She desperately wanted to test her feminine wiles on this man—to assuage the fear that she was as outdated and boring as the scathing letter to her editor had claimed.

But if she went home with him, she needed to make it clear she was in charge. She didn’t need a man in her life to mess up the comfortable niche she had finally managed to carve for herself. Lexi had struggled for her independence, her self-reliance. As long as Josh understood that, as long as he let her take the lead, everything would be fine.

Lexi hitched up her sequined bodice, fluffed the few tendrils of hair around her face, and approached the jail cell.

Her steps faltered when Josh stood. He topped her by nearly a foot. The reminder of that height, those big shoulders, did funny things to her insides.

He scooped up his jacket and slid it on again. “Am I free to go?”

Lexi swallowed in a fruitless attempt to cure her suddenly dry mouth. “You’re getting your time off for good behavior.” She unlocked the cell door and stood back to allow him out. “I haven’t seen you snarl in at least an hour.”

He didn’t step past her, however. He stopped right in front of her and startled her with his direct gaze. “I can be well behaved if the situation calls for it.”

She felt the blush starting, and resisted the urge to fan herself. The man wreaked havoc on her internal cooling system.

And amazingly, rendered her speechless.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted Josh to be well behaved or not, but the idea that he would be “good” if she wanted him to, left her mute for an agonizing moment.

He reached for her. But instead of pulling him toward her for the kiss she sorely wanted, he gently tugged one of the fallen tendrils from her upswept hair. Slowly, he wound the long strand around his finger.

He studied her with restless gray eyes. “How are you getting home?”

The question jarred her out of her reverie. She didn’t know how to respond to his blunt question, especially since she’d rather hoped to go home with him. Still, she didn’t want to look too eager.

“I can walk from here.”

She lived just around the corner, but her place was off-limits. The two times she had worked up the courage to proposition a man—the only one-nighters she’d ever had—she’d made sure they went to his place.

Josh frowned. “You can’t walk.”

Lexi bristled. Josh might be gorgeous, but he was not in charge here. “Of course I can walk. I live nearby.”

He steered her forward with a gentle hand at her waist and looked as if he hadn’t heard her. “Where’s your coat? I’ll take you home.”

She stopped in her tracks. “I don’t think so.”

“I’d try to talk you into coming home with me, but my apartment is in the middle of being repainted. We can’t go there.”

Heat bothered her cheeks. “Of course not. I didn’t mean to suggest we would. I’ll be fine heading home on my own.”

His mouth set in a straight, hard line. For the first time, Lexi noticed a scar on his cheekbone, a thin white line that seemed more prominent when he scowled.

“Lexi, I’m a cop. You’re a half-dressed woman ready to roam the streets of New York at two in the morning. Sorry, but I’m pulling rank here.”

She felt her jaw slacken and promptly snapped it shut. “You, sir, are obviously blind. Don’t you dare suggest that wearing a Bill Blass original is anything less than being completely and flawlessly dressed.” She’d sooner crawl home than allow anyone to cast one more aspersion on her character today. She’d deflected jibes and gossip this evening like a damn mud flap.

Josh scrubbed a hand over his chest before sliding his palm down the length of his silk tie. “You took a lot of crap here tonight?”

She stilled. “What would you know about that?”

“Alec told me about the magazine piece.”

Great. Now the stud of her dreams felt sorry for her. “A letter to the editor by some disgruntled designer is not the end of the world.” Or so she told herself. Repeatedly.

He shrugged. “I don’t keep up with the fashion magazines, I guess. But I don’t like the idea of you taking off by yourself after being the target of so much slander here tonight.”

Slander. Yes, she rather liked the ring of that. She sniffed. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt if you walked me home.”

“Great.” He headed toward the cloakroom. “What does your coat look like?”

“Black pashmina.”

His brow furrowed, but he ducked into the room and out of sight.

Damn. Now she wouldn’t be able to seduce him. There would be no night in Josh’s arms to chase away the cold loneliness she’d felt all day because she would not let him in her apartment…would she?

