Chapter 1
Regan Rourke stood in the archway between her living room and kitchen, wearing red spike heels, a smile, and nothing else. She heard the door of her husband’s truck slam shut and his footsteps on the front porch. She smoothed her freshly curled hair down over her shoulder and readjusted her stance, trying to steady herself on the heels.
Seducing her husband was new to her. He’d always pursued her, even in the beginning of their relationship. He’d been the one to initiate dating, then sex. But tonight, after a trip to the mall and a splurge on heels she’d probably never wear again, she was going to celebrate their relationship, the one she’d been so against in the beginning. A cop’s wife had to deal with such crap from the department, but being married to Colin was much easier than she’d expected. Now she was going to let loose with him and be the wild woman he never knew she was. In all honesty, the wild woman she didn’t know she was.
Her heart began to pound as she thought about her husband’s reaction. Desire pooled between her thighs. She leaned her elbow up against the wall and struck a sexy pose, her hip cocked out and the heels wobbling just as the front door opened.
“Regan, I’m home.” Colin dropped his gear and a duffle bag on the floor just inside the door. “Regan, honey. Where are you? We have to talk.”
He looked up. His eyes met hers and he did a double take. Stripping off his jacket, he dropped it on top of his gear and crossed the room in the amount of time it took her heart to thump in her chest.
Regan’s smile grew larger at the wolfish look on her husband’s face. Her confidence soared, and she grinned back at him. Thrusting her hips forward, she beckoned, ignoring the defeated look he’d worn and the serious tone of voice he used when he’d first walked through the door. There were words no one wanted to hear, newlywed or not. Work talk could wait.
“What’s this?” He closed the final feet between them, pulling her into his arms. His hands grasped her ass, and he trailed kisses down her neck. “Were you expecting someone?”
“Happy Anniversary,” she said, finding his lips and plundering them with her mouth. She sucked in his lower lip and nipped, and was rewarded when his tongue caught hers. She continued to kiss him, her body growing heavy with need.
“Did I miss an anniversary already?” He laughed, a warm chuckle that turned Regan’s insides to mush.
She loved this man with such a fierce passion that she couldn’t imagine living without him. From his dirty-blond hair to the muscles that rippled across his chest and back, she adored every part of his sexy-as-sin body, and getting him naked was first on her to-do list.
“We’ve been married six months today. I thought we should celebrate,” she purred huskily.
“I’m up for that.” He scooped her up and headed for the stairs.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked the heels of her shoes together. While he carried her, she ran her tongue over the seam of his lips, wetting them. He opened his mouth, taking her in and sucking on her tongue. He moaned into her mouth as he carried her up the stairs to their bedroom on the second floor of the suburban Cape-Cod-Style house they’d bought five months ago.
He readjusted her in his arms and reached for the light switch.
“No,” she said seductively. “Leave it off.”
“I want to see you.”
“Look around,” she answered, happy that he was focused on her, but wishing he’d noticed her efforts, too.
He did as he was told, and she smiled as he appreciatively scanned the candles she’d strategically placed around the room.
“I like the music,” he told her, planting a kiss on her shoulder. His eyes continued to scan the room. He nodded toward the nightstand where she’d arranged a platter of cheese and crackers, grapes, and strawberries, his favorite. A man needed his sustenance.
“You thought of everything.” He nipped at her shoulder and slid her down his body until her naked ass hit the bed.
“I was only missing a strong, handsome, sexy, powerful man to complete my scenario.”
“Your scenario, huh?”
“Yep.” When she used words from work, a rush of excitement filled her. Working together had its perks and she made sure they made a sometimes boring and dangerous job, fun. He seemed to like it too. She unbuttoned his shirt and tugged his T-shirt free from his waistband. The exposed skin taunted her and she ran her hands under his shirt, kneading and stroking every part of his muscled chest. She felt his nipples tighten and rolled them between her finger and thumb. “You like that, Officer?”
He laughed and pushed her onto her back before shedding the rest of his clothes in a matter of seconds. “Now we’re even,” he said, climbing over her. “Except you have on shoes.”
“Do you want me to take them off?” She raised her foot to give him a good view of her candy-red, strappy heel.
“Hell no,” he said, sitting to the side of her and cradling her foot and fondling the heel in his palm. “These are damn sexy. I don’t even want to know where you got them on our salaries.”
She ran a hand over his back and sat up to kiss where she touched. She followed with her tongue, tasting the saltiness of his hot, silky skin, then skimmed her hands down over the front of him, loving the feel. He dropped her foot and rolled toward her, capturing her mouth with his.
In the flickering light, she could see the definition of his muscles and the golden color of his nakedness. She wanted him inside her now. Tonight she didn’t want foreplay. Standing naked in her living room waiting for him, imagining all the ways she would make love to him had made her wet and needy.
