Take My Breath Away…

She wasn’t tall, but what there was of her was mostly legs. He’d explored the length of them, experienced the strength of them wrapped around him. Even thinly disguised in borrowed high tops, her ankles were narrow, her calves and thighs shapely and slender. Watching them, watching her stride toward him quickly, purposefully, triggered something inside of him that was more than lust, more than heat. He felt both of those, but he also simply liked the look of her. And he liked seeing her here on his basketball court. Somehow she looked right.“Ready?” she asked.

His lips twitched. It was the same thing he’d asked her on that first day. “For what?”

“This.” She held up the ball and he braced to receive it. Then quick as a snake, she darted around him and sent the ball sailing. It tapped the backboard lightly and fell through the hoop.

“Good job,” he said as he caught the ball on the rebound. He pivoted and streaked for the other end of the court.

She kept up with him, and when he was close enough to try the shot, she dodged in front of him and stole the ball. By the time he turned, she’d raced away. Because she’d surprised him, delighted him, she had time to pause at the three-point line and sent the ball whispering through the hoop.

He ran right past her, snagged the ball as it fell, and ran with it. She was on him like glue. He sank his shot this time, but it was no easy thing.

She took the rebound and when he tried to block her, she turned into him and rammed her shoulder into his chest before running away.

“Foul,” he called after her.

“I didn’t hear a whistle.” She executed another perfect layup.

He couldn’t prevent the laugh, nor the admiration for her skill. Her guts. But he did play harder then. Sure he may have held back a little. And he may have let her get away with a couple of things that he definitely wouldn’t have tolerated from his friends Nash or Jonah. But she could feint and fake as well as they could. Still, he was bigger, and he didn’t want to send her crashing to the floor.

But overall, they were well matched, and she was a hell of a lot better at the game than she’d been when she was ten.

She was sneakier, too. Once, when he threw out an arm to block her, she ducked right beneath it and streaked away. Another time, he’d barely caught a rebound when she’d run in, leapt up and twitched it away with her fingertips.

She might have to take two steps to his one, but every-time he turned, she was there. And he wasn’t the teacher anymore. Envy had streamed through him when he’d seen her take an over-the-shoulder hook shot.

Gabe lost track of time and eventually of everything but Nicola and the game. They were both panting when they finally stopped at midcourt to catch their breath. Air burned his lungs. And she still had the ball. He could tell by the look in her eyes that if he made a move, she’d be off like a shot. What a woman.

“I think…you won,” he managed to say.

“I definitely…won.” She straightened, drew in another breath. “But if there’s…a question…” She turned, took one dribble, then sent the ball sailing. He watched it travel in a wide arc and then whoosh through the net.

“You’re amazing. I’d like to think that I taught you everything you know.”

She laughed then. Her face was flushed. Her hair, damp from sweat, had begun to curl. Hunger for her exploded inside of him. Though it had been thrumming through his system from the moment he’d stepped into her office earlier, it had never swamped him so quickly, so thoroughly before.

He moved in quickly, lifting her so that he could swing her around. By the time he’d turned in a full circle, she’d wrapped her arms and legs around him, and he felt every curve of her body mold perfectly with his. Their faces were aligned, their mouths a breath apart.

“I think this has to be a foul,” she said.

“Thank God, there’s no ref around.”

He threaded his fingers into her hair and took her mouth with his.

11

GABE THOUGHT HE’D BE READY for her taste. But the moment her flavors exploded on his tongue, the blood drained out of his head so fast that he had to shift his feet to maintain his balance. Then he tore his mouth from hers and feasted on the skin at her throat. So smooth and salty with a lingering undertone of the soap she’d used. His hunger for her only grew.

The hitch of her breath, the sharpness of her nails—each sensation ignited a new craving. The voraciousness of his appetite stunned him. So did the very real fear that he might never get enough of her. That strong, slender body pressed against his felt so right. So necessary.All he could think was more. More. He had to touch her. He ran one hand down her back and pressed her even closer. The heat they created exploded through him and nearly had him dropping to his knees.

Only then did he find the strength to pull back. She was still wrapped around him tight.

“I have a perfectly good bed upstairs.” And hadn’t he planned on using it? Hadn’t he fantasized for nearly three months about using it?

Those glinting brown eyes met his. “I can’t wait another second.”

Neither could he. Yanking down her jersey, he fastened his mouth on her breast.

With an abandonment she’d never experienced before, Nicola arched against him, digging her fingers into his shoulders and calling out his name. She couldn’t think. She didn’t want to. All she wanted was to feel. She’d never wanted like this. Never needed like this.

Then they were on the floor, groping, grappling, fighting with clothes until they were naked. Fast and greedy, as if she were afraid that he might escape, she ran her hands over him, searching, seeking. And wherever he touched, her body burned with flames he not only set but stoked.

And none of it was enough. She had to have more. As if he’d read her mind, he used his mouth on her. Ravaging her breasts with teeth and tongue, then making a fast, torturous journey down her torso. She barely had time to absorb one sensation before another battered her system.

When he scraped his teeth against her inner thigh, she arched high. There was a tremendous ache building. And when his tongue pierced her center, so did a lance of pleasure so sharp, so consuming, that she lost her breath and some of her mind. As she spiraled slowly down from the peak, she was sure there couldn’t be any more. But he showed her there was, building the pleasure again, pushing her higher and higher until a second climax dragged her over the edge.

Her breath was sobbing and he couldn’t seem to catch his at all as he moved up her again. He could feel her trembling beneath him, but he saw only her eyes—just the dark glint of them watching him as he rose over her. Nothing else.

He wanted nothing else. Here was everything. The thought pierced him as deeply as the pleasure when he thrust into her. She closed tight around him and for a moment neither of them moved. Sunlight streamed through the windows and dust motes danced. If he could have, he would have stopped time. More than anything, he wanted to hold her right here forever. When they began to move, it was together—rising, falling, sighing. Their breath mixed, tempting his mouth to take hers again and again as the tempo increased.

They made love then just as furiously as they had while playing basketball. Faster and faster until he felt himself surrender and slip over the edge. With his face buried in her hair, he let himself fall.

NICOLA DIDN’T WANT TO MOVE. And that didn’t make any sense. They were lying on the hard wood of a gym floor, sweaty from sex and their game, and she’d never felt more comfortable.

But it was time to get back to finding the thieves, and it was high time that she became better at juggling their priorities. She drew in a deep breath, and when she smelled nothing but him, her thoughts very nearly scattered again.Focus, Nicola.

She tried to move, but Gabe forestalled her by shifting so that they were facing each other, their bodies still tangled.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes, but I think that you definitely won the second round.”

“It was my pleasure.” He wound a strand of her hair around his finger. “I’ve always liked this room, but I’m never going to think of it in quite the same way.”

Her lips twitched. “I may never think of basketball quite the same way. My games don’t usually end with wild sex on the floor. But it was fabulous.”

He laughed, then gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “Agreed.”

It took some effort, but she managed to sit up. Their scattered clothes looked like the aftermath of a war. “Well, I’d say we were very successful in shifting our focus away from the robberies. The question is, did it work?”

Neither said a word as they gathered their clothes. Nicola reviewed a mental list of everything they’d talked about while they were looking at Gabe’s whiteboard.

“Sometimes the flash of insight doesn’t come to me right away. It could come while we shower,” Gabe said.

“Separate showers,” Nicola said in a firm tone as she moved toward the locker rooms. “The scan may have produced some results. And I want to check out the Cézanne.”

“Why?” Gabe asked.

She glanced back over her shoulder. “Because if our theory is right and the other robberies are a prelude to tomorrow night, I want to know everything about that painting.”