hands.”
There were several places Lindy could take that statement, but with his deep voice resounding in the late-night quiet and his gaze steady, the only place she wanted to take it would place their attraction square on the table.
Lindy had always been a risk taker, so she sidled around and leaned toward him until they were face to face, so close she could make out the stubble on his cheeks, a shadow that contrasted with his hair.
The move threw sex between them as surely as if she’d flashed a neon sign. And the arrogant man only held her gaze, searching for something. The truth, perhaps, because he didn’t strike her as needing reassurances.
“I told you what we’re offering. Don’t you believe me?” The least she could do was shoot for earnest here, or as earnest as she could for someone who was lying through her teeth.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you…of course, I’m not saying I do believe you.”
“Of course.”
A smile appeared, twitching as if he was trying to hold it back. A good sign. He had such an attractive mouth, one that made it difficult not to remember his kiss.
She suspected his thoughts must be traveling a similar path because he closed the distance between them. Suddenly she could catch the scent of his aftershave on the night air—that hint of spicy fragrance and masculine ambrosia.
“To accept your deal, I’d have to trust your abilities, Lindy. And your agency’s.” His voice was low and sexy, drawing attention to their proximity.
“We’ve been watching you for six months, and I followed you to New York. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“It’s the reason I’m sitting here.”
Absurdly, she wanted him to admit he was sitting here because he was as tempted by her as she was by him. It was a ridiculous thought that had no place in her head while she was working. Yet with his confident statement ringing in her ears and the brush of his warm breath on her lips, her reactions were physical, distracting, real.
“You’ll have plenty of chances to take my measure, Joshua. I plan to stick to you like glue.”
“You can try.”
There was emphasis on try again, but she deemed it time to move past try. His mouth hovered against hers, a prelude to a kiss.
She was through trying to tempt him.
He seemed to be waiting, taking her measure, perhaps, or seeing what she’d do next. Sliding her hands into his lapels, she dragged him into their kiss, rewarded when his breath caught audibly.
It was odd at first. She’d kissed all sorts of men before, but lovers, never strangers, and never one of the bad guys.
But now she kissed him.
Lindy had always found control a liberating thing, and that feeling apparently ran to kissing bad guys, too. Slanting her mouth across his, she coaxed his lips wide with her tongue, savored the erotic taste of moist warm breath, felt challenged to make him respond.
He’d kissed her in the museum hallway as cover, but she kissed him now because she couldn’t resist. All this awareness happening between them was simply too delicious to ignore, too intense. She liked that she had this unexpected attraction to add weight to her cause. Almost as much as she liked kissing Joshua Benedict.
Almost as much as she liked him kissing her back.
Remembering the cathedral, Lindy wondered if she shouldn’t light her own candle.
Attraction this strong could only mean trouble.
And he proved the notion by raising a hand to touch her. She wanted him to go for the kill, to reach for her breasts, which were within easy range. Could he tell her nipples had gone all peaky or did her dress hide the evidence?
He dragged his fingers up her throat, a touch that felt more intimate than a bolder touch might have. Especially when he arched her neck so he could deepen their kiss.
Thrusting his tongue inside her mouth for a warm stroke, he took the lead with an assurance that rolled her insides as if they were as gooey as that first melting bite of a fresh-from-the-oven brownie.
She sank against him, caught up in the feel of his hands on her, the power of their clashing breaths and tangling tongues. Who knew they’d be so hot together? The thought had certainly never occurred to her, not even when she’d been caught staring at him.
But all questions about reactions vanished beneath the thrill of the moment, the fire of their kiss. Lindy sensed the instant he was about to lose his control, felt the gathering of his muscles before his arms came around her with whipcord strength. Suddenly, she came up hard against him, feeling the difference between close and closer.
He surrounded her with his broad chest and strong arms. Her breasts crushed against his chest so she could feel the steady thumping of his heart. Sliding her arms around him, she hung on, unable to resist the warm, solid feel of him, the way his body seemed to tuck around her in all the right places.
It was a moment that chased away all thoughts, all distractions. Indeed, how could work claim even a shred of her reason when excitement pulsed through her like a tide, when that soft place between her thighs grew warm?
Lindy arched against him and was rewarded when Joshua ground out a sound from low in his throat, a sound that assured her he was as caught up as she.
The night fell away, the city along with it, and not until a bus screeched to a halt directly in front of them did Lindy become aware of anything but the way her body sparked to life in contact with this man’s.
The bus doors hissed open with a whoosh, and Joshua and Lindy broke apart. She blinked stupidly as he disentangled himself and stood. He stared down at her, his dark gaze a caress, then he flashed a grin that was all satisfied male.
“I want to see what you’re made of, Lindy Gardner. If you can keep up with me, I might actually consider your deal.”
With that he turned and hopped onto the bus, leaving her staring at that cute bum as he strode up the stairs.
The doors shut with a whoosh. Joshua paid the fare and headed down the aisle as the bus lurched into motion again. Lindy watched it roll down the street in a gleam of red taillights, and she laughed, a sound that resounded through the late-night street.
“I’VE MADE CONTACT with our target,” Lindy said when the familiar image of her boss appeared on the high-definition notebook display.
Malcolm gave a curt nod, a gesture she knew translated into approval. “Care to share the details?”
“Not just yet.”
“Brief me.”
“We’re playing cat and mouse.”
“Care to define that? Just enough to assure me you’re the cat.”
“Meow.”
As
