“Don’t try that trick on me, Max, it won’t work.”
It was working. She could see by the play of emotions across his usually impassive face. He was noble, a man of honor. Letting a killer get away because he didn’t do everything in his power wouldn’t set well with him. “You know this is the perfect set up, Witt.”
“There’s not a damn thing perfect about it. How the hell am I even going to tell them she did sex calls without having to answer questions about you and how you know?”
A smile stretched across her lips. “Did they tell you about the headset?”
“The headset?”
“She was wearing it to make the calls. Then she threw it across the room. Didn’t they think it was a little strange that a woman who had her DVR programmed for Oprah, Judge Judy, and Real Housewives of Orange County needed a phone headset?” Did they simply think she sat on the phone discussing the shows with her friends?
“They thought she used it for her damn courier business.”
Ah, so they had told him about headset and tried to figure out a reasonable application for it. Just not the most important function for Bethany. “Why don’t you suggest another use to them?”
“Fine. Then all they have to do is check out the phone records of the service she used.”
“There’s no way they’d figure out which customer was Achilles.”
“They’d look at her regulars.”
“She had a ton of regulars.”
He raised a brow. “The ones living in the area would comprise their hottest suspects.”
“What if he came a long way to meet the woman he was obsessed with?”
His nostrils flared. She’d finally out-gunned him but resisted clapping her hands.
“I don’t like it.” He was definitely weakening.
“But you’ll help me.”
“I wouldn’t trust you not to set up a meeting with this guy behind my back.”
She didn’t even suggest that he could tap into her phone any time to check up on her; she knew he’d have it done anyway. She put her hand up. “I promise not to meet him without telling you first. Cross my heart and hope to die.” She put her hands behind her back and crossed her fingers.
“Do not cross your damn fingers behind your back.”
“I’m not.” She didn’t uncross them.
He groaned. “How the hell do you do that?”
“What?” she asked innocently.
“Turn me inside out, upside down, make me change my mind.”
He wanted to make love to her, he was terrified of her, he could easily throttle her, and finally, he had to give in to her. She knew exactly how he felt. She almost felt the same way about him. Though she’d never admit it.
“I’m appealing to your sense of honor and justice,” she said.
“I must be crazy.”
She knew she was. “But you’ll do it?”
“Make that freaking insane. I’ll do it. Only you’re gonna have to pay up.”
Her heart leapt. “How?”
“One kiss.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“Yeah, like you just blackmailed me.”
“That wasn’t blackmail, it was—”
He put his hand over her mouth. “Appealing to my sense of honor and justice. You’re still gonna have to pay.”
“When?” she muttered against his hand, callused from all that yard work in his mom’s garden. She was so very tempted to lick his palm.
That slow-growing, devastatingly sexy smile she hated, absolutely hated, creased his lips. “Now.”
“The timing’s really bad.” Bethany’s phone ditty with Achilles still hadn’t completely worn off. Beneath her sweatshirt, her nipples were hard. “You have to be up early.”
He pressed to muffle her words. “Now. Or I rescind.”
She debated, pulled his hand away, then asked, “Do I have to open my mouth?”
“Yeah.” His eyes sparkled.
“Do I have to use my tongue?”
“Oh yeah,” he answered, nodding for punctuation.
“How long do I have to do it for?”
He laughed. “You know you want to. You’re fighting ‘cause you think I won’t guess.” He leaned in close, skimmed her ear with his lips, then whispered, “But I know how badly you want to.” He raised a hand and slid his palm over her hard, tight nipple. “See how you give yourself away?”
She slapped his hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll kiss you, but none of that other stuff.”
He chuckled at her. “I won’t start it. Not so sure about you, though.”
“Come here.” She grabbed his ears and pulled his mouth down to hers. She’d give him a peck, a little lip, a little tongue, then it’d be over.
Instead, he pulled her off her feet. Of course, that meant she had to wrap her arms around his neck to hold on. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but he shut her up with his lips and his tongue.
And Max was lost.
He kissed her as he did everything else, with concentration and tenacity. His tongue played with hers, then he backed out to lick her lower lip. Finally, he angled his head and took total control of her mouth. She slid down his chest, her nipples hard and aching with the contact, until her shoes hit the deck planking.
He didn’t let her go.