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He nodded His hands went to his hips as he looked over as left "Considering the size of the town, how large were the classes?"

"Five to fifteen students The owners used to be professional dancers People came from all over the country to study with them" She pointed at the quaint ements for out-of-towners with the Daniels fa into those for on that"

Jared nodded "Morales is on it, then"

At her questioning glance, he filled in, "My partner"

She watched hi brick walls, his cool cop’s eyes taking in everything Her chest tightened as her past combined with her present, but she put it aside and answered his questions

Nearly an hour later, he glanced at his watch and pointed out, "It’s quarter to six"

There was a wealth of promise in those words and the heat in his eyes

Darcy nodded He would dull the pain, at least for a little while "Let’s go"

THEY MADE A quick stop at Darcy’s office, where she grabbed the files Jared had perused earlier and swapped out her work truck for a convertible BMW that was incongruous in a town filled with pickups andno doubts or trepidation "Your place or mine?"

"Dinner first?" he asked, because he wasn’t a completely one-track-o-round with her to be his last If he was going to ignore his better sense, he ht as well do it all the way

"Dinner later"

Fuck yeah "Your place, then Mine is a ht" She backed up with speedy precision, and the sleek sports car purred out of the parking lot

"Drugstore" He lanced at hiot to the store quick but declined to go in with him "It’ll be all over town in a half hour anyway, but I’d rather not encourage the spread if I can help it"

Once he got inside the store, he realized quickly that she hadn’t been kidding The woaze and sht that rankled If he’d been any less impatient, he would have had Darcy drive him to the next town to buy condoms As it was, he made it in and out of the store in less than tenon the floorboard between his feet when he slid back into the passenger seat Darcy was turning back onto the street before he got his seat belt on

Jared leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes, relishing the slow siet into a wo time He was also inordinately curious about Darcy’s ho have you lived in Lion’s Bay?"

"My whole life, except for a brief stint around college"

There was so in her voice that made him open his eyes and look at her She’d released her ponytail fro the chocolate strands to whip around in the evening air Her head was tilted in a way that could be described only as deeply sensual She sought the feel of the wind rushing over her skin and through her hair as she would a lover’s caresses

He took a deep, slow breath Darcy was clearly a tactile wo to touch every inch of her, inside and out

They pulled up to a small, dated, one-story ranch-style home It was so diaravitating to that he thought they’d made another pit stop at first Then she pulled into the carport on the side of the house

He frowned She was otten that impression from the way she decorated her office and from the car she drove But the house she lived in was retro and uninspired There was a story there He’d dig it out

He followed her to the back door with a deliberatelyout the lastin the world like the buildup to a as the first of ht

Darcy preceded hi set of three steps and a sh the door before he reached the tiny staircase He cli harder with every step he took

When he reached the threshold of the open door, he paused Took another deep breath Let it out He absorbed the fact that so the sexy fire inspector had become damn near necessary to his sanity

On an intellectual level, he understood the pull between the hu how best to hunt and kill men He ell aware that they were all animals at their core, creatures of instinct and hormonal impetuses He and Darcy had an explosive attraction at that base level, and neither of the it gracefully He needed control and unadulterated reason, and Darcy was fucking with both of those He was hanging on by a thread, and knowing that it was going to snap at any second had hiy and frustrated