Temptation

“Brad, I need to go. I’ll call you back later.” He then hung up the phone.

Before he could open his mouth, Sheila placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “Please take me back to the hospital to get my car. There’s no way I’m going anywhere with a man who doesn’t trust me.”

Then she turned and walked out the door and slammed it shut behind her.

Sheila was halfway down the walkway, when Zeke ran behind her and grabbed her arm. “Let me go,” she said and angrily snatched it back.

“We need to talk and I prefer we don’t do it out here,” Zeke said.

She glared up at him. “And I prefer we don’t do it anywhere. I have nothing to say to you. How dare you have me investigated like I’m some sort of criminal.”

“I never said you were a criminal.”

“Then why the background check, Zeke?”

He rubbed his hands down his face. “I’m a P.I., Sheila. I investigate people. Nothing personal, but think about it. Sunnie will be in your care for two weeks. I don’t know you personally and I need to know she’s not only in a safe environment but with someone both Brad and I can trust. Would you not want me to check out the person whose care she’s been placed in?”

Sheila sighed deeply, knowing that she would. “But I’d never do anything to harm her.”

“I believe that, but I have to make sure. All I’m doing is a basic background check to make certain you don’t have any past criminal history.” After a moment he said, “Come on in, let’s talk inside.”

She thought about his request then decided it might be best if they did talk inside after all. She had a tendency to raise her voice when she was angry about something.

“Fine.” She stalked off ahead of him.

By the time Zeke followed her inside the house, she was in the middle of the living room pacing, and he could tell she was still mad. He quietly closed the door behind him and leaned against it, folding his arms across his chest, with one booted heel over the other, as he watched her. Again he was struck by just how beautiful she was.

For some reason he was more aware of it now than before. There was fire in her eyes, annoyance in her steps, and the way she was unconsciously swaying her hips was downright sensual. She had taken center stage, was holding it and he was a captive audience of one.

Then she stopped pacing and placed her hands on her hips to face him. She glared him down. The woman could not have been more than five-four at the most. Yet even with his height of six-four she was making him feel shorter. Damn. He hadn’t meant for her to overhear his conversation with Brad. Hadn’t she told him she hadn’t wanted to come in?

“You were supposed to stay outside. You said you didn’t want to come in,” he blurted out for some reason.

He watched as she stiffened her spine even more. “And that gave you the right to talk about me?”

His heart thudded deeply in his chest. The last thing he had time or the inclination to do was deal with an emotional female. “Look, Sheila, like I said before, I am a private investigator. My job is to know people and I don’t like surprises. Anyone who comes in contact with the baby for any long period of time will get checked out by me.”

He rubbed his hand down his face and released a frustrated sigh. “Look. It’s not that I was intentionally questioning your character. I was mainly assuring my client that a child that someone is claiming to be his has been placed in the best of care until the issue is resolved by way of a paternity test. There’s no reason for you to take it personally. It’s not about you. It’s about Sunnie. Had you been the president’s mother-in-law I’d still do a background check. My client is a very wealthy man and my job is to protect him at all costs, which is why I intend to find out who is behind this.”

He paused for a moment. “You do want what’s best for Sunnie, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“So do I, and so does Brad. That baby was abandoned, and the last thing I would want is for her not to have some stability in her life over the next couple of weeks. She deserves that at least. Neither of us know what will happen after that.”

His words gave Sheila pause and deflated her anger somewhat. Although she didn’t want to admit it, what he said was true. It wasn’t about her but about Sunnie. She should be everyone’s main concern. Background checks were routine and she would have expected that one be done if they’d hired a nanny for Sunnie. She didn’t know Zeke like he didn’t know her, and with that suspicious mind of his—which came with the work he did—he would want to check her out regardless of the fact that Dr. Phillips had spoken highly of her. But that didn’t mean she had to like the fact Zeke had done it.

“Fine,” she snapped. “You’ve done your job. Now, take me back to the hospital so I can get my car.”

“We’re going shopping for the baby stuff as planned, Sheila. You still need my truck, so please put your emotions aside and agree to do what’s needed to be done.”

“Emotions!” Before thinking about it, she quickly crossed the room to stand in front of him.

“Yes, emotions.”

His voice had lowered and he reached out and tilted her chin up. “Has anyone ever told you how sexy you look when you’re angry?”

And before she could take another breath, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Why did her lips have to be so soft?

Why did she have to taste so darn good?

And why wasn’t she resisting him?

Those questions rammed through Zeke’s mind as his heart banged brutally in his chest at the feel of his mouth on Sheila’s. He pushed those questions and others to the back of his mind as he deepened the kiss, took it to another level—although his senses were telling him that was the last thing he needed to do.

He didn’t heed their advice. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Sheila’s waist to bring her closer to the fit of him as he feasted on her mouth. He knew he wasn’t the only one affected by the kiss when he felt her hardened nipples pressing into his chest. He could tell she hadn’t gotten kissed a lot, at least not to this degree, and she seemed unsure of herself, but he remedied that by taking control. She moaned and he liked the sound of it and definitely like the feel of her plastered against him.

He could go on kissing her for hours … days … months. The very thought gave him pause and he gradually pulled his mouth from hers. Hours, days and months meant an involvement with a woman and he didn’t do involvements. He did casual affairs and nothing more. And the last thing he did was mix business with pleasure.

Sheila’s first coherent thought after Zeke released her lips was that she had never, not even in her wildest dreams, been kissed like that. She still felt tingling in her toes and her entire body; her every limb and muscle felt like pure jelly, which was probably the reason she was quivering like the dickens inside.

She slowly drew air into her lungs, held it a moment before slowly letting it out. She could still taste him on her tongue. How had he gotten so entrenched there? She quickly answered her own question when she remembered how his tongue had taken hold of hers, mated with it and sucked on it.

She muttered a couple colorful expletives under her breath when she gazed up at him. She should not have allowed him to kiss her like that. She’d be the first to admit she had enjoyed it, but still. The eyes staring back at her were dark and heated as if he wanted a repeat performance. She cleared her throat. “Why did you kiss me?”

Why had he kissed her? Zeke asked himself that same question as he took a step back. He needed to put distance between them or else he would be tempted to kiss her again.

“You were talking,” he said, grabbing the first excuse he could think of.

“No, I wasn’t.”

He lifted a brow. Hadn’t she been? He tried to backtrack and recall just what was taking place between them before she’d stormed across the room to get in his face. When he remembered, he shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You would have said something you regretted and I decided to wipe the words off your lips.”

Sheila frowned. “I suggest that you don’t ever do it again.”

That slow, sexy smile that she’d seen earlier returned, and instead of saying he wouldn’t kiss her again, he crossed his arms over his chest and asked, “So, what brought you inside? You said you were going to wait outside.”

He had changed subjects and she decided to follow his lead. “Your car began beeping loudly as if it was going to blow up or something.”

His smile widened to emphasize the dimples in his cheek. “That’s my fax machine. It’s built into my console in a way that’s not detectable.”

She shook her head. “What are you, a regular James Bond?”

“No. Bond is a secret agent. I’m a private investigator. There’s a big difference.” He glanced at his watch. “If you’re ready, we can leave. My truck is this way.”

“What about the fax that was coming through?”