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  She slid into the front seat of her car, and Cole shut the door behind her. He nodded when he heard her lock the door. He stayed in the lot until she’d pulled into the late-night traffic.

  Her skin tingled. Her body felt warm all over. A moment ago, she’d been worn-out and lethargic. Now her energy was boundless. She’d just experienced one of the most explosive orgasms, with all her clothes on. Or with all her clothes off. She couldn’t wait to get Cole naked and in bed with her.

  When I make love with you…

  The promise behind his words made her hands tremble on the steering wheel.

  That was a promise, wasn’t it? His words also sounded distinctly like a line. A line to get her out of there. Jessie’s shoulders tensed and her fingers tapped on the stick shift as she waited for the light to change. Maybe she should take a hint from her on-the-job techniques, and put herself in Cole’s situation. They’d been out in the open. In his place of business. They’d risked enough. She sighed and eased back against her seat. Okay, that hadn’t been a brush-off.

  Then it hit her. She’d pretty much had sex in the exact place she’d always said she would avoid. A parking lot. With a rueful laugh, she shifted her car into third and headed to her job.

  COLE STOOD IN THE PARKING LOT, dragging in deep gulps of air. He stayed until he couldn’t spot the red of Jessie’s taillights anymore. He stayed until he could breathe normally again. Those little gasps and moans had nearly been his undoing.

  He’d almost hiked up that sexy, short black skirt of hers, pushed her panties down, raised her hips and entered her from behind.

  What the hell was he doing?

  He covered his face with his hands. Hadn’t he just reminded himself that he had two little girls who counted on him not to make idiotic choices?

  Making it with Jessie in the parking lot was not the best choice.

  He stalked to his car, feeling frustrated with himself, frustrated in general. His need for her still ached.

  Jessie Huell surprised him. Without a doubt, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen. He unlocked his car and jammed his key into the ignition. Instantly, another thought struck him. About what he’d almost done to her before the—Dammit.

  Dammit, he was acting reckless.

  He hated the recklessness within him. He’d battled it on a daily basis his entire life. His father had said Cole was born bad. And he’d almost started to believe it himself, until Jessie.

  He’d always suspected there was fire between them. And he’d stayed away after…after that night. He scrubbed his hand down his face. After she’d saved his life, he’d made a promise to her father. That he would never involve Jessie in anything of his again. He’d kept that promise, despite seeing the hurt in her eyes when he returned for his senior year in high school and basically had nothing to do with her.

  But they were adults now. He wasn’t that hell-bent teenager anymore. Promises could have expiration dates. He almost laughed at that twisted logic.

  But where could it go? He had nothing to offer Jessie. He knew her, despite what she’d said on the show. She’d want a relationship, a man who could offer her more than a few quick rolls between the sheets. She’d want lazy Saturday mornings. Talks of dreams that went long into the night. She deserved it. All of it. A secret pang of longing hit him just then. One time he’d wanted those things, too.

  What would she get with him? Nothing but stolen moments in a parking lot.

  With harsh control he battled his wicked, restless need for her and put all thoughts of Jessie aside.

  7

  FRIDAY MORNING CAME EARLY for Cole after a sleepless night thinking of Jessie, naked and in the backseat of his car. And he’d never wanted to have sex in that cramped space before.

  He finally threw back the sheets and packed. He’d be leaving for his sister’s place in Dunner, Georgia, right after the show closed. It was funny that his sister, who’d always clamored to move to the big city, had actually settled in a place smaller than Thrasher after her marriage. But then love had a habit of making someone change their mind. About a lot of things.

  He was taking the girls camping, and all three had been looking forward to it. Even though his cabin was only forty-five minutes away from Dunner, they hadn’t made it there since the girls had started soccer. But now with the season ending, there was nothing to stop him from romping through the tall Georgia pines, roasting marshmallows under the stars and catching up with his girls.

