Lethal Attraction: Against the Rules\Fatal Affair Read online

  “Everything all right, babe?” Nick asked from the doorway.

  Holding out her arms, she invited Nick to join her. “We might be starting to get somewhere. Patricia Donaldson bought a ticket on a flight to D.C. the day before John’s murder. We’ve got people trying to figure out where she’s staying in the city. Nothing on the credit report shows her hotel.”

  “You’ll figure it out.” He kneeled down in front of her and leaned into her embrace. “What brought on this spontaneous show of affection?”

  “I just needed it,” she said, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “I’m frustrated, aggravated, pissed that it’s taken me so long to hone in on her, that someone else had to die…”

  “Well, I’m happy to provide comfort any time you need it.” He suddenly stiffened.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling back to look at him.

  “What did you do to my desk?”

  “Nothing,” she said, all innocence.

  “You did, too. You moved things, and you probably did it on purpose to screw with me.”

  Sam dissolved into laughter. “You’re such a freak show.” When he would’ve gotten up to fix it, she stopped him. “Leave it. See if you can do it.” She gripped his hands. “Come on. Be strong.”

  “Why does it bother you so much that I require order?”

  “What you require is so far beyond order the sphincter police haven’t invented the word for it yet.”

  “Fine. If you want to make a mess and walk away, that’s your problem. It doesn’t bother me.”

  “Yes, it does,” she said, laughing to herself at his definition of a mess. He hadn’t the slightest idea of what she was capable of in that regard. “I bet you’ll sneak down here when I’m sleeping tonight and fix it.”

  “No, I won’t,” he said, his eyes flashing with the start of anger.

  “It’s okay if you do,” she cooed. “I’ll still love you and all your anal retentive freakazoidisms.”

  At her words of love, he softened, but only a little.

  She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned in to kiss him. “Will you do me a favor?”

  “What?” he asked in a terse tone.

  “Will you read my report about the shooting at Eastern Market for me? See if I made any mistakes?”

  He looked at her oddly as he got up to take her place at the desk.

  Sam stood behind him, hanging over his shoulder as he went through the events of earlier, making tweaks here and there. She was relieved that he found no blatant errors.

  When he was done, he turned to her. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

  She pursed her lips, wanting to tell him, but feeling shy all of a sudden. “Well, you were there. I was just making sure I didn’t miss anything.”

  He reached for her hand and brought her down to sit on his lap. “You don’t need me for that. What is it, babe?”

  “I’m dyslexic,” she said for the second time that day. “Freddie usually checks me, but since he wasn’t involved in this, I didn’t feel right asking him. Plus he’s baby-sitting one of John’s girlfriends at the moment.”

  “I’m glad you asked me. I’ll do it for you any time.”

  She attached the file to an e-mail to the arresting officer. Then she returned her attention to Nick. “Thank you,” she said, pressing her lips to his for what she intended to be a quick kiss.

  “You’re welcome,” he whispered as he ran his tongue over her bottom lip before tipping his head to delve deeper. As he kissed her, he arranged her so she straddled him and took her by surprise when he pulled back to whip the sweater up over her head.

  Sam shivered as cool air hit her fevered skin. “Nick—I’m working—I can’t right now.” As she said the words, she reached for the hem of his shirt, but he stopped her. Moaning with frustration, she found his mouth for another frantic kiss and gasped when he released her bra. “Got to work…”

  “Shh,” he said, feasting on one breast and then the other.

  Surrendering to the sensory assault, Sam gripped his shoulders and tried to convince herself that taking ten minutes for herself didn’t make her a crappy cop.

  “You have the most beautiful breasts,” he whispered, trailing his tongue in circles around her nipple.

  “They’re too big.”

  “No,” he said, laughing. “They’re not. They’re utter perfection. In fact, I could sit here all night and do nothing but what I’m doing right now until the sun comes up.”

  She tilted her pelvis tight against his throbbing erection. “Really? Nothing but this? All night?”

  He groaned. “Maybe we could mix it up a bit.” Helping her to her feet, he unbuttoned her jeans, hooked his fingers into her panties and divested her of both garments in one swift move before bringing her back to his lap.

  “You’re kind of overdressed,” she said, tugging at his shirt.

  “Patience, babe.” Raining hot, open-mouthed kisses on her neck, he ran his hands up and down her back, sending shivers of desire dancing through her.

  “I don’t have any patience. Don’t you know that by now?”

  He propped her thighs on his legs and then moved his feet apart, opening her.

  “What’re you doing?” she asked, her words infected with a stammer.

  “Touching you.”

  “I want to touch you, too.”

  “You’ll get your turn.” He cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over nipples still sensitive from his earlier ministrations. “It was infuriating today to hear that bastard call you frigid.” His hands coasted down over her ribs. One arm encircled her while his other hand slid through the dampness between her legs. “Feel that?” he whispered. “That’s as far from frigid as you can get.”

  “I hardly ever came when I had sex with him,” Sam managed to say. “It made him mad.”

  “We know you weren’t the problem, right?” he asked as he drove two fingers into her.

  Sam cried out.

  “Did you mess up my desk on purpose?” he asked, his fingers coming to a halt deep inside her.

  Laughing, she said, “Maybe!” She wiggled her hips, begging him to continue.

  “’Fess up or you won’t get what you want.”

  “Yes! I did it!”

  “That was easy,” he chuckled. “Now you must be punished.”

  She moaned as he found the spot that throbbed for his touch.

  He shifted the arm he had around her so his hand gripped her ass, holding her still for his gliding fingers. When he captured her nipple between his teeth, the combination lifted her into a powerful orgasm that stole the breath from her lungs and brought tears to her eyes.

  “So hot,” he whispered against her lips. “So, so hot.”

  His fingers continue to tease, and Sam was astounded to feel another climax building. Somehow she marshaled the energy to tear at his shirt, lifting it up and over his head. She ran her hand down his chest to his belly and below, dragging her finger over his steely length.

  He inhaled sharply.

  “Nick, please. I want you.”

  “You have me, Samantha. I’m all yours. Forever and always.” He kissed her as if it was the first time all over again, exploring her mouth with deep, penetrating sweeps of his tongue.

  When she couldn’t stand the burning need another minute, she worked her way off his lap, pulled him up and stripped him in record time. Dropping to her knees, she took him into her mouth.

  “Sam…” He buried his fingers in her hair. “Babe, wait. This was about you. Come up here.”

  “You said I’d get my turn,” she pouted, dragging her tongue over him as she looked up to find his eyes bearing down on her.

  “And you will.” He helped her up, returned to the chair and brought her down to straddle him once again. “I love you.”

  She tilted her hips and took him in. Leaning forward she touched her lips to his. “I love you, too.”

  “I’m never going to get tired of hearing that.