The sweat at his hairline that was making the hair around his temples curl slightly. The mangled button third from the top that must have gotten melted when he'd last ironed his shirt. The scuffs on the toes of his dress shoes from chasing criminals (undoubtedly). And the fact that the guy was just massive compared to her.

She looked down at her own slight frame. And as she mentally calculated the width and breadth of the detective's chest, she started to think about the fact that this guy could suffocate her to death if, for some reason, he were ever to be lying prone on top of her.

And she contemplated this notion as he asked her casual questions and the sweat trickled down from his left temple, dampening his collar until he arrested it by wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

And the sweat would trickle. And he'd ask her a question. She'd answer the question. And he'd wipe his forehead. And somehow the grieving/comforting process went through some sort of high-speed metamorphosis, and Hayley found herself moving in for the kill.

She lunged at Grant, putting her arms around his neck. His first instinct must have been to grab a weapon, because his hand moved instantly toward what Hayley had to assume was a gun concealed under his pant leg.

But when Hayley pulled his head toward hers and started kissing him for all she was worth, he seemed to figure the scenario out pretty quickly.

His hands switched directions and went up instead of down, sliding under her shirt and skidding along her slippery, sweaty abdomen. But he didn't stop there. He was sliding his hands up her body, now, and-

Something thumped on the ground in the cube next door. "Damn. Here, can you take his arm a sec?" said one of the paramedics.

The delirious expression on Grant's face flickered a bit. It looked like his professionalism and common sense might be recovering from the assault. Like he might pull out of the gig. Not acceptable.

Hayley's hand went south on the detective so quickly that he flinched at first. But in that moment his brain obviously stopped communicating with the rest of his body, and she had him exactly where she wanted him. Which happened to be standing between her knees as she sat on the edge of the desk, grinding his business against her palm while he unhooked her bra and went for prime real estate.

Hayley had broken off the kiss a while back when things started to get interesting, because there wasn't a whole lot of oxygen in the workloft to begin with. But Grant was committed now, and he went back for more tongue, and, man, the guy was a pro.

Unless a guy was doing something really strange, Hayley couldn't really say that she noticed one guy's kissing technique being that much different from another guy's. But this was different, although her light-headedness might have had something to do with it.

Or maybe it was just because he was such a brilliant multitasker. Now he was full-throttle kissing her, had the one hand working pretty skillfully upstairs, and just skated the other one up under her skirt. Since Hayley was wearing a thong, she nearly jumped out of her skin when he grabbed a handful of bare ass.

Time to up the ante. She unzipped his fly and pulled him out. He seemed to like that, so she moved her hand on him, which he also liked, and he went to repay the favor, sliding his hand over her sweaty, sticky thigh and-

"Maggots. Uh-huh. This guy's been dead a little while. We've got maggots."

Grant's eyes opened. The foggy look cleared and he stepped backward, distancing himself from Hayley in one motion. He looked stunned. He and Hayley locked eyes, panting. He put his business back in his pants and zipped up. He stared at Hayley. She stood up and stared back at him while she tried to snap her bra together with shaking hands behind her back.

He frowned, swallowed, turned her around without a word, and rehooked her bra, then turned her around again to face him, straightened her shirt and smoothed down her skirt.

Hayley just stood there like a rag doll, attempting to clear her throat, making more of a gargling sound.

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "There's a deceased person approximately four feet from here." He took a business card out from his wallet, set it down on the counter, and walked out.