Of course not. What would all her pets think? They wouldn’t want to share their mama with some strange man. And she’d always promised herself not to spoil the sanctuary of her home by allowing a man inside. It had been different to sleep in someone else’s bed. Impersonal. Easy to distance herself the next day.

But Josh would be a difficult man to walk away from, in the first place. She sure as heck couldn’t let him into the private world where the real Lexi lived.

“Is it a black blanket?” he called from the cloakroom. He stepped out with her pashmina in hand, a frustrated glower on his face.

“That’s me.” Laughing, she walked to the bar and tugged her purse from a shelf the bartender had allowed her to use.

Josh closed the distance between them in a flash. “Why didn’t you say so?”

His gruff manners soothed her as he wrapped the cashmere shawl around her and tugged the ends tightly shut.

“How the hell do you wear this thing?”

Smothering a giggle, she flung one end over her shoulder in demonstration.

Josh muttered an oath under his breath and tried to tuck the other end under her arm. Having secured every loose corner of the shawl, he nodded. “There. Don’t move.”

“How am I going to walk home?”

He grinned. “Guess I’ll have to carry you.”

Warmth pooled low in her belly at the thought of her body tucked up against his. Part of her longed to assume her flirtatious guise and maneuver more sexy talk with him. But some of her daring had faded along with the buzz from that last cosmopolitan. Even worse, she liked Josh more by the minute—a fact that rendered a one-night stand less appealing. A torrid night with Josh practically guaranteed she’d never see him again.

She shook loose his handiwork and rewrapped the shawl. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

He snorted. “Let’s look at who’s coming up with the good ideas here tonight. You think it’s a good idea to traipse around New York alone at 2:00 a.m. I think it’s a good idea for us to leave together. You think it’s a good idea to put me in jail. I think it’s a good idea for us to explore the possibilities of being—”

She hurried to cut him off. “I get the picture.” She definitely didn’t need reminders of his earlier provocative suggestion. Handcuffs had never seemed so appealing. But she needed to put some distance between her and Josh before he got the wrong idea. No matter how much her hormones argued the fact, she could not sleep with Josh in her apartment. “But I’m not conceding the point. I still think my ideas have been very sensible.”

Sensible. The word resounded in Josh’s mind, at odds with everything he thought about Lexi Mansfield. “Is that what you want, Lexi? Sensible?”

She deftly unfastened the diamond collar around her throat and slid it into a tiny purse she carried. “See that? Sensible. I may occasionally carry handcuffs and go manhunting on the posh New York club scene, Josh, but I’m not crazy enough to wear Harry Winston out in public.”

Josh stared at the long, smooth column of bare neck the diamonds had just vacated. She suddenly looked less like his five-foot dominatrix and more like a vulnerable woman.

“I never suggested you were crazy.” Josh curled his arm around her back and ushered her toward the door. Lexi flung good-nights and smiles at the few remaining people they passed on their way out. He hoped the high color in her cheeks had something to do with his touch.

As he held the door for her, she looked up at him and paused. “Are you sure?”

“A little wild maybe, but definitely not crazy.”

She nodded as if satisfied and walked out onto Columbus Circle, the black blanket fluttering in her wake.

Josh followed close behind, surveying the activity on the street. They were near Lincoln Center in a great neighborhood, but Central Park loomed to one side—and who knew what might leap out of the bushes at this time of night.

“Do you really live right around the corner, or were you just hoping I’d let you go home alone?”

She fidgeted on her high heels and pointed. “West Sixty-second Street. You can almost see the blue awning from here.”

He squinted. The buildings in this neighborhood all had doormen and good security, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get jumped from an alleyway. “I guess we can walk. But you really should take cabs at night if you’re by yourself.”

“And pay five bucks to go two blocks? No, thank you.” She set the pace as her high heels clicked down the pavement.

Josh smiled to himself as he noticed she took two steps to his one, her slim dress limiting her stride to a sexy little walk.

He fell into step beside her, fighting the urge to sling a protective arm around her.

Would she mind? She’d definitely backed off the flirting ever since he’d insisted he would walk her home. Had he misread her signals? After Lexi’s prolonged pursuit at the club and her teasing overtures with the handcuffs, Josh had been pretty certain she would be amenable to spending the night with him. Now he wasn’t so sure.

