The Private Eye

okay?” Josh stroked his thumb along her lower lip. “You haven't made that call to McCray, have you?”
    “Well, no.” She went very still as she looked up at him. Her mouth trembled slightly. “I really don't see why I should.”
    “Maggie, sweetheart, you are very kind, but a little naive.” He brought his mouth down on hers and this time he didn't pull away.
    Maggie held herself tensely as he slowly deepened the kiss. And then, to his incredible delight, she began to respond. Josh felt his whole body react instantaneously to the promise of her stirring softness. His blood sang with the thrill of a desire that went all the way to his core.
    When she moved again it was to put her arms tentatively around his waist. She was careful of his ribs. Josh probed gently and her mouth opened for him.
    With a rush of passion he could barely restrain, he realized that he was already fighting for his self-control. The effect Maggie had on him was electrifying. He was suddenly insatiably hungry for her. But it was too soon to take her to bed. If he tried, he would no doubt scare her off entirely. He had to go slowly, he told himself. But he was no longer sure he could wait. It had never been like this. At least not for more years than he could recall.
    “Josh?”
    “Maggie, sweetheart. Just let me touch you. Please, love.” He eased her down carefully onto the cushions of the old Victorian sofa and sprawled heavily on top of her. She was soft and sleek beneath him, the gentle contours of her body accepting all the hard, rough-edged places of his. He was overwhelmingly conscious of wanting to be careful with her, of wanting to let her respond to him in her own time.
    Josh groaned; the husky sound of need chained by willpower emanated from somewhere deep inside him. He kissed the curve of Maggie's cheek and then her throat. When he raised his head to look down at her he saw the wonder and uncertainty in her beautiful eyes. And then he saw the sweet passion that was flickering to life within her.
    Josh reached out to switch off the lamp and the shadows enveloped them.
    “Josh. Josh.”
    His name on Maggie's lips was a breathless whisper in the darkness. It sent a shudder of desire flaring through him.
    “I'm right here, sweetheart.” He stroked a finger inside the V-neck of her dress, tracing its outline down to the lowest point just above her breasts. Then he slowly drew his finger back up to her throat where her pulse beat warmly in the soft hollow.
    “You are a very strange man,” Maggie said seriously.
    That made him hesitate. “Why do you say that?”
    “I don't know. There's just something different about you.”
    “Different from what?” he demanded.
    “Different from any other man I've ever met.”
    Josh relaxed slightly. He smiled in the shadows.
    “Okay, I can live with that, I guess. It's not the most inspiring compliment you could give a man under these conditions, but I suppose I can put my own interpretation on it.”
    She touched the side of his face with gentle, questing fingertips. Her shadowed eyes were still very serious.
    “What would be a more inspirational remark?”
    He slowly started to undo the large black buttons that closed the front of the dress. “You could tell me I'm incredibly sexy,”
    “You are,” she said with a simple, touching honesty. “But I figured you already knew that.”
    The words struck him like lightning. His hand stilled on a button as he paused to gaze down at her, “Maggie.”
    “Hmm?” She was fingering the buttons on his shirt.
    “Maggie, sweetheart, do you mean that? You really think I'm sexy?”
    “Yes. The sexiest man I've ever met.”
    “Oh, Maggie.” He choked back an exultant laugh and hugged her fiercely. “I forgive you for all the nasty cracks you've made about me during the past few days. I'll even forget you called me accident-prone.”
    She relaxed in his arms and giggled softly against his chest. “You like hearing you're sexy?”
    “I like hearing it from you. I like it very, very much.” Josh went back to work on the buttons of her dress. “Mostly because J think you are incredibly, astoundingly, amazingly sexy.”
    The laughter went out of her again. She clung to him with sudden urgency. “Josh, there has to be more.”
    Josh sucked in his breath as his ribs protested her abruptly fierce hug. “There is more, sweetheart.” He took a cautious breath as she released him. “A lot more. Give me a chance to show you.”
    He had