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  Roman scanned the box, the contents, the ribbon, the care that went into the presentation, which was a good representation of the woman he barely knew. “Yes, she is. But it can’t go anywhere. You know the policy and—”

  “I don’t see any problem with you calling her to say thank you,” the Captain said around a forkful of food. He closed his eyes to savor the moment, causing Roman to growl, “I’ll get on that … right after you get your paws out of my cobbler!”

  Captain Austin chuckled all the way to his office, ignoring the envious looks everyone threw his way.

  Roman quickly repackaged his gift and stared at the phone for a few moments. Internal Affairs were stringent about the types of gifts they could receive and any questionable interaction with the public. Chicago police were coming under fire in a major way, but his unit and the entire department had stayed clear of things—not even flouting the boundaries at any given time. He glanced at the cobbler, and it brought to mind the first day that he arrived at his foster parents home.

  The brown skinned woman, with a houseful of children from every ethnic background, made him feel welcome by taking him into the kitchen, sliding a hot meal in front of him, then explaining that no matter where he’d been and what he’d been through, he was now in a place she’d love for him to call home. The laughter of the other children echoed around him, which was a far cry from what he’d experienced in other places. But it was when she placed a hand over his, and said, “You’re going to be all right. If you choose to be all right. Life might have taken you here and there, but here, you’ll learn how to choose what you want in life and go after it.”

  She followed the meal and that wonderful declaration by sharing a healthy portion of peach cobbler with him, while telling him stories that brought on the first real laughter he’d had in months and set his heart at ease. Mama Joyce was right about so many other things. And he, a Latino born on the east side of Chicago, was grateful for her loving touch and pure heart.

  Elise was just as warm as that wonderful woman who had thrown him, and all of his multi-ethnic brothers and sisters, a life-line. Even with Elise’s teary eyes, her heart-shaped face, sensual cheek bones, generous mouth, almond-shaped eyes, and honey skin had Roman wanting to know if she was beautiful all over. But the complex mixture of vulnerability and strength was the most compelling thing about her—as if she held the weight of the world on her shoulders but still had to put on a brave face.

  I don’t see any problem with you calling her to say thank you.

  Roman snatched the phone from the cradle and felt a thrum of pleasure whip through him when she answered on the second ring.

  “Hey, Officer Montgomery.”

  “Hey yourself, Ms. Payne. I hear congratulations are in order.”

  “Yes,” Elise cheered. “I am now a permanent legal secretary.”

  “That’s awesome,” he crowed. “And speaking of awesome.” He flaked off a piece of the crust and popped it into his mouth. “This peach cobbler is a beautiful thing!”

  “I’m glad you like it,” she said with a throaty chuckle. “I was going to send a whole meal, but I didn’t think you’d be interest—”

  “What did you cook?” he said, snapping his attention away from the dessert.

  She rattled off the contents of a soul food dinner, and his stomach instantly said, You’d better get some of that too! But his mind said, no, you shouldn’t. Just thank her and be done.

  “I get off in thirty minutes,” he said ignoring his mental filters. “Too late to swing by?”

  “Not at all,” she replied. “Did you want a plate to go, or would you prefer to dine in?”

  All thoughts of keeping things strictly professional went for a long walk on a short pier. The woman had soul food—a home cooked meal waiting on the stove. Roman was about to come in for an emergency landing!!! And he would see her one last time.

  “I’d like to have dinner with you, if that’s not too much trouble.”

  “No trouble at all.” He could feel her smile through the phone. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  Chapter 5

  The man was coming to dinner. Dinner!

  Elise placed the phone on the cradle and tried to get her heart rate back to a normal pace. She put a low fire under three of the pots, slid two pans in the oven, and did a quick sweep of the area, and quickly organized the paper work scattered over the kitchen table.

  When she arrived home the previous day, she had pulled out her business plan, list of former contacts, a marketing plan and went to work. Six hours later, she had a plan of attack for making sure she would get to a place again where doing something she loved would bring her enough financial security that she would not need to work for anyone else.

  Then she pulled things together to make that peach cobbler, praying that Roman was the type of man who loved it as much as she did. Well, it must have hit the spot. The last time she had a man willingly in her home or in her bed was … well, Moses had been bringing down those tablets with the Ten Commandments!

  Elise ran back down the stairs and removed the papers she had on the dining room table—all the evidence of the hard work she had put in trying to get her personal and business affairs in order. The day before, none of her creditors or former clients had wanted to work with her.

  While she was caring for her twin sister, Cecil took that opportunity to dismantle her entire life, her hard won success, and her family loyalty all because he felt neglected. Cecil committed sabotage at every turn. He ripped through her bank accounts—both business and private, then shut down her company’s website, purposely neglected to pay bills, shut off her business phone lines.

  Once Elise realized what he had done, she confronted him. Then Cecil got mean—real mean—physically abusive mean. To add insult to injury, he was causing her even more trouble now all because she had the nerve to leave him the first time his fists had landed her in the hospital.