He would walk away if she wanted him to, of course. But he didn’t relish the idea. He’d had hours in the jail cell to resign himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be getting any work done on his investigation tonight. His work for the night had been compromised, but not his overall case. Once he’d come to terms with a night off, he’d gladly spent the rest of the time indulging in erotic fantasies about Lexi.

He had another block and a half to sway the odds in his favor, and he didn’t plan to waste them lecturing her about street safety.

The night air was crisp and clear. A few fall leaves barely clung to the trees planted at precise intervals along the street. A light breeze caught stray strands of Lexi’s hair.

Josh racked his brain for the right approach. He didn’t usually have to work at this—the women in his past had made it known they were available. He’d thought Lexi was like that, too, but she was turning out to be more complicated than he’d expected.

Didn’t matter.

He wanted her more than he could remember wanting any other woman.

He brushed his hand over her shoulder. “You warm enough in that thing?”

She slanted him a sideways glance. “Plenty warm.”

“You ever share your blankets?” He tugged one corner of her shawl and crossed his fingers.

She stared straight ahead. “No.”

Her heels clicked down the street, ticking off his remaining time to seduce her. The odds seemed to be going up in her favor with every step she took.

Click.

“So Alec told me you write reviews for a magazine.” He might as well find out a little about her. He didn’t see how any great Casanova move would salvage his night with the dominatrix, anyway.

Oddly enough, he wanted to learn more about her even though he knew she’d be sending him home soon.

“It’s New York Fashion magazine. I’ve been writing the style column for five years, now.” She unearthed her hands from the mass of black cashmere and huffed warm breath on them.

Josh watched the steam rise from her folded palms, plagued by a vague sense that he’d seen her somewhere before tonight. She had a familiar smile….

She peered over at him, pausing just before they reached her awning. “Just how much did Alec tell you about me?”

Josh took her hands in his and tugged her to the side of the street. He must be wrong thinking she looked like someone he’d met before. “He told me the women were giving you a hard time tonight.”

He wrapped his hands around hers, then pulled their knot of fingers toward his lips. Mirroring her actions of a moment before, he huffed a slow, heated breath over her cool skin.

“I can manage myself,” Lexi said, her voice halting just a little. She didn’t pull away. “I mean, a lot of those people at the party were designers or else they work with a design house. Because I critique their work, I’m sure at one point or another over the past few years I’ve offended almost everyone.”

Her eyes were huge in the dim light from a street lamp. Josh wanted nothing so much as to wrap her cashmere blanket around both of them and pull her to him. He could envision every nuance of her sequined curves and he longed to test the knowledge of his eyes with his hands. Would she feel as good as she looked?

“That doesn’t make it okay for them to gang up on you tonight. It had to be awkward for you.” He settled for curving one hand along her jaw and brushing the soft silk of her cheek with his thumb.

“A little.” She half sighed the words, giving Josh the impression her thoughts lay elsewhere. Lexi’s eyes closed for a moment, then flew open again.

Josh wanted to shout over that small victory.

She took a small step away, her hands still tangled with one of his. “I’d better get going.”

“Let me just walk you to your door.” He kept one of her hands in his and wrapped his other arm lightly around her waist.

“I don’t think you need to—”

Josh nodded at the doorman and hustled her inside her building. “I’ll feel better knowing you’re safe.”

She pushed the elevator button and turned to stare up at him. “Who’s going to keep me safe from you?”

“You want me to put the cuffs back on?”

A blush stained her cheeks. She twisted one of her rings in a relentless circle around her finger. “Um. No. That’s okay.”

The elevator slid open and Lexi stepped inside.

Josh waited at the doors. “I mean it, Lex. You shouldn’t get into an elevator with a guy you don’t trust.” He pulled out his badge and flashed it at her. “You know, you never verified that I really am a cop.”

With a nervous glance toward the doorman, Lexi reached out and pulled Josh forward by his tie. “I trust you,” she hissed.

The door swished shut behind them.

