Always Dangerous

by Dee J. Adams

  Leo unlocked the car and they piled in.

  Kim kept looking out the window as if she’d spot the joker who’d shot at them. “If I get my hands on the asshole who kept us buried like weasels all day, I’m going to wring his neck before I make sure he spends the rest of his life in jail.” She muttered the words between clenched teeth. Talk about angry.

  Leo hoped she never got that pissed at him. He cranked the engine, put the car in gear and got back to his place in just a few minutes. To think they’d been so close to home and in so much trouble most of the day.

  Stella greeted them with a series of extra loud meows, rubbing herself against their legs until Leo picked her up. “You okay, Stell?”

  Meow. She pushed her head into his palm and purred.

  Kim went straight for the cabinets and pulled out a can of cat food for Stella. “Poor baby,” she said, just before the whine of the can opener buzzed through the kitchen. Didn’t matter that she was exhausted and tired, her first instinct had been to feed the cat. And Stella didn’t even belong to her. Her actions said a lot about her capacity to care for others. She’d been watching out for his hide practically since they met.

  Stella quickly abandoned Leo for the food bowl. Her tail swished as she chowed down. Kim eyed her for a second before heading to the stairs, moving much slower than she had when they’d made their way through the mountain. “I think every part of me hurts.”

  “Hey, leave me some hot water,” Leo called after her.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  By the time Kim got to the top of the stairs, she was angrier than a cat in cold water. Every muscle ached. Even her damn fingernails hurt. With trouble—and gut turning fear—behind her, she thought back on the day. She’d been so close to snagging her phone, but instead she’d dodged a bullet. What the hell kind of luck did she have in this town? Maybe better luck than she realized because after all, she did still have her head attached to her body. Still, she was zero for two so far. Every visit had been a colossal pain in the ass.

  Kim trudged into the hallway bathroom and her jaw dropped open when she got a look at herself in the mirror. She was practically a brunette and nearly every inch of skin was buried under black, smelly soot. It was a wonder Leo hadn’t run screaming at any point in the afternoon. “You are Bride-of-Frankenstein scary, girl,” she mumbled.

  It took a few rounds in the tub to get her hair and skin back to their normal color. The road rash on her arms and legs from yesterday looked fresh, pink and gross, and she had a sunburn that made