Terms Of Engagement

Although she didn’t relish the upcoming conversation, she shook her head. “I won’t.”

His jaw tightened, and the toughness she’d noted earlier was not so hidden now. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as stubborn as you.”

“Then you haven’t looked in the mirror lately.”

For a moment she thought her reckless tongue had gotten her in trouble again. His face darkened and he looked like a man struggling to leash his temper. Then he pushed away from the counter and grabbed her purse, digging inside it to take out her cell phone.

Her brows rose, but she wisely chose to keep her objections to herself. He took his out, too, and pressed keys in rapid succession on both. Then he flipped them shut and dropped hers back into her purse. “I added my number in case you come to your senses before tomorrow night.”

His number? The thought suffused her with heat. And far more temptation than she was up to battling right now. No doubt he’d coded her number into his directory, as well. “What’s tomorrow night?”

“Our dinner date. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

He bent to pick up his toolbox before heading to the door.

She was speechless for one long moment. And no, that absolutely was not interest stirring inside her. “Wait a minute.” She followed him to the door. “I’m not having dinner with you. I thought I made that clear earlier at the bar.”

He turned to face her. Somewhere he’d lost the Santa hat, which just made that sardonic cock of his brow more noticeable. “You really think you’re going to win two arguments with me tonight?”

“One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. And we both know you’d just spend the entire evening trying to convince me to make that statement.”

He rested a shoulder against the door. She wondered fleetingly if he ever stood up straight. His pose called attention to his lean hips and narrow waist, though the baggy red pants made it impossible to make out the line of his thigh.…Realizing where her gaze had gone, she jerked it upward and saw a fleeting expression of humor in Jack’s eyes.

“That’s not true,” he said mildly. “Because willing or not, you will be interviewed by an officer about the scene at the Blue Lagoon. I’m going to spend dinner trying to persuade you to sleep with me.”

She dropped the makeshift ice pack on the counter and glared at him impotently. “I have no intention of sleeping with you!”

“Then I have my work cut out for me.”

Aggravated, she drew a breath. Her emotions felt like they’d been on an out-of-control carousel tonight. But right now they were settled solidly in annoyance. “This is exactly why I don’t like cops. They’re pushy, and devious and untrustworthy.” And some were corrupt, placing their own greed above others’ lives.

“We’ll discuss your grievances with the department tomorrow night, too.”

She angled her chin, belatedly insulted. “What makes you think I’m free tomorrow night?”

“Piper’s closes at six, and Jolie and Dace claim you have no social life. So tomorrow night, I’m it.”

Jolie and Dace had told him she had no social life? Mortification mingled with irritation. Just because it was true—just because it was her choice—didn’t mean it didn’t sting.

He cut through her momentary silence by commanding, “Come over here.”

Instantly wary, she remained where she was. “Why?”

“So you can lock the door behind me.” He jerked his head toward the ice pack she’d left on the counter. “Then for the rest of the night keep ice on that cheek. Twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off. It’s going to start hurting once you fall asleep and the numbness wears off. You’re going to want to take a pain reliever before you turn in.”

In face of the genuine concern in his voice Lindsay felt her ire fade away. And that was perhaps the most lethal part of Langley’s attractiveness. It would be easier to ignore his sexual magnetism if he wasn’t so darn likable.

She was reminded again of what he’d done for her that night, and she felt something inside her soften further. “I will. Thank you.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Hey, it’s Fallon who should be thanking me. If I hadn’t shown up when I did you probably would have crippled him.”

The suggestion was outrageously untrue and guaranteed to make her smile.

He sobered, studying her intently. “I’d feel better if someone stayed with you tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to call Jolie?”

“I’m really okay,” she assured him. And she was. The events of the night had rattled her, but she’d regained her equilibrium. And there was satisfaction to be had from knowing that for once she hadn’t been too late. That she’d helped save a woman from certain trauma.

On impulse, she closed the distance between them, went up on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “But thank you. For everything.”

