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“Where would you like to eat?”
“Why don’t you surprise me?” she suggested as she locked the door behind her. “Take me to one of your favorites.”
She could feel him watching her, but when she turned around, she didn’t catch even a flicker of his eyes. Yeah, he was good. Some sort of cop skill, maybe.
And a gentleman. When she walked down the porch steps, Luke put his hand under her elbow, and he didn’t even accidentally brush her breast with his fingers. Still, a sizzle crept up her arm where his skin touched hers. The pads of his fingers were slightly rough and made him seem that much more intriguing.
He opened the car door and when she slipped in it smelled like leather and…perfume?
“Did you just finish another date?”
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he got into the car. “Excuse me?”
“It smells like perfume in here.”
“That’s from my partner. Maybe her soap or something.”
“Oh, your partner is a woman? The pregnant woman?”
“Yes.”
“Is that weird? Having a female partner?”
He cleared his throat. “It’s not weird, no. She brings stuff to the table that I don’t have.”
Tessa smiled. “I’d hope so.”
“I meant, you know…perspective. Questions I wouldn’t think to ask. Plus, some witnesses or victims are more comfortable dealing with her. It works great.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
Frowning as if she’d insulted him, he pulled out onto the narrow street. “I’m not sweet.”
Boys. Tessa leaned toward him and lowered her voice to a whisper. “It’s okay, Luke. Despite what you’ve heard, men can be sweet and hot at the same time.”
“I see,” he said. “Good to know.”
She couldn’t quite tell if he was blushing, but he was staring hard out the windshield, very carefully not looking at her. Tessa waved at a neighbor who jogged past and felt very glad she’d called Luke. He had a bad-boy aura she found appealing, and yet he was a polite police detective who had no problem working with women. In other words, the guy was smoking hot. She might have to break her third-base rule for him. Though it’d always been more of a gentle suggestion than a hard-and-fast rule. A girl had to keep her options open.
Luke finally spoke. “I was surprised by your call.”
Not a question, but an opening. Tessa made a sound that was equally noncommittal.
“Jamie seemed clear that you wouldn’t be interested in a guy like me.”
“Oh, I think what he was making clear was that he wouldn’t want me to show interest in a guy like you. And why is that?”
“Why is what?”
“Why did he feel compelled to warn you off, aside from you being a man? Are you dangerous?” Oooh, just saying it aloud formed a hot weight low in her belly. Clearly he was dangerous enough to turn her on and make her forget her problems.
“No. He thought I was checking you out.”
“And were you?”
Luke pulled up to a stoplight, and this time he turned the full force of his dark gaze on her. His mouth quirked up into a half smile. “I think I’d better plead the fifth.”
“Isn’t that an admission of guilt, Detective?”
