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LILLY HAD BEEN so sure that Jason would taste like a combination of mint and ice. But there was nothing cool and minty about him. He was all fiery hot, as was the possessive grip he had around the back of her neck.
She didn’t fight the kiss, the grip, him or anything else. The only fight she had was to get closer to him. Jason did the same. Fighting and grappling, they came together, and she felt the solid muscles of his chest. Felt the sinewy strength of his arms. And with all that feeling, the kiss continued.
Jason escalated things. If he hadn’t, she would have. The kiss was already French and immensely pleasurable, but he used that clever mouth to make her want more.
He was aroused. Lilly felt his erection brush against her stomach. She wanted to feel even more of it, but she braced her hand on his chest to stop herself from doing that. It would be wrong to touch him, to move against him.
But it would feel darn good. She was sure of it.
His kiss had created a fire inside her. An ache. And that ache was already demanding relief.
Her hand on his chest must have caused him to stop, because Jason tore his mouth from hers and looked down at her. Judging from the just-kill-me-now expression, he’d come to his senses and wasn’t pleased about this momentary surrender to passion. She hadn’t come to her senses yet, but Lilly knew she’d have to, soon. Having sex against the wall probably wasn’t a good idea.
Probably.
Even if it suddenly seemed like the best idea in the world.
“You’re a good kisser,” she confessed. His breath gusted against her face. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t be.”
His breath continued to gust, and he sounded as if he’d just run a marathon. “Then we’re even. I’d hoped you wouldn’t be, either. It would have put an end to this in a hurry.”
“All right. The kiss doesn’t have to mean anything. In fact, I insist that it not mean anything.”
He nodded. “So do I.”
“Good. We’re in agreement. Maybe a first for us.”
But agreeing didn’t make it so. Lilly knew that kiss meant something. She could already feel the difference between them, and it wasn’t just about heavy breathing, racing pulses and the most primitive of urges. There were now huge dents in those barriers between them. But maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t be adding any more dents in the near future.
“We have a lot of things to work out,” Lilly reminded him. And while she was at it, she reminded herself.
He considered that a moment. Nodded again. But what was missing was the part about him truly believing that the kiss didn’t matter, that it meant nothing. She could see his skepticism written all over his face.
“We won’t even discuss it again,” she continued, hating that she’d become a motormouth, hating even more that Jason wasn’t offering a thing to explain all of this away. Heck, she shouldn’t be the only one tripping over her tongue. “We’ll concentrate on the case, on getting the files and getting out of here.”
There. Finally, she saw it. The slow, necessary transformation from hot kisser to hot cop. Correction: hot, dedicated cop. Which was exactly the persona she needed with her tonight. The reminder had worked. Jason no doubt remembered the danger, the person who wanted her death and the seriousness of their situation.
Good.
At least one of them now had the right mind-set.
Before she could do anything else stupid, Lilly moved away from him, something she should have done before they’d started their little verbal foreplay that’d led to that kiss. And she moved quickly. Well, as quickly as her impaired legs would allow. She went down the hall to her office.
Jason stepped in front of her and did his cop thing by surveying the place. He then stepped to the side. What he didn’t do was say a word. Or look at her. He kept his attention on the room itself.
Oh, yeah. They’d really ruined things with that kiss.
“Your attorney had planned to move all your things out in five months,” Jason explained, his gaze still surveilling. “Everything would have been placed in storage until Megan became an adult.”
Five months. That would have been the two-year point of her coma. Lilly was a little surprised that her attorney had waited so long to do that. But maybe there’d been legal issues involved. Maybe even issues that involved declaring her dead. A thought that sent goose bumps over her skin.
She switched on one of the overhead lights and forced herself to concentrate on something other than the coma and Jason. She started with the basics and checked to see what was familiar and what wasn’t. Her functional, no-fuss desk was there, as was a computer that was no doubt hopelessly out of date. Across from the desk was a trio of saddle-brown leather chairs and a small table—bare. No plants, but then they’d probably died and been removed. Other than that, everything was the same.
Well, almost.
Lilly certainly didn’t feel the same. She felt like a visitor to a place where she’d once spent seventy-five percent of her time. The work had seemed so important then. Vital, even. It didn’t seem that way now.
“Well?” Jason prompted, his voice tight and impatient. Probably because he was anxious to leave. “Does being here trigger any memories?”