  Leaving Susan and Schyler, his seven-year-old twin daughters, with his sister and heading back to Atlanta every Monday morning was a bleak reminder of who and what depended on him. The situation wasn’t ideal, but the girls were happy with his sister and her family. With his crazy schedule, arranging day care for his twins had been impossible.

  If only the lottery money would come in. He could quit his job and raise the girls full-time.

  Cole stopped himself. He wasn’t a man for speculation or fantasy. Either would be reckless. He didn’t have the money yet, and Liza turning down their offer to settle for a smaller sum meant a trial was pretty much imminent. Lawyers’ fees and court costs would eat at even more of the winnings.

  So basically, his choices were thinking about getting sued or about not getting screwed. No wonder he couldn’t sleep.

  First up, the not getting sued part. Cole, Eve, Nicole, Jane and Zach had an early morning meeting with their lawyer, Jenna Hamilton. Too bad after the show hadn’t fit with their lawyer’s schedule.

  He pulled into the full parking lot. The early morning news staff hadn’t left yet, so he was forced to torture himself and park where Jessie’s Impala had sat the night before. The memory of a woman’s heated sigh flashed across his senses. And despite being five seconds away from turning off the ignition, he turned up the music.

  He’d spent all night being only a breath away from semihard to total performance mode. No way could he spend the day that way. That was when the temptation to give in to his recklessness was its most fierce.

  His body tormented him. His mind explored last night’s possibilities. Outside of the car. In the car. Across the hood. None of those ideas seemed bad right now.

  Cole took a deep breath, then made himself think of being called into the station manager’s office to explain a lengthy incident report filed by security. He’d been damn lucky no one had caught them. The guard swept the perimeter of the building and parking lot at least once every two hours.

  Cole shook his head, grabbed his briefcase and headed toward the conference room. Jane, Nicole and the cameraman, Zach, were already sitting around the large oak table.

  Jane and Nicole exchanged glances and laughed.

  “Glad you could finally make it, Cole. Late night?” Jane asked.

  This he would not be a part of. He shrugged and did his best to appear neutral. “Not particularly,” he replied, sounding noncommittal and a little confused by the question.

  He saw Jane frown slightly in disappointment. Good. He should have used this precise tactic after that embarrassing article surfaced. Then maybe he wouldn’t have had to be teased for the last few weeks.

  Eve breezed into the room, followed by Jenna Hamilton.

  The lawyer walked to the head of the table, but did not sit down. “I just received word that Ms. Skinner has rejected our offer to settle for the small portion of the winnings. It looks as if we’ll have to go to trial.”

  Nicole slumped in her chair. “I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to this.”

  This was why he hadn’t allowed himself to speculate on those winnings. Cole could see no point in it. But the truth of the matter was he had to swallow his own disappointment. Even though he didn’t think Liza truly deserved the money, he was more than willing to offer up a settlement to get his own share sooner.

  “What’s next?” he asked.

  “Well, you need to decide whether or not you want to file a counterclaim.”

  “On what grounds?” Eve asked.

&
nbsp; Jenna’s expression grew somber. She clearly had a love for the subject. “Libel, for one. We may have a case that your professional reputations have been tarnished somewhat. There’s also lost interest on the money had you all been able to receive your winnings earlier. Filing our own claim would delay a trial, which would be to your advantage. Her funds have got to be running low.”

  “She didn’t have a lot of savings. I wonder how long she can hold out,” Jane said.

  Jane, Eve and Liza had been best friends since the sixth grade. Cole knew, because that’s all they’d talked about some days. God, he could still recall the way their conversations went when the show was just up and running.

  “Do you remember Greg Grimler asking you to dance?”

  “I Googled nerdy Tommy Hardon—remember him from Mrs. Nease’s trig class? Oh, my God, he’s hot now!”

  Cole winced, once again feeling a testosterone vacuum. Even the memories of those conversations were painful. The silver lining: he could take some comfort in the fact that Jane could predict Liza’s behavior pretty well. If she thought Liza would cave soon, Liza would probably cave soon.

