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the living area. Bookcases lined most of the walls. It was simple, but it was home.
    “Excuse me.” She brushed past him in the short hall.
    He grunted. “I’d forgotten how small it was.”
    Ignoring his rudeness, she dropped her bag on the couch and then removed it to place it on the floor. “You’ll sleep here. It pulls out.”
    “Yeah. I remember. That time I came down with the flu.” He eyed the couch ruefully. “Have you had the mattress replaced?”
    “No.” Why would she do that? Nobody had slept on it since.
    “It’s lumpy as hell.” His attention moved to her bed. At his height he’d be able to see over the shoji screen.
    Alex moved toward her sleeping area. “You’re not sleeping with me.”
    “All right. Then you take the couch.”
    “Ha ha.” She peeked around the screen as she unbuttoned her polo.
    One dark-red brow raised, he asked, “Do I look like I’m kidding?”
    “Simon…”
    He stalked around the screen and she retreated until the backs of her thighs bumped against the bed.
    “You’re short. You’d fit better on the couch.”
    “I’m not sleeping on the couch.” She placed her hands on her hips.
    “Then I’ll go home.” He shrugged. “Your choice.”
    Her chin popped up. “Leave this apartment or my sight at any time and I’ll arrest you before you get half a block.”
    “Ought to be interesting when we go out to breakfast and you come to the men’s room with me.”
    “Go before we leave or don’t go at all.” They both knew it was a ridiculous threat, but she refused to acknowledge the blunder.
    “We could sleep together.” He studied the bed behind her. “You know it’s big enough.”
    The double entendre sent a fluttering through Alex’s lower abdomen. Letting the air out of her lungs slowly, she pushed Simon away with two fingers. His skin fairly sizzled beneath her fingertips, radiating the same heat that used to warm her on chilly winter nights. She snatched her hand away. He retreated a step, but not far enough.
    “The couch, Simon. Or the floor. Your choice.” With a toss of her head, she reached up and pulled the pins from her hair. Dark locks cascaded around her shoulders. Some of the pins fell to the floor, making light metallic plinks against the wood.
    In the mirror, Alex saw Simon widen his eyes. “Oh thank God.”
    “What?” Alex combed her fingers against her scalp.
    “I thought you’d cut it.” Simon focused on her hair with an obvious appreciation she’d never thought to witness again. “That knot was so tight.”
    Masking her delight, she rolled her eyes and dropped her badge and cuffs on her dresser. “Oh please.”
    A quiet thrill passed through her at the exchange. It felt so natural and normal. Almost as if they’d never broken up or grown apart. Careful there , she reminded herself as she plucked pins from the floor. She straightened with the intent to put them in the little jar on her dresser. A wall of man pressed up against her back made her freeze. Simon was behind her and she hadn’t heard him move.
    “You have the right to remain silent.” His voice was low and hot in her ear.
    Alex jumped, adrenaline coursing from behind her navel to every limb. Arousal unbalancing her body and mind, she whirled to fight him but he had the advantage in position, weight and speed. Before she knew how he did it, she lay face up, both wrists cuffed to the headboard above her head.

Chapter Three
     
    “Clothes on or off?” Simon straddled a shocked Alexandra.
    Pale skin pinked with surprise, mouth forming a little O , she blinked the dark fringe of her lashes several times before she spoke.
    “Let me go,” she said, breathless.
    “No.” He withdrew her gun from its holster and leaned over to place it in the open gun safe under her nightstand.
    Breath coming harder, she tilted her chin upward and examined the cuffs. He used her distraction to run his gaze down the elegant swoop of her neck to the hills of softly rounded flesh