Simply Sinful

felt. Because he was leaving, she’d decided to slip out before he awoke. No goodbyes, nor forced smiles. No questions, like will I see you again? She’d been foolish enough to hope he’d look her up again on his own, no prompting.

She turned toward the bed. The money marred the mattress where she’d come close to falling hard. For a stranger. Her stomach cramped and she was reminded of another morning after. It’s been real, Kayla. Catch you around sometime. Different man, another notch in some guy’s bedpost. Kane had just been so much better at seducing her into denial before slapping her with reality. Men didn’t want anything real with Kayla Luck. They never had, never would.

She squared her shoulders and forced a brave front. She refused to let him know how deeply he’d wounded her. “You’re right, we never agreed on payment.”

Unable to look into those dark eyes, she kept her gaze trained on a point behind him. “I said we’d see how things went…and…” The green bills caught her eye, mocking the instincts she’d trusted as well as her attempt at composure.

She paused, wanting to slam him, wanting to say last night hadn’t been good enough to accept payment in return. But that wasn’t her nature, though Catherine might have had a choice word or two for a man who’d crossed her, Kayla was different. She bent and grabbed her bag. Perhaps she no longer trusted her judgment in men, but she respected herself enough to be strong until she walked out that door. No man had the right to treat her like a prostitute.

Straightening, she met Kane’s unreadable gaze. “Know what, McDermott? You and your payment can go to hell.” She didn’t know him well, but she’d learned enough last night to catch a flicker of emotion in his eyes now.

Relief mixed with regret? She shook her head, realizing she’d been searching for something to hold onto despite his crude offer. Apparently she harbored unhealthy illusions. For all his suave charm, Kane McDermott was no better than the rest.

Gathering her pride and her jacket, she ran for the door.

Kane didn’t try to stop her.

“NO CASH EXCHANGED HANDS last night. Unless you can claim success, McDermott, I’d say case closed.” Reid approached Kane from behind.

Kane eased back in his chair and forced himself to turn and look his superior in the eye. “She’s clean, boss.”

“Damn.” Captain Reid crumpled a sheet of paper and slammed it into the trash. “Waste of manpower,” the older man grumbled.

“Seems like,” Kane agreed.

“Our informant could be blowing smoke, playing both sides for cash…but the teasers he gave us sounded legit. I really believed certain of our politicians were frequenting that place on the sly.” The captain paced the short length of Kane’s desk and back again before coming to a halt. “Any chance things happened before Ms. Luck’s reign?”

Kane shook his head. “Doesn’t seem possible. Not without her knowing. She was around during the aunt and uncle’s days, she helped them out once in a while with classes and handled the books. Now she’s running the place herself. If there was anything going on then or now, she’d know.”

“Any chance she was tipped off, then turned those lovely charms your way? Any chance she got to you last night?”

“Conned me? None. The lady’s innocent. I’d bet my badge.”

“Really.” The captain raised a knowing eyebrow before settling himself on the edge of the metal desk. “Now that’s a first.”

“What is? I always trust my instincts.”

“But you never put that faith in another human being, especially a lady.” He gave Kane a pointed look. “Until now.” He stood and headed for his office.

Direct hit, Kane thought. He couldn’t avoid the truth any longer. Couldn’t avoid thinking, either, though that’s what he’d tried to do since Kayla’s abrupt departure this morning.

The captain was right. He had put faith in her and he’d let down his guard. For one ridiculous moment, he caught a glimpse of a life different than the solitary one he led. He’d been alone so long without a true connection to another person. But Kayla had shown him there was more than eating, sleeping and working. She’d made him feel alive and, foolishly, he’d wanted more. Not that he could have accepted, considering he was incapable of offering anything substantial in return.

Money in exchange for sex. That was one hell of an offer he’d made. He snorted in disgust. He’d set out to prove she wasn’t a call girl, and had treated her no better than a hooker instead. The wounded look in her eyes hit him harder than when he’d been decked head-on with the butt of a gun. Guilt and regret twisted his insides.

A detective with years of experience questioning suspects, yet he botched the one chance he had with Kayla. In the end he’d done them both a favor. Interpersonal skills weren’t his thing and now she knew it, too. Besides, the lady was too good at breaching his defenses, something he and his line of work couldn’t afford. Letting her go hadn’t been easy, but it had been necessary.

“McDermott.”

Kane raised his gaze toward Reid’s office. “Yeah, boss?”

The older man waved a sheaf of papers in the air. “Report on my desk by tonight. Everything gels, case closed.”

“Right.”

“And you look like hell, so get the paperwork done and, remember what I told you, I don’t want to see your sorry butt in here till the middle of next week.”

Kane opted not to argue. His burning eyes told him he could use the sleep.

First things first. He shoved a sheet of white paper into the typewriter beside his desk. Paperwork would force him to relive last night in all but intimate detail.

He groaned. Those intimate details might not make it onto paper, but they were forever etched in his brain. He and Kayla had warmed each other up, and hot chocolate had nothing to do with the heat in the hotel room. Her full body meshed perfectly into his, her slick wetness made for an easy glide home.

Home? He slammed his fists onto the keys. What the hell was he thinking? The lady had been a one-night stand and he should be glad she’d walked out first; pleased he’d ended any soft thoughts she might have entertained about her night with Kane McDermott, New Hampshire salesman.

Ripping out the ruined sheet of paper, he crumpled it into his hands and tossed it into the trash. She wasn’t out of his life a few hours and he couldn’t concentrate.

This whole mess could have been avoided had he listened to his gut. He’d seen too many fellow officers, fellow loners, fail with women. And Kane had one additional strike against him. He didn’t know how to care about anything other than his job.

His father had bailed when Kane was five. His mother died six years later when she walked in front of a city bus with no thought to the son she left behind. Annie McDermott had a brother who disliked kids as much as he liked booze, but an eleven-year-old Kane had talked the old man into a deal. A place to live enabling him to avoid foster care in exchange for Kane’s promise to raise himself and stay out of the drunken man’s way. His uncle upped the ante and mooched his mother’s death benefits from the state. Kane considered it a small price to pay for independence.

He’d been on his own for longer than he could remember and he liked it that way. For some reason, the words didn’t bring the comfort they once had.

KAYLA DIDN’T WANT TO GO home and face a grilling from her sister. After grabbing the first cab outside the hotel, she’d stopped at a coffee shop near Charmed! before deciding to immerse herself in work. Anything to keep busy and not think. She still had boxes of her aunt’s and uncle’s personal things stored in the back and, though her sister had promised to help, today was as good a day as any to start rummaging through them. But she doubted even work would take her mind off Kane McDermott.

Every stretch and pull of her muscles as she walked reminded her of last night’s activity. Her body still tingled in places he’d touched. If she blocked out this morning and focused only on the sensual pleasures he’d given, she became aroused once more. Apparently her body had become detached from her mind. Either that or she was