Undercover Cook

by Jeannie Watt

  He rang the bell, then waited on the porch for almost a full minute before Eden opened the door, her expression guarded. “Nick. What a surprise. Service call?”

  Great. Sarcasm. “I wanted to talk. Explain about the other night.”

  “There’s something to explain?” she asked coolly.

  “Yeah. Like why I said I shouldn’t kiss you.”

  The color rose in her cheeks, staining them pink. “I’m not stupid, Nick. When someone doesn’t want to kiss you, it’s because they aren’t interested.”

  “No.”

  “No?” Her eyebrows went up.

  He hooked a thumb in his pocket, shifting his weight. “May I come in?”

  “What do you mean by ‘no’?”

  “I mean that I’m interested, but like I said, there are…were…circumstances involved.”

  “What kind of circumstances?” She continued to hold her ground, blocking the door, with her head tilted up so she could meet his eyes. Read him.

  “Can I come in?” he repeated.

  She stepped back. Nick walked into the small living room and she shut the door behind him. “What kind of circumstances?”

  “I’m a cop.”

  She blinked at him. “I thought you were no longer active. I called Reno PD and that’s what they told me.”

  So she’d checked. Good for her. “Because I was suspended. I start back to work on Monday. My lieutenant and I do not see eye to eye and, well, I did something stupid and gave him grounds for an insubordination charge.” Followed conveniently by two citizens reporting that he was driving too fast in his cruiser without cause. He’d bet money those people were related to Lieutenant Davidson. “He took advantage of that to teach me a lesson.”

  “Did you learn anything?” Eden asked.

  “Yeah. Not to screw with a new lieutenant.”

  “What about the security business?”

  That was the tough one. Nick had never really lied to someone he cared about before, but the things he’d done, such as hacking into her computers, were part of an investigation. An unofficial yet ongoing investigation. Telling her wasn’t going to help anyone, and might well hurt people at some point in time. It was a part of the past he needed to bury so he could move on. Start from square one and see if he could build something.

  “An experiment,” he finally said.

  “In case you became permanently suspended?”

  He nodded. “In this economy, my job in law enforcement isn’t the most stable.”

  Eden leaned her head against the door. “I guess that explains the chisel incident,” she finally said with a half smile, and Nick felt a glimmer of hope.

  He was now at the end of the secrets, the lies and the half lies. Everything from here on would be nothing but the truth. A new start. He could live with the secrets he needed to keep. He hoped.

  “It was my first time with a chisel.”

  “I couldn’t tell,” she said, gesturing to the kitchen. “I was just making coffee. Want some?” She was still subdued, but not angry. Or as angry.

  “Yeah, but there’s something else.”

  “What’s that?” she asked with a slight frown, as if she’d suspected there was a catch.

  “This.” He stepped closer and leaned down to touch her lips with his, the way she’d done to him the other night. He felt her quick intake of breath, and slowly threaded his fingers through her silky hair as he deepened the kiss. But he didn’t pull her against him. He wanted her to be able to step back without feeling trapped.

  Eden did not take that opportunity. Instead she brought her hands up to capture his face, her warm palms heating his cheeks as they continued to kiss.

  “Is that a clear signal?” he asked when he finally raised his head.

  “The clearest,” she said, touching her fingertips to her lips. “Still want coffee?”

  “Yeah,” he said, thinking it might be wise to occupy his hands and mouth for the time being, because right now all he wanted to do was haul Eden off to that small bedroom of hers and make love to her in at least a dozen different ways.

  He waited until he was sitting at her table and Eden was pouring coffee, giving him the same mug he’d had the last time he’d been there, under much different circumstances. “There’s something else you should know.”

  Her back muscles tensed before she turned to face him. “You really are married?” she said lightly.

  Close. “I was married.”

  Eden crossed her arms, closing herself off. “Divorced?”

  He shook his head. “I lost my wife two and a half years ago.”

  She lowered her hands. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah.” He had yet to touch his coffee. Didn’t know if he would. “What we had…it was good.” Eden didn’t move, almost as if she was afraid of spooking him or something if she did. “I’m over the bad part. Have been for about a year.”

  She nodded.

  “But I haven’t really let anyone back into my life—stuff like dating. I just threw myself into my work.”

  “Sounds…lonely.”

  “I have Daphne.”

  Again Eden’s eyes narrowed and he could see she was wondering if Daphne was a dog? A cat? A girlfriend?

  “She’s my partner. We talked through a lot of issues.”

  Another nod, and he noticed that Eden had yet to take a drink of her own coffee.

  “I’m only telling you this so that maybe you can understand some of my hesitation.” Not all of his hesitation, but some of it. “Not to get sympathy or anything.” He hated sympathy.

  “I understand. I lost my mom. It was a long time ago, but…I still remember. It gets better. Kind of.”

  He glanced down at the coffee cup, felt the seconds tick past as he debated what to say next, now that he’d dropped the elephant into the room.

  “Hey, Nick?” He glanced up as Eden crossed the room toward him. Coming around behind him, she lightly rested her hands on his shoulders. He reached up to cover her fingers with his own, taking in a deep breath that was edged with the light citrus scent of her perfume. “You want to go to a ball game?”

