Hot Stuff Read Online Free PDF Page B

his face inches from mine. We were both breathing hard, exchanging the same air, pungent with peppermint and grape juice. His blue eyes were intense, the irises flecked with green. I turned aside my head, blinking away the film. “I don’t care what you do with me. Just leave Evan out of all this.”
    “Already been done, Peaches,” he whispered.
    I snapped back my head, and could see the corners of his eyes crinkle when he removed his sunglasses and let them drop to the porch. Still holding my arms high in a single-handed grip, he used his free hand to thumb a tear off my cheek. His eyes softened and his mouth twitched at the corners. When I turned my head to the side again, I could feel his lips brush my temple.
    “Hoodwinker, huh? Is that all you got? Not very creative for someone who writes slogans on candy.”
    “You want sizzlers? How about…”
    His mouth suddenly closed over mine.
    When my nose smashed his, I couldn’t breathe. When I tried to bite him, I forced him back.
    He laughed again. “Hold on there, Peaches. This is the only charge I’m pressing…for now.” He dropped his hold to pull an envelope out of his pocket. “This is for you.”
    Even cuffed, I could open it enough to see the hundred dollar bill tucked into a pink construction paper heart. I’m Yours was pasted across the heart in uneven letters cut from a newspaper or magazine.
    “Reward,” he drawled, with a gleam in his eye, “for finding the Dutch boy.”
    “Reward? I don’t understand.” I searched his face. “You’re not arresting me?”
    He grinned.
    That lazy crooked grin that always teased me into smiling back. “So you’re giving me Koster’s reward money?” I sucked in my lower lip.
    He shook his head. “This is from Capt. Billington and me. Cracking this case might not have happened this soon, without the push from Evan and you, Katie. I wanted to come by sooner, and tell you how it all went down, with all the details, but I had to wait until the bust went public.”
    My heart thumped wildly. I searched his face again, looking for deceit. “But, but…”
    “Use the money to buy your brother a new Dutch boy.” His gaze dropped to the grape juice freckled on my yellow tank top. “And you could use some new clothes, as well. I’ve never met a woman so klutzy with beverages in hand.”
    I was losing the battle to keep a straight face. I sucked in a ragged breath and chewed my lip. I was his prisoner, pinned to the wall more surely by his lopsided grin and piercing blue eyes. Resistance was impossible, even without handcuffs.
    His gaze was intense. “Stop that, or I may have to add another charge to your record.”
    “Stop what?” I blinked, wide eyed.
    “Biting your luscious lips.” He tilted my chin and rubbed his thumb over my mouth. “Seducing an officer is another very serious offense.”
    He kissed me again, and my lips stretched into an unintended smile, absorbing the heat of his mouth. We both sighed in repletion, as if we were enjoying a gourmet meal. Like teenagers pleased with their first kiss, we both blushed when it was over, and our gazes locked for a fleeting moment in awkward silence.
    “I’ve got the rest of the day off,” he finally said, pivoting me to smack his hand on my backside. “And y’all are finally dressed for a ride on my hog—and dinner at my apartment, if you can stand bachelor beans and ribs.” He chuckled. “Bib included, of course.”
    Gran appeared at the door, holding a plate of warm cinnamon cookies. When she saw my cuffed hands, she stiffened, her mouth dropping, along with cookies that slid off the plate one by one.
    We both laughed at her reaction. “It’s okay, Gran.” I glanced at him again, seeing mutual conviction when I searched his face. “Everything will be okay.”
    He picked me up and carried me to his Harley, pausing to kiss my forehead before settling me on the seat.
    As if practiced to the move, I lifted my arms over his head to hook them around