Witness Seduction (4 page)

Her mere proximity made his body burn. Despite the odor of paint fumes lingering in the air, he could also make out a more subtle fragrance. Strawberries. The feminine aroma drove him wild. So did her legs, encased in that stretchy denim, and damn but she had cute feet—small and dainty with bright-pink toenails.

He imagined those legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his buttocks, and fought back a moan.

It had been a mistake coming here. He was pretty good at talking women into going to bed with him, but just talking to them? He sucked at it.

He sipped his coffee, using the pause in the conversation to figure out his next move. Okay, so he’d made contact, but sitting around in Marley’s kitchen wouldn’t land him any answers. He needed to get her talking about Grier. But though he’d been watching her for more than a week now, to her he was a stranger. And women didn’t open up to complete strangers.

He glanced at the sliding door on the other side of the kitchen, pretending to admire her backyard while he planned what to say. The sight of the oak tree in Marley’s fenced-in yard brought a flicker of guilt, as he realized AJ had set up one of their cameras in the tree’s enormous branches. As if someone wanted to hammer the point home, the branches rustled, sending a few leaves fluttering down to the grass.

Caleb shifted his eyes back to Marley. He opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. “Excuse me,” he said as he fished his cell out of his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID, saw AJ’s number and stifled a curse. “Do you mind if I take this?”

“Go ahead.”

He flipped open the phone and said, “Hey, Vic, what’s up?”

“I thought you were going to make contact later tonight,” AJ hissed.

“I was, but I decided to work on the chapters earlier,” Caleb said smoothly.

AJ let out an expletive. “I need you to get her out of the kitchen.”

“Are you still in New York?” From the corner of his eye, he saw Marley discreetly move to the sink to rinse out her mug.

“I’m in the freaking tree out back. Looking at your ugly face as we speak,” came the heated whisper.

It took all of Caleb’s willpower not to look through the sliding door again. Evidently the rustling he’d seen in the tree hadn’t come from a mischievous squirrel. The image of AJ’s huge leather-clad body up in those branches nearly brought a laugh to the surface, but he quickly clamped it down.

“What are you doing in Florida?” he asked with great interest. AJ had left the house next door an hour ago to grab some groceries. Now he was in Marley’s backyard?

“I was coming back and saw the camera dangling from one of the branches. Must have gotten dislodged. She always goes upstairs and does the yoga/shower thing after work so I figured I had time to fix the camera before she saw it, but then you just
had
to show up and bring her into the kitchen. And now I’m in the tree. The end.”

“Bird sanctuary, huh? Can’t say that’s my cup of tea.”

AJ swore again. “Just get her out of the kitchen so I can hightail it back next door.”

“Sure thing, Vic. I’ll email you the chapters by the end of the week so you’ll have them when you get back from your vacation.”

Caleb hung up the phone and rose to his feet, just as Marley rounded the counter again. To his dismay, she headed right for the patio door and peered out.

He came up behind her. “What are you looking at?” he asked as casually as he could muster.

“I heard you say something about birds,” she answered with a sideways glance. “It reminded me that I haven’t put seed in my bird feeder for a few days.”

She extended a dainty hand, pointing at the bright red bird feeder hanging from the largest branch on the elm. “I made it myself,” she added. “The sparrows love it.”

Panic rose up Caleb’s spine, mostly because he could now see one of AJ’s black biker boots camouflaged in the leaves. “I should go,” he burst out.

She wrinkled her brow. “Oh. Okay.”

“That phone call,” he said in an attempt to explain his abrupt exclamation. “I’m a writer, and my agent reminded me I need to revise a few chapters. So, uh, yeah, I should go do that.”

Moving away from the patio door, Marley nodded. “I’ll walk you—” She tripped over one of the paint cans on the floor, letting out an unladylike curse as she stumbled forward.

Snapping to action, Caleb reached out to steady her.

And regretted it the second his palms made contact with her hips. Her tank top had ridden up, and he was touching skin. Bare, warm skin, so soft that he hissed in a breath.

“I…” Marley’s voice drifted and her mouth fell open when she caught sight of the obvious desire in his eyes.

He could do nothing to hide the swift response. Her flesh felt like heaven under his hands, and that sweet scent wafting into his nose was far too intoxicating.

He coughed ever so slightly. “You all right?”

She nodded wordlessly, then glanced down at his hands, which were still on her waist. God help him, but he couldn’t seem to let her go.