  He gave a short laugh. “Baseball?”

  “Seems like a good way to break tension, and I have tickets.”

  He leaned his head back against her and rolled his eyes up to see her face. “I’d love to go to a ball game.”

  She stepped away and Nick got up from his chair. “What time does it start?”

  “Six.”

  He must have caught her just before she left. “Then we should probably get going.” He stood looking down at her.

  “Yes.” She didn’t move.

  “Are we going to the game?” he finally asked.

  “Yes.” But instead of making a move toward the door, Eden closed the distance between them and took his face in her hands to pull his mouth down to hers. He didn’t fight her. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hard.

  When they broke away from each other, they were both breathing hard. “According to the stats I read, it won’t be much of a game,” Eden said, reaching up to unbutton his shirt.

  He grabbed a handful of fabric from behind him, pulling the shirt over his head and dropping it on the floor. Eden took the hem of her long purple T-shirt and did the same. Nick drew her close again and a small tremor went through her as their bare skin touched. He bent his head to kiss her breasts where they spilled out of her demi-bra, and she sucked air between her teeth. She pushed the straps off her shoulders just before Nick impatiently grabbed the edge of the lace and freed her breasts. Her body went hot and liquid as he teased a nipple before pulling it into his mouth.

  EDEN HEARD A MOAN and realized it was her own. A low primal sound, unlike any she could ever remember making. Nick undid the bra and tossed it aside. She stepped back to work on the fastening to her jeans, somehow getting it open and the denim, along with her panties, pushed down to the floor. He did the same and she swallowed when she saw his erection. Ni
ce. Very nice.

  The next thing she knew he was backing her down the hall toward the bedroom, kissing her as they went. His hard-on pushed against her belly, his hands cupping her ass.

  “This will not be slow,” Nick muttered as he lowered her onto the bed. “But—” he kissed her lips “—I promise I’ll make up for it later.”

  “Been a while?” Eden asked.

  “A long while,” he said as he nudged her legs apart. As soon as he pushed into her, her body convulsed and she knew it wasn’t going to matter if he was fast, because she was so close to coming. He started moving in her, hard and deep, with that edge of desperation that came from going too long without sex. But even so, it was her body that tensed and then broke into deep throbs of pleasure, which drove Nick even harder. Seconds later he came, too, shooting deep within her before he slowly lowered his damp body on top of hers.

  Eden brought a hand up to rest lightly on his back, soothing the muscles, then traveling up to his neck.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Uh…yeah. I’m okay.”

  He rolled off her then, flopping onto his back and closing his eyes. Eden laid her head on the pillow and studied his face. He had a great profile and she’d like to see it on her pillow more often.

  She wondered if that was going to happen.

  He looked over at her. “You want to try to make the game?”

  She smiled at him. “I don’t know if I can walk…but it is a double header.”

  A slow smile creased his cheeks. He looked so different when he relaxed. “I didn’t come over here to do this, you know.”

  “Regrets?” she asked lightly.

  He took her hand and held it in the center of his chest. “Hardly. I just wanted you to know that my intentions were honorable when I arrived.”

  “And still are, I imagine.”

  “Mmm.” His eyes shut as he went into man mode. Eden was a fan of man mode because she liked to sleep after sex. But she wasn’t ready to sleep yet. Not when this was so new and there were so many facets to explore.

  “How’d you get the scar?” she asked quietly, touching the tip of her finger to Nick’s temple. The room was growing darker as the sunlight on the other side of the blind faded, but she could see the long scar that traced over his forehead, just below his hairline.

  “Bullet wound,” he said, without opening his eyes.

  She lightly smacked his shoulder. “Right.”

  This time his eyes did come open and he rolled onto his side to face her. “Actually, I was knocked off my bike by a car when I was a kid. By a neighbor who was driving while high.”

  “That’s awful.” Eden tucked her hand back under the blanket. “I really hate intoxicated drivers.”

  “Yeah?” he asked gently.

  She nodded, meeting his eyes. “My mom was killed by one when I was twelve. Hit-and-run.”

  “Sorry to hear that.”

  “It was rough,” she said honestly. “Reggie and Justin and me…that’s probably why we’re so close. We propped each other up.” She sensed that Nick was going to ask about her father, and she didn’t want to talk about him, so she said, “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

  “Not a one.”

  “You’re an only child?”

  “I think I was more than enough for my parents. They were pretty busy with their jobs, so I wouldn’t have minded a brother or sister.”

  “What do they do?”

  “Mom is the assistant administrator of a hospital in Las Vegas. Dad was a pilot. He retired just last year. As you know,” he said with an ironic smile, “I have a grandfather here in Reno.”

  “My dad left us shortly after my mom died,” Eden said bitterly. She had to say something about her father and she may as well get it over with now.

  “Wow.”

  “Long-haul trucker. He hung around for about a year, doing local jobs after she died, but…he ended up back on the road, and Reggie and Justin and I pretty much raised ourselves.”

  “Is he still alive? Your father?”

