Lisa Jackson's Bentz & Montoya Bundle: Hot Blooded, Cold Blooded, Shiver, Absolute Fear, Lost Souls, Malice, & an Exclusive Extended Excerpt From Devious (205 page)

“No…though you might deserve it, you creep.”

“That’s Professor Creep to you.”

She groaned. “I forgot how corny you could be.”

“And sexy and manly and—”

She snagged the pillow from behind her head and hit him with it.

“Don’t test me,” he warned.

She arched a brow. “Yeah? What’re ya going to do about it?”

“You want to see?”

“I figure you’re all talk, no action.”

“Oh, hell.” He rolled over again, pressing his body hard against hers. “Then I guess I’ll just have to show you, won’t I?” He kissed her hard and she felt her so recently banked fires start to ignite again.

She was smiling and feeling safe and secure for the first time since she’d moved to Baton Rouge. “Sure you can handle it, Professor Creep?”

For an answer he kissed her again, then lifting his head, deftly turned her onto her stomach and stuffed the pillow she’d flung at him under her hips. Lying atop her, he leaned forward so that his breath ruffled the hair over her ear. “Watch me,” he whispered wickedly, and Kristi buried her face in the bed and giggled until his slow, sensual movements earned an equally slow, sensual response from deep inside her, and she found herself gasping and begging and urging him to love her more…more…more….

CHAPTER 19

R
ap! Rap! Rap!

Kristi groaned as she rolled over and stared at the clock. Nine-thirty in the morning…Sunday morning. Who would be beating on her door? And why? She wanted to pull a pillow over her head when she realized she wasn’t alone. Jay was wedged in tight against her.

Images of a night of lovemaking slipped easily through her mind and she smiled to herself.

Rap! Rap!

Whoever it was, was insistent.
Go away,
she thought, cozily snuggled against Jay, then jolted awake thinking the person outside the door could be her father.

Bruno gave off a soft, disgruntled woof.

Jay lifted his head. “What’s going on?” He glanced at the clock and blinked.

“You look like hell,” she said, noting his puffy eyes and hair stuck at all angles.

“You’re beautiful.”

“Oh, yeah, right.”

The rapping continued and before Kristi could stop him, Jay rolled off the small daybed and yanked on his boxers.

“Don’t answer that!” she warned, her mind clearing, her eyes feeling as if they had sand in the sockets. She didn’t want anyone to see her half-naked professor answering her door. “Don’t!”

But Jay wasn’t listening. He looked through the peephole and started moving the bike.

“Who is it?” Kristi scrambled into her pajamas. What was wrong with him? “Jay…oh, damn…don’t!”

Ignoring her, he unlocked the door just as she pulled the bottoms over her naked body. Her underwear was in the middle of the floor. She swore under her breath as she shimmied into the very unsexy T-shirt with All Saints emblazoned across it.

A rush of cold air entered the room, but nothing else. He stood, blocking the entrance with Bruno nosing past him, wagging his tail. Through the slit of space left between his waist and the doorjamb Kristi caught a glimpse of a red T-shirt and khaki-colored pants.

“Is there something I can do for you?” he asked.

“Oh, uh, I was looking for Kristi…Kristi Bentz,” a female voice asked.
Mai Kwan.
Kristi made a face.
Great. Her snoopy neighbor. On the prowl again.

Kristi rolled off the daybed, hearing it squeak, tossed the covers over what was a mess of sheets and blankets, then kicked her bikini undies into a corner. Pushing her hair from her eyes, she came up behind Jay.

“You’re Dr. McKnight,” Mai said, extending her hand at that moment. “Mai Kwan, I’m a neighbor. I live on the second floor.”

Jesus! She was introducing herself to Jay? Now what?

“Professor. No PhD, at least not yet.”

“Hi!” Kristi tried to sound bright and cheery though she felt anything but chipper. She stepped around Jay, but Mai’s eyes didn’t so much as flicker in her direction.

She was zeroed in on Jay. “And you work in the crime lab, right?”

How did Mai know that?

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know you two…” She motioned her hand back and forth, then finally looked at Kristi again. “I mean…I didn’t know you knew each other.”

“We went to the same high school,” Jay said.

Too much information.

“Was that why you stopped by or was there something else you wanted?” Kristi asked, wondering how to shut Jay up. To her horror he draped an arm over her shoulders. Damn him, he was enjoying this. She shot him a look she hoped would send him the message.

“I was just thinking you might want to go out for a run or get a cup of coffee or something,” Mai said. “But I see you’re busy, that you’ve got company, so…maybe some other time.”

