Detective Rico Santana knew there was going to be hell to pay. One way or the other, there always was when she was involved. If not from Rivera, his captain, then from the unrelenting ache in his cock and the lack of sleep that always followed any encounter with Skye Delano.

Fuck! He lusted after her. Maybe if he went to bed with her, it would get her out of his system.

Rico gritted his teeth against the need he could already feel building, the anticipation. Now he was sorry he’d brought along backup. If he just had some time alone with her he’d—

Shit. He needed saving, from himself. Fucking Skye would be professional suicide, maybe even personal suicide. He had a feeling that once would never be enough with her.

He hit the turn signal and eased the unmarked police car toward an empty parking space. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cia Caldwell’s tight disapproving frown. She was the newest member of the department, and as far as he knew, she’d never had any personal contact with Skye. She’d heard the stories though, and read the captain’s file.

His mistake was calling Skye from the bullpen. When he’d looked up, Detective Caldwell was standing next to his cubicle. “Rivera is going to ream you,” she’d said before the phone had even hit its cradle.

“It’ll be dark soon. They’re not going to find those kids without Skye’s help.”

Cia squared her shoulders. “I’m going with you.”

Anger shot through Rico. He didn’t need a babysitter.

A flash of sanity followed. Yeah, maybe it’d be better.

The captain was going to be pissed enough. At least this way Rivera would see it was all about finding the kids and not about finding an excuse to see Skye again.

Fuck! How could he be so hard when right now the only thing he should be thinking about was two missing kids?

Rico parked the sedan in front of Skye’s apartment complex. Caldwell had her door open before he could even turn off the engine. He grimaced and looked down at the bulge in the front of his pants. “Wait here,” he said.

Caldwell’s mutinous expression let him know what she thought of his order. But he was the senior detective and she was new.

He got out of the car, heart double-tapping and cock throbbing. Every time he saw Skye the lust that rolled through his system made him think of standing in front of a wave of molten lava.

Rico braced himself as he took the stairs up to her apartment and rang the bell. It was going to be worse this time. He knew that. Always before he’d seen her at a crime scene or the station. He’d never been alone with her in a place that might lead to something physical.

The cop in him said he was crazy to go into this situation without backup. The man said he was a fool not to try and fuck her.

When the door swung open, Rico knew he couldn’t keep denying what his body was telling him. Shit. Everything about Skye whispered of sex and dark mystery, danger. She was beautiful temptation, silver-blonde hair and jet-black lashes framing hypnotic pale blue eyes.

In that second he didn’t care whether the rumors about her were true or not. She was a fantasy. His fantasy.

Rivera had warned him off her after the last search, when the perps responsible for kidnapping a couple of kids had turned up dead. The captain had told him more as a friend than as a commanding officer that a personal relationship with Skye could be the end of his career.

Rico was a cop first. Came from a family of cops. Above everything else, that’s what he was, what he’d always wanted to be. A cop.

So he’d kept his distance. Avoided her. Until now.

Now the only thing he could think about was pressing her back into the apartment and taking her against the wall. On the floor. Eventually in the bed.

Fuck! The things he wanted to do to her, the things he wanted to let her do to him, actually shocked him.

She half-smiled and it was like a fist around his dick, the ache was so bad. “You came quick,” she said and his heart jumped at her choice of words. He wondered if she’d guessed how badly he wanted her. Fuck, he’d be lucky if he lasted one stroke before shooting his load into her.

For a minute all he could do was stare into her eyes. He thought he saw desire in them but he wasn’t sure if it was real or imagined. All his cop instincts failed him when he was around her.

He tried to focus on the reason he was here. The kids.

It helped—some. “Are you ready?” he asked.

Skye studied the raven-haired cop standing in front of her. She could feel the lust pouring off of him, could read the fantasies even without delving into his mind.

Her body craved his, had from the first moment they’d met.

It’d be so easy to get involved with him.

So easy but so dangerous.

So very, very dangerous.

She stepped out of the apartment and locked the door behind her. “Ready.”