Simply Sinful (Simply Series Book 1) Read online

  He swiveled back and forth in his seat. He had a hard time believing the innocence in that green-eyed gaze wasn’t real but an act for the customer’s benefit. His hands clenched into fists at the thought of her.

  Chemistry flared between them hot and strong. Unmistakable. Verbal seduction wouldn’t be a problem tonight, but keeping his hands to himself just might be. He shook his head, trying to dislodge any thoughts caused more by emotion than common sense.

  Cash in exchange for sex, he reminded himself. Money up-front. Stick to the plan and the answers would follow. And Kane always stuck to the plan.

  As a punk kid, he’d followed a different code of conduct than the one he lived by now, but back then, respecting the law on the street had kept him alive. As a cop, he walked the straight and narrow. The rules were different but the reasoning the same. If he followed the rules, he kept his edge honed. Anything less and he didn’t deserve his badge.

  Kane closed his eyes, and a vision of Kayla danced before them. Between a body made for a man’s touch and a heart-shaped face that would test a saint, he had the distinct notion he needed that edge more than ever before.

  * * *

  “It’s a baseball game, not a formal banquet.”

  “It’s a date, not Chinese food with your sister,” Catherine countered. She threw a disgusted glance at Kayla’s old sweatshirt and jeans. “Are you trying to turn the man off before he gets to know how disgustingly smart you are?”

  Kayla thought back to his references about her classes and how smart women turned him on. He couldn’t possibly know that much about her after such a brief meeting. It had to be a lucky guess. “I don’t want to look too eager,” she said.

  “More like you don’t want to look too easy.” Her sister grabbed Kayla’s hand. Head held high, Catherine led the way to her bedroom, a short distance down the hall from Kayla’s own. With dramatic flair so opposite to Kayla’s more subdued actions, Catherine flung open the closet door and began riffling through the clothes inside.

  “They won’t fit,” Kayla muttered.

  “Maybe we don’t share the same bra size, but don’t tell me you don’t steal my clothes every once in a while.”

  “Borrow.”

  “What’s the difference?” Catherine held up a yellow shirt, made a face, and hung it back on the rack. “I know I swipe yours.” She came out of the small walk-in with a white fitted top and a faded jean jacket. Next came a pair of black denim jeans. “Here. Try these on.”

  Kayla glanced at the outfit, more casual than her usual conservative look. Still, when she tried on the clothes, she had to admit she liked what she saw.

  Catherine made a show of walking around her twice, hands on her hips in a judgmental pose. “Perfect. Better than all those trousers and silk blouses you wear. So stuffy—even Mama wouldn’t have left the house like that.”

  “Mama liked to dress her own way,” Kayla said, thinking of the woman who had raised her girls alone. A woman with a heart of gold, but tarnished luck.

  They hadn’t had much money, but their mother had always made sure she looked her best before leaving the house. Unfortunately her best too often fell short. She looked like what she was: the checkout girl at the local supermarket, an aging woman still attempting to look younger than her years. Until Catherine had taken over clothing shopping, the Luck sisters had usually gone to school looking like mini-clones of their beautiful, but flamboyant mother.

  “Men definitely took notice,” Catherine said.

  “Too bad she never gave them a chance. Maybe things would have been different,” Kayla mused.

  “You mean maybe Mama wouldn’t have died of overwork and a broken heart? No. She chose her life.”

  Catherine had a point.

  “She liked pining for Daddy, that’s for sure. You ever wonder if Daddy pined back?” Kayla asked.

  Her sister shook her head. “I think one kid scared him to death; two made him worse than a coward.”

  “Do you really have to sound so…full of hate?” Kayla wrapped her arms around her waist.

  “I don’t hate him. Actually, I don’t feel much about him at all. But truth is truth.” Catherine pinned her with her steady gaze. “I don’t think all men are like him if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Not in the ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ department,” Kayla agreed. “But in the ‘can’t keep their hands to themselves’ department, men are all the same.” After all, her parents had had Kayla and Catherine within one year of each other. If that wasn’t a prime example of too much lovin’, as her mother liked to call it, then Kayla didn’t know what was.

