Cop's Passion (17 page)

The quiet
intimacy of the moment was almost unreal. Cuddled up to him on the
sofa, it could have been a scene straight out of a romance novel,
if one didn’t count the fact that she was a nymphomaniac when
around Mike and made him have sex with her. Which brought her to
the next thing she had to do…

“I’m so sorry…”
She almost choked on the words. If she’d thought she was mortified
before, this particular sentence was going to top it off nicely.
“I’m sorry I made you mad and have s - sex with me.” Oh God, how
could anything get more awkward than that? She just wanted to go
home and-

“Don’t even
think of moving,” Mike chided her, hauling her back against his
side. “I’ll only follow you over there and break your door
down.”

“I’ll call the
cops.”

“I am a
cop.”

“You have some
strange ideas for a cop.”

“I’m also a
man.”

“A man cop.
That explains it all.”

“Sharpen your
tongue on me all you want, Maddy, it doesn’t make an iota of
difference.”

Folding her
arms again, she frowned once more at his big feet, which seemed a
safe place to look. At least she didn’t have to meet his eyes,

His fingers
resumed tracing patterns on her shoulder. “You didn’t make me have
sex with you,” he continued in his typical blunt fashion. “I wanted
to have sex with you.”

“Whatever.”

He ignored her
mutter. “Sure, you made me angry with your threats to troll for a
man, and trust me, if you ever do it and I find out, you’ll not sit
down for a week.”

“Cop violence.”
But she couldn’t stop the inner thrill from coursing through her.
Whoa, she was one sick puppy.

“It only comes
to the fore with you. Odd, isn’t it?” There was a trace of laughter
in his tone.

“Bloody
Neanderthal.” She could actually feel herself relaxing.

“Quite. Now to
the other matter that’s troubling me...”

When he didn’t
say anything further, she risked a glance at his jaw, only to find
it as rock-hard looking as always. “What?”

“What the
hell,” he asked in a mild tone, “was all that shit about no one
wanting a hefty sheila like you?”

Every relaxed
muscle in her body stiffened.

“Calling
yourself a fatty? Degrading yourself and saying that no man would
want you because of your body?”

A mortified
flush went through her, her cheeks growing crimson with embarrassed
heat. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Tough.” His
fingers continued to trace patterns on her shoulder while his voice
remained calm. “I do.”

She remained
silent, biting her lower lip. Mike was determined to get answers
this time and she knew he wasn’t going to let her just walk away.
But to tell him, to talk about it - “Geez, you can see me, Mike!
That’s what I’m talking about!”

“I see
you.”

“So you know
what I look like, what I am.”

“You’re a
voluptuous lady. Curvy.”

“Plus-sized,
fat, and hefty.”

“I think you
look pretty.”

She was
dumbfounded for several seconds.

“I think you
look just right.”

“Maybe you need
glasses.”

“And maybe you
should tell me why you, a confident lady who didn’t seem to have
hang-ups about her weight when I first met her, suddenly bursts out
with what you did?”

“Just goes to
show what you know about me,” Maddy muttered. “Zilch.”

“Would it have
anything to do with the ‘good authority’ on which you base your
self-degradation?”

“Big
words.”

“Don’t try to
change the subject.”

“I don’t want
to talk-”

“Tough.”

“Damn it,
Mike!” Angrily, she sat up straight and turned to face him.

He arched up
one brow and regarded her steadily while his hand dropped from her
shoulder and he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her skirt.
“Just in case you decide to run,” he said.

She took a deep
breath and his gaze dropped to her breasts before returning to her
face. She could swear there was a flare of heat in the pale depths
of his eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it came, if it was
ever there at all.

“Tell me,” he
said, “was this good authority an ex-boyfriend?”

“No.”

“An
ex-lover?”

Her cheeks were
burning so hot she was amazed she didn’t go on fire. “I’ve never
slept around!”

“Never said you
did.”

“You’re
thinking it.”

“I’m trying to
find out who hurt you. It seems obvious it was someone close, a
lover, maybe a boyfriend.”

“Neither, if
you must know.”