She went to step back. Found it impossible. Jack’s hand had slipped behind her nape, his thumb tilting her chin up. There was a hint of a smile in his voice, on his lips, when he said huskily, “You’re welcome.”

But she detected no amusement when his mouth covered hers. What she tasted was heat. It transferred from his lips to hers and sent corresponding spirals spinning through her veins. He wasn’t a man to miss an opportunity, she reminded herself. But she’d invited this one, hadn’t she, the moment she gotten this close to him.

Maybe she hadn’t changed as much as she’d hoped.

Because responding to his latent sexuality meant she hadn’t completely conquered her desire for excitement. Returning the hard pressure of his mouth meant she hadn’t outgrown her taste for a little danger.

That should have dismayed her. Terrified her. But those weren’t the emotions careening through her system right now. He kissed with the same lazy self-assurance that was so much a part of him. With just a hint of wickedness that invited her to be wicked with him.

And Lindsay was tempted. When his tongue swept inside her mouth, she met it with her own, relishing the dark flavor that traced through her system. Desire rose quickly, whipping her blood to churning white caps.

Emboldened, she leaned into him, taking the kiss deeper as she raised her hands to his chest. Her fingers flexed against the hard muscled planes, a purr of feminine satisfaction in the back of her throat. His chest was just as solid as it looked, with all sorts of intriguing angles and hollows where sinew met bone. She had the overpowering urge to tear her mouth from his and test one hard pec with her teeth.

She didn’t recall ever feeling this fever in her blood that stripped away the caution she’d learned to live by. This scorching heat was its own kind of seduction for a woman used to keeping her own wild nature tamed.

Jack Langley made her want to unleash it. And that made him far more dangerous than she had first assumed.

The realization had Lindsay reluctantly tearing her mouth from his, evading his lips when they would have lured her back.

Each of them drew a deep, shuddering breath. If he said anything, did anything, Lindsay couldn’t be certain she’d have the strength of will to resist him.

When he spoke, his voice was an octave lower than usual. “Don’t forget to lock up after me.”

She had to force herself to back up a few steps to allow him space to pull the door open. Clenching her hands at her sides, she managed to let him walk through it without hauling him back inside.

But it was a long moment before she could manage to do as he directed and lock the door behind him.

“You went to see Neldstrom?” Coming fully awake, Lindsay sat up in bed, her cell phone clutched to her ear. “Mitch, I wish you hadn’t done that.”

Early-morning light slanted through the blinds covering the lone window. She didn’t know what time it was when she’d taken Mitch’s call. But Piper’s opened at 6:00 a.m. Mitch hadn’t wasted any time.

“He humiliated me. In front of everyone.” There was an unfamiliar note of rage in the man’s voice, layered under the mortification. “He looked me right in the eye and dumped the plate of food down my shirt. Poured juice on my head. Said I must be slower than he thought if I didn’t get the message.”

Lindsay’s jaw clenched. The owner of Piper’s, Bill Neldstrom, was something of an ass. She’d seem him lose his temper before. The episode with Mitch hadn’t been his first. But he paid in cash and didn’t require references when hiring. That had made him an attractive employer for Lindsay.

“You didn’t deserve that, Mitch. He’s a jerk. You’ll find a better job. With a nicer boss.”

“No one did a thing to stop him. No one said a thing about it.” Mitch’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “Alex just smirked at me. Like maybe I had it coming.”

Bringing a hand up to rub her temple, Lindsay grazed her cheekbone and flinched. “I’m sorry that happened. Bill had no right to treat you that way, and I’ll tell him that.”

There was a beat of silence. Then, “You don’t work today, do you?”

“No.” Thank God, she mentally added. Various aches she’d been unaware of last night were making themselves known now, a regular little chorus of pain. “But when I see him tomorrow…”

“Don’t worry about it. Bill is going to get his one of these days.”

