I thought I was seeing things when the door to my office opened and Brooke popped her blonde head in.

Actually, I thought it was some sort of fantasy, part of the fantasy I’d been having about her. I’d been thinking about her all day and was just thinking about her again—about when I would see her again— when the knock sounded on the door.

She came in with that sassy smile on her face.

I straightened up in my chair and looked at her walking elegantly toward me as if she was on the runway. My eyes took her in and I fixated on the light little beige coat that molded to her tiny frame. It was windy outside, but not cold.

“Hi.” She beamed, eyes sparkling.

“Hey.” I found my voice and stood up to go around to her. Sitting there felt too businesslike, and I hoped she hadn’t come for business.

Was she here for business? I hoped not. It was odd for her to visit me at work.

“I hope it was okay for me to come here. I wanted to catch you alone.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, and the end of the lock glistened in the last remains of the day’s sunlight.

“Yeah, sure, it’s fine. It’s good to see you.” It really was.

It was good to see her; I just wished I wasn’t at work. Aaron had just gone out to talk to forensics about another case that had just come in. I’d hung back because I was filing reports.

He could come back any second, and he’d undoubtedly have questions. Anyone who saw her in my office would have questions, because women never visited me at work.

“You too. Seems like this was the only way, even though I only live a stone’s throw away from you.” There she went with the straight-to-the-point, no-nonsense attitude.

I smiled, unable to resist. “I thought you were busy yesterday.”

“Busy?” She raised her brows and bit back a smile.

“Okay…I confess—I didn’t know when was good to see you.”

“So you left me to make the first move?”

“This is a first move?”

“God, you really do need to get out more. I could be washing my hair or something and yet I’m here at this place.” She gave the office a quick scan, wrinkled her nose, and then returned her gaze to me.

“You don’t like my office?” I chuckled.

“No, detective, I’m afraid I don’t. It looks boring. No wonder you are the way you are. Must be the half monk side of you.”

That had to be a joke.

“And yet you had so much fun with me the other night.”

She simply stared at me, her eyes expressionless. “I came by to thank you.”

“For the fun?”

“No, for saving my job.”

My lips curved and I found myself smiling at that. I’d had a feeling things would work out somehow, but it had saddened me to think she might be leaving sooner than I wanted.

“So you’ll be doing Sally’s story?”

“Yeah, looks that way. I did what you said and it worked, so I thought you deserved for me to make an effort to come see what your world looks like and thank you properly.”

Thank me properly…interesting.

She was right: I needed to get out more, because when she said that, my eyes went straight to her chest and I took my time observing the shape of her. Then my damn mind conjured up what she must look like naked under that coat.

It was the perfect coat for it.

A smack of her dainty hand to my chest snapped me right out of the fantasy and she started laughing.

“Do you know how obvious you are?”

“Obvious? What…what do you mean? I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“When you’re turned on, your eyes get darker.”

Shit, I hadn’t meant to show how turned on I was by her presence. I didn’t even know what to say.

“Do they?”

“Mmhmmm.”

“What…happens to you?” I knew I was venturing down the path of temptation, but she’d had me hooked from the second I saw her.

“Oh, that’s a little above Brooke 101. You have to pass the introductory course first before you move on to more advanced material.”

“What if I want to study ahead?” I grinned.

Mischief lit up her whole face. “That could be arranged.”

Enough talk. I stepped closer to her and she moved towards me at the same time for a kiss.

I didn’t realize how much I’d missed her mouth until I had her again. She tasted sweeter, sexier, delicious, and rare.

I enjoyed the mingling of our tongues tasting each other and the way she sucked on my bottom lip when she pulled back. I wasn’t ready to stop kissing her, not yet—damn, not ever.

Her cheeks were tinged pink and she smiled. “I should go now.”

I slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her back to me. “No.”

“Yes…I should.” She giggled.

Feeling the pull of desire, I lowered my lips to her neck and traced kisses along the curve of it. She pressed into me, pushing her breasts into my chest.

“You said you wanted to thank me properly—what does that mean, Brooke?” I whispered into her ear. She could tease me with her blunt ways and sexiness, but I could give as much as I got too.

“When do you finish work?” A little moan escaped her lips.

