Careless (8 page)

Tori climbed into his lap as he reached
down to force the seat back. She slid her zipper down, and somewhere in the
back of his mind, Mike knew there was a valid reason he should try to stop her.
But as she peeled the fabric down her torso, his sense of reason fled.

Mike cupped her breasts in his hands,
groaning when she ground into his arousal. He hiked the skirt of her dress up
past her waist as he licked and kissed every inch of bare skin. He hadn’t felt
like this since the last time they were together… out of control, desperate,
frantic to get inside of her head… her body... her heart. “Baby, I need you—”

“Yes…” She pressed her breast into his
mouth, silently begging him to abandon his need for control and yield to the
irresistible allure of what was happening between them. “Oh God… I need…” She
held on to his wrists when he reached for her panties. “No, don’t.”

“Why the hell not?” If she was intent on
teasing him to exact her revenge for the night he’d thrown her out of his apartment,
he didn’t know how he was supposed to harness his longing now that she’d
unleashed it.

“I don’t want you to see—” She jumped when
a tap on the window alerted them they weren’t alone. “Oh no,” she said,
scrambling to get off his lap. “How could I forget they were coming?”

Mike couldn’t believe he’d been so caught
up in Tori he forgot about the case. Never in his career had that happened to
him. Work came first, everything else a distant second, until now. “Relax, the
windows are tinted. They can’t see anything.” At least, he hoped they couldn’t.
The thought of his buddies catching a glimpse of Tori in the buff irritated
Mike to no end.

When he was satisfied she was decent, he
reached for the door handle. “Just give me a minute to fill them in, okay?”

She was trying to finger comb her hair in
the mirror behind the visor. “Just look at me. They’re gonna know we were up to
something.”

“You look gorgeous.” And she did, so
beautiful it caused a twinge in his chest.

Tori rolled her eyes. “Quit sweet talkin’ me
and get your butt out there.”

He smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

A rookie cop he had seen around the station
a time or two stepped back when Mike climbed out of his truck. “Hey…” His eyes
fell to the young man’s nameplate. “Roberts.”

He tipped his hat. “Evenin’, Lieutenant.”

Tony Roma, a sergeant with ten years of
experience on the force, and a good friend of Mike’s, climbed out of the patrol
car. “Hey, Coop, what’s goin’ on here? Dispatch said this place belongs to that
little country singer, Tori Warner?”

“Yeah, it does.” He hooked his thumb over
his shoulder. “She’ll be out in just a sec.”

Tony chuckled. “You didn’t tell me you were
seein’ her. Man, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

Mike knew he should correct his friend’s
assumption about him and Tori being a couple, but he decided to let it go.
“We’ve got a situation here. Some crazy ex has been hasslin’ her, sendin’ her
letters, and he broke in here tonight.”

“Hasslin’… as in stalkin’?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, looks that way.”

“Man, does he have a death wish or what?”
Tony laughed. “Doesn’t he know you’re her boyfriend?”

Tori chose that moment to pop her head out
of the truck and Mike faded into the background as both men immediately turned
their attention to the celebrity in their midst.

“Evenin’, ma’am,” Tony said, tipping his
hat to Tori. “It sounds like you had a little trouble here tonight?”

Mike waited for her to diffuse the notion
they were a couple, but instead, she surprised him by slipping her arm around
his waist. “Hey, y’all, thanks so much for comin’ out here.”

Tony smiled, obviously as taken with Tori
as every other man who’d ever been on the receiving end of one of her
brilliant, dimpled smiles. “It’s our pleasure.” He turned his attention back to
Mike. “Dispatch said you mentioned Smith’s been workin’ this case?”

“Yeah, but I am now… unofficially. I’ve
taken some vacation time so I can devote twenty-four seven to findin’ this
dirtbag.”

“Can’t say I blame ya, Coop,” Tony said,
tipping his hat back to scratch his balding head. “If it were my woman, I
wouldn’t wanna let her outta my sight.”

Tori looked up at Mike, obviously expecting
him to set his friend straight. Instead, he asked, “When are the other guys
gettin’ out here to dust for prints?”

“Should be soon. We just wanted to take
Miss Warner’s statement. We’ll pass it on to Smith.” Tony frowned. “That is, assuming
you want this to be on the record?”

“Of course I do,” Mike said. “I don’t care
whether I get him or Smith does, as long as one of us takes him off the
streets.”

Tony nodded. “You’re right about that.” He
smiled at Tori. “You mind if I take your statement now, Miss Warner?”

Her grip on Mike’s waist tightened as she
offered the sergeant a tight smile. “No, not all.” 

By the time her home was blessedly quiet
again, Tori was too wired to sleep.

Mike slipped his arms around her waist from
behind as she prepared a fresh pot of coffee. “You okay, darlin’?”

“What do you think?” She knew he was just
trying to help, but the last thing she needed was his kindness and compassion
tonight. How was she supposed to guard her heart against a gorgeous, sexy, gun
wielding man who seemed hell bent on protecting her?

He let his hands fall to his sides as he leaned
his backside against the counter where she was working. His intent to invade
her personal space was clearly a power play, but she wasn’t going to let him
win.

Tori turned her back to him, feeling a
modicum of satisfaction when she heard him sigh.

“Can we at least pretend to be mature
adults?”

“I am a mature adult. Too bad I can’t say
the same for you.”

“You wanna tell me what the hell that was
out in my truck?”

“Call it a moment of weakness… or stupidity.”
She turned around to glare at him. “We’re all entitled to make mistakes. Aren’t
we, Lieutenant?” They both knew she was throwing his words back in face, but it
didn’t give her as much satisfaction as she’d hoped it would. She’d been
waiting two long years to tell him what she thought of his abhorrent behavior
that night, but now that she finally had the chance, she couldn’t find the
words.