“I wouldn’t have let you walk me home if I thought you were the kind of guy to leave me for dead,” she assured him.

“Well, that’s a hell of an endorsement.” It’s not like he was going to try to talk her into anything.

But he sensed a kiss in their future, damn it, and he hadn’t wanted to indulge in that particular experience in full view of Sixty-second Street.

Lexi heard the grumbling note in his voice and wondered if she’d offended him. She hadn’t meant to.

Strangely, she did trust him. If he had meant to hurt her, he wouldn’t have knuckled under to her flirtatious handcuff job at the bar. He’d cooled his heels in her jail cell for hours, and still wanted to walk her home.

It was herself she didn’t trust.

Josh’s big, solid presence had her pulse racing and her fingers itching to touch him. When he’d taken her hands in his and breathed over her skin, she’d nearly shot right out of her shoes.

Her mind had fast-forwarded to all sorts of scenarios that involved Josh’s breath on her flesh. She wanted to taste him, breathe him, explore every inch of that muscular body…but she wouldn’t.

Not here. Not on her home turf.

It would give the whole encounter way too much significance. She’d never be able to sleep in her bed again with the same sense of peace. She’d never be able to feel like the queen of her own palace again. There would be a man’s shadow cast over her kingdom, a fear that maybe the world she’d built for herself wasn’t enough.

And she would not allow that to happen.

When the elevator doors opened on the twelfth floor, Lexi stepped out, willing her heart to slow down a few notches.

“I’m this way,” she said, digging her keys out of her purse. She wondered if her four-legged babies would hear her coming down the hall or if they were all fast asleep.

She stopped at the door of her apartment, not hearing any telltale barks. Maybe she’d be able to visit with Josh for a minute, to at least smooth things over with him, as long as her pets seemed settled.

“Thanks for the escort,” she said, her gaze bouncing all over the deserted hallway, lighting anywhere but on him.

“My pleasure.”

He stood close enough to remind her of his potent effect, but not so close that she felt crowded.

She twirled one fringed end of her shawl and searched for a way to end things on a light note. “I mean, I’m not afraid to make the walk by myself, but I’ll admit it’s sort of cool to trek around the city with my own bodyguard.”

His gray eyes narrowed. A silver light glittered in their depths. “Maybe you ought to put your body in my hands a little more often.”

Lexi backed up a step, his soft words a deft blow to her defenses. She felt an answering simmer in her veins, a heat that bubbled just below the surface. “That might be a bit of a risk.”

He edged closer, stealing her breath along with her thoughts. He placed one hand on either side of her, bracketing her against her apartment door. The dominant position made Lexi think about lying beneath him in her bed, his arms levering him above her body as he made love to her.

“Honey, you just let me take all the risks. I’m here to take care of your body, remember?”

She breathed his scent—smoke and scotch from the bar, but some sort of soapy scent, too—and fought for her balance. She hadn’t been this close to a man for nearly two years.

And being close to this particular man was a test of self-discipline Lexi wasn’t sure she could pass.

She’d picked him out at the bar because he had a reckless sort of look, a hint of danger that had appealed to her daring mood.

Only she wasn’t feeling so daring now. And in spite of that badge, Josh Winger was proving every bit as dangerous as she’d imagined.

“Josh?” All she had to do was tell him good-night. She steeled herself to send him away, to end the heat wave on the twelfth floor.

Too bad she looked up to find his gaze focused on her mouth.

“Hmm?” His answer sounded as distracted as she felt.

She swallowed, battling the urge to just close her eyes. No words came.

She licked her lips in a renewed effort to speak. Too late, she realized her mistake.

The strangled noise he made in his throat wavered between a growl and a groan, a hungry sound that rumbled right through her in the moment before his mouth met hers.

Her lips parted on a welcoming sigh, her little moan of delight sounding foreign to her ears.

Hints of a five-o’clock shadow gone rogue scraped her chin and cheeks. His tongue teased over hers in a stroke of warm velvet. The fire she’d been playing with ever since she’d spotted him leapt out of control—inside her body and out.

