Kat Attalla Special Edition (16 page)

When she returned to the living room she received a couple of wide-eyed, jaw slack stares. She shrugged innocently. “What? Is my slip showing or something?”

“I’d say. Where’s your dress?” Erik grumbled and received his partner’s elbow in the ribs for his comment.

“You sure clean up nice, Professor.”

She smiled at the compliment. “Why, thank you, Agent Daniels.”

“Just Daniels.”

“And you were supposed to call me Victoria. Professor makes me feel like an old, stodgy spinster.”

“Brains, beauty, and you can cook,” he said. “I don’t know why some lucky guy hasn’t snapped you up yet.”

“Probably because the NSB didn’t have enough money in their budget.” She turned her gaze toward Erik, running her tongue provocatively across her lips. A frown marred his handsome features. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

“No, ma’am. I’m just admiring the view.” His smile reflected a raw hunger but lacked any amusement.

“You don’t think it’s too….”

“Revealing?” he finished for her.

She self-consciously tugged at the fabric, wondering if she’d gone too far. “Loud is what I was thinking.”

“It does draw a man’s … undivided attention.”

The older man cleared his throat. “While you two are playing a mental game of ‘chicken’, the turkey is getting cold.”

A warm flush crept up to her cheeks. “Why don’t you both have a seat? I’ll get the wine.”

Daniels happily complied, but Erik hung back and followed her to the kitchen. As she reached for the handle on the refrigerator, he came up behind her. Before she could turn around, he pinned her against the door.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

His solid frame tensed in anger. “Exactly what you asked for when you put on that dress.”

A denial hovered on her lips, but the words remained unspoken. His body radiated heat, contrasting with the cold metal of the refrigerator. The simultaneous sensations made a delightfully sensual combination.

He splayed his hands across her stomach then traced the contours of her hips and waist, with slow, provocative movements. His sensual exploration set off nervous impulses that traveled to parts of her he hadn’t even touched. Warm breath fanned her shoulder as his tongue drew erotic circles over her neck. She leaned into him and sighed. She couldn’t say much for his timing, but the technique was certainly perfect.

He exhaled a grunt and urged her forward with unyielding pressure from his hand. The loss of physical contact left her aching for more, but Erik steadfastly held the distance between them. Force and resistance. The two most basic components in the physics world. When one experiment failed, she searched for a stronger, more effective force to counter the resistance.

Erik locked his hand over her elbow and turned her around to face him. The sudden movement startled her, and she let out a small gasp.

“If you provoke a man, you’re bound to get a response. You might want to remember that next time you decide to play chicken.”

His warning had no effect on her. She tugged her arm free, smoothed the wrinkled fabric of her dress, and then reached into the refrigerator for the wine.

When she turned back, she raised a broad smile. “I knew exactly what I was doing, and I got exactly the response I wanted. And you might want to remember that the next time you think you can teach this professor a lesson.”

* * * *

Victoria
possessed a unique operating procedure for dealing with stress—torment the nearest man. More accurately, she’d singled out Erik. He couldn’t recall Daniels nearly choking on his wine because her playful, stocking clad foot found a slow, seductive path to his lap.

Obviously, the woman was in shock from her morning ordeal. Nothing else would explain her radical personality change. What happened to the shy, easy to control woman who’d covered him in fruit punch? The woman who blushed furiously when merely trying to ask him to dinner? He couldn’t say he minded the new and outgoing Tori. He only wished he could retaliate in kind.

After dinner, she insisted on taking care of the dishes herself and spent the better part of an hour filling aluminum pans with the leftovers. His gaze kept returning to her despite the exciting football game on television.

“What are you doing?” Daniels asked.

Erik straightened in the chair and focused on the game. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play stupid. The professor. If you ask me, you’re guarding that body a little too closely.”

“I wasn’t asking you.”

“Erik, I’m telling you this as your friend, not your partner. Stay away from her. She’s more dangerous than the one that shot you. This one comes with strings attached.”

“There’s nothing going on,” he lied. Something was going on. Something he didn’t want to acknowledge.

“Then keep it that way. Take it from a man who pays alimony to two ex-wives. Marriage and the agency don’t mix.”

“You’re way off base there.” Right. He could con his partner but he couldn’t con himself.
Victoria
got to him like no woman before.

“I hope so. Because you aren’t the suburban type. Shit, you won’t even sign a lease on an apartment. You’d never be able to settle down to a mortgage and a wife.”

“A wife?” Erik shuddered. His partner was way off the mark.
Victoria
’s attachment to him was borne of fear rather than love. A classic case of the victim forming a dependency on her protector. “She has more sense than to want me, anyway.”

“You don’t think she’s putting on the freaking Betty Crocker act because she wants a fling. Don’t you recognize a domestic noose when you see one?”

His partner might be right, but the noose was made of velvet, and damned if he wasn’t feeling like being hung lately.

“And don’t forget about her brother, Sanders.”

As if he could. He also realized that her behavior stemmed from confusion rather than emotions. Two valid reasons to heed the older man’s advice and keep it professional.

Once Daniels left, Erik joined
Victoria
in the kitchen. She appeared more subdued than earlier. Perhaps reality had finally settled in.

“Erik. I wanted to clear something up.”

He leaned against the counter. “What’s that?”

Her fingers traced the edge of his collar. “You can tell Daniels not to worry so much. I’m really not interested in landing you as a husband. I was just planning to use you for the sex.”