“Look, I’m sorry I acted like a jerk that
night, okay? You didn’t deserve that.”

“You’re damn right I didn’t.” She grabbed a
cloth and began wiping the granite counters down. The cleaning service had been
in that day, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt to be seen, but she needed
something to do with her hands. The alternative was wrapping her arms around
his neck and pulling him in for another one of those bone-melting kisses he’d
treated her to in his truck.

“In spite of what you may think, I don’t
sleep with every guy I meet.”

He practically growled as he fisted his
hands on the counter behind him. “I sure as hell hope not.”

“But that’s what you thought, isn’t it?”

“You didn’t waste any time goin’ out with
that boxer, now did you?”

Tori tried telling herself he didn’t
deserve an explanation. They weren’t even seeing each other. They’d shared one
meaningless night two years ago, nothing more, but for some reason, his opinion
of her mattered. Too damn much. “I wasn’t sleepin’ with him. Not that it’s any
of your business.”

“Good.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.” She threw her cleaning cloth
down on the counter and crossed her arms when he had the audacity to smirk at
her. “I’m glad you find this so amusing.”

“You’ve had one hell of a night. I’m just
tryin’ to take your mind off your troubles.”

“By remindin’ me I have lousy taste in men?
First, I sleep with you, then some psychopath who breaks into my house and
sends me obscene letters?”

“About those letters… I wanna see them.
Now.”

Tori hated he was so used to getting his
own way, that he just expected her to comply, but she couldn’t very well deny
his demand if she wanted this man brought to justice. “Fine, I’ll get them, but
you pour the coffee. If you’re gonna be stayin’ here, the least you can do is
make yourself useful.” She tried to ignore the husky sound of his laughter as
she made her way down the hall to her study. He made it so damn hard to hate
him.

When she returned with the letters in hand,
Mike set a cup of light coffee in front of her. She frowned as she brought the
cup to her lips. Two sugars, half coffee, half milk, just the way she liked it.
“How the hell did you know?”

“Don’t you remember the first time we met
at my old man’s place? You had a coffee, just that way, and I teased you about
it mercilessly.”

“How can you remember that? I barely
remember what I had for lunch today.”

He moved in closer to tuck a strand of hair
behind her ear. “Don’t you think I want to forget? I can’t.”

Tori knew he was talking about the night
they spent together. She wanted to forget too, more than anything, but no
matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t erase the memories. “Maybe you need to
get a life then.” She took a step back, just out of his reach, as the coffee
nearly sloshed over the rim of her mug. “That little twit you were with at
Luc’s house last month, what was her name, Bambi…? She should have been able to
make you forget your own name.”

Mike smiled. “Her name is Brittany, and we’re
just friends.”

She rolled her eyes. The woman was carrying
around so much silicone Tori was surprised she didn’t tip over. “Whatever you
say.”

“What about that drummer you were there
with? What’s his story?”

Neither one of them had attended an event alone
since the night of his sister’s birthday party. Their dates always seemed to
act as a buffer, so they wouldn’t risk getting too close again. Their strategy
might’ve worked, if they hadn’t been watching each other’s every move when they
thought no one was looking.   

“His name is Landon. He’s a nice guy… end
of story.”

Mike straddled a stool at the breakfast bar
and brought his coffee mug to his lips. “You ever sleep with him?”

Tori covered her mouth when she nearly
spewed coffee in his face. “Excuse me? What the hell gives you the right to ask
me that?”

“It’s a conversation we’re gonna have
sooner or later. We might as well get it over with.”

Her stomach tightened just thinking about
it. She knew this was part of the deal. He couldn’t do the job he was hired to
do unless she gave him a list of potential suspects, but just the thought of
Mike investigating and interrogating her ex-lovers about their relationship
made her nauseous. “Do we really have to do this now?”

He sifted through the dozens of letters
she’d set on the counter. “I’d like to get started on this a.s.a.p.” He turned
the letters over. “The cops have the originals?”

“Yeah, do you need them?”

“I don’t know yet.” He reached into his
pocket to retrieve the notebook he’d been using at the bar. “Okay, let’s have
it. Names… dates…”

“I… uh…” She gripped her coffee mug until
her knuckles turned white. She knew there was no way to avoid giving him the
information he was asking for, but she couldn’t seem to spit the words out.

“Okay, let’s start with something easier.
The tattoo, what is it, where is it, and when did you get it?”

He thought he’d ease into this by pumping
her for information about a tattoo that served as a daily reminder that she was
his biggest mistake?  “I don’t wanna talk about that.”

Mike raked his hands through his cropped
black hair. “I know you think you’re punishin’ me by makin’ this difficult, but
you’re only hurtin’ yourself. This guy isn’t backin’ down. I think he proved
that when he broke in here tonight.”

He was right. Given the choice between her
life and her pride, she had no choice. “Fine, you wanna know about the tattoo.
I went out with some girlfriends, had a few too many drinks, and ended up in a
tattoo parlor. We all got inked. It wasn’t just me.” 

He scribbled something in his notebook.
“You remember the date?”

It was three weeks to the day after they
made love. “I think it was August thirtieth… two years ago.”

“Great.” He scribbled the date on an empty
page. “I gotta admit, I didn’t expect you to remember the exact date, but that
helps narrow it down a lot. This guy mentioned your tattoo, which means he’s
seen it, or knows someone who has. We’re definitely lookin’ at guys you’ve been
intimate with since you got inked.” He looked up and their eyes connected. “I’m
not even gonna pretend this is easy for me, Tori. Just thinkin’ about you with
some other dude…” He gripped his pen tighter. “This is gonna be the toughest
case I’ve ever worked. I’ve already broken the cardinal rule… never make it
personal. But this is personal, whether I want it to be or not.”