Hell on Wheels Read online

  “So, I’ll follow you to the station,” she said.

  In no hurry to leave, he leaned against the side of the car and crossed his arms in front of him. “You did a good job taking down Leonard.”

  Inwardly she smiled. Josh was an ex-cop…undercover. One of the best. She’d heard he’d gotten tired of all the bullshit and struck out on his own. He was one tough bastard. He didn’t take crap from anyone. And he was damn good to have around when you needed him. Like tonight.

  “Thanks for saving my ass.”

  His grin was slow, the kind that started in his eyes and worked down to his mouth, then only lifted one side.

  “Like I said, it’s a pretty nice ass. I’d have missed seeing it around.”

  “Well, don’t get any ideas because you aren’t getting a piece of it.” She jutted her chin out, but he caught hold of it, rubbing his thumb across her jawline. She drew in a sharp breath as the heat of his touch caused a friction further down her body.

  “So you say.”

  “So I mean.” She forced herself to move away from him and went to her bike, which wasn’t that far from his car. When she straddled her Harley, she wished for a split second she straddled something else.

  Thinking like that could get her into serious trouble. Josh was a heartbreaker and her heart couldn’t stand another crack in it.

  She inserted the key and turned. The bike roared to life. A surge of adrenaline rushed through her as she forced thoughts of Josh to the back of her mind. She liked having this much power nestled between her legs.

  The bike was her baby. When the wind whipped through her hair, she felt renewed, as if the air cleansed her of the filth she dealt with each day. There was nothing better than flying down the highway. It was the only time she felt truly free from the harsh reality that was never very far away. She needed that escape to feel whole again…or at least as whole as she could ever get.

  Chapter 2

  Josh glanced in his rearview mirror, looking first at the two skips, then at the beam from the single headlight that followed behind him.

  His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. He’d almost lost it when he stepped around the corner and saw Cody taking down Leonard. The skip was at least four times her size. Not that she’d ever seemed to care. Hell, she’d probably take on a grizzly if one ever skipped bail.

  Then, before he’d had time to step into the open, Ralph appeared. That had been a close call. He didn’t know what he would’ve done if anything had happened to Cody.

  His fingers relaxed their death grip and he grinned. Like anything would. Damn, she was one tough cookie. He’d never seen her back down from anything, and there’d been plenty of times when some jerk tried to get the best of her.

  A few months ago, he’d been at the police station handing over a kid he’d brought in. Just a penny-ante thief who didn’t think the judge was serious about him showing up for his court date, but while he was talking with the dispatcher, Cody came barreling through the doors, her skip yelling, cursing, and struggling all the way.

  Her chest had been heaving from exertion, one eye already swelling, and looking like she’d rolled a few times in the mud. She’d stuck her foot out, tripping the skip. The guy landed with a hard smack on the tile floor, and apparently realized it was better to stay there. Cody had casually looked up and seen him. She’d cocked an eyebrow and said, “Hey, Josh, how ya doin’? You bring in a skip or reliving old times?”

  As casual as that. As if she hadn’t just had the crap beat out of her. Yeah, Cody Carlyle was something else. He’d heard she’d been raised in the worst part of town, running wild in the streets. He’d even heard that she’d been with a gang. That she didn’t know who her father was, and her mother was dead.

  Of course, he’d also heard she ate nails and barbed wire for breakfast every morning. All unsubstantiated rumors, but from the way she acted, he wouldn’t doubt that most of them were true, including the nails and barbed wire.

  Leaning forward, he grabbed a cinnamon candy out of the ashtray. He’d smoked his last cigarette four years ago, but sometimes he had the urge to light up. The cinnamons usually took away the craving.

  The beam from her headlight bounced off his rearview mirror, catching him in the eyes.

  He wished he had something that would take away the craving he had for Cody. She was one hot lady on the outside. Long black hair, and a body that was explosive—curves in all the right places.

