Simply Sinful (Simply 1)

SIMPLY SINFUL

He’s not the man she thought he was. But when danger lurks, he’s the man she needs.

Any rookie on the force could verify if Charmed! is a legit etiquette school for businessmen, or… something else. But coming off a wrenching drug bust, Detective Kane McDermott’s captain gave him a choice. Take the fluff case or take enforced time off.

The moment Kane meets Kayla Luck, he’s in trouble. She’s fierce, keen-eyed intelligence in a body built for sin. And when they touch, the jolt of desire reminds him it’s never wise to mix police work with pleasure.

Kayla is used to handling men who are more focused on her curves than her mind. But when her newest client arrives for lessons in foreign language and business etiquette, she’s the one who can’t tear her eyes off all those muscles wrapped in a sexy, double-breasted suit.

Dinner out leads to a hot night in bed, and Kayla falls hard and fast. Until she learns the business suit hides a badge, and she calls it quits. But Kane’s already lost his heart—and discovered she’s in danger. And if he can’t convince her she’s safe with him, he’ll lose the woman he loves.

Chapter One

Detective Kane McDermott peered through the space between the closed curtains in the brownstone’s window. He caught a brief glimpse of long, gorgeous, blond hair and a body with enough curves to make even his wary dick take notice. Despite the chill of the cold autumn day, the unexpected jolt of desire kicked in fast, warming him from within.

If he had to wine, dine, and proposition the woman inside, at least he wouldn’t be bored. But he still resented the hell out of this assignment. Coming off a tough case, his superior thought he needed a rest. Captain Reid hadn’t used the expression burned out, but Kane heard the words in his lectures anyway. Kane disagreed. On his last assignment, a drug bust had gone wrong but that didn’t mean he needed R&R. Having grown up on the Boston streets, he knew better than anyone when he was in danger of losing his edge. Now wasn’t it.

He wished to hell and back the wrong kid hadn’t been hit in the crossfire, but he had. And with his own brother’s bullet. Kane knew he wasn’t at fault but his guilt remained. So did his remorse. Though no one could have anticipated the arrival of the dealer’s little brother, Kane would live with the mother’s screams for the rest of his life. He’d refused time off—he knew it wouldn’t help him forget—so the captain figured Kane might as well pretend he’d taken leave and gave him this ridiculous assignment instead.

Any rookie could verify whether Charmed! was a legitimate etiquette school for men or a front for a prostitution ring. As far as he was concerned, any guy who needed lessons in dating was as pathetic as this assignment. What the hell kind of guy needed charm school to make headway with a woman? Especially one who looked like her.

He shook his head. What a waste. Then again, giving lessons to geeks was preferable to any other kind of service she might be performing for her paying customers. Considering she’d worked for her late aunt and uncle when they’d held the reins, she definitely knew the score. Whatever that was.

He’d pulled serious undercover work with drug dealers and pimps, yet here he was gearing up to make his awkward pitch to Charmed!’s sexy owner. He still had his doubts he could pull off the act and had a contingency plan in case he blundered. He wouldn’t know until he got inside.

He placed his hand on the doorknob. Was she or wasn’t she? It was time to find out.

* * *

Kayla Luck threw a disgusted glance at the old heater which refused to cooperate with reasoning or common sense. A bead of sweat trickled down her back and she groaned. The cleaning crew had turned up the heater up last night and the brownstone felt like a sauna. The space was quaint, with two levels that were now broiling. Kayla had finally moved the temperature dial but the stupid piece of equipment continued to pump heat.

Between the rising thermostat and the effort she’d exerted trying to fix it, she was beyond uncomfortable. Unable to handle the feeling of her layered clothing, she peeled off her jacket, leaving herself dressed in a silk cami and trousers. When that didn’t help, she pulled at the top that had adhered to her skin. Definitely not the way to begin a new class and she hoped all the men had received the cancellation notice.

Kayla had inherited the building and the business from her aunt who’d offered ballroom dancing and dating etiquette lessons. There’d been a time when those kinds of services had been in demand, but for years there had been a steady decline in customers. Though Kayla had ideas on how to modernize, her aunt had remarried last year and brought her new husband in as her partner.

Kayla had given them time to acclimate to working together, intending to approach the newlyweds with her ideas when they returned from vacation, but they’d died before she could talk to them. She swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of her beloved aunt being gone and turned her focus to something else. Something that would make her smile.

Her sister Catherine had used her share of their inheritance to attend culinary school and Kayla was thrilled she now had the money to follow her dream. Kayla had put off her own future in favor of running her aunt’s business and bringing in income. And she intended to keep the business in the black.

Men today didn’t need dating lessons, but many executives required instruction on how to conduct themselves in social settings and needed to learn foreign customs when entertaining international guests. With her language skills, she would add a modern dimension to an old-fashioned business. Ordering off foreign menus would no longer be a challenge for the American executive or traveler. And thanks to her well-targeted on-line advertising, she’d just begun getting calls from the larger downtown corporations with offices overseas.

Instead of giving class to the heathens, as her aunt had been fond of saying, Charmed! would offer a broader, more modern range of services. When Kayla had inherited the school, the irony wasn’t lost on her. The class whore with the classless mother, giving charm lessons. The memories of being bullied still hurt and gave her an even stronger incentive to upgrade and modernize Charmed! until it no longer resembled its roots.

Much as Kayla had done for herself.

She’d grown up on the poor side of an otherwise well-to-do area outside of Boston. While the other kids always seemed to sport designer labels and the latest fashions, she and her sister had worn their clothes until they were threadbare. Problem w

as, Kayla’s figure had developed early, and her clothes never fit properly. The girls treated her like an outsider, and the boys figured if she dressed in tight clothes, she’d wanted to be noticed. By the time she hit high school, there wasn’t a guy who hadn’t claimed he’d gotten lucky. She’d buried herself in her books and told no one except her sister the truth. No one else would have believed her if she had.

Despite the heat, she shivered at the painful memories, then forced them aside. Those days were behind her, and Charmed! wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t a dating school for the awkward man. Not anymore. It was a business meeting legitimate needs. She wasn’t thrilled with delaying her life, or putting off going back to school to obtain her language degrees. She’d even toyed with the idea of becoming an interpreter, but not at the expense of family. Charmed! was a family business, and something Kayla and Catherine held sacred. Antiquated or not, neither she nor her sister had been ready to part with the school. Her aunt’s sudden death two months earlier was too fresh and raw.

She grabbed for her pad and pen. The repairman still hadn’t returned her call, and she made a note to nudge him every half hour. She had a head for numbers and the ability to memorize whole passages of books at a glance, but if she didn’t record the little details, nothing got done.

Her projections indicated Charmed! would see a large profit next year, and she’d be able to stop renting the mirrored dance room out to exercise classes. She walked back to the storage room. With classes canceled, she could use the free time to begin going through her late aunt and uncle’s books.

But first she needed fresh air. She walked into the outer room, intending to open the doors and windows when the chimes signaled an unexpected visitor had entered.

She glanced up and nearly tripped midstride. She’d heard the expression sucker punched before, but Kayla thought she and her wary heart were immune. Her visitor made her rethink that notion.

From his designer dress shoes to his dark and immaculately groomed hair, the man emanated strength and power cloaked in a double-breasted suit. Her breath caught in her chest. She was grateful she had been too hot and uncomfortable to eat because her stomach churned in an unfamiliar combination of excitement, trepidation, and awe. A wave of heat settled low in her belly that had nothing to do with the broken unit in the back.