  Catherine lowered herself onto her white lace comforter. “You know, a guy not keeping his hands to himself can be nice.”

  For someone with Catherine’s confidence, maybe. Kayla joined her, staring at her fingers spread over her thighs. “Are you going out tonight?” Kayla asked.

  “Clubbing. With Nick.”

  Nick had been Catherine’s best friend for years. Kayla suspected he’d once been in love with her beautiful sister but Cat hadn’t been interested and Nick had moved on, apparently content as Cat’s best friend. Leaving Catherine alone.

  Kayla narrowed her eyes and took in her sister’s miniskirt and tights, her stretch top that showed off delicate curves. Catherine didn’t have Kayla’s lush figure, but she attracted her own share of attention. Kayla admired her sister, but Catherine had her own share of insecurities. She covered them well, but the truth was obvious. Both Luck sisters had been scarred by their childhood experiences.

  Each had reacted in a different way. Instead of becoming a social butterfly, Kayla had learned to push men away. Although she had a lingering desire for the traditional white picket fence, happily ever after, she knew better than to believe she’d find it or the perfect man to share her life with.

  Catherine placed a sisterly hand over hers. “Maybe you’ve never found the right guy. The one who will put you first.”

  “You think he exists?” Kayla asked.

  Kane immediately came to mind. He was the one man she didn’t want to push away physically or turn off emotionally. The first guy who made her feel special and had her wanting to take chances.

  Catherine shrugged. “I don’t know. But if the light in your eyes is any indication, you do. And I’d hate to see you lose that special someone out of fear.”

  Unable to control it, Kayla grinned. “He was different and sexy and…”

  “And?”

  “He listened,” she said, somewhat embarrassed. “He seemed interested but I’ve been out of the game too long to know for sure.”

  “You don’t need experience to know if he makes you feel good. This guy could be it.”

  Kayla had the sense Kane was most definitely it. “I don’t really know him,” she reminded her sister.

  “But you want to.” Catherine read her mind as she had so many times in the past. “And just wait until he gets a look at you tonight.” Walking back to the closet, Catherine reached inside and tossed something across the room.

  Kayla stood before the full-length mirror behind the door. She spun around once more, shocked at the woman whose reflection she saw there. “I don’t even recognize myself,” she said, as she added the finishing touch, a wide headband that would provide both warmth and style for the night ahead.

  “That’s because you’ve been so busy hiding behind conservative clothes and a job that involves geeks not hunks. You’ve just forgotten there’s a woman inside.”

  Was Catherine right?

  Between her old accounting job and now running her aunt’s business, Kayla had stifled her sense of self. Add to that her deliberate lack of a love life, and things seemed pretty pathetic about now.

  Her sister placed her hands on Kayla’s shoulders. “At least this guy has brought my sexy sister out of her shell.” Catherine grinned.

  “He’s a customer,” Kayla said. As if that meant anything. As he’d said, the customer thing was
an excuse for her to yes to a date without over thinking. It was eerie how well Kane McDermott had understood her.

  “Since when do you date a customer?”

  She met Catherine’s gaze in the mirror. “I don’t,” she admitted.

  “I know. And that’s why I think you should go out and feel for once. Take things from there.” Catherine plucked at the headband, straightening it to look suitably stylish. “The clothes are just the trappings of freedom. The rest is up to you.”

  Catherine turned her toward the bedroom door and steered her into the hall. “I’ll drop you off at the restaurant. It’s on my way and, besides, I want to get a look at this guy firsthand.”

  “Checking him out, Mom?”

  Catherine shrugged. “We’ve always looked out for each other. No sense stopping now.” She glanced at Kayla. “You think about what I said. You might live to regret it if you don’t.”

  Kayla took her sister’s advice, all the way to the outside of the restaurant.

