J. Robb - Betrayal in Death

"Let me see your feet," Trina demanded, rounding the desk.

Eve Dallas, who had faced death and spit in its eye, went into full retreat. "No. My feet are fine."

"Haven't used the pedia-care kit, have you?" Then Trina's eyes, with their rainbow lids and gold lashes, widened in shock. "Did you cut your hair?"

"No." Eve grabbed it with a protective hand, nearly stumbled over the chair.

"Don't you lie to me, girlfriend. You took the scissors to it, didn't you?"

"No. Not exactly. Hardly at all. I had to do it. It was getting in my eyes. I barely touched it. Damn it." She decided it was time to plant her feet. "It's my hair."

"It is not your hair, not once I've had my hands in it. Do I come down to your police station and strut around with a badge on my tit, or go out on the streets and hunt up bad guys so I can kick their ass? No! And this is what you do not do. You do not, ever in this lifetime or the next, mess with my work."

Trina heaved a breath. "Now, I'm going down and getting my kit so I can deal with the mess you've made of yourself."

"That's nice, really, but I don't have time for – " Eve winced as Trina fisted her hands on her hips. "That would be great. Thanks."

When Trina strode out, Eve stepped up to Mavis, gave her a hard look, and took her wine. She downed it, then scowled at her friend and her husband. "The first one who smirks eats this glass."

She was up by six, and dove into the shower. She intended to round up her troops by eight, report to Whitney, then contact Karen Stowe.

She intended for Yost to hear the cage door clang behind him by noon.

"You're looking pleased with yourself, Lieutenant," Roarke said as he stepped under the spray behind her.

"I will be in a few hours."

"Perhaps we can make it sooner." He moved in, slid his hands up her body, over her breasts.

"Wanna play water games, hot shot?"

"I'll spot you ten points to the goal," he offered and nipped her shoulder.

"Keep your handicap." She reached around to run a hand down his flank, then felt a hard pull in her belly as his fingers slid over and tugged her nipples. "You got that gunk on your hands?"

"Trina assures me hot water only enhances the benefits. God knows you've got it hot enough."

"And I was here first, so don't even think about changing the temp." She breathed deep, let her system relax. "I have to admit, it feels better when you put that stuff on than when she does."

"It's flavored." He turned her around, dipped his head, sucked her in. "Apricot."

"Yeah." Eve let her head fall back. "You definitely have the superior technique. Keep going."

Her blood hummed, and her mind, which had been razor-sharp on wakening, clouded. Steam billowed around them, thickening the air until her lungs clogged with it.

Then his hands were on her face, and his mouth crushed to hers.

He wanted to fill her, had to fight back the urge to take quickly and sate that need that had woken with him that morning. She was wrapped around him, her mouth open and avid. Her hips moved against his, a steady invitation.

Yes, he wanted to fill her. And instead, let her fill him.

Long, slim, sleeked with wet, she aroused him. He could live on the taste of her, the sharp heat of it. And when he used his fingertips to urge her up, to nudge her over, he swallowed that heat, and the strangled cry of pleasure that rode on it.

Every inch of her body throbbed. He could bring her that. Did bring her that, time and again. And she could feel his muscles quiver and know she brought the same to him.

Damaged, he'd said he'd been, and God knew so had she. Yet somehow they continually managed to heal each other.

There was no past when they came together.

Swamped with love, aroused beyond reason, she roped her arms around his neck. "Now, now, now!"

He drove into her, drove hard as they both seemed to need it. She cried out again, fisted her hands in the wet silk of his hair. When he lifted her hips, she hooked a leg around his waist.

And watched him. Watched him as he watched her. Tasted his breath as he tasted hers.

Slowly. Long, slow, and deep until her eyes began to swim with the pleasure of it. Endless, unspeakable pleasure that rolled inside her belly and up to the heart.

On a moan, she found his mouth with hers and poured herself into him.

And taking her, loving her, he emptied himself into her.

"Eve." It was all he said, all he thought, as he held her close under the torrent of water.

She stroked his back and hoped his heart was soothed. "Handicap, my butt."

It made him chuckle, as she'd hoped. "Next time you can spot me. Christ." He sniffed at her shoulder. "You smell fabulous."

"I ought to, with all that stuff Trina poured, rubbed, and dumped all over me last night. And a lot of help you were," she remembered, pulling back. "Where were you when she was threatening me with one of her temp tattoos?"

"Otherwise engaged. If you'd give her an hour once a month, she wouldn't be annoyed enough to ambush you." He decided it was best if he told her, rather than letting her find out on her own. "And, Eve, about the tattoo?"

"What?" She'd started out of the shower, stopped dead with a look of such horror he had to fight back a laugh. "She didn't. I'll kill her."

She raced to the mirror, and knowing Trina's favorite spot twisted around to look at her own ass. "Goddamn it! She got me. What the hell is it? A pony? Why did she paint a pony on my butt?"

"I believe, if you look closer, you'll see it's a small donkey. Or what might be referred to as a jackass."

"Oh great, oh very funny."

"I suppose we can conclude she wanted to make a point."

"I bet she didn't leave any remover around either. You tell anybody – "

"My lips are sealed. It's kind of cute, actually, the way it's kicking up its back legs."

"Shut up, Roarke. Just shut up." And to make sure of it, she slammed into the drying tube.

By nine, Eve had a tactics team placed in strategic spots on Second Avenue. They had orders to observe and report only, unless flagged. Trina's friend, who turned out to be a reasonably sensible woman, manned the main counter at the wholesale shop. Peabody, in soft clothes, replaced the scheduled clerk at another, and McNab, dressed as only he could, stood in as a customer.

Eve would have bought his cover in a heartbeat. If anyone looked less like a cop than McNab in a puce skinsuit and chartreuse knee boots, she'd like to see him.

She set up in the storeroom, watching the store on monitor with Stowe.

"Before this goes down, I want to thank you for coming through on your promise."

"Let's just get it done." Eve glanced at the long-barreled blaster holstered on Stowe's hip. "I need him alive."

"Yeah." Stowe drew the weapon, turned it to show Eve it was set on medium stun. "I thought about doing it otherwise. Thought hard about it. Imagined it." She holstered the blaster again. "But it wouldn't bring Winnie back. We'll take him breathing."

In the sales area, Peabody bore down and stepped to where McNab loitered at the end of her station. "I'm going to apologize for starting that argument yesterday. It was an inappropriate comment made at an inappropriate time."

"Yeah." He had brooded over it all night. Brooded over her. And did she have to look so pretty today? Did she have to be wearing a soft-looking dress and pink lip dye? Was she trying to kill him? "Forget it."

"If we forget it, we'll do it again. You're Feeney's man, and I'm Dallas's. That means we'll be working together a lot. Maybe we made a mistake and started doing more than working together, but there's no point in having that screw up both of us on the job."

"You figure it was a mistake. Just like that?"