Apache Nights Read Free Page A

forward, taking the hot drink from her hand. “Too bad you won’t get to finish it.”
    â€œWhat you are doing?”
    â€œThis.” He set her cup on the counter and moved even closer.
    Too close, she thought. She could smell the soap on his skin. An outdoorsy scent, a blend of lavender and sage, of man and nature.
    She met his gaze and noticed the brown and gold pattern. Tiger’s-eye, she thought. Like the quartzstone Roman soldiers used to wear to protect them in battle.
    He moistened his lips, and her pulse went haywire. Was he going to kiss her?
    She knew she shouldn’t let him. But she was curious to taste him. One long, lingering jolt. One forbidden flavor.
    When he pinned her against the counter, she lifted her chin, daring him to do it, to take her mouth with his.
    But he didn’t. He grabbed her gun instead.
    Son of a bitch.
    She tried to stop him, but within seconds he’d confiscated her 9mm and ditched it, right along with the SIG he carried. Both guns went sliding across the vinyl floor, out of sight and out of reach. This wasn’t an armed battle. This was street fighting, a down-and-dirty brawl.
    Only he wasn’t hurting her. If anything, she was simply being restrained.
    She knew how to punch, how to kick, how land well-aimed blows. But her moves didn’t work on him.
    Joyce gritted her teeth and attempted a stomp that was supposed to bring down a giant, someone as big as Kyle.
    For all the good it did.
    He took her down instead. “You’re blowing it, Detective.”
    He landed on top of her, nailing her to the floor.He kept her there, under him, his tiger’s-eye eyes boring into hers. She couldn’t move her arms; she couldn’t even lift her pelvis a fraction.
    But the weight of his body felt good.
    Much too good.
    â€œGet off me, Kyle.”
    He didn’t listen. He continued looking at her. Was this another trick? At this point, she still wanted him to kiss her. Softly. Gently. Yet she wanted to shred his clothes, too. To snap and bite and leave marks on his soap-scented skin.
    Nothing in her brain made any sense.
    â€œTell me what’s wrong.” He climbed off her, ending the exercise, freeing her from his bond. “Tell me what’s going on in your life.”
    Caught off guard, she sat up and noticed he was sitting on the floor, too. “We already discussed that.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t tell me a thing.”
    â€œIt’s personal.” She wasn’t about to admit that her biological clock was ticking like a bomb. For Joyce, it wasn’t a natural feeling. She hated the nesting urges inside her, the marriage/baby lust interfering with her job, with everything that used to make her happy. Being a wife and mother had never been part of her agenda. Yet it had begun to take over, like a horror-movie body snatcher.
    â€œAre you sure it’s something you can fight your way out of?” he asked.
    â€œYes.” It had to be, she thought. Because she didn’t intend to let those urges destroy her. Nor did she intend to cater to them, to marry the first romantic bonehead that came along and have his babies.
    Speaking of boneheads…
    Kyle stretched his legs and tapped the soles of her shoes with his. “Are you impressed?”
    â€œWith what?” She pushed back, pressing on his knee-high moccasins. They held no adornment. No fringe, no tiny beading, no colorful paint. “You?”
    â€œI stole your gun, cop-girl.”
    â€œAnd you can return it now, cheater-boy.”
    â€œI didn’t cheat.”
    Joyce couldn’t believe they were playing footsies, flirting like a couple of middle school kids. She tried to quit, but he continued, so she did too, kicking him a little harder. “You pretended you were going to kiss me.”
    â€œIt’s not my fault you fell for that.”
    No, it was hers. And she wouldn’t let it happen again.
    Suddenly he stopped moving and said