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“Tomorrow,” Bones said, pretending not to notice the disappointment on her face.
Oh, he’d rather not wait, either, but Cat was right. Don probably had a surveillance team setting up devices in her house right now, which meant her home was compromised for all but the most banal interactions, and Bones intended their next encounter to be anything but banal.
“Let Don cast his web,” Bones said. “It’ll lull him into thinking he’s back in control. I’ll pick you up for dinner at seven tomorrow, and you’re not going home until the next day.”
“Oh?” she said with a breathy catch to her voice.
His voice deepened. “That’s a promise, Kitten.”
She moistened her lips. He tried not to stare at how the moonlight made them appear fuller. Softer. Begging to be kissed…
“Guess I should go, then,” she said. “Before this place ends up surrounded with Black Hawk helicopters from the tracker Don doubtless put into my car while I was inside the compound.”
He probablyhaddone that, but what Don wouldn’t have done was find the tracker that Bones had previously put on it. He’d removed that before Cat had left tonight.
“Ring me if anything happens between now and tomorrow night,” Bones said, backing away from her. If he kissed her goodbye…well, then it wouldn’t be goodbye.
“I will,” she said, her gaze lingering on his face.
He had to leave. Now. Had to, had to, had to…
Before lust made him forget why, Bones walked away, her disappointed sigh chasing after him.
21
Bones felt eyes on him the moment he turned onto Cat’s street. When he pulled into her driveway, the sensation increased until it was as if ants were crawling across his skin. Cat wasn’t only being surveilled by electronic devices. Don had stationed human watchers in her neighborhood, too.
Bones didn’t care. Don didn’t know it, but Bones had him over a barrel. The package he’d been waiting for had arrived, and it contained exactly what Bones thought it would. But that was a conversation for tomorrow. Tonight was about Cat. Not Don.
Bones parked his Ducati and strode up to her doorway. Cat opened it before he could knock. She was dressed in a sleeveless, V-necked black sheath that hugged her torso before ending right above her knees. The simplicity of the garment highlighted her skin, making the creamy expanse of neck, arms, cleavage, and legs hard to look away from.
Cat gave her own admiring gaze to his fitted navy shirt and tailored black trousers before she moved onto his long, black leather coat…and gasped.
“Holy shit, is that what I think it is?”
Bones turned in a circle for effect. “Hope you like how your former Christmas present looks on me.”
Cat had never seen him wear it before. She’d had intended to give it to him on their first Christmas together. Then, Don stole her away, but before he did, Cat had told him about the coat. The last thing Bones did before leaving Ohio to chase after her was dig it out from its hiding place in her kitchen.
“Only seemed fair to retrieve my present, especially after you kept yours,” he teased with a nod toward the Volvo.
She still didn’t speak. Just stared at him while her expression changed from surprise to shame. When tears glittered in her eyes, Bones caught her to him, running his hands along her back in a soothing caress.
“Sorry, luv. Thought you’d be pleased. Never imagined that seeing this would make you sad.”
“I’m fine,” she said, sniffing before she pulled away and gave the leather coat a quick, light rub. “It just…caught me off guard, that’s all. You look great in it, though. Just the way I pictured you would, except for the hair, of course.”
Bones tugged on one of the brown curls that hung long enough to frame his face. “This is my natural color. Didn’t care about dyeing it lately, and the platinum stood out more, don’t you agree? Why, do you prefer that?”
She shrugged, recovered from her initial reaction to the coat. “I met you as a blond, so that’s stuck in my mind, but don’t worry. I won’t break out the peroxide later.”
He only laughed. “Whatever switches you on.”
Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. Bones enjoyed the sound as he leaned in closer. “Ready to go?”
She offered her hand. Bones took it and led her to the Ducati. She might despise motorcycles, but if they were going to escape Don’s surveillance after dinner, this was the best way. Well, thesecondbest way, but she’d refused to let him dole out concussions to everyone shadowing her.
Bones heard multiple twigs snapping and at least two car doors slamming as Cat put on her helmet and climbed onto the back of his bike.
