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“Damn,” he muttered, claiming her mouth with shattering thoroughness. Her hips moved, and he shoved himself up to meet her. They’d started a dance that he didn’t want to stop.
Somewhere, somehow, he found the self-control to ease out of the kiss. He persuaded his hands to soothe instead of incite. He strung kisses along her jaw, down her throat. She let her head fall back as he licked the small hollow at the base, tasting her.
And then she gave a shaky laugh. He lifted his head and met her heavy-lidded eyes.
“So much for me standing firm.” Her voice was husky enough to feel like another touch on some especially sensitive part of his body. “I think my body overrode my brain.”
“It’s supposed to work that way.”
“Is it?” Her gaze became searching, her expression grave. “That’s never happened to me before.”
“Good.” Oh, hell, there was the primitive part of him. “I didn’t want to stop, you know.”
She gave a tiny wriggle that wrenched a groan from him. “I noticed.”
“Laugh, will you?” He grazed one of her breasts with his knuckles. When her back arched, he smiled, then sobered. “I don’t want you to ever regret getting naked with me. We need to wait until you’re sure you won’t.”
“Me?” She arched her eyebrows. “What about you?”
His first instinct was to deny any doubt, but that wouldn’t have been completely honest. Sex he wouldn’t regret. Hurting her he would. Beth wasn’t a woman he could take lightly. This quickly, he could imagine loving her, even thinking about making a life with her. And that scared the crap out of him.
He kissed the tip of her nose, smiling. “Until we’re both sure we won’t regret it.”
“Deal.” She sighed and climbed off his lap, leaving him aching and wishing—But she was right. It was too soon.
He patted her butt. “Walk me to the door.” At least he could sneak in another kiss before he left.
CHAPTER TEN
PARKING HIS UNMARKED police car, Tony studied the elegant stucco building in front of him. Painted a muted gold, accented with a wrought iron gate, it housed the law firm of Longley, Parsons & Schaaf. Complete with an arched opening leading into a small courtyard with a fountain, it had the look of a Spanish mission.
One of the three reserved parking spots was empty. In the other two were a Cadillac Escalade and a silver Lexus. He’d done some research before leaving the station and knew Longley drove the Escalade. Gleaming black, shiny gold trim, massive. Tony kind of doubted the attorney ever intended to haul anything in it.
With regret—yep, there was that word—Tony had instructed Beth to go ahead digging through the boxes in the backyard. He had sent an officer to help her and to be present if she found anything of interest. He’d decided he had greater priorities—and that he had to trust her.
He had also asked which of her parents’ friends had called her after hearing she’d found her mother’s body.
“Debra Abernathy, which isn’t any surprise,” she’d said promptly. “The others were Michael Longley and Tim Oberholtzer. Mr. Oberholtzer said he’d talked to Dad but hadn’t gotten a good idea of what was really happening and was worried about Dad. Mr. Longley sounded deeply concerned about how this was affecting all of us.”
Hearing her puzzlement at that, Tony moved Michael Longley to the top of his interview list. He had called the law firm the minute they opened this morning and been told that Longley would fit him in at ten o’clock.
Tony wore dress slacks and shoes and even a tie today, although given how hot the day already was, he couldn’t make himself put on the suit coat. He’d have done it for court, but not for anything less. Still, he liked to look as professional as the people he was interviewing, and he planned to tackle an attorney and a banker this morning.
A slick-looking young man in a spiffy gray-on-gray suit led him into the back, passing conference rooms and offices without names. Michael Longley’s had his in gilt letters on a frosted glass pane in the door.
The man behind the desk rose to his feet and said, “Thank you, Jeff,” in clear dismissal. Then he came around the desk—cherry wood, at a guess, and as shiny as the Escalade—and held out a hand. “Detective Navarro.”
