“But what?” She felt him shiver at the soft touch of her breath on his skin.
“But I don’t want to push you. It’s so hard to resist. I don’t want to …”
She pulled back, her soft-focus world suddenly becoming crystal clear. “Are you going to think less of me if we do this?”
Some guys did. Clearly, Ryan had only liked chasing her. Being faithful hadn’t been a priority.
“God, no. I’m afraid you’ll regret moving too fast.” Knowing that she had pulled back, he did the same. His eyes were clear in the dim light, a sheen that revealed he was looking over her shoulder. “I want more for us than a quick fuck, though I’m sure that would be amazing. So I don’t want to push or move too fast. I can wait.”
Maggie couldn’t fight her smile. “I have wanted you for some time. It’s not too fast for me, so you can stop resisting if that’s really the problem.” He was starting to smile now, the slow grin tugging at her heart. This man just got to all her parts. “But if you need to wait—”
She didn’t get to finish the sentence because she yelped as he lifted her off her feet. Warm arms swept her legs up as he moved up the last stair. She was halfway to his door before she thought to be grateful that he hadn’t chucked her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Her arms were already around his neck and she was pressing soft kisses to his shoulder as he carefully maneuvered through the slim doorway into his room.
“You are killing me,” he whispered as he tried to carefully lay her down on the bed. But Maggie was holding on, her arms still twined around his neck, pulling him down with her.
With the bed supporting her, she traced one bare leg up his thigh, already regretting that he still wore his pajama pants. He groaned again, a musical sound of surrender, as he joined her, his full body pressed against her. There was no mistaking how much he wanted her.
He kissed her now, full on and heady, his mouth ravishing hers. Sebastian didn’t hold anything back. They moved together as he lined himself up to stroke against her. He could have been inside her if not for her underwear and the stupid pajama pants. Those pants had been damn sexy just a while ago, now she hated them and wanted them off. She wanted to see Sebastian in all his naked glory.
But she didn’t reach to pull them off of him. Her back arched with the feeling of him hitting the sweet spot. It was her turn to gasp out a noise between kisses. She was clinging to his shoulders, holding on for dear life and feeling the heat of his touch expand beyond where their skin made contact.
“Do that again,” he told her. “Make that noise for me.”
“Then move that way aga—”
He did.
She did, and she would have glared at him for grinning at her, but it felt so good and he did it again.
“I want you inside me.”
“I want to go slow.” He drew out the words as though he wanted to savor every touch, every kiss, every sensation.
“Me, too. We can go slow next time.” There had damn well better be a next time, and another time after that. If this was what he did to her with his clothes still on …
Her words stoked the fire in him, and his hands moved. He slid one arm behind her to lift her and hold her in the right place. The other felt her skin, open palmed, moving softly from her knee up to the sensitive underside of her breast. Her hips rolled in response and he brushed his thumb over her nipple. The burst of desire only made her think he was still going too slow.
He did it again, and again, until she was moaning and pressing into his touch. Her hands finally found the drawstring on his pants and yanked until it came loose. Maggie traced that fine ass with her fingertips and pulled him closer, but he still wasn’t close enough.
She wanted him enough that she wondered what she might blurt out. But she was far enough gone not to care.
He pulled the nightshirt up, his eyes following the edge of the fabric as it revealed more of her skin. She would have been self-conscious, but the heat in his gaze never wavered. He wanted her. It rolled off him in waves, and Maggie was willingly getting pulled under.
Just let it last …
Sebastian pulled back, giving her a moment of panic, but then his mouth found the spot beside her belly button and he pressed a soft kiss there. Her breasts lifted at the shock and she couldn’t fight the small noises she made as his kisses slowly trailed up her body.
Her head rolled to one side, her limbs limp under the onslaught of sensation. As her ear pressed into the mattress, sound magnified.
Maggie went still. Had she heard something?
Sensing the change in her reaction, Sebastian pulled back. He was clearly worried that something was wrong, and he was opening his mouth probably to ask, when they both heard it.
Sebastian found words before she did.
“That sounded like a door opening.”
Chapter Forty-One
Sebastian jolted, moving backwards off the bed, suddenly on high alert.
Was someone in the house?
They had changed every lock. Only he and Maggie had the keys—unless this was another firefighter? But that would mean someone had managed to duplicate the keys this evening while they installed the new locks. That didn't make any sense. Besides, Sebastian trusted the guys.
Though he knew he should be scared or alarmed, he was only angry as fuck.
Maggie scrambled up right, and he watched as she pulled her night shirt down, covering her gorgeous naked breasts and ending what should have been the singular most spectacular night of his life.
He yanked at the ties on his pajama pants, hastily making sure his pants stayed up, and jerked open the nightstand drawer. He should have been reaching for a condom, instead he was pulling out a nine-millimeter.
Maggie's eyes went wide. Shit.
He should have told her. Bringing a gun into someone else's home was not acceptable without permission. But he’d brought it the other day, and things had just been busy. It was too late to do the right thing now.
