Hot Item (Hot Zone 3)

He grinned and something inside her righted itself again.

They were two complicated people at a complicated time in their lives. She didn’t need a man to make her life complete—she never had. But for some reason it was important that she matter to Riley.

“Ready for round two?” he asked with a seductive twinkle in his eyes.

Her body heated up all over again, but the jarring ring of the telephone interrupted her before she could reply.

She shot him a curious glance. “Nobody I know has this phone number.”

“Me neither. Elizabeth has my cell, that’s all.” He gestured to the pile of personal things on the nightstand.

She shrugged and answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Sophie? This is Amy.”

“Hi, Amy. What can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry to bother you but I need your help.”

The panic in her voice called to Sophie’s take-charge instincts and she sat up in bed. “Of course. What’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe this. I really can’t. My mother’s in jail.”

“What?” Sophie asked, stunned.

Riley nudged her arm. “What’s going on? Did Spencer surface?”

She shook her head and held up one finger, silently asking him to wait. “What do you mean Rose is in jail? Where’s Darla?”

Amy let out a groan. “Right there with her. I never made it to the party because I had an awful migraine, so I was laid up in bed. Next thing I know, the phone rings and it’s Mom asking me to bail them out.” Amy proceeded to tell Sophie the gory details of what led to the arrest.

Sophie alternated between holding in peals of laughter and exclaims of shocked disbelief. “So you’re on your way to the station?”

“Actually I can barely lift my head to drive. That’s why I’m calling. Can you please go bail them out for me?”

“Of course. Hang on while I find a pen and paper.” She wandered the room naked in search of her purse, completely aware of Riley’s intense eyes following her every movement, and even more aware of her body’s response to the man.

Finally she found what she needed and grabbed the phone once more. “Just give me the information and we’ll get on it right away.” She jotted everything down, including Amy’s phone number, and promised to call when they had the women safely on their way home.

“So what happened?” Riley asked once she’d hung up.

She realized she was about to further distance him from Spencer’s side of the family. “Are you sure you want to know?”

He shook his head. “No, but lay it on me anyway. Fully armed is fully prepared.” He folded his arms across his chest and waited.

She wondered if he realized what an impressive sight he presented—completely naked, muscled, tanned and so sexy he took her breath away. Which, she admitted, had been the problem since the day they’d met. He flustered her to the point where she didn’t know how to handle anything around her. He took away the control that made her life comfortable and manageable. And making love with him hadn’t diluted his impact as she’d hoped. If anything, she’d only fallen harder for this frustrating, sexy, totally inappropriate man.

“Well?”

She sighed, drawn back to the present. “Apparently, after Myron—that’s the man with the toupee—jumped into the pool, Darla joined him.”

Riley raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Things got really loud and rowdy, and thanks to the noise, someone called the police. By that time, Darla was standing on the diving board ready to cannonball.” Sophie paused. She really didn’t want to continue this part of the story.

“Go on,” Riley said through clenched teeth.

Sophie closed her eyes and said, “She was naked.”