Cursed (12 page)

     She gave him a half
smile. “You really believe that?”

     “Absolutely.”

     Hope sighed and
looked away. “Maybe...a friend of the woman who was killed is filing a civil
suit. If she wins, there might be a cash settlement for the child.” Hope
frowned. “The job will be harder though because I didn’t get a conviction.”

     Nick gently squeezed
her fingers, bringing her gaze back to his. “Listen, I have some neighbors who
have been trying to have a baby for years with no luck. They’ve made up their
minds to adopt. I’ll talk to them if you’d like. They’re good people.”

     His offer to help
caused a lump of emotion to rise in her throat but she pushed it down. “Why
would you do that for me? Aren’t we on opposite sides right now?”

     He leaned against
the back of his seat, but didn’t let go of her hand. His serious cop face
returned. “Just because I want to help you out doesn’t mean I’ve given up on
the case or my investigation.”

     He still didn’t say
Cullinan was their prime suspect. Maybe he’d found out something new, maybe
they were investigating someone else. The man suspected Cullinan.

She couldn’t afford to let him get to her.
“Speaking of the case...anything new?”

     He grinned and her
heart slid into her throat. The corners of his eyes crinkled. “You work in the
D.A.’s office. You know what I know.”

     She doubted that.
Cullinan had told her that Nick had been back asking pointed questions, wanting
a list of his clients and contacts. Hope glanced out of the window. Snow fell
heavily and covered the city in a thick, white blanket. She pushed her
untouched drink away. “It seems we have a blizzard in the making. I’d better
go.”

     “Not yet.” Nick
motioned for a waiter and ordered a dessert.

     Hope raised her
brows at him.

     Nick smiled a bit
sheepishly. “I don’t usually order for a woman but if I didn’t you’d probably
walk out of here with an empty stomach. You should never try and nurse a case
of the blues on an empty stomach.”

     For the second time
that evening, he made her smile. A comfortable silence settled between them. After
a few minutes, the waiter brought the dessert. He set the thick chocolate torte
before them along with two forks then left Hope and Nick alone.

     Hope eyed the cake
then glanced at Nick. Without saying anything, he picked up one of the forks
and sliced into the thick cake covered with whipped cream. He opened his mouth
and closed his lips over the tempting morsel. He swallowed and licked his lips.

     She nearly lost it.
For one crazy moment, she wondered what that chocolate would taste like coming
directly from his lips. Would it be warm and sweet with Nick’s own flavor
blended in? She’d never wanted to kiss a man more in her life. She really
needed to get out of here, away from him and the yearning he brought out in
her.

     Nick nudged the other
fork toward her. “Your turn.”

     Hope shook her head.
“If I eat that tonight, I’ll be wearing it tomorrow.”

     Nick laughed and the
sound rippled over her skin and teased her nerve endings. “Not a chance. Go for
it.”

     Hope took a bite of
the cake and sighed as the chocolate melted on her tongue. “Wow, that’s almost
better than—”

     “Sex.” Nick grinned.
“You were going to say sex. Admit it.”

     She returned his
smile. “I invoke the Fifth.”

* * *

     Turning onto Broadway,
Nick slowed his vintage Mustang behind a line of cars. Snow fell steadily, the
wipers beating a gentle rhythm against the windshield. Music from a local jazz
station played softly on the radio adding to the intimate atmosphere.

     With traffic nearly
at a standstill because of the snow, it had taken him ten minutes to drive one
lousy block. He glanced at Hope sitting in the passenger seat wrapped up in her
coat.

     Against his better
judgment, he inhaled a deep breath and with it the smell of her perfume, the
same one she’d tempted him with when she came to his house for dinner. He grew
hard in an instant, his arousal springing to life pressing against his fly. He
fantasized for a moment about unzipping his pants and having Hope pleasure him with
her mouth and then her— What the hell was he thinking? Nick shifted in his seat
hoping to find a more comfortable position and keep Hope from noticing his
undignified and needy reaction to her.

