harsh contrast as he inhaled.
“A pipe burst in my room. This was the only room left. They moved me after dinner.”
Kendall swayed as if drunk, still caught in the aftermath of her orgasm. Her clit throbbed mercilessly. She took a deep breath and pulled the towel closer around her and willed her voice not to shake.
“What are you doing out here?”
“Smoking a cigarette.” She couldn’t see his face, but the amusement in his voice was plain. “What are you doing?”
He couldn’t know. Could he? The thought should have mortified her, but instead another thrill coursed through her body at the idea Zane Vincent might have figured out she’d been climaxing.
“I like the noise of the ocean,” Kendall said. Her voice had gone low and husky, throaty, quite unlike her usual tone. “It makes me feel…”
“What?” His voice, if it were possible, had dropped even lower. Vincent shifted in his patch of moonlight, and a spear of silver highlighted his full lips. Another slanted across his deep brown eyes, turning them to copper for an instant in the flash. “Makes you feel sexy?”
Kendall turned away, her heart thudding. She sought the glimpse of the sea, tried to calm herself, but her body was betraying her. She felt his gaze boring into her like flames licking at her flesh, but she refused to turn and look.
“That’s kind of personal, Agent Vincent.”
His deep chuckle vibrated in her belly. Kendall allowed herself to think of him as a man, just for a second. Not as the agent who’d shot her partner.
Vincent snorted softly. “Hey, I was just out here minding my own business when you came sashaying out in that little bit of cloth that’s an excuse for a towel.”
She stepped closer to the safety of the golden square of light spilling out from her doors. “A gentleman would’ve turned away.”
“I’m not a gentleman.” Vincent gave another deep, sultry chuckle. “I’m a secret agent.”
Kendall couldn’t help it. She laughed. Her reaction surprised her enough that she laughed a little more. Why had she hated him so much before?
“See, now I made you smile.” Vincent tossed the cigarette to the ground, where its red tip continued to smolder.
She raised a brow. “You say that like you think I don’t know how.”
Another breeze stroked her face as she watched him. It seemed incredible that only moments ago she’d been in the midst of orgasm, and now she stood talking as though nothing had happened.
“Agent Frasier, I know you’re upset about what went down that day.” For a minute, Vincent’s dark brown eyes looked almost black in the moonlight. “You think it’s any easier for me? I killed a man. One of our own. How do you think I feel?”
His sincerity took her aback. “Like shit, I expect.”
“Worse than that.”
She looked at him harder. “You were exonerated of all charges. Four witnesses testified you weren’t at fault.”
“But not you.” Vincent shrugged. “You were his partner.”
“Not a very good one. I should’ve had his back. I didn’t. He died.” She shrugged, too aware of the way the motion made her towel ride up on her thighs.
“You must miss him.”
That statement made a short, sharp laugh burst from her throat. “Dan? He was a mean-spirited son of a bitch who made my life miserable. He was a misogynistic, chauvinistic pig who thought women could never do half the job men could. I spent all my time with him defending myself against his digs, trying to convince him I was as competent as he was. That I could do the job. Working with him was like its own special level of Hell. He was awful.”
And she’d been awful too, she realized. Blaming Vincent for what she knew had been as much her fault as anyone’s. They stared at each other in silence. He lit another cigarette and held it for a moment, just looking at it without putting it to his mouth. When he did, the smoke hit the moonlight and wreathed him in silver.
“So, Frasier, how’s that make you feel?”
“Like shit,” Kendall said.
“Worse than if you’d been friends.”
“You say that like you know.” Kendall paused. “Was he your friend?”
Vincent shook his head. “Dan? No. The way you just described him was pretty much the way everyone thought of him. He was a shit, but he didn’t deserve to be killed. And I did that. I was the one who shot him. I thought…I figured I was better than that.”
“It was an accident,” Kendall said abruptly. “You didn’t do it