Page 48 of Bachelor Cop Finally Caught? (Hot off the Press! 2)

It was just after 9:00 p.m. when someone knocked on his front door. Remembering that his last unexpected visitor had been his niece, he hurried to answer, hoping Polly hadn’t stumbled into further trouble.

His caller wasn’t Polly.

Giving him a breezy smile that didn’t quite match the expression in her eyes, Lindsey held out a paper plate covered with a paper napkin. “You left before Marjorie brought out the food. I brought you some treats.”

He was well aware that the snacks weren’t the reason she had come to him. He wondered how much courage it had taken for her to make the overture. He wasn’t even sure he had enough to take her up on it.

He saw the faintest flicker of uncertainty cross her face—as if she’d read the doubt in his expression. And he knew he wouldn’t be turning her away. “Come in,” he said, moving out of the doorway.

She seemed to square her shoulders before she complied. Coming to a stop in the living room, she glanced around with open curiosity, making Dan realize that she hadn’t visited him here since shortly after he’d moved in nearly two and a half years earlier.

Trying to see the place through her eyes, he almost grimaced. He hadn’t done much in the way of decorating. The furniture was plain and functional, and the walls were bare of decoration. A state-of-the-art computer system rested on a desk in one corner of the room, next to a small, overflowing bookcase. The place looked more like a temporary office than a home. Maybe because that was the way he tended to think about it.

He looked at her again. She still wore the skimpy, jewel-toned striped sweater and low-slung, boot-cut jeans she’d worn to the party. As far as he was concerned, this outfit was every bit as alluring as the sexy green dress she’d worn to the March Mixer or the even more blatantly seductive black dress she’d had on that night at Gaylord’s.

He realized abruptly that she was still holding the plate of snacks from the party. “Here, let me take that.”

He set the plate on the coffee table and then stuck his hands in his pockets because he didn’t know what else to do with them. “I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Decaf. Would you like a cup?”

She sat on the couch and draped an arm across the back. “Coffee sounds good.”

It was obvious that she was in no hurry to leave. She looked completely at ease reclining so comfortably on his couch; he wondered just how difficult it was for her to maintain that casual pose. He couldn’t seem to manage it, himself.

It only took a few minutes to fetch two mugs of coffee from his tiny, rarely used kitchen. He knew how Lindsey drank hers—with just a touch of milk—so he didn’t bother asking. Setting both cups on the coffee table, he sat next to her on the couch. “What did you bring?” he asked, lifting the paper napkin from the plate she’d brought—a blatant delaying tactic.

“A stack of those pecan fudge balls you like so much.”

He smiled in anticipation. “No one makes these better than Marjorie. Do you want one?”

“Thanks, but I ate way too many of them before I left the party.”

He popped a candy into his mouth, savoring the taste. He’d always had a predilection for chocolate. He was just starting to acknowledge an even more compelling weakness for Lindsey.

She watched him over the rim of her mug as she sipped her coffee. He held his own mug cradled loosely in his hands, searching his mind for something innocuous to say. Nothing came to him right offhand. Lindsey set her mug on the table, then picked up another piece of fudge. “You aren’t going to stop with just one, are you?”

“I’m trying to exercise self control.”

The entendre made her smile as she lifted the candy to his mouth. “Surely it’s okay to give in to temptation every once in a while.”

He let her pop the candy into his mouth. Her fingertips lingered against his lips for a moment, brushing across them like a fleeting kiss. He almost choked on the fudge. He was forced to wash it down with a gulp of coffee.

“Am I making you nervous again?” she asked in a murmur.

“No.” Finally surrendering to the instincts he’d been fighting, he set his coffee mug beside hers and then turned to reach for her. “But maybe you should be nervous.”

“You don’t scare me, Dan Meadows,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Even though he knew he should, he didn’t try to argue with her any further. She wouldn’t have listened to him, anyway.

The kiss flavored with chocolate and coffee, lasted a very long time. When it finally ended

, their relationship had changed irrevocably.

Maybe Lindsey should have spent more time getting to know Dr. McAdoo. Probably that would have been the wisest, most logical decision for her to make. But she’d chosen to come to Dan instead. And for once he wasn’t going to try to change her mind.

He wasn’t a saint. And this time Lindsey had pushed his willpower beyond its limits.

A surge of strength carried him to his feet, Lindsey held high against his chest. She gave a laughing gasp and clung to him, her gaze locked trustingly with his.

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