“Fine. If you want to make a mess and walk away, that’s your problem. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Yes, it does,” she said, laughing to herself at his definition of a mess. He hadn’t the slightest idea of what she was capable of in that regard. “I bet you’ll sneak down here when I’m sleeping tonight and fix it.”

“No, I won’t,” he said, his eyes flashing with the start of anger.

“It’s okay if you do,” she cooed. “I’ll still love you and all your anal retentive freakazoidisms.”

At her words of love, he softened, but only a little.

She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned in to kiss him. “Will you do me a favor?”

“What?” he asked in a terse tone. “Will you read my report about the shooting at Eastern Market for me? See if I made any mistakes?”

He looked at her oddly as he got up to take her place at the desk.

Sam stood behind him, hanging over his shoulder as he went through the events of earlier, making tweaks here and there. She was relieved that he found no blatant errors.

When he was done, he turned to her. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

She pursed her lips, wanting to tell him, but feeling shy all of a sudden. “Well, you were there. I was just making sure I didn’t miss anything.”

He reached for her hand and brought her down to sit on his lap. “You don’t need me for that. What is it, babe?”

“I’m dyslexic,” she said for the second time that day. “Freddie usually checks me, but since he wasn’t involved in this, I didn’t feel right asking him. Plus he’s baby-sitting one of John’s girlfriends at the moment.”

“I’m glad you asked me. I’ll do it for you any time.”

She attached the file to an e-mail to the arresting officer. Then she returned her attention to Nick. “Thank you,” she said, pressing her lips to his for what she intended to be a quick kiss.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered as he ran his tongue over her bottom lip before tipping his head to delve deeper. As he kissed her, he arranged her so she straddled him and took her by surprise when he pulled back to whip the sweater up over her head.

Sam shivered as cool air hit her fevered skin. “Nick—I’m working—I can’t right now.” As she said the words, she reached for the hem of his shirt, but he stopped her. Moaning with frustration, she found his mouth for another frantic kiss and gasped when he released her bra. “Got to work…”

“Shh,” he said, feasting on one breast and then the other.