"Unless you want me to carry you. I mean, I can, but I think you'd have more fun on the bike."

He was too good looking for his own good. And too smooth. Already her tired bones felt relief even though she hadn't done anything to relieve them. The heaviness in her shoulders felt lifted as she stared back at his cheerful gleam. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world and it was starting to feel like it might be contagious.

"Give me five minutes," she said, turning away from him to head up the steps.

She was halfway up the steps when he yelled, "I'll give you ten while I make this phone call." Ben moved deeper into the living room, standing by the window that had recently been repaired. "Yeah," he said when Devlin answered. "We're heading out for a ride."

"You think that's wise considering the circ.u.mstances?" Devlin asked.

"I think it's necessary," was Ben's quick response. He couldn't stay away from Victoria. And if they were in the house together they'd certainly find a very physical way to pa.s.s the time. But their thoughts would inevitably return to the obvious.

"Ace picked up a tail on her this evening. White minivan parked four doors down."

Ben frowned, looking down Victoria's street. "Where are you?"

"I circled the block after Ace texted me. You were still sitting on her steps like a lovesick puppy. So I pulled up behind the b.a.s.t.a.r.d as he parked. Tags run back to an auto dealership owned by Pea. My bet is there's a rookie behind the wheel trying to earn his stripes. She's his first job."

"It'll be his last," Ben swore.

Dev agreed. "Go for your ride. I've got your back."

"Where's Ace?"

"I'll tell him to stay on the house until you get back."

Ben could see the white minivan down the street. The windows weren't tinted so the two men sitting in the front seats were clearly visible, definitely amateurs. They wore dark sungla.s.ses and black baseball caps and a part of him hoped like h.e.l.l they made a move on Victoria tonight. He hadn't had a chance to get to the gym in the last couple of days so adrenaline buzzed along his system like an addict needing a fix. He'd beat the h.e.l.l out of them with his bare hands.

"Where's Trent?"

"He's following up on your earlier call to City Hall. If everything pans out, we might have this situation under wraps before the trial starts on Monday."

Ben nodded, one hand gripping the cellphone at his ear, the other clenching into a fist at his side. "That sounds good to me."

"And if not-" Devlin replied, purposely letting his words drift into the silence.

"I'm ready," Ben stated slowly, lethally.

"So am I," Dev replied.

"You're ready for what?" Victoria asked from behind him.

Ben clicked off his cellphone, stuffing it back into the case at his hip. He turned to face her and had to swallow quickly before speaking. She wore jeans again, these as form-fitting as the others she'd had last night. Her t-shirt was navy blue with tiny rhinestones edging the neckline. On her feet were black Timberland boots that looked way too s.e.xy to be functional. Her head was tilted slightly as she arched an eyebrow in antic.i.p.ation of his answer.

"I'm ready for our ride," was his reply.

She was skeptical, he could tell, but she brushed it off. "Well, let's get this over with. I'm starving."

Moving closer, he took her hand and led them to the door. "So I'll entertain you then I'll feed you. Deal?"

Going through the door ahead of him, she turned back, resignation clear on her face. "You've got a deal."

The warm breeze felt like heaven against the bare skin of Victoria's arms and cheeks. It had been years since she'd ridden on the back of a motorcycle, and truthfully the last ride was nothing to write home about. But this one, she'd known the second he'd suggested it, would be memorable.

It was with Ben, after all.

Her fingers tingled as she'd wrapped her arms around his waist and held tight. He drove with speed and agility, like this bike was actually an extension of him. It moved right along with his body, the power thrusting against her thighs and b.u.t.tocks. There was a freedom here. A strange sense of weightlessness that made everything else seem insignificant. Laying her cheek against his back, she embraced that feeling, let it engulf her and prayed she could hold on to it just a little bit longer.

Time had seemed to stand still except that the sun had almost finished its descent as the bike came to a slow stop. Victoria heard the engine silence and felt a shift as he put down the stand. She thought he would get off immediately, but he sat there, his hands falling from the handlebars to cover hers at his waist.

Even that felt good. It felt safe.

And that made her more nervous than she cared to admit.

She pulled her hands away and maneuvered herself off the bike. Her fingers tingled she suspected from the loss of warmth after touching him. In response she thrust them into her front pockets and walked a few steps. They were at some type of canyon. She hadn't been paying attention to where he'd been driving, which really was unlike her. But this was an open s.p.a.ce, desert-like with its dry dirt ground and parched palm trees stretching skyward.

The view was magnificent, capping the tops of the buildings that decorated the infamous Strip. The city skyline looked like the tiny depictions captured inside snow globes. There were no fake white flakes to accentuate the scene, just the silky haze of dry heat settling over the surrounding land. It would be quite breathtaking, if the man who'd brought her here hadn't already stolen her breath.

"We're safe here," she heard him say from behind. "n.o.body followed us."

"How do you know that?" she asked, not that what she was thinking had anything to do with someone following them.