And she wasn’t complaining. Rather, she shifted so they were face to face. Her liquid brown eyes searched his. “I’m…a klutz,” she murmured without breaking the eye contact.

Caleb swallowed, his mouth in desperate need of moisture, his lips in desperate need of
her.
Before he could stop himself, he moved his hand over her hip in a fleeting caress. An unsteady breath slid out of her throat.

Insanity. This was freaking insanity, and he was helpless to stop it. He’d been watching Marley Kincaid for seven days, watching and yearning and fighting the arousal he knew he shouldn’t be feeling.

But he couldn’t fight it now. Not when she was this close.

As his pulse drummed in his ears, he finally gave up. Screw it. Kissing her was wrong on so many levels, but at this point he didn’t care. He wanted her so badly his bones ached.

So he took her.

M
ARLEY LET OUT
a little gasp as he captured her mouth with his, but the second their lips met, she melted in his arms. He thrust his fingers into her hair, angling her head for better access, while he slid his other hand to her waist and drew her body to his.

She made a gentle, keening sound against his mouth, and then lifted her arms to his shoulders, pulling him closer. Her lips parted, her tongue darted out to toy with his and Caleb nearly keeled over from the jolt of desire that shot through him.

She tasted incredible. Like coffee, cinnamon and heaven and he couldn’t get enough of her. He deepened the kiss, drowning in her scent. Damn it, he hadn’t known it would be so uncontrollable.

A muffled thud sounded from outside. Marley must have heard it, too, because her eyelids fluttered open at the same time as his.

And then she was out of his arms.

His arms felt empty without her warm supple body in them, his mouth going dry when seconds before it had been moist from the tip of Marley’s tongue teasing his lips. Even as his body tried to recover from that unbelievable kiss, his brain went back to business, directing his line of vision to the now-empty yard. Relief coursed through him. AJ had managed The Great Escape.

“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I…” She tucked an errant blond strand behind her ear. “It’s fine. Just unexpected.”

Understatement of the year. What had he been thinking, kissing her? He’d wanted to distract her, and instead, he’d opened Pandora’s damn box, because now that he’d tasted Marley, he wanted nothing more than to do it again.

Information. You just need information from her.

Drawing in a breath, Caleb willed his desire away. “I should go,” he said.

Something flickered in her eyes. Finally, she just nodded, and they stepped out of the kitchen. He saw her wringing her hands together as she walked. “So you’re a writer, huh?”

He almost laughed. It seemed ridiculous making small talk now, after the explosive kiss they’d just shared. “Yeah, I’m, uh, working on my first novel.”

“That’s cool.”

When they reached the front hall, he glanced down at the two-by-fours on the floor, then the gutted closet. “You sure this isn’t a safety hazard?” he asked in a dry voice.

She sighed. “My brother keeps promising to finish it, but he never seems to get around to it.”

Caleb ran a hand through his hair, pausing near the front door. “I did some construction a few years back.”

The admission came out of nowhere, but at least it wasn’t a lie, like his writer cover story. He
had
done a lot of construction before he joined the DEA.

“I could help you with some of the renovations.” Gruffly, he added, “If you’d like.”

Marley seemed to hesitate. “No, I couldn’t let you do that. You’re here to work on a novel.”

“It’s really no trouble.” Damn, why was he insisting?

Information.

Right, it had nothing to do with her stunning face and endless supply of curves. He needed to find out what she knew about Grier. If she even knew anything. AJ thought she did, but Caleb wasn’t certain, not after he’d spent some time with her. Everything about Marley seemed so genuine, so refreshing. How did she do it, continue to smile and laugh and live her life after what Patrick Grier had done to her? Unless AJ was right, and she was still in contact with Grier, sticking by him, moving money around to help him escape….

Caleb forcibly shoved all the negative thoughts from his brain and focused on Marley. She considered his offer for so long that he grew certain she would say no, thank you. But then she gave a tiny smile and nodded. “Well, my brother’s finishing the closet this week, but I could use some help with the painting,” she confessed.

“Should I come by tomorrow?” Anticipation rose in his chest. He quickly banished it, trying to remind himself that he wasn’t seeing her for pleasure, but business.

“Sure. Let’s see…I’m stuck with a graveyard shift tonight. I start at two—” she made a face “—and I’ll be home around eleven tomorrow morning. I’ll probably pass out for a while when I get back, so how about four?”

