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He heard her swallow. “Effective.”
He chuckled quietly, keeping in mind that the other thief they were watching thought he was alone on the second floor. “Only if you draw a bead on your opponent before he draws one on you.”
“Mmm. Yes, that does help.”
Was it possible she’d sensed his identity straight off? Or was it the sound of his voice that had given him away? Either way, he was pretty sure she knew who he was.
He also noticed that she was regaining her composure with each second that passed. He slid the palm-size gun into his tux jacket. She wriggled to free herself from the grasp of his other hand.
“Shh.” He tightened his hold on her hip, then pressed his mouth against her ear. “Hold still or we’ll miss the show.”
Alex watched over her shoulder as the thief entered the third guest bedroom and closed the door after himself.
For long moments he stood still, listening to Nicole’s uneven breathing, taking in her unique scent, and wondering where in the hell she’d gotten the blond wig. It had taken him a full minute to realize that it was her after her transformation. She’d disappeared into a restaurant bathroom then emerged a short time later looking like she did now, her usual attire presumably tucked into her black tote. A tote she’d cleverly hidden in the bushes of a neighboring house before joining the Theisman party.
“The show appears to be over,” she murmured.
Alex slowly blinked, realizing he had yet to release her. And that she had yet to make another move to free herself. “Depends on which show you’re referring to.”
He glanced down at the pale expanse of shoulder left bare by her black dress. The moonlight streaming in through the window kissed her skin, making it glow dimly while the rest was cloaked in shadow.
“How long do you give him?” he asked, drawing the back of his index finger up her arm. She didn’t shiver this time, but she did shift, moving until her hot little bottom pressed more insistently against the front of his slacks. He sensed the move was far from accidental.
“If he’s good, five minutes.”
“And if he’s not?”
“Enough time to hang himself.”
Alex grinned. “Of course it helps when the lady of the manor gives you the combination to the safe.”
Nicole stepped away then faced him, staring at him in the dark.
“Ah, didn’t figure that one out, huh?” Alex tried to ignore the way his body missed her heat. “I caught our friend having a little chat with the very young Mrs. Theisman out back.”
“Maybe she was complaining about the paté.”
He dropped his gaze to the vee of her bodice, then down farther to where the hem hugged her legs. With those gorgeous gams he wondered why she always hid them under all that black leather. “If she was, then she was giving him a mouth-to-mouth taste of it.”
“Hmm. Interesting.”
“No. Predictable.”
“I didn’t see it.”
“Now that is interesting,” he commented.
Nicole seemed to consider the shoes she still held in one hand.
“So when were you planning on snatching the loot?”
He caught a glimmer of humor in her eyes. “Snatch the loot?”
“Grab the goods. Steal the stash. Rob the robber?”
She tucked a strand of the platinum-blond wig behind her ear. “New York. Queens. Robbery/homicide.”
He grimaced as she stepped a short way away.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
She held his gaze. “That’s where you’re from, right? Queens?”
Oh, she was good. Almost too good. And downright dangerous. As well as provocatively sexy, which made her even more dangerous. He’d do well to remember that.
She twisted her lips. “What I can’t get is what you’re doing here.”
Alex crossed his arms, as much to keep from touching her as in a defensive maneuver. “Astoria. Insurance investigator.”
“Mmm. Maybe now. But you used to be a cop, right?”
“Detective.”
“That’s what I thought.” She turned back toward the door to look out the crack. “And Astoria is Queens.”
Alex’s gaze dropped to her pert bottom and the way it jutted out just slightly as she inclined to look into the hall. He stifled a groan. A stubbornly clever woman with a killer body. He felt the weight of the pistol in his pocket. She was also a felon that he should be arresting.
“Are you here to guard the Theismans’ insured property?” she asked in that husky whisper that felt like the caress of a woman’s fingers.
“No, I’m watching you.”
She turned from the door again to look at him.
He couldn’t resist a grin. “Surprised you.”
“Yes…you could say that.”
“I just did.”
He caught her smile before she reached down and began putting her shoes back on one by one.
“Where are you going?”
“Leaving.”
“Going to position yourself to ambush the thief?”
She gently shook her head. “No, I think I’ll call this one a bust and go home.”
“Not because of me, I hope.”
She smiled.
“And here I thought you’d stick around at least long enough to find out what I’m really doing here.”
A creak of a door.
They both swung to watch the thief exit the guest room across the hall. He clutched a black velvet bag in his hand. But rather than making a run for it, his attention was on another door. Namely the one Alex and Nicole stood behind.
Alex eyed the woman standing in front of him. He hadn’t known how much he had been hoping for just such an opportunity until he hauled one very wily, supremely sexy Nicole Bennett into his arms. She stared up at him in naked shock. Then he slowly lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her, absently thinking that she tasted like cinnamon candy, too.
3
SO…TALL. SO…HARD. SO…HOT.
And far too slow.
Nicole kept her eyelids cracked open, watching Alex’s finely honed features as he launched a mock attack on her mouth. Only there was nothing mock about her instant reaction to it. She heard the door creak farther open behind her, but immediately forgot about it as Alex moved his hand up the outside of her leg then slid his fingertips under the hem of her skirt. She dipped her tongue into his mouth just as he found out that she had absolutely nothing on underneath the classy shift. She drank in his expression of first shock, then pure wicked pleasure. Ah. Just her type. The kind of guy capable of compensating for any surprise thrown his way. That assessment was quickly confirmed when he traced the line of her clean-shaven pubis.
