Bare It All
A cop’s craving to know more about the woman next door could
prove fatal in the steamy new novel from
New York
Times
bestselling author Lori Foster
As the person responsible for taking down a brutal human
trafficker, Alice Appleton fears retaliation at every turn. No one knows about
her past, which is exactly how she prefers it…until the sexy cop next door comes
knocking.
Detective Reese Bareden thinks he knows what makes women
tick, but his ever-elusive neighbor keeps him guessing like no other. Is his
goal to unmask Alice’s secrets? Or protect her from a dangerous new threat? One
thing is certain: their chemistry is a time bomb waiting to explode. And with no
one to trust but each other, Reese and Alice are soon drawn into a deadly maze
of corruption, intrigue and desire—and into the line of fire….
Praise for
New York Times
bestselling author Lori Foster
“A sexy, believable roller coaster of action and
romance.”
—
Kirkus
Reviews
on
Run
the Risk
“Bestseller Foster…has an amazing ability to capture a man’s
emotions and lust with sizzling sex scenes and meld it with a strong woman’s
point of view.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
A Perfect Storm
“Foster rounds out her searing trilogy with a story that tilts
toward the sizzling and sexy side of the genre.”
—
RT Book Reviews
on
Savor the
Danger
“The fast-paced thriller keeps these well-developed characters
moving.… Foster’s series will continue to garner fans with this exciting
installment.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Trace of Fever
“Steamy, edgy and taut.”
—
Library Journal
on
When You Dare
“Intense, edgy and hot. Lori Foster delivers everything you’re
looking for in a romance.”
—
New York Times
bestselling
author Jayne Ann Krentz on
Hard to
Handle
“Lori Foster delivers the goods.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Tension, temptation, hot action and hotter
romance—Lori Foster has it all!
Hard to
Handle
is a knockout!”
—
New York Times
bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell
Dear Reader,
I often get asked if I have a favorite book or favorite
character that I’ve written. The truth is, I wouldn’t write a character I didn’t
enjoy, or a plot that didn’t excite me. So all my stories are favorites in one
way or another.
BUT...
Bare It All,
the second in
my new Love Undercover series, does include a very special heroine. Alice was
originally meant to be strictly a secondary character in
Trace of Fever,
a book from my previous Men Who Walk the Edge of
Honor series. Alice had a pivotal role in wrapping up the plot of that story,
but she was so quiet, so withdrawn that some readers might have overlooked her.
I could not.
Because of her strength and courage, because of what she’d
endured, Alice stayed in my mind. When Reese Bareden showed up in the first Love
Undercover book,
Run the Risk,
I knew he was exactly
what Alice needed. The characters agreed, and a plot was born.
I hope you enjoy Alice’s “happy ever after” as much as I
enjoyed writing it.
BARE IT ALL
Also available from Lori Foster and
Harlequin HQN
Love Undercover
Run the Risk
Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor
“What Chris Wants” (ebook
novella)
A Perfect Storm
Savor the
Danger
Trace of Fever
When You Dare
The Guy Next
Door
“Ready, Set, Jett”
Other must-reads
Love Bites
(anthology with Brenda Jackson, Catherine Mann,Jules Bennett and Virna
DePaul)
All Riled Up
The Buckhorn
Legacy
Forever Buckhorn
Buckhorn
Beginnings
Bewitched
Unbelievable
Tempted
Bodyguard
Caught!
Heartbreakers
Fallen
Angels
Enticing
Coming soon, three classic tales in one sizzling
volume
Hot in Here
And don’t miss an all-new tale of Love Undercover, also
coming soon
Getting Rowdy
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
A
S
SHE
CAME
TOWARD
HIM
,
Alice’s baby-soft hair hung loose, silky tendrils
drifting over her shoulders. Her big brown eyes, so innocent and yet so aware,
watched him intently, the way she always watched him. She smiled, and that smile
did remarkable things to him. Made him ravenous, when he’d never quite
experienced anything like that before. Lust, sure. But such a powerful need? No,
never.
