Phil groaned and pushed her sore foot harder against the gas petal. Ty’s response had been one thing—but her own hot response surprised her, and in front of a virtual stranger, no less.
What she needed was an ice-cold shower! Argh! It would take a lot more than a cold shower to cool her off.
Twenty minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, chilled and freshly cleansed of the seedy film of the club that clung to her like cheap perfume. Slowly, she rubbed the thick terry towel across her skin, taking care to dry every inch. As she rubbed the cloth across her breasts, her nipples hardened and her skin flushed, but it did nothing to quell the thickness of her blood. Instead the contact heightened her awareness of what her body craved.
Looking at her reflection in the steamy mirror, she caught her breath. She didn’t recognize the hungry blue eyes that blazed back at her. She touched a fingertip to her left breast and pressed. Spikes of desire raced to her core and the now familiar heat she’d only experienced in Ty’s presence flared. She closed her eyes halfway and bit down on her bottom lip. The spear of pain coupled with the spears of pleasure heightened her excitement. Boldly, her fingers trailed down her belly.
The chime of the doorbell startled her out of her self-seduction. Slipping on her robe she hurried to the incessant ringing. Who the hell was that?
“Open up, Phil!”
Her skin warmed to hot. She hurried to the front door, pulling her thin jersey robe tighter around her damp skin.
“Crap,” she muttered. Every frickin’ curve and dip of her body was clearly outlined by the clinging fabric. She didn’t bother to look through the peephole; the bellowing voice on the other side of her door could only come from one person.
She unlocked the two dead bolts and yanked open the door.
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
He pushed past her, striding into the middle of her living room. “Sure, c’mon in.”
He turned and headed down the hallway toward her bedroom. “Were you followed home?” he called over his shoulder.
She followed after him. “No. Was I supposed to check?”
He stopped abruptly in the hallway and turned around. Her nose slammed into his chest. She bounced off. “Ouch!”
Ty grabbed her upper arms and shook her. “You didn’t check? Don’t you know you should always have eyes in the back of your head?”
Suddenly Phil felt naïve. “I—I forgot.” With the excitement and then the fatigue of the evening, she’d thrown her training out the window. Stupid. Next time that could get her killed.
“You
forgot
? Forgetting can get you killed,” he said, his words echoing her thoughts.
Ty continued blasting her. “Or have you forgotten we’ve lost two civilians and a fellow cop? This isn’t a damn desk job!”
She yanked out of his grasp. “If you keep manhandling me like you do, I’m going to have bruises up and down my arms, and the customers will complain.”
Shaking his head, Ty strode into her bedroom, looked in the closet, behind the door; he did the same in the other two bedrooms, then in her kitchen and living room.
She followed him from room to room, knowing that arguing would get her nowhere. With this man, she needed to choose her battles carefully.
“Why are you here, Lieutenant?”
Ty turned angry eyes on her. She’d wake up and take notice when he showed her the napkin. “Didn’t your father ever tell you, always be on the lookout?”
Her skin chilled at the mention of her father. “I told you, don’t ever bring up my father again.”
“Why not? Can’t you face what he did?”
Phil strode to the front door and yanked it open. The sultry night air wafted in around her ankles. “Get out.”
Ty leaned against the doorjamb to the living room, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ll go, but first I need to make a few things clear.” His tall sleek muscles bunched beneath his tan skin. His green eyes sparkled in the low light. He reminded her of a jungle cat, predatory, and ready to pounce.
Phil’s stomach churned and she knew she could call 911. She also knew Ty would stand in her hallway until he had his say. She slammed the door shut and strode past him into the living room.
She flung herself onto the sofa and crossed her arms. Ty slowly followed.
“Make it quick, Lieutenant. I’m tired and my feet are killing me.”
Ty sat down on the ottoman facing her.
“What?” she demanded.
He grinned, the gesture wicked. Her blood thawed. She wanted to groan and run away. Her traitorous body was going to be her undoing. She closed her eyes and saw her mother with her hands on her hips scowling down at her:
“Philamina Marie, you were warned what would happen to you.”
Phil felt all of sixteen again and remembered as if it were yesterday the repercussions of her aftergame tryst with Kyle Thompson under the bleachers. God made sure her parents knew what she had done.
