Seduced By The Badge. Deborah Fletcher Mello

his chair leg with her foot, the aggressive gesture sending the chair and the man tumbling to the floor.

      “Oops! Sorry about that,” Danni said, her tone dull. “I don’t know how that happened.”

      The man and his attorney both glared as Armstrong reached out to pull him to his feet, pushing him back into his seat. “Accidents happen,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. “It’s good to see you again, Leslie,” he said, dispensing with the formalities. He winked an eye at the woman.

      “I’m filing a formal complaint against her, Armstrong,” the woman snapped as they reached the door.

      Armstrong nodded. “I’m sure you will,” he responded before the door closed tightly behind them. On the other side, he shot Danni a look. “Nice work,” he said sarcastically.

      Danni ignored him. “Who’s Pius?”

      “Excuse me?”

      “Pius. His attorney told him Pius wasn’t going to be happy. Do you know whom she might have been referring to?”

      “You speak Czech?” Surprise wafted across his expression.

      “I speak twelve languages.”

      “I’m impressed.”

      “Are you on a first-name basis with all the women around here?” she quipped, completely off topic.

      Armstrong smiled. “Only the ones who matter.”

      Danni turned. “I’m not impressed.”

      He laughed, the wealth of it searing as Danni tried to stall the quiver of heat that suddenly surged through her feminine spirit. He pushed past her as they headed back to his car.

      As he opened her door for her, he met her gaze, his own stare intense. “Leslie Harper and my sister were in law school together.”

      “You don’t owe me any explanation.”

      “I don’t, but I believe in full disclosure.”

      Her eyes dropped to the concrete beneath her feet, unable to hold the look he was giving her a minute longer. There was something about the way he stared at her. Seeming to inhale every line of her profile as if he were casting it in memory, painting the best of her in his mind’s eye. She couldn’t remember any man looking at her so intensely. There was something seductive about his gaze and she knew if she wasn’t careful she could easily lose herself in the wealth of it. She shook her head, desperate to wave the rising emotion away. “You have a sister?”

      “I have two sisters and four brothers.”

      “Wow!” She stole a quick glance in his direction.

      “I take it you don’t come from a big family?”

      Danni thought about her family. Hers had been a happy home when her mother had been there to give them balance. Laughter had been abundant, and she had felt safe. Being a little girl had been all about tea parties and playdates and dress-up, with her and Shannon the pretty princesses of their own fairy tales. That disappeared with the aftermath of a car crash that no one had survived. It had devastated their family, their father barely able to handle his own hurt. Holidays passed without celebration, home-cooked meals were a rarity and two little girls were left to keep their crazy grandmother from running through the neighborhood naked. She shook her head.

      “No. It was just me and my sister, Shannon. Our mother died when we were in grade school, and our father and grandmother raised us. He was a trucker and always on the road, and my grandmother was...well...she was special. I always thought it would be cool to have a big family like yours.”

      He chuckled. “It can be interesting, but I confess there have been moments I wished I was an only child.”

      “Really?”

      “When you meet my family, you’ll understand.”

      “I look forward to it,” she said, more out of politeness than actually thinking she would meet his family.

      “Good. Then you’ll join us for Sunday dinner.”

      “What? No... I can’t... I...” she suddenly stammered.

      “Do you have plans?”

      “No, but...”

      “Then it’s a date. My mother would kill me if she found out you were new in town and I didn’t welcome you properly. Sunday dinner with my parents is mandatory for half the neighborhood. I can pick you up at your hotel at two o’clock.”

      “I can drive myself...”

      “I’ll pick you up,” he said, an air of finality in his tone.

      Her first instinct was to balk. Arguing the point would have been second nature, Danni not accustomed to any man telling her what to do on her personal time. She was quite capable of finding her way around and more than able to decide for herself about her plans. But she held her tongue, accepting his directive in a way that was completely out of character.

      Armstrong gestured for her to get into the car, then closed the door. She watched as he rounded the front of the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat. There was a moment of hesitation before he engaged the engine.

      “What?” Danni questioned.

      “We need to go change our clothes. We look like cops, and where we need to go, we’ll need to blend in if we’re going to get any answers.”

      “Where are we going?”

      “To find a man named Pius!”

       Chapter 3

      Danni did not realize how exhausted she was until she stepped into the shower. The day had been longer than she’d anticipated, and it was only when Armstrong had asked her to change and be ready by the time he returned that she questioned if she had the stamina for round two. As she eased her naked body into the mist of hot water, every muscle from her head to her toes seemed to convulse, constricting and then relaxing before she felt as if a wealth of weight had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. Taking a deep breath and then a second to steady herself, she found herself feeling lazy and tired and ready for a long nap. She had an hour before Armstrong would be back to get her, so a nap was out of the question. She needed to make the most out of the downtime that she could.

      The task force had put her up at the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel. Located in the Hyde Park neighborhood, it was clean, cozy, convenient to the downtown area, and the staff was pleasant. She had six weeks before she would have to return to Atlanta or find her own place to lay her head. Six weeks was at least four weeks too long, Danni thought, determined to bring down someone named Pius and anyone else involved in their case before then.

      Thoughts of Armstrong Black suddenly pitched through her thoughts, a cavalcade of energy shooting through her body. The palm of her hand trailed a soapy path from her shoulder, down her arm, to rest against her abdomen just below her belly button. A quiver of energy rippled through her midsection. The man was as intense as she was, and there was no mistaking how seriously he took his job. As he had dropped her off at her hotel, he’d given her a list of directives, his tone brusque and commanding. Clearly, he expected that she would follow orders and do what she was told. Danni had never been one to take direction well, but she was determined not to rock the boat when he could be the help she needed to finish her task.

      Stepping from the flow of water, she turned off the faucet with one hand and reached for a stark white towel with the other. Moving naked into the other room, she dropped onto the corner of the bed as she dug into her luggage, looking for a jar of Cetaphil lotion, a clean pair of panties and something to wear.

      Minutes late she was moisturized from head to toe, spritzed with the light scent of lavender and dressed in a pair of frayed and torn denim jeans, a cotton T-shirt and black, steel-toed work boots. Taking a quick glance at herself,