In the serenity of the ride or from being close to this man, she wasn't sure which, she hadn't thought about their current situation. Which just proved how being around him was throwing her off balance.

He removed his helmet, placing it on the handle bar before swaying a leg over the bike stand.

"Remember I told you my cousin's a private investigator? Well, he's a.s.signed someone to watch us until this situation with Vega is over."

"Oh great," she said, shivering even though it was anything but cold. "So I'm being watched by even more people?"

"Just for your protection," he added, but the words gave little consolation to her whirling emotions.

Victoria simply nodded. It was no use arguing this with him. He acknowledged early on that he felt she needed protection. And in light of who they were dealing with, she wasn't foolish enough to deny it.

"Right. Protection."

"They won't find us here. And if they did they'd have to get through Dev and his crew first. So you can relax."

She probably could have if he hadn't come up behind her, touching his hands to her shoulders.

"I'm not good at this," she heard herself admitting. It was like that with him. She said things she shouldn't have, did things she never thought about doing.

"Come on inside and you can tell me what you're not good at."

Inside? Victoria turned around again and was face to face with him. She was about to say there was no inside to go to, but just over his shoulder, about thirty feet away, there was a little cabin. It almost looked out of place, as if it had been dropped down in the middle of the desert by mistake. Then again, there was a quiet appeal to the mostly wooden structure enhanced by intricate stone work that could use some cleaning.

"You're really cute when you're baffled," he said, tweaking her nose, then gathering her hand in his and walking towards the cabin.

Once they were inside she pulled her hand from his as he closed the door, then took a few steps away and reached for something she prayed was a light.

"I don't like being baffled," she admitted and continued to look around, trying to soak in her surroundings this time.

"Does that mean you don't like being cute?"

She wasn't totally shocked to see him standing right in front of her, a lit lantern held between them. The grin on his face should have been expected. It shouldn't have slid along the base of her spine like a soft touch, causing ripples of pleasure to float through her body.

"You like being cute enough for both of us," she said with a sigh. "Ben, what are we doing?"

The small room was further illuminated by another lantern Ben seemed to know exactly where to find. The kitchen wasn't modern by any means, but she could see where repairs were being inst.i.tuted. A brand new stainless steel refrigerator was squeezed into a tight nook in the corner. The wood was dark, cherry maybe, and looked to be in good condition. That and the stone work outside was probably why the dwelling was being rehabbed as opposed to demolished.

"I don't know about you but I needed a break. From the office, the cases, everything. I'm thinking of taking a long vacation really soon. In the meantime, I just wanted to unwind a bit. I bought this place about a year ago because I like the open s.p.a.ce to be able to ride."

He moved as he talked, getting down gla.s.ses from a cabinet whose handle looked as if it would fall off the very next time someone pulled on it. The refrigerator was fully stocked from what she could see, but he opened and closed it so quickly, grabbing two bottled waters without any thought at all.

"I meant what are 'we' doing?" Victoria smoothed her hands over her hair. She'd pulled it all back when she'd changed her clothes, but was sure the wind from the ride had ruffled it to a perfect mess. Not that she was worried about her looks. She was more worried about her state of mind. "I thought we were going to wait until after this case to do whatever it is we started last night. Then I come home to find you on my steps holding enough balloons to cheer up the entire pediatric wing at the hospital."

"Did they cheer you up?" he asked when he'd finished filling both gla.s.ses with water and pushed one towards her.

He sat at the small round table and nodded towards the only other chair in the room for her to do the same.

She sighed and took a seat, moreso because her legs were feeling a little watery being on solid ground after the long ride. "That's not the point."

Ben took a long drink, then set his half empty gla.s.s down. "It's precisely the point. If something cheers you up, or makes you happy, you should just go with it. Don't question it because they'll be plenty of time for questions later."

"Who told you that?"

He shrugged. "Figured it out all by myself."

Ben didn't grin this time, although she fully expected him to. The finale to his charming words was always a dashing smile. This time he looked at her seriously.

"There's enough going on to keep us both stressed. I wanted a moment without all the worry and concentration to relax and enjoy life."

"And you had to pick me up for that?"

For the first time in a very long time Ben looked agitated. The carefree guy she thought she knew looked as if there were more going on inside his mind except plans for the next good time.

"Why are you so distrustful?" he asked. "Who broke your heart?"

She clamped her lips down tight. That wasn't a question she expected, nor was it one she thought she could easily answer. How could she tell him it wasn't what he thought? That it wasn't some guy that she'd fancied herself in love with then found out he was the sc.u.m of the earth. That her track record with men was severely less decorated than his with women.

"It's not about my heart being broken. I can handle heartbreak." That wasn't a lie. Hadn't she handled her father's death like a champion? Sure she had. That's what all her teachers had told her when she'd come right back to school the day after the funeral.

"I bet you believe you can handle anything," he told her, almost as if he were reading her mind.