  “I don’t know,” Eden said stiffly. “He and Reggie had this big fight and he left, and we never heard from him again.”

  “You okay with that?”

  “It took away a lot of stress.” She rolled over to look at Nick. “He used to promise he’d do stuff, and he wouldn’t. That he’d be back for this or that important occasion, and he never was. It hurt being lied to all the time. He did it to make life easier for him. We were just kids, but all he thought about was himself.”

  Nick caressed her face with the back of his hand, smoothing his knuckles down her jawline. She leaned into him. She wanted to ask about his wife, but didn’t. If they shared more intimate moments, it might happen, but right now, did it really matter? Did anything matter beyond this particular time they had together?

  No. But she truly hoped there’d be other times. She was teetering on the edge of falling for this guy—if she hadn’t already done so.

  She’d think about that later.

  Nick reached out and pulled her close, molding her body against his and stroking his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion. Eden shut her eyes, thinking she’d open them in a minute, when he stopped. But he didn’t stop and she drifted asleep in his arms.

  She woke to a soft caress traveling down the curve of her spine, and opened her eyes to see that it was dark outside. Pushing herself up on one elbow, she glanced over her shoulder at the clock. Ten. Wouldn’t be making the second game of the double header, either. Nick’s arms closed around her and she settled into his embrace, stretching out so that they had contact down the entire length of their bodies.

  “This is good,” he murmured against her hair. The simple phrase warmed her.

  Nick took her hand in his, kissed her fingers, then guided them back down where he so obviously wanted them. His eyes drifted shut in a most satisfying way when she took hold of him.

  Eden shifted her position so that she was on top of him, holding his gaze as she slowly and deliberately eased him inside her. Then she squeezed her muscles and he groaned, taking hold of her hips, lifting her a few inches and then settling her back on him again. Eden lasted for only a few minutes, Nick much longer; long enough, in fact, that she came again, sucking in a gasp of surprise as her body started contracting once more. He pulled her mouth down to his as he came, throbbing deep inside her.

  Eden collapsed on his chest, quite happy to stay there for a decade or so. From the way Nick was smiling, she assumed he was of the same mind.

  REGGIE WAS HAVING the time of her life in Lyon, but called at least twice a week to make certain there had been no catering-related catastrophes in her absence—as if Eden would tell her—or any other disasters.

  “Glad to hear everything is going well,” Reggie said after Eden filled her in on the latest bookings and events.

  More than well. Eden wanted to tell her sister that she’d started the most amazing relationship. One where the sex was slow and caring. No showmanship.

  No games. No other women.

  Just a man loving a woman. Happy to give, happy to receive. Plus Nick laughed. With Ian, sex had been so serious. Like an Olympic event, where she was supposed to give him a ten after each performance. And she hadn’t realized how much that had bothered her until she’d started sleeping with Nick.

  She’d loved to have shared all that, but wasn’t going to discuss it with Reggie until Eden knew where this thing with Nick was going. It could be a flash in the pan. A quick flare of passion that would soon burn itself out, and if that was the case, then no one needed to know.

  But it didn’t feel like that. She’d known him for only a matter of weeks, but Eden felt so right with him. A connection she’d never felt before. It was enough to make her believe that The One actually existed. And that she might have found him.

  Eden could hear Rosemary cooing. She must be snuggled up on her mother’s shoulder. “I have news,” Reggie said with a note of satisfaction.<
br />
  You’re pregnant. “What?” Eden asked brightly.

  “Rosemary is going to have a little brother or sister.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “Nope…and Tom told me you know.”

  Eden laughed. “I knew before you did.”

  “I doubt that, but you were right. And we’re really happy.”

  NICK’S FIRST DAY back on the job was jammed-ass busy, to the point that he skipped lunch. Paperwork. He hated paperwork, but it felt good not to be kicking around, trying to figure out how to fill his days. He and the lieutenant had made a tentative peace, which involved a mandatory HR meeting, and Nick had refrained from bringing up the Summit case.

  Daphne collared him in the hall right after he got off his shift.

  “Did you behave yourself on your first day back?” she asked wryly. At the moment they were working solo while Daphne finished up cases she’d developed during Nick’s suspension, and Nick was being flogged with paperwork.

  “On my best behavior,” he said, wondering what time Eden got off that night. She’d said she had to play it by ear, depending on how the prep went for a luncheon she was catering the next day. They hadn’t made any plans or promises, but he wanted to see her again. Soon.

  Daphne waited until they were out in the parking lot before she stopped walking. “I talked to the lieutenant about the Summit. Brought up Cully.” She kicked the toe of her running shoe into the pavement. “The thing is, without any additional information, he can’t okay the man hours on a stalled-out investigation.”

  “Yeah?” Nick knew what was coming.

  “Talk to Tremont, would you? Feel him out. See if he knows anything. Nothing official. Just guy talk.”

  “Guy talk with a cop.”

  “Who’s sleeping with his sister,” Daphne added, as if that would help matters.

  “How did you… Nevermind.”

  “Come on, Nick. Do it.”

  A bad feeling rolled over him. He shook his head. “I don’t want to involve him.”