“Sounds good.”

Laughing, Marley opened the front door for him. “I’m not sure it’ll sound as good when I put you to work painting my kitchen.”

He gave her a faint smile. “I look forward to it.”

Stepping out onto the porch, he thanked her for the coffee. After the door closed behind him, he released a ragged breath. Lord, that kiss. It was a miracle he’d been able to finish the rest of the conversation.

He could still taste her on his lips, and his current state of discomfort made walking next door difficult. He’d never been harder in his life, and if Marley were any other woman, it wouldn’t have stopped with one kiss. He felt it in the way she kissed him back and saw it in the disappointment clouding her eyes when they broke apart. If they were different people, he could’ve buried himself inside her and eased the ache in his groin. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t sleep with her.

Getting close to her in order to learn the truth was a necessary evil, but sleeping with her would pretty much purchase him a one-way ticket to hell. Because if she was innocent, he would have slept with a woman while lying about who he was. A woman who’d already been used by one liar. And if she was guilty, he’d have to live with the knowledge that he’d had sex with the woman helping Russ’s murderer.

He let himself in through the front door and went upstairs, where he found AJ in the master bedroom, manning the monitors.

The second Caleb entered the room, AJ let out a hoot, followed by a round of applause. “I’m thoroughly impressed,” his partner drawled. “You move fast, man.”

Caleb smothered a groan. He’d been hoping AJ hadn’t seen the kiss, but from the lewd way the man wiggled his eyebrows, he’d obviously caught the show.

“I was trying to distract her,” Caleb muttered.

“With your tongue? You could have just asked for a tour of the house.”

Caleb ignored the remark and said, “Aside from climbing trees, did you do anything productive today? Any headway on where the wire transfer came from?”

“Still nothing.” AJ leaned back in the chair. “But I’m close, and I can tell you, the money wasn’t wired from the States. I traced it to Europe. Not sure which country, though.”

Europe, huh? It made sense, if the money that had appeared in the account was being used to fund Grier’s way out of the country.

“What if Grier tries to move the money?” he asked, a frown puckering his brow.

“He can’t,” AJ answered, looking smug. “We set it up so that money can come in—that way we can track it—but Grier and Kincaid can’t move the money out. I hope they try, though. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when they realize the hundred Gs is stuck there.”

They.
The word hung in Caleb’s mind like a black rain cloud. AJ still hadn’t ruled Marley out as a suspect, and it was beginning to bother him. After these last couple of encounters with Marley, he was less suspicious of her than ever. Caleb’s instincts continued to tell him Marley wasn’t helping Grier, but he knew he couldn’t rule it out entirely. Still, it grated a little, hearing AJ lump her into Grier’s villainous category.

“What about you?” AJ asked. “Aside from playing tonsil hockey with the nurse, what’d you find out?”

“Nothing,” Caleb said with a sigh.

Not entirely true, of course. He’d found out plenty of things. Like how sweet she tasted. How pliant and welcoming her lips were. How hot her skin felt beneath his fingers.

“You mean your overwhelming charisma didn’t win her over?”

Caleb bristled. “I offered to help her paint tomorrow, so maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll open up then.”

AJ’s black eyes narrowed. “And what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Will
you
be getting lucky?”

The sudden bite to AJ’s tone was unexpected. Caleb met his partner’s wary gaze head-on. “Come on, AJ, I told you I’m not going to sleep with her.”

“You sure? Because that make-out session looked pretty damn hot. Actually, it looked like you were going to beat your chest a couple of times, throw her over your shoulder and drag her upstairs so you could screw her brains out.”

Caleb’s lips tightened. “I was playing a part. I have no intention of taking her to bed.”

“Uh-huh…”

“For the love of—”

“How long has it been since you got laid?”

Caleb’s eyes flashed. “That has nothing to do with anything.”

“No? I think it has a lot to do with this. Look, I get it. She’s an attractive woman. But don’t—”

“Don’t what?” Caleb cut in. “Forget why I’m here?”

“I’m just asking you to be careful. Grier needs to be behind bars for what he did to Russ. And I can’t have a cute blonde distracting you from catching him if he shows up.”

“She won’t. Trust me, I want Grier as much as you do.” Caleb swallowed. “Russ was the best friend I ever had, damn it. And tomorrow I plan on getting the truth out of Marley. If she knows anything, I’ll find out, okay?”

