Dirty Deeds

by AJ Nuest

  Or there was always the chance Eden believed herself just like Ruby. God knew, the thought of landing in an unmarked grave, no one there to mourn his loss, was about as bad as it got. “Look, I’ll take care of it.”

  She was right. Ruby deserved better. And, dammit, so did Eden.

  She tipped her head and he tightened his grip on the mug, resisting the impulse to reach over the counter and hold her cheek. To try and somehow remove the frustration. Erase the darkness haunting her eyes. “You would do that, wouldn’t you. If I asked?”

  For her? To make her feel better? Shit yeah, he would. He nodded.

  “I believe you.” Filling her lungs, she studied him from beneath her lowered lids. “Okay, here’s the deal.” She smacked her palms on the counter. “I’m heading into the shower and I’m locking the door so don’t bother getting any wise ideas.”

  He grunted. Too late.

  “While I’m getting ready, you’re gonna hit the sack. Bedroom’s down the hall.” She started out of the kitchen, that silky robe riding her hips and perfect breasts swaying, and he spun on the stool to snag her arm as she sauntered past.

  There was no denying he could use the sleep, even if only for an hour, but trusting her alone? Yeah, not so much. “What’s my guarantee you won’t disappear again?”

  She stared at his fingers, lifted her head and her brow twitched. “You did something nice for me, so in return I will do something nice for you and promise to wake you once I’m dressed. That’s the way I work, Detective. Cause and effect. An eye for an eye.”

  She stepped away, but he tugged her back, between his legs. He needed another shot at her face. Just to be sure she hadn’t fed him a line.

  The sleep-infused scent of her skin curled around him like a physical caress, and he breathed her in, watching…waiting…but the resolve in her eyes didn’t budge.

  Yep, she’d told him the truth. Maybe those few hellacious minutes in the alley had taught her a thing or two, and she’d learned how dangerous things could get if she didn’t stick close.

  The thought of that asshole’s hands on her made something dark and protective rear its ugly head inside him, and he finally surrendered to impulse and cupped her cheek, running his thumb along the shallow dip under her eye.

  She wavered unsteadily, leaning into his touch.

  Interesting. Exactly how far did this “liking” of him go?

  Unable to resist the temptation of testing those waters, he swept the pad of his thumb over her lips. They parted with her slight inhalation, and he smirked. Bingo. “I believe you too, Eden.”

  She dropped her focus to his mouth. The bundle of nerves at the base of his spine tingled. His cock flexed and his balls grew tight. Goddamn it. He clamped down hard on the reckless urge to lean in and kiss her. Sampling her lips would be like scratching a persistent itch he couldn’t quite reach. One that refused to abate.

  But doing so would cross a dangerous line. Not only professionally, but personally. Sliding his hand down her arm, he released her and jerked his chin toward the hall. He’d stepped over that line once before. With Jaclyn. And gotten his heart beat to hell and back in the process.

  A shiver dislodged her shoulders, and Eden padded away, and Kelly blew a long slow breath as his gaze trailed after her. The woman’s curvy figure and sexy strut were made for one thing and one thing only. Pure, unadulterated sin.

  The bathroom door closed and the lock snicked into the hasp.

  Eden’s response to him was only going to make keeping a straight head around her that much harder. Shoving to his feet, he plodded down the hall and approached the only other door in the apartment, opposite the bathroom on his right. Whether she’d admitted it to herself or not, she was fighting a physical pull toward him too, and things on this case were already complicated enough without opening that can of worms.

  The shower started in the bathroom as he surveyed the small bedroom. The furnishings were sparse, but high-end—a queen-sized brass bed, two end tables and, in the far corner, a small roll-topped desk.

  He tugged open the top dresser drawer, hooked a lacy white thong on his finger and held it in front of his face. Shit. If he ever caught her in something so skimpy, whatever lines he’d drawn in the sand wouldn’t count for squat.

  Hiding that erotic visual back in the drawer, he turned and walked past the end of the bed, stopped before the closet and slid open one of the accordion doors. A frown tightened his brow, and he rested his hands on his hips. What in the sweet, blue blazes was this about?

