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“Well, that’s a hell of an endorsement.” It’s not like he was going to try to talk her into anything.
But he sensed a kiss in their future, damn it, and he hadn’t wanted to indulge in that particular experience in full view of Sixty-second Street.
Lexi heard the grumbling note in his voice and wondered if she’d offended him. She hadn’t meant to.
Strangely, she did trust him. If he had meant to hurt her, he wouldn’t have knuckled under to her flirtatious handcuff job at the bar. He’d cooled his heels in her jail cell for hours, and still wanted to walk her home.
It was herself she didn’t trust.
Josh’s big, solid presence had her pulse racing and her fingers itching to touch him. When he’d taken her hands in his and breathed over her skin, she’d nearly shot right out of her shoes.
Her mind had fast-forwarded to all sorts of scenarios that involved Josh’s breath on her flesh. She wanted to taste him, breathe him, explore every inch of that muscular body…but she wouldn’t.
Not here. Not on her home turf.
It would give the whole encounter way too much significance. She’d never be able to sleep in her bed again with the same sense of peace. She’d never be able to feel like the queen of her own palace again. There would be a man’s shadow cast over her kingdom, a fear that maybe the world she’d built for herself wasn’t enough.
And she would not allow that to happen.
When the elevator doors opened on the twelfth floor, Lexi stepped out, willing her heart to slow down a few notches.
“I’m this way,” she said, digging her keys out of her purse. She wondered if her four-legged babies would hear her coming down the hall or if they were all fast asleep.
She stopped at the door of her apartment, not hearing any telltale barks. Maybe she’d be able to visit with Josh for a minute, to at least smooth things over with him, as long as her pets seemed settled.
“Thanks for the escort,” she said, her gaze bouncing all over the deserted hallway, lighting anywhere but on him.
“My pleasure.”
He stood close enough to remind her of his potent effect, but not so close that she felt crowded.
She twirled one fringed end of her shawl and searched for a way to end things on a light note. “I mean, I’m not afraid to make the walk by myself, but I’ll admit it’s sort of cool to trek around the city with my own bodyguard.”
His gray eyes narrowed. A silver light glittered in their depths. “Maybe you ought to put your body in my hands a little more often.”
Lexi backed up a step, his soft words a deft blow to her defenses. She felt an answering simmer in her veins, a heat that bubbled just below the surface. “That might be a bit of a risk.”
He edged closer, stealing her breath along with her thoughts. He placed one hand on either side of her, bracketing her against her apartment door. The dominant position made Lexi think about lying beneath him in her bed, his arms levering him above her body as he made love to her.
“Honey, you just let me take all the risks. I’m here to take care of your body, remember?”
She breathed his scent—smoke and scotch from the bar, but some sort of soapy scent, too—and fought for her balance. She hadn’t been this close to a man for nearly two years.
And being close to this particular man was a test of self-discipline Lexi wasn’t sure she could pass.
She’d picked him out at the bar because he had a reckless sort of look, a hint of danger that had appealed to her daring mood.
Only she wasn’t feeling so daring now. And in spite of that badge, Josh Winger was proving every bit as dangerous as she’d imagined.
“Josh?” All she had to do was tell him good-night. She steeled herself to send him away, to end the heat wave on the twelfth floor.
Too bad she looked up to find his gaze focused on her mouth.
“Hmm?” His answer sounded as distracted as she felt.
She swallowed, battling the urge to just close her eyes. No words came.
She licked her lips in a renewed effort to speak. Too late, she realized her mistake.
The strangled noise he made in his throat wavered between a growl and a groan, a hungry sound that rumbled right through her in the moment before his mouth met hers.
Her lips parted on a welcoming sigh, her little moan of delight sounding foreign to her ears.
Hints of a five-o’clock shadow gone rogue scraped her chin and cheeks. His tongue teased over hers in a stroke of warm velvet. The fire she’d been playing with ever since she’d spotted him leapt out of control—inside her body and out.
The whiskey taste of him drugged her until his hungry mouth went questing down her throat. She shivered at the wet heat of the kiss, and wriggled her way closer to the hard wall of his chest.
Josh’s hands fell away from the door to hold her against him. He stroked his way down her spine, sealing her body to his with each new inch of sequined territory. His arousal nudged her belly and fed her imagination, making her want to drag him inside and indulge herself in him.
