Blue Jeans and a Badge by Nina Bruhns Page B

with this. If they ended up in bed, and formed a bond that would be painful for both of them to break. Not to mention making their professional relationship way more complicated.
    â€œYeah,” she said regretfully. More regretfully than he would ever know. Damn.
    His fingers moved on her breast, cupping her, but not insistently.
    â€œNo sex?”
    â€œYou’ll thank me in the morning.”
    â€œDon’t count on it.”
    â€œI’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let it go this far. I know how hard it is—”
    He cut her off with a choked laugh. “Funny.” Then he sighed and rolled off her.
    She felt like such a jerk doing this to him. To both of them. But it was the smart thing to do. For both of them.
    They lay there for a few minutes staring at the ceiling. Recovering.
    â€œJust out of curiosity…” he said. “Why not?”
    â€œWhich one of the thousand reasons would you like?”
    â€œI’m in no hurry. Start at the top.”
    â€œFor one, I’m leaving in a few days.”
    He shrugged. “I’m not asking you to marry me.”
    She smiled wryly at the ceiling. So like a man. “Sorry. I’m not into the love-’em-and-leave-’em lifestyle.”
    â€œSo stay awhile.”
    She turned her head and found him watching her. Their eyes met and she saw the depth of his sincerity. “I can’t,” she said, sensing the danger in that sentiment with every cell of her body. “Besides…”
    He canted on his side, bent an elbow and rested his head on his palm. He reached out a finger and toyed with the hem of her top. “Besides?”
    She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn’t looking for anything permanent, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t fall for him and get hurt. That she’d never been quite this drawn to any man she’d met, so she didn’t want to take the chance. Because eventually her restlessness would take over and pull her away from him. And then he’d get hurt.
    But he didn’t need to hear any of that, so instead she said, “We’re working a case together. It would be a conflict of interest.”
    He pursed his lips and slowly nodded, but she could tell he wasn’t buying that one. “I won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to, Luce,” he finally said.
    He leaned over and gently kissed her. “But if you change your mind, you just let me know.”
    With that he rose and helped her up. Then he turned and said, “Guess we’d better get working on that case.”
    With a sharp pang of regret, she watched him walk away.
    She’d done the right thing. There was no doubt in her mind she had.
    So why was it her heart suddenly ached so badly?
    Â 
    Philip managed to keep himself together enough to show her he’d taken her rejection in stride.
    Which he had. Really.
    Actually, it had been more of a heading off at the pass than a rejection. Luce had made it clear she really wantedto have sex with him. There were just too many good reasons not to.
    He had just one word for that.
    Bull.
    But that could be his ego talking. He’d be more objective in a day or two when his body stopped throbbing for her. Okay, maybe five or six days.
    He got them drinks, because he sure as hell needed one, and fired up the computer while she phoned her boss in St. Louis to fill him in on her progress with Clyde Tafota.
    He did a quick Google on the two runaway kids in the local newspaper archives, and confirmed that the girl’s name matched the maiden name of Clyde’s grandmother, but didn’t find any more specific references to the box canyon than they already had. He jotted down the pertinent information on the school and noted it had been the sheriff’s office that returned the kids to the school.
    He figured that was as good an excuse as any to call Ted Pace down in Taos. Ted was his friend there at the sheriff’s office