Never Love a Naked P.I.

“Meet you.”

Amanda felt light-headed. The gods of Olympus, casually watching, instructed her to pay attention; this could be important.

“Ace- Amanda- I know this whole business seems strange, but believe me there’s a good reason. I don’t run around trying to be somebody else. I don’t want anything to come between our getting to know each other… better. Bear with me. It’ll just be a few more weeks and then everything should be settled.”

She thought for a minute. “Is this going to hurt anybody?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Is it legal? Whatever it is you’re…”

He laughed. “We’re the good guys, Ace!”

“We? How much does Mr. Parkerson have to do with this? Are you in… whatever this thing is… in this together?”

“Oh, yeah! This is pretty much his operation. He’s the one that figured it out. I’m just,” he grinned, “the muscle.”

She pronounced the name slowly. “Marc Parkerson.”

He nodded sheepish. “Marc Richard Parkerson. I’m sorry, Marc isn’t even ‘multi-syllabled.’” He remembered her romantic comment regarding Antonio. “Marcus Antonius? Antonio- get it?” He was gratified to see her wrinkle her nose at the pun.

“And David?”

“Yeah. David’s my older brother. Means well, but he’s a little over-anxious. He’s already pretty upset with how I’m handling this case.” He held her hands lightly, but firmly.

“You’re a private investigator?” She had wished Antonio might be someone to whom she could turn for help.Be careful what you wish for, girl. “What’s wrong at the League? What does it have to the with the class?”

“It’s no big deal. It’ll be cleared up in a few weeks. Earlier, if we’re lucky. Just don’t say anything, okay? To anybody. It’ll be safer.”

“What do you mean… safer?”

“There’s no danger involved. I mean this whole thing is pretty important to David.” One side of his broad, sculpted lips twisted up. “And we already know he’s not too keen on…us.”

Us.

The other side of his handsome mouth rose to join the first. “I think in the long run, David could care less about us. Just, not now.” He leaned toward her. “You’ll play along for now?”

Well, he’s got nice eyes and the hair’s not too bad. And the body’s for real.

The gods of Olympus smiled.

She’d play along… for now.

Chapter 6

AMANDA tried hard to concentrate on what the handsome man across the table was saying. He seemed earnest. He certainly wanted to keep the relationship going.

But this was shaky ground. He had pretended to be someone he wasn’t and allowed her to become attracted to that fabrication. Why should she trust him now? He could have let her in on his little secret last night or at least prepared her for the eventual discovery that he wasn’t exactly what he seemed.

She had felt an excitement and rush of energy from “Antonio” that she had never felt before. He had swept her imagination up to almost transportable heights with his amazing portrayals of powerful masculine works of art and then had swaddled her in personal charm, sensitivity, attentiveness and humor. She had liked that…a lot. What more could a woman ask of a man?

Trust.

If he and the art class instructor were involved in some sort of undercover investigation, that could explain his odd shifts of mood last night and she could understand why he might have hesitated in exposing his true identity.

“Exposing” his true identity.Amanda forced the upward-tugging smirk on her lips into a downward-turned scowl of concentration as the earnest blue eyes behind the Clark Kent horn rims continued to plead their handsome owner’s case.

It was, after all, a great body.As Cissy had so vividly pointed out, Amanda would be foolish not to give it a chance.

Cissy had dragged her to deafening and blinding rock clubs and all Amanda had to show for it was several nights of energetic dancing with good-looking guys. But it didn’t take an MFA to figure out the guys were no more interested in long-term commitments than Cissy was and that Amanda was totally out of her element.

Long-term commitment. Boy, did that sound like Pittsburgh. And, what was wrong with a one- or two-night stand? Especially if the body you were going to take your stand with was built like a Cellini bronze? Christine would be proud.

Marc looked at her questioningly.

Amanda realized she hadn’t the remotest idea what he had been saying for the last few minutes.

“Does that sound all right?” he asked earnestly.

She waved his question aside. “If you promise me what you and David are doing is on the up and up and that nobody is going to get hurt, then I guess I’ll go along with your… operation. But if I find that whatever it is you’re doing is fishy, I’ll blow the whistle on you in an instant.”

He flashed an Antonio sigh-of-relief grin that she recognized in the “Marc” face. Amanda searched the blue eyes. She was beginning to connect the two personalities.

“Thanks, Ace,” he reached across to run his fingers down her jaw. “I promise when this is over, and it will be soon, you’ll be proud.”

Although, Marc thought to himself as his fingers touched her delicate skin, Ace might not be so happy to find that one of her friends is an international… miscreant. His fingertips reveled in the silken touch even as he allowed himself the possibility of a worst scenario.

He had been intent on presenting his case. This woman had attracted him like no other and he wanted to follow this relationship to the end. Foolhardy, he knew. It could very well be that her response to his poses last night might ultimately reveal her as the culprit that would exonerate David and secure his own reputation. Marc’s jaw tightened at the prospect.

Damn it. One thing’s got nothing to do with the other. So what if she was a brilliant artist who had gone astray?

She was still the funny, charming and sexually exciting woman that had totally captivated him. He traced the line of her lush lower lip as she stared mesmerized at him, her delicate jaw slack. He had a job to do and, as much as he resented David’s assessment, this luscious, auburn-haired rising-female-executive certainly had the ability to, at the very least, confuse the issues. He peered into the dark brown apprehensive depths.

“I’m sorry about the fake hair and the eyes, but the rest of me is very real.”

Amanda was still reacting to the line of electric sparks that his finger had produced on her skin. Clear, guileless blue eyes looked back at her. Like a mountain stream. Full of immediate, rushing life and sparkle, alive with directness and honesty. They seemed like honest eyes.

“What are you looking at?” The slashes under his high cheekbones deepened and fine triangles of lines appeared at the corners of his eyes. Without the dark, smoothing makeup, his skin took on the changeable texture of an older man, more mature, less perfect. More interesting.

“I’m trying to see who you really are in there.”

“When I can explain what this is all about, you’ll like what you see.” He paused. “I like what I see. I’m not giving it up easily.”

The dark Italian model faded further into the distance as the handsome grave man in front of her took his place.