She thought about dropping her purse and her keys so she could run her hands all over him, soak in the feel of him through her fingertips.
Before she had a chance, he pried himself away.
Lexi blinked, confused.
“Honey, I need to know if this is what you want.”
She didn’t have to ask what “this” was. “This” currently strained against her, sizzling her from the outside in.
Somewhere in the passion fog of her brain, she heard a dog bark. For the first time in her life, she didn’t want to run inside to greet her pets.
She wanted this man, this feeling, this renewed sense of daring to last all night long. She’d figure out how to handle the backlash tomorrow, when her hormones weren’t conspiring against her.
Right now, all she could think of was finishing the game she’d started in the bar.
Lexi wriggled against him shamelessly. “Don’t make me break out the handcuffs again, Detective. You’re not going anywhere tonight.”
4
HANDCUFFS and a sex goddess. The fates had granted Josh all his best fantasies in one feisty package called Lexi Mansfield.
Lust surged through him with renewed force. Lexi had just given him the green light.
He withdrew her apartment keys from her fingers, eager to proceed inside before she changed her mind. Women like Lexi didn’t come along every day, at least not in the world Josh lived in. His usual dates were women he’d met at the gym, women who wanted the same things from a relationship he did—physical release and a simple good time. Josh had no complaints about those relationships, but he wasn’t about to let anything mess up his chance to play bondage games with a spitfire dominatrix.
He’d barely pushed his way inside Lexi’s apartment when a pack of wild dogs rushed him. The restrained barks he’d heard a few moments ago turned into a chorus of raucous canine yipping and howling. Josh couldn’t see the animals in Lexi’s darkened foyer, but he could hear the snapping jaws, glimpse the flashes of white teeth around his knees.
“That’s enough, guys,” Lexi admonished, somehow managing to shoo the brood down a short hallway. “You can play in the guest room while Mama has company.”
As the barking died down, Josh became aware of a bird chirping in the background. The hum of a fish tank circulator provided a soft white noise, drawing his eye toward a small aquarium and the lone source of light in the room. One pink fish swam around bright cliffs of coral in its home on the kitchen counter.
Distracted by the menagerie, Josh failed to notice Lexi’s return until she was a few feet in front of him. He couldn’t distinguish all the particulars, but he could tell she’d ditched her high heels somewhere along the way. Not only had she grown quieter, but also she’d lost a few inches. Josh guessed if he pulled her close her head would just reach his shoulder.
“Sorry about that.”
Wariness threaded through her words. Hesitation. Second thoughts.
“Not a problem.” He stepped closer, looking for ways to gain lost ground. He had a hunch that if he struck out with Lexi tonight, there wouldn’t be any second chance. Her house full of pets had him thinking she wasn’t the sort of woman who lived on the edge very often.
Normally when he brought a woman home from the gym or the boxing club, he would simply initiate a carnal wrestling match that would leave them both breathless and more than satisfied. But he got the impression Lexi was the kind of woman who wouldn’t appreciate the erotic possibilities of a half nelson.
“The animals miss me when I go out.” She traced her toe along one of the floorboards in the foyer, her body backlit by the blue glow of the fish tank. “They’re excited to see me.”
“I can hardly blame them.” Josh nudged aside the folds of her black shawl to trace one finger along the delicate ridge of her collarbone. “Just standing next to you makes me feel like howling.”
Her heartbeat pounded just below the heel of his hand.
“Don’t tell me I’m going to have to lock you up in the guest bedroom, too.”
He smoothed his hand over her shoulder and allowed his fingers to skim along her back. “I think I could better serve you if you’d lock me up in your bedroom.”
She couldn’t hide her answering shiver. Josh felt it right through his fingertips. Nevertheless, she shook her head resolutely.
“Sorry. I’ve seen how much you resent captivity. I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
Josh heard the underlying message, despite the haze of lust that had him in a chokehold. He paused his fingertip exploration of her back, unwilling to use sensual means to get his own way tonight.
“Lexi, are you uncomfortable with me being here?” He wanted this woman more than he’d wanted anything in recent memory. Make that long-term memory. But he wanted her at full speed, all or nothing, as hungry for him as he was for her. He searched her face for some clue to her real feelings.
Damn it, but she looked familiar to him. Still, he would remember having met a woman like Lexi. He had to be mistaken.
The fish tank burbled softly, while he waited. The chirping bird in the background provided an obnoxiously happy accompaniment.