His gaze was
shrewd. “You haven’t had many lovers, Maddy.”

“How would you
know?” she retorted. “Going by my weight? After all, you didn’t
expect to want me either, remember, so why would anyone else,
right?”

“No, I’m going
by the fact that you’re quick to cover up after we’ve made love,
that you are easily embarrassed by me seeing you naked, and if you
were an experienced woman in the arts of sex you’d be a lot more
confident about yourself. You’ve also admitted that you don’t sleep
around. So if it wasn’t a boyfriend or lover who hurt you, then it
was someone else.”

“Listen to
Detective Carson. When is the promotion coming through?”

A carnal glow
suddenly back-lit his pale blue eyes and he swept his gaze down her
body to where the material of her skirt gathered at the apex of her
thighs. “You’re also deliciously tight when I enter you.”

Maddy didn’t
know whether to die of mortification or slap him silly.

His gaze lifted
to lock with her own and she could only stare at him.

“So,” he said,
the carnal light still there but fading as he refocussed his
attention, catching her off-guard yet again, “Talk to me.”

“Talking dirty,
Officer?” She managed to ask snidely, trying to regain her
composure.

“Just answer
the question. Who hurt you? It’s not hard.”

“Not for
you.”

“There’s no
difference.”

“You think? You
sit there, all hard muscle and good looks, with a perfect body and
wanting to bloody talk, most women’s wet dream, and you think
there’s no difference?”

He grinned a
little. “I’m most women’s wet dream?”

“It’s not
funny, you boofhead!”

“Am I your wet
dream?”

She blinked.
“What?”

He gave her
waistband a tug. “I asked, am I your wet dream?”

“I’m starting
to think of you as more of a nightmare.”

“I’ll settle
for that to start with.”

“I can’t
believe I’m actually listening to you and answering your
questions.”

“This would go
a lot quicker if you did answer my question.”

“I’ve kind of
forgotten what it was in all this drivel you keep spewing out.”

“Who hurt
you?”

“You’re not
going to give this up, are you?”

“Nope.”

“What if I
don’t tell you?”

“You’re only
hurting yourself. Frustrating for me, yes, but hurting
yourself.”

“I’m not into
confessions. Never have been.”

“Tough lady
hiding her feelings.”

“Tough lady
surviving. I don’t care what other people think of me.”

“Really?” He
raised one brow.

“Damn it, Mike,
until I met you I didn’t care what other people thought!” The words
hung in the air between them and she wished she could snatch them
back. “I mean, I don’t…I never…oh shit.” Horrified, she tried to
leap to her feet, only to have him yank hard on her skirt.

Overbalancing
with the force of his tug, she toppled onto his lap.

In a calculated
move, Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and used the momentum
of her fall to ensure that her bottom slid over his lap to land on
the sofa cushions. With her legs draped over his lap and the dip of
the cushions beneath her bottom making it hard for her to struggle
free, he leaned one arm on the armrest beside her head and laid his
other hand flat on the gentle swell of her belly. Spreading out his
fingers, he gently flexed them while looking down at her.

Maddy gulped.
Propped up on her elbows with the armrest behind her, she was
intensely aware that he effectively had her prisoner. Unless she
started screaming and he took pity on her and released her, there
was no way she was getting off the sofa.

Damn him and
his dirty, underhanded tactics.

Damn her for
finding it all a little daunting and…yes, thrilling. And scary.

His gaze swept
over her face slowly, studying her. His smile was small, a simple
tug of the corners of his lips. “So, Maddy.”

“So what?” she
retorted. “Let me up.”

“Not yet.”

“You have a
real control problem, cop.”

“I have
handcuffs, lady, and I’m not afraid to use them.”

“Tough talk.”
She couldn’t stop the sudden amusement from bubbling up at how
ludicrous the situation had become. One minute she’d been horribly
embarrassed, the next minute thrilled, and now - yes, now she was
actually finding his teasing a little funny.

Or maybe her
nerves were finally shot and she was having a breakdown.

