Joanne Rock - In Hot Pursuit

She’d been wrong.

Nothing about Josh’s provocative proposal soothed her. She’d never been more on edge, more restless, in her life.

He backed up an inch as if to gauge her reaction. His gray eyes locked on her, his face lit by a blue strobe light from the dance floor.

“I can’t leave now.” Oh, how she wanted to. She’d never been propositioned with anything remotely close to this. If she didn’t have any personal magnetism, this man was doing a damn good job of making her feel like she did. An electric charge zinged between them—major sexual attraction.

“Why not?”

She struggled to remember why not. “I have a commitment to the Shelter the Homeless organization.” If she didn’t do her job to raise money for them, who would? The rest of the partygoers seemed too busy gossiping about her to be of any help.

He peered back at her, silently informing her that her answer hadn’t told him what he wanted to know.

Nervousness seized her. She rocked back and forth on her heels to burn off the excess energy pinging through her body. “In fact, I’ve left the jail cell empty for far too long. If I don’t start filling it with prisoners, we’ll never raise enough money for the homeless.”

When he didn’t move, she tugged lightly on his handcuffs. “So, would you mind?”

His jaw flexed and tightened.

Lexi suspected major teeth clenching took place to warrant such intricate muscle play. Even the diamond stud in his ear shifted in response.

She wondered what it would be like to smooth her fingers over the jaw, trail her tongue over the fiery white diamond.

“No.” His terse answer called her from her fantasies.

Irritation replaced a small fraction of the lust frazzling her nerves. “What do you mean, no? You bought a ticket to this event, mister, you can damn well participate in the charitable aspect of the party.”

Was Detective Winger one of those guys who never opened his wallet for anything but his own entertainment?

“That’s not it. I—”

Before he had a chance to finish his thought, a clipboard nudged between them, followed by a polo shirt decorated with a charity name tag. Event organizer Wendy Garret grinned up at Josh, eyes filled with feminine admiration, and inserted herself in their conversation. A thirty-something political activist with long ties to tonight’s charity, Wendy had begged Lexi to champion the event in her column.

“I see you’ve found your next jailbird, Lex. Good work.” The event coordinator’s eyes never left Josh.

Lexi managed a smile, struggling to shake off the peculiar feelings Josh had inspired. “Yes, I was just going to lock him up.”

Wendy handed Lexi an extra set of cuffs. “Give him to me, and you go find our next victim. We need to turn things over a little faster tonight if we want to meet our goals.”

Josh glared at them both. “Look, I’m no celebrity. No one is going to pay ransom for a guy like me.”

Lexi clicked off her end of Josh’s cuffs and handed them to Wendy. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be that simple to oust Josh from her thoughts, however. She’d be thinking about his offer for a long time to come.

“You sorely underestimate yourself,” Lexi muttered under her breath. Already, she was debating springing him from that cell herself so they could go back to the fascinating conversation they’d been having about the merits of being locked together.

In those moments with Josh, it hadn’t mattered what the rest of the world thought about her. She’d only been able to think about him.

Wendy was already steering Josh toward the stage, a pink blush on her scrubbed cheeks. “Celebrity status doesn’t matter. The women bid like crazy on the men. They’re much more competitive about this. It’s great for us.”

Lexi watched them go, telling herself she would not sympathize with a man who wouldn’t play his role to help charity. Still, she lingered there, staring at Josh’s squared shoulders as he stalked toward the jail cell.

Who was she kidding? She’d gladly chain herself to Josh Winger, Scrooge or not.

He’d made it clear he wanted her, something no other man had ever managed to articulate. Sure, she could tick off a couple of one-night stands she’d indulged in, just to experience sex for herself. But she’d been the aggressor then, and she’d run like an Olympic sprinter the morning after, to be sure those men never saw her again.

This man wanted her.

Too bad she’d only had to handcuff him to secure the admission.

Ignoring the ego-deflating realization, Lexi now found it easy to shut out the gossip-filled club.

She knew her sexy quarry would be long gone by the time she finished her stint as jailer tonight, and oddly, that knowledge stung more than the shredding of her reputation.

IMPRISONED by a five-foot dominatrix—a hell of a way to start undercover police work.

Of course, this job was no longer undercover. All of New York’s fashion bigwigs would know him on sight after tonight.

Josh gnashed his teeth a few more times for good measure, knowing he’d blow a gasket if he didn’t get out of the jail cell soon. Who would have thought he’d be staring out from the wrong side of prison bars tonight?

No doubt it would probably help his chances of escape if he smiled at some of the coiffed and manicured socialites who peered into his cage, but he was too angry with himself to work up the energy.

He should have just told Lexi Mansfield he wished to remain anonymous, instead of whispering seductive suggestions in her ear to distract her from her purpose. He’d been the one who ended up preoccupied, while she had remained committed to her charitable cause. What had he been thinking of, to proposition her when he had work to do?

Josh wasn’t the type of guy who allowed himself to get distracted. The one time he’d lost focus on a job had resulted in a death he’d regret the rest of his days and a scandal that rocked the city. Josh knew better now.

He ran his life with rigid control. He made choices with careful deliberation. And he sure as hell didn’t spend his Saturday nights behind bars.

Damn.

Glaring out into the crowd, he searched for Lexi. She’d already brought four other “prisoners” to jail, all of whom had been released. Josh had inadvertently scared off all the women who’d been interested in ransoming him, probably because he’d been snarling in his frustration at blowing his objectives tonight.

The only person who didn’t seem intimidated by his scowl was Lexi. The feisty jail keeper made sure to send him a wink every time she delivered a new hostage to captivity, unruffled by Josh’s surly mien.

He caught sight of her sashaying his way again, this time with a guy big enough to be a linebacker in tow. The strobe lights flashed over the silver handcuffs between them, a winking reminder that Lexi had probably flirted her way into bondage with half the men in the bar tonight.

The thought made him gnash his teeth all over again. Why should he give a rip that Lexi liked playing love-slave games?

She reached the cell door and inserted an oversize key into the padlock. “Still here, Detective?” she called, quirking a brow in his direction. “You could have raised a small fortune for us with that sexy bod of yours if you hadn’t glowered at every woman who dared to look at you,” she chided. “Want me to send you over another whiskey to help loosen you up?”

She waved her new prisoner into the cell and removed the guy’s cuffs.

Josh fought the urge to throttle the big lug. Why did he have to stand half an inch from Lexi? “The whiskey isn’t what I need.”

The linebacker folded his arms over his chest and frowned down at their jailer. “I thought you told me you didn’t talk to the captives, Lex. How come you talk to this guy?”