Seductive Reasoning

by Melissa Schroeder

  He said nothing as he turned his back to her. Well, that was fine with her. Bloody hell, the man had an ass on him. All that working out definitely had paid off. Hell, his entire back was sculpted. She should feel guilty scoping out his body when he was in this condition, but she couldn’t help herself.

  He placed his hands on the tile and bent his head down, letting the water slide all over him. She sighed in appreciation. She grabbed a pouf, some soap, and lathered it up. Del said nothing as she rubbed it over his skin, but he sighed. The muscles beneath her hands relaxed, as she continued to scrub and massage him. She washed him, hoping to cleanse his mind of the horrors he had seen tonight. Emma knew it was probably not going to help much, but she had to try.

  He turned to face her. Water splashed down on both of them as he watched her. He had his cop face on.

  “I really should go,” he repeated.

  She studied him for a long moment, then raised her hand to his cheek. “I don’t want you to though. I want you to stay here.”

  He stared at her for a long moment, the seconds ticking by. She knew he was having some kind of internal battle, then he groaned and grabbed her. There would be no denying him. She wanted him, needed to be the person who filled the void that had been left by the night’s events. She dropped the pouf and went easily into his arms. He cupped her face in both hands, and kissed her.

  If he had enticed and teased her before, this kiss shattered her. His passion crashed through her as she surrendered to him, her body immediately responding to it. He slanted his mouth over hers again and again, driving his tongue into her mouth repeatedly. She pressed against him, his erection hard against her stomach. He reached behind him and turned off the water, before he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around him, and he carried her out into her bedroom. He’d grabbed a towel on the way out of the bathroom.

  He threw it down on top of the mattress, before he dropped her onto it. He turned away for a moment, and she realized he was looking for his wallet.

  “Top drawer, Del,” she said.

  He wrenched the drawer open, and pulled out the box. Opening it, he let the condoms fall on the bed beside her. Then, he turned back to her. In that moment, she felt a sharp ping of panic. He looked so different…this man. He was determined and hungry. It was beyond the cop face. This was a man intent on ravishing her, on taking her to ease his pain. Emma knew she could not reject him. She could not even comprehend how to say no to him. Instead, she held her hand out to him. He groaned and bent his head in surrender.

  In that next moment, he was on top of her, unleashing the storm he had been holding back. He pressed against her, as she rose up against him. They were slick, and so delightfully lost in that moment.

  He kissed his way down her body, treating her as if she were a delicacy he had been craving. He consumed her, fed on her, teasing first her nipples and breasts, then moving further down her stomach. He nipped at her belly, his large hands skimming over her flesh as he tortured her with his mouth. Hell, the man was lethal with his tongue. When he reached her sex, he set a hand on each inner thigh and moved them further apart, then he feasted on her. He slipped his tongue into her pussy, over and over again, grazing her clit with his teeth. As he did, he slid his massive hands beneath her rear end and lifted her. At the same time, he pressed his thumbs inside of her.

  Her first orgasm hit her so hard and fast, she wasn’t prepared for it. She screamed his name as her body exploded with release. She shivered and moaned as it lanced through her, sure that she wouldn’t be able to stand another one. Del had other ideas.

  He continued his sensual assault. Using his mouth, his hands, and his tongue, he pushed her to more pleasure. He built her up, again and again, taking her to the edge and teasing her until she lost all sense of time and balance. Relentless in his pursuit, he brought her to orgasm twice more before he relented.

  He pulled away for only a second, and she heard the crinkle of foil, then he bent down to start kissing his way back up her body. He rose to his knees and grabbed hold of her hips. With one, hard movement, he thrust himself into her.

  This was it, that moment that she had been craving since they first met. She looked up at him and their gazes collided. This wasn’t easy, never would be. But she could see the passion he felt for her, right there in his gaze. When he started to move, he leaned down, kissing her, letting her taste her arousal on his tongue. Ruthlessly, he pummeled into her, and she reveled in it. The connection, the way it felt to have this one person with her, in this moment. It wasn’t just good sex. It was making love with wild abandon, and she delighted in every second of it.

  Just as he increased his rhythm, she felt another orgasm approaching. Her body tightened, every nerve shimmering. In the next instant, it washed over her, more powerful than her first three.

  “Del,” she moaned, bowing up against him. He thrust into her core one last time, then shouted her name as he joined her in ecstasy.

  Moments later, he collapsed on top of her, and she wrapped her legs and arms around him. His heart beat out a tattoo against her chest, as she could feel his breath against her flesh.

  He rose up to look down at her. The scary look was gone, but the connection was still there. He looked like he was searching for words to say, something to make things better. What Del didn’t understand was that he had given her more than any other person in the world.

  She smiled and kissed him. “Don’t think. Just rest.”

