gave of himself as well, and Brianne wanted more.

She thrust her hands into his hair, reveling in the way the thick, silky strands slid between her fingers, and she let herself slacken against him, feel his hard body mold to hers. The sensual awareness he effortlessly created rose to life, and a warmth started deep in her belly and pressed downward, creating a heavy, pulsing beat between her legs.

Having already made love with Jake, the desire was deeper and more meaningful than in the past. Her heart beat rapidly, but this time it swelled with emotion, too. Emotion she didn’t want to deal with. Not now.

Now she just wanted Jake. To hell with the reality that could tear them apart. This was her summer fantasy and she planned to enjoy it while she could. Perhaps it was the knowledge that they could never be, or perhaps it was the danger she’d acknowledged he faced daily, but the rush of want was greater than ever before. She needed him inside her too badly to wait.

Words weren’t necessary, not when his eyes spoke of his need and he seemed as eager as she was to get rid of his clothes. With shaking hands and Jake’s help, she pulled at his shirt, slowing only to take care with his injured shoulder as she slid his arm out of his sleeve. But once she’d lifted the shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor, all bets were off. She slid her hands through the light sprinkling of hair on his chest, feeling the flex and pull of muscle beneath her fingertips.

Her palms brushed his hard nipples, and he let out a strangled groan, one that turned her insides to mush and caused a rush of liquid to pool and settle between her legs. As if he knew, he began to tug at her clothes, and soon her hospital uniform lay in a pile at their feet.

His steely gaze raked over her nearly naked body, taking in the sheer, skin-colored bra and panties. Then his hands went to the snap on his jeans. She noted with pleasure that he’d paused to grab a condom from his jeans pocket.

“Honest to God, I haven’t carried these things around with me since I was a teenager, but when it comes to you, damn if I’m going to be unprepared.”

“I like the way you think.”

She liked it even more when she realized his hands shook as well. Within moments she found herself facing his nude body. She swallowed hard and glanced down, noting he’d shed his boxers along with his pants. He was erect, aroused and magnificently male. And he was hers-at least for the summer.

That was the thought that did her in. He extended his hands just as she came into his arms.

“I wish I could lift you up and feel you inside me.” He whispered the hot and needy words in her ear.

“Me, too.” She glanced behind him, hoping a chair had manufactured itself, but all she saw was Rina’s all-white furniture and crystal accessories.

She swallowed a cry of pure frustration as she felt Jake’s arm around her waist, urging her to follow him. She did, and soon he was seated on the ledge by the oversize window overlooking the East River, Brianne standing between his strong legs.

The sun was just beginning its lazy descent, and the sky had taken on a pinkish-blue hue. And because the building was the highest around, they had no neighboring buildings blocking their view or intruding on the serenity of their surroundings. Nothing to make her self-conscious or uncomfortable, she thought, and was amazed that, despite how sheltered she’d lived the past few years, being with Jake this way felt natural and right.

As long as she didn’t allow ugly reality to intrude, Brianne thought. And she wouldn’t, not as long as she had this moment.

He tilted his head back against the clear glass, his fathomless eyes staring into hers. “I want to make love to you with the city behind us,” he said in a husky voice.

His tone beckoned not only to the most primal physical part of her, but to her emotions. She trusted this man more than any other, and she needed him as she needed no other.

“I want us where no one can touch us.” His heartfelt words secured her feelings and erased any hesitation she might have had. Without instruction, without being asked, Brianne eased herself up so her knees were on either side of Jake’s thighs and her femininity was poised over his waiting erection.

She held her balance with only her knees on the ledge and Jake’s hands, warm and secure, on her waist. “I feel like I could fall,” she said with a shaky laugh.

“Then, by all means, let’s anchor you.” A naughty smile lifted the corner of his mouth, and Brianne knew exactly what he meant.

Heart pounding in anticipation, she eased herself up and, with a little help from his nimble fingers, she slid down, his enlarged member penetrating her and filling her.

Completion. There was no other word for what she felt, and the truth frightened her. Though she hoped to hide her frantic, overwhelmed emotions, one look into his eyes told her he felt it, too. And Brianne was far from ready to deal with his feelings. She could barely cope with her own.

