“Why are we stopping?”
“Up here.” He patted the seat and Lana maneuvered herself around his hips until she was straddling the bike in front of him.
“We’re gonna play a game,” he said coolly. “It’s called ten questions. I ask. You answer. Usually the game is played with twenty questions, but I don’t think I’ll be able to hold out that long with you looking at me like you’re needing something I’m burning to give.”
Lana swallowed hard. She didn’t know what secrets he was after and she sure as hell wasn’t going to volunteer them.
Maybe a diversion…
She leaned up and brushed her lips over his. “I was kinda hoping we were stopping in the dark, romantic moonlit field for another reason,” she breathed.
His gaze dropped to her mouth and his hand slid around her waist. She knew that look only too well. Maybe she would get away with no questions at all.
“In time.” The heat dimmed in his eyes. “But I’ve been getting the feeling I don’t really know you, and that problem needs to be remedied before I tie you to my bike and make you scream with pleasure.”
“Modest.”
“Always.”
She bit her lip to suppress a smile. “Too bad it won’t work. Tying girls to your bike is nice in theory, but not in practice.”
James raised an eyebrow, and she sighed and patted his thigh. “You would have to balance me and the bike and…” she blushed, “…you know…perform.”
“Never had a performance issue, babe. No matter where I was or what I was doing.”
Lana snorted. “Good to know.”
James gave her a curt nod and then settled her farther back on the seat. “Question one: How is it you know so much about bikers?”
Damn. She wasn’t being seductive enough. She unzipped her jacket, dragging the zipper inch by inch over her chest as she considered her words. No lies, but lots of omissions. “I used to go out with a guy who was a biker. It was a long time ago.”
James’s eyes fixed on her hands as she pulled the jacket apart. She cupped her breasts over her leather corset, offering them up for his touching pleasure.
“I know what you’re doing.” His voice was hoarse, husky with need. “You’re trying to distract me.”
Lana glanced down at the bulge in his leathers. “Seems to be working.”
He caught her hand as she reached down to touch him and shook his head. “Question two: the suitcase. It’s been burning a hole in my brain. Who were you running from?”
She gritted her teeth and tried to think of something that wasn’t a lie but that wouldn’t send him raging on a suicide mission down to Seattle. “I thought I might have been recognized from the time I went out with the biker. I wanted to leave that…embarrassing part of my life behind me so desperately the thought of seeing anyone from those days freaked me out and I wanted to get out of town. Jackie convinced me I was overreacting.”
She nibbled his bottom lip and frowned when he didn’t open for her. Come on. She wasn’t that bad at seduction.
James stiffened and pulled away. “Not done yet, babe. Dinner first, then dessert. Question three: What aren’t you telling me?”
Lana groaned inwardly. She should’ve known. He wasn’t one of the Lower Mainland’s top homicide cops without reason, and she was already well acquainted with his interrogation techniques. But right now he would be expecting evasion, so she would give him honesty.
“Yes, there’s more. But you don’t need to know more. That Lana is gone. That past is past.”
Well, not total honesty. Her past was still inked into her skin. She knew, without a doubt, she could never tell him what the mark meant. Aside from the utter humiliation, she might put him in a position that could compromise his assignment—or even his life—if he decided to jump on his motorcycle and ride down to Seattle, spoiling for a fight. Not only that, but Rex’s comment had raised her uncertainty again. Had he seen the mark? Recognized it? Was the choice he offered really a threat?
She eased herself closer to James’s broad, muscular chest and leaned up to nuzzle his jaw, scratchy with a five o’clock shadow. James hissed in a breath, but this time he didn’t pull away.
“I’m not done with the questions.” His low, husky growl betrayed his desire.
Hands on his shoulders, she trailed her tongue over the seam of his lips. “I’m done with the answers.”
“Babe.” He grunted his disapproval and Lana sighed.
“Okay, one more.”
His gaze slanted down at her. “Question four: What happened when you went to find Jackie? Something or someone scared you. I could see it in your face and your heart was beating a mile a minute.”