  He sucked in air and shifted the cinnamon to the other side of his mouth. The candy was so hot it burned.

  Or maybe the heat came from the mental image of Cody as she’d stepped inside The Blue Eagle last Saturday night. She was a looker, all right. And she didn’t just walk. It was as if she’d drifted over to the barstool and slid onto the vinyl seat. Her tight red skirt had hiked up enough to show sexy, lean thighs.

  She’d owned the bar that night. No woman came close to looking as good as she had. Cody whet his appetite for more, but as hot as she was on the outside, she was like a chunk of ice on the inside. He’d used all his charm and she still wouldn’t have anything to do with him.

  If she wasn’t careful, she was going to give him an inferiority complex.

  He turned his blinker on and pulled next to the curb in front of the police station. Her bike roared in behind him.

  One thing he could say about Cody, she had great taste in wheels. He’d heard she’d bought the broken-down Harley and fixed it up herself, doing most of the work.

  ’Course, that was only rumor, too, but it was enough to give a guy a hard-on thinking about her with a wrench in one hand and a smudge of grease on her cheek.

  He climbed out of the car and waited for her to join him.

  “This is the part I hate.” She grimaced. “Paperwork.”

  “As surly as you always are, I thought you hated everything.”

  She frowned. “You think I’m surly? Hell, all this time I’d thought I was being sociable.”

  He liked her sense of humor, too, almost as much as he enjoyed teasing her. In fact, he liked most everything about her. “Want to go to The Blue Eagle after we deposit these two? I’ll buy you a beer.”

  She hesitated. “I’m already planning on going, but I can take myself, and I can pay for my own drink.”

  Damn, she was as prickly as a porcupine. “I wasn’t asking you to sleep with me, Cody, only if I could buy you a drink.”

  “And after that? Then you’d want to be my friend. You’d come over to my place and I’d let you in because we’d be friends. I’d be thinking Monopoly while you’d be thinking strip poker. The next thing I’d know we’d end up in bed together.”

  He leaned close to her. She might look tough wearing her ratty clothes, but she smelled sweet. Kind of like wildflowers in the spring.

  Damn, she’d have him writing poetry if he wasn’t careful.

  “Would it be so bad? I mean, sleeping with me?” From the light of the streetlamp, he saw her pupils dilate. She could deny it all she wanted, but the attraction was there.

  She moved back a step and raised her chin. “I don’t intend to find out.”

  With a grin, he moved closer. “You say one thing, but your body is telling me another.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Do you think we could just get the skips inside? I’m tired.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do, but you’re blocking the door handle, baby.”

  “I’m not your baby.” Her eyes glittered dangerously.

  His gaze slowly roamed over her delicious curves. “You’re definitely not a baby.”

  He enjoyed seeing her irritation as she moved to her right. Probably as much as she enjoyed his disappointment that he wouldn’t be crawling into her bed tonight. Surely, she had to know what she did to him.

  But then again, she obviously didn’t care. Ah, hell, what did it matter? When it came down to it, they’d probably be lousy in bed together. Each one fighting for control.

  As he opened the car d
oor, he glanced her way. Now he was lying to himself. Cody would be a handful, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He’d like to be the one who tamed her.

  “Okay, boys, we’re home,” he said, motioning for them to get out.

  Leonard wiggled and squirmed out first. He glared at Cody. “Bitch, I’m gonna come after you and I’ll make you regret—” He stumbled over Josh’s outstretched foot and began to fall. He missed the curb, his face slamming into Josh’s knee. He went down with a grunt in pain.

  “Damn, Leonard, you need to be careful. A shame you busted your nose…again.” He met Cody’s look of skepticism with one of innocence.

  “Motherfucker,” Leonard began only to have his words cut off by his scream.

  “Was that you I stepped on? I’m really sorry.” Josh took a firm grip on Leonard’s arm and hauled him to his feet. “Maybe it would be better if you kept your mouth shut. You are in the presence of a lady.”

