Silk Confessions by Joanne Rock

that her father had died while out with a MatingGame client, same as the victim in Wes’s case.
    Maybe the incidents didn’t have a damn thing to do with one another and it had all just been chance. But—more likely—the events were genuinely related. He was anxious to speak to the day-to-day operations manager of MatingGame to see if she was selling more than dating advice.
    Either way, Wes had reached his personal coincidence quota today. Since Tempest had touched him, he could only believe that she’d meant it.
    Shifting beside him, she hefted her small computer onto the desk, her cheeks flushing pink.
    “Sorry.” She murmured an apology before cracking open the case of her laptop.
    “Are you?” He studied her while she flicked through the opening screens as her computer warmed up. One brown curl grazed her temple while the rest remained knotted haphazardly at the back of her head with only a felt tip pen to keep it in place.
    She blew the curl away from her eyes impatiently as she huffed out a sigh. “No, actually, I’m not a bit sorry. I can’t help you unless I can access the MatingGame site. It’s not my fault your he-man sprawl of legs takes up every square foot of space beneath the desk.”
    He watched her brow furrow in concentration, her lips pursed while she tapped more keys on the laptop. His gaze lingered on her mouth, which appeared deliciously free of lipstick today.
    No doubt about it, he wanted her. Her alibi checked out for his case, so he wasn’t worried about the ethics of the situation. And although he wanted to find the homicidal hooker who had taken down her victim a week ago, Wes didn’t really have any other professional interest in MatingGame. If some facet of the company was involved in prostitution, Wes would stake his reputation that Tempest Boucher didn’t know a damn thing about it. Either way, that wasn’t his department. Another cop would make that bust, not him.
    From where he was sitting, there wasn’t a reason in the world not to pursue the only woman to capture his interest in longer than he cared to remember.
    “I checked your alibi.” He tossed the comment out there, as he navigated his way through a few more pro files of New York–based singles on the MatingGame site.
    “Alibi?” Her computer keys stopped tapping.
    “For last Saturday night.” His gaze wandered over another curly-headed brunette on-screen but the vampish female whose profile touted her S and M expertise left him cold.
    What was it about Tempest that set a torch to his libido?
    “I almost hate to ask why I’d need an alibi for last Saturday night.” She swiveled away from her laptop to face him.
    “I wanted to be damn sure you weren’t my murderer before things started heating up between us.” He down-sized the S and M woman and clicked on a—surprise—totally nude chick. There hadn’t been many nude photos on the site, but nudity wasn’t prohibited by the guide lines either.
    “I rescue animals from trash cans, for crying out loud. Why would I ever kill someone?” She huffed out a sighbefore turning toward his computer screen and the naked babe whose body was admirable enough, but it wasn’t the body he wanted to see. “And on another note, nothing is going to heat up between us.”
    “Things are already heating up.” He reached for the errant lock of hair at Tempest’s temple and coiled his finger through the curl. Silky and sexy, the sable strand clung to his skin as if it wanted to linger with him.
    Around him.
    “You’re just getting hot and bothered because you’ve been reading about every sex fetish under the sun and now you’re staring at a disrobed female with perfect breasts.” She eased back from him, taking her sweet curves and soft brown waves a few more inches away.
    “She’s not the one making me hot and bothered.” He stared into Tempest’s surprised brown eyes, wondering how she could possibly ignore such a blatant come-on. Did she find it that difficult