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?”
“Legally, it’s a neutral position.”
“Oh, but it’s morally damning, isn’t it?”
“Morally?” His deep brown eyes sparkled and the weight in Tessa’s belly melted all over her insides. “Oh, yeah,” he said softly. “Morally, it’s a big problem.”
Tessa made a point not to giggle like a schoolgirl, but it was a close call. No wonder Jamie didn’t want her dating Luke. They’d gone to college together, and her brother had likely seen girls drop their panties at the first hint of Luke’s smile. His features were a little harsh. His jaw a little too cruel looking, but the sparkle in his eyes transformed him into a charming rogue. Tessa was glad her tight jeans would keep her panties firmly in place … for a few hours.
She waited till she was sure her voice wouldn’t squeak before she spoke again. “So what will you do when she has the baby?”
Luke seemed to choke on his breath. “What?”
“Your partner? What will you do when she’s on maternity leave?”
“I’ll work by myself,” he said brusquely. “That’s all.”
“Is it a sensitive subject?”
“No.”
No. And that was it. Interesting. Maybe he was worried she wouldn’t come back. Or maybe he thought she shouldn’t. Either way, he changed the subject. “Any more news on your employee files?”
“Honestly, it looks pretty good. Thanks to the security systems at the human resources firm I pushed last year.”
“You sound triumphant.”
“Eric doesn’t like change,” Tessa said, glancing out the window as if lightning might strike at such an understatement.
“Interesting. That’s a classic oldest-sibling issue, I think.”
“Oh, he’s got issues,” she started, then she noticed that Luke was slowing to turn into the parking lot of one of Tessa’s favorite restaurants. The little Mexican café had a patio that was shaded by mature aspens and provided the perfect place to sip the best margaritas in town. “Good choice,” she said approvingly.
“Sounds like this was a test.”
“One of many,” she answered with a smile that was all challenge.
Luke raised an eyebrow and turned off the car. When he got out and circled around, Tessa waited. He opened her door, and when she stood, she was only inches from him.
He tipped his chin down so that their faces drew even closer. “I wasn’t sure I was your type,” he said softly, draping his arm over the open door. “I thought you’d made a mistake asking me out to dinner.”
“Oh? Have you changed your mind?”
This time, he didn’t bother to hide the way his eyes dipped down her body. “You look different tonight. Less like …”
“Your friend’s little sister?”
The sexy quirk of his mouth widened into that wicked smile. “Yeah.”
“Good. Because I already have two brothers, Luke. I don’t need another man around asking me to be a good girl.”
Luke’s eyes dilated, his lips parted, but he stepped back so quickly that her hair shifted forward in the breeze he created.
“I’m glad I don’t remember you as a kid,” he said.
“Yeah,” she said with a big smile. “Me, too.”
Oh, it was going to be fun playing this game with him. Lots of fun. And good Lord, if she didn’t need fun, who did?
APPARENTLY TESSA DONOVAN didn’t want to be a good girl. Not anymore. And not with him.
Luke couldn’t get the thought out of his head as they shared dinner and drinks and exchanged stories about their lives. Luke had been raised by a single mom in various apartments in Denver, and Tessa had grown up here in Boulder in the same big house she lived in now. He couldn’t quite imagine that kind of continuity. He’d never lived in an actual house his whole life. He and his wife had owned a condo a half mile from the beach in L.A., but he wasn’t about to bring that up.
Still, he seemed to remember that not everything had been wine and roses for the Donovan family. “Your parents passed away when you were young, right?” Another thing he couldn’t imagine.
“I was fourteen.”
“What happened?”
“They were driving in the mountains at night. There was a rock slide, and they drove head-on into a boulder. It was quick, at least.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It was a long time ago, and we had one another. That’s one reason my brothers are so protective. Eric, especially. He had to take over raising us.”
“That’s pretty amazing.” And so damn touching that it resurrected Luke’s guilt about going out with Tessa, adding another awful layer to it. She was an orphan. Great. Sure, she looked sexy as hell tonight in her heels and tight jeans and that damn shirt that flashed an intriguing amount of cleavage whenever she leaned forward. But that wasn’t the real Tessa. The real Tessa was a sweet orphan girl in a T-shirt and a ponytail who deserved to find a little stability in her life. She’d had it rough enough without a man like Luke around.
She leaned forward, and the mounds of her breasts made another brief appearance. Jesus, her skin looked soft and sweet.
“So,” she said, “you lived in Denver and then you came here for school and never left?”
Yikes. He really didn’t want to talk about his life in California. But avoiding the question would only draw more curiosity. “My first job as a police officer was in L.A.”
“Wow, was that scary?”
“Scary?”