Nicole’s knees buckled at the rush of instant and overpowering heat caused by his intimate touch. All the while, his mouth continued to slowly explore hers.
Too slowly.
Deciding to ratchet things up a notch, she tunneled her fingers wildly through his hair then pushed her mouth almost painfully against his, swirling her tongue against his teeth like a starving woman. She was rewarded with a small groan…and the feel of his hand circling around to her bare bottom where he clutched her roughly to his growing hardness.
Mmm. The long, thick ridge she felt under his trousers felt…promising. She wiggled her hips to get a better sense, then smiled as she recklessly kissed him. Very promising, indeed.
Things escalated very quickly. One moment Nicole was trying to speed things up, the next she was dizzy from the quick pace. She forgot about the house, the jewels, the thief that could still be watching them. She tunneled her fingers into the front of Alex’s slacks, desperately needing to touch the silken length of him. The only thing she knew was the accumulating need to go as far as she dared with this man—a man with the power to put her behind bars, yet who set her on fire with a simple, well-placed touch.
Alex caught her fingers just as she touched his hard heat, then broke free from their spiraling kiss.
“I…think he’s gone,” he said raggedly, his breathing irregular, his hair gorgeously tousled from where she’d restlessly played with and tugged on it.
“Who?” she whispered, blinking as her gaze traveled from his hair to his eyes then his decidedly decadent mouth.
“Who, indeed,” he said, his eyes darkening.
Nicole gasped when he shoved her against the opposite wall, then followed, sandwiching her between the wall and his heat. A picture frame tipped back and forth and a chair toppled over as Alex kicked it out of the way, then sweet heaven descended as he picked her up and wrapped her legs around his hips, pressing his hard arousal against her soft, exposed flesh.
Nicole had always gotten a rush out of stealing. And she couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t love sex. But when the two of them crashed together, it nearly sent her plummeting right over the edge. She couldn’t seem to get enough of Alex fast enough. She pulled at his tie, shoved his suit coat down over his arms, then dove for his belt buckle and the zipper beyond. She heard the ripping of material. Namely that of the strap of her dress where Alex was trying to gain access to her breasts. She smiled at him through their kiss.
“Sorry,” he rasped.
Nicole ripped open his shirt, sending buttons ricocheting around the room. “Not a problem.”
She took in the wide, hard planes of his chest. No donut-induced middle about this ex-cop. He was a pure, undiluted hottie with a chest that could make a grown woman cry. She pressed her palms flat against his nipples, then dragged her fingers down over his taut, rippled flesh. Damn. She hadn’t seen a guy this hot since she’d dated the captain of the football team back in high school. Maybe she’d been going after the wrong guys. Maybe the jocks were where it was at.
She gave a soft laugh at the twisted thought even as she wriggled her hips to get the room she needed to free his erection. She finally held his long, hard length in her fingers. Impressive. Very impressive, indeed. She’d heard of extralarge condoms being available, but had never actually had the cause to buy one.
Speaking of condoms…
Alex fastened his mouth over her right breast, chasing the air from her lungs and causing her to throw her head back against the wall and groan. God, but he had a great mouth. Tiny tendrils of fire licked along her nerve endings, ending in a throbbing pool of molten electricity right between her thighs.
“Rubber,” she said breathlessly. “Give me a rubber.”
Alex froze.
Just froze.
His mouth still rested against her breast.
His erection still pulsed against her too hot flesh.
But he wasn’t moving anymore.
And Nicole didn’t want to know the reason why.
He finally pulled back enough to look into her face. She didn’t have to ask. The answer was right there in his tortured expression.
Nicole felt the tremendous urge to hit him.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” she whispered, uncrossing her ankles behind his back and sliding her feet down to stand on her own. “You don’t have a rubber?”
“The tux is a rental.”
“Your wallet?”
“Contains my ID and cash.”
“No condom.”
He shook his head, looking as frustrated as she felt. “No condom.”
Nicole sagged against the wall, feeling the incredible, confusing urge to cry as sexual frustration pressed from the inside out. She wanted release. But for her there was only one way that would really do it for her. And that was feeling Alex deep inside her. Oral sex wouldn’t do. Petting, no matter how heavy, could never lessen the need.
She swallowed hard, just then realizing that Alex was staring as hardly at her as she was at him.
“Wait a minute,” she whispered, looking toward the large bed they had purposely avoided.
She brushed by Alex, the tips of her breasts rubbing against his wide chest as she made her way to the nightstand to the right of the bed. She opened and closed the three drawers there, then rounded the bed and checked the drawers on the other side.
No condoms.
What kind of hosts were the Theismans, anyway?
She felt Alex’s heat against her back where she stood staring at the nightstand. She wanted to scream with the frustration of it all. Until she felt something cold encircle her left wrist, then heard the unmistakable sound of metal teeth ratcheting against each other.
“Sorry,” Alex said into her ear. “But once I say what I have to, I think you’ll understand.”
