He laughed. “I’ll have to remember that. Writ of habeas corpus. Appellate brief.”
“Okay stop, you’ll get me going again. Back to Maya’s chart. What did she discover?”
“That the only extended gap in the fires happened when we were in Los Angeles.”
It took a moment for that shocker to sink in. “What? Why? What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to talk to you about it.” He held her gaze, hoping she’d jump to the same logical conclusion he had.
“Could be a coincidence.”
“It’s possible.” He shrugged one shoulder, dismissing that idea. He didn’t really believe in coincidences, not when it came to fires. “Can’t assume that. I can rule out myself as the cause.”
“And me.” When he didn’t answer, she scrambled onto her knees and swatted him hard on the arm. “Are you implying that you think I set those fires? Because I failed basic Girl Scout wilderness survival. I suck at starting fires.”
“Of course I wasn’t thinking that,” he said patiently, while she glared at him. “Anyway, you have no motive.”
“Oh, this just gets better and better. If I had a motive, I’d go around starting fires? Let me guess, you think I’m a petty criminal just like my father? Naughty Kate is at it again?”
“Jesus, Kate.” He wrapped a hand around her waist, but she pulled away. “Do you really believe I’d think any of those things? I know you’re not like your father. I know you didn’t set any fires. I’m trying to be logical here. We have to rule out suspects and that means considering every possibility.”
She stared at him, and the hurt in her eyes told him he’d touched a deep sore spot.
“Is there a chance the people who were threatening you in LA followed you here and are making trouble for the town?”
Shock flashed across her face. Her dark hair flowed around her shoulders in inky waves as she shook her head. “No. That makes no sense. Why would they set a bunch of random fires instead of coming after me?”
That was exactly the same thought he’d had. But maybe there was something he wasn’t seeing.
“Is arson on their playlist?”
“Probably.” She twisted her mouth to one side. He hated the fact that he’d upset her so much. He’d gone about this all wrong. Why hadn’t he gotten it out of the way first, before having sex? Now she probably felt ambushed. “I don’t know everything about them, but burning down homes and businesses is a pretty standard way of punishing people who don’t do what they want.”
“What about someone else connected to you? Disgruntled former client, that sort of thing?”
She nibbled at her thumbnail. “When did the fires start?”
“It’s hard to pin down, since we don’t know which ones are run-of-the-mill fires and which aren’t. But probably sometime last month.”
“So around the same time that I got to Lost Harbor.”
“Roughly.”
“Shit.” She flung herself off the bed and stalked toward the bathroom. “I have to think about this, Darius.”
“Hang on, honey. No one’s blaming you.” He started to get up, to follow her, but she shot a look over her shoulder that stopped him in his tracks.
“Just give me a minute,” she said tightly. “Please.”
He lay back and rubbed at his forehead while she shut herself in the bathroom. By now he knew Kate well enough to know what was going on. Her default mode, where she felt the safest, was self-reliance. Inside that bathroom, she was in the process of shutting out everyone else. She was trying to figure out what was “right” and how much blame she bore.
He cursed out loud—“damn it.” He should have taken Maya up on her offer and let her do the dirty work. He’d introduced suspicion into his and Kate’s relationship, and they might not recover from that.
He swung his legs over the side and sat with his feet on the floor. Dragging his hands through his hair, he tried to imagine his life without Kate in it. In such a short time, she’d completely transformed his existence. Lit it up like a comet hitting the atmosphere.
He’d thought his heart was done with this kind of thing. But right now it was on some kind of roller coaster ride out of his control.
The toilet flushed, the water in the sink ran, and then she came out of the bathroom, still naked.
But her expression had changed to one of determination. “I know what I have to do,” she said firmly.
“What’s that?”
She stepped to the edge of the mattress and lowered herself onto his lap.
Always unpredictable, his Kate. Maybe it would be all right. Maybe she wasn’t bailing on them.
