LITMIR.BIZ

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the station house. Kane ignored the harassment and parked himself in an open chair, kicking his legs out in front of him. He exhaled deep and easy, keeping up a steady beat. Relaxation came, but it was hard-won and destined not to last.

      He’d taken one look at that angel-like face and known the geek cover wouldn’t work. He’d given it a shot anyway…because it would have been a hell of a lot easier to keep his distance from the woman if he wasn’t acting like himself. He was a professional. Attraction was never supposed to come into play.

      Kane let out a groan. But he’d never seen eyes so wide-set and green and he’d damn sure never seen curves like hers anywhere but on a magazine centerfold. Desire hadn’t hit him so hard or fast since he’d been a teenager.

      “Well? Did the McDermott charm do her in?”

      At the sound of the commanding voice, Kane lifted his gaze. Since he’d been pulled into the assignment last minute, he hadn’t had a chance to go over his cover with Reid. Kane was grateful. He’d never live it down if the captain thought he’d gone in acting like a pencil-pushing geek. “She didn’t say no, if that’s what you’re asking. You get the tickets?”

      Reid ran a hand over his balding head. “You’re a pain in the ass, McDermott. Yeah, I called my brother-in-law and told him my best detective was into bribery now.”

      Kane shrugged. “Like I had a choice? Besides you’re the one who insisted I take some R&R.”

      Reid’s face grew somber. “Don’t try to con me, McDermott. I’ve known you since you were a wise guy in the academy. You watch a kid get killed and you tell me you don’t need R&R?” Reid snorted. “I haven’t seen you so shaken since your first shot actually hit its target.”

      Kane didn’t reply. The captain was right. When he was a rookie, Kane had fatally wounded a suspect when he’d closed a drug bust. The captain had picked Kane up and taken him home afterward, and, since then, the Reids had become the family Kane insisted he didn’t need.

      The captain knew him well. More importantly, he had accepted him. Despite Kane’s surly attitude and attempts to remain aloof, Reid pushed anyway, including him on holidays and family gatherings. After a while, the older man’s persistence had paid off. Kane couldn’t bring himself to insult Reid or his wife by turning them down, though he squelched the small part of him that wanted to enjoy the sense of family they provided. Kane limited the occasions, but he still knew the Reid clan better than he knew anyone else.

      “At least these tickets will work to our advantage,” Reid said in his raspy voice.

      “You really ought to lay off the smokes, Captain.”

      Reid scowled at him. “Worried I won’t be around to bug you?” He laughed. “I’m too tough to die.”

      “You got that right,” Kane muttered, refusing to admit he cared too much about his boss.

      “Thanks to the predicted drop in temperature, the lady should be more than eager to share body heat,” he said, ignoring Kane as usual. “She seem interested?”

      Kane folded his arms behind his head and leaned back to ponder the question. The old chair and springs creaked beneath his weight in a familiar song. Had Kayla Luck been interested?

      “More after I told her I knew Fredericks.” Their tip regarding Charmed! had come from a reliable source—an up-and-coming politician who’d gotten caught with his pants down. He’d been more than willing to talk in exchange for keeping his escapade out of the headlines.

      Reid had gotten a list of Charmed!’s legitimate clientele over the past year. Fredericks seemed squeaky-clean and nervous to have his name tainted by scandal. Kane hadn’t trusted the guy to keep quiet should Kayla contact him about his salesman friend, Kane McDermott, so he’d concocted the story about Fredericks being transferred overseas. Fredericks had been jumpy but sincere and he’d sung Kayla Luck’s charms, including her honesty.

      “At least you picked a winner out of the hat.”

      Kane nodded in agreement. If Kayla had reacted badly to the name, the plan would have been shot to hell. “I’m good at what I do. Think she’ll take the bait?”

      Kane recalled the sultry smile, the soft pout of her lips and the coyly phrased question. Why don’t we see how things go? “Yes…and no.” She’d been interested, all right. The thought caused a steady, pulsing rhythm in his veins. But he could deal with a sexual attraction. Lust and desire were two sensations he could easily handle.

      The lady’s other qualities were another story. A naive innocence lurked beneath the seductive body. She lacked the hard edge he’d expected, the tough facade he’d been prepared to face. Instead she’d been uncertain and unsure. She might have grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, but life hadn’t visibly hardened her, at least not yet.

      Lush curves on the outside and a gentleness on the inside. It was the softness that beckoned to him and that shook him up.

      “Either the lady’s running more than a charm school or she isn’t,” the Captain said.

      Kane shrugged, recalling her uneasiness at dealing with compliments and her unwillingness to accept his initial invitation. An act? A game designed to bait a man, to entice him until they fell into a sweaty tangle between the sheets? Or the ultimate rarity on this planet, an honest soul with nothing to hide? Kane had no idea.

      “We’ll see.”

      Captain Reid smacked his hand on the metal desk. “No, you’ll see, McDermott. Just make sure you pay more attention to the lady than you do to the game.”

      Kane didn’t take offense. The old man’s gruff ways had kept Kane going too many times, when he’d watched neighborhood friends overdose or go down on a bust. The older man had faith in a young kid even when no one else cared enough to bother. He knew Kane’s sense of duty was strong.

      “After this one I don’t want to see your sorry butt in here until the middle of next week.”

      “A good weekend to you, too. Say hi to Marge.”

      “Do it yourself,” Reid grumbled. “She says you don’t come by often enough.” He turned and strode back into his office.

      Kane got his mind back on the case. He let the captain’s words about Kayla sink in. Doling out attention to Ms. Luck wouldn’t be a hardship. In her silk top and pearl earrings she was a sexy woman who any guy would be lucky to claim as his own.

      Except a cop whose job it was to take down a prostitution ring…if it existed. Her place could be a front as his informant claimed. Maybe the sister knew more than Kayla, but according to his files, Catherine Luck had signed over ownership and was more concerned with her education than the school that paid for it.

      He swiveled back and forth in his seat. He had a hard time believing the innocence in that green-eyed gaze wasn’t real but an act for the customer’s benefit. His hands clenched into fists at the thought of Miss Kayla Luck.

      Chemistry flared between them hot and strong. Unmistakable. Verbal seduction wouldn’t be a problem tonight, but keeping his hands to himself just might be. He shook his head, trying to dislodge any thoughts caused more by emotion than common sense. Cash in exchange for sex, he reminded himself. Money up-front. Stick to the plan and the answers would follow.

      And Kane always stuck to the plan. As a punk kid, he’d followed a different code of conduct than the one he lived by now, but respecting the law on the street had kept him alive. As a cop, he walked on the other side. The rules were different but the reasoning the same. If he followed the rules, he kept his edge honed. Anything less and he didn’t deserve his badge.

      Kane closed his eyes and a vision of Kayla danced before them. Between a body made for a man’s touch and a heart-shaped face that would test a saint, he had the distinct notion he needed that edge more than ever before.

      

      “IT’S A BASEBALL GAME, not

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