Red-Hot & Reckless Read online

  She paused, trying to judge if Alex was listening. He didn’t move or say anything.

  “The brooch was a gift from my dad on their wedding day.” She turned her head toward him. “Not stolen. They spent their wedding night at the Waldorf Astoria and went on a few long strolls through the city.” She smiled sadly, hating that she had to qualify everything. “One of their walks took them past Tiffany’s.”

  It had been a long time since she’d thought of her mother. Remembered what life had been like with her in it. Yet during the past few days with Alex, she’d found herself dusting out that corner of her mind, tentatively exploring it.

  But he appeared to have completely closed himself off to her.

  She tried to move her leg away from his touch, her emotional condition too raw, the memories of her mother telling her this story too vivid. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You don’t want to hear it.”

  Alex refused to release his grip. But where his touch had been possessively rough earlier, now it was unbearably gentle.

  “What happened to the brooch?” he asked.

  Nicole blinked to stare at the ceiling, trying to dry the tears that had accumulated in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t know. I think my father may have buried it with her.” She paused. “Oh, how she loved that brooch.” She closed her eyes. “She used to get it out every Sunday and wear it to dinner. She never wore it outside. She joked that she and Dad never went anywhere for her to wear it anyway. And even if they had, she would be too afraid to wear it outside, you know, in case someone would steal it.”

  Silence stretched between them. Nicole swore she could hear her own heart beating and was convinced that if she listened hard enough, she might hear Alex’s, too.

  “Did she approve of your father’s profession?”

  She took in his words and moved them around her mind. “What? Plumbing?”

  She heard him move. She looked to find him studying her.

  She smiled as she said softly, “My mother never knew what my father did before she met him.”

  “But when she died…”

  She cleared her throat. “When she died, he hung up his tool belt for good and returned to being a full-time thief.”

  “And brought you into the business with him.”

  Her heartbeat leapt. “No. My brother and I…we’d been getting into a lot of trouble at school. You know, playing hooky, fighting with other kids, insulting teachers. My father didn’t know what to do with me and Jeremy. So he started teaching us how to plumb.”

  She saw Alex smile in the dark.

  Nicole smiled back. “Don’t laugh. I could repipe this entire building.”

  She turned her face away, the sadness within her spreading instead of lessening. She thought of the past, of her mother, her father, her brother and what had happened to them all. She’d never pitied herself before. Had never given herself permission to grieve what could have been. She’d merely forged ahead and survived the best way she knew how.

  Her gaze rested on the jewelry again. “You know, I never keep the Tiffany pieces I steal permanently,” she whispered. “I only keep them for a couple of days then I make sure they get back to their rightful owner. Anonymously, of course.”

  Silence, then a quiet, “I know.”

  The empty space in her chest filled briefly with warmth. She’d never really experienced the power of a shared knowing before. Understanding. Acceptance that what she said was true.

  Nicole heard Alex shift. When she turned her head to see what he was doing, she found him hovering over her. He nudged her knees apart and stared intensely down into her eyes. She didn’t sense any anger in him. No need to possess her. Instead the man looking at her ranged somewhere between the angry Alex and the uptight yet adventurous guy she’d first met.

  “Tell me why you did that today,” he said quietly.

  She tried to turn her head away. He caught her chin in his fingers and gently turned her back to meet his gaze. “Tell me.”

  She looked at his wide chest and shoulders through her lashes, thinking that maybe she should try to break her habit of seeking out guys with those qualities. But even as she thought it, she knew that she wouldn’t be seeking out any man other than Alex for a long time to come. “I was scared.”

  His breathing was even, patient. “Scared of what?”

  She blinked to look into his eyes. “Scared of losing you.” She swallowed hard. “Scared of not losing you.”

  He squinted at her, as if trying to make sense out of her words.

  “Don’t try,” she told him. “I don’t understand it either.”

  He gave her a soft, crooked smile. “Oh, I think I understand more than you know, Nic.”

  Then he dipped his head to kiss her.

  Nicole’s breath caught. She was still as he brushed his lips against hers, then kissed the right corner of her mouth…then the left. The warmth in her chest expanded outward, making her shiver again, but this time for a different reason. This time because she felt cherished instead of used.

  Alex pulled back slightly, smoothing her hair back from her face. “So beautiful…”

  Nicole wanted to look away, but couldn’t. She read in his eyes, his expression, his touch, complete sincerity. And the honesty almost proved too much for her to bear.

  “When I first saw you in Baltimore, I thought that my grandmother would say you had the eyes of a witch.” He gently kissed her right brow. “The kind of eyes that could make men do things they otherwise wouldn’t.” He lowered his mouth to press his lips against her closed eyelid then moved to her other eye. “I wish my grandmother could have met you.”

  Nicole’s heart skipped a beat. That he should be so generous after what she’d done to his parents made her heart ache.

  “She would have given you as much hell as you’d have given her,” he murmured, lowering his mouth until he nuzzled her chin. “Unfortunately it’s that fire, that spunk, that got her killed.”

  Such serious words said in such a soft way made Nicole stiffen.

