Ryan breathed out deeply, as he washed the suds from his hair, and rinsed off his body. That was his dream woman.
For now though, he had a busy day ahead of him, so he dried off and dressed, pulling on boxers, charcoal gray slacks, and a crisp button-down. He scanned the neckwear dangling on his tie hanger. A good two dozen ties to choose from, but he grabbed an emerald green one, flashing back to something his brother-in-law’s brother, Clay, had said to him when they’d chatted at a family event a week ago.
“A man always needs a lucky tie.”
Ryan couldn’t agree more.
He stepped in front of the mirror in his bathroom, knotting his tie, and tightening it.
After one hell of an unlucky past, he could sure use some luck today.
CHAPTER FOUR
As he turned into the parking lot at municipal headquarters, the tightness in his chest intensified, like a coil. He took a deep, fueling breath and did his best to narrow his focus to doing everything he could in the next hour to figure out if the guilt or innocence of someone he loved was changing. To protect his secrets even if he was asked to serve them up. To learn what the fuck the detective knew about his family that he didn’t know.
He cut the engine, shut the door, then headed around the corner. As soon as he reached the sidewalk in front of the building, he nearly stopped in his tracks, because…
Holy shit.
She was a vision from heaven.
If heaven delivered sinfully sexy women right to the goddamn street in front of him.
* * *
She thanked the valet and slid into the front seat of her sleek Aston Martin, loving the feel of the leather seats, and the firm grip of the steering wheel. With her big white sunglasses shielding her blue eyes from the late afternoon rays, she pulled onto the Strip, weaving through traffic as she drove to the building where her brother, a homicide detective, worked. John would surely be busy, questioning suspects, assembling clues, and trying to crack cases wide open.
Briefly, she wondered what he’d be working on today, who he’d be meeting with, and how he’d apply his single-minded focus to keeping the streets of Vegas safe. Then, the thought flitted away when a prime parking spot outside the municipal building opened up. She nabbed it, and turned off the engine. She reached for her purse to grab a small notepad that had slipped out of it on the front seat. As she straightened her spine, she peered over the top of her sunglasses, and mouthed ‘oh my.’
A delicious tingle raced through her, between her breasts and down to her belly.
One of the most handsome men she’d ever seen in her life had just stepped out of a truck in the parking lot. He had light brown hair and wore the kind of clothes that made it clear he had a strong chest, muscular arms, and a flat stomach.
Probably a toned one too.
That tingle turned into sparks that raced through her bloodstream.
As she opened the car door, she allowed herself to gaze at the gorgeous man, drinking him in, from the aviator shades, to the crisp shirt, to the hint of a smile.
Then, she realized, he was looking at her too.
This was why she never left home without her best lingerie on. You never knew when it would bring you this kind of good fortune. Because fortune was smiling on her afternoon.
CHAPTER FIVE
The light was playing tricks on him.
The golden haze of the late afternoon sun, and its halo glow, was some kind of illusion. No way, no how, was it possible for anyone to be so gorgeous that she actually shimmered.
Mirage was the more plausible explanation for the platinum blonde stepping out of the Aston Martin at three o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday in July, looking as if she belonged in a gangster movie. She was the woman they all fought over. The woman who brought the men to their knees.
From the pinup dress, to the pouty lips, to the gleaming car that stretched a city block—or so it seemed—she was…
Glamorous. Sultry. Voluptuous.
Ryan’s fantasy woman.
This was lust at first sight. Pure, unadulterated lust knocking around in his chest and threatening to make matters in his slacks harder than he needed them to be right now.
But he was willing to deal with that problem because the woman could not be ignored. A groan rolled around in his throat as he stared shamelessly over the top of his shades. He walked along the palm-tree lined sidewalk that framed police headquarters, cycling through his best opening lines, even though he had a hunch a woman like that—a woman who wore a black dress with a cherry pattern and bright white sunglasses—had heard them all. Busty and bold enough to pull up to Vegas’s municipal building at midday looking like sin come to life, this woman wasn’t going to be wooed by lines or a standard come-here often?
With one hand on the car door, she glanced to the left, away from him, and pushed her sunglasses on top of her hair. In her other hand, she held a phone, a notepad, and a pen. She bumped her rear against the car door, shutting it with her ass.