The whiskey taste of him drugged her until his hungry mouth went questing down her throat. She shivered at the wet heat of the kiss, and wriggled her way closer to the hard wall of his chest.

Josh’s hands fell away from the door to hold her against him. He stroked his way down her spine, sealing her body to his with each new inch of sequined territory. His arousal nudged her belly and fed her imagination, making her want to drag him inside and indulge herself in him.

She thought about dropping her purse and her keys so she could run her hands all over him, soak in the feel of him through her fingertips.

Before she had a chance, he pried himself away.

Lexi blinked, confused.

“Honey, I need to know if this is what you want.”

She didn’t have to ask what “this” was. “This” currently strained against her, sizzling her from the outside in.

Somewhere in the passion fog of her brain, she heard a dog bark. For the first time in her life, she didn’t want to run inside to greet her pets.

She wanted this man, this feeling, this renewed sense of daring to last all night long. She’d figure out how to handle the backlash tomorrow, when her hormones weren’t conspiring against her.

Right now, all she could think of was finishing the game she’d started in the bar.

Lexi wriggled against him shamelessly. “Don’t make me break out the handcuffs again, Detective. You’re not going anywhere tonight.”

HANDCUFFS and a sex goddess. The fates had granted Josh all his best fantasies in one feisty package called Lexi Mansfield.

Lust surged through him with renewed force. Lexi had just given him the green light.

He withdrew her apartment keys from her fingers, eager to proceed inside before she changed her mind. Women like Lexi didn’t come along every day, at least not in the world Josh lived in. His usual dates were women he’d met at the gym, women who wanted the same things from a relationship he did—physical release and a simple good time. Josh had no complaints about those relationships, but he wasn’t about to let anything mess up his chance to play bondage games with a spitfire dominatrix.

He’d barely pushed his way inside Lexi’s apartment when a pack of wild dogs rushed him. The restrained barks he’d heard a few moments ago turned into a chorus of raucous canine yipping and howling. Josh couldn’t see the animals in Lexi’s darkened foyer, but he could hear the snapping jaws, glimpse the flashes of white teeth around his knees.

“That’s enough, guys,” Lexi admonished, somehow managing to shoo the brood down a short hallway. “You can play in the guest room while Mama has company.”

As the barking died down, Josh became aware of a bird chirping in the background. The hum of a fish tank circulator provided a soft white noise, drawing his eye toward a small aquarium and the lone source of light in the room. One pink fish swam around bright cliffs of coral in its home on the kitchen counter.

Distracted by the menagerie, Josh failed to notice Lexi’s return until she was a few feet in front of him. He couldn’t distinguish all the particulars, but he could tell she’d ditched her high heels somewhere along the way. Not only had she grown quieter, but also she’d lost a few inches. Josh guessed if he pulled her close her head would just reach his shoulder.

“Sorry about that.”

Wariness threaded through her words. Hesitation. Second thoughts.

“Not a problem.” He stepped closer, looking for ways to gain lost ground. He had a hunch that if he struck out with Lexi tonight, there wouldn’t be any second chance. Her house full of pets had him thinking she wasn’t the sort of woman who lived on the edge very often.

Normally when he brought a woman home from the gym or the boxing club, he would simply initiate a carnal wrestling match that would leave them both breathless and more than satisfied. But he got the impression Lexi was the kind of woman who wouldn’t appreciate the erotic possibilities of a half nelson.

“The animals miss me when I go out.” She traced her toe along one of the floorboards in the foyer, her body backlit by the blue glow of the fish tank. “They’re excited to see me.”

“I can hardly blame them.” Josh nudged aside the folds of her black shawl to trace one finger along the delicate ridge of her collarbone. “Just standing next to you makes me feel like howling.”

Her heartbeat pounded just below the heel of his hand.

“Don’t tell me I’m going to have to lock you up in the guest bedroom, too.”

He smoothed his hand over her shoulder and allowed his fingers to skim along her back. “I think I could better serve you if you’d lock me up in your bedroom.”

She couldn’t hide her answering shiver. Josh felt it right through his fingertips. Nevertheless, she shook her head resolutely.

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