In Hot Pursuit

He crooked his finger at her, beckoning her closer.

She hesitated for a moment, then boldly stepped forward. Josh had the feeling this woman wouldn’t back down easily.

She waited just outside the cell bars, her black sequins close enough to touch. She tapped her foot on the dark commercial carpet, unable to stand still for a minute.

Josh reached one finger through the bars to trail down her bare arm. He watched, fascinated, as a path of chill bumps appeared in his wake.

“I don’t mind being your prisoner, honey, but couldn’t we play this out somewhere else? Like your place, maybe?” He kept his voice low enough that only she could hear. What did it matter if he let himself get a little distracted by Lexi now? He sure as hell wasn’t going to gain anything for his investigation from inside this cell.

Maybe she thought about it. She stilled for a moment and watched him with a predatory interest that made him want to rattle the damn cage.

Then she folded her arms over her chest and stepped back. “Sorry, I don’t fraternize with the inmates. Especially not the ones who refuse to play the game.”

“Lex, I’m ready to play whatever games you have in mind.”

He couldn’t be sure in the dim light, but he thought he actually made her blush.

“I don’t need you to play those kinds of games, wise guy. I needed you to turn that sexy charm on any one of the umpteen hot and bothered ladies who filed past your cell tonight. You couldn’t have done your part to help the homeless?”

Words escaped him. She looked seriously offended.

“Sorry, Lexi.” He couldn’t exactly explain to her his reasons. At least, not now. How had the dominatrix gone from turning him on, to making him feel like the world’s biggest heel in ten seconds flat? “Let me ransom myself to make up for it, and I’ll buy you a drink.”

She frowned. “Too many drinks made me cuff you in the first place. Why don’t you just cool your heels for a little longer and maybe I’ll ransom you, if you can remember not to snarl at anyone else.”

He smoothed his tie and straightened his lapels. “I’m working for time off with good behavior, honey, and I’ll pay you back for your trouble.”

A ghost of a smile played around her lips. Josh found himself eager to see that saucy grin again.

“I’ll be sure to collect, Winger.”

She sauntered off with a definite swing to her sequined hips.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one who noticed, because his cell mate emitted a long, low whistle.

Josh bristled. “The wiggle was meant for my eyes, Jack.”

The linebacker shook his head, grinning. “It’s Alec. And sorry, man, but I’m not blind.”

“Don’t you have a wife around here somewhere?” Josh wondered if he could keep his word about not snarling.

“Yep. She’s probably too busy dishing about Lexi to come bust me out of here, though.”

Josh frowned. “What do you mean?” Lexi might be a little flirtatious, but she didn’t exactly seem like the home-wrecking type.

“You know, all that garbage they said about Lex in her magazine today. The women can’t get enough of it.” Alec shrugged his big shoulders and pulled a face.

Protective instincts roared to life. “A magazine article about Lexi?” Josh knew how it felt to have his personal life splashed all over the headlines—most of it untrue. Had Lexi been subjected to that?

“She’s not your girl?”

“Not yet.” The words sprang forth before Josh had the chance to consciously form them. He definitely wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Then again, he couldn’t picture not seeing Lexi again. “But we seem to have…hit it off.”

“You know that fashion magazine she reviews for?” Alec slumped against the cell bars.

Josh didn’t, but he nodded. He didn’t want to seem like some joker hitting on Lexi without knowing a damn thing about her.

“Well, the magazine ran a letter to the editor today that trashed Lexi’s column and suggested she’s out of date, out of style, whatever.” Alec shook his head. “A bunch of catfight-type stuff. The women are gossiping about it a mile a minute, all gunning for Lexi. It’s all I’ve heard all damn night.”

“Catfight stuff—but not anything serious, right?” The cop in him snapped to alert as Josh realized he might be in over his head in the fashion world. The waters were murky for him, and now that his partner and his socialite fiancée were taking off for a motorcycle trip this weekend, Josh would be losing his only insider information for a few days.

“Nah. The woman who wrote the letter isn’t even here tonight. Besides, this isn’t exactly the sort of crowd to take potshots in a dark alley. They do their mud-slinging right in the public eye.”

Before Josh could thank the man, Alec sprang to his feet and smoothed his hair back, his gaze focused outside the cage.

Josh turned to see a scowling blonde barreling toward them, her snappy walk at odds with her elegant white gown. No doubt, Nina had arrived.

Josh mulled over Alec’s words as the man’s wife ransomed him and the couple left together. As the crowd in the bar thinned out and the dance floor began to clear, Josh wondered if Lexi had attended the fund-raiser with anyone or was here by herself.

Like it or not, he wouldn’t allow her to leave the bar by herself. No matter what Alec said about the fashion world slinging their mud in public, Josh didn’t like the idea of Lexi being the target of mean-spirited comments. No telling when professional jealousy could get out of hand.

An image of Tonya Harding flashed through his mind, along with the Texas cheerleader’s mom. Lexi could be at risk, for all he knew.

He’d just make sure she got home okay, then he would leave.

Unless, of course, he could lure out the other side of Lexi—the sequined spitfire who had handcuffed him earlier.

Josh had the feeling that if he tangled with her again, he wouldn’t leave until they’d uncovered every erotic possibility of handcuffs.

3

SHE COULDN’T put it off any longer.

Last call had come and gone. Wendy sat at the bar, reviewing the final bill with the property manager. The house lights would probably switch on at any moment.

Lexi had to free her last captive.

Her gaze skittered over to the jail cell where Detective Winger sat on the cage’s lone bench. His jacket was draped over the seat beside him, his white shirt stretching over shoulders that delineated mouth-watering muscles. His elbows were propped on his knees, and his silver-gray tie fell forward, the knot loosened long ago.

Lexi didn’t need to see his eyes to know the tie matched their color. She’d caught his hungry stare enough times tonight to remember the precise shade.

Squeezing the key to the cell padlock in her fist, she debated her approach. She’d flirted outrageously with Josh all night. Did he expect to cash in on that flirtation? Or would he flag a cab and disappear?

Lexi wasn’t sure which idea bothered her more.

She desperately wanted to test her feminine wiles on this man—to assuage the fear that she was as outdated and boring as the scathing letter to her editor had claimed.

But if she went home with him, she needed to make it clear she was in charge. She didn’t need a man in her life to mess up the comfortable niche she had finally managed to carve for herself. Lexi had struggled for her independence, her self-reliance. As long as Josh understood that, as long as he let her take the lead, everything would be fine.