“I can be home in an hour.” I technically finished in two hours but thought I deserved to leave early. It wasn’t often I took time off, so this was me reclaiming time.

I could finish up the reports and head home within twenty minutes to beat traffic.

“Come to my place.”

My cock stirred at her words. “Your place?” That would be perfect. Aria would be home in a few hours, and if I was at Brooke’s, there would be no interruption.

“I’ll leave the door open.” Sexy, sassy, and interesting.

I allowed her to step out of my grasp only because of the prospect of what she had planned.

“Can’t wait.”

She backed away from me and gave me one last smile before she walked out the door.

I got the feeling our 101 classes were about to progress into something more.

I simply meant to tell him thanks and express how grateful I was. I’d even wanted to elaborate a little on what had happened with Sally, within reason, of course, as I wouldn’t discuss anything personal she wouldn’t want anyone else knowing.

I was ecstatic to be doing the story again, but damn I was more ecstatic at the thought of being with Ryan.

I was crazy. This was crazy, and I’d set up this…whatever it was we were going to do.

Yes, I had gone to the station to say thanks, and then sexual desire had taken over. I’d taken one look at him and he’d turned me on. He didn’t have to do anything; just the sight of him sent my nerves into overdrive and heat washed over me.

Then I’d said what was on my mind.

When I was turned on, I said whatever came to my mind first without thinking. That was me. All the other stuff, like my body’s reaction and my emotions, came second.

So, when I’d said I wanted to thank him properly, I’d been thinking of the crazy way I wanted to kiss his delicious lips and run my hands all over his body until it drove me insane.

When I’d asked him what time he finished work, my mind had already started conjuring up all the ways I could get him into my house and into my bed. The image of him on the beach with his perfect abs on display and perfect everything was enough to make me jump from being civil and logical to the lust-crazed woman I was now.

Breathe, breathe. I needed to breathe.

As I walked around my sitting room, I brought my hands up to my cheeks from the shock of what I’d said to him. I knew I gave the impression of being overly sexual and confident, but I wasn’t actually like that and God, I felt like I’d basically invited Ryan over for sex.

He hadn’t said no.

It had taken me twenty minutes to get home, and in five minutes, it would be an hour from when he’d said he could be home in an hour.

I swallowed hard and as I heard the screech of a car outside, I straightened out the crease in my dress. It was a little summer dress I’d chosen to suit the reading at the library. It wasn’t fancy, but I supposed it was sexy.

Nerves filled my stomach when footsteps sounded on the porch and then the door opened—the door I’d left unlocked and ajar.

More footsteps and then he was standing in the doorway of the sitting room. He looked like he’d rushed.

I stood by the fireplace gazing at him, absorbing the seductive way he looked at me.

I took a step forward and he came inside. He walked over to me and the moment he leaned down, I fell into the kiss and pressed my hands against the solid wall of his chest.

“You made it.” I spoke against his lips.

“As if I wouldn’t.” He smiled into a kiss that turned hungrier.

He moved back with me until I was pressed up against the wall near the bookshelf. I got lost in him.

I’d never gotten lost in anything or anyone.

I may have been drunk the first time I kissed him, but I remembered that feeling. It was odd for me. It was odd and alluring, making me want more, and more was exactly what he gave. He kissed me like he needed me and wanted me both at the same time, like he wanted to consume me and everything that was me.

And, God, I kissed him like that too.

When I tugged on his jacket, he slid it off and grabbed my waist. Then he yanked so hard on my dress that the cute little buttons that held it together on my shoulders popped off and bounced somewhere on the wooden floor.

I was vaguely aware of the dress floating down my legs and the sudden coolness on my bare skin.

He took a break from my lips to look me over.

Thank God I was wearing one of my favorite pieces of lingerie: a black lace set from Victoria’s Secret.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, voice husky and filled with the desire that coursed through us.

I wanted to say something but found I couldn’t. I couldn’t speak. It was the way he looked at me and held me in place with his gaze.

Other men had given me that purely sexual look of wanting me, but this guy looked at me like he wanted to savor me.

It was a different look, and one I never wanted to forget.