  Elise had left with just her son and the clothes on their backs. After that, everything that could hit the fan—did. And Elise was still covered in a great deal of it. Getting this position would mean a new beginning, a chance to make things better, and a way to get her life back before she made the mistake of marrying the wrong man.

  Now, with a few strategic phone calls, not only was she poised to be back in the personal finances saddle, but her former clients were willing to give her the second chance that her ex-husband never wanted her to have. The rest, she’d tackle much later. Right now, she had more pressing business at hand.

  Dinner with Officer Roman Montgomery. The golden Adonis.

  Elise tore up the stairs, aiming to trade her pajamas for an outfit that was more “come hither” but not quite “come and get it.”

  She was putting the final touches on the dining room table when the doorbell rang. Her heart dropped into her belly. She jetted to the full length mirror and sized up her appearance. Elise had settled for a simple red dress, classic black pumps, silver earrings and a necklace to match. To that she added a light dusting of make-up and a dash of Celebrate perfume in all the right places.

  Elise opened the door to find Officer Montgomery holding a purple Cymbidium orchid plant. “This is beautiful,” she said softly, then locked in on her white box in his other hand. “You couldn’t leave that at work?”

  “And be thrown in jail tomorrow if it came up missing?”

  She laughed, stepping aside to allow him inside.

  “My captain already blackmailed me for a slice.”

  “Blackmail?” She frowned up at him, gesturing for him to follow her toward the dining room. “Isn’t that like … illegal?”

  “You’re asking me or telling me?” His gaze swept across her—head to toe—and appreciation lit within those dark brown eyes. “You look absolutely beautiful.”

  “Well, you don’t look so bad yourself.”

  “Must be the uniform,” he said, giving her the cobbler to set on the counter as he removed his protective v
est and gun holster and set them on top of the fridge.

  She set the plant on the kitchen table and said, “Uniforms don’t impress me one way or the other.” Elisa gave him a flirty smile. “But the man wearing it…” She left the comment hanging in the air between them and turned toward the plant. “I’m going to take this to work. It’ll brighten up my desk.”

  He washed his hands at the sink, taking a sweeping look at her kitchen. “Your place is nice.”

  “Thank you,” she smiled over to him again.

  Moments later, they fixed their plates, and he held out her chair. Once he was settled across from her he asked, “How was your first day at work?”

  Elise couldn’t help the elation that soared through her. “Awesome! I couldn’t have picked a better position if I tried,” she said. “The partner has a very busy schedule—he’s a traveler. But the associates—a blonde workaholic, a night owl with organization issues, and a fresh out of law school rookie—are die-hard work horses, but they’ve been real cool about how they want things done.”

  Roman nodded his attention to the conversation but did not miss a beat in getting his eat on. Elise almost wanted to laugh at how he looked at his food like he had just won the lottery and was staring at the winning numbers.

  She enjoyed her meal, not missing something about Roman. He ate in the opposite way that she did. Elise liked eating one entrée at a time. All the greens, then onto finishing off her mac and cheese and so forth. Not Roman. His appetite called for the full taste bud experience. He stabbed his greens, mac and cheese then his potato salad and savored all of it at once. It was kind of sexy.

  Roman commanded all her attention when he took a bite of her fried chicken.

  Is he purring?

  “I thought your peach cobbler was euphoric, but this right here …” He shook his head and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Woman, are you trying to make me fall in love with you?”

  “If I could do that with a single meal, then you were an easy target from the word go.”

  Roman roared with laughter. “Touché.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” she said, giving him a wide smile. “Maybe when I fix Italian or Mexican, you can lose your mind, but I think we’ll be all right on this one.”

  “Maybe,” he said, and at that moment their gazes locked. The music flowed from old school R&B tunes to the Emilio Estefan remix of Lenny Kravitz’s Tell Me Mama. “Do you Salsa?” he asked, surprised by the choice of music.

  “I do enough to get by,” Elise confirmed taking another forkful of food to her mouth.

  Roman stood so fast, she blinked. His hand extended. “Shall we?”

  “I take it that you know what you’re doing,” Elise wiped her lips and rose from the table.

  “I do enough to get by,” he tossed back with a wink.

  Roman guided her flawlessly to the living room and then she was in his arms.

  “I shouldn’t be doing this with you,” she whispered.

  His lifted eyebrow said it all: I’m in control, and I say you are doing this with me.

  “Roman?”

  “Trust me,” he crooned.

  After that, the best she could manage was to try like crazy to keep up. She did lose her way a few times, but he would put her in a basic right turn to get her back on point or pause a split second, whisper a count, and whip her back into action as though she hadn’t broken their stride.

  The man was one hell of a dancer. But even more than that, he was a great lead—which made their pairing that much better.

  What would he be like in …

  Oh, no, she had not just thought that. Elise wanted to hide under her house. She felt her cheeks heating up.

  No, no, no! Get these thoughts of this golden hunk of a man out of your head right now. No more thoughts of his delicious, hard body stretched out on your Egyptian cotton sheets. Stop it right now, young lady!! Don’t you dare imagine your arms wrapped around him as he parts your thighs—

  Roman twirled her out and asked, “You all right? You look out of breath.”