  “Lady,” he snorted. “She ain’t nothin’ but—”

  Josh tightened his hold and shoved Leonard’s arm into an awkward position. Leonard clamped his lips together.

  Cody clasped the other skip’s arm as he exited the car. “You know, Josh, you should open a school of etiquette. You’d have everyone saying ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’ within an hour.”

  His forehead wrinkled. “Never thought about it, but you might have something.”

  He liked the way her eyes twinkled. A nice change from the usual hard glare she cast in his direction. “So, you changed your mind yet and decided to let me buy you that beer?”

  She walked the skip up the steps toward the glass doors, tossing over her shoulder, “Maybe you should go to charm school first because you still haven’t charmed your way into my bed.”

  He watched the gentle sway of her hips with each step she took. She might act tough, but she looked all soft and sexy.

  “You think it would help?” he called to her.

  “Doubtful,” she said, and opened the door.

  He chuckled. Spunky, sassy, and sexy. Maybe it was time he quit pulling punches and fought a little dirty. He wanted Cody Carlyle in his arms and in his bed. He had a feeling she’d enjoy herself as much as he would. He only had to convince her of that fact.

  Cody sipped her beer, her legs stretched out with her boots propped on one of the four chairs circling her table. The bar was dim; only a few low-watt overheads kept the room from total darkness.

  It was the middle of the week and not very crowded—two men sat on stools at the bar while three women on the prowl lounged at one of the scarred tables closer to the door. Cody had already seen them turn down the two men as they waited for something better to come along. Apparently, they were picky about who they screwed.

  She couldn’t fault them for that.

  She rested her beer against her lips and tipped the bottle. The Bud Light was already room temperature. Hell, she didn’t know why she was still there. A week of little sleep, living on crackers smeared with peanut butter and drinking flat soda had taken its toll on her. She should be at home in bed. Tiredness seeped out of every pore.

  When she glanced up the reason she’d hung around strolled through the door looking dangerously attractive. Like her, he’d gotten rid of his vest. The deep green T-shirt molded to each sinewy muscle while his jeans hugged every inch of his sexy thighs. He could put Calvin Klein male models to shame.

  He surveyed the room until his gaze landed on her, and stopped. The little half grin that always sent tingles down her spine appeared—as well as the tingles down her spine.

  Crap, she should’ve left. But then, maybe he was worth a little self-torture.

  Casually, she watched as he came toward her. The three women zeroed in on him, their antennae going up. She could almost see the drool running down the sides of their mouths.

  One of the three stood. Apparently, the leader of the pack. A frizzy-haired blond bimbo with fuck me flashing on her forehead. She wore a tight black leather skirt up to her ass cheeks and a knit shirt so low her silicone-enhanced boobs practically spilled out. She went so far as to stand in Josh’s path.

  Cody had to give Josh credit—he walked around her as if she wasn’t even there and didn’t seem to notice when she flounced to the bar to order another drink.

  He stopped at Cody’s table. “You waited.”

  “Yeah, right, in your dreams,” she said with a very unladylike snort. “As soon as I finish this I’m out of here. Sorry to disappoint you.”

  He pulled a chair out, flipped it around, and straddled it. He didn’t look a bit put out by her rudeness as he rested his chin on the top chair rung and stared at her.

  What the hell had she been thinking? Hanging around the bar this long had been a terrible idea.

  She’d reached her self-torture limit, and then some. Josh was one of the bad boys. The ones who enjoyed the chase almost as much as they did the victory.

  Foreplay. That’s all it was to them. She’d seen too many females fall prey to a man in low-slung jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat. Josh had left his hat behind, but he might as well be wearing it the way the three women had given him the once-over.

  “Can’t we just talk?”

  “Your kind never wants to just talk,” she countered.

  “I won’t even touch you.” He straightened, opening his hands in supplication. “Talking, that’s all we’ll do.”

  “Talking?” She didn’t trust him, but then, she didn’t trust anyone.

