In Hot Pursuit. Joanne Rock

withdrew her apartment keys from her fingers, eager to proceed inside before she changed her mind. Women like Lexi didn’t come along every day, at least not in the world Josh lived in. His usual dates were women he’d met at the gym, women who wanted the same things from a relationship he did—physical release and a simple good time. Josh had no complaints about those relationships, but he wasn’t about to let anything mess up his chance to play bondage games with a spitfire dominatrix.

      He’d barely pushed his way inside Lexi’s apartment when a pack of wild dogs rushed him. The restrained barks he’d heard a few moments ago turned into a chorus of raucous canine yipping and howling. Josh couldn’t see the animals in Lexi’s darkened foyer, but he could hear the snapping jaws, glimpse the flashes of white teeth around his knees.

      “That’s enough, guys,” Lexi admonished, somehow managing to shoo the brood down a short hallway. “You can play in the guest room while Mama has company.”

      As the barking died down, Josh became aware of a bird chirping in the background. The hum of a fish tank circulator provided a soft white noise, drawing his eye toward a small aquarium and the lone source of light in the room. One pink fish swam around bright cliffs of coral in its home on the kitchen counter.

      Distracted by the menagerie, Josh failed to notice Lexi’s return until she was a few feet in front of him. He couldn’t distinguish all the particulars, but he could tell she’d ditched her high heels somewhere along the way. Not only had she grown quieter, but also she’d lost a few inches. Josh guessed if he pulled her close her head would just reach his shoulder.

      “Sorry about that.”

      Wariness threaded through her words. Hesitation. Second thoughts.

      “Not a problem.” He stepped closer, looking for ways to gain lost ground. He had a hunch that if he struck out with Lexi tonight, there wouldn’t be any second chance. Her house full of pets had him thinking she wasn’t the sort of woman who lived on the edge very often.

      Normally when he brought a woman home from the gym or the boxing club, he would simply initiate a carnal wrestling match that would leave them both breathless and more than satisfied. But he got the impression Lexi was the kind of woman who wouldn’t appreciate the erotic possibilities of a half nelson.

      “The animals miss me when I go out.” She traced her toe along one of the floorboards in the foyer, her body backlit by the blue glow of the fish tank. “They’re excited to see me.”

      “I can hardly blame them.” Josh nudged aside the folds of her black shawl to trace one finger along the delicate ridge of her collarbone. “Just standing next to you makes me feel like howling.”

      Her heartbeat pounded just below the heel of his hand.

      “Don’t tell me I’m going to have to lock you up in the guest bedroom, too.”

      He smoothed his hand over her shoulder and allowed his fingers to skim along her back. “I think I could better serve you if you’d lock me up in your bedroom.”

      She couldn’t hide her answering shiver. Josh felt it right through his fingertips. Nevertheless, she shook her head resolutely.

      “Sorry. I’ve seen how much you resent captivity. I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

      Josh heard the underlying message, despite the haze of lust that had him in a chokehold. He paused his fingertip exploration of her back, unwilling to use sensual means to get his own way tonight.

      “Lexi, are you uncomfortable with me being here?” He wanted this woman more than he’d wanted anything in recent memory. Make that long-term memory. But he wanted her at full speed, all or nothing, as hungry for him as he was for her. He searched her face for some clue to her real feelings.

      Damn it, but she looked familiar to him. Still, he would remember having met a woman like Lexi. He had to be mistaken.

      The fish tank burbled softly, while he waited. The chirping bird in the background provided an obnoxiously happy accompaniment.

      “You want to know the truth?” Finally, she tossed her shawl aside and planted jeweled fists on her hips.

      In his mind’s eye he saw her donning boxing gloves, preparing for the round in which she would deliver the knockout blow—the “go home” speech.

      “Nothing but the truth,” he returned, realizing he meant it. He didn’t want a sugarcoated speech from this woman. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what you want.”

      Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, then slowly settled back into place as her gaze narrowed.

      “Then, I’ll tell you exactly what I want, Josh Winger.” She spun on her bare heel and stalked into the living room. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the subdued light of the fish tank he could see her toenails were painted bright blue.

      “I want a man to take me seriously for once.” She folded her arms over her compact body, a body visibly thrumming with an emotion he couldn’t fully identify. “For that matter, I would settle for anyone taking me seriously for once.”

      “Well—”

      Before he could respond, she burst into motion again, stomping around her living room sofa to pose by her coffee table. “I mean, look at me. Why can’t anyone appreciate the fashion sense I impart to all of New York? I know how to be tasteful and refined.” She pointed a finger in his direction and then started a slow trek back to him. “The point is, I don’t allow myself to fall into a rut of the refined but boring clothes that we’ve seen done to death for the past decade.”

      He was so far out of his element he might as well have been swimming in the tank with the damn fish.

      “I think you really look great—”

      “I am willing to take risks, and that’s what no one seems to understand.” In the course of her emphatic speech, a few more locks of hair slipped free of the knot on top of her head. He was trying to follow what she was saying, damn it, but thoughts of unpinning that hair and seeing how much of her body it would cover was more than a little distracting.

      “I might mix a few over-the-top colors, and I admit that my go-go boots with the Gucci cocktail dress was a definite mistake, but the point is, I push the boundaries.” By now, she stood toe to toe with him. “I am willing to try something different in order to create something unique and beautiful.”

      She gazed up at him, eyes so dark they looked like a doll’s—all one color, with no hint of where the pupil ended and the iris began.

      Clearly, the time had arrived for him to speak.

      “I am definitely willing to try something different,” he said, trying to steer the conversation back toward bedrooms and handcuffs.

      By the defeated slope of her shoulders he sensed that wasn’t the right thing to do.

      Damn.

      He scratched his head in the vain hope of stimulating a few coherent thoughts, and took a final stab at it. “But I understand what you’re saying. About taking risks, I mean.”

      Her hip cocked to one side as she shifted her weight. The stance broadcast her skepticism more loudly than if she’d rolled her eyes, but at least she was listening.

      “Like tonight, for example. I took a risk by not running to the tuxedo shop for the monkey suit I was supposed to have worn. The dinner jacket was a risk, as was the earring. But I’m not the kind of guy who makes concessions easily.”

      He hoped that was a smile playing along the line of her mouth.

      “But, like you, I know when to play it safe, too. I knew enough to grab the shiny silver tie out of my closet instead of the red-striped one. Shiny silver says I can bow to convention when I need to, right?”

      Lexi laughed. Was this guy for real? Any other man would have run screaming for her door at the first mention of fashion. Then again, there