  “It’s okay. It was a long time ago. She was working at my father’s grocery. One afternoon while she was working by herself a couple of thugs came in and started lifting the more expensive items. Instead of raising the alarm, she went for the shotgun behind the counter. Only the thieves got off a round first.”

  Nicole gently grasped his head in her hands. “Oh, Alex. I’m sorry.”

  He paused and laid his head between her breasts. “That’s the reason I decided to become a cop, you know? I always thought that one day I’d catch up with the guys who killed Yiayia, my grandmother.”

  Nicole ran her fingers slowly, lightly over his silky hair.

  She was surprised when she felt his tongue against her breast. “You do something to me, Nicole.” He lifted his head to look at her. “I don’t know what it is, or how you do it, but I’m not the same guy I was before I met you.” He smiled. “Maybe my grandmother would have been right. You bewitched me from the first moment I looked into those magnificent eyes of yours.”

  She quietly laughed, but there was little humor there.

  “All I know is that I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

  The words were said so quietly that Nicole almost didn’t hear them. But more important than the words was the intense emotion that lurked behind them.

  “All I can think of is kissing you,” he murmured, his fingers finding and encircling her right breast. “Of running my tongue over your body.” He squeezed the soft flesh then took her nipple into his mouth, sucking lightly.

  Her heart beat a hammering rhythm in her chest.

  “Of touching you…”

  He slid his hand down to her rib cage, then over her waist, his thumb pausing at her navel before drifting down lower to her vulva.

  Her breath caught as he used his index finger and thumb to part her swollen folds. Tender flesh that burned and ached from the angry sex they’d had earlier. He slid down and blew on the delic
ate area. “Of tasting you…”

  He moved the tip of his tongue around her tight bud, then pulled the button of flesh between his lips, nibbling before he sucked.

  Nicole’s back came up off the mattress as flames licked over her skin, setting her on fire.

  “So soft,” he whispered, running his thumbs over her cleanly shaven labia. “So sweet.”

  He took her into his mouth again and she moaned, grabbing handfuls of bed linens in her fists.

  She watched through her lashes, transfixed, as he slowly slid two fingers up into her body then twisted them clockwise, providing a sensation she’d never experienced before. He withdrew his fingers then slowly entered her again, this time turning them counterclockwise, then following the curve of the vaginal walls, slightly curling his fingers until he hit her G-spot. He gently rubbed the nerve center then increased the suction of his mouth, sending Nicole soaring into a world of white-hot sensation.

  She slowly glided back to earth, her breathing ragged, her skin covered in sweat. She looked down to find Alex’s head lying across her stomach. She moved to smooth back his hair, finding her hand trembling from the intensity of her orgasm.

  “Good?” he whispered.

  She smiled languidly. “Good doesn’t begin to cover it.”

  He lifted himself to a sitting position, then brought her up to straddle his hips. She wrapped her legs and arms around him, holding tight to everything that was him. Everything solid and safe and so very sexy.

  She clung to him for a long moment, feeling his heart beat against hers. She felt like she’d been given a rare second chance. She stared into his eyes while he unwrapped a condom and sheathed himself. Then, finally, he was filling her. Entirely. Completely. Slowly.

  The word slowly caught in her mind, but she couldn’t respond to it. Felt no need, no urgency to speed things up. Instead, she let him set the pace. Just like she had earlier in the day when he’d seemed intent on punishing her for her bad judgment.

  The emotions rolling through her were terrifying…yet oddly freeing. And she was helpless to do anything but give herself over to them.

  Alex smoothed his hands over Nicole’s hips then inched them back to her bottom, parting her slightly to allow for deeper penetration. He stretched his neck back and gritted his teeth as she took every millimeter of him deep into her body, her heat completely engulfing him.

  He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment Nicole had surrendered to him. Earlier, she’d given as good as she got, meeting his almost violent attention with an aggression of her own. Now…

  He gently lifted her hips then slowly brought her back down again.

  Now she seemed content to trust him.

  He stroked her supple bottom, sensing they had reached a turning point, moved beyond the fork they had faced a little while ago.

  Sweat dripped from his forehead, sloping down his nose then dropping to where her breasts swayed against his chest. He’d been so very close to shutting her out of his life for good. And now it seemed there wasn’t a person in this world that he felt closer to.

  He slid his hands up her silken back then buried his fingers in her long, dark hair. She hummed and bent her head back. The look of pure passion on her face made his heart pump all the harder.

  In and out…in and out. Their bodies moved as if in slow motion, prolonging the strokes, exploring sensations neither had experienced before.

  And when they reached climax, they did so together, their bodies intertwined, the connection complete….

  “A PERSON COULD get used to this.”

  “Mmm,” Alex agreed.

  He rubbed the arch of his foot against the top of Nicole’s under the breakfast bar in his kitchen. Neither of them wore anything but smiles where they sat on the chrome-and-red vinyl stools. The Monday morning sun was just beginning to break the horizon outside the windows. The fan rattled and spit, but otherwise the world was silent and dark and intimate as he and Nicole sat drinking much-needed coffee.

