Apache Nights by Sheri Whitefeather

the stage.
    Then suddenly she slid her hands inside his jacket.
    Talk about getting turned on. “Are you frisking me?”
    She went lower. “You told me you wouldn’t mind a repeat performance.” She grazed the front of his pants, but there was no SIG, no semiautomatic weapon to bust him for. The hardness was him.
    He wanted to haul her against his fly, to make damn sure she felt it. He wanted to pull down the front of her dress, too. Right here, right now. His mind was spinning, going in lethal directions. “Maybe you better be careful.”
    â€œMe?” She backed him against a wall, where the music vibrated. They weren’t on the dance floor anymore. They were in a darkened corner. “I have the law on my side.”
    â€œAnd I’m bigger than you. Stronger.” He switched places, pinning her against the wall. “If I go home with you tonight, your badge won’t matter.” He snared her wrists, holding them above her head. “It won’t mean a thing.”
    She didn’t fight him off. But she didn’t submit, either. She challenged him instead, looking into his eyes. “Who says I’m letting you come home with me?”
    â€œNo one. I’m just giving you fair warning.” He released her. “You were afraid earlier.”
    â€œAnd you said that sometimes being afraid can be good.”
    â€œIt can. As long as it brings out a person’s survival skills.” He smoothed her hair. “I still don’t know what’s going on in your life. If you can survive what’s happening between us.”
    She barely blinked. “I already told you that I wasn’t looking for anything beyond an affair.”
    Yeah, she’d told him. Last night. While she’d been on the defense. He wasn’t sure if that counted. “What if you’re too confused to know what you want?”
    â€œI’m not going to get attached, not to a guy like you.” She batted his hand away from her hair. “That’s not what scares me.”
    â€œThen what is it?”
    â€œEdgy sex. I’m afraid I’ll do things to you that I’ve never done before. That I’ll let you do even kinkier stuff to me.”
    His heart struck his chest. “Really?”
    â€œReally.”
    â€œIn that case.” He grabbed her and kissed her, and when she reacted like a black widow, nearly swallowing him whole, he gave up the fight, dragging her against his body. If she wanted to eat him alive, he would let her.
    But he didn’t know if she was going to take thenext step, if she would actually invite him to her bed. Kyle didn’t take anything for granted.
    Especially women.

Five
    A fter their date ended, Kyle and Joyce arrived at her apartment building. He pulled into a guest-parking stall and killed the engine.
    Joyce didn’t know what to say, what to do. If she asked him to come upstairs with her, it wouldn’t be for a nightcap. They were beyond that point.
    It was sex or nothing at all.
    He turned to look at her, and her pulse went crazy, electrifying every part of her body.
    â€œHave you ever done it in a car?” he asked.
    She tried to maintain her composure. She’d never met anyone quite like him. “No. Have you?”
    â€œAre you kidding?” He shot her a teasing grin.“Me?” He reached over and opened the glove compartment. “Check out the condoms.”
    Sure enough, there was a variety pack crammed into the tight space. “You’re not supposed to store them where they can be exposed to heat. It will damage the latex.”
    â€œI know. But I don’t keep them here for extended periods of time. I’m careful about that. I replace them as often as I can.”
    â€œIt’s indecent exposure,” she said, itching to riffle through the box.
    â€œWhat is?”
    â€œHaving sex in a car.”
    â€œThat’s what makes it so fun.”
    She gave in and