So she did the only thing she could. She began a steady rocking of her pelvis, shifting her hips and rubbing her feminine mound against his body with a precision that took her to soaring, peaking heights. That was the point-to avoid thinking, to only feel. And she did-his body inside of hers, taking her to a place she’d only imagined.

Her eyelids fluttered open. Big mistake, she realized as she looked into his deepened, darkened stare. Eye contact while making love should have been a distraction, Brianne thought idly. But when everything she saw in Jake’s eyes was honest and real, she wasn’t distracted. Rather, she was drawn more deeply into the vortex of emotion and desire.

Shook up by the intensity of emotion welling in her throat and the incredible feelings building in her body, she switched her gaze over his shoulder just as he lowered his head and latched on to one of her nipples. He pulled the taut peak into his mouth, alternately grazing with his teeth, then suckling and soothing with his tongue, until she was beyond reason.

Her bucking, shifting body was no longer hers, but rather something he controlled. And he did it well, his hips pumping upward, meeting every gyrating movement she made and matching it until the most incredible climax beckoned, just out of reach.

He switched his attention to her other breast, but instead of the frenzied need with which he’d started, he picked up a different tempo. Using a slower, circular movement, he laved her entire breast with his tongue. The cool air around them contrasted with his warmer mouth, and with each lap he took of her skin, her nipple tightened and peaked, begging for his attention with a pulling need that found a home between her thighs, where their bodies joined in the most intimate act imaginable. But still he persisted to tease her with slow, methodical strokes of his tongue that had her body writhing and begging for release.

“Open your eyes.”

She hadn’t realized she’d closed them again, but his deep, husky voice brought her out of her desire-filled haze. She complied, once again meeting his penetrating gaze, and, as she did, he slowed the movements of his lower body until she wanted to cry at the unfairness of his leaving her strung tight and needy.

“I want you to look at me when you come,” he said, his voice raw as he explained the answer to her unasked question.

He cupped her full breast in his hand, kneading the plump flesh for a moment. And then, as if she’d told him exactly what she needed, his thumb and forefinger locked onto her nipple and he began to roll and flick at the tender nub just hard enough to bring sensation to life once more. He pumped his hips in an upward, circular motion, never pausing to release his hand or stop the perfect rhythm he’d created. The waves began in earnest, a steady mounting of desire that encompassed her entire being.

And just as she crested, her eyes locked on his and his climax joined with hers. She came, her body undulating with wave after wave of rapid release. And as she fell, she caught sight of the skyline behind Jake and felt as if she were free-falling over the city. Like her emotions, she was tumbling, body, heart and soul, without a safety net.

HER BREATHING was rapid and her body still shook around him, as Jake’s awareness returned. He couldn’t breathe any better than Brianne and his body wasn’t on any more solid ground. Neither was his mind, considering he’d avoided facing reality.

He’d needed to tell her she was in danger but, by the time she’d come home, he’d been so worked up and worried, he couldn’t think let alone form a coherent sentence. One look as she’d walked into the apartment and all he could do was feel. The relief in seeing her unharmed had been so great, he’d needed to release the fear and prove to himself she was alive. He’d done that all right. And though he should sit her down and talk now, he wasn’t ready.

As long as they were inside this secure penthouse, they were safe. And as long as he had some more time before Brianne looked at him with disappointment and distrust in her beautiful eyes, he was damn well going to take it.

He brushed her hair over her shoulder. “You promised me a whirlpool,” he whispered in her ear.

Her soft laughter found a home deep in his heart. “I said if you cooperated I’d consider the whirlpool.”

“And I’ve been a very good boy.” He didn’t add a word about therapy because the time they’d actually spent working on his shoulder had been minimal and he didn’t want her to call him on it just yet. Besides, it hadn’t been intentional, and he would let her do all the physical therapy she wanted on his body. Later. Much, much later. When she had no more desire to be in his bed. He shook off that thought as best he could.

A husky purr escaped her throat. “You are good, I’ll give you that.”

She paused to take a nip on his earlobe, and the desire she created rocked him down to his toes. “So the whirlpool it is?” he asked.

“If I don’t get out of this position I might never straighten my legs out, and those hot water jets sound awfully good right now.” She winced, and he realized how much discomfort she must be in.