  “Are you sure you have to go into work this morning?” she murmured, tucking her glorious dark hair behind her ear.

  Cat jumped up onto the counter to see what the fuss was about. Alex didn’t even flinch, not caring where the fearless feline went at this point. He was coming to see the truth in the saying that you didn’t own a cat; rather, they owned you.

  Cat sniffed his coffee cup, narrowed his eyes at him, then butted his head against his hand. Alex lethargically scratched him behind the ears. “Sorry, dude, but that’s all the energy I can spare right now.”

  Cat twitched his tail then jumped off the counter and sashayed back to his favorite chair in the corner.

  Nicole smiled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you two have called a truce.”

  Alex wanted to say that they weren’t the only ones. Wanted to tell Nicole that his head had called a truce in the battle with his heart. It didn’t matter what she did or didn’t do for a living. He loved her.

  The words should have caught him by surprise. But they didn’t. Now that he’d identified the feeling that had taken him by storm, he recognized he’d had all the warning signs.

  “What are you grinning about?” Nicole whispered, upping the ante in their game of footsie by walking her toes up the inside of his leg.

  “I’m not grinning.”

  She laughed as she put her cup down. “You are, too.”

  He considered her in the dim purple light of dawn. He felt his face. “Oh, yeah. I guess I am.”

  Nicole’s other foot followed the same path as the first until she had both feet in his lap. She gazed at him as she took a long sip of coffee. “Do you really have to go into work this morning?”

  “Mmm.” Alex took a koulouraki—a Greek vanilla cookie—from the plate his mother had sent home with him then pushed the rest toward Nicole. “Someone has to keep this boat afloat.”

  She snickered as she bit into a cookie. “Boat afloat, huh?”

  He nodded, chasing his own cookie with coffee.

  She considered him. “You’re going ahead with that fake policy, aren’t you?” she asked quietly.

  He didn’t say anything.

  “You know the auction is tomorrow, don’t you? And that the most likely time for D.M. to hit it will be tonight when the staff are readying the pieces for display.”

  “Yes.” He avoided her gaze. “And I don’t want you anywhere near that place.”

  “I thought you didn’t think it was D.M.’s target.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Well, that makes a lot of sense.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” He grinned, blithely ignoring her sarcasm. “Anyway, I hope to have this thing wrapped up tonight, so there won’t be any reason for you to go to that auction.”

  She was shaking her head. “I can’t believe how off base you are.”

  He wasn’t willing to discuss that just now. He was enjoying the no-conflict zone they were currently in the middle of and didn’t want to upset it.

  “By the way, my sister wouldn’t happen to have let on what she wanted to talk to me about while you two were doing dishes yesterday, did she?”

  Nicole’s chewing slowed, as if the mention of what had happened at his parents’ upset her.

  “Never mind. I’ll give her a call today.” He dipped another cookie into his cup. “After meeting you, I wonder if she’s decided to bring her own boyfriend home.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  Alex nodded. “I figure that’s got to be the reason she stays away from home so often.”

  Nicole stared at her cup. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”

  “And another way would be?”

  She looked up. “That Athena may be bringing her girlfriend home.”

  He shrugged. “No big deal. My parents have already met all of her…”

  He drifted off as he realized that by “girlfriend” Nicole didn’t mean old buddy, old pal, but rather…

  “Lover?” he nearly croaked. />
  Nicole smiled and nodded.

  “She told you that?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “No, I didn’t know. Isn’t that obvious?” He thrust his fingers into his hair and held them there. “Holy shit, my mother’s going to have a cow.”

  “I think your mother’s made of sterner stuff than you give her credit for.” She shrugged as she reached for his cup then dipped her cookie into his coffee. She bit into it. “Besides, homosexuality wasn’t exactly invented yesterday, you know. From what I understand, the Greeks have been onto it for years. Centuries even.”

  Alex stared at her. “Very funny.”

  “I thought you needed a reality check.”

  He grumbled under his breath and gently moved her feet from his lap so he could get up. “I’d better go catch a shower and get ready for work.”

  “Care for some company?”

  He grinned at her. “Oh, I think I can come up with a thing or two you can wash for me….”

  IT HAD BEEN A WHILE since Nicole had been behind the wheel of a car. It had taken her a good five minutes to grow accustomed to the sensitivity of the brakes and accelerator of the used compact she had rented downtown. She fussed with the visor so she could block the late-morning summer sun streaming in through the windows, then cranked up the air conditioner. The car next to her beeped. Oops. She’d drifted into the other lane.

  She righted the car then waved her apologies to the other driver.

  Who needed a cell phone to get into an accident? Native New Yorkers who weren’t used to driving were a danger unto themselves.

  She glanced at the dash clock, trying to estimate the time she’d be back in the city. It all depended on how long her visit took. She shivered then reached to turn the temperature back up again, not sure if her nervousness or the car’s internal cooling system was to blame for her heat flashes.

  She thought of Alex and smiled softly.

  Last night…

  Another beep.

  She righted the car again and decided that if she hoped to stay alive, last night should remain right where it was. For now.