AJ looked unconvinced. “And if she suddenly rips all her clothes off and begs you to do nasty things to her?”

Caleb swallowed harder, forcing himself not to imagine the ridiculously tempting scenario AJ had just described. “Then I say no,” he maintained. “I’m serious, man. I’m not going to sleep with her.”

“And if she unrolls the yoga mat and starts doing naked pelvic thrusts…”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m
not
going to sleep with her.”

But oh, how he wanted to.

Not gonna happen, man.

No, he wouldn’t let it happen. The weeklong attraction he’d felt for Marley might have culminated in an explosive kiss, but he was determined not to let it go further.

He just hoped he had the strength.

Scratch that—he
prayed
he had the strength.

M
ARLEY WAS WIDE AWAKE
and dressed for manual labor when the doorbell rang the next afternoon. She’d taken a power nap when she got home from the hospital, and her alert state was actually a bit of a surprise. There had been a massive car accident on Interstate 5 and half the nurses from the respiratory unit where Marley usually worked had been reassigned to the E.R. for a couple of days to tend to the onslaught of victims. Marley was one of them, and she’d been running around like a chicken with its head cut off for the past nine hours. Yet here she was, bright-eyed and ready to paint her kitchen. Figure that one out.

Okay, well, maybe it wasn’t that hard to comprehend, considering who she would be painting the kitchen with.

She opened the door and there he was, wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a black T-shirt. The shirt clung to his muscular chest, a sight that made Marley’s heart race like a Formula One car. Darn it, why did he have to be so attractive?

And why had she let him kiss her? They’d only just met, for Pete’s sake. Only a couple days ago she’d been telling Gwen she wanted to take things slow when it came to her love life, that getting intimate with a stranger scared her. And what had she done? Gotten intimate with a stranger.

“Hey,” Caleb greeted her. His deep voice had a sexy rasp that brought a rush of heat to Marley’s belly. “Ready to paint?”

She gestured for him to come in. “Ready, yes. Excited about it, no.”

His lips quirked and she instantly focused on his sensual mouth. Her legs trembled as she thought about the kiss they’d shared. The memory of Caleb’s warm mouth and skillful tongue ignited a charge of heat through her body, hot little flames that licked at her skin.

“Tough day at work?” he asked as he followed her inside.

“Very tough,” she admitted. “I was assigned to the E.R. because there was a huge accident this morning. A tour bus taking twenty people to a casino collided with an eighteen-wheeler.”

“I saw it on the news. Was it as bad as it looked?” Caleb asked.

“Worse. Seven dead, twelve injured.” She led him into the kitchen, where she’d already set up all the paint trays and rollers they’d need.

“How do you do it?” His voice was low and laced with awe. “How can you look at so much death and carnage day in and day out?”

“I like helping people,” she said simply.

He didn’t respond, and when she looked over, she noticed him watching her with some expression she couldn’t quite decipher. Admiration? Or was it curiosity?

She cleared her throat and picked up the large paint can labeled Morning Sunshine. “Um, so, you can start on that wall,” she said, pointing to the wall opposite the back door. She moved her hand toward the adjacent wall, adding, “I still need to get rid of the rest of the wallpaper on this one, and then we can prime it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” A glint of humor filled his eyes, but his face remained as stoic as usual.

She wondered why he smiled so rarely. Difficult childhood, or was he just serious by nature? She didn’t mind, though. She’d faked enough smiles these past few months that it was refreshing not having to put on a happy face to avoid being on the receiving end of the sympathetic smiles she’d grown used to.

It was even more refreshing not having to make awkward small talk, which she discovered ten minutes later as they worked in comfortable silence. Caleb didn’t say much, except for the occasional work-related remark, as he rolled bright-yellow paint on her kitchen wall.

She found herself sneaking sidelong glances in his direction, admiring his perfect profile, the strength of his jaw, the confident way he moved. Her pulse sped up each time he lifted his arms, which made his powerful muscles bunch and flex. His body was incredible, hard and lean without an ounce of fat. And she loved how focused he was on his task, his head bent in concentration. As he painted, a rogue lock of dark hair fell onto his forehead. She wanted to walk over and brush it away, but kept her hands on the scraper she was using. Just because every nerve ending in her body crackled with the need to touch him didn’t mean she’d give in to temptation.