He braced his hands on her waist and helped her leverage herself off him and come to a standing position on shaky legs. His body definitely felt the loss, and he intended to make up for it as soon as they hit the whirlpool.

“I can think of many ways to stretch out your legs, and I guarantee you’ll feel much better.”

“I thought I was the physical therapist.”

“Just give me a chance to work those muscles of yours. You might be surprised at how proficient I am with my hands.”

Her eyes darkened at his completely sexual intent. At least there they were in perfect agreement, Jake thought. He held out his hand and she grasped it, not quite meeting his gaze.

He figured she had issues of her own to work out, and, considering the upheaval he’d be bringing into her life, he’d give her this time.

He knew it couldn’t last.

ON A ROOFTOP high above New York City, Jake led Brianne to the now infamous whirlpool. They’d grabbed towels from the apartment, and he’d taken her via the exclusive penthouse elevator to the private spa on the roof.

The view was incredible. White stars twinkled in the inky night sky and the outline of buildings and lights illuminated the spectacular setting. But the Empire State Building lit up in its red, white and blue glory was the pièce de résistance, and stood out from all the more ordinary buildings surrounding them.

Brianne walked to the edge of the roof, and though she kept one hand on the towel around her body, she used the other to grasp the high railing so she could peer out for a better look. “This is almost surreal.”

Jake came up behind her. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it.”

She nodded. “And your sister owns this along with the penthouse? No one else in the building can come up?”

“No one.”

She let out a brief whistle. “I guess this is what they mean by wealth.”

“Guess so.” He propped one hip on a rung of the guardrail. “Nice life if you can get it.”

Brianne heard the chill in his voice and was reminded of the only time he’d frozen her out: when she’d verbalized the conclusion that he didn’t live in this apartment, that he was a visitor much like herself. She’d wondered then why he’d turned cold, and figured now was as good a time as any to ask.

“Jake?”

“What?” He stared out over the panoramic view of the city, obviously lost in thought.

She tried to come up with a way to formulate the question that wouldn’t set him off further, and realized there probably wasn’t one. “Why is money such a sensitive issue with you?”

He turned and looked at her. “I suppose when a guy’s wife leaves him for what he doesn’t have…”

“…he decides to paint all women with the same brush?” She finished the sentence for him, the conclusion not hard to figure out.

“I guess so,” he said with a brief nod.

And it hurt, Brianne thought. For so many reasons. The first of which was that she hadn’t known he’d been married. The thought of him in love with someone else stabbed her in the heart. Add to that the painful truth-she didn’t know much about him at all.

Except how he’d been injured. What it was like to share living space. And the rapture of his body deep inside hers, intimate in a way she’d never felt before. She was wrong. She did know him, she just knew too little about his past. And she’d wanted to keep it that way, to avoid the pain of emotional connection.

But it was too late. She’d already entrusted him with personal insight-her parents’ death, her difficulty dealing with anxiety and danger, and the frugal way in which she’d been forced to live in order to survive. She’d given to him emotionally despite the risk. It was time she let him talk in return.

But there was another reason his attitude about money and wealth hurt. She’d been open and honest about who and what she was but she’d never once given him the impression she’d taken this job so she could live the good life. In fact, no matter how he looked at it, she was still working two jobs to make ends meet. “It’s not like I’m some gold-digging tramp,” she muttered.

“No, you are not.” He grabbed for her hand.

His low growl and warm touch snapped her out of her internal dialogue and brought her anger to the surface. “Then, why do I feel like you’re thinking otherwise?”

“My fault for overreacting.” He glanced down as he ran his thumb over her wrist and massaged the pulse point there in an erotic circular motion.

His touch felt wickedly good, but she was more interested in what he had to say. Forcing herself to ignore the sensations traveling from a place as mundane as her wrist to other more private parts, like her breasts, wasn’t easy. But she managed, and one second later she was glad she’d remained alert enough to hear his next words.

“And showing my fear.”

Her heart leapt in her chest. “Fear of what?” Because Brianne thought she held a monopoly on that particular emotion. Hearing that a big, tough guy like Jake could not only succumb to fear but admit to it was a revelation she couldn’t believe.

“Fear of your judging me and finding me lacking, for one thing.”