     Hope unbuckled her
seat belt and slipped off her coat. When she tried to reconnect the strap, it
became entangled with her coat.

     Instinctively, Nick
leaned in close to her. Her soft, feminine scent surrounded him.
I shouldn’t
be doing this
. “Let me help you.” His hand brushed her fingers aside, the
softness of her skin lingering to torture him further. He untangled the strap
and with a soft click, he slid the tab into the buckle. His gaze collided with
hers. The two halves of the seat belt fit together the same way he would
sliding into Hope’s silken body; locking them together in the most intimate
embrace. His pulse ratcheted up several notches.

     Her lips parted, the
pupils in her eyes grew wider as she stared at him. “Thank you.”

     Her whispered words
jerked him from his sensual thoughts. He moved away from her and straightened
in his seat. The seat belt strap emphasized the shape of her lush, tempting
breasts. They would fit perfectly in his hands. Were her nipples darkly tan or
dusky pink? Would they pout sensuously for him when he rubbed his thumb over
the tip or licked them with his tongue? Sexual frustration rose inside him.
With every enticing second he spent with her, she ruthlessly chipped away at
his determination not to take her in his arms and satisfy them both.

     She reached up and
loosened the bun at the base of her neck, fluffing the strands of her hair with
her fingers. He noticed her long, feminine fingers with short, unpolished
nails. What would her hands feel like caressing his skin? He wanted to tunnel
his fingers through her hair, tilt her head back and have a good, thorough
taste of her mouth. Intense desire shot through his blood but he attempted to
tamp it down.

     Hope turned her head
and caught him looking at her. Their gazes held. He should turn away but he
couldn’t. His breath grew shallow. He felt like a deer caught in lavender
headlights. Leaning toward her, he reached out his hand to draw her to him,
mesmerized by her beautiful, violet eyes and softly parted lips.

     A horn blasted
through the snowstorm-filled evening, shattering the cocoon of sexual tension
surrounding them. Nick jerked his head around and stared wide eyed through the
windshield. The previously stalled traffic had moved several yards ahead.
Surprise at his reaction to Hope zipped through him. He gave his libido a swift
kick, straightened in his seat and pressed on the gas pedal.
Get a grip,
Morelli
.

     Damn it, he never
should have taken her out for drinks, much less offered to drive her home.
Closed up in a warm car with her barely inches away enticed him beyond reason.
Her brother was a suspect, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she would
fight like a she-cat to protect him. He never crossed the line and got involved
with a suspect or the relative of a suspect. Then why didn’t he walk away from
her in that crowded courthouse hallway? He knew the answer even as he asked
himself the question. Not resisting the disappointed and disheartened
expression he’d seen in her big, sad eyes was his first mistake. Her rigid
lawyerly façade had softened into a compassionate woman who cared deeply about
an orphaned baby.

     She’d wheedled her
way under his skin in a short period of time and made it damn near impossible
for him to stay away from her. His second mistake had been ordering dessert.
When she took a bite of the chocolate cake, closed her eyes, and a sexy moan of
pure pleasure had issued from her throat, he’d nearly pounced. His third and
biggest mistake had been mentioning sex. Now all he could think about was
getting Hope naked.

     “Considering how the
snow has picked up, I’m glad I let you drive me home.”

     Hope’s voice drew
Nick from his thoughts. Guilt stabbed at him with sharp talons, but he
carefully concealed his emotions and turned to her. “I’m a cop. It’s my civic
duty to serve and protect.” He gave her wink for good measure.

     She nodded but an
expression of uncertainty shone in her eyes. He turned onto Wazee Street.

     “My building is
about halfway down on the right.” She told him the number, unsnapped her seat
belt and slipped on her coat. Hope picked up her purse and briefcase from the
floor of the car, laying them in her lap. Nervously, she played with the strap
of her purse as she stared straight ahead in the direction of her apartment.
“I’m sorry it took so long to get here, but with the snow and everything,
it’s—”

     “Are you in a hurry
to get away from me?” He needed like hell to get away from
her
.