Was it Kristi’s imagination or did Mai actually look slyly at Jay when she made the last offer? “It wouldn’t have worked this time anyway, I’ve got a ton of homework and then my shift at work starts in a few hours,” Kristi said. Why was she explaining herself? What she did was no business of Mai’s. Kristi only hoped to God that Jay wouldn’t be polite enough, or stupid enough, to invite the other girl in.

Jay suddenly snapped his fingers. “Mai Kwan. You called me a couple of days ago, right? About a piece for the school newspaper?”

Kristi stared at Mai with new eyes and Mai lifted her chin just a fraction, as if she knew the wheels were turning in Kristi’s mind. “Yeah, I did. I’m doing a story on criminology. I’d like to interview you, get some of your credentials and background, then tie it all in to what you’re teaching here at All Saints. How what you discuss in the classroom could be applied to real police work. In the field kind of stuff. I was hoping for an interview with you, then maybe with a local detective, maybe even Kristi’s dad since he’s pretty famous and has helped with some cases on the campus.”

Kristi inwardly groaned. No wonder Mai had been buddying up to her. So much for true friendship.

Jay nodded. “I think I can help you.”

Mai smiled brightly at him and said, “Anytime. You name it.”

So Kristi was supposed to believe that Mai had just stumbled onto Jay here? Or had she seen his truck, watched him come in with Kristi last night, and decided to force an encounter this morning?

“I’ll have to check my schedule and get back to you,” Jay said. “I still have your number on my voice mail.”

“Oh. Sure.” Mai couldn’t hide her disappointment as her gaze slid to Bruno. “Your dog?” she asked Jay.

“Uh-huh.”

“He’s cute.” She lowered herself to one knee and scratched Bruno behind his big floppy ears.

Jay said, “Don’t tell him that. He thinks he looks fierce.”

Mai laughed and Kristi wondered if she’d ever take the hint and leave. “Okay, well…look, I’ll catch up with you later, Kristi.” Then she flashed a girlish smile at Jay. “Nice to meet you,
Professor
McKnight.”

Kristi said, “See ya,” as she pulled the door shut. She then gazed disgustedly at man and dog. “I distinctly remember telling you not to answer.”

“Embarrassed of me?”

“No…yes…Oh, I don’t know,” she admitted. “Look, I just don’t want it spread around campus that I sleep with my professors, okay?” She pushed her hair out of her eyes.

He nodded, but she could tell he wasn’t taking her seriously. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” she pointed out, padding into the kitchen and opening the cupboard, though she knew she was out of coffee. “And admit it, you got off on opening the door.”

“Bristly this morning, aren’t we?”

“‘We’ had a short night. Remember?”

He came up behind her and circled her waist with his arms. “Vividly. And it was a great night,” he reminded her, his breath ruffling her hair.

She thought about kissing him, about falling back onto the unmade bed, but she really didn’t have a lot of time. “There are just some things about Mai that bug me. She asks too many questions, wants to know all about my personal life, and then she doesn’t cop to what she really wants. Now, at least, I kind of understand why: she’s all about Dad being an ace detective.”

“Kind of?”

“Who knows if she’s telling the truth? I just don’t trust her.”

His hands fell away. “You don’t trust anyone.”

His remark cut harder than it should have. She slammed the cupboard door shut and turned to face him. “Oh, God…I’m becoming my father!”

“Isn’t being a detective what you’re trying to do here? All the”—he made air quotes with his fingers—“‘investigating’ about the missing girls. I’m no psychologist, but it seems to me you’re trying to prove something to dear old Dad.”

“I trust people, though, okay? I’m not…like him.”

“Not much,” Jay said, his smile quick.

She narrowed her eyes at him. And she was still irritated with Mai, sure there was more to the story than just some interview for the school paper.

Jay wisely let the subject drop and opened the refrigerator door. Bruno was at his side in an instant. “Sorry, Buddy, not much in here.”

“I keep meaning to go to the store, but it’s a low priority.”

“We won’t starve,” he assured her, and managed to pull out what remained of the pizza, three cold slices wrapped in wrinkled foil. “Breakfast.”

“No way.”

“You got coffee?”

“No. I’m out. I’ve got one tea bag and a couple of bottles of beer, but that’s it.”

“Too early for beer. Even for me. And no thanks on the tea. You want a slice?” He opened the aluminum foil and offered up the congealed pizza.

She took one look at the brown hamburger, with its hint of white fat all stuck together, over withered olives and onions and thick tomato sauce, and her stomach turned. “It’s all yours. I think I’ll grab something at the restaurant. They’ve got a breakfast sandwich called a MacDuff, which is kind of a rip-off of a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. Maybe I’ll try it.” She glanced at the clock as he, still only in his boxers, rested a hip against the counter and chewed the cold pizza without bothering to heat it in the microwave. Bruno, ever vigilant, sat at his feet, eyes on the prize, tail sweeping the floor whenever Jay looked down at him.