As his hands automatically went through the motions of feeding the magazine into the butt of the gun and racking the slide, he looked her in the eyes and prayed she wouldn’t be upset. “I should have told you I had it. I meant to, but …” there was really no excuse, so he didn’t offer one. “I have a concealed carry permit. I'm trained. And I'm not letting anyone get to you.”
Hell, he should have gotten the gun sooner. He should have gotten two of them, and taught Maggie how to use it—if she wasn't already trained. There was a damn serial rapist and a serial killer associated with this house. But he could admit it still wasn’t his decision to make. It wasn’t his house.
He watched as Maggie seemed to decide it was a conversation for another time and bolted off the bed. As she ran into the other room, he shoved his feet into sneakers, trying to be as quiet as possible.
He could hear the invader moving around downstairs. Though Sebastian still hadn't yet figured out how that person had gotten inside the house, it was clear from the noises that he’d gained access relatively easily. Sebastian hadn’t heard any glass break or locks give way … then again, he’d been occupied.
Maggie appeared in her doorway as Sebastian stepped into the hall, her own feet shoved into winter boots. She’d zipped them up and looked disturbingly sexy with the fuzz that peeked at the top around her calves. In her hands, she held the Louisville Slugger and her phone. “Should we call 9-1-1?”
“If someone is here, yes.” They began creeping down the stairs. Though Sebastian was in front he was pretty certain she had pressed 9-1-1 and was ready to send the call through if the noise was real.
Though they tried to move slowly and softly, the creak of the old wood slats gave them away. At the first loud sound they made, the noise downstairs paused.
Then they heard the sound of someone scrambling away.
The sound of a door slamming into the wall echoed up the steps and Sebastian knew then—there was no mistaking it. This wasn't his imagination and it wasn't par
anoia and he wasn’t going to be able to sneak up on it.
Bolting down the stairs now, all semblance of attempting to be quiet gone—he held the newel post and swung around the bottom step. His eyes spotted movement and he caught a glimpse of the intruder disappearing through a door on his right at the end of the hallway. He could only hope Maggie had pressed the button and put the call through.
The old house was designed for a life before air conditioning. So, the bottom floor had a circular layout. Which sucked, because it meant until Sebastian trapped the man in a room, the intruder could always get away simply by running the opposite direction.
Maggie was right behind him, the two of them giving chase.
Sebastian sprinted across the back room, an old sitting room that spanned the length of the back porch and connected through to the laundry. Whoever this person was, they knew Maggie's house.
As he saw the laundry room door swing shut, he skidded to a stop, barely missing having the door crack his face. But his hand was on the knob and he threw it open and came to another screeching halt. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the floor.
A trap door had been thrown open.
“Holy shit!” Maggie exclaimed from behind him.
Though he wanted to look over his shoulder and check on her, she sounded fine. The old throw rug had been shoved out of the way, and the door was left open. “Did you know about this?”
“No,” she answered harshly, “or I would have damn well locked it.” He realized it had been a stupid question.
There was a cellar under the house. When the house was built, laundry machines were not an issue. This room connected into the kitchen and it made perfect sense to have cellar access here. It must have been converted later when they didn’t need a place to store root vegetables but did need access for laundry.
Sebastian was about ready to jump down onto the old rickety wooden stairs and follow the perpetrator down into the dark. But as he moved forward, Maggie put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.
“Wait!” She held a finger to her lips. “Listen.” She pointed toward her feet.
Sebastian heard the noises under the floor and understood then. The house was built on a raised foundation, outside, there would be a small doorway that likely lead into the cellar. Whoever had entered had known about a trapdoor that Maggie hadn’t.
Lord, the house itself was a puzzling conundrum of doorways and entries. Would they ever be able to find and seal them all?
Maggie pointed toward his gun and then down toward the sounds.
“You want me to shoot through the floor?” He tried to keep his voice low.
“Why not?” she responded. “I can repair my floor. We can't repair the lives these men have destroyed.”
She was right, and it was her call. Before she was done with the sentence, Sebastian had fired three shots. He wasn't sure he’d hit anything, but they made the noise beneath the house begin to scramble even more frantically.
Doing their best to follow a perpetrator they couldn't see, Sebastian tried to aim to follow the sounds. But again, Maggie stepped forward and put a hand on his chest, holding him back.
“We don't know he doesn't have a gun, either. What if he shoots up?”
Sebastian held his arm out across her waist as though that would do anything, but together they backed away from the center of the room. Then they heard another noise near the edge of the porch.
He bolted toward the door and watched through the window as someone scrambled out from the crawlspace entry door. Cloaked in shadows, the man began fleeing across the backyard.
Sebastian flipped the bolts on the locks that had barely been in place for five hours. They were supposed to keep Maggie safe and instead they were holding him back.
As he threw the door wide, he heard Maggie right behind him as he began to give chase.
Turning around, he said, “Stay here, please.”
