Please let it be me.
“I’m not sure. The bakery’s closed today, but I could go in and do some paperwork.”
“Do you want to?”
She sighed. “Not really. There’s always paperwork to do.”
“Tell you what...Let’s stop by the station and take care of your tire, then we can figure out the rest of the day.”
Somehow, it was possible to hear her smile through the phone. “Deal. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
Technically, he made it in fifteen. He called Vivian and waited for her to come down to the parking lot. She was wearing some kind of sweater dress that hugged her curves in all the right places and a bright silk scarf that set off the darkness of her hair.
Unbidden, a vision of her spread across his bed, scarf tied around her hands, seared through him. He groaned and clamped his hands on the steering wheel, ordering himself to get his raging libido under control.
She slid into car with a murmured greeting and a flash of pale thigh. She pushed a fallen lock of hair back behind her shoulder and turned to reach for her seatbelt. When she turned back, he gave in to the stupid urge and clasped her chin in his fingers, freezing her in place.
She met his kiss with a surprise that quickly burned into equal fervor. She tasted of sugar and cream and coffee and he wondered if her skin tasted sweeter. He placed a hand on her knee, sliding it slowly up her thigh, reveling in the smoothness of her skin. The woven strands of her dress were soft against the top of his hand and she made a strangled noise when his fingertips brushed against the curve of her hip, tracing the scalloped lace edge of her panties.
She deepened the kiss, her tongue caressing his, her hands clutching and releasing his forearms as he followed the silken fabric down. Her trembling legs eased open, making room for his hand and he gently stroked the fabric, amazed at the heat of her responsiveness. She moaned when he teased his finger along the final barrier between them. It wouldn’t be difficult to push her panties to the side and slide his fingers over her slick, swollen flesh—
The ring of her cell phone broke through their haze. Her cheeks red, lipstick smudged, Vivian fumbled for her purse, digging out her cell phone. Zeke knew he should pull back, remove his hand, but her dishevelment tugged at something deep in his gut. He had done that to her, gotten her that hot and bothered.
She answered with shaky hand. “Hello? Detective, hi.”
He finally withdrew, forcing himself to place his hands on the steering wheel once again. The conversation’s one-sidedness limited his understanding, even though he attempted to listen in.
“We’re actually heading down there right now...Yes, he’s with me.” She glanced over at him. Her eyes darkened and her tongue darted out, licking her lips unconsciously. “Oh, believe me, detective, I plan on keeping him near me as much as possible.”
Near. On top of. Under. Whatever.
She finished up the call and returned the phone to her purse, still watching him. “Detective Mancini wanted to talk with you at the station.”
“I’m sure she did.”
Neither moved.
“She’s under the impression that you’re a good person for me to keep around.”
Zeke’s lips twitched. “She’s a smart woman.”
Vivian took in a shaky breath and reached, without looking, for her seatbelt. Once it was clicked in, she said, “I liked that.”
When he didn’t say anything, she continued in a rush, “What we were just doing. I liked that. I...I don’t do things like this, but with you...I want to do...”
He turned on the car. “Anything you want, Viv.”
Her look was pure doubt. He placed his hand on her thigh, making sure she held his eyes as his fingers crept higher, a teasing reminder of where they’d just been. He said again, lower, “Anything. I think it’s high time we move past eye-fucking each other across the street.”
Her soft noise socked him in the gut.
He straightened. “But not now. No matter how badly I want to take you back into your apartment and bend you over the back of your couch, we’ve got other shit to take care of. Station first. Then car. And then...” He trailed off, cock straining at his fly from the answering heat in her eyes. “Then we have all day and night.”
Chapter 5
The station wasn’t too busy when they finally made it there. She fixed her lipstick in the car, while Zeke waited patiently. He even held her hand when they crossed the parking lot. The officer at the front desk called Mancini when they arrived, buzzing them back a few minutes later.