  “Yeah, don’t you feel it?”

  He continued before she could ask what exactly she was supposed to be feeling—other than sexually starved.

  “You know, the rush of adrenaline that quickens your pulse when you bring down a skip. It takes me at least a couple of hours to unwind. Help me out. Just talk.”

  Bad thing was, she knew exactly what he meant. She might look calm on the outside, but on the inside she was wound tighter than an eight-day clock. She doubted talking would help, but he was right. She didn’t want to go home to a cold, empty apartment.

  She nodded toward him. “You talk, I’ll listen.”

  “Fair enough. What do you want to know? Ask me anything and I’ll tell you.”

  Yeah, right. Let’s see how long it would take him to clam up when she got personal. “Why do you date so many women, but never stay with one longer than a month?”

  He grinned. “So, you have been paying attention.”

  “Ass.”

  “Nah, just horny. Anyway, are you so sure I left them? Maybe they left me, but thanks for thinking it was the other way around.”

  “It wasn’t?”

  He shrugged. “Sometimes. Not many women like being left alone at night. You know the routine. How many late nights did you search for Leonard? Two? Three?”

  As if she was going to tell Josh she’d been searching for Leonard a solid week after he’d told her he’d only been looking three days. Instead, she countered with another question. “Why’d you quit the force? I heard you were an undercover cop.”

  He crossed his arms, resting them back on the top chair rung. “I didn’t like risking my life for low pay when I could risk my life and make a lot more money.”

  “So you’re in it for the money?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “You’re not allowed to ask, remember, you can only answer questions.”

  “Sorry. And no, it isn’t exactly what you’re thinking. I want to open my own P.I. agency and that takes time and money. Papers have to be filed. I’d like to rent an office without bars on the windows.”

  “A regular entrepreneur.”

  “An investment in my future is how I think about it.”

  There was a subtle change in the air. An almost comfortable feeling, and that was the last thing she wanted to feel around Josh. She downed the rest of her beer. “No more questions,” she said as she came to her feet. “I’m tired.”

  He stood. She was five feet, seven inches, and he still towered over her. Som
eone put a quarter in the jukebox, breaking the sudden silence as an old Garth Brooks song began to play. She made a move to go around him, but he put a hand on her forearm. It was warm, not binding or tight.

  “Dance with me.”

  She studied him for a moment, tempted. “It won’t change anything between us. I won’t let it.”

  “I’m just asking you to dance,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “Unless you’re afraid you might enjoy it too much.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.” That sideways grin was back on his face. She sighed. “One dance. That’s all.” Maybe because she wanted to feel his body pressed against hers, if only for this one dance.

  He held her hand, leading her to the small floor, as if she might change her mind and go the other way. Maybe he’d read her thoughts because she’d already asked herself why she was letting him get this close. Hell, he only wanted one thing from her. Her stomach knotted when he turned, taking her into his arms. Damn it, she wanted the same thing. She’d fought the urge for months now.

  Maybe that’s what scared her the most, that tonight she might just give in to temptation, but for the life of her, she couldn’t walk away. Not this time.

  It’s just one dance.

  He pulled her close. Not even giving her the chance to keep a little distance between them. Hesitantly, she put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his arm, but he didn’t allow her the luxury of even that small amount of a comfort zone. He dragged her hands upward until they were around his neck, then took his own sweet time returning his hands to her waist, grazing the sides of her breasts on the way back down.

  Heat flared inside her, almost taking her breath away. Her body pressed intimately against his as they swayed to the music. Just stood there and swayed, not even taking a step. She raised her head, their faces so close they almost touched. His eyes were a deep, dark, passionate blue as they gazed into hers.

  “Let me make love to you,” he whispered, the warmth of his breath caressing her face.

  “It wouldn’t be making love, Josh. It would only be sex.”

  He shook his head. “Not between us. You know as well as I do that it would never be just sex. With us it would be rockets blasting into outer space.”