  The hanger bar had been sectioned and color coded by a series of names—Amber, Clementine, Hazel—each containing an outfit that included shoes, a wig, and a plastic baggie filled with all those goofy bells and whistles women liked. He fingered a diamond-studded bracelet through the plastic and pursed his lips.

  Disguises. These were Dirty Deeds’ camouflage, each one tailor-made to transform her appearance so she could become anyone from a cleaning woman, to a business professional, to what looked like some sort of heiress.

  He shoved the other door aside and found nothing but white. Pants, shirts, sweaters—everything white. Eden. That was her. The woman he’d met last night, and then again this morning in that sexy little number she passed off as a robe.

  Scratching at the overgrown stubble under his chin, he backed away until his calves bumped the mattress. He dropped to the bed, his focus darting back and forth between the costumes and Eden’s immaculate, every day wear.

  She had to have known he would snoop. He was a cop, for Christ’s sake. Snooping was part of his job description, and yet she’d still offered him her bedroom. He collapsed onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Adopted, no last name, no family she could trust… Colors, a series of disguises, characters she could take on to protect her identity.

  A puff of air left his lips. Maybe that was the issue. She didn’t know her true identity. Hell, she’d admitted as much last night, and wearing white was her way of snubbing her nose at the pain. White was symbolic for her, the antithesis of the personalities she could become at the drop of a hat.

  Wearing white was more than a simple choice. It defined her, because she didn’t know who she was.

  Damn, what a head trip. He toed off his boots and scooted up the bed, rolled onto his side and groaned as the sleepy musk she’d left on the pillows coated his face. But she’d invited him in. His eyes slipped closed, and he pulled her scent deep into his lungs. She’d peeled back a layer and shown him a side of herself. On purpose. One he would bet his entire career she exposed to very few people in her life.

  So, did that mean this whole wardrobe reveal was a cry for help? Doubtful. After last night’s solo flight, Eden didn’t seem the cry-for-help type. But it could be her way of letting him know her trust in him was growing. Without her having to outright voice something so horrific, of course.

  She’d said she’d do something nice for him, but maybe there had been more behind that statement than he’d first realized. She’d given him access to her secrets and then left him alone to try and figure it out. And if he did, he did, and if he didn’t, his loss.

  Sneaky, giving him a test to determine how smart he was. A test that was right up his alley. God, the woman knew exactly how to get his goat.

  So, who was Eden Smith? Who was she really? He smiled. One thing was for sure. He was damn well gonna find out.

  “Hey.” The bed dipped near his legs and Kelly flopped onto his back, peeling open his sticky eyelids. A glance to the side, and he sprang to sitting, grabbing Eden’s upper arms.

  Oh, no. Oh, hell no. The long blond wig, the skin-tight black dress and dark sunglasses. She’d put on some strange getup and was prepping to head out the door.

  “Are you nuts?” He plucked the glasses off her face to find a set of made-up blue eyes that were wrong. Just plain wrong. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  A quiet laugh shook her shoulders, and she jerked her chin
toward the open closet. “I see you did some investigating. Have fun with that?”

  He shook his head to clear the cobwebs. For Christ’s sake, now wasn’t the time to be busting his balls. “Stop trying to change the subject and answer my question. What could be so damned important, you’d even consider leaving this apartment?”

  She sighed. “I have to run an errand. I don’t have a choice.”

  “Fine, then I’m coming with you.” No way in hell she was walking out that door without him. For all they knew, the psychopath who’d attacked her could be waiting for this exact chance to nab her off the street.

  “I can’t let you come with me.” She dropped her focus to her lap and fingered the strap of her big, floppy bag. “Under any other circumstance, I would agree with you, but I just can’t, okay? I made a promise.”

  A promise to who? She’d hadn’t talked to anyone but him since last night. Or had she? He tightened his grip on her arms. “This is about that phone call, isn’t it? The one you were waiting for? Who are you going to see, Eden? Who?”

