like that kind of thing. You’re good at it.”
“I will, of course.”
“Good.”
Still naked to the waist, she took her weapon and harness to the dresser, emptied her pockets. “Did you know Trina offers a cop discount in her salon?”
“Does she?” He turned down the bed. “That’s good of her, and clever as well.”
As she undressed, her mind began to turn again. “I need to check where Gwen gets that stuff done. She might have an ex or current there, or somebody she could talk into eliminating her problem. She does some work for her family’s foundation—which I need to look at more closely. Maybe somebody there …”
Knowing her, knowing she’d start circling again, Roarke took her hand, drew her over to the bed. “You’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I have to check out what’s in the safe deposit box. Need a warrant for that. I want to hit Merit Caine first thing, then the box, then—when I know what’s in it—back to Gwen.”
She got into bed, started lining up her day and the potential timing. “I can split the names from the search with Peabody. Or pull in one of the other teams if there’s too many. And I want to go over all this with Mira. Then …”
He rolled on top of her.
“No way, pal.”
“Double or nothing,” he said, and slid inside her.
“I didn’t take the bet.”
“It was implied.”
Slowly now, he moved inside her. Long, slow strokes that stirred the soul seconds before they stirred the body.
“I know this is cheating.” But already soft, subtle, seduced, she moved with him.
He touched his lips to hers, then went deeper until the kiss spun out and spun out for both of them.
He murmured Irish in her ear. Some words she knew, some she didn’t, and all were as seductive as those long, lazy strokes.
She all but felt her bones melt even as the drugging pleasure spread, as it quickened, as it gathered, and released.
When she finally curled against him, body limp, mind empty, she slept.
“There now, a ghrá.” He touched his lips to her hair. “Rest that busy brain.”
He closed his eyes and slept with her.
9
When she woke, alone, Eve stared up at the fading stars through the sky window over the bed. She lived in a house, she thought, with three males—including the cat—who insisted the day began before dawn.
With Roarke undoubtedly in his office wheeling some deal with somebody on the other side of the planet, and the cat surely gobbling down breakfast served by Summerset, she considered giving sleep another shot.
But since her brain had already started to wake enough to think about work, she gave that up. She rolled out of bed, hit the bedroom AC for coffee, then gulped down its precious, life-giving properties on the way to the shower.
There, under the hot pulsing spray of multiple jets, she went over her day’s crowded—and hopefully productive—agenda.
First up, check the search results. Since EDD would have Gwen’s electronics, she’d have them do a cross-match with the contacts.
It wouldn’t hurt to ask the desk manager at House Royale if any of those names were on Gwen’s approved guest list.
She stepped out of the shower, into the drying tube. As the warm air swirled she closed her eyes and refined her moves.
It was still shy of sunrise when she walked into her closet. Sighed.
Roarke wasn’t there to pick over her choices, and she had to admit that the picking over sometimes made it easier.
She went with brown pants that made her think of chocolate, and that made her think of checking on her hidden stash in her office at Central.
And made her think, unkindly, of the elusive Candy Thief. She grabbed a white shirt—always safe, in her opinion—then a navy jacket because it had brown buttons, but mostly because it was leather, and she was weak.
She started to grab brown boots, but saw the navy ones with the chocolate laces.
“Damn it.”
She took the navy.
By the time she dressed, the sun had started to sneak in the windows.
Since neither Roarke nor the cat had made an appearance, she headed to her office.
She heard Roarke’s voice—that don’t-fuck-with-me business mogul’s voice—so poked a head through the doorway.
“Hold,” he said, and paused the transmission. He smiled at her, easy as sunrise. “You’re up early, and looking quite put together.”
“I want to look through the search results. Don’t want to interrupt, just wanted you to know I was out here. I’m curious though. Has whoever’s on the other end of this pissed themselves