the curlies. He'd gone from semi to hard in about two seconds. He'd barely managed to stay in control. Barely managed to keep his hands from sliding down and filling his palms with her breasts. He was a cop, but he was also a man.
Standing in her backyard with his gaze slipping to the little triangle of silver material covering her crotch and his thoughts sliding to what lay beneath had nothing to do with being a cop and everything to do with being a man. His gaze moved to the little mole on the inside of her right thigh, down her long legs to her purple toenails, then back up past that silver belly ring to her bikini top. A wide seam ran across her nipples, and the tight top pushed up two mounds of perfect, tan breasts. The ground beneath his feet shifted, seeming to change and fall out from underneath him, sucking him down. She was his informant. She was nuts. She was also extremely fine, and he wanted nothing more than to peel away that bikini like a tinfoil snack pack and dive face first into her cleavage.
His gaze moved to the hollow of her throat, past her chin, to her full mouth. He watched her lips move and, for the first time since he'd set foot in the backyard, he became aware of a tranquil male voice saying something about a cave. 'This is your cave,' the man droned as if he'd popped Seconal. 'This is your place. A place where you can truly find yourself, where you come to find your center. Take a deep breath… bring your awareness into your abdomen…
'Let it go and repeat after me…I am at peace… Ohm-Nah-Mah-Shee-Vah-Yahh… Hmm.'
The ground beneath his feet shifted back, becoming solid once more. Suddenly, everything was all right again in Joe Shanahan's world. Stable. He was okay. She was still crazy, and nothing had changed. He felt an overwhelming urge to laugh, like he'd just cheated death. 'I should have known you'd listen to Yanni,' he said loud enough to be heard over the tape.
Gabrielle's eyes flew open, and she sat up. The clear raft tipped, and Joe watched her legs and arms flail as she tumbled into the water. When she came back up, pink and red rose petals were stuck to her hair. She sat on the bottom of the pool while lemon slices and wildflowers floated about her.
'What are you doing here?' she sputtered.
'We need to talk,' he answered through a smile he tried, and failed, to suppress.
'I don't have anything to say to you.'
'Then you can listen.' He moved toward the tape player by the back door. 'First we need to get rid of Yanni.'
'I don't listen to Yanni. That's meditation with raja yoga.'
'Uh-huh.' He hit the off button and turned to face her.
Water slid down her body as she stood, and a sprig of purple flowers stuck out of the top of her bikini. 'This is so typical.' She pulled her hair over one shoulder and squeezed the water out of it. 'I just find my peaceful center and then you barge into my yard and ruin my balance.'
Joe didn't figure she'd ever had more than a passing acquaintance with anything resembling balance. He picked up a white bath towel hanging across a wicker chair and walked to the edge of the pool. But it didn't matter if she had a mental imbalance. He was stuck posing as her boyfriend, but for the past two days, she'd behaved as if he were as welcome as a plague. Kevin might not be suspicious now, but Joe couldn't keep passing off her hostile behavior as nothing more than jealousy and menstrual cramps. 'Maybe we can work on it,' he said and handed her the towel.
Her hands stilled, and she stared at him, distrust narrowing her green eyes. 'Work on what?' She took the towel and stepped out of the pool.
'How we deal with each other. I know you think I'm your enemy, but I'm not.' Although he didn't trust his informant out of his sight, he needed her to trust him. He was responsible for her safety, and part of his job was to protect her-physically.
He couldn't protect her if she ran to Kevin if things got ugly. He didn't really think Kevin would hurt Gabrielle, but if there was one thing he'd come to anticipate, it was the unexpected. That way he was never caught with his pants down around his ankles. 'You need to let me do my job. The sooner I get what I need, the sooner I'll be out of your life. We need to come to some sort of an agreement.'
She patted her face and neck with the towel and plucked the purple flowers from her bikini. 'You mean a compromise?'
Not hardly. He'd meant she needed to stop acting so neurotic and start behaving like she was hot for him. No more calling him a demon from hell. 'Sure.'
She studied him and tossed the sprig of flowers back into the pool. 'How?'
'Well first, you need to calm down and stop acting like the swat team is about to bust through the front window of your store.'
'And second?'
'Neither of us may like it, but you're supposed to be my girlfriend. Quit acting like I'm a serial killer.'
As she patted the tops of her breasts with the towel, he purposely kept his eyes pinned to her face. No way was he going to lower his gaze and get sucked into fantasy land again.
'And if I do?' she asked. 'What are you going to do for me?'
'Make sure you aren't implicated-'
'Uh-uh.' She shook her head and wrapped the towel around her waist. 'That threat doesn't scare me anymore, since I don't believe Kevin is guilty.'
Joe shifted his weight to one foot and crossed his arms over his chest. He knew the drill. This was the part where informants tried to shake him down for money, or wanted all their unpaid parking tickets to disappear quicker than a dime bag in rehab, or maybe get a badge of their very own. 'What do you want?'
'I want you to keep an open mind. Don't just assume Kevin's guilty.'
The unpaid parking tickets would have been easier. There wasn't a doubt in Joe's mind that Kevin Carter was as guilty as sin, but part of being an undercover cop was having a God-given talent to pass off boldfaced lies without a flicker of remorse. 'Sure. I'll keep an open mind.'
'Really?'
He relaxed the corners of his mouth and slanted her his I'm-your-buddy smile. 'Absolutely.'
She stared into his eyes as if she were trying to read the back of his brain. 'Your nose is growing. Officer Shanahan.'
His smile turned genuine. She was crazy, not stupid. He'd had enough experience to know the difference, and given a choice, he'd prefer crazy over stupid any day. He raised his hands, palms up. 'I can try,' he said and lowered his arms to his sides. 'How's that?'
She sighed and tied a knot in the towel over her left hip. 'I guess if that's the best you can do, it will have to be good enough.' She turned toward the house, then looked back at him over her shoulder. 'Have you eaten dinner yet?'
'No.' He'd figured he'd stop at the grocery store on the way home and pick up some chicken for him and some carrots for Sam.
'I'm going to make dinner. You can stay if you want.' Her tone was less than enthusiastic.
'Are you inviting me to have dinner with you? Like a real girlfriend?'
'I'm hungry and you haven't eaten.' She shrugged and headed toward the back door. 'Let's just leave it at that.'
His gaze followed the waves in her wet hair and the droplets of water dripping from the ends and sliding down her spine. 'Can you cook?'
'I'm a wonderful cook.'
As he walked behind her, his eyes lowered to the sway of her hips, her rounded bottom he'd come to appreciate in the past week, and the brush of the towel across the backs of her knees. Dinner prepared by a wonderful cook sounded great. And of course, it gave him the opportunity both to ask her a few questions about her relationship with Kevin and to get her to relax around him. 'What's for dinner?'
'Stroganoff, French bread, and salad.' She climbed several steps to the screen door and opened it.
Joe followed close behind and reached over her head, grabbing the top of the wood frame and holding the door open.
She paused, and if he hadn't been paying attention, he would have knocked her flat. His chest lightly grazed her bare back. She turned, and her shoulder brushed his chest through the thin cotton of his T-shirt. 'Are you a