"I don't think I'm invincible, if that's what you're trying to say. I'm just confident. I know what I want and how I plan to get it." And she didn't need Ben Donovan trying to tell her differently.

"That's fair," he said with a nod.

Then he reached for her hands. She wanted to pull away but they'd been resting on the table and she didn't really feel like being difficult. For the first time in Victoria's life, she was thoroughly confused. The right way to act or thing to say wasn't naturally on the tip of her tongue. And for her that was very problematic.

"I'm just not sure this is the right time for us," she admitted and figured the truth was probably the best way to go. "There's so much other c.r.a.p going on."

She'd given him her hands and loved the way they fit perfectly into his. His fingers rubbed over her skin and she looked down to see them intertwined. They looked like they belonged.

"We make the time right. We make the rules," he said seriously. "I'm not giving Vega anything, not my job, my life, my happiness, nothing. And neither are you."

His words had been said with such conviction, the deep timbre of his voice rubbing over her body like warm oil. He expected her to say something to that or maybe act some sort of way. Victoria was almost positive he didn't expect what she said.

"I want you to make love to me, Ben. Right here in your little cabin," she said after a moment's thought.

She hadn't really expected them herself. The words didn't sound like anything that she'd ever said in her life, anything she'd ever thought of saying before. But as they'd slipped from her lips, Victoria knew they were the exact thing she wanted to say, that they were her true feelings, and hadn't she decided to go with the truth?

"Ask and you shall receive," he whispered, keeping one of her hands as he stood from his chair.

It only took a step and a half before he was standing right in front of her, pulling her to her feet.

"This time won't be slow. It can't be," he told her as he stared down at her, his eyes darkening with desire.

She licked her lips, swallowed deeply, and let her body press willingly into his. "I didn't ask for slow. I asked for right now."

Victoria didn't think her feet had touched the ground, or at least she hadn't felt any ground beneath her as Ben led her into a bedroom that seemed much larger than the size of the cabin had appeared. Clearly it stretched long and beyond what could be first seen upon driving up.

Measurements, room sizes, furniture, rehab projects, all of that was forgotten the second Ben's lips touched hers. His lips covered hers, his tongue stroking along her own, everything else slipping away like puffy white clouds on a bright summer's day. His hands ran up and down her body, slipping beneath her t-shirt to coast along bare skin. Her own fingers tightened over his shoulders and down his back. She pressed against him, needing to be closer, to feel as if they were one.

It was strange, this longing feeling, to her. Like she needed him more each time she saw him. The attraction to him had grown over the years, along with her resolve to steer clear of the attractive playboy. Only now Victoria couldn't let her mind rule, not in this case. There was definitely something between her and Ben Donovan, something that was proving a lot stronger than anything she'd ever faced in her life. They kissed as if they'd been doing it for years, a moan slipping through her lips as his tongue now traced a heated path along her jaw line. She arched her back, letting him lift one leg up to wrap around his waist.

"I love the feel of you in my arms, the taste of you on my lips," he whispered along the line of her neck.

"I do too, Ben. Oh G.o.d, I do too." It was a wanton admission, an honest one, and when he lifted her into his arms and then turned to gently lay her onto the bed, her body screamed for more.

He removed her boots first, then her socks, cupping one foot in his hand and lovingly kissing her toes. He rubbed along the length of her foot, kneading his thumbs into her arch. Waves of pleasure seemed to float from the tip of her toes up to her ankle, spreading through her calves to her thighs and ultimately settling in a heated pool of desire at her moistened center.

"Whatever I can do, whatever I can say is all for your pleasure, baby."

His breath was warm, tickling her skin. His tone was deep, slightly commanding and d.a.m.ned enticing.

"I never thought it would be like this," she whispered breathlessly, her fingers clenching in the sheets beneath her.

"Always, baby. It can always be like this."

It was a promise one that clenched around her heart like tightened fingers. When he moved up her legs continuing to ma.s.sage the tired muscles there, she could do nothing but moan. Deftly he undid the snap at her jeans, unzipped them and began pushing them over her hips. She lifted to accommodate him and had to catch her breath when he snagged her bikini at the same time, leaving her completely bare from the waist down.

This wasn't like last night's intimate session. It was still hot and made her heady with desire, but there was more. The difference was her and how her body was even more sensitive to his touch. So entranced in the memory and the antic.i.p.ation of their joining once more, she hadn't felt him spread her legs wide or noticed that he'd dipped his head low until it was too late.

Ben kissed her most intimate part the same way he'd kissed her lips, with intense fervor and experienced flare. Her thighs shook as he licked along the plumped folds of her center. She moaned because it was the only thing left to do. Her body felt heavy with desire, sinking into the cushiony softness of the bed. When he lifted her thighs onto his shoulders, pulling her into him like she was a decadent dessert, she fell completely apart. Tremors of pleasure coursed through her body.