But he wasn’t surprised when Maggie shook her head no. “There's a rapist and a serial killer on the loose and you want me to stay in the house that they both know how to get into better than I do?”
Well, damn. When she put it that way ...
Reaching back, he grabbed her hand. Together they bolted across the backyard, through the now swinging gate, and into the woods.
Chapter Forty-Two
Maggie shook Sebastian's hand off as he would likely need both of them and she wanted her hands firmly choked up on her baseball bat.
It was also easier to run without holding on to someone else. But it was difficult to keep up with Sebastian.
He was already through the gate, but she was managing to stay close, glad she had zipped her comfy winter boots. She must look like a fool, racing into the woods, in only her night shirt and a pair of white boots with fluff.
Sebastian stopped at the turn, listening, and Maggie managed to pull up just short of smacking into him. But even as she got her feet under her, Sebastian was already pointing to the right.
She could see and hear someone up ahead crashing down the trail. Maggie and Sebastian gave chase. She wondered if Sebastian would just lift his gun and shoot, but as a lawyer she knew enough to know the shooter was responsible once the bullet left the barrel. If he hit a home or something else, it could cost him a lifetime in jail. Even if he shot the person running away, if that person wasn’t the La Vista Rapist or the Blue River Killer that would also spell massive legal troubles. Sebastian was keeping the gun down at his side, ready, but not aimed.
Smart.
The toe of her boot caught on a tree root, and she almost went sprawling but managed to catch herself and stay upright.
“Are you okay?” Sebastian turned and looked over his shoulder, ready to help her.
“I’m fine. Go!” she nearly yelled it. She wanted this guy caught. Whether or not he was one of the predators, this asshole had broken into her home. He’d known a way to get into her home even after all of the locks had been changed, and she was furious.
They chased their prowler all the way along the path, only pausing at the fork when they couldn't see him anymore.
They stood still, listening carefully. Maggie was grateful that the night was as warm as it was, otherwise she'd be shivering. She pointed to the short path to her left, wondering if she'd been correct before about the dock being a good escape point.
Sebastian shrugged as if to say they were already out running through the woods in the middle of the night in their pajamas, why not take one more chance?
Sure enough, as they reached the end of the path and cleared the woods, both of them fought to not skid down on the sloping ground.
He’d been here. The dock was still bouncing from the force of running feet. A smooth trail marked the water where a boat had been tied to the dock and very recently motored away.
Maggie held her hand up for Sebastian to be silent. Just barely—over the sound of her own heavy breathing—she could hear an engine. The trail in the water led to a small wake that led out the tiny alcove and off toward the left. Toward Lincoln.
“Son of a bitch!” Sebastian swore. Though he clenched his left fist, his right hand held the gun at his side and didn’t move. He was right: he was well trained with that gun.
Maggie reached up, grabbed his fist, and unclenched it with her own fingers. Then slid her hand into his. Palm to palm, she felt her blood pressure drop just from touching him.
“We’ll get him,” she said, as though she and Sebastian were the only line of defense between an innocent world and a killer.
With a heavy sigh, he let go of her hand. For a moment, she paused, wondering if he didn’t like the touch as much as she did. But then he reached up and threaded his fingers into her hair. Pulling her close, he kissed her with a force she hadn't expected.
When the torrent was over, once she understood that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to hold her hand, Sebastian rested his forehead against hers.
“I need you safe.” He breathed the words out
into the dark night air, then he added with a wry tone, “I want to continue what we started earlier.”
Maggie kissed him back and whispered, “Me, too.”
With another deep breath, Sebastian sighed to the sky and reached into his back pocket, producing his cell phone.
Maggie felt her eyebrows lift. She should have called 9-1-1. She’d been ready to but she’d … set her phone down back at the house? She didn’t remember now, the shock of it all punching holes in her memory.
Sebastian began dialing.
Chapter Forty-Three
Maggie stood in her backyard, still in her Bugs Bunny night shirt and her winter boots. But now she was also wearing a thin foil blanket that Marina Balero had brought her. The officer had given Sebastian one as well, and Maggie could admit it looked much better on him than her.
She clenched a cup of truly terrible coffee in her hands, also brought to her by the officer. Balero had made sure they were warm, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that Maggie wasn’t allowed inside her own home and it was lit up like a beacon as police officers combed the building, collecting evidence.
The neighbors had come out to watch despite the fact that it was now going on three am. But how could they not? The noise of police cars arriving, sirens blaring, in the middle of the night must have woken them. Then the officers racing through the yard and into the woods to meet the firefighter and the lawyer in their pajamas had to have been a show worth watching.
They’d had their statements taken right there in their foil blankets in the back yard for all to see. Sebastian had been smart enough to take a picture while the trail still showed on the water and he’d showed that to the police detective on the scene. Though anything the picture might have proven was slim at best.
They’d already been questioned by several other officers, both separately and together. But now another one—a young man that Maggie didn’t recognize—approached them. “I'd like to ask you a few more questions.”
Crash and Burn (Wildfire Hearts Book 1) Page 15