She felt her eyes open wide-along with the heart she’d tried so desperately to keep shut tight. She stepped closer and found herself reaching for his face. A small voice in her head warned her she was treading emotionally deep waters, but she couldn’t stop.

His deep blue eyes bore into hers, and she cupped his razor-stubbled cheeks in her palms, the abrading sensation both ticklish and yet subtly arousing against her skin. “How could any woman find you lacking?” she asked.

“Do you have any idea what a cop earns?”

A smile worked at the corners of her mouth. “More than I’ve had left after boarding school bills, I’m sure. But I’ve never been unhappy. Just overwhelmed, exhausted and cash-poor.” She forced a laugh, then sobered quickly. “But if I’ve learned anything since my parents died, it’s that we make our own happiness in life.”

“My ex-wife looked to me to make her happy.” He shook his head. “Scratch that. She looked to my checkbook. The incredible thing is, she knew all about my lifestyle and what I could and couldn’t afford when she married me. She was a teacher, which meant her salary wasn’t over the top, either. I really did think we shared the fundamentals. Like the desire for a family.”

Brianne’s heart ached at the thought of Jake sharing anything with any woman other than herself. Uh-oh. “Did you have…kids?” She nearly choked on the word.

He shook his head. “But I wanted them.”

Did he still? “What changed?” she asked, quickly denying herself the time to think through the notion of Jake with another woman’s baby. The idea was too painful.

“I still don’t know. We moved to the suburbs, she met different people, more affluent couples-doctors, lawyers, businessmen.” He shrugged. “Then Rina met and married Robert. That couldn’t have helped.”

“None of that should have changed how she felt about you. None of that should have altered who your wife was inside.”

His eyes narrowed, and she could almost see the wheels turning inside his head as he sorted through his past. “Maybe that’s it, then. I never really knew who she was inside. I never took the time to find out.”

Her pulse picked up rhythm, if only because Brianne knew he’d taken the time to discover who she was. Enough to take her on a real date, to bring her ice cream because he thought that had been in short supply in her life. And to give himself, a warm, caring, loving man.

He may not have opened up before but he was doing so now, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to contemplate why. He’d started in the permanently off-limits column of her life, and now she wanted to move him over, into the more stable, long-term column. A place he couldn’t, wouldn’t want to be. He’d made that abundantly clear at the outset.

“Did you love her?” Brianne bit down on her lower lip, wishing she could call back the too-personal, too-revealing words.

“I thought she loved me but it turns out she never fully accepted who I am. What I’ll always be. She gave up on me when she realized she couldn’t change me.”

And that had scarred him badly, Brianne realized, enough to make him wary of other women and of the future. He had good reason. Brianne’s reasons for being wary of the future were different but she hadn’t fully accepted him and who he was, either. She’d admitted as much to his face. From the beginning, she wished she could change him from someone who loved danger to someone who preferred security and stability.

Is that what she still wanted? Because if she desired to change him, there was no chance for them or for the future. And a part of Brianne refused to accept that. Confusion twisted inside her.

He reached up and grasped her wrists. She hadn’t realized she was still holding on to his face, so natural was the flow of conversation and intimacy between them. And wasn’t that intimacy more indicative of what they shared than her dislike of his career? She felt the mental shift occurring slowly and knew she needed time to absorb the implications.

“To answer your question, I suppose I loved the person I married, not the person she became,” he said, speaking of his ex-wife. Jake’s gaze held Brianne’s, full of unspoken meaning. “I realize now that I never loved my ex-wife enough to change and grow with her.”

Brianne swallowed hard. “You couldn’t have made her happy then, Jake. And vice versa. Money didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I know I am. Look at my life. Money might have given me more free time but I’d still have been a too-young, single woman raising a teenager. All the money in the world wouldn’t change that. And it might not have made me happy. I was burdened, yes, but I was also happy.” She shrugged, feeling silly revealing herself this way, but not silly enough to stop.

Because this was Jake and he was listening intently, interested in what she had to say and how it related to his past and to them. She drew a deep breath and continued. “Any man in my life would build on the foundation that’s already there.” The way Jake had. Just the sight of him had lessened her burdens. Being with him lightened her load and made her more complete. She wasn’t ready to take those thoughts to their natural completion so she focused on his past instead. “Sounds like your wife didn’t have that foundation.”

