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working all afternoon.”
    â€œYeah. Surrounded by food every day and not one morsel can we sneak into our mouths without Ethan ripping us a new one.”
    She snickered. “That’s what I pay him the big bucks for—to be my food nazi.”
    â€œWell, he’s doing a damned fine job.” He liked this. Just being with Anna, talking. Enjoying her closeness. “Want to grab a slice of pizza from that place on the next block?”
    â€œOoh, I love their pizza! The family who owns it makes everything from scratch, and the food is fantastic.”
    â€œThey’re one of my favorites, too. Let’s do it.”
    They ended up sharing a whole pie, pigging out. Or rather, he ate most of it while listening to Anna talk about growing up with a set of parents who only saw things in black and white and no siblings to take the heat off. According to Anna, she and her mother were as polar opposite as mother and daughter could be, sometimes a source of friction between them. She loved her mother, though, and was looking forward to her visit from Baltimore in spite of all that.
    After they were done eating, they strolled casually along, this time with Anna pumping him about his nonexistent time at the law firm and why he decided to become a prep chef. The conversation was uncomfortable to say the least—for once in his career, he hated lying to a potential suspect, even for the greater good of busting a drug ring.
    â€œI just got tired of the strain, the pressure to claw my way to the top and stay there.” He shrugged. “Cooking has always been a passion of mine, so I went for it.”
    A greater lie had never passed his lips. Gray couldn’t fix Hamburger Helper without reading the directions three times. Le Cordon Bleu had been thrilled to get rid of him when his crash course for the undercover job was done.
    Thankfully, Anna seemed to accept his story without question, and he was able to relax again. The conversation swung to more innocuous topics, like Anna’s being a cat lover but not having much time for a pet.
    â€œI think you should go for it. Cats don’t need a lot of attention like dogs do.”
    She smiled, kept talking. He wasn’t aware of much more than her lithe body next to his, the way her round, tight rear end looked sensational in her black pants, how her classy, high-heeled boots made her legs seem a mile long.
    Around the corner from home, they stopped to buy a bottle of red wine. Arriving at her apartment door, he could hardly contain his excitement when she turned to him and smiled.
    â€œReady to relax at my place for a while?”
    â€œI’d love nothing better than to spend more time with you.”
    And among all the lies he’d told tonight, that was the one big truth he hoped she would remember when the shit hit the fan.

3
    She knew what she wanted tonight, and there was no turning back from her decision.
    It had been far too long since she’d let a man into her apartment. Her life. Whether Gray was Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now remained to be seen. But the attraction was undeniable.
    What a mild word,
attraction
. In truth, she’d been on a slow burn all evening that had become a fire. She wanted this man to put it out—again and again.
    Taking the wine from him, she went into the kitchen, set the bottle on the counter, and retrieved two glasses. She was reaching for the electric bottle opener when a hard male body pressed into her from behind and strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist. His lips nuzzled at her neck and jaw, peppering her with kisses that made gooseflesh break out all over her.
    â€œWhat do you say we save the wine for later?”
    Long fingers worked under the edge of her blouse, skimmed her belly. Then traveled upward to tease at the lacy cup of her bra and the swell of one breast. Abandoning the wine, she relaxed into him, loving his hands on her skin.
    â€œWhat do you want? Tell me,” he