“So here is how
the situation lies, Maddy,” Mike continued, with that same quirk to
his lips. “You’re embarrassed because you consider yourself to be
hefty. I like you just the way you are. I know you’ve been hurt at
some time, mostly recently if my instincts are correct. Nothing I
can do about that unless you tell me who it was…?”

No longer so
amused, she glared up at him.

“Hmmm, thought
not. So let’s lay down some guidelines.”

“Guidelines?
What, did you fall off your motorbike today and hit your head or
something?”

“No. Now,
you’re obviously a passionate little thing-”

Maddy gaped at
both the ‘passionate’ and the ‘little thing’.

“-and I’m a
hot-blooded man. We’re attracted to each other.” His hand slid
lower on her belly and she sucked in a deep breath. “Yep, we surely
are.”

“Was there much
interbreeding where you came from?” She managed to choke out, both
mortified by her nipples pebbling against her shirt and the heat
coiling low in her belly. “Or are you the only product?”

His smile was
sudden and devastating. “There’s only one Mike Carson.”

“Mothers the
world over are thankful.”

“Tsk, not
nice.” His gaze grew serious and direct. “You ever want to make
love, Maddy, you come to me.”

“What?” Her
eyes grew rounder in disbelief.

“And when I
want to make love, I’m going to you.”

That had her
coming up on her hands to face him, incredulity streaking through
her. “I beg your pardon?”

He regarded her
through lazy eyes. “You heard.”

“What the hell?
You think we’re going to be neighbours with benefits?”

“Nope. It means
we’re entering a relationship.”

She didn’t know
whether to be amused or furious. “A sex relationship?”

“That’s part of
it.”

“Part of it?
What’s the other part?”

“The other
part, Maddy, is getting to know each other, being together.”

“Have you been
inhaling the exhaust fumes from your motorcycle? You need to learn
to open your garage door before you start that monstrosity.”

“Far from it.
My head’s never been clearer.”

She stared up
at him for several seconds, then the disbelief curled through her
again followed by hurt, and she started to struggle. “This isn’t
funny, Mike. Don’t pity me, I don’t need it. I don’t need pity
dates like my family arranges for me and I especially don’t need
your pity! Thanks but no thanks. Now let me up!”

In a lightening
move he twisted, somehow managing to push her flat down on the sofa
and covering her body with his. He caught her hands in his and
pulled them above her head, holding them there easily. His bigger
body easily subdued hers and finally she stopped struggling to
glare up at him, unable to hide the sheen of tears in her eyes.

Damn it, when
had she gotten so emotional?

When she’d
damned well met this big cop.

She really
needed to see a shrink.

“It’s not
funny,” she hissed. “Damn you, Mike, let me go and get the hell out
of my life.”

“You listen to
me, you sharp-tongued little shrew,” he returned mildly, though his
calmness was belied by the spark of anger in his eyes. “I’m not
making fun of you. I’m not pitying you. I’m deadly serious. I never
say anything I don’t mean, so you listen carefully. I’m attracted
to you, I’m attracted to every lush curve of your body, I’m
attracted to your quick mind, I’m attracted to your kindness for
that free-loading kitten out on my back veranda, and I’m even
attracted to your biting sarcasm. I’m attracted to your smile and
I’m even attracted to your tears. So don’t presume to think you
know what I’m thinking and meaning because you have no idea. I’m
telling you now, though, so listen up, lady, because I won’t tell
you again. I’m not the kind of bloke who lays his heart on the line
every day with sweet words and nice sayings. I’m just me, Mike
Carson, and I’m telling you that I want your body and your mind and
your heart.”

Holy Hannah,
she didn’t know whose eyes got wider when he added the last two
words.

Mike and Maddy
stared at each other, the only audible thing in the room the sounds
of their breathing. The silence stretched between them.

Had he really
said it? Had he really said he was attracted to her, and he wanted
her body and her mind and her
heart
?

Had this
dangerously handsome man really said he wanted her? All of her?

Before she
could even think to question it, he smiled slowly, and it was a
very self-satisfied smile.

“Yeah.” That
deep rumble vibrated through his chest and into hers, making her
heart stutter deliciously. “Yeah, I want your heart, too, Maddy.
I’m never going to be satisfied with anything less.”