Page 39 of Under Fire

When the waitress brought the check, Hollis suggested they split it, but he refused. “It’s my treat, and I enjoyed the company. I’m glad we found other things to talk about other than the Halifax case.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

“I’m curious, what do you do for entertainment around here?” he asked.

“I usually go to Busch Gardens and ride a few of the roller coasters there. I can think of no better way to give your mind and your heart a good workout. Then once in a while I’ll catch the train to Miami just for the fun of doing so. It gives me a chance to people-watch without suspecting them of anything. I just imagine in my mind what kind of life they live.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that she do that for her brother’s birthday weekend, but he figured she would want to do something different. Something she normally wouldn’t do. Like going away for the weekend with him to Atlanta.

He pushed the thought from his mind again. “Ready to leave?”

She smiled at him. “Yes, I’m ready.”

***

A few hours later, Hollis glanced at her notepad. It was filled with notations she had jotted down. Specifically, things that she needed to check out. Tomorrow would be another ‘out-in-the-field day’ for her to check out various leads. She didn’t particularly like that someone thought that they were tracking her every movement. She planned to set Rexar to a decoy mode for one of the spas and several boutiques at different malls. Whoever was tracking her would assume she was taking the day off for beauty and shopping. Something a typical woman would do.

She glanced at her fingernails and thought visiting the spa wasn’t a bad idea. Hopefully this weekend she would find the time. But not before then. She needed to dig deeper into her investigation. For some reason, she felt she was on to something; she just didn’t know what.

She glanced at her watch. It was close to ten, but she needed to keep going for a few more hours. That meant she needed an energy boost. Namely coffee. Locke had said he would be working late as well, but she hadn’t heard anything coming from his office across the hall. But then, she had been working with her door closed and assumed he had as well.

Getting up from her desk and opening the door, she saw his office door open and a light on. That meant he was probably still working. She hated disturbing him, but she needed that cup of coffee. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind the interruption.

She had reached his door, and just before she was about to make her presence known, something stopped her. Her gaze took in the way he sat at his desk, sleeves rolled up, shirt partially unbuttoned, accentuating what she saw as a well-built physique. He was reading a report that seemed to hold his attention.

And he was holding hers.

Hollis’ gaze moved over him. The lamp on his desk seemed to highlight his mahogany-colored skin. Then there was his angular jawline, framed by a neatly trimmed beard. His clean-shaven head gave him an even sexier look, and what she thought was a pair of the most delectable lips she had ever seen on a man nearly caused her to moan.

Maybe she did, because at that moment he looked up and caught her staring. Hell, she wouldn’t be surprised if she was drooling. It had been months ─ way too many ─ since she had spent any pleasure time with a man, and seeing this fine specimen of one now was giving her an itch she needed to scratch, but wouldn’t.

Their gazes held, and she felt heat of the most intense kind, slowly inching from her breast to settle at the juncture of her thighs. She hadn’t ever been drawn into such an entrancing pair of eyes as his. They were dark and mesmerizing, with the ability to draw you in and make you dangerously yearn for things you were better off not having. Now she understood why some called him Danger.

“Is anything wrong, Hollis?”

She could ask him the same question since he’d seemed as captivated with her as she was with him. And why did his voice have to sound as sexy as the rest of him? Thanks to Derek and his friends, she understood the male psyche better than women’s. She had quickly learned to decipher the coded words they had used around her, had found copies of his Playboy magazines that always seemed stuck to the centerfold, his drawer filled with condoms, and had eavesdropped numerous times on his telephone conversations with women when he would promise nights they would never forget, often in explicit detail.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you, but I need a cup of coffee,” she answered, saying.

“No, you’re not disturbing me. In fact, I could use a cup myself,” he said, standing.

She preferred if he had remained seated. Now she was getting the full Locke Dangerfield effect as she watched him move around his desk to go to where the coffee stand was located. Did his walk have to be so darn sexy and his arousal that obvious, even when he was trying to shield it? Didn’t he know there were some things a man couldn’t hide?

“I didn’t hear your approach,” he said, as he went about making a fresh pot of coffee.

“Probably because I removed my shoes.”

He glanced down at her bare feet and nodded. “Yes, that’s probably why. To be honest, I’m glad you came in here.”

“Are you?” she asked. Those yearnings that she seemed to always feel around him, the ones that had kicked up a notch lately, made her hope they were on the same sensual page, although she shouldn’t be wishing such a thing.

“Yes. I read something in one of the police officers’ bios that I want to run past you.”

“Of course,” she said, fighting her disappointment. “What is it?”

He walked back to her and handed her the cup of coffee. Hollis fought back another moan when their fingers touched in the process. “Thanks,” she said, then eased down in the chair across from his desk. It was either do that or stand there, weak in the knees. After taking a sip of coffee, she licked her lips and noticed how his gaze watched the movement of her tongue.

“Is your coffee okay?” he asked.