     She snapped her head
around. “No—I just—I mean—I’m sure you probably have plans for the rest of the
evening, that’s all.”      Her voice rang with a skittish
tone as she tightened the belt on her coat.

     He pulled the car
next to the curb in front of her building, stopped and shifted the gear into
park. “Stay put for a minute. It’s slippery out.”

     Nick climbed from the
car and walked around to the passenger door. He opened it and held out his
hand. Hope looked up at him, her eyes wary in the half-light. She grasped his
hand. Warmth shot up his arm at her touch.

     With a slight tug,
he helped her from the car. Snow and wind swirled around them, but he barely
noticed. For one intense moment they stood close, their breath mingling, their
gazes locked. She took a step back, breaking the spell of desire. “Thanks for
the ride.” Her voice was husky with a tremor around the edge of it.

     At least he wasn’t
the only one suffering. “You’re welcome.”

     She started across
the snow-covered sidewalk toward the entrance of her building. Nick couldn’t
say why he did it exactly, except that he wanted—no needed—to look in her eyes
one more time before he headed home. He gathered some snow from the hood of his
car, molded the icy crystals into a ball and tossed it toward Hope. The
snowball connected with her left shoulder and splattered. She stopped and swung
around with her eyes wide, her mouth gaping.

     Nick couldn’t have
stopped his grin if he tried. “Oh, sorry, that just sort of...slipped out of my
hand.”

     The expression of
surprise on her face turned to challenge. She tossed her purse and briefcase
onto the steps of her apartment building, gathered up some snow, and with a
determined gleam in her eyes, made a snowball.

     Nick gave a whoop of
laughter and patted more snow into a ball. Before he could fire it at her, Hope
hurled a snowball in his direction, popping him square on the side of his head.

     He shook his head,
scattering the snow. “Nice shot.”

     Hope giggled, made
another snowball before taking a couple of steps toward him. With precision, she
tossed it against his chest. Snow flew upward, the icy flakes spraying over his
face. He wiped a hand over his face and threw a snowball back at her.

     She sidestepped and
nailed him in the neck with another snowball. The slush slid beneath the collar
of his jacket and into his shirt, chilling his skin.

     He shuddered against
the cold and pinned her with his gaze. He stalked her with a handful of snow.
Laughing, she kept tossing snowballs at him but he dodged each one until he had
her backed up against the wall of her building.

     They stood close,
their chests heaving, her skin flushed with cold. He jerked his right hand
holding the snow, sending a plume of white over Hope’s face and hair.

     Laughing, she
blinked and lifted a hand to wipe the snow from her cheeks. Nick grasped her
fingers, rubbing them between his own and blowing his breath over her cold
skin. After a moment, he lowered her hand to her side. He shouldn’t be doing
this but he couldn’t help himself. “Let me take care of that.”

Chapter Seven

     Undeniable sexual
magnetism radiated between them. With her pulse leaping in her veins like an
electrical current, Hope tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. Nick’s gaze
bored into hers with seductive confidence while a smile full of intimate
secrets curled one corner of his mouth. He still held her hand, his thumb
caressing her inner wrist in tiny circles. She knew he felt the throb of her
pulse telling him what his touch did to her, but she was a flesh and blood woman
who longed to end the drought in her intimate life. Everything about this was
wrong, but she couldn’t back away from the promise of passion she saw in his
eyes.

     Slowly, without
taking his gaze from hers, he entwined their fingers, pressing their palms
together. A delicious sensation of reckless need fluttered through her body. He
shifted closer. His male heat and tantalizing scent surrounding her, made her
tremble with desire. The snowy world around her narrowed down to Nick. She
didn’t even feel the cold anymore. “Nick, we shouldn’t be doing this.” Her
voice held a husky note of want that belied her words.