“Did you?” he asked again, his right hand running back and forth over the top edge of the steering wheel.
“I’m against blaming the dress. People deserve to travel a city in safety, regardless of what they wear.”
“Touché. But I read the paper and watch the news and I know it’s a far from perfect world. So give me hell for not wanting you needlessly in harm’s way. Promise that you’ll phone me if your car’s not fixed by tomorrow. The kids and I will come and get you.”
“All right…you softie.” Before Cullen could object to her purred accusation, she said, “If you do, let’s detour and take the twins kite-flying. It’s turning blustery. Perfect kite weather. I know just the park.”
Cullen reared back. “Where did that notion spring from? And where will I get kites?”
“I’ll provide them. You show up at ten. I’m sure my car won’t be fixed that soon.”
“I don’t think the kids have ever flown kites. They’ll like that, Mei Lu. Me, too,” he said, his voice dropping, sounding velvety in the darkness.
“Are you hungry?” Mei threw out suddenly. “I’m starved. I didn’t eat before going to the benefit, and you interrupted me before I’d sampled more than one cracker with a bit of cheese.”
“I could eat. I didn’t have anything, either. Is there someplace around here where we can go dressed like this?”
“I don’t go out enough to know. I guess it’s not such a good idea, after all. Unless…there’s a market two blocks ahead, on your right. I could run in and buy eggs. I think I have everything else at home to make a couple of omelettes.”
“Deal. That sounds like it’d hit the spot. I’ll get the eggs. That way you can stay in the car, out of the wind. Sure that’s all you need? No wine? You didn’t get to finish the glass you bought.”
Cullen followed her directions and spotted the market. He pulled up right at the door.
“I may have a bottle at home. Not chilled, though,” said Mei. “Maybe you should buy something you like. This market stocks cold wines at the back.”
He climbed out whistling, looking forward to drawing out the evening with Mei Lu. Suddenly, he turned back and tapped on the window, motioning for her to lock the doors.
She did, more to humor him than because she feared for her safety. Not for the first time, she decided the twins’ mother had to be seriously nuts to have let a man like this go.
Cullen sauntered into the store and saw he was one of two customers. An East Indian couple stood behind the counter, checking out the other customer’s groceries. Assuming that if the fridge with the wine was in the back of the store, the cabinet where he’d find eggs would probably be there, as well, Cullen ambled down the center aisle, barely glancing at the shelves. He didn’t know why a display on the top shelf caught his eye.
Condoms of varying brands and descriptions. Not something he was in the habit of buying or carrying around.
Passing the shelf, he found the eggs and selected a carton, then looked inside for cracked ones. That nearby display made him wonder whether Mei Lu, being a modern woman and a cop, kept condoms stored in her bedside cabinet. Somehow, she didn’t seem the type.
In the months right after his divorce, Cullen had jumped straight into the dating scene. Quite a few of the women he’d asked out had let him know that they took responsibility for their birth control. Their saying so should have been comforting. But he remembered it had been awkward for him. Yet he had to give the women credit for looking out for their own safety.
Cullen knew what was on his mind back then when he’d asked a woman out a second or third time. He’d hoped they’d end up in bed. What man didn’t?
“Hell,” he grumbled half under his breath as he chose a European wine he was surprised to find in a convenience store. The same thing was on his mind right this minute. And had been there for days. Every time he thought of Mei Lu…
On his trek to the checkout counter at the front of the store, he ignored the display that had sent his thoughts down this rocky path. Cullen started to pass the shelf, then stopped and grabbed the smallest pack of a brand he’d once used. Immediately, he sped up, so the guilt nipping at his heels wouldn’t send him racing back to return the package.
The store proprietor greeted Cullen in broken English. “You, sir…find all you need?”
Then as the woman, maybe his wife, slid Cullen’s purchases across the bar code scanner, the man made an innocuous comment about the weather. “Outside, the wind is picking up. Good night to be inside savoring spirits, I think.”
The woman got to the last item Cullen had dumped on the counter, and a grin lit her dark face. She said something not in English, but because her husband, if he was indeed that, chortled and wished Cullen a very lucky evening, there was little doubt as to what the woman had murmured.