  Jenna shifted her paperwork on the conference table. “Ordinarily, it would be to your advantage to drag our feet during the discovery phase, hoping Liza’s money would run out and she’d take the settlement. But with the eight-month deadline the Lottery Commission has you under fast approaching, you’re facing your own sword of Damocles.”

  He didn’t know what the sword of dama—whatever it was, but it sounded painful. He must have slept through that class after an all-nighter at the garage. But others around the table groaned, so it had to be bad.

  “However, it’s my professional opinion that a counterclaim may do you more harm. We’re on solid ground with the case itself. The fact that you offered Ms. Skinner a settlement shows good faith on your part. Filing your own claim could look petty or vindictive to a jury.”

  Cole glanced around the room, seeking consensus. Everyone shook their head.

  Eve took it from there. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

  Jenna nodded and pulled a set of papers from her briefcase. “Okay, next step—interrogatories. These are just a series of questions that I’ll turn over to Kev—Uh, Ms. Skinner’s lawyer. Don’t worry about format, just answer as best you can. I’ll have a clerk type these up.”

  The meeting droned on and on. Cole tried to put this situation in perspective. He should be feeling great instead of sitting here miserable. He’d literally won the lottery. The money was being held up, but eventually he’d receive some of his winnings. Liza wouldn’t be so petty as to drag it out so long no one got anything. Based on his own track record, Cole hadn’t always been a good judge of character, but he’d admired her at one time.

  He should also be feeling damn lucky about Jessie. He’d reconnected with a woman who clearly wanted him.

  Eight hours later, he was speeding along the Georgia highway, surrounded by a tall canopy of trees draped with Spanish moss. He lost himself in the beauty of the wildflowers, the untamed flow of the rivers. The great out-of-doors was the one place where he truly knew himself. And felt comfortable with his flaws, but also discovered his strengths. He’d left his small hometown to make something of himself. He traveled to Dunner each Friday night to be with the best part of him that he’d left behind. His daughters.

  JESSIE WAS NOT THE TYPE of person who’d wait around for a man to call. She’d done enough of that with her fiancé. So what if she’d had no word from Cole since Thursday? The women from his office had told her he left Friday after the show to visit with his daughters. No reason to stress. Or feel uncomfortable.

  And the fact that it was now Monday. Afternoon…Still nothing to worry about. Cole was just being considerate. He knew she worked late nights and slept in.

  Okay, damn. She’d thought about why Cole hadn’t called. But she wouldn’t do it again. She had a case to work. A very boring case. Background checks and DMV look-throughs.

  The phone rang, and Jessie smiled when she saw that the ID displayed the call letters of the TV station. She answered the phone with what she hoped was a sultry yet utterly normal hello.

  “Hi, it’s Nicole from the station. Jessie, I’ve thought about you all weekend.”

  Her shoulders dropped. At least someone had been thinking of her.

  “I have an idea. I think you’d be great for a special segment all your own.”

  “Oh, I don’t—”

  “Before you say no, hear me out. That keeping your marriage fresh idea was just the beginning. I guarantee you that no one has your particular angle. Who knew people hired a P.I. to take their picture playing around in a public place with their actual spouse? I bet I could get three great segments on your fling ideas alone. We’ve gotten excellent viewer comments, and the forums on the Web site are hopping with the topic. That’s just the stuff I’ve brainstormed and jotted down. Together we could come up with even more.”

  “I’m still not—”

  “Let’s talk. Why don’t I drop by your office?” It wasn’t really a question.

  Clearly, Nicole wasn’t going to take no for an answer. As annoying as it was, Jessie liked that about her.

  “I’m doing background research today at home. I live in Grant Park.”

  “No problem. An hour and a half work for you? The show will be over.”

  After giving Nicole her address, Jessie rolled out of bed and plodded toward the bathroom. She’d have time to catch a shower and straighten up before Nicole arrived.

