The Heat Is On

Willow blinked, then let out a slow grin. “Honey, a smile that like means a whole helluva lot more than nice.”

“Yes, well, it got complicated.”

“Uh-huh. Most good stuff is. Is he good looking?”

“Yes.”

“Good kisser?”

“Willow-”

“Oh, come on. I haven’t had a date in three months. Let me live vicariously through you.”

“Yes,” Bella breathed on a whisper of a laugh. “He’s a good kisser. But-”

“Oh, crap. There’s a but?”

“A big one, actually. He’s the detective assigned to this case. Or he was, until it was established that he’d slept with the person who found the dead guy.”

Willow stared at her. “Oh, shit, Bella.”

“Yeah. That about covers it.”

They stood together and walked past the yellow tape to the alley between the building and the one next door. It was narrow and lined with two trash cans. Passing through, they came to the rear of the shop, where there was more yellow tape across the back door.

Bella took in the sight of the stoop and shivered. Willow hugged her, then they took the stairs to the second- story landing. Her boss moved to her door. “You going to be okay?”

“Absolutely.”

Willow blew her a kiss and vanished inside her place.

Bella entered her own apartment, where she stripped, pulled on her bathing suit and headed back out, walking the block to the beach. The boardwalk stretched out in front of her, but she didn’t walk it as she normally did. Today she wanted to swim. Hard.

This particular beach drew sunbathers looking to soak up the California sun, and fishermen seeking fish and crab. It was a popular spot, and not much of a secret, but this afternoon, there wasn’t a crowd. Standing at the water’s edge, Bella stared out into the waves, inhaling the warm, salty air. The scent was intoxicating. With a purposeful breath, she let loose some of the tension knotting her shoulders and neck, and kicked off her flip-flops. She dropped her towel to the sand, and then her sunglasses on the towel, and without pause, dived out past the waves. There, she swam parallel to the shore for half a mile, and then back.

By the time she walked out of the water at the same spot she’d started, the sun was slanting lower in the sky, perched like a glorious burning ball hanging over the horizon.

The beach had completely cleared. Instead of the pockets of families dotting the sand, there was only the occasional straggler. She bent for her sunglasses, slid them on, then straightened, coming face-to-face with Detective Jacob Madden.

He looked her over slowly, taking in her dripping wet suit without a word. He wore the same loose jeans and the shirt she’d seen him in earlier, and still had his gun at his hip. The shirt was snug across his shoulders and loose across the abs she had every reason to know were flat and ridged, as she’d spent some time running her tongue across them.

All day her thoughts had drifted to him.

He was easy to think about. He looked great when he was smiling. He looked great when he was just standing there. Hell, he looked great naked and sweaty, and that was hard to do-no pun intended.

He was wearing dark sunglasses and looked like a movie star. She squeezed the water from her hair, quiet as she eyed him. “Definitely Tall, Dark and Drop-dead Sexy.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, maybe drop-dead aren’t exactly the right words today.”

He grimaced, and she had to let out a low laugh. “Are you embarrassed?”

“No. I don’t do embarrassed.”

But he was. She could tell, and she shook her head. “You do own a mirror, right?”

He ignored that, probably out of self-defense. “I wanted to know if you were okay.”

“I was thinking of asking you the same.”

“I’m not the one who had a pretty rough morning.”

“Are you sure? Because I hear you lost a case just by sleeping with the chick who found the dead guy. I’m really sorry if it was because of me, Jacob.”

“I’m a big boy. I’ll be fine.”

She nodded, but the tension she’d just worked so hard to swim off had come back. Worse, her stomach chose that moment to rumble, loudly, reminding her she hadn’t eaten all day.

He arched a brow, and she shrugged. “Listen, I’ve got to go.”

“You’re hungry.”

Usually when she shooed a man away, he went. And stayed gone.

Not Jacob. He stood there, hands on hips, unconcerned that she’d just dismissed him. “I’m thinking they can hear your stomach in China. Let’s get something to eat.”

Here was the problem. She wanted to gobble himup. But she wasn’t going to get him in any more of a bind. “I’m fine.” Again her manners got the better of her. “But thank you.”

He was quiet a moment, then blew out a breath when she shivered. He bent for the towel she’d left on the sand and handed it out to her. “Bella, I-”

“Look, I hate that you got in trouble for me, okay? And I know you did.” She dried herself off.

“I’m not in trouble.”

“You got taken off the case!”

“I took myself off the case. Officially.” He paused. “Unofficially, I’m still involved.”

“What does that mean?”

“Let’s just say I feel invested.”

“In the dead guy?”

He just looked at her.

In her. “Oh, no. No.” She added a head shake. “You aren’t going to risk your job for me.”

“I’m not risking anything. I’m off duty at the moment, and my time is now my own, however I wish to spend it. Turns out I wish to spend it helping you.”

“You think I need help?”

“I think, if nothing else,” he said with terrifying gentleness, reaching for her hand, “that you could probably use a friend.”

Dammit. Her throat burned. Too much swimming in the sun. Too much caffeine at cop central. Too much adrenaline still flowing. But it had nothing, nothing at all, to do with having him at her side. “I really didn’t kill him,” she whispered.

“Well, that makes this a lot easier.” Not letting go of her, he tugged her close, looking into her eyes. “How about we figure out who did.”

She bowed her head a moment and watched the water drip from her, vanishing into the sand at her feet.

Jacob pulled off her sunglasses and then his, studying her face with his cop’s eyes. “You look done in.”

“I-” Yeah. Yeah, she was.

Without another word, he tugged her hand again, leading her across the beach to the boardwalk. Willow’s shop was off to the right, but he went left.

“Hey,” she said.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t say a word, in fact, until they’d crossed the beach, stepping onto the back deck of Shenanigans, a lovely outdoor cafe, one of Bella’s favorites. Her favorite, because they bought their desserts from Edible Bliss, Bella’s own creations, serving them for their nightly dinner run. Jacob pulled out a chair for her and she shifted on her feet. “I’m all wet.”

Jacob had slid his dark sunglasses back on, but she felt his gaze go from mild to scorching in zero point four.