Not sensing her urgency, he drew pictures across her stomach, lazy lines that tickled and enticed her. She knew the rules, though. If she touched him and tried to speed him along, he’d use the special handcuffs she’d bought at a naughty toy party to make sure she’d have to wait until he was ready. There were times she did grab his hard cock and stroke because she liked the loss of control the handcuffs meant, but other times she played by his instructions.
He drew circles through the hair at the apex of her thighs, and she started to squirm, trying to move her hips closer to where his finger worked its way near the most sensitive part of her.
“Impatient, aren’t we?” He chuckled, sliding his whole hand over her mound, covering her, then waiting.
She thrust upward.
With a quick escape move he’d taught her, she rolled away and then climbed over him, straddling his groin, his cock pressing into her.
“See, I was paying attention,” she said, grabbing his wrists and pinning them over his head. She ground her hips into him and kissed her way down his cheek to his neck, then slid her hands down his arms so she could take one of his nipples in her mouth. She nipped at it, and he moaned. “That’s right. Waiting’s hard, isn’t it?” Shifting, she adjusted herself so that he slid all the way inside her, filling her with heat and need. They groaned in unison.
Leaning over him, she started to rock forward and back, caught up in the delicious friction of his hardness inside her, sending her spiraling out of control. He captured one of her nipples in his mouth and sucked hard. She rocked faster. He clutched her hips and encouraged her to pick up the tempo.
She kept in control, but only hung on by a thread, until he started thrusting up with his hips. Surrendering, she came instantly, shuddering and slowing her motion, squeezing him with her inner muscles and drawing out the waves of pleasure that crashed over her. He pushed into her one last time and groaned his own release.
Still melded, he rolled them until he was on top of her. He pulled out part way, then slid back into her. She grinned up at him. “I’m still shaking from the last one.”
“I’m not done with you yet,” he said, driving into her again.
She hooked her heels over his hips and moved with him as he drove her wild with his tempo changes. She felt him lengthen and grow as he made love to her. He took her nipple into his mouth and with one swirl of his tongue, light exploded behind her eyes and she came again, harder, more powerfully. Gasping and clutching his biceps, she hollered his name as he followed her over the edge.
He rolled onto his back, breathing hard. His hand lingered over her quivering sex as he ran his fingers through the curls. It seemed mindless on his part. The warm feeling pooling in her core relaxed her. She reached out and settled the sheet over their lower halves.
“I’m developing a new scenario.” She grinned a sly smile, one that came from satisfying sex. She thrust her hips up and down.
He didn’t respond, but lay there, his eyes closed.
After a few minutes of silence, once her breathing had regulated, he spoke softly.
“I really do need to talk to you,” he said.
“I hate it when you say that. It usually means that the police department wants something else from you. Another holiday shift or weekend day patrolling the streets of Port City.”
He sat up, his feet hitting the floor and the sheet pulled tight across his hips. He held his head in his hands for a moment then forked his fingers through his hair.
Oh no. Regan sat up next to him, clutching the rest of the sheet to her naked breasts. This wasn’t the typical PD-wants-something-from-me talk. A sick feeling rolled in her stomach.
She hadn’t been a police officer’s wife for long, but being a dispatcher made her well aware of how officers acted when something big was going down. Funny incidents, he recounted briefly and dismissively, but when he said “We have to talk,” it was never anything positive. Many times she knew events that had taken place before he did, but there were times when she knew her supervisors were trying to keep things from her, like when Colin was on a potentially dangerous call. He usually told her about the call she’d missed after the fact. Today had been her day off, so she’d been out of the loop. What had she missed?
She put a hand on his back, ignoring the electricity that zinged down her arm whenever she touched him. She loved the fact that he was all hers. No one and nothing could change that. They were in this marriage for better or worse.
“I’m being served with a civil lawsuit for five million dollars. I didn’t do anything to the scumbag, Ramirez, but his lawyers think there’s enough evidence to win a judgment against me for wrongful death. I only found out this morning about the suit. His family wants money for their pain and suffering.”
Her stomach pitched, then rolled, and her heart started to ache. She forced herself to breathe. She let out another breath, this one longer. When she agreed to marry a police officer, she knew that something could happen. He could get shot or have to shoot someone, which could cause stress, but she never thought something could threaten their financial security and their home. Police work was a recession-proof job. There would always be a need for safety officers. She hadn’t even considered the possibility he could get sued.
Her head swam with the memories of packing up her childhood home, moving into a small bedroom she had to share with three other girls, then leaving there and moving into a pit of a house where she slept in the wet, dank basement.
“Regan? Did you hear me?” She heard Colin turn to look at her.
She nodded as she sucked in another deep breath and shakily let it out. “Did you say five million dollars?” she whispered. “That’s more money than I’ve ever seen. Where would we even find that kind of money?”