Only with Alice.
Very close now, so close the warmth of her touched all over
him, she brushed her nose against his jaw, his neck, his ear.
He groaned. Out loud. He heard it but could barely credit that
the sound came from him.
From a gentle nuzzle.
Against his
ear.
It was insane, but it took very little from her to get him
painfully aroused.
“Reese?”
He wanted her mouth on him. He turned his face toward her, and
he felt her breath. Hot. Then her tongue.
Wet.
“Oh...um, Reese?”
She sounded so tentative that he smiled as he reached for her
and opened his eyes. His hand encountered dense fur, and the expressive brown
eyes staring back at him weren’t Alice’s.
They weren’t even human.
His dog, Cash, panted at the sign of life. Delighted to have
him awake, he barked, turned a quick circle and...licked Reese’s face.
Again.
“Shit.” Reese dodged the dog’s sloppy fondness while trying to
get his bearings. The dream had felt so incredibly real. And so welcome. He
shifted—and found himself cramped from head to toes...on a sofa.
Alice’s sofa.
Lifting his head, he looked down at himself. He wore only
boxers, and as was usually the case when he first awakened, they were tented.
Hmm...
Where had the sheet gone? Ah, over the side of the couch to the
floor.
Levering up to one arm, Reese attempted to orient himself—and
there stood Alice at the foot of the couch, fully dressed in summer slacks and a
sleeveless blouse, her hands locked together in front of her and, yes, her soft
brown hair hanging loose.
But now, with him wide awake, her hair looked tidy, like Alice,
not sexily rumpled as it had been in his dream.
She watched him, but those soul-sucking brown eyes weren’t on
his face.
They stared with absorbing attention at his morning wood.
Great. Playing kissy-face with his dog was bad enough.
Scrambling for the sheet now would only make him look more foolish. He wasn’t
used to finding himself in tricky, uncomfortable situations. At least, not with
women.
As a police detective, sure, he’d often found himself
discomfited by perps, though not in boxers while sporting mahogany.
Alice was many things—a neighbor, an enigma, an irritant and a
subtle bombshell.
And obviously, based on that ramped-up dream, she was also the
current focus of his fantasies.
He cleared his throat. “Up here, Alice.” Her curious gaze rose
to his face. “Thank you. Now if you don’t mind, you could turn around a moment.
My modesty is beyond compromised, so it doesn’t really matter to me, but with
your face already going pink, I’m not sure—”
“Of course.” Turning, she gave him her back. Posture stiff. Air
uncertain.
That lovely fawn-colored hair fell just beyond her
shoulders.
“Sorry about that.” She strode, fast and unsteady, to the patio
doors that led to her small deck. She’d left the door open, allowing in a muggy,
late-August breeze that teased her beautiful hair.
Given the heat of his interest, air-conditioning would have
been nice, but since this was Alice’s apartment, and she’d been generous enough
to let him crash on her couch, he wouldn’t complain. Much.
“What time is it, anyway?” Sitting up, Reese reached for the
sheet, but Cash sat on it. The dog watched Reese, his furry ears perked up, his
expression hopeful. Reese grinned. After tugging out the sheet and covering
himself, he patted the couch beside his thigh. “C’mere, boy.”
The dog bounded up with over-the-moon enthusiasm. Because of
the undercover sting they’d just wrapped up, he’d spent as much time away from
Cash as with him—and still he and the dog had bonded.
“It’s a little after one o’clock.”
And she hadn’t awakened him? How long had she been sneaking
around the apartment?
How long had he lain there without even a sheet?
He was generally a light sleeper, so either he’d been really
out of it, or she was...stealthy.
That thought bothered him and meshed with other concerns he had
about Alice. Her keen observance of everything around her, combined with her
cautious air, planted awful background possibilities into his head.
Then there was the way she’d come onto the scene yesterday, a
big,
loaded
gun in her hand....