  “Kelly…” she breathed, but she didn’t look him in the face. “I’m going to see someone I’m positive will be able to hide me someplace safe.”

  Hide her someplace safe? Wrong answer.

  That was his responsibility. She was his responsibility. Didn’t she get that?

  “Oh, my God.” He released her and raked both hands through his hair. So much for trusting him. So much for having faith he could do his damn job. What for? Only so she could reel him in and leave him hanging out to dry? This entire time, she’d been gearing up to pull the ol’ bait and switch.

  “You’re planning to disappear again, aren’t you?” For good. And where would that leave his investigation? Dead in the water, that’s where. Exactly like Ruby. “You’re getting ready to pull a vanishing act.”

  “No, I…” She put her hand on his chest and patted like she was hoping to reassure him. It didn’t work.

  “I’ll call you.” She nodded. “I swear, the second I can, I’ll call you and let you know where I am.”

  “You’ll call me?” A sarcastic laugh caught in his throat. A fat lot of good that promise would do if she was already lying dead in some alley. “You can save yourself the dime because you’re not going anywhere.”

  He reached up and slipped the wig off her head, and she rolled her eyes as he tossed it to the bed.

  “That’s not going to stop me.” She combed her fingers though the fake strands spilling across the blankets. “I’ll just put it back on.”

  “The hell you will.” Thrusting his hand through the soft pile of coils she’d pinned to her head, he tugged and loosened each one until her hair bounced free and loose around her shoulders. Exactly like it should.

  “Now take out those contacts.” He held the side of her neck. “You shouldn’t be changing your eye color. It’s perfect the way it is.” Dropping his focus to her lips, he gritted his teeth. “And get rid of the red lipstick. Jesus, woman, don’t you have any idea what that color on your mouth does to a man’s libido?”

  He swept her lips with his thumb to remove some of the color. They parted, and he swept them again. God, that skin was soft. Tempting and moist, just like he’d imagined.

  Her sharp teeth nipped the calloused tip of his finger, and he snapped his attention back to her eyes. The way her pupils had dilated, every cell in his body chanted at him to replace his thumb with his tongue.

  “And the dress?” Her brow lifted as she leaned in. “What am I supposed to do with that, Detective?”

  A visual of her in nothing but that white lace thong screamed into his head and his cock jerked. He squinted. What was this? Another test? A way of teasing him so she could push the envelope like he had when they’d been outside the kitchen?

  Oh-h-h, the woman was messing with fire.

  “Lose the dress.” He tugged her closer, angling her head. She wanted to know where his needle spiked on the whole sexual attraction Richter scale? Fine by him. He’d kiss her, all right. Just this once. To prove a point and make damn sure she had zero doubts left in her head. “Take it off and burn the damn thing for all I care.”

  He ate up the remaining distance and brushed a kiss over her lips, swept back the other direction and dipped his tongue inside. Arousal slammed into his gut as he sampled her taste.

  Shit, maybe this had been a bad idea. Her flavor was an exact replica of everything she embodied—cool as midnight, mysterious and completely addictive. Another lick of her luscious mouth, and a hungry groan vibrated his throat as she tangled her tongue with his.

  Christ, he should stop. Right now. Couldn’t stop as she became pliant in his hands. Eager. He angled her head the other direction and she fisted his undershirt, tugging the bottom edge from his jeans. Her sigh warmed his cheek, and any lines drawn in the sand, any shit from the past faded as she nibbled the corner of his lips, opened for him the second he thrust his tongue inside her mouth.

  Dammit, the woman made him crazy. His balls grew hot, heavy. This was wrong…and right, so fucking right. She tipped her head back and forth in time with his, moaning as he sucked her bottom lip. His cock pulsed and the crotch of his jeans grew tight. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he yanked her onto his lap.

  He wanted her ass centered on top of him. So she’d feel what she’d done to him, would understand how close he was to making good on his threat she lose that damn dress.