Cullen took the condom box from the proprietor, right before the man would’ve tossed it into the grocery sack—and spilled coins all over the counter and the floor. Muttering something indistinguishable, he slipped the box into his tux pocket. As he did so, he shot a furtive glance through the front window to the BMW sitting there in plain sight.
He hoped Mei Lu hadn’t witnessed any of this.
Kneeling down, Cullen scooped five dimes and two pennies off the floor. Once he’d straightened, he finished counting out the exact amount. “Thanks,” he said, hoping he hadn’t turned forty shades of red as the smiling proprietor observed aloud, “Pretty lady in your car. Nice, too. She come here often.”
Cullen knew exactly what the two of them were thinking. He felt as though—to protect Mei Lu’s honor—he ought to say something. Assure them it was purely an impulse purchase on his part. But that would be downright stupid. Wasn’t it better not to call any more attention to the condoms?
He thought it was, but that didn’t make him feel a whole lot better.
When he returned, he found Mei Lu had turned on the car radio. Cullen could feel the solid beat of drums as he shifted from foot to foot waiting for her to pop the locks. Sliding behind the wheel, he handed her the sack with the eggs and wine, aware that his blood pounded louder than the drums—or so it seemed.
Peering into the sack, Mei asked, “What took you so long? Oh, I imagine you had a hard time finding a decent wine.”
“Actually they have a fair selection,” Cullen mumbled, his left hand patting his bulging pocket, where the reason for his overlong stay burned a hole the size of Texas.
Damn, but he felt like a jumpy, awkward teenager again, he thought as he bungled trying to restart a motor he’d left running to begin with.
Mei Lu gave him a curious stare.
Cullen cursed under his breath. Right then and there, he figured it’d be a miracle if he lived through the next few hours.
CHAPTER TEN
FOO GREETED the couple’s arrival at Mei’s with enthusiasm. He appeared to remember Cullen and treated him to the same happy tail-thumping and knee-pouncing generally reserved for his mistress.
Laughing at the dog’s antics of rolling on his back and pawing the air to get Mei to rub his stomach, Cullen nudged her. “I see he has you trained. Why don’t I just go put the eggs and wine in your kitchen?”
Mei rose from the floor, where she was tussling with Foo. “Oh, Cullen, let me do that. Where are my manners? First, though, let me hang up your jacket. It’s warm in here, don’t you think?”
“N-no, the temperature’s fine. I’m fine.” Cullen stepped back.
Mei, who now clutched the sack with both hands, shrugged, although she thought Cullen was acting strange. “Give me a minute to freshen Foo’s water and let him out. Once I do that, I’ll assemble everything for our omelettes.”
It was almost automatic with Cullen to remove his tie and open the top button of his dress shirt on coming home from any formal event. He did that now, even though this wasn’t his home.
Edging backward toward the kitchen, Mei watched him tug off his tie. “I like the fact that you seem to feel
comfortable here,” she said, sending Cullen a smile. “But are you sure you wouldn’t rather lose the jacket, too?”
Considering all the trouble Cullen had gone through to buy what was stowed in that jacket, he wasn’t about to let Mei Lu put it somewhere out of reach. He shoved his tie in the other pocket. “I’ll probably get rid of the coat when it’s time to eat. I’ll just toss it on the back of the couch.”
“Big mistake. Foo sheds. No matter how much I vacuum, my furniture’s covered in dog hair. I think he sleeps there during the day. Better let me hang it up.” She shifted course, starting toward him again.
“I’m not fussy, Mei Lu. Stop worrying. And I’m not in a huge rush to eat. So unless you are, feel free to go change clothes. I doubt that dress is what you’d normally wear to cook in.”
“You’re so right.” She smiled. “Even though I like to cook, I’m messy. Maybe I will change. And since you aren’t starved, I ought to take a minute and report in to my captain.”
“Sure, sure.” Cullen gestured with one hand. “Why don’t I pull the cork and pour us some wine? Give us both a few minutes to unwind. You’ve had a hectic day.”