I leaned forward and started undoing his buttons, which he gladly allowed me to work on. I indulged in the handful of seconds I got to run my hands over the bare skin of his abs once I got the shirt off.

Solid peaks and valleys filled my palms, planes chiseled to perfection that could only be conjured up in a fantasy. I didn’t care what madness had possessed me, had possessed us—I was going to enjoy this.

I was going to enjoy him.

A low growl rumbled within his chest and he took hold of me again. Then it was like his hands were everywhere and a cloud of lusty haze surrounded us.

His lips peppered hot kisses down my neck and in the valley between my breasts. He smoothed his hands up from my waist to cup my breasts and squeezed.

That was when my mind numbed and I became desperate—desperate for everything he had to offer even though I didn’t know what that was. I had a pretty darn good idea, though, that whatever it was would leave a lasting impression.

He kissed the swells of my breasts and pulled the left cup of my bra aside along with the strap, making my breast pop out and bobble toward him, nipple hard and straining to be soothed.

I watched the totally hot scene of him taking my aching nipple into his mouth, where he sucked first then swirled his tongue over the surface of the tip to work it to life.

My body spoke and he understood. He knew what I needed. He seemed to know exactly what I needed. That was how I felt.

I fell back against the wall and got lost in his wild suckle.

With a wicked and utterly sinful smile spread across his face, he unsnapped the clasp of the bra and released my other breast.

I knew I’d completely turned to mush prior to that, and I couldn’t have smart-mouthed him in my usual way even if I’d wanted to, definitely not when he lowered his head and gave my right breast the same attention he’d offered to my left.

Mindless sounds of pleasure escaped my lips and I ran my hands through his hair as reality receded into the background.

I felt amazing, just from that, and if that had been all I’d gotten from him, I would have taken it—but no. Ryan had more in store for me. He tugged on the edge of my panties.

“Black lace,” he whispered against the edge of my hip as he crouched down and planted kisses there and across my stomach. Then he pulled back and held the little blue bow on the side. “But with a hint of blue. Brook 101: Brooke’s favorite color is blue.”

I smiled at that. I’d never told him that, but he’d noticed.

“Ryan 101: what’s your favorite color?”

He looked up at me with those gorgeous eyes and gave me a smile that made me crumble with its gorgeousness.

“Black. Today it’s black lace with a hint of blue—whatever color’s on you.”

I would have said something like I bet you say that to all the girls, but I stopped myself.

Somehow—I didn’t know how—I didn’t think he did. It felt like it was just for me.

He didn’t waste any more time. Holding me in place, he worked nerve-tingling kisses across my pelvis and licked at the skin there. Then he moved the lace back as he ventured toward my core and nuzzled me with his face. I thought I would just die when he ran his tongue over the already sensitive skin there, and I had to grasp his shoulders to stay upright.

He secured his large hands on my ass and squeezed, but mostly I was taken by the attention he gave my center. It made me wetter just thinking about it.

He slid his finger inside and smiled.

“Wet and ready,” he said, more to himself than to me.

I was; I was so wet and ready for him.

He added a second finger and started pumping, going in and out and watching me as I fell apart.

“I…” I was going to come.

I was. My heart stilled within the walls of my chest and my breath hitched on the wave of passion that swept over me.

He went faster, pumping into me, giving me a preview of what he was about to do to me with his cock inside me. Just as I cried out from the orgasmic burst of ecstasy that grabbed me and came right there for him, he spread my legs wider and replaced his fingers with his tongue.

He drank my release right up, licking and drinking like he couldn’t get enough and didn’t want to waste any. Then he licked the hard nub of my clit and stroked backward and forward, backward and forward in little bursts of delight that made me want to scream.

I writhed against the wall and squeezed his shoulders. The pleasure became too much and I couldn’t believe I was on the verge of coming again.

“Ryan…I…”

He didn’t stop, just kept going and going, now pressing his face right in so he could reach higher inside me, and God, I felt the pressure build up again.

It was like steam in a pressure cooker that had been left on for too long.

The steam, the passion, the pleasure, it all began to rise, and I was ready to explode. I was there, ready and…I did.

I came again—again, and more intensely. This time I wasn’t just writhing; I was gasping and my hair was wet with sweat.