Admiration filled his eyes along with deeper, more consuming emotion-part desire, but something more. Brianne knew because she felt it, too. “Anyone tell you you’re amazing?” he asked.

She shook her head and grinned. “Nope. Care to be the first?”

“Hell, yes.” Her first, last, always, Jake thought, and lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss was deep and sweet, but for Jake, just the beginning. “I’m not letting you out of our deal. You owe me a leisurely soak in that whirlpool.” He pointed to the bubbling water that was probably as hot as the blood pumping through his veins.

“Then, by all means, let’s do it.” She inhaled for what he guessed was courage, then took a step back and dropped her towel, letting the fluffy white cotton pool at her feet.

He took one look, and his mouth went dry. She extended her hand, and he followed her to the waiting whirlpool, letting her get in first.

She lowered herself to a sitting position, the bubbling water floating just above her tempting cleavage. When the truth was out, Jake knew what his penance would be-to remember this, remember her and all they could have shared if he hadn’t gotten her involved in something guaranteed to bring danger and anxiety into her life, the two things she couldn’t and shouldn’t ever have to handle again.

Brianne was everything his first wife hadn’t been. She was honest, open and real, about herself, her feelings and about her take on life. And in being herself, she’d helped him see his own past more clearly. That was why he intended to savor this night and leave the revelations for morning.

She extended her legs and stretched out, leaning her head back and staring at the night sky. “Good Lord, this is decadent,” she murmured.

He settled himself in beside her and let one of the pulsating jets work against his shoulder. “You haven’t begun to see decadent. But you will. I promise you that.”

“Promises, promises.”

“Do you doubt me?” he asked.

“If I say yes, will it get you to move faster?”

His body heated from inside out in a way that had nothing to do with the hot water and everything to do with Brianne. The urgency of their limited time together fueled with his burning desire combined to create a need so strong that it threatened to consume him. “Did I tell you what the beauty of this whirlpool is?”

She shook her head.

“It’s got a bench that reclines.” He followed his words with his body, moving over to her and easing her down until she rested in the molded seat, her neck and shoulders above the moving bubbles.

She let out a high-pitched laugh. “Water’s hitting me from every angle.”

He grinned. “Like it?”

She laughed once more, causing him to shake his head in dismay.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want you moaning, not giggling. You do realize I’m going to have to do something about that?”

She leaned back against the rounded headrest, her auburn hair floating on the water’s surface. Green eyes, as deep as the water’s hue, stared back at him, hungry with desire. “I was counting on it.”

He leaned over her and his lips came down on hers, the kiss prolonged and sweet. Heaven couldn’t feel as good, Jake thought, and slid his tongue inside for a more thorough taste. She let out a soft groan and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him on top of her and aligning their bodies in an intimate embrace.

His groin pulsed hard and ready against her bare skin, and her legs slipped open wide, letting him know she was just as ready as he. “One of these days we’re going to do this the right way.”

“And what would that be?”

“Me on top,” he muttered. The lack of strength in his shoulder hadn’t slowed him in many things, but making love to Brianne in that particular position had been a luxury denied him so far.

“Work out with me and I’m sure you’ll be ready in no time.” He couldn’t miss the challenging gleam in her eyes. “You know, the whirlpool will heat your shoulder well. We can fit in a session when we finish here.”

If she could think about working out, Jake figured he wasn’t doing his best to keep her distracted. He extended his hand, and she grasped it and rose to a sitting position. When they finished here, if she was in the mood for anything other than a warm bed and a good night’s sleep-tangled in his arms, of course-he’d eat his badge. Besides, she’d need a decent night’s rest to deal with tomorrow, he thought, then immediately pushed the troubling future aside.

With a gentle tug, he pulled her between his legs and seated her astride him on the submerged bench.

“Jake?” His name came out a gasp of surprise.

“Relax, honey.” He eased one arm around her waist to help her do just that. As she found a comfortable position, her behind pressed gently but insistently against his swelled erection. All his self-restraint went into staying in his seat and not entering her pliant, willing body.