  She maintained a small storefront office for meeting clients, but the bulk of her work she did from home. After her shower, Jessie donned her usual black. This time long pants and a short-sleeved knit top. She brushed her hair into a ponytail, and took the stairs two at a time to the spare bedroom she used as an in-home office. Since she didn’t know how much of her time would be taken with Nicole, she headed straight to her desk, a beautiful wood secretary she’d found in an estate sale. She kept her computer inside, and after powering up, she put her search engine to work. Thoughts of Cole kept slipping into her mind. Should she Google him?

  Jessie jumped when the doorbell rang. She could get so lost in her research. No telling how many times her guest had rung the doorbell, so Jessie quickly made her way to the door. Nicole greeted her with a smile, so it couldn’t have been too long of a wait. “I’m so glad you’re going to do this. I know the buzz on this will be fantastic.”

  “Iced tea?” Jessie offered as they strolled into her study.

  “No thanks,” Nicole said as she looked around. “I love these houses in Grant Park.”

  “I was lucky to find it. It has that smaller town feel that reminded me of home, but easy access to downtown Atlanta. The previous owners lived here a long time, but hadn’t updated it. Powder blue shag carpeting covered the floor.”

  Nicole looked at the hardwood floor Jessie kept to a shine. “That’s a crime. These hardwood floors are beautiful.”

  “Thanks, I did it myself.”

  Her expression changed, grew impressed. “How did you get everything done while trying to start up your own business?”

  “Humiliation and anger did a number on my sleeping habits.”

  Nicole raised an eyebrow.

  “I caught my fiancé in bed with another woman. She was a dispatcher at the police station where we all worked. Obviously, the man liked dipping his pen in the company ink. I quit the man and my job on the force all on the same day. But I decided, just because I hadn’t found my dream man, it didn’t mean I’d give up on my dream house.”

  Keith, the cheating bastard, had suggested they sell it and split the proceeds. No way. The threat of damage to his penis had him backing off.

  “During the day I refurbished the house. Stripping and staining the hardwood floors. Painting the walls and returning the beauty to this home. At night I worked my cases.”

  “How did you become a private detective?”

/>   Her breath came out as a sigh. “That man dropped so many tells, and if I’d just looked under the surface…” Jessie swallowed, urged her heartbeat to return to normal. No woman should ever come home to find her man’s ass pumping forward and a woman writhing in her bed. Hopefully, with her new line of work, Jessie would prevent other women from seeing that sight. Not the pain of reality, but there were some images a woman could never erase from her mind.

  Jessie glanced toward Nicole. “Anyway, I almost made the biggest mistake of my life. My police training gave me the skill set to help other women not be as big of an idiot as I was. It’s easy to ignore all the little hints. I was in love. I wanted it to work. Blah, blah, blah. But when you get the goods from a professional…”

  “It’s easier to believe.” Nicole filled in for her.

  “Exactly. I quit my job on the force the same day I told my new ex-fiancé I was keeping the house and he could forget his share of the down payment.” Keith, the cheating bastard, owed her. “He wisely kept his mouth shut. After sitting for the private-detective exam, I used the money from hocking my engagement ring to pay for my P.I. license.”

  Nicole sat back against the cushion of the couch. “There’s a segment right there. Claiming your Own Life While Leaving the Louse Behind. I’m so glad this is working out. Cole is bound to like these ideas. He was such a bear today. And he’s never like that. Of course, you would know. You grew up together.”

  For some reason, the idea of Cole being a bear made her smile. Could she have been the one to bring out those grizzly qualities in the man? Had he been experiencing the same kind of sleepless nights and ragged sexual frustration? She liked the thought of that. She really did.

  Nicole leaned forward. “You wouldn’t want to share any juicy tidbit about Cole.”

  “I don’t know.” Jessie stood, trying to distance herself from this situation.

  “Come on, the guy’s like a rock. That article saying he had his finger on the pulse of Atlanta’s women was the first time any of us have ever been able to get under his skin. He takes teasing so poorly, I can’t help wanting to do it more.”