“I have. Thanks, Cullen. There’s a CD player next to the bookcase on the far wall. After you pour the wine, feel free to see if there’s anything you’d like to hear.”
“Sounds good. There’s no rush. I figure I owe you a chance to call your boss, since I apparently blew your cover.” He trailed her into the kitchen, where she stored the eggs in the fridge and got out wineglasses from a small breakfront.
“Not totally wrecked,” she said, bestowing another faint smile on him when she’d straightened from refilling Foo’s water dish. “In fact, calling out my title and name the way you did probably forced those men to show their hand more quickly than they otherwise might have done. Besides,” she added, propping open her back door so Foo could come and go at will, “you improved my evening immensely by simply being there, Cullen. I usually get tapped for these kinds of assignments, but they’re always so boring. I have to look like a woman enjoying herself. Tonight, I actually did.”
“Glad to be of service,” he said, setting down the cork and suddenly blocking her exit as she headed out of the kitchen.
Startled, Mei raised her eyes. The unexpected passion she saw in his sent shivers of excitement to the pit of her stomach. “Cullen?” His name was a breathless question.
“Mei Lu,” he whispered.
As he lowered his head and brought his mouth to hers, his hands were busy elsewhere—everywhere, it seemed to Mei Lu. Creating delicious friction between her skin and the soft fabric of her dress.
His kiss drove a corkscrew of longing so tight and deep within her, Mei thought she heard herself cry out. In pain or need. She wasn’t so repressed that she didn’t know that one sometimes accompanied the other. It wasn’t something she’d ever experienced. Not until now. Until Cullen. Mei felt herself slipping. Slipping toward a place she didn’t recognize. For balance, she grabbed hold of Cullen’s open shirt collar and hung on.
He rucked up her dress, then let it fall as he moved his hands around to her back instead, pulling her even closer. Tight against him…
She wrenched away from the demolishing kiss and said his name again. Just that. “Cullen.”
“Am I scaring you?” he murmured, nipping his way down her neck to a point where her pulse beat fast and he tasted her and inhaled the scent she wore, which he always found fascinating. Sandalwood and something…elusive.
“I’m not…frightened,” she tried to assure him as she made a vain attempt to chase his lips.
Her seeking didn’t go unnoticed. Cullen lifted her easily off her feet and wedged her against the refrigerator so their bodies touched everywhere and he could free one hand to anchor her head. He tasted sweetness on her tongue, and a long-banked need erupted and threatened to send him to his quaking knees.
Forced to break for air, Mei Lu gazed blankly into gray eyes as glazed as hers must be. “Is this…are we…?” she asked, although her throat was so dry it barely came out a croak.
“I think we are.” He nodded. His restless hands followed the curve of her breast and waist and thigh before retreating to gently touch her trembling chin. “I should have more finesse,” he said, chest heaving. “I wanted to. Intended to.” Excuses that all sounded horribly lame to Cullen.
Mei could see he’d told the truth, and that made all the difference. “I wish I’d known you wanted…uh, intended to…” Giving up, she buried her open mouth in the flesh peeking out from Cullen’s open collar. Mei gripped his jacket front, wrinkling the wool in her fists. “What we’re doing, where we’re headed has been on my mind lately. A lot.”
“No kidding? So…why are we stopping then?”
“Because. We can’t.” Mei enjoyed the feel of his pulse banging against her lips. Even as she denied they could go forward, she opened two more buttons on his shirt.
“Can’t why?” he choked out, the soft trail of her damp tongue instantly making him rock-hard.
“I’m, uh, totally unprepared, Cullen.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, clasping him to her in apology, but knew at once it was a mistake as an expletive escaped his lips. “Sorry. I’m really, really sorry,” she panted.
“I know why so many say confession is good for the soul,” Cullen whispered. “Here’s where I’ve gotta confess, Mei Lu. I am prepared.” He awkwardly patted one pocket. “Jeez, this is more embarrassing than I expected.” He heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. The instant he sensed her shifting and easing away, Cullen rushed on with his admission. “It’s not what you think. I didn’t leave the house ready to…well, ready. At the convenience store—hell, Mei Lu. Wine and eggs weren’t all I bought. You asked what took so long?” He fumbled a second or two, then dragged the small box out of his pocket. “This took me so long.”