He nodded. “If I lost the case, and I’m not saying I would, but I don’t know if the if the city would help with some of it or if they’d take our house, cars . . . savings. Everything. Yours, mine, and ours.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Regan sucked in more deep breaths then gave up and bolted out of bed and ran into the bathroom. She gasped over the sink. The cool water she splashed on her face felt good. Her skin was overheated, and she needed a drink to steady her riotous nerves.
“Sweetheart?”
“I need a minute.”
He stepped into the bathroom anyway and put his hands around her shaking, naked body. He squeezed her to him, his front against her back.
She stared at their reflection in the mirror. “I love you,” she said, and she meant it. Colin was her rock, her lover, and her best friend. He’d always been there for her—faithful to the bitter end. No matter what they went through, they did it together as a team. Since she’d committed wholly to him, she’d never had a moment’s hesitation about going to bat for him. “I can’t lose everything again. You included. Is there any chance they’ll convict you? Will you have to go to jail?”
“No. I won’t have to go to jail, it’s a civil trial, but the money would have to be paid if they found me liable for his death. Maybe bankruptcy would be an option? Don’t worry yet. I love you. We’ll get through this together.”
“Colin, we can’t lose everything.” This horrible situation was going to rip apart her well-ordered life, the one she’d created since she’d turned eighteen.
“Think positively. We’ll be fine.”
“No, Colin. I can’t take that chance. I came into this marriage with expectations, things we talked about having. We bought this house for us, for our future family.” She could feel the panic rising again. Her eyes took on a wild look in the bathroom mirror. Disentangling herself from Colin, she went back into the bedroom and slipped a dress over her head. Her brain was working overtime.
Being a dispatcher at the Port City Police Department made her a great multi-tasker. Facts and details were her life. At the moment, the thoughts in her brain were abstract and ridiculous. She wasn’t sure what they would do, but she was not going to let everything they’d put together fall apart like a trailer park in a tornado.
He silently walked back into the room and stepped into his jeans, tightening the belt around his waist and tucking the paddle holster over his waistband.
When she glanced over at him, she wanted to cry, scream, hit something, or all three at once. “I know what we have to do.”
“Other than forget I said anything and get back into bed?” His humor fell flat and the corners of his mouth dropped.
“You need to own nothing. Everything should be put in my name. If you have no assets, they can’t take anything from you.”
“That won’t work. We live in a common-law state. Everything that’s yours is mine and mine is all yours.”
She dropped her chin to her chest in defeat. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in her husband’s innocence, but five million dollars was a lot of money, more than they’d probably make in their whole life together. Would they have to pay for this until they were old and gray so that this scumbag’s family could live comfortably? It wasn’t going to happen.
“If you can’t own anything, and right now we share all assets, then the only option is to get a divorce.”
Colin burst back into the bedroom and grabbed her shoulders. “What? Are you crazy? It took me three years to get you to walk down the aisle with me in the first place. You think I’m letting you go after only six months? Dream on, sweetie. We will get through this together.” He kissed her mouth, bruising her tender lips, dragging a response from the depths of her soul. She wanted to respond to him, wanted to forget everything, but she couldn’t. She pulled away from him, and he released her arms.
She glanced at the gun at his waist. The fact that he was armed most of the time still unnerved her, but in a strange way it made her feel safe. She skirted the bed until she stood in front of him. “It’s not what I want,” she started. “This would be a divorce of convenience. We get divorced, but not really. Only long enough to get through the trial. That way, if you lose, you own nothing. It’s brilliant, really. We put everything in my name, and you become a swinging bachelor with only your motorcycle to your name.”
“I don’t have a motorcycle.”
Regan shook her head. “I give you this awesome plan and the only thing you have to say is ‘I don’t have a motorcycle’?”
He stroked the skin on her arms where he’d grabbed her seconds ago, but then pulled her against his chest. He placed a kiss on the top of her head. “I don’t want to let you go even for one day, not even for one hour. I can’t go through this whole trial without your support.”
“It’s the only way.” She let her lips slide across his. “I’m sure we’ll have to get together to discuss the children or the dog at some point.” She smiled at him and winked.
“We don’t have any kids or a dog.”
She slapped her own forehead. “No kidding. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have to get together—” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“I know what you mean, Regan. We’ll get together when the need arises.” He didn’t smile.
“This proves yet again that I’m the brains in this operation.” She waited for a reaction, for him to understand where she was coming from and to get her joke.
Colin pushed her backward until her legs hit the bed. “I think this idea sucks. It’s the worst idea you’ve ever had, but let’s celebrate our impending divorce.”
He pushed the hem of her dress up over her thighs and lowered himself to her. “I might agree to this crazy divorce, but I’m not going to let you forget me. And when this is all over . . .”
He moved until his hot breath hovered over her sensitive skin. In the back of her mind, she clung to the knowledge that when he was cleared, they would be together again.