“Hey?” Ty softly said, touching her foot. Phil flinched and opened her eyes.
“I don’t bite, Phil.”
Shaking off the nasty memories, Phil steeled herself. She could refuse her desires. She was her father’s daughter, after all.
“What do you want, Lieutenant?”
Ty scooted closer till they faced each other. She curled up in a near fetal position on the sofa and Ty sat open-legged on the ottoman. If she extended her legs to the floor, their knees would touch. She backed farther into the cushions. She was tired and she didn’t trust herself around him in her fatigued state.
“I want for us to be on the same page.”
“We are.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m concerned about your lack of street smarts. It could get you in trouble.”
Phil stiffened. “I spent six months on the street before going into IA!”
Ty nodded. “Exactly, and I bet you figured you learned it all. I would have thought you’d have taken some tips from your old man.”
Phil gritted her teeth. “I told you—”
“Right, don’t mention Dad. Listen, Zorn. If your feelings regarding your father’s case are affecting your ability to work this case, you need to fess up right now. I need to know what’s bugging you.”
She untangled her limbs and leaned toward him. “You of all people don’t need to know about how I feel regarding my father.”
“I do when it affects your ability to do your job well. Admit it, you can’t forgive him.”
Phil shot up and slammed her hands into Ty’s chest, pushing him backward. He nearly tipped, but he grabbed her arm, using it for leverage.
Phil shook him off. “Forgive
him
? Forgive him for what? He was railroaded, set up by rogue cops like you!”
She jerked the loosened ties of her robe tighter. Ty shook his head and looked up at her. “He wasn’t railroaded
or
set up. The man roughed up his beat wife, who was turning tricks!”
Phil pushed him hard in the chest again. This time she had no regrets. Ty jumped up and grabbed her by the hands. “I told you what I would do if you touched me again.”
Phil kicked him, trying to twist out of his grip. Her robe loosened. She didn’t care. She knew about all of his nasty skeletons from reading his files years ago in IA. “Turn me out like you did your mother?”
Phil wished with all her might she hadn’t said the words. The pain that flashed across Ty’s face was heartbreaking. The fury that replaced it was terrifying.
He pulled her hard against his chest. “Yeah, just like my mother. You’re your father’s daughter after all.” He shoved her away from him.
Phil gasped. “How dare you?” She moved in on him. His eyes flashed a warning. She flashed her own. “How dare you speak lies about my father? He was swept up by the likes of you. He never touched that woman.”
Ty rubbed his cheek and laughed, the sound brittle. “The big difference between the two of us, Phil, is I can admit my mother was a twenty-dollar hooker who would have done it for nothing if you gave her a fix. Your old man was a hypocrite of the highest order. While he walked around thumping his Bible, he was tearing up the sheets with a whore.”
Phil’s jaw dropped. Ty moved in. “You’re the same hypocrite. You cover your body with those dark suits. You wear your hair tied back like a librarian. You act like you’re untouchable.” Reaching out, he grabbed a long hank of her hair. She winced, expecting pain, but he ran his fingers through it, a caress instead of a pull. “Then there’s the bad girl in you that you can’t keep quiet.” He stepped closer, his hot breath mingling with hers.
Phil’s heart hammered in her throat. “Your body screams for a man, you want it, but you’re too afraid to take it, afraid you might like it.” His finger traced down the curve of her throat to the pulse in her jugular, now thumping against the pressure of his thumb. He pressed harder. Her blood quickened and her knees shook. The part of her that let Kat loose surfaced. She wanted to be touchable, in touch with her body, and Ty’s.
She swallowed and licked her dry lips. “I tried it once, I didn’t like it.”
Ty grinned. “Well, then, maybe you need to try it with a man.”
Phil almost smiled through the sexy haze that engulfed her. The same feeling she’d experienced touching herself after her shower surfaced, along with her yearning for the man standing in front of her.
Ty laughed low and brushed his knuckles down her throat to the V between her breasts. Her heartbeat thudded so soundly she felt the pulse of it through his fingertips. His eyes focused on her lips. “I’m right. I bet the last guy you were with shot his wad before he could get it out of his pants.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
S
he fought for composure. “I’m sure your sexual prowess is legendary, Lieutenant. However, I didn’t like being a notch on a bedpost the first time. I’m sure I’d like it even less with you.” She wondered if he believed she had no interest in him. She didn’t.