  Before he’d left Charmed!, she and Kane had exchanged numbers and he’d texted her directions, correctly sensing she wouldn’t have let him pick her up. Too much too soon.

  Catherine pulled the car up to the restaurant where Kane waited on the top step, his elbow resting on the brass railing. Irresistible in a black leather jacket, she couldn’t tear her gaze off him.

  Catherine’s whistle brought Kayla back down to earth.

  “I take it you approve?” Kayla asked.

  Catherine answered with a grin.

  Drawing a deep breath, Kayla ran her fingers through the waves in her hair and stepped out of the car. Kane was by her side in an instant.

  During the brief introductions and small chitchat between Kane and Catherine, Kayla could barely concentrate, her thoughts on Catherine’s earlier words. Was this man, this date, a not-to-be-missed opportunity? Could he be someone important in her future? Though Kayla wasn’t sure, she was about to find out.

  And who deserved an honest chance more than Kane McDermott, the first man to excite her and impress her? The first man to look past her appearance and who genuinely seemed to like the woman within.

  * * *

  With his hand on her back, Kane steered Kayla out of Fenway Park and into the dimly lit Boston streets. The Sox had won in extra innings, and the woman beside him hadn’t uttered a single complaint about sitting through the long game or the continuing drop in temperature. Under ordinary circumstances, he’d call the date a hit, but Kayla was no ordinary woman, any more than she was his real date—a fact he had to keep telling himself.

  “Did I mention how much I loved that restaurant?” she asked.

  Only about ten times, he thought, wondering why the hell the notion pleased him so much. “The meal or the atmosphere?” he asked.

  She laughed, the sound doing more to warm him than his heavy leather jacket. “Both. Wall-to-wall books…” She spread her arms wide, knocking into the people emptying out of the stadium along with them. “Oops.”

  Her laughter was contagious, her love of something as simple as books, refreshing.

  “But who would have thought of turning a library into a restaurant, and keeping the old volumes on the shelves? How have I lived here for so long and never even known about that place? Where did you find it?”

  “I have my sources,” he said, deliberately vague.

  “Well, tell them they were right on target.” She laughed again, and this time his stomach twisted with regret. Careful research and discreet questions into her background had revealed the blond bombshell was also an intellectual. Reading was obviously a hobby of hers, one he’d taken advantage of tonight.

  The stab of regret took him by surprise. His job had never bothered him before and it shouldn’t now. As part of his assignment, he could just as easily clear her as convict her. So what if he had to dig deep and personal in order to accomplish his goal? But one glance into those trusting eyes turned him inside out. She wouldn’t appreciate the lie. If she was guilty of running a prostitution service, he shouldn’t give a good goddamn. But he did, and the guilt stemmed less from sensing she wasn’t involved and more from caring what she thought of him. That in itself was a first, and Kane didn’t like it one bit.

  After an evening in her company, he’d learned plenty. She cared about family, felt things deeply, and had put her dreams on hold for her sister’s future and out of respect for her late aunt. The innocence she projected in both her gaze and her gestures told him more than surveillance ever could, and that innocence spoke to him. Touched him in ways no one ever had, in places he never allowed anyone to reach.

  His gut told him she wasn’t involved in anything more than running an inherited business. One she at times enjoyed, at others resented. Since gut instinct wasn’t admissible in a court of law, he had to rely on his other talents to clear her. Somehow proving her not guilty had taken precedence over making a case against Charmed!’s sensual owner.

  “Don’t ask me why, but I had a feeling you would like that place,” he told her.

  “You were right.”

  “I know.” Because he was a man who prided himself on instinct. Research may have provided the background, but an hour in her company, and Kane had discovered even more.

  All pretense of teaching him the finer points for the so-called dinner with his boss forgotten, Kayla had opened up to him. Her father’s abandonment had left her hurt and wounded, and the mother she’d loved had been more a child than a useful, guiding parent.

