Under the Boardwalk (Costas Sisters 1)

A smile quirked his lips. “Now, that’s an invitation I can’t refuse.”

“I don’t expect you to.” She laughed, a sultry, sensual Come here he couldn’t possibly mistake.

“Your phone was ringing,” he forced himself to tell her.

“Did you check the number?”

“Your mother. Do you want to call back?” He palmed the cool metal in his hand.

“Come here, Quinn. And leave the phone.”

He placed the cell in her bag. “What’s going on?”

“I want to see your eyes,” she said softly.

Curious, he walked to the edge of the bed and met her gaze.

“The only reason I’d call my mother back now was if it was an emergency.” Her compelling, serious gaze stared into his.

“It’s the middle of the night. Doesn’t it stand to reason any call would be important?” he asked.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You know my mother by now. She’d call at this hour just to ask me to say good night to the monkey,” Ari said wryly. “So I’m asking you, is it important?”

In other words, were her parents calling about Zoe? Quinn could all but read her mind. All the while her steady gaze never left his. She obviously trusted his word that much. Trusted him.

He swallowed hard. “It’s not an emergency.”

She smiled, patting the mattress beside her. “Then come back to bed.”

Though her question should have overloaded his sense of responsibility, instead her blind faith freed him to be with her right now. He strode around to his side of the large bed with every intention of making it feel a lot smaller. After all, Ari knew he had secrets that affected her and she accepted him anyway. Maybe a better man would deny himself this opportunity, but hell, when had Quinn ever considered himself a candidate for sainthood?

He lifted the covers and climbed back in beside her only to discover she’d already slipped out of her skirt. Wearing a tight “Damon’s” top and skimpy panties, she curved one finger his way, silently asking him to close the gap between them.

He moved from his now cold side of the bed to her much warmer one. His entire body was on fire, burning with his wanting her for so long. “Be sure,” he warned. “Because once I touch you, there’s no turning back.”

Her green-eyed gaze met his. “How’s this for sure?” Taking him by surprise, she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, revealing a black lace bra and creamy mounds of flesh.

He exhaled a sharp breath, taking in her softly rounded cleavage and erect nipples waiting for his hands, his fingertips, his mouth. “You do realize that your quiet-professor image doesn’t suit you?” Maybe because he saw the woman inside. One who was willing to take risks for her twin and slowly grow more emboldened by her actions. He couldn’t put Ariana into the conservative mold in which she painted herself.

“I think it depends on your perspective,” she murmured.

Her answer took him off guard. It damn well figured that when he finally had her just where he wanted her, half dressed in his bed, they were getting to some serious conversation he couldn’t let slide.

He tipped his head to one side. “Are you saying I see a side of you others don’t?”

“Right now you do.” A naughty smile tilted her lips.

Unwilling to end their talk but unable to not touch her, he drew a finger down one side of her face. “I’ve come to know you pretty well.”

“You think so?”

He nodded. “Yeah. And I’d say the professor’s clothes and her uptight demeanor are a cover.”

“I thought I was the psych major,” she reminded him in a teasing tone.

But he didn’t miss the fact that her voice quivered beneath the lighthearted banter. Yet another signal he’d struck home and she was afraid. Afraid of him getting too close. “You might be the smarty-pants psych professor, but I’m the—”

Quinn bit the inside of his cheek, catching himself in time. “I’m the people-watcher around here. I can recognize a con and a cover in no time.” He’d been about to say that he was the cop, good at reading people with something to hide. He couldn’t allow himself to slip again.

It looked like they both had good reason to fear each other. Being with Ari allowed him to let his guard down in a way he never had before. This was dangerous stuff and they were both walking a fine line here. He sensed the precipice they were on, their abilities to reach inside each other—and that was something he couldn’t allow. Not while he was still undercover.

Instead of trying to figure her out, he ought to just take what she offered and be satisfied. Since when wasn’t a woman’s offer of her body enough for him?

Since the woman was Ari.

“Don’t you think we’ve done enough analyzing for one night?” she asked.