  Then, he relaxed, a small smile curving his lips as he snuggled in closer to her. She knew that for right now, it was enough for both of them.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Emma lay half on and half off of Del. As he ran his fingers up and down her delicate spine, he realized that he had needed to see her tonight. His first thought had been to go home, then call. He was too raw, too sick of the entire mess. He hadn’t wanted to expose her to his nasty mood. They’d had one chance, that one slim chance, to save Susan. They had failed. As he helped with the transportation of the body, he had felt the cloak of responsibility hanging around his shoulders. He had been hired to do a job that was supposed to deal more with threats from outside of Hawaii. This was a whole other bag, and tonight he had wondered if those bastards were right. Maybe he shouldn’t be in charge and just maybe, he should resign.

  When he had finished at TFH headquarters, he had just wanted to go home, drink some whiskey, and brood.

  But something made him come to her condo, walk past the guard to the elevator, then knock on her door. The moment he saw her, he knew she was all that was good in his life. At the moment, he didn’t want to taint what he felt for her. The evilness of the investigation had weighed so heavily on him. Emma had seen enough of evil in her lifetime. He had exposed her to it in the investigation, but he had wanted to save her from his own mood. So, he had decided to just tell her everything and then go home. As usual, she had disagreed. Del was damned thankful she had.

  The rain was barely a patter against the windows. He missed that in Hawaii. He loved the sunny days and balmy nights, but every now and then, Del wanted a big storm. He just wished it hadn’t arrived with the death of Susan Tanaka.

  “You think almost as much as I do,” Emma mumbled.

  He smiled. “I don’t think there’s anyone who can think as much as you do.”

  She raised her head and looked at him. Damn, she was beautiful. Probably not in the most traditional way, but she had been taking his breath away since the day they met. Her silky hair lay across his chest, and she had the most amazing green eyes. Long black lashes made them even more remarkable. They blazed brilliantly against her honeyed skin. He couldn’t imagine her on her own when she was fifteen years old. With her issues, how had she survived?

  “Now what are you thinking?”

  “What was it like?”

  She frowned. “The sex?”

  He chuckled. “No. After your parents died.”

  Emma stilled and didn’t say anything for a long tim
e. In the six months he had known her, she had never talked about it. The long moment stretched. Now, he felt he had stepped over some invisible line. “Never mind.”

  “No. I want to tell you. Just, you have to know everything.”

  He didn’t know if he was ready for that, or even what it meant. Seeing the stark honesty in her gaze, he wouldn’t deny her. She needed to tell him and he needed to listen.

  “Okay.”

  “You know that they died in the Boxing Day Tsunami?”

  He nodded.

  She laid her head down on his chest again before she started speaking again.

  “We were on the beach that morning. It was so pretty and we rarely went. Mum never did like the beach. Dad wanted to go though. We had spent the holidays in Phuket, mainly because my father had work there. I can’t remember much before the wave came sliding over the ocean and hit. Which is odd for me. I have a photographic memory for the most part. I can remember what I was eating the day I turned thirteen, and I can remember the exact moment I fell down on the bike when my dad was teaching me how to ride when I was seven. For some reason, I can’t remember that morning. No matter how many times I try to think back, it’s a mystery to me. All the laughter—because I do remember that—is just a sound there in my head. I can’t remember how my mother looked or what my father was wearing. I try and try and try, but it never comes to me.”

  She didn’t continue for a second, then he felt the wetness on his chest.

  “Hey,” he said as he urged her to sit up. “Don’t cry.”

  She shook her head. “No. I have never told anyone this really. Sean has always been afraid to ask, I think. But, I need to tell you.”

  He nodded as he brushed away her tears with the backs of his fingers. It broke his heart, but he had asked, and she was going to share something with him she hadn’t shared with anyone else.

  “And so, I can’t remember anything before that sound, the rushing of water, and the shouting. What I do remember was running. I ran so fast I thought my legs would fall off.”

  She wiped away the tears.

  “What were your parents like?”

  “They were just my parents. They weren’t particularly good at parenting, but they tried their best. My father—well he was a goofball. He had the most horrible sense of humor. My mum, she…she was like me.”

  “Beautiful.”

  She rolled her eyes, but he didn’t miss the tiny smile, and it made his heart sing.

  “The one thing I remember most is my father pushing my mother up, so she could get on the tree. The water was so loud behind us, or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I imagined that because of the threat. Then my mother was urging me up higher on the tree, so that the man on the balcony could grab me. I made it up and over and turned to watch my mother do the same. In that instant, the wave came through and they were both gone. The last thing I remember about my parents was watching them die.”

  Jesus, and she had been fifteen years old, alone in the world, and in the middle of a natural disaster no one was prepared for. He knew she had an eidetic memory. She remembered just about everything she saw. For that to be the last memory of her parents…he couldn’t even imagine what that must have been like.

  “After that, I survived, just like everyone else.”

  He shook his head. “You thrived, Emma.”

  She sniffed. “Don’t think I’m special because I survived the tsunami. Thousands of us did it. Not just me.”

  “I don’t.” She laughed, albeit it was watery, but a laugh nonetheless. “You didn’t just survive. You made a place for yourself in this world. It isn’t conventional, and you definitely have your issues, but look at you. You never let it change the way you are.”

