Body Heat

But they’d gotten their man, anyway. After the hail of bullets that had stolen Frank’s life and sidelined Jake, Ramirez had been taken into custody. And he would have stayed there, too, if Jake hadn’t been down for the count. If some rookie hadn’t screwed up and failed to give proper Miranda rights. Ramirez had walked, on a technicality. It wasn’t the first time Jake had seen a criminal go free but it was the proverbial last straw. Jake was disgusted, disillusioned with his role in bringing in the dregs of the earth only to have his efforts thwarted courtesy of America’s judicial system.

The detective Ramirez killed had been a good man—a man with a wife and kids—and though all cops knew the risk, Jake would have preferred to take the fatal bullet instead. He had no little ones who needed a father. Jake’s weekend visits and phone calls to Frank’s family were a poor substitute for the real thing.

“The system pisses me off and I’ve had it with the whole routine,” he said, giving his sister the gut-honest truth.

“So Frank’s gone and you’re just going to give up?”

Her tone conveyed disbelief, possibly because she knew Jake better than anyone. She knew his friendship with Frank and his family ran deep and she understood the pain of losing someone. But she also knew her brother. Jake Lowell didn’t throw in the towel, and he never left a job undone without a fight.

“I’ll redirect my energies,” he lied. He didn’t want to upset Rina by admitting he planned to get Frank’s killer on his own.

Jake couldn’t bring Ramirez in on any of the charges stemming from the original bust, but no doubt the guy was still selling drugs and somehow he’d slip up. Between Jake’s off-duty digging and the official information two of his detective buddies continued to feed him, Jake would nab Ramirez. It was only a matter of time. But he wouldn’t have the freedom to follow up leads if he was constrained by his superiors and newer cases he’d no doubt be assigned.

Jake also needed personal R-and-R. Time without the pressure and restrictions of the job to find out what direction he wanted to take in life. To decide what the restlessness he’d been experiencing lately meant. Was it the gritty life of a cop and the disillusionments that came with the job that had worn him down, or something more? Jake didn’t have any answers. And he had a hunch none would be forthcoming until his mind was free of Ramirez.

His lieutenant would jump on him if he thought Jake was ready, so allowing a prolonged recuperation provided the perfect excuse. “Can we change the subject?” he asked his sister.

She shrugged. “Suit yourself. Let the muscle atrophy until you can’t make it work. Then when you want to go back, you’ll flunk the physical and—”

“Rina,” he said, warning her with his tone.

But he understood her concern because it mirrored his feelings for her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his sister. She knew it and played him shamelessly, but he adored her, anyway. Without a doubt, she had the same loyalty toward him, which prompted her pushing him now.

She held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, I’ll back off. So will you stay in the penthouse while I’m gone?”

He raised an eyebrow. Given her usual propensity to butt in where she didn’t belong, Jake didn’t buy the easy subject change, but he was grateful for the reprieve. “Couldn’t you put the dog in a kennel?”

“Norton doesn’t like kennels. He gets nervous. And if you won’t watch him, I’ll have to stay home.”

“Never mind,” he muttered, resigning himself to animal-and apartment-sitting for the summer. His fate had been sealed from the moment she’d batted her brown eyes at him across the table. It didn’t matter where he set himself up, as long as he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased on his quest for Ramirez.

With Rina out of town, Jake had nothing and no one cramping his movements. Besides, she needed the break. “You should get away, and if you need my help to do it, I’ll stay, even if it means walking that pathetic excuse for a dog in public,” he said, infusing his voice with warmth and humor. Once he said yes, he’d never knowingly make her feel guilty and, besides, he and Norton had developed a grudging respect for one another.

Her face lit up in a way Jake hadn’t seen since before her husband passed away. “Oh, thank you.”

Before he could blink, she was up and around the table. She wrapped one arm around his good side and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. You can’t imagine how depressing it’s been for me alone in the penthouse. This trip will help me put the memories behind me,” she whispered.

“That’s all I want for you.” He squeezed her back. “Now, can you get off me before the humidity glues us together?”

She laughed and resettled herself in the chair. “Now that we’ve dealt with my life, such as it is, it’s time to deal with yours.”

Jake groaned. “I knew my reprieve was too good to last. I’ll make a deal with you. Go to Italy and have fun. Come back happy, and then we’ll deal with my life.” By then Jake should have Ramirez back behind bars where he belonged. But he knew Rina wasn’t just referring to work.

Rina glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t know, Jake. If you wait too long, someone might snatch her up. For all you know, she might already be attached.”

“No ring,” he said, and immediately regretted the admission.

“Then, do something about it,” his sister said, challengingly.

He wanted to rise to the bait as he’d often done when they were children. But he couldn’t. After his ex-wife, the only women he’d consider now were the ones who were safe, who didn’t threaten his sanity or his heart. Considering the strong pull she exerted over him, Jake had a hunch this one was capable of doing that and more. With the Ramirez case hanging over his head, Jake didn’t have time for distractions. And she was most definitely a distraction.

SHE WAS LATE. Brianne Nelson sprinted down the street toward The Sidewalk Café. She needed this second job and the money it brought in, but all she could think about was him. Was he here as he’d been last night and the night before that? Was he waiting or had he given up and gone home? And was he alone or, as usual, was he with the beautiful woman? The woman Brianne had seen hug him last evening.

