Desire's Edge by Eve Berlin Page A

masculine lushness of his mouth. She couldn’t wait until they were alone, until he would kiss her again. Had it only been that morning? She’d nearly forgotten being angry with him, thinking they couldn’t see each other anymore. She couldn’t wait. Couldn’t imagine never feeling his touch again.
    He muttered under his breath as his cell phone went off. “Damn it. Sorry; I have to take this.” He put the phone to his ear.
    “This is Dante . . . Hi, Ruby . . . What? . . . No, I haven’t forgotten. I’m on my way back now. Give me fifteen minutes.”
    He hung up and said to Kara, “I did forget. You’re very distracting. Not that I mind, but I have a meeting with Ed Tate to go over the cases he’s bringing me in on. And they warned me it’ll probably be a late night. Which makes me realize we’ll have to wait to get together. And tomorrow night I’m already booked.”
    “Oh. Of course.”
    She didn’t like the enormous surge of disappointment that filtered through her.
    He’s just a guy. Just sex.
    She knew that was a lie. One she wasn’t ready to face.
    He reached out, took her hand, brushed his thumb over her palm. Heat rippled over her skin. “Wednesday night, then,” he said, another command.
    “Wednesday is good.”
    He smiled at her once more. “Excellent.”
    He paid and they left, going outside, into the cool January afternoon. The sky was gray and heavy with impending rain, but luckily it hadn’t started yet. She’d been in too much of a hurry when she’d left the office to meet Dante to think of taking her umbrella. Too excited, a little annoyed at being summoned by him. The annoyance had disappeared as if it had never existed.
    Dante hailed a cab and held the door for her. “I’m assuming you’d like to keep things quiet. I’ll get another one.”
    “Thank you. For lunch. And for being mindful of . . . my reputation.” She laughed. “God, I sound like some sort of fifties debutante.”
    He smiled, leaned in and kissed her cheek, just a brief brush of his lips. She was burning up inside immediately. “You’re welcome. I’ll see you back at the office. And at my place Wednesday night. Be there at seven.”
    She nodded, the aching desire in her body muting her.
    Dante helped her into the cab and she rode back to work, crossing and uncrossing her legs, trying to ease the sharp, pulsing need between her thighs his kiss had left her with.
    It’s only two days .
    Those two days were going to seem like an eternity.
    Back to her friendly vibrator, she supposed. But she knew it was going to do nothing more than take the merest edge off. Nothing was going to help calm the heat raging through her system. Nothing but Dante’s touch.
    Dante .
    She shouldn’t want him this much. She certainly shouldn’t need him. But she did. She was afraid that it was more than his demanding kisses, his clever touch. The way he knew what she needed instinctively. The kinky and amazing sex. But she was more afraid to stop and really think it all through. Because if she did, she’d have to face the fact that Dante De Matteo was a man she could fall for.
    She had no intention of falling for anyone. She’d done a very good job of that so far. Even with Jake, it had been more about it being easy. Something they had both sort of slipped into, more than anything. It had been convenient.
    There was nothing convenient about Dante. He challenged her.
    She loved that about him.
    Still, that didn’t mean she was going to fall for him. She wasn’t that kind of girl. Never had been. Never would be.
    Just keep telling yourself that .

seven
     

     
    Kara didn’t know how she’d gotten through the last two days. On Monday Dante had disappeared into Ed Tate’s office after her lunch with him and they were still in there when she’d left work.
    Yesterday Dante had sent her a text message asking for her private e-mail, and she’d given it to him, but she hadn’t heard from him since. Now it was the end of their