Last Night by Meryl Sawyer

detected the sexy lingerie she loved to wear. It made her feel feminine even though she was wearing a power suit under her judge's robe. "So what? "
    His finger roamed up the rise of her cheek. "You don ' t want people to know what you ' re really like, do you?"
    "I ' m just trying to make it in a man ' s world, " she insisted, reluctant to admit he was right. She was a very private person. The only one who really knew her was Vanessa, and over the last few years they had grown apart.
    " Uh-huh, " he replied, his voice leaving no doubt he didn ' t really believe her. " Noticing your hair proves my point. I ' m good at what I do. I ' m coming with you to the Coltranes."
    She wanted to argue with him, but she stopped herself. Too much was at stake. Rob was uniquely observant, and he had resources she didn ' t have. As much as she wanted to distance herself from him, she believed he had a talent for investigating.
    Rob stood and placed the knife and note in a paper bag. " Don ' t tell anyone, even your sister, that we aren ' t lovers— "
    "Lovers? " She jumped to her feet. " Now just a minute! I agree that you should come with me to check out the Coltranes, but why can't I say you ' re my friend? "
    "Okay, whatever. Use the word friend if you like, but the impression they should get is that we ' re lov ers. "
    "Why on earth would I want to do that? "
    He rolled his shoulders back as if stretching a tight muscle, pulling the snug-fitting T-shirt even tighter across the well-defined contours of his chest. "I ' m not the type of man who ' s ' just friends ' with a woman. No one ' s going to buy that. Might as well pretend we ' re lovers, then they won ' t be suspicious about why I ' m really there. The last thing we want is for the Coltranes to think I ' m investigating them. " As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. No woman could be " just friends " with a man like Rob Tagett. And the last thing she needed was to make Big Daddy Coltrane suspicious.
    His slow grin told her he sensed victory and was savoring every second of it. " I ' m coming to Maui because I ' m hot for you, right? "
    It took her a few seconds to get the word out. " Right. "
    Bag in hand, he moved toward the door, grinning at her response.
    " I have to tell Vanessa the truth. I never keep anything from her. "
    Rob stopped just short of opening the back door; his eyes assessed her from head to toe. " Bullshit. You don ' t tell your sister everything. Convince her that you ' ve flipped for me. Then she ' ll treat me like a potential brother-in-law. Otherwise she may blow my cover. We don ' t want that, do we? "
    " No, " she conceded, irritated that Rob had a way of seeing through people, pinpointing weaknesses. She supposed she should be thankful. No doubt such a talent would be helpful with the case. But she wasn ' t happy; she was frustrated. Was she really so transparent?
    Rob dropped the paper bag with the evidence on the counter. The thud echoed through the tiny kitchen like a warning shot.
    What was he up to?
    Nothing, apparently. He was just standing so close that she had to battle the cowardly urge to back up. She didn ' t look in to his eyes, not wanting to ac knowledge the raw sensuality she knew would be there. As she stood waiting for him to speak, she was overwhelmed by his size. Until now she hadn ' t realized he was quite so tall—well over six feet—or that he was quite so powerfully built.
    The pulse in her throat jumped, alerting her. His hand slipped under her chin, cupping it and slowly forcing her to look directly into his eyes. She met the challenge with a clenched jaw.
    Close up his eyes were a marine blue shot with minute stitches of silver that danced like summer lightning. At a loss for words, furious with herself for noticing how attractive he was, she angrily pursed her lips, ready to do something infantile like kick him in the shins.
    She opened her mouth to tell him off, but before she could utter a sound he bent his head and