Ty’s smile radiated promise. Phil tried to ignore it. Warning bells shrilled in her head. She knew damn well the minute she crossed that line with Tyler Jamerson she’d regret it for the rest of her life. “Besides, sir, fraternizing is a big no-no.”
Ty nodded. “You’re exactly correct. But as I explained earlier, in undercover we have our own general orders.”
Phil smiled. “I know, ‘do what you have to do to survive.’”
“Exactly.” She swallowed hard. His shoulder-length hair hung loose around the angles of his face, giving him the sensual look of a dark angel. His voice lowered an octave. “And right now, I think I need you to make it through the night.”
“I doubt you need anyone, Lieutenant.”
Ty moved closer. His tall frame shadowed her. Heat emanated off his chest. Her damp jersey robe steamed. Ty traced a finger through the material around her swollen nipple. “I think, Officer Zorn, you may need me as much.”
Phil leaned back against the smooth hardness of the wall. “I thought you didn’t like me, Lieutenant.”
Ty’s grin turned lethal, his eyes sparkled, and his fingers splayed against her breast. Phil commanded her body to ignore the sizzling sensations his touch evoked.
Ty moved closer still, only an inch separating their bodies. The wild beat of her heart thumped against his palm. He dipped his head down and whispered in her ear. “I don’t have to like you to fuck you.”
A thrill sprang from her belly, shooting to every nerve ending she possessed. Images of Ty pinning her hard against the wall, then burying himself deep within her accelerated her breath. She licked her lips.
Phil closed her eyes and tilted her head back, exposing the softness of her neck. It was all the invitation Ty needed.
Blood surged to his dick and his lips swooped down on the offering. Her warm skin pulsated against his lips. She tasted fresh, like vanilla. Phil’s body jerked, then molded against his chest. The ties to her robe fell apart and the heat of her skin singed him.
His lips blazed a path from her neck to the hollow at her throat. Phil’s moans incited him further. He felt supercharged, and the night’s exhaustion disappeared as his body geared up for her.
Slipping his arms beneath her robe, her sultry skin felt alive beneath his hands. Her natural scent blended with her shower-applied scent, the combination toxic to his self-control.
He pushed her back flush against the wall, his hands spanning her slender waist. Bending his nose to her damp hair, he closed his eyes and breathed in her essence. “You smell good,” he whispered, wondering how exciting her true woman scent would be. Just the thought of what he knew would be a soft musky scent sent more blood speeding to his cock. His hands slid farther down to the small of her back, her soft moans urging him on. His large hands palmed her firm ass cheeks. Her hips pressed against his groin and his dick swelled to capacity.
At that moment he couldn’t remember wanting a woman more. He bet she was virgin tight, and he wanted desperately to find out how wet she was for him.
Keeping one arm wrapped around her waist, he slid his right hand around to her belly, trailing his fingers in languid swirls.
Philamina closed her eyes, the sensations Ty wrought overpowering her. Warm moisture slicked her nether regions, a beckoning. His fingers trailed lower past her belly button to sweep sensitively against the soft hint of pubic hair. She moaned loudly, her lips parted, her head thrown back against the wall.
“Open your eyes,” Ty whispered against her cheek. As she did, he slid a finger across her hardened clitoris and she gasped, standing up on her toes. Shards of desire shattered her nerve endings. In a primal invitation, her knees spread. He slid his fingertip back and forth across her clit, rolling it across and between her moist lips, the sensation driving her higher on her toes. Her hips moved in rhythm to the slow seductive cadence of his fingers. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself higher against him. She wanted penetration.
Ty slid his large hand around her waist down to her bottom and splayed his fingers across its width, then pressed her against his hand. “Touch me deeper,” she murmured against his chest.
The unfamiliar sound of her wanton request diffused some of the sexual haze. What was she doing?
Then Ty’s long thick finger slid into her and she screamed out. The sensation was more then she expected and all that she’d hoped. She clung to his shoulders and shuddered in sexual nirvana.