  “Oh, yeah, great! Keep going. Keep going,” she gasped, thankful that her exertion hid the real reason for her flushed features.

  She swayed into him, the strength of him, the way his hands held on to hers, stroked her, was heady. All she could think about was how good it felt to be in this man’s arms—the arms of a man she wanted. Roman smelled wonderful, adding to the alluring seduction of his entire package. Elise would love to roam her hands across that well-toned body.

  Then fear struck a chord. The attraction for this man was too strong, too fast, she had too much to accomplish before falling for anyone. She had to get away!

  Before she could run off the floor, Roman snapped her back into a turn. Elise didn’t get a chance to say a word before he gripped her hips, held firm, and said through his teeth, “Keep moving!”

  Shocked, she did. Her next set of dance moves were next to impossible to do with someone holding her so sensually, but her hips moved with him for several ticks of time before he spun her completely around with him—still entwined—and then back to a normal mode of Salsa dancing.

  A shimmer of pleasure whipped through her. “Sweet Je-sus!!!” she whispered.

  “Yeah, something like that,” he answered and pulled her back to him, the closeness becoming something she wanted, needed.

  Ever since she had parted ways with Cecil, whenever Elise ventured out to dance, men knew there was a line they did not cross. It was in her body language. Yet her body language with Roman was screaming: cross the line—please!

  She smiled at him and wanted to thank him. Twirling in his arms, the way he maneuvered her so effortlessly was proof that Cecil Payne had not stripped away her ability to be a woman—a sensuous woman. Something the weasel claimed she never was.

  “Damn, you’re good,” she whispered to him.

  He winked. “So I’ve been told.”

  “And no shortage of ego, either.”

  Roman roared with laughter and dipped her. They were so close she could feel his soul thumping with every beat of his heart, the heat of his passion with every pant of his breath.

  Elise’s lips parted of their own accord. Roman took full command of the innocent invitation and planted his smooth lips over hers. Her head tilted up, welcoming him into the silky depths of her world. His tongue teased that opening, tasting, asking for permission that she was only too ready to give. Oh, how she wanted this kiss!

  Her body and mind went into sensory overload. With one intense kiss, Roman had accomplished the impossible. She could not believe it. She wanted every pulse-pounding inch of him. She wanted him like her next breath.

  Formality, proper etiquette, and her ‘good girl’ upbringing be damned. The way his hands stretched out across her lower back, then traveled to twist in her hair nearly melted her knees. They could have stayed that way for an eternity.

  “Do you want to know the moment that I knew I wanted you?” he asked, ending the kiss and eternity too soon.

  Elise had an idea of how she must appear to him—too dazed to answer.

  She was right when he said, “When you struggled to hold back your tears.”

  Chapter 6

  The look of absolute desire on Elise’s face was about to get Roman in a boatload of trouble. No woman should look so wanton after being kissed and not be enjoyed to the fullest extent. His actions needed to be tempered with restraint for now. But if he had his way, when time and opportunity presented itself, nothing on this side of heaven would stop him from having Elise Payne.

  Roman kept his Salsa moves sensual and distracting as he continued, “I could tell that there was so much going on with you. But your tears and that stiff upper lip bravado were what did it for me. There was something inspiring about you. Something strong, and sweet. Something I wanted to have, and not just for one night.”

  Roman pulled her to him, buried his head in the smooth curve of her shoulder and held her there for several mom
ents.

  “And on that note,” he whispered. “I’m going to leave before I take this someplace we shouldn’t go …” his gaze narrowed on her as he added, “at least not tonight.”

  She nodded, and he put a few more inches of space between them.

  “I’d like to take you out to dinner,” he redirected.

  “When,” she asked.

  He stroked a hand across her cheek. “Well, I’m on rotation for a stint at a half-way house the rest of this week, so next Friday.”

  Her face crinkled up, thinking. Roman had a feeling she was warring with responsibility and surrender.

  Her answer confirmed it. “Upcoming projects.”

  “Friday after that?” Roman offered.

  Elise grimaced.

  He squinted his displeasure. “The Friday after that at seven.”

  She gulped. “All right.”

  He leveled a gaze at her. “Are you going to give me two syllable answers all night?”

  “No.”

  Roman grinned. “Now we’re down to one syllable.”

  “Friday after next at seven o’clock,” she replied. “Dinner with you.”

  “That works for me,” he said, giving her a warm smile. “See you then.”

  She walked him to the kitchen, where he retrieved his weapons and holstered them. “How should I dress?”

  “Something to tease the hell out of me like you did tonight,” he said. “Oh, and those heels you wore yesterday. I’m man enough to admit, you had my tongue hanging on my foot.”

  Elise couldn’t help but smile. “You really know how to make a woman feel good.”

  “If that’s all it takes, then you were an easy target from the word go.”

  “Touché,” she said, making a funny face and he wanted to kiss her all over again.

  “See you next week, but I’d like to call you before that.”

  “I’d like that.” She grinned up at him and Roman realized he really needed to get out of this woman’s house. Her sensual influence was fracturing his resolve.