She started to pull away and his hands came up, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her closer. His tongue traced the outline of her lips and then pushed inside. Desperate goodbye sex was so…desperate, but Daisy couldn’t pull away.
She slid her hands under his shirt, feeling the smooth play of hard muscle under his skin. He felt so warm, strong—so alive. It was weird. Daisy hadn’t realized it until just that moment, but she hadn’t felt this alive for a long, long time. When he left, it was going to leave a hole inside her and that life would drain away, leaving her empty.
But she wasn’t going to ask him to stay. If that was what he wanted, he’d do it. If he was going to leave, Daisy wanted one more memory with him. She rose up against him and he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the floor. “You taste so good,” he muttered.
“Mmmm. So do you.” She could feel tears burning her eyes but she wasn’t going to cry.
She left then, walking away from him before he could see the tears gleaming in her eyes.
“Don’t do this, Mike.”
The long endless stretch of highway unfurled beneath him as Michael headed out of Mitchell.
And riding shotgun with him was his brother. Sighing, he glanced at Lucas. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t just walk away from her.”
His gut knotted even thinking about it. He didn’t want to walk away. He wanted to turn the car around and go back to her, wrap his arms around her and hold her until she got some rest. Then he wanted to kiss her awake and make love to her, long and slow.
But it wasn’t going to happen. Right now, he was functioning on sheer instinct. Case solved, job done, drive away, find some quiet place, and rest. That was what he needed—what he tried to do any time he did a job.
“This wasn’t a damned job! You aren’t on the payroll for this.”
Michael snorted. “The agency doesn’t just pick and choose where I’m going to go, Lucas. I go, and just end up in places like this. That’s how my life works.” Bitterly, he muttered, “This is all there is.”
“Just because it always has, does that mean it has to stay that way? You have a choice—a chance at a real life. Reach for it.” Lucas shook his head. “Don’t do this, Mikey. She’s your chance.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?” Lucas demanded. Anger surged through him and his form went from damn near invisible to almost solid as he glared at Michael. “After all this time, don’t you deserve it?”
That, Michael didn’t know. “I don’t know.” Then he shook his head. Yeah, he did. He knew all right. He didn’t deserve any kind of normal life. Even if he did, he couldn’t have it. “I don’t have a normal life—I wouldn’t know what it was like if it bit me on the ass. But I don’t deserve it, Lucas.”
“Why not? Over me? Let it go, Mikey. You were twelve years old, damn it. You can’t keep punishing yourself for not protecting me. I was the big brother—it was my job to protect you, not the other way around.” Lucas shook his head and said, “Let it go, Michael. Give up your ghosts.”
Now Michael laughed. “That’s impossible. The door’s been opened—I can’t close it.”
Lucas smiled sadly. “You don’t have to. Just…stop hunting for us. If somebody needs you, they’ll find you. Tanya did. You may never have a completely normal life. I get that. But you can have a happy one. If you’ll reach for it.”
Daisy’s image bloomed in his mind’s eye. Groaning, he slowed down and edged his car to the side of the road.
A happy life—not something he’d ever really thought much about. He didn’t know if he was in love with her. Michael wasn’t certain he really even understood love. But she was the first woman he’d ever met that made him wonder about it. Sex was easy. Love, though—he wasn’t so certain about that. Yeah, she made him wonder, made him yearn and wish. Made him want.
I’d like the chance to prove you wrong…
A smile appeared on his face. She could do it. If anybody could, it was her. There had been a few brief moments with her when he hadn’t thought about the ghosts, when he hadn’t thought about Lucas, when he hadn’t thought about anything but her. “I barely know her,” Michael said softly.
“Then get to know her. Isn’t that what dating is for?”
Leaning his head back, Michael chuckled. “Dating.” He spent his life talking to ghosts and hunting down their killers. Dating seemed just a little too—tame.
“It’s called real life, Mike. Reach for it.”
The lady was so damned tired, not even Sarah’s warning bark woke her up. She hadn’t even fed Sarah when she came home. She’d stripped off her clothes as she walked to the bed and fell face down. It had been daylight then and now it was black and still the lady slept.
The retriever watched the door with wide, liquid eyes as the doorknob jiggled. Tumblers rolled. It unlocked and moments later, the deadbolt followed suit. It swung open to reveal a man. He paused by the dog, tucking something inside his jacket, before crouching down in front of her.
Sarah could smell her lady on him.
“I’m no threat,” he murmured.
Deep voice…nice voice…Sarah leaned into his hand as he scratched behind her ears. Ooooohhhh…nice hands.
He chuckled. “I think you know that.”
When he headed down the hallway, Sarah followed behind curiously. She’d hoped maybe he would get her some food, but he couldn’t look away from the lady. He stood in the doorway for a minute, just staring at her. Sarah finally went and curled up below the window.
People never made any sense to her. She could tell what he wanted just by the way he smelled. And all he did was stand there.
She was sound asleep. Michael hadn’t sensed anybody awake inside the house as he climbed from his truck. Well, other than the dog. He’d have to talk with Daisy about that dog, too. He knew he had a way with animals, but that dog was entirely too friendly, too trusting.
Leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb, he just stared at her. Moonlight shone in through the window, painting her skin with a soft, silvery glow, turning her hair to a pale blonde. In sleep, she looked so soft and delicate. She was an Amazon, though. She had the heart of a warrior. What had happened at the cabin would have had most people running for the hills, but instead of running, instead of breaking down and crying, she had stood up and faced down a poltergeist. Tanya’s rage had been increasing with every breath. Mike’s blood had long since gone cold with fear.
But Daisy had stood up and faced Tanya. Brought her back from the very brink.
He didn’t think he’d ever met anyone with that kind of strength.
He wanted to climb in bed and cuddle up behind her, just wrap his arms around her while she slept. For a few minutes, he stood there, waiting to see if she’d wake up. Michael almost left. Almost… He slowly slid out of his jacket, draping it over the foot of the bed. Then his boots. He left the rest of his clothes on. She wasn’t wearing much of anything, he could tell. If he climbed in bed with her naked—well, he was already going to have some explaining to do.
Stretching out on top of the cover, he pressed up against her back, sliding his arm around her waist. Daisy sighed, snuggling back against him. Michael smothered a groan as the soft curves of her ass pressed against his hips. The blood in his veins re-routed and all headed south, leaving him questioning his sanity.
His cock ached. Unable to help himself, he arched his hips and pressed just a little tighter against her.
Daisy sighed in her sleep. “Michael…” Then she shifted a little, wrapping her arm so that she could lay her hand atop his. A satisfied little hum escaped her and then she was still.
Behind her, Michael lay staring into the darkness. The sound of his name on her lips as she slept was a memory he was going to carry with him for a very long time. It was hours before he slept. But he didn’t give a damn. Even though he ached with weariness, he was content to just lie there, holding her.
Heat.
Daisy gr
oaned, trying to struggle out from under the covers. Although why in the hell…
Her hand pressed against warm male flesh. Covered with soft cotton, but still, warm male flesh. A familiar scent flooded her head. A hungry wet heat began to pulse in her womb even before she opened her eyes. Michael—
He lay on his side, facing her. Early morning sunlight streamed in through the windows, falling across his face. He had little golden flecks in his blue eyes, Daisy mused. She hadn’t noticed that before. His lashes were ridiculously long, especially for a man. He was probably one of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen.
And he was lying in her bed. Daisy swallowed, confused, the cobwebs in her brain keeping her from talking for a minute. Lust and exhaustion did not make it easy to form coherent thoughts. She’d be damned if she’d just babble. Finally, she licked her lips. “I thought you’d left.”
“I did.” He reached up with his hand, tracing his fingers over her cheek, along her nose and her lips. She shivered under that light touch, but never stopped looking into his eyes.
Damn, he had such beautiful eyes. That dark blue, so warm. Just one look from him was enough to make her get weak in the knees.
He was so big, so full of brutal strength, yet so amazingly gentle. He had cradled Sandy like she was made of glass as he carried her to the car. Sandy had curled up against him, like she knew he would keep her safe. She had good instincts.
“If you left—why are you in my bed?”
A faint smile curled his lips. “Decided to take you up on that offer,” he murmured. He moved then, rolling so that she was under him. He settled himself in the cradle of her thighs and she whimpered as hot little jolts of pleasure rocketed through her system.
Daisy would have been really pleased with their positions, except he was still fully clothed. Licking her lips, she focused on his words and not on how amazing he felt pressed against her. “Offer…”
“Hmmm,” he murmured, his voice a low, rough purr as he bent low and pressed his lips against her neck. “The changing my mind thing. You said you wouldn’t mind trying to change my mind. I’m here to let you do that. That is, if you can.”
For one second, her mind went blank. And then Daisy started to laugh. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she smiled at him, “Oh, yeah. I think I can manage that.” Lowering her lashes, she murmured, “And the first order of business is getting you out of those clothes—you have this bad habit of being overdressed…”
He grinned back at her and then all thought fled as he covered her mouth with his.
About the Author
Shiloh Walker has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more…ah…serious works of fiction. She loves reading and writing just about every kind of romance. Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full-time and lives with her family in the Midwest. She writes romantic suspense and paranormal romance, and urban fantasy under the name J.C. Daniels. For more about Shiloh Walker, please visit her website: http://www.shilohwalker.com or join her newsletter: http://www.fanbridge.com/?ref=red_fap-shilohwalker-151071. Also, check her out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorshilohwalker and Twitter: http://twitter.com/shilohwalker.
Look for these titles by Shiloh Walker
Now Available:
Talking with the Dead
Always Yours
For the Love of Jazz
Beautiful Girl
Vicious Vixen
Playing for Keeps
My Lady
The Redeeming
No Longer Mine
A Forever Kind of Love
The Hunters
The Huntress
Hunter’s Pride
Malachi
Hunter’s Edge
Grimm’s Circle
Candy Houses
No Prince Charming
Crazed Hearts
I Thought It Was You
Tarnished Knight
Locked in Silence
Grimm Tidings
Blind Destiny
She doesn’t want him. He doesn’t need her. Like hell…
The Unwanted
© 2013 Shiloh Walker
A Novella of the FBI Psychics
Destin Mortin’s psychic gift comes with an ugly twist—she excels at tracking down violent rapists. But it’s rough on relationships. Once, her partner Caleb was her everything: filter, shield, rescuer, lover. The only man who didn’t think her a freak. Then he walked away.