Brianne’s heart beat a furious pace, due more to anticipation and excitement than from her mad rush to make it to work. She’d thought she would never get out of the hospital. Her last client had gotten hung up in X-ray, and by the time Mr. Johnson arrived at physical therapy, he was forty-five minutes overdue for his appointment. After his second stroke, the older man needed rehabilitation as much as Brianne needed the money this waitressing job brought in. He had a new grandbaby he wanted to hold on his lap. She couldn’t reschedule or hand him off to another therapist any more than she could give up her night job.

Nor did she want to. Not since she had the man of her dreams waiting. He arrived three times a week, wearing the same type of outfit—a pair of jeans and a shirt he’d obviously created himself with a pair of scissors and one good rip. The cropped shirt exposed a hint of tantalizing tanned skin, with a dark sprinkling of hair running down his abdomen until it disappeared into the denim waistband. And his forearms…she’d never seen muscles that well toned. He’d piqued her interest and fed her fantasies.

She slowed her pace as she reached the outdoor entrance, her gaze taking in the crowded tables on the sidewalk, lingering on the men seated outside. Though many had jet-black hair, none made her heart race. None met her gaze with a knowing gleam in his eyes or caused a liquid rush of desire in response to his sexy grin.

She shook off the disappointment caused by his absence, reminding herself that the man she anticipated was already taken. Meeting with the same woman that many times a week spoke of devotion and commitment—to someone else. Which was why she’d asked Jimmy to let Kellie handle the outdoor tables. Kellie was an accomplished flirt who rarely took any one man seriously, someone who could handle such a gorgeous customer with ease. Unlike Brianne, who had way too much interest in the man. Besides, even if he weren’t involved, her dating and mating skills were rusty from disuse. Brianne understood her real life. He was a fantasy. She rushed in and past the bar.

“You’re late,” Jimmy called out.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hang on. Someone wants to—”

She ducked into the small bathroom, cutting Jimmy off before he could lecture her about burnout again. He was her boss and in the process had become her friend. She was a physical therapist by day, and Jimmy understood how badly she needed this job at night. No matter how tired or how weary she was of smiling for the customers, she had no choice. She needed the money.

She was just fortunate Jimmy put up with her often delayed arrival; he rarely complained. Like her, he’d lost his parents young, and he’d also raised a sibling. He just hadn’t had the added pressure of having a genius brother who deserved to remain in an exclusive, expensive, private boarding school and who would attend college thereafter.

Too bad her parents hadn’t thought of either Marc or Brianne when they’d gone out in a small plane in weather that even the FAA had warned against flying in. Too bad they’d invested their money in pleasure and not in insurance for their children.

She shivered, then pushed all thoughts of her selfish, risk-taking parents aside. She’d been her brother’s only means of support for so long, she didn’t know any different. But even a boss who was her friend couldn’t keep her on if she didn’t get her behind outside and start serving the customers.

Shoving her clothes under one arm, she paused to wash the grime of the New York City subway from her hands. Brianne wondered if he would show up later, and knew that thought would keep her going when her feet begged for a rest. Because, lately, she wasn’t as tired, nor did she approach this job with the dread she had felt in the past. He kept her spirits high and her adrenaline flowing. Just knowing he’d be waiting, watching, making her feel sexy and desirable, when she had no time to be desirable, caused her anticipation to soar.

She air-dried her hands, then grabbed her clothes and turned toward the stalls. Before she could blink, she ran smack into a customer. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“My fault.”

Brianne took a step back and found herself face-to-face with the woman who usually sat with her fantasy man. Her dark hair was layered and razored in the most up-to-date style. The shaglike cut was perfect with her lightly made-up face and trendy clothes.

The woman certainly didn’t look as if she’d spent the day massaging other people’s body parts, Brianne thought, glancing down at her own scrubs. Then she looked at her watch and groaned before meeting the other woman’s appraising gaze. “Excuse me. I’m running late.” Brianne started for the open stall.

“Can we talk first?”

The other woman’s voice stopped Brianne cold, and she pivoted fast. “Excuse me?” Her heart beat more quickly.

They had nothing in common, nothing to discuss—except him. She’d done nothing wrong, Brianne assured herself. Yet the thoughts and fantasies she’d spun about a man she’d never met were enough to make her—a woman who’d seen men and women in varying degrees of nakedness during patient therapy—blush.

But no one she’d seen in patient therapy had even remotely resembled him. He was every inch a potent, sexy male who allowed her the freedom to feel like a woman, to test her limits and flirt without fear of anything more coming of it, because he was involved and she was too busy—which made him safe. Or so she thought.

“Hey, are you okay? I don’t want you to faint on me,” the woman said with concern.

Brianne nodded. “I’m fine,” she said, embarrassment and shame filling her. Her fantasy man had a girlfriend who wanted to talk. Brianne had witnessed that hug between them last night with a pang of envy she hadn’t known she was capable of feeling. But it served to remind her that he was spoken for. She cleared her throat. “I’m fine,” she said again. “Thank you. It’s just that I’m running very late. My boss…”

“Is a great guy. He said we could take a minute when you got in.”