He circled his arms around her naked form as she spoke. “The fires must be connected to me somehow. You aren’t the common denominator because you’ve been here for over a year. I am. The logical conclusion is that it’s the Kramer crew, or like you said, maybe some other enemy I made in Los Angeles. So.” She visibly steeled herself. “I need to leave.”
“Fuck that.” He scowled and tightened his arms around her, as if he could physically keep her right where she was. “You always want to solve everything on your own, but that’s not the answer.”
“So what is?”
“Find out who’s doing it and stop them. That’s my job. And Maya’s.”
“And I know you’ll nail the bastards. I know that. But I don’t want to put Lost Harbor in the crosshairs until you do.” She sniffed, and he realized that she’d been crying in the bathroom. The skin around her eyes was ever so slightly puffy. “I know I joke about Lost Harbor a lot, the weather, the mud, whatever. But you have no idea what this place means to me. Emma was the only adult in my life I could ever rely on. She was the only one who always loved me, no matter how much trouble I caused. She was the only one who put any effort into teaching me about life. And it’s not just her. Maya, Jessica, Toni, Nice Kate, the friends I hung out with in the summers. I love all of them. Some of my happiest memories are from the boardwalk. I refuse to do anything that’s going to make trouble for Lost Harbor.”
“Honey.” He ran his hand down her back. Her smooth skin warmed under his stroking. His cock stirred; the inevitable result of a sexy naked woman on his lap. He tried to force his erection to subside before it got too obvious. “I think you’re overreacting. We’re talking about a few garden sheds and old boats. That’s no reason for you to take off.”
“So far,” she pointed out. She shifted in his arms, so her butt nestled closer to his crotch.
Exactly the kind of move he didn’t need. He clenched his jaw and thought about flat tires again.
Nope, flat tires didn’t work anymore. They made him remember the first time he saw Kate. He needed a more extreme image, like a bucket of ice dumped over his head.
Okay, that did the job.
He cleared his throat and made his next point. “There’s no evidence of escalation. Besides, where would you go that’s safer than here—in bed with the fire chief?”
He knew she was truly worried because she didn’t crack some kind of joke in response.
“This isn’t about me being safe,” she said seriously. “It’s about Lost Harbor being safe.”
“Keeping Lost Harbor safe is my job.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “And Maya’s. She’s your best friend, right? Maybe you should trust her. You should trust both of us.”
A wry smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I do. I really do. I know trust doesn’t come easy to you.” He allowed his thumb to trace her kneecap. A subtle motion that she’d barely notice, and that would satisfy his need to touch her.
She tilted her head back and scanned his face with a curious frown. “I thought it was a pretty good solution. Now you’re making me rethink. But if I’m the problem, why are you so anxious for me to stay?”
Good question, he realized. His reaction to her announcement had been a knee-jerk one—don’t leave. What
was that all about, besides the obvious?
“Well, there’s the sex,” he said lightly. “That’s a good reason right there.”
“All the great sex in the world isn’t worth jeopardizing the town,” she said dryly.
Great sex…he was happy to hear she saw it that way.
“Okay, here’s a reason. I just got used to a new landlady. I don’t want to break in another one.”
“Oh ho.” She twisted on his lap and pushed at his chest. He allowed himself to fall back onto the mattress, laughing. “You broke me in? Is that how you see it?”
“I’m here, aren’t I? Not evicted.”
“Yeah, well…that’s for services rendered.” She crawled on top of his body. “That hand railing went a long way. All that moose turd shoveling.”
“A guy does what he can.” He decided to let her take charge and folded his arms behind his head.
She straddled his hips with her warm thighs and squeezed. “You like me, despite all the trouble I cause,” she teased. “Admit it. That’s why you don’t want me to leave.”
She was right. But if he told her how much he liked her, she might flee from anything resembling a relationship. Damn, sometimes being with Kate was like getting close to a porcupine. He had to be cautious. Keep it light.