“Cash hasn’t been out for a few hours. I was trying to lead him
through without waking you, but he saw you there on the couch, and then you
made...a sound.”
“A sound, huh?” Given the erotic dream, he could just
imagine.
“Cash sidetracked to you and—”
“I thought he was you.” When her shoulders stiffened more,
Reese felt devilish enough to say, “And I was having this rather sexual
dream.”
Wide-eyed with something akin to astonishment, she faced him,
stole a peek at his lap and, when she saw he’d bunched the sheet there, she met
his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“You and me.” He gestured between them. “And damn, but the
dream felt real.” Reese scratched under Cash’s furry chin. “You were near me.
Breathing on me.”
Indignation brought her brows together. “Breathing on you?”
Wondering when she’d catch on, he gave a sage, serious nod.
“You nuzzled my ear, and I felt your hot tongue—”
Backing up fast, she bumped into the screen on the patio door
and almost fell through it. After an accusatory scowl at Reese for making her
stumble, she checked the screen, saw that it remained in the track and cleared
her throat. “I would never—” She searched for a word and came up empty.
“Lick me?”
To his surprise, she kept quiet, but her mouth—and her
expression—softened.
“No? What a shame.” He gave the dog a few pats, which
encouraged him to shower Reese with more affection. “But apparently Cash
would.”
Realization dawned. “Oh.” A smile twitched. “You felt Cash
trying to wake you, and you thought...?”
“Yeah. Helluva way to start my day. I mean, I’m fond of him,
but...” Reese looked her over. “Not that fond.”
“He’s adorable!”
“Sure he is.” Reese had only recently gotten the dog, and while
he’d never considered himself a pet-lover, he and Cash were getting
acclimated—with Alice’s help. “I just don’t want you mistaking my...” He nodded
at his lap. “Reaction.”
Though she covered her mouth, a short laugh escaped,
anyway.
That laugh was as mesmerizing as her smile, and his
sheet-covered boner twitched. “Keep it up, and I’ll never get it under
control.”
Rather than backing up or blushing again, she chastised him.
“Really, Reese. It’s not something to talk about.”
“Not something to be embarrassed over either.” But he sort of
was, anyway. What was it about Alice that affected him so profoundly—and so
physically? “Not to minimize your appeal, but it happens to most guys in the
morning.”
“When they awaken, you mean?”
“Yeah. It’s called morning wood, or in this case, afternoon
wood, I guess.”
“I see.” She tipped her head to study him. “But when you
knocked on my door this morning, you were wide awake, fully dressed and had just
finished working.”
He’d also been aroused over the possibility of spending more
intimate time with her. Knowing he shouldn’t tell her that—yet—he scrubbed a
hand over his tired eyes.
“Yet even then,” she continued, her tone mischievous and
teasing, “you had a...um...”
Having her talk about it wasn’t helping. Reese trapped her gaze
with his own. “An erection.”
“Yes.” A little too matter-of-factly, she nodded. “You had one
then, also.” Though the color in her fair skin intensified, she didn’t look
away. “You told me not to worry about it.”
“I know what I said.” God, he wanted to kiss her. If she’d been
any other woman, he would have.
But he hadn’t known Alice that long, and what he did know of
her kept him from pushing things. Already, thanks to the fiasco the day before,
she’d seen the hazards of his job.
Wasn’t every day that murderers and hoods, the very criminals
he investigated, showed up on his doorstep. It was even more uncommon for those
offenders to get the drop on him. Usually he was great at his job. But
yesterday...yeah, he’d suffered a first-class cluster fuck—and Alice had managed
to get right in the middle of it.
Maybe that’s why he’d been dreaming of her. She’d been helping
out by watching his dog while he and his partner closed in on their quarry, and
then when shit went sideways yesterday, she’d recognized the deadly situation
and sent in reinforcements.
He eyed her understated, prim facade that hid so much
intuition, bravery and cunning. “You will never have reason to worry about
anything with me.”
“Okay.”