“You want to know the truth?” Finally, she tossed her shawl aside and planted jeweled fists on her hips.
In his mind’s eye he saw her donning boxing gloves, preparing for the round in which she would deliver the knockout blow—the “go home” speech.
“Nothing but the truth,” he returned, realizing he meant it. He didn’t want a sugarcoated speech from this woman. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what you want.”
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, then slowly settled back into place as her gaze narrowed.
“Then, I’ll tell you exactly what I want, Josh Winger.” She spun on her bare heel and stalked into the living room. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the subdued light of the fish tank he could see her toenails were painted bright blue.
“I want a man to take me seriously for once.” She folded her arms over her compact body, a body visibly thrumming with an emotion he couldn’t fully identify. “For that matter, I would settle for anyone taking me seriously for once.”
“Well—”
Before he could respond, she burst into motion again, stomping around her living room sofa to pose by her coffee table. “I mean, look at me. Why can’t anyone appreciate the fashion sense I impart to all of New York? I know how to be tasteful and refined.” She pointed a finger in his direction and then started a slow trek back to him. “The point is, I don’t allow myself to fall into a rut of the refined but boring clothes that we’ve seen done to death for the past decade.”
He was so far out of his element he might as well have been swimming in the tank with the damn fish.
“I think you really look great—”
“I am willing to take risks, and that’s what no one seems to understand.” In the course of her emphatic speech, a few more locks of hair slipped free of the knot on top of her head. He was trying to follow what she was saying, damn it, but thoughts of unpinning that hair and seeing how much of her body it would cover was more than a little distracting.
“I might mix a few over-the-top colors, and I admit that my go-go boots with the Gucci cocktail dress was a definite mistake, but the point is, I push the boundaries.” By now, she stood toe to toe with him. “I am willing to try something different in order to create something unique and beautiful.”
She gazed up at him, eyes so dark they looked like a doll’s—all one color, with no hint of where the pupil ended and the iris began.
Clearly, the time had arrived for him to speak.
“I am definitely willing to try something different,” he said, trying to steer the conversation back toward bedrooms and handcuffs.
By the defeated slope of her shoulders he sensed that wasn’t the right thing to do.
Damn.
He scratched his head in the vain hope of stimulating a few coherent thoughts, and took a final stab at it. “But I understand what you’re saying. About taking risks, I mean.”
Her hip cocked to one side as she shifted her weight. The stance broadcast her skepticism more loudly than if she’d rolled her eyes, but at least she was listening.
“Like tonight, for example. I took a risk by not running to the tuxedo shop for the monkey suit I was supposed to have worn. The dinner jacket was a risk, as was the earring. But I’m not the kind of guy who makes concessions easily.”
He hoped that was a smile playing along the line of her mouth.
“But, like you, I know when to play it safe, too. I knew enough to grab the shiny silver tie out of my closet instead of the red-striped one. Shiny silver says I can bow to convention when I need to, right?”
Lexi laughed. Was this guy for real? Any other man would have run screaming for her door at the first mention of fashion. Then again, there was nothing ordinary about Josh Winger. She stepped closer to trail her fingers down the tie in question.
“Maybe we do have a few things in common,” she admitted, enjoying the way her fingernails rasped against the crisp cotton of his shirt. “But as much as I would like for something to happen between us tonight, I’m still not sure.”
She’d broken every rule of smart dating by letting a guy she barely knew inside her apartment and then telling him no. But she trusted Josh on a gut level, and she had always been the kind of woman to let her instincts guide her.
“What do you need to make you feel sure?”
His words were surprisingly gentle, coming from a man who looked like he could have been cast as a mobster in a shoot-’em-up flick.
“I felt more ready to be with you when I thought things could remain sort of impersonal.” She knew she had to stop touching him, had to take a step back from his big, sexy body. But the planes of his chest fascinated her, called to her, wouldn’t let her stop the fingertip massage of all those male muscles.
“You’re afraid of getting too personal?”
There was a hoarse edge to his voice that made her wonder if her touch affected him as much as it did her.
She nodded, not trusting her own voice.
He gripped her wrists in his palms, lightly restraining her. “That feels phenomenal, but I can’t think straight when you touch me like that.”
Feminine pride curled through her, even though he seemed to have no idea he’d just paid her a compliment. She whispered a mental “in your face” to all her detractors tonight.
