Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)
“You look like a disciple of Bacchus. You aren’t actually as civilized as you’ve been pretending to be, are you?”
“If by that you’re asking if I cook four-course dinners every night, the answer is no. I’ve been trying to impress you. Have I?”
She wasn’t going to answer that. “So what’s the plan?”
“I had one all worked out, but you changed it today when you refused to stay home. I think it’s your turn to come up with a plan.”
“Okay,” Sara said. “First, we have to decide what you and I are to each other.”
“That sounds good. So what are we?”
“Friends,” she said quickly. “That’s all we can be, since I’m about to be married. You are going to release my fiancé for our wedding, aren’t you?”
“Unless your mother finds out where he is and won’t let us.” He looked at her. “Has your mother hated all your boyfriends?”
“There’s only been one other boyfriend, and no, she didn’t hate him. She’s saved all her anger for Greg. Could we please get back on the subject?”
“Sure. You’re going to marry a man the town hates and live here in the middle of all that animosity.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “If you want my help, you have to be nice about Greg.”
“That should be easy, since I’ve never met him. You think I’d like him?”
“I have no idea, since I know little about you that’s truthful. I think maybe you’ve lied to me about everything.”
“Haz—”
“Don’t say it again! Hazards of the job, ha! Could you please stay on the subject?”
“I thought Greg was the subject.” When she glared at him, he put his hand up. “All right. We’ll tell the town you and I are friends. Will that make you relax around me and stop treating me like your enemy?”
“Maybe.”
Mike put the grapes down. “I guess the idea of there being anything between you and me is out of the question.”
“Completely.”
“Are you sure?”
Sara refused to look at him. “If you’re going to try using that voice on me, then you’ll have to leave my apartment. I’m not going to stay with you—or help you—if you try to … to proposition me.”
“All right,” Mike said and moved onto his back. “We’ll be the best of friends. Chums. Roommates.”
“Like brother and sister. Like you and Tess.”
“No. Not like Tess and me. We are brother and sister.”
“What does that mean?”
“She runs around in her underwear. She has me adjust her, you know, straps. I couldn’t do that with you because you’re the prettiest, most desirable woman I’ve seen in years. Sara, I’ve been working undercover almost since I joined the force, and that means that the women I’ve been around are usually on some drug. Most of them are married, and when it comes to clothes they think that less is more. Except for jewelry and makeup, then more is better. But you …”
He turned to look at her. “You’re like no other woman I’ve ever seen in my life. You look like you just stepped out of a spring breeze. I find that your clothes that cover up nearly all of you are about as sexy as anything I’ve ever seen in my life. The way you move, the way you talk, I like all of it. I promise that I will do my best to keep my hands off of you, but it’s not going to be easy. Are there any more of those little sandwiches left?”
Sara sat there blinking at him. “Well, uh …”
“Sandwiches?”
“In the basket,” she finally managed to murmur. “I didn’t know you felt that way about me.”