“A tap dancer might move in upstairs,” he told her. “Can’t take that chance. I’m used to you.”
She squeezed her thighs again.
“S.G. would be sad if you left,” he continued, gasping. “She’s been through enough, poor kid.”
Another squeeze, so hard he actually coughed.
“On the other hand, if you leave maybe my full-time hard-on will go down. Might be nice to get a break.” He grinned at her as she clocked him in the chest. “Okay okay. I don’t want you to leave because you make me laugh.”
“Like this?” She tickled under his arm and made him lurch with laughter.
“Sure,” he gasped. “Like that. God, I hate being tickled. When are you leaving again?”
“Ooh, you’re in trouble now.” She pounced on him like a tiger out for revenge. But he was prepared for that and managed to Jedi-move her so that she lay on top of him, on her back, her legs on either side of his.
“What…how did you…” she gasped. He didn’t give her any time to complain, just slid one hand between her legs and clamped the other one over her breasts.
“Never mind how.” He tugged her earlobe with his teeth, like some kind of wild beast paralyzing its prey. “It’s just a demonstration.”
“Of what?” she asked breathlessly.
He stroked the sweet juicy folds that were already getting slippery as silk. “The fact that I haven’t done nearly all the things I want to do to you yet. And that’s why you can’t leave.”
Her breath caught and she arched against him. Her backside pressed against the rigid length of his cock. “See, that’s why I’m not leaving until tomorrow.”
He found the kernel of her clit and pinched it between two fingers. The plump flesh pulsed in response.
She let out a low moan. “Think you can fit all those things into one night?”
“I can be naughty all night long, babe. All night long.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Darius wasn’t kidding about the all-night-long part. After he brought her to a wild orgasm with just his fingers, while she lay spread open, her back to his front, they took a break for a snack. Except that it wasn’t really a break because somehow fudge sauce wound up on her nipples and he spent an insanely long time licking it off.
Then he hoisted her onto her kitchen countertop and spread her legs apart with those strong hands.
She was seriously getting addicted to the way he manhandled her.
He pulled her to the edge of the counter and made her pose like that, splayed open, while he took himself into his fist.
“You sure you don’t…want me…” she panted.
“Not now. I just want to fucking look at you. You’re so sexy like that. You’re always sexy, but damn, woman.”
She touched herself between her legs, both to tease him and because she was itching for more. And because the sight of his big hand wrapped around his penis and his powerful arms flexing with each stroke—it just sent her wild.
His eyes went dark as night as he watched her play with herself. When they were both right on the edge, he pulled on another condom, gripped her hips, and plunged inside her. He used his strength to move her hips to the angle that would pleasure her the most. Something brushed against her clit—maybe his thumb, maybe his groin, she didn’t know what, but it sparked an electric arc of response.
Her body clenched around the iron rod of flesh working inside her. Shudders gripped her—so intense she knocked a stray apple off the counter. Something else fell too, maybe some silverware. She didn’t know and she didn’t care. The blinding waves of her orgasm blocked out everything except the pure pleasure he was igniting in her body.
Everything except the thrill of watching him come a few moments later. His deep groan brought her eyes open just in time to see every one of his defined muscles flex and tighten with his climax.
“Okay, okay, I need a real break now,” she told him once she’d gotten her breath back.
He took a step away from her, his chest heaving. “No kidding. Damn. I need a nap now. You wore me out, lady.”
“A nap sounds good, now that you mention it. I guess we’re not kids anymore, huh?”
He helped her slide off the counter. “Nope. At least not if you ask my knees.”
“How old are you, anyway?” she asked as she landed on the floor. He held her up as she got her feet under her; they’d almost gone to sleep during that epic orgasm. “Seems like something I should know already.”
“I’m thirty-five.”
She took him by the hand, grabbed a bag of corn chips, and headed for the bedroom. “Not too old to crawl under the covers and snack in bed, right?”
“Two of my favorite things in one place—snacks and a naked woman. Can’t say no to that.” He grinned at her, his eyes a silver haze of contentment.
She ushered him ahead of her so she could ogle the thick flex of his muscular ass. As much as she loved the idea of one last night of naughty fun, she knew it wasn’t going to come close to satisfying her. The more time she spent with Darius, the more she wanted to spend.
If she really wanted to make this easy, she’d kick him out right now. Evict him from the upper floor, and from her life.
But she didn’t want to. She’d given up her job, her condo, possibly her career, and definitely her LA life. The hell if she was ready to give up this amazing, delicious, sensuous, intimately wonderful connection. At least not yet.
It was a good thing that Kate had slept in that morning. The hunger that had built up between her and Darius refused to be satisfied. She wanted to know every inch of him—in between the times when he was exploring every inch of her.
He wasn’t just a big guy, he was inventive too. She figured that out when she found herself kneeling on the bed, facing him, with one leg propped on his shoulder as his cock found a spot deep inside her, a place that had never been touched.
After she shuddered to another climax, she collapsed back onto the bed. “Have you been studying my Kama Sutra rug, Darius?”
He rumbled with laughter. “No, but it’s good to have research materials handy.” He rolled off his condom. His penis was still hard, just barely starting to soften. She touched it tenderly.
“There goes condom number three,” she joked as he climbed off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.
“I might have to grab extra from downstairs,” he called over the sound of running water.
When he came back out, the impact of his naked body hit her all over again. “Okay, I have a question, Darius Boone. You said you’ve been divorced twice. Why would any woman let you go? You just gave me three orgasms in half a night!”
With a slight groan, he stretched
out next to her. Heat radiated from his big body, and she curled into a little ball by his side. Such a comforting position, as if nothing could hurt her here.
“If true love ain’t real, at least we have orgasms,” he drawled.
“True love. What’s that?” She tangled her fingers in his mat of black chest hair. “I haven’t believed in true love since my junior high boyfriend dumped me through his sister.”
“How’d that work?”
“She sent me a text message saying he wanted to break up with me but was too scared to tell me himself.”
“Now that’s gutless.”
“I thought so. I cried for a day then decided the whole ‘love’ thing was a load of crap.” She said it as lightly as possible, but she could still remember the embarrassment of that moment.
“But back to you. So you told me about wife number one. Gillian. What about number two?”
“Amelie.”
The way he said her name put her on red alert. Whoever Amelie was, she’d really hurt him. “Was she French?”
“Yes. She…well, she had some problems. She wanted me because…” His jaw flexed as he struggled to get the story out. “She wanted me to be rough with her, in bed. Rougher than I wanted to be. Not at the beginning, just later on. I got uncomfortable but she would just laugh when I tried to say so. I started sleeping at the firehouse whenever I could. I didn’t want to have sex. Then one of my engineers got killed in a fire. It was a rough time for the department and I needed to be there for my crew mates. I had to grieve too, and she didn’t like that.”
“She didn’t like that you were grieving for someone?” Kate had a hard time believing that anyone could be that callous.
He looked uncomfortable at that reaction. “She’d probably tell a different story. She’d say I neglected her in bed. Don’t be such a crybabeeee, she’d say.”
His French accent made her laugh. “It sounds like she wanted Strong Darius only. Not the rest of you.”
“That’s exactly it.” He shot her a glance filled with surprise. “How’d you put your finger on it like that?”
She shrugged one shoulder as she played with his chest curls. “That’s kind of the story of my life. I was always expected to just take care of myself. When I lived with my father, I made my own meals, we had no schedule, and I had to figure out my own rides to school. With my mom, her mood always depended on who she was dating and how it was going. If I had a problem, it was always less important than her life because she was the adult. So I always dealt with everything the best I could, and people started praising me for being so strong.”
Naughty All Night Page 17