  Like Kane, Kayla had grown up on her own. She had few close ties, apart from her sister…also like him. And by the time dinner ended, he understood her. He knew when to flatter and when to back off. He even discovered how to make her feel beautiful without ogling, because the slightest show of interest in her looks led to a hasty retreat. He’d connected with her apart from his assignment, and the thought made him fucking nervous.

  As they rounded the next corner and walked down a street nestled between a double row of buildings, a heavy breeze whipped around them and the temperature seemed to drop even further.

  He rubbed his hands together. “I’d kill for a…”

  “Cup of hot chocolate covered with whipped cream,” Kayla said, finishing his sentence but not the way he’d intended. Scotch or whiskey was what he’d had in mind. Something that burned like hell and shocked his system into remembering he was on assignment and not out with an intelligent, sexy woman. One he wanted to see again and not behind prison walls. And that wouldn’t be happening.

  He needed solid proof to take back to Reid. Time to make his move and get out, Kane thought. They’d both be better off.

  He’d gotten nowhere with his subtle questioning earlier, which meant he’d have to take a more direct, seductive, approach. He dreaded the idea as much as his overheated body craved it. Not even the sharp wind biting at his face and reaching into his bones numbed the burning heat Kayla aroused inside him.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of coffee,” he muttered. “But anything hot will do.”

  “No kidding.” She nodded in agreement and clutched at her forearms with her hands.

  She was obviously cold but had no intention of voicing a complaint. Definitely a woman after his own heart. No, he contradicted himself, not his heart. That he’d walled off years ago. He’d learned early on if he made anything other than his job his priority, he risked losing focus.

  As a self-reliant kid, he’d honed the instincts that kept him alive. He’d only asked his uncle for a place to crash in order to avoid social services and foster care. And the man had agreed as long as Kane made himself scarce. Basic survival was what Kane understood best. Sex fell under that heading; caring did not.

  But he had a job to do. Time to stop stalling and find out, he thought.

  She was cold? The least he could do was warm the lady up. He looked over and her gaze connected with his. Wide-set eyes stared back, and golden strands of windblown hair touched her reddened cheeks. Intense nee
d kicked in strong. He had to taste her. That it might make or break his case had nothing to do with the fierce hunger lashing through him. He cupped his hands over hers, feeling the ice-cold of her skin, and he drew her back into a hidden alley.

  The crowds rushed past them, unconcerned with anything except finding warmth. Kane understood that need. He ran his hands up and down her arms and a light tremor shook her.

  One step and he’d backed her against a dark brick building. Desire rushed through him the moment his body came into contact with hers.

  “Kane?”

  He looked into questioning eyes and had no answers. None he could reveal to her and, worse, none he understood himself. Which suited him fine. He didn’t need to understand; he needed to feel. Her lips on his, her body, slick and wet, molding around his cock, producing friction so intense it was unbearable. Not that he’d let things get that far, or if the informant was right, Kayla wouldn’t, either, not without payment.

  But looking into those trusting eyes, he damn well knew if she called a stop tonight, it would have nothing to do with money. This woman was no prostitute, but he needed proof and to get it, he had to carry things through. One sampling of those full lips and he could attempt to close the deal. Once she backed off, he’d make some excuse and take her home. A cold shower waited for him, and then he’d file his report and forget all about Miss Kayla Luck.

  He tightened his grip on her arms. She didn’t protest, not when he pulled her toward him and not when his lips came down hard on hers. Her mouth was warm and welcoming and a hint of sweet wine still lingered inside. One taste made him hungry for more than a stolen kiss in a back alley. One sampling set his blood on fire.

  The brick wall anchored them and he took advantage, letting his hips grind hard against hers. A sound, half moan, half plea, escaped her throat and desire consumed him.

  Kayla leaned her head back against the wall, drawing deep, unsteady breaths. He cupped her chin in his hand and looked into her glazed, green eyes. He wanted her. There it was. The stark truth, he thought. No lies, no deception, no case hanging between them…unless something she did placed it there.