She tensed against him. “You expect me to relax with you inches away from…”

“Yes. Relax and enjoy.” He spread his legs, and she went from sitting on top of him to sitting in the V of his thighs, his groin hot and hard against the small of her back.

“As if,” she muttered.

He chuckled and reached out to play with a few switches on the outside of the tub. Within seconds, the heated seat jets began to bubble away, forcing air upright from the seats into whatever lay directly above them.

From Brianne’s shocked gasp, Jake knew exactly where the spurts of air and water had found a home. She wriggled and tried to rise, but he held on tight to her small waist. “Just give it a chance, okay?”

“Okay,” Brianne said, but she had no idea how she’d survive it. The pulsating water was hitting her most sensitive, private flesh. And if that weren’t enough to drive her mad, she had Jake’s erection nudging her back, teasing her with what she couldn’t have, no matter how much her body thrummed with delicious, yearning need.

He moved slowly. His arms, no longer locked around her waist to keep her in place, now cradled her, while one palm splayed across her stomach, his fingertips inching downward until he covered her feminine mound with his hand.

She sucked in a startled breath when he dipped one fingertip into her aroused flesh and found the most incredible pressure point in her body. He began a steady stroking motion, each long, slick slide of his finger bringing her higher and higher, until her hips were jerking upward of their own accord, seeking release. Combined with the water jets pulsating against and inside her, her body took over her mind, the need and want so incredible and intense she thought she’d die if the waves stopped-and if they didn’t.

Without warning, he raised her higher, and she guessed his intent. Between the two of them, he managed to nudge his penis against her open, needy body. And as he slid her down on top of him, as she took him inside, she felt every hot inch filling her, every ridge of his velvet heat stretching her to accommodate the new but oh-so-incredible angle. Though she’d rather be facing him, looking into his eyes when they made love, ironically this position was intimate, too, more so because of the degree of trust it entailed.

She couldn’t see his face or watch his features, and had to believe, to trust, he felt as much as she did.

When his arms wrapped more solidly around her and his hands came up to cup her breasts fully and completely, in what felt more like an expression of possession than lust or sex, Brianne knew that he was engulfed by emotion as well.

And then he began to thrust upward, and it didn’t take long for him to lunge to his climax. One last thrust, and she let out a shuddering moan, feeling as if she were flying upward into the night sky.

Heaven only knows how many minutes passed until Brianne’s breathing returned to normal, and eventually she found the strength to climb off him and onto the whirlpool seat so she could cuddle in his waiting arms. She felt so safe there, it was hard to believe she’d spent the afternoon reminding herself of all the reasons he could jeopardize her future. Surely this man couldn’t-wouldn’t-harm her or her secure life in any way. In truth, she feared she was falling in love with him. Something that wasn’t planned and couldn’t last.

Her arms snaked tighter around his waist, harsh reality rising to surround her like the bubbles in the whirlpool. They’d been careless-not just with their time together, but by not using protection. Brianne understood why she’d allowed such an intimate act, because of how deeply she both trusted and cared for Jake. And it had been intimate and wondrous, feeling him inside her, no barriers between her body and his.

But it was foolish, anyway. They’d been acting as if they had their entire lives ahead of them instead of one short, blissful summer.

LOUIS SHOVED HIS HANDS into his jeans pockets. Staring up at the tall building, he wondered if the detective and his girlfriend were rocking the walls tonight. For Lowell’s sake, Louis hoped so, because it would be the last time. Once any woman had a taste of Louis, she’d never settle for a pig again.

He let out a harsh laugh and lit a cigarette, then shoved the lighter back into his pocket. Yeah, he’d have the redhead and the money that was coming in from his new dealer. The owners of The Eatery had been happy to go into business with him, operating out of both their uptown and downtown restaurants. Things had been going smoothly, too, until that damn girl and her boyfriend overdosed. Those drugs weren’t meant to kill, just to take them a little higher. Now he had Lowell on his back and a witness in the hospital. But if the cops hadn’t arrested him by now, they didn’t have a damn thing on him.

He shrugged. In the meantime, he was having a blast playing with the detective. Even if Lowell wasn’t already uptight and worried about his girlfriend, he would be soon. By tomorrow Lowell would think the only place the beautiful Brianne was safe was his high-rise security building. An illusion Louis couldn’t wait to shatter.