Read Online Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too by Nancy Martin - Free Book Online Page B

and my hands into places they shouldn’t go. Every nerve came alive like tinder to a spark. It was the joy of being with someone who didn’t need to talk, just knew me and what I needed.
    In another instant he had me off my feet with my back jammed against the door. He nudged my knees apart and touched me so surely that I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t stop the painfully delicious combustion of heat and desire inside myself. A torrent of pent-up energy and emotion swelled, and when it burst, it was with stars and noise and the sheer joy at being alive.
    I gasped and held on to his shoulders, trying to catch my breath again, but it came out in a stupid sob.
    â€œI know,” he whispered against my hair, holding me close, but more gently. He smelled of rich food and smuggled cigars and his own familiar, heady scent. His mouth had tasted of expensive scotch. I could feel his heartbeat, but my pulse was twice as fast.
    â€œIt’s happening again.”
    He slid one hand up my back, soothing away the tension that had seized me since we’d come upon Zell Orcutt’s body that afternoon. He said, “I don’t know why you attract so many dead men, but you do.”
    With my eyes closed, I put my cheek against his rough one, awash with relief and something dangerously close to love. “Are you counting Richard in that group?”
    â€œYou bet.” I felt him grin. “Do the two of you do this sort of thing often?”
    I hiccuped a laugh. “Does your new girlfriend?”
    â€œShe’s not my girlfriend.”
    â€œDoes she know that?”
    I felt his smile again. “Maybe not.”
    I pulled away by a few centimeters and looked up into his face, so familiar and yet not anymore. I tried to find something specific that was new and decided he’d lost a few pounds. His body felt tighter. Still good, but harder. Our minds seemed to work just as before, though. He could read me, know my feelings and my fears.
    For an instant, it didn’t matter what had come between us.
    But then it was back.
    â€œMichael, this isn’t—”
    â€œSex in a phone booth doesn’t mean anything?”
    â€œNo. It’s just—sex. If you want me to—”
    He stopped my hand. “Let’s not make this any messier than it already is.” He touched my cheek. “Do you feel better now?”
    â€œYes.” I sighed to dispel the tension in my chest. “And no.”
    â€œThe dead guy. Is he somebody you care about?”
    â€œHe was a pretty awful person, as a matter of fact.”
    â€œI guess that’s good. Maybe you’ll keep your nose out of this one?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIs that a promise?”
    I steeled myself. “I don’t think I need to make any promises to you. We both know they’re not binding.”
    He sighed, too, and let me pull away. “Nora. I didn’t think things would go this way when we—when you and I were together.”
    I tried to put my clothes back where they should be. “I thought you wanted a different kind of life.”
    â€œI did. It just went the other way.”
    â€œYou have choices, you know. You’re making a good living. I see your gas stations everywhere now, and surely your other businesses are booming, too.”
    â€œIt’s not about the money.”
    â€œThen what is it? Misplaced loyalty?”
    â€œIt’s complicated.”
    I couldn’t fathom what he was doing. “Michael,” I said, “I can’t be with you when you’re this other person. Not if you’re a criminal.”
    He absorbed that and discarded the part he didn’t need to hear again. “So you still think about us?”
    â€œMichael—”
    â€œForget I asked.” He closed his eyes and braced his shoulder against the opposite wall, putting dead air between us. “I know what you want. A house in the suburbs with