I looked down at him as he moved and rose to stand. The bulge of his cock pressing against the front of his pants was evident. I was ready to wither away, but I wanted to give him pleasure too.

I tugged on his belt and tried to regain the confidence I’d previously exhibited.

“Your turn.”

“If you say so.” He smiled a wicked smile. “But, don’t go wild.”

When I looked at him, I no longer saw the man I’d teased the previous week about being a monk, about being in cop mode or dad mode.

This man before me was the rebel he’d spoken of at the beach. This was the version he had told me I would like, and I totally did.

Then he shocked me further by taking my hand and pressing it to the soft cotton of his pants so I could feel the hardness of his cock. I gasped and when he clasped my hands over it so I could squeeze, he groaned and I swore I would come again just from that.

“I’m ready to blow and I want to be inside you, so don’t go wild.”

“Can I go wild next time?” From some place within me, the quirkiness came back.

His eyes sparkled and he beamed down at me. “Next time? So I impressed you so much I get you twice and I haven’t even done anything yet?”

I thought about that. “You get to have me as many times as you want.” I leaned in for a kiss.

He reached for my breasts and played with my nipples.

“Brooke 101: you speak your mind when you’re turned on.”

I pulled in a breath and tried to hold back the emotion that swirled within me. He really was trying to know what I liked, to know me.

“Yeah, I tend to,” I confessed.

A look of triumph registered on his face and he leaned in to kiss me. I got lost in the kiss and the feel of his cock hardening in my hands and growing.

I got lost and found I wanted to stay lost.

I didn’t want to go back to reality for anything. That feeling right there made me realize just how much pressure I put on myself with everything, not just in the past week but in LA too.

In LA, everything seemed so crazy busy I didn’t know if I would make it from one day to the next with my mind in tact.

Being with Ryan took me to a place where I wanted to stay, but…someone was calling me.

A child?

No…wait.

I pulled back when I thought I heard a whimper and then my name again.

Ryan pulled back too and looked behind me.

“Brooke.” It was Aria. “Are you home?” She sounded like she was crying.

She was outside on the porch near the window. There were footsteps as she moved to the door and rang the bell.

“Brooke, if you can hear me, please, can I talk to you? I need you.”

I looked to Ryan and the state we were both in—my hand was still around his cock. I released him and grabbed my clothes. He fixed his shirt and moved to go but I stopped him.

“No,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. She just sounds really upset. I know when she’s crying.” He was back in dad mode, and I thought it was sweet. “She needs me.”

“I’m sorry too, but she needs me.”

He looked surprised by my answer. “You don’t have to.”

“She’s my friend—I kind of do have to, and it’s not going to be a good look if she finds you in my house.” I secured my bra back in place and rushed over to the sofa to grab one of my house shirts because the dress wouldn’t work.

“I can hang back.”

“No, go home. Slip out when I get her. Trust me, she’ll know what we were doing.” She absolutely would. That girl was far from stupid, and from the look of us, even with clothes on, I was certain anyone would know we were just about to have seriously wild sex. “I promise to take care of her,” I added for good measure.

The awed look on his face gripped me, but then the sexiness came back. “We’ll finish this, Brooke. I’m making the first move next time.”

“Okay.”

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

I moved away before I got lost again and rushed up to the door just as I heard Aria starting to cry.

I opened it and when she saw me, she threw herself into my arms.

“I’m so sorry. I was upstairs.” I felt bad lying but didn’t know what else to do.

“It’s okay,” she whimpered.

“What’s wrong, Aria?”

Of course I couldn’t help but feel alarmed.

“It’s Brad,” she answered between sobs.

I kept my arm around her and stroked her hair, ushering her inside the house.

Just like I’d known he would, Ryan must have heard and stuck his head out. I saw him over my shoulder and steered her away from the sitting room and toward the stairs.

“What’s up with Brad?” I asked.

“He wanted to take things to the next level, and I…”

Oh Jesus, this was not a conversation for Ryan to hear. I glanced back and saw the terrified look on his face. I shook my head at him, hoping to stave him off and hold him back.

Thankfully he did stay back, but the worried look on his face got to me.

I, too, found myself worrying about what she would tell me.