She was the most curious woman, and that, too, could explain
his unaccountable reaction to her. “Just like that, huh?”
“I know you’re honorable.”
Sensible Alice. Of course she was right—he
was
honorable, most especially where women were concerned. But in
the short time they’d known each other, how could she possibly be that confident
about his intentions?
She couldn’t.
So he’d taken in a stray dog—a dog she now adored. So what? He
was polite, mannerly, dressed well and had his own proper persona. It meant
nothing, and she should realize that.
Yet from what he’d seen so far she had great instincts.
The type of instincts usually honed in the field.
When she’d agreed to let him sleep on her couch, he’d thought
to use the time alone with her in her apartment to do some in-depth talking. His
curiosity about her was extreme, almost as sharp as his attraction.
But once she’d made up the couch for him, he’d sat down and
exhaustion had all but pulled him under. Their talk had stalled.
Then.
Now he had all the time in the world. Or at least for the rest
of the day. “Alice—”
“I should take Cash out.
Again.
”
She smiled at the dog with consuming love. “We both know he’ll only hold it for
so long.”
She had the prettiest, sweetest smile—when she smiled. Not that
she seemed to know it. Hell, if it wasn’t for his dog, or the carnage in his
apartment...
Remembering the carnage, the very reason for being on Alice’s
too-small couch instead of his own spacious bed, Reese groaned.
Alice paused in her attentions to Cash. “Are you okay?” She
inched closer. “Did you get hurt yesterday?”
“I’m fine.” But frustrated. Yesterday, in the culmination of a
lengthy investigation, a damn parade had trooped through his apartment. Friends,
suspects and heinous thugs.
Murderous
thugs. Thugs
so ugly, their souls were surely black and decrepit.
Rowdy Yates, a “witness”—what a joke that had turned out to
be—who should have been in protective custody, instead had gone to Reese’s
apartment to snoop. Alice had recognized that Rowdy was up to no good and had
called Reese. He’d gotten to his apartment only minutes before his lieutenant
also showed up.
They’d all been taken unawares by the lowlifes, and while a gun
stayed on Rowdy, Reese and the lieutenant had been handcuffed to the headboard
of his bed. That he and the female lieutenant butted heads more often than not
made it an especially unpropitious situation. Lieutenant Peterson hadn’t taken
it well, and his efforts to shield her had been met with much resistance.
Instead of getting the protection afforded all witnesses, Rowdy
had ended up a target for death. He had abilities, which included breaking into
Reese’s apartment to snoop, but against two gunmen set on executing him? The
odds had not been with him. If they’d killed Rowdy, they would have next turned
those guns on Reese and the lieutenant.
Without Alice’s help, there would have been several dead bodies
in his apartment, instead of just one.
And hell, one was bad enough. It wasn’t easy to get
death
out of the carpet, curtains and off the
walls.
Fortunately, sensible Alice had assessed the situation and sent
in Reese’s good friend Detective Logan Riske as backup. Because Logan possessed
a lethal skill set unique to only a select few, he’d gotten the upper hand—but
not before taking a bullet to the arm.
Chaos had reigned for a couple of minutes, all but destroying
Reese’s bedroom. In the end, they’d apprehended one gunman and another man who’d
played lookout at the front of the apartment building.
The worst villain Reese had ever known had died from a broken
neck. Never again would he threaten anyone.
Reese eyed Alice with renewed interest. At the tail end of the
bloody melee, not long after Reese had been freed from the cuffs, Alice had
shown up in his apartment with a big gun held in her slender, delicate hand.
She was a good judge of character, but then, so was he. And in
his gut, Reese knew his straitlaced, often silent, skittish, timid and
sexy-as-hell neighbor would have used that gun with fatal precision.
It made his blood run cold and ramped up his interest in her
and her past. So many unanswered questions. He knew Alice was good with his dog
and that he liked her. He definitely knew he wanted to get her under him.
But so far their relationship had been so odd, he didn’t even
know her last name yet. Alice...something or other.