Her declaration knocked the wind out of him. He never expected to hear that from the demure Ms. Jansen. “You heard?”

“I’m distracted sometimes. I’m not deaf.”

“He didn’t mean any disrespect. It’s not a good idea to get involved while on a case. It’s not uncommon for a woman to imagine feelings for a man who is protecting—”

“Is this some line of dribble they taught you at the academy?”

“It doesn’t make it less true.”

She squared her shoulders and drew in a deep breath. “I’m thirty-three years old, and while I haven’t racked up a number of lovers equal to my I.Q., neither have I lived in a convent. I have a Ph.D. in physics and I know a variety of ways to make parts of your body defy
Newton
’s law of gravity. I’m neither vulnerable nor unaware of what I’m doing. Contrary to what you may have read in my file, I walked away from a lucrative government job on principle, not because I couldn’t hack the work.”

He clasped his hand on her arm. “Tori.”

“No, you listen. I happen to know the difference between transfer of affection and real emotions. I also know that in the long-term, this is going nowhere. But I would rather have the memory of something wonderful than a lifetime of regret. In other words, I know what I can handle.

“If you’re not interested, I’ll understand. I haven’t reached the level of emotional desperation you seem to think. But do not give me that sanctimonious line of bullshit that you’re making a noble sacrifice for me. Quite frankly, I know what I want. Maybe you ought to figure out what you want.”

She spun on her heel and walked away, leaving him with a gaping jaw and no clever comeback. Didn’t she understand that he had her welfare at heart?

Right, Sanders. You don’t buy that anymore than she did.

He built a career exposing the manipulative and dishonest nature of people. Some used that talent for good, some for evil.
Victoria
didn’t fit his preconceived mold. She was the antithesis of everything he knew. Shit. She even had him thinking with words like antithesis. He reveled in his solitary lifestyle, and wanted no personal attachments. At least he believed that until Tori decided to take up residence in his heart, despite his best efforts to evict her.

* * * *

Victoria
slipped off her shoes and put them in the closet. So much for making a point. She’d taken a stand and somehow ended up in retreat in her room. What should she do now? Even though she’d gotten up early for the football game and then spent most of the afternoon cooking or cleaning, she wasn’t tired. A pile of test papers needed grading, but she couldn’t concentrate.

Get a grip.

She understood Erik’s desire to maintain a professional relationship. Apparently, she’d lost her common sense along with her heart. At least her bad luck was consistent. She’d managed to fall for an NSB agent with a conscience.

Feeling restless, she prowled around the room. She spent all her nights sleeping alone and had never felt lonely before. Tonight, the brass bed with the feather mattress looked empty and unappealing. She sat on the edge and glanced out the window at the starry sky. She’d survived just fine before Erik barged his way into her life and she would go on after her left.

A light tap on the door broke into her thoughts. “It’s open.”

Erik stepped inside. Shadows obscured his features. His hair hung freely on his broad shoulders that filled most of the doorway. Her body reacted to his presence with a delightfully warming sensation.

“I want to clarify something.”

She took one of the pillows and folded it in her arms. “I don’t think we need to drag it out.”

“Excuse me?”

With an indifferent shrug, she tried to look as if his rejection didn’t bother her. “I got the point. This is a job to you.”

“That’s not it.”

“I’m sure you’ve known more beautiful and much more interesting women than me.”

He leaned against the wall and grinned. “Not to my recollection.”

“I’m too old for you, then.”

“Less than a year older, but I don’t get myself worked up over numbers, anyway.”

“You’re probably afraid for your life. Heaven knows, I’m accident prone around you.”

He chuckled. “All right. I’ll concede that one to you.”

In a fit of pique, she threw the pillow at him. Just her luck, when she tried to hit a target she missed by a mile. “What do you want?”

“Exactly how many ways do you know to make parts of my body defy gravity?”

“What?”

“You said a variety of ways. I’m not a genius like you, Tori. I need specifics.” He walked towards the bed. “Maybe even a little hands-on instruction.”

Confused by his sudden turn around, she wondered if she misunderstood his meaning. “I thought you said this wasn’t a good idea.”

“In my career, I’ve discovered that if I stand around waiting for a good idea to come to me, I could wind up dead.”

Victoria
shook her head. “I won’t kill you if you don’t make love to me. I don’t believe in violence.”

Erik laughed. “For a pacifist, you sure know how to broadside a man.”

She stared at him for a long moment. Her pulse quickened, and nerve endings tingled with excitement. What now? She didn’t know how to initiate a seduction.

He returned her gaze but made no move. “Science was never my best subject, Tori. You’ll have to walk me through this experiment.”

Now, an experiment … that she knew. She enjoyed indulging in research. No doubt indulging in Erik would be even more stimulating.

She took a deep breath and rose from the bed. The act itself was a perfectly natural biological function. If she could continue to treat this like an experiment, she might just make it through without losing her nerve. She wasn’t afraid of Erik but she was frightened by the way he touched her, both physically and emotionally. Those feelings couldn’t be rationalized. She was better off just enjoying her little soiree into the unknown.

“The first step is to remove this.” She pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it onto a chair.

“And the next step?”

“From here, we wing it.”

“Wing it?”

“When dealing with cause and effect research, it’s better not to have a specific agenda.” She tilted her head up and sprinkled a line of kisses along his face and throat. “Better to just push forward and analyze the results later,” she whispered against his ear.