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pal?”
    “Added flavor, I presume.” Erik tossed his partner a bag. “Well, here’s your Big Mac.”
    Daniels removed the wrapped hamburger and waved it towards Erik. “You know, if I had been the one to go in and destroy her basement, you’d be eating a cold burger tonight.”
    “As I recall, I lost the coin toss.”
    “Just watch your step. Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”
    “I haven’t forgotten a damn thing,” Erik snapped. He remembered clearly what happened the last time he’d let his guard down. “You just keep your eyes open for Becker.”
    “You don’t think she’d plan a meeting and a date in the same evening, do you?”
    Erik considered the possibility that Becker wouldn’t show up at all. Not at Victoria’s house. He’d spent the better part of the afternoon wracking his brain for answers to the many inconsistencies in this case. Something was wrong. Perhaps something else caused Becker’s quick turn around at the airport.
    “Call in to headquarters and have them review the security tapes from last night.”
    “Why?”
    “We might have the wrong woman. Tell them to check if another passenger wore the same flower.”
    “I wonder if you’d consider that if she didn’t want to jump your bones.”
    “Just make the frigging call,” Erik snapped.
    “Chill. It was a joke.”
    He rarely lost his temper over good-natured ribbing, but when it came to Victoria, he had no sense of humor. He opened the door of the van. Tucking a bottle of wine under his arm, he stepped onto the pavement. “And Daniels. You don’t need to listen with the headphones tonight.”
    The older man chuckled. “How else would I pass the time?”
    “Jackass,” Erik muttered. He slammed the door and strode down the quaint, tree-lined street. He filled his lungs with the clear, crisp autumn air. A refreshing change from the sleazier areas his work had taken him.
    Hunter green shutters and trim framed Victoria’s small white cottage house. A picket fence surrounded the property, and iron lanterns bordered the gate. A welcoming home in a quiet community. Put a wooden swing on that front porch and it would look like the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
    Jeez. What happened to his brain cells? This place wasn’t home, and it never would be. He lived in a series of hotels and he liked it that way. No strings, no ties, no hassles. So why had he conned the professor into opening her home to him twice in one day?
     
    * * * *
     
    Victoria sucked in a large gulp of air and opened the front door. Her practiced poise nearly deserted her. Erik, dressed in jeans, white Oxford shirt and leather jacket appeared the epitome of male sexuality. The porch light cast a glow over his hair and added a silver glint to his deep blue eyes. All in all, he looked breathtaking.
    “Something wrong?” he asked, as she stared in silence.
    “You look different in your clothes.” He chuckled, and she realized what she’d said. “Your street clothes, I mean.”
    “I knew what you meant.” He offered her a bottle of wine.
    “Thank you.” Their fingers touched for a brief moment, but the warmth lingered. The spicy scent of his aftershave heightened the impulses from her olfactory nerves. Oh, darn, Victoria, forget the scientific reason, the man just smells good.
    After a few awkward seconds he asked, “May I come in?”
    “I’m sorry.” She stepped aside to allow him to enter. “You’ll have to forgive me. I seem to forget myself when you’re around.”
    Erik grinned. “That’s good.”
    “How so?”
    “Better than you being indifferent to my presence. At least from my point of view.”
    She would never suffer from indifference in his presence. Her hormones took over when she so much as thought about him. “Dinner’s not ready yet. I didn’t think you’d make it to Windsor and back that quickly. Especially during rush hour.”
    “Windsor?” he repeated.
    “Didn’t you say you lived outside of