“Guys like him usually do.” She hoped her words sounded more certain than she felt. Her experience was quite the opposite. Innocents were destroyed while evil flourished. And waiting for justice could take a lifetime. “But I’m free this afternoon. How about if I buy some newspapers and you and I can go through the want ads? That would show Bill, if you had a new job lined up in just a few days.”

“Maybe another time.” Mitch sounded preoccupied. “Promise you won’t go talk to him today.”

Stifling a yawn, Lindsay lowered herself gingerly to a prone position again. That was a promise she’d have no trouble keeping. This would be her first day off all week. “I won’t.”

“Good. I’ll talk to you later.”

“All right. And, Mitch? We will find you a better job.”

Once the call had been disconnected, she checked the time on the phone. Past nine. But she was in no hurry to get up. Jack had been right. Her face had throbbed during the night, making it difficult to fall asleep. She was unwilling to admit that there had been any other cause for her sleeplessness. Unless it had been mortification at the struggle it had taken not to jump the man’s bones before he’d walked out the door.

Pulling a pillow over her face, she sought to shut out that particular memory. It was humbling to discover that despite her conviction otherwise, she hadn’t changed much at all over the last three years. She could switch her name and her lifestyle, dress in another manner, act different…but she hadn’t tamed her nature at all. She’d merely subdued it.

All it had taken was the sex appeal and lethal aura of one man to entice that wildness back to the surface. That meant she still was drawn to excitement. She still found herself tempted by risk.

She had to cancel dinner that evening.

She hadn’t completely lost her mind, those few minutes in Jack’s arms to the contrary. She’d learned caution the hard way. She’d learned to listen to her instincts.

And they warned her not to make a mistake with Jack Langley. If she couldn’t trust herself with the man, it made sense to avoid him altogether.

Pushing aside the niggle of disappointment, she reached for her cell, intent on getting it over with. It rang in her palm. Recognizing the number, her stomach plummeted. But she knew better than to not answer it.

“Lindsay, cancel any plans you’ve made and get down to the restaurant.” As usual, Bill Neldstrom didn’t give her a chance to speak. “Chang just went home sick, and Sarah’s in San Diego for the weekend. I’ve got my hands full here, and I can’t do the cooking and supervise the waitstaff, too.”

Everything inside her rebelled. “Bill, I haven’t had a day off all week. You promised you wouldn’t call me in. Just yesterday, in fact.”

“Well, I didn’t know that Chang was going to catch a bug, did I?” His tone was testy. “You can have a different day off.”

“When?” She wasn’t feeling particularly charitable, especially after hearing about his run-in with Mitch. “You’ve fired the grill cook and Sarah’s gone for a week. Tell me when I’m going to get some time off, Bill, especially with Chang out sick.”

“You want to be off permanently? I can arrange that pretty damn easily.”

The temptation to shove his job down his throat was almost overwhelming. Lindsay sat up in bed, jamming her free hand through her hair. But rent was due next week. And it wouldn’t hurt to have a little extra put aside for when she moved on. Telling Neldstrom off would have to wait until then.

“I should at least get overtime for this.” But she was already swinging her legs over the side of the daybed.

His laugh sounded genuinely amused. “Sure. You bring in a Social Security number and you can get all those Department of Labor perks. Now move your ass. You’d better be here in thirty minutes.”

She took a small measure of satisfaction in disconnecting the call and hurling the phone down on the pillow. Neldstrom was a miserable worm and a poor excuse for a human being. Unfortunately, he had the upper hand and delighted in wielding it. He was one she’d be all too happy to leave behind when she left Metro City.

Striding to her closet, she pulled open the door and grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. It would take nearly the entire allotted time just to walk to the nearest bus stop and make it down to Piper’s.

Dressing quickly, she abruptly remembered she’d been about to call Jack. With a mental shrug, she wiggled into her jeans and fastened them. She could call when she had a free minute at work. It would give her a chance to prepare for the conversation.

She had a feeling she was going to need all her wits about her when she talked to him.

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