  “It did, in a way. I had quirks that became even more pronounced as time went on. And for a very long time, I didn’t trust anyone. I am not that same girl.”

  He heard the regret in her voice, and he had those too. He hurt for the girl who had watched her entire world wash away, and he hurt for the woman who had lived without any real connections until this last year. But he couldn’t hold back because he also heard a tinge of shame.

  “I’m sure you’re not the same girl. I lost my father when I was eighteen. It wasn’t easy, and I know it affected some of my choices in life, just as your experience did. But, babe, look at you. You survived the worst tsunami in recorded history. And what do you do? You live in a condo that overlooks an ocean. You are brave.”

  She said nothing for a long moment, and he thought she was going to start crying again. Then, something shifted in her features, and her mouth curved, and a moment later, she was laughing.

  “Does anyone know how sweet you are?”

  For a second, he couldn’t really come up with anything to say to that. She thought he was sweet? He opened his mouth, then grunted when she gave him an attack hug.

  “I have never told anyone that story. I am so glad that it was you.”

  She had shared it with him, and he would never forget that. She might have told people that she had lost her parents, but that horror, reliving it so he could know what she had gone through, she had shared a piece of her soul with him. She had laid herself bare to satisfy him.

  He knew then and there, she had his heart. Oh, he should have seen it coming, should have known she was going to be trouble when she broke his nose on their first meeting. He never would have known she would be the one.

  She pulled back to look at him. “You got quiet again, Delano. What are you thinking about?”

  He looked at her. She was studying him as if he were some puzzle to figure out. That was always dangerous with Emma.

  Del knew he couldn’t tell her now. Their situation, their life, was tangled up in this mess of an investigation, but he would. He couldn’t use the words, but Del would make damned sure she knew how much she meant to him.

  “That I’m damned lucky to have made it to your bed, even if I did mess it up.”

  She frowned. “Why would you say that? I had four orgasms.”

  He laughed. Of course, she wouldn’t be traditional in any way, even in bed.

  “Hmm, well I guess I was decent.”

  She smiled and slid up on top of him. With ease, she brushed her mouth over his, drawing his bottom lip between her teeth.

  When she released his lip, she rose up to straddle him. She was amazing. Not at all modest, and completely comfortable in her own skin.

  “You were better than decent.”

  “That’s definitely good. What I meant was that I wanted to take my time, romance you.”

  Her eyes widened. “What do you call romance?”

  “Maybe a little dinner, some flowers.”

  She snorted. “I think a very sexy man showed up at my door, then he ravished me. That was pretty romantic.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hmm, yeah,” she said as she gyrated her hips. He was already getting hard again. Damn, she was beautiful. The slant of the moonlight from the window illuminated her enough for him to see.

  She rose to her knees, and he thought she was going to take him inside of her. Instead, she slipped her way down his body, teasing him in much the same fashion as he had done to her. She nipped at his flesh, teasing his nipples by grazing her teeth over the tips, before she worked her way down. She wrapped her hand around his cock and stroked him, as she licked the crown.

  Holy Mother of God. She was going to kill him. Over and over, she teased and tasted him, running the tip of her tongue over his shaft. She looked up at him, and he could tell from her expression, she knew exactly what she was doing to him. That confident look, the woman in charge, almost sent him over the edge, but he didn’t want that.

  He jackknifed up and rolled them over her mattress. Then, he lifted up, grabbed her by the hips and turned her over.

  Lord. She was exquisite from behind. A spine that looked fragile, but he knew it was made of steel. Her ass was heart shaped, perfectly toned. With her in this position, he had the
ability to take his time. She was at his mercy now. He kissed down her spine and she moaned; the sound of it danced over his skin and sunk into his soul. She tasted of sweet treats and surrender, and he had never had such an amazing delight. He could not get enough of touching her, this way and that.

  He kissed both of her full cheeks, nipping at one of them before he made his way back up. He grabbed her by the hips again, and she rose up, willingly, wantonly, and he enjoyed every minute of it. After donning another condom, Del eased his way into her, slowly, only giving her an inch at a time. He rocked that way for a while, keeping control of the rhythm as her arousal soared. She grew restless, trying to make him go faster, but he was relentless.

  “Del,” she moaned.

  He heard it there...the need, the demand, and he smiled. Damn, she pleased him. She definitely wasn’t a shrinking flower.

  “What’s the matter, baby?” he crooned to her.

  She clutched at the sheets, as he held her in place and tortured her. Hell, he was torturing them both. His own control was threadbare, and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he lost it.

  He wanted her with him, right there in the end. He pulled out of her, turned her over, and reentered her. This time, she was coming as he thrust inside of her. He slipped his hand up to hold hers, clutching it, their fingers tangled. As her orgasm swept over her, her inner muscles pulled him deeper. She wrapped her legs around him and opened her eyes. In that moment, he was completely captured by what he saw. Complete and absolute acceptance.