Kristi shuddered and turned away. This hanging out in her apartment was a little awkward. And already one person had found out they were lovers. In the past, while she and Jay had dated, they’d never lived together, so this morning was a little difficult to handle. She didn’t really know how this relationship, if that’s what you’d call it, might or might not develop.

“I’m going to shower. I’ve got a lot of things to do today, which, unfortunately includes work.”

He nodded. “Me, too. At the house.” He brushed his hands together and Bruno sniffed for crumbs on the floor. “Then I have to answer some e-mails and grade some papers, including yours.”

“Be kind.”

“After last night I’ll be harder on you than anyone just so no one can claim I’m biased.”

“Don’t get crazy. And no one’s going to know about this, remember?” she reminded him, though she doubted Mai would keep her mouth shut.

“I’m free for dinner.”

She gave him a look. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“My turn.” He crumpled the tin foil and tossed it into the trash, then located a paper towel to wipe the grease from his fingers. “You’ve been doing all the asking lately.”

“The other night, when I smoked you at darts, that was
not
a date.”

“Right.” His eyes, no longer puffy from sleep, glittered a deep amber at her obvious irritation. “So I’ll meet you back here. When do you get off work?”

“Two-thirty or three, I’ve got lunch today. Depends on the crowd or lack of it. But then I’ve got to finish a couple of assignments, and I want to go online and check out the chat rooms later.”

“So call me and we’ll hook up.” He walked into the living area, grabbing his jeans off the floor as he passed them.

And just like that they were a couple? She wondered at the wisdom of rekindling their romance, but decided, for the moment, to go with it. “Okay.”

“I want to see what goes on in the chat rooms as well. And Wagner House.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

He scrounged on the floor for his clothes, then shook out his shirt. She dragged her gaze from his bare legs, all sinewy muscle, taut skin, and curling dark hair as he stepped into his Levis. Just seeing him dress did strange things to her insides, and the simple fact that he seemed oblivious to his effect on her made him more fascinating. God, what was wrong with her? Surreptitiously she watched as he threw his shirt over his head, stuck his arms through, and stretched slightly, lengthening the flat of his abdomen as he pulled the shirt over his shoulders.

Lord in heaven, he looked good. Too good.

She turned away as his head came through the neck of his shirt. “I thought you promised to tell me about that nightmare,” he said, patting his pockets and making his keys jangle. Once assured they were where he wanted them, he reached for his shoes. “Remember it?”

“Yeah.” She felt as if the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees when she recalled the bloody pool riddled with severed heads of the missing girls. “Oh, yeah.”

“Want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not now…maybe later.”

He was putting on a shoe but stopped and looked at her, concern etched on his face. “That bad?”

“Pretty bad.”

His frown deepened as he wiggled one foot into a shoe, then laced it up. “Want me to come to the diner with you?”

She shook her head vehemently. “I’m fine. Really.” She just didn’t want to go there, not now. “I’ll tell you about the nightmare later, okay?”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“If you say so.” He finished with the other shoe, then said to the dog, “Ready to go?”

Bruno emitted an excited woof and turned circles at the door.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’” He winked at Kristi. “So I’ll see ya later.”

She was nodding, expecting him to cruise out the door any second. But he surprised her. He crossed the few feet separating them and grabbed her so quickly she gasped. “Hey—”

“Didn’t think you’d get rid of me that fast, did you?”

“What?”

He kissed her. Hard. His mouth melding over hers, his arms holding her fast against him, his tongue slipping between her teeth. Memories of the night before washed through her brain. It would be so easy to tumble back into bed…. She wound her arms around his neck as he broke off the kiss and touched his forehead to hers. “Don’t forget me.”

“You’re already just a memory,” she teased.

He laughed. “Remember to be careful.” Before she could answer, he released her, and with the dog at his heels walked out of the apartment.

She heard his steps, light and quick, as he descended the staircase. She closed the door, locked it, then, shaking off all thoughts of making love to him, of getting involved with him, of falling in love with him again, she pulled off her oversized T-shirt. She had too much to do to think about the complications of a relationship with Jay McKnight….

Oh, Lord, a relationship? What the devil was she thinking? And the fact that her mind even skimmed the thought of falling in love with him…well, that was just plain nuts. Dropping her T-shirt onto the floor, she stepped out of her pajama bottoms when she felt it again…that silly little notion that she was being watched.