  A shudder wound down her spine, and she sprang away from him, gripping his shoulders. God, the heavy-lidded lust on her face had him so hard, he nearly popped the fly on his jeans. He leaned in for another taste, but she straight-armed him back, maintaining the distance.

  “I have to go.” She slid off his lap, averting her gaze.

  “Eden, no.” Shit, he never should’ve kissed her. The blatant breach in protocol made it a moronic move and, not only that, he’d trampled straight through her personal boundaries.

  Fine. He got that. But, Goddamn it, how was he supposed to resist? Besides, he wouldn’t take it back even if he could. Not after the way she’d melted against him.

  He reached for her, but she jerked her arm away, snagged his wrist and cranked it behind his head. “Whoa, whoa, relax.”

  What was up with her going Taekwondo on his ass? For God’s sake, it wasn’t like he’d ever get it in his head to hurt her.

  “Don’t take this personally.” Metal cooled his skin and a familiar click reached his ears as she snapped a set of cuffs in place. Wait, what was she doing? He tugged his arm. Tugged a second time, and his gut bottomed out as the cuffs clanged and rattled against the top railing of the brass headboard. Oh, no. Oh fuck, no.

  “I only need a couple minutes’ head start.”

  “Dammit, Eden, let me out of these.” A frustrated growl grew behind his teeth. The edge of the cuffs dug into his skin as he tried to work his hand free. She’d played him. She’d set up the cuffs while he’d been sleeping and then completely knocked him off his game with that kiss. “You crazy woman, you’re gonna get yourself killed!”

  “Keep your phone close.” Snatching her dark sunglasses off the bed, she spun and headed for the door, turned in the threshold and tossed a small key in his direction. It landed near his leg and disappeared under his thigh. “For what it’s worth, you just knocked the title of Best First Kiss out of the park.”

  Son of a bitch! Her heels faded down the hall as he fumbled around, cramming his hand between his ass and the mattress, the bed bouncing as he twisted his hips back and forth.

  He snatched the key from a crease in the blankets, jammed it into the lock and retracted the cuffs. Shoving his entire weight toward the end of the bed, he rammed his feet into his boots and took off after her, heels clomping and laces flapping as he hop-skipped down the hall.

  One more con from her, and he was gonna lose his shit. The apartment door hung open, and he snagged the handle, slamming it behind him. His hand to God, her c
onstant antics were going to bust every artery in his head.

  The closing thud of the building’s front door echoed up the stairwell, and he sprang for the steps, thighs pumping, fingers gripping the banister as he rounded each landing.

  He’d been an idiot to let down his guard around her. From the second they’d met, he’d known Eden Smith was every bit as devious as she was beautiful. But she had another thing coming if she believed ditching him would be easy, especially in those ankle twisters she had on her feet.

  He’d been around the block a time or two. Chasing suspects was a routine part of any investigation, and he’d clocked enough hours at the gym to keep himself in tip-top shape.

  Racing from the courtyard, he glanced left then right and caught sight of her near the end of the block, her cell phone pressed to her ear. He sprinted down the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians, rounded the corner and held up his hand against the gridlocked vehicles as he tracked her across the street.

  The bustling congestion of Chicago’s mid-morning foot traffic offered her a fair amount of cover, but at least the drizzle had slacked off enough no one carried open umbrellas. He had a clear shot ahead and the bounce of her auburn coils was like a shiny beacon against the dull, October sky.

  She glanced over her shoulder, those huge round sunglasses propped on her nose, and plowed through a line of folks waiting to board a Transit Authority bus.

  That’s right, sweetheart. He jogged the block to catch up. She’d better run. Once he got close he was liable to smack her sweet ass before locking her in his own damn cuffs.

  Ignoring the light at the crosswalk, he dove straight into oncoming traffic. Horns blared and tires screeched. A couple cabbies flipped him the bird. Shit, Archer was gonna read him the riot act. Kelly grabbed an elderly woman’s upper arms and muttered an apology as he lifted her out of his path. Being outsmarted by a witness. Stepping outside his role as lead detective after he’d given his word he’d never do something so stupid again.