“Could be a case of careless traffickers.” He moved a little closer to her, in spite of good sense telling him to keep his distance. “Maybe whoever they sold them to didn’t care that they left behind evidence. Either way, it was a break for us. Now you know what we’re up against.”
Her gaze shifted back to him. “We? There’s no we.”
Hugo’s crate creaked as he stood up. A rumble like distant thunder issued from within as he pushed his big black nose against the bars.
Scott saw her gaze shift sideways toward her partner, an action that irritated him. She was trying to block him out.
He moved deliberately into her line of sight, forcing her to refocus on him. “You’re going to turn down the DEA? Why, Nikki? Because you’re afraid you can’t handle yourself in the field with me?”
Those hazel eyes widened. “This isn’t about you and me.”
“Damn straight. It’s about the scumbags who use animals to transport drugs. And who will continue to do it until someone puts a stop to it.”
He reached past her and braced a hand on the counter, angling his body toward hers. He knew he was amping up the provocation. But if he didn’t break through soon, she’d put him out. “Tell me you don’t want to be part of the task force that takes these bastards down, Nikki.”
Cole placed a hand flat on his chest to halt his encroachment. The contact alarmed her more than it should have. Maybe because she knew what lay behind his shirt. Once she had claimed all that hard muscle and warm skin as hers. Now here he was, two years too late, and the solid reality of him was still doing things to her heart rate. This was not fair. She did want the assignment. But at what cost?
She lifted her head to search his sea-glass gaze between a tangle of thick black lashes. He was so close she could see the faint throb of his pulse under his jaw stubble. The heat of his body had seeped through his shirt to warm her palm. The register of the slight uptick of his heartbeat under her little finger meant that he wasn’t as detached as he seemed. His impact on her was still visceral, physically and mentally, overwhelming in minutes two solid years of careful repair of her emotions.
She closed her eyes briefly. That was long enough for memories she had had on lockdown for two years to stage a jail break.
Legs tangled in sweaty bedsheets. Warm wet licks in all the right places. Harsh breaths punctuating the action of pumping bodies. Laughter. Always laughter at the back end of bliss. And then a refreshing shower that more often than not ended in another round.
Cole opened her eyes. Those extracted memories made her body flush with desire and intimidated her more than a little. They felt real and fresh, like a morning rerun of a previous night’s sexual highlights. And her ex, standing right here before her, was at the center of every delicious aching moment of recall.
She saw reflected in his expanding pupils the exact moment he realized the effect his nearness was having on her.
Suddenly it wasn’t two years later but the day before ever after. Oh shit. She was still mad-bad attracted to the man whose pulse raced under her fingertips.
Her hand clenched on his shirtfront and she lifted her face, lips parting in an invitation her brain hadn’t given her body permission to make.
“Nikki?” He sounded as surprised as she felt.
Hugo’s vocal vibrations, so low they could barely be heard, were warning her of the danger of this close encounter with a man too potent for his own good.
Cole lowered her lashes, trying to handle the yin-yang tug-of-war going on between her reason and her feelings. Yes, he was still as dangerous as ever. However, those enticing lips hovering just an inch above hers had also spoken the words that broke her heart. It was too good to be true to think they could just pick up—
Wait! Something didn’t add up here.
She stiff-armed his shoulder and with a flex of her hips launched herself away from the sink, and past him to safety.
She didn’t go far before turning back. “Why me? Why did Agent Lattimore choose me?” Her voice sounded winded as she refused to look directly at him.
Scott jutted a hip against the counter and folded his arms, ignoring the fact that—Shit. She’d nearly kissed him. He dragged in a breath instead of giving in to the urge to drag her back in against him and finish what she’d started. “You’re experienced with dog competitions.”
“That was a long time ago. Who recommended me to him?”
“I did.” He could see the idea didn’t please her, though it didn’t show anywhere except in the tiny jiggle of her left foot.
“Why me?”
He knew what she meant. She wanted to know why he wanted to work with her. He wanted any reason to be near her again. That truth would blow this operation all to hell. He opted for a lesser truth. “Let’s just say this operation is more important than the odds against us being a successful U/C team.”
“What, exactly, do they want us to do?”