She let a few seconds pass, then tried to smother a laugh. Mirth sparkled in her eyes as she snatched the box from his loose grasp. Ducking sideways, Mei Lu took advantage of Cullen’s surprise to dart down the hall. She called mischievously over a shoulder, “Last one to the bedroom has to make the omelette.”
If he’d been as familiar with the house as she, Cullen thought he could’ve won the race. As it was, they were both winded and laughing, which somehow made it far easier to tumble into the middle of her big soft bed in a tangle of arms and legs.
Although a small amount of light leaked into the room from a gap in her curtains, Cullen reached for her bedside lamp.
She stilled his fingers, even while she tried to divest him of his tux jacket. “This isn’t something I do often,” she said apologetically.
“Lord, me neither. It’s been a long time for me, too.” Cullen let his jacket land wherever it fell on her carpet. “I want to see you, Mei Lu. All of you. And it’s important to me that you’re comfortable…with us,” he told her. “Otherwise, difficult as it’d be to stop now, I will. I want us to feel that this means something.”
“It does,” she said huskily. “I’m here. You’re here. Sorry about the light,” she murmured, finally releasing his hand. “Maybe later.”
At that moment, Cullen couldn’t have refused her soft pleading. But he thought he owed her an explanation. He hadn’t been joking about the length of time since he’d gone to bed with a woman. And even then he hadn’t come close to feeling what he felt for Mei Lu.
“I want you to know I went sort of wild with women right after my divorce, Mei Lu. Then…I grew to hate the dating scene, so I gave it up—”
Cullen stopped talking then, because Mei Lu stripped off that alluring dress. He couldn’t have said what word exploded from his lips, not if his life depended on it. His eyes had adjusted to the lack of light. In bra and panties and with her lustrous hair a wild dark cloud, Lieutenant Ling was very possibly the most tantalizing, seductive female he’d ever seen.
While Cullen might be rusty, he’d retained the knack for kicking out of his shoes and pants at li
ghtning speed. Which he did.
And from then on, talk ceased. Except for a murmured word of appreciation here and there as they experienced new pleasures.
The only tense moment came when it appeared they’d lost the box of condoms. A frantic and thankfully brief search uncovered it in the hidden fold of a blanket. There ensued giggles and a brief skirmish.
Mei used her teeth to tear open the packet. And that wasn’t the only clever thing she did with her teeth. Cullen thought he’d lose his mind and everything else as she nipped her way down across his ticklish belly—and lower, pausing only to put him out of his misery as she delicately rolled on the condom.
That was it. Cullen’s last straw. He yanked her up and buried himself deep within her. He felt her sharp little teeth leave their imprint on his shoulder. But Cullen had lost the ability to do anything except pray he’d last long enough to make this first time good for both of them.
It obviously was, if their slick, boneless bodies were any indication when, sometime later, they both fell back spent against Mei Lu’s plump pillows.
“Wow,” she exclaimed, and Cullen felt the bed rock as she shot upright, even though he lay there immovable. “I’m energized,” she exclaimed. “Ready to take on the world. Oh, and I’m famished. Really ravenous. Hey!” She ran a fingernail over Cullen’s ribs. “We made a bet, and as I recall, you lost.”
Cullen didn’t have the strength to roll toward her. He barely managed to move aside an arm that he’d flopped across his eyes. “I really hope you’re kidding, because if you told me the house was on fire I don’t think I could save either one of us.”
“Hmm.” Mei Lu leaned forward, grasped her toes and rocked back and forth. “What does this say about me? That I’ve suddenly become a sex fiend? Not only am I starved, I think I could even go for another round of—”
She broke off right there, because Cullen discovered a surge of energy. He grabbed her narrow rib cage, lifted her high and hauled her down on top of him.
She Walks the Line (Harlequin Super Romance) Page 17