“Don’t be coy. You know you set hearts aflutter and jump-start hormones.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re generous and thoughtful in bed, never taking more than you give in return. In short, all the things I desire in a man.”
He placed his hand over his heart. “It would take much longer for me to enumerate all the qualities that I admire in you.”
“I’m not fishing for compliments. I’ll leave that kind of feminine wiliness to the Davee Pettijohns of the world.”
He chuckled.
“What I am leading to is…” She drew in a deep breath. “I don’t suppose you’d consider carrying on as we have been until—”
He stopped her with a firm shake of his head. “That wouldn’t be good, or fair, for either of us.”
“There’s no option B?”
“I think a clean break would be best, don’t you?”
She smiled sourly. “It’s a little late to be soliciting my opinion, Hammond. But yes, I suppose if that’s the way you feel, I don’t want you sleeping with me out of pity.”
He gave a full-blown laugh then. “The very last thing you are is an object of pity.”
Placated, she said, “You’ll miss me, you know.”
“Very much.”
Curling the tip of her tongue up to the center of her upper lip, she opened her blouse. It didn’t surprise him that her nipples were tight and dark with arousal. Steffi’s biggest turn-on was an argument. Nothing stimulated her better than a shouting match. Typically their rowdiest sex had followed a confrontation of one sort or another. He realized now that she had guaranteed herself an ultimate win for every dispute. His climax had always been her victory. That, if nothing else, validated his decision.
She flashed him a mischievous grin. “One last time? For old times’ sake? Or are you too high-minded and principled to fuck a woman you’ve just dumped?”
“Not exactly a romantic lead-in, Steffi.”
“So now you want melodrama and romance? What’s got into you, Hammond?”
He was tempted to take her up on her offer, not because he had any desire for her, but because sleeping with her might help blur the clear and sweetly painful memory of last night. To have another woman now might ease the weighty sense of loss.
While still considering it, his telephone rang.
Steffi laughed without humor as she closed her blouse and rebuttoned it. “You lucky bastard. Fortune just continues to smile on you, Hammond. You’ve been saved by the bell.” She turned on her heel and went into the living room to retrieve her things.
Hammond reached for the telephone. “Hello?”
“It’s Monroe.”
Not that County Solicitor Monroe Mason needed to identify himself. He knew only one pitch of voice, and that was booming. The man’s vocal cords seemed to have come equipped with a built-in megaphone. Hammond immediately adjusted the volume on the telephone receiver.
“Hey, Monroe, what gives? I spend one night away from Charleston and all hell breaks loose.”
“So you’ve heard?”
“Steffi told me.”
“I understand she’s already in the thick of it.”
Hammond glanced into the living room, where Steffi was stepping into her shoes and tucking in her blouse. Hammond put his back to the door and lowered his voice. “She seems to think she’s got the case.”
“Do you want her to have it?”