Destin turned her back on the FBI to work for a private agency, but now a particularly horrendous case has come up, and her boss wants her paired with only the best.
For Caleb Durand, leaving Destin was an act of self-preservation. Every time she flung herself headlong into dangerous situations, every time he nursed her through soul-crushing visions, he’d died a little more inside.
Now they are forced to work together one last time. Tragedy has changed them both, but Caleb knows if he lowers his shields for an instant, he won’t have an icicle’s chance in hell of resisting the temptation to lose himself in her wild power.
But to catch the rapist, it’s exactly what he’ll have to do.
Warning: Contains tortured souls who have lost love and pined for their missing half, a woman who can see evil, and a hot FBI agent.
Enjoy the following excerpt for The Unwanted:
The feel of the nightmares was one Destin was used to. There were some that would cling to her, like a spider’s web, and she’d be struggling with the fibers of it all day, plucking useful threads from it and discarding everything else.
Other dreams would cling to her…but there would be nothing useful. They were dark and terrible and unwelcome, but she remembered nothing of those.
They were the ones she hated the most because she had to suffer the darkness, the pain, the fear…all for nothing.
The terror was choking. Cloying and thick, and the pain was unending. Laughter surrounded her and she knew the sound of that laughter, knew it as well as she knew her own name.
But even as she tried to grasp the threads of the dream, hold them together, they fell apart. This wasn’t one of those dreams that she’d been able to save. It would just linger in the depths of her mind, tormenting her, but never showing its true face. Like so many others.
The slow, terrible slide into wakefulness couldn’t be rushed. Bit by bit, the dream faded into nothingness, while the echo of that laughter danced in her mind.
Bit by bit, the memory of pain retreated. Pain that wracked her, everywhere. Forgotten tears dried, and her chest, aching from the sobs, eased as she was able to draw a deep, easier breath.
Gone…the dream was gone.
For now.
And then awareness slammed into her.
Warm arms held her. Against her cheek, she could hear the steady beat of a heart. And even as she tensed and started to process what was happening, Caleb stroked a hand up her back and curved it over her neck.
“You fell asleep in the car. I carried you inside and was going to leave you in here to sleep it off but the nightmares had already started.” He nuzzled her temple, his lips soft, gentle…breaking her heart. “I couldn’t leave you alone.”
“Why not? You did it five years ago easy enough.” The question tumbled out of her before she could stop it. Immediately, she wanted to kick herself. “Never mind. Forget I said that.” She untangled her arms and legs from him.
Or at least she tried.
Caleb switched their positions and instead of laying sprawled half on top of him, he was lying on top of her, his hips caught in the cradle of hers and she could feel the massive wall of his chest crushing against her breasts. Her breath caught and her heart settled into a mad gallop that would have done any horse running in the Kentucky Derby proud.
“Easy,” he murmured, reaching up and splaying a hand over her cheek. “You think it was an easy thing to leave you.”
The heat that had
started to uncurl through her belly went icy. Pain slashed through her heart and she stared up into his brown eyes, recalling the way he had watched her, so unaffected, so untouched, before he’d turned away and walked out of her life five years ago.
“Yes.” She swallowed the knot in her throat even as her brain screamed at her not to say anything else. Let it go…just let it go… But her brain was saying one thing and she heard herself doing the exact opposite. “I mean, you tell me you were waiting for me to ask you to stay, but all I saw was you walking out the door and it looked like you didn’t have any trouble at all doing it.”
She forced herself to smile despite the pain that threatened to tear her apart.
“Walking away was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.” He stared at her, and the look on his face wasn’t all that much different than the one he’d worn the day he walked.
He dipped his head and pressed his brow to hers, his voice low and rough as he said, “I had my reasons for doing it, and if the situation was the same, it might kill me, but I’d probably have to make the same choice. But I didn’t do it because I wanted to. The only thing I ever wanted was what I left behind that day.”
And then he did something unexpected…he lowered the solid, rock-hard shields he never went without.
The emotion that crashed into her was like waves slamming into the rocks during a storm. She tried to suck in a breath, but the intensity of it left her battered, left her shattered.
Pain. Need. Emptiness.
Just like what she’d been living with.
His hand stroked up over her arm, curved around to cup her nape as he slid his lips down her cheek. “I never wanted to walk away…but I didn’t have a choice at the time, Destin.”
The ache in her chest was going to kill her. She wanted to ask him what in the hell he was talking about. But then he shifted over and his mouth covered hers. Talking, thinking, all of it came to a crashing halt. Hell, even breathing became difficult as his tongue stroked along her lips and pushed inside.
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