five things that never happened to Nikki Heat...

5) HOW SOON IS NOW?

Jameson Rook is about to say something he hasn't said to a woman in a very long time and isn't too sure he meant when he did. He'd mean it if he said it right now, which may be why Nikki Heat is riding him to death, trying to get him to do what any normal red-blooded guy would love to be doing to her, instead of lying on his back half-frozen with fear.

'Rook!'

'I don't want to just use you,' he blurts.

She has no leverage in this position, so she has to settle for bouncing on him hard, which kind of hurts. 'You're not using me if I like it. Which I did until you stopped, so could you please continue? Now, before someone kills someone somewhere and I get called in.'

And clearly God is a joker with no respect for either of them, because right at that minute he hears the muffled ring of her phone. 'God damn it,' Nikki spits, and clambers off him with more speed than finesse. Rook closes his eyes while she fumbles through their clothes and when he opens them again she's snapping 'Heat', and she's 100% Homicide, never mind her hair wild in her eyes and the candlelight glowing softly off her bare skin.

She turns away, gracing him with a fine portrait of endless legs rising into a firm, nicely rounded ass. He wonders what his own ass looks like at this moment. Surely not so firm or smooth and quite possibly bruised. There are two distinct spots burning where she likes to grab him, but he doesn't dare feel around to check.

'Right, fine, I'm on my way.' She finishes the conversation, brusque even for Nikki Heat in detective mode, and slaps the phone shut.

'So, we've got a body,' he says.

'No, I've got a body. You've got an apartment of your own, and I suggest you go back there.' She stops to look at him for a moment, already in the act of disentangling her clothes from his, and he gives her his best puppy dog eyes.

'You're gonna make me miss this one for punishment?'

'Rook, believe me, if I want to punish you, I can think of far more exciting ways to do it.' She finds her underwear and starts getting dressed, blissfully unselfconscious about doing so in front of him. Which, considering that she was helping him take her clothes off not half an hour ago, should surprise him less than it does. Nikki Heat is, ever, nothing less than a challenge.

'I'll call you from the scene, okay?' she says. 'But we are not going down there together.'

'Nik.' The soft tone makes her look up from the button of her trousers much more effectively than shouting. She's only half dressed, and he can still feel her breasts warm and soft against his palms; he can taste her in the back of his mouth. So long it took them to get this far, and lately everything seems to conspire to keep them apart. 'Don't go in. You can't be the only detective in New York. Let them call someone else.'

'The nightshift is already out. Somebody's gotta catch it.' She finds her bra and slides it on. It's the red one she wore the night she impersonated a Russian whore to get his ass out of an illegal poker den unshot, and to tell the truth, he's been dying to hear that accent again ever since. 'This is my job, Rook. You knew that about me before we started. You know what it takes to do what I do.'

'I know.' And yeah, he feels humbled by that. Not just by her, but by all of them. It's a nobler calling than he ever dreamed, being a cop. Maybe that's why he likes it so much, being out there with them. Being real. That first article blew everyone at Cosmo out of the water because for once, he'd been writing about something real. And just when it's starting to look like maybe this could be real, reality just has to go and and get ugly on them. Again.

'I know,' he tries, 'I just...' He spreads his hands and indicates her bed, her home, her life that she's only just starting to share.

She comes closer, staring at him the way she stares at the board when she's almost, nearly, figured something out. 'You're afraid,' she finally says. 'You're afraid that you had your chance and you blew it.'

'Well, or it got blown.' He hears himself and suddenly panics. 'Urm...so to speak.'

A smile twists the corner of her mouth, just the one side before she gets it under control. 'You will get blown another time, Jameson,' she growls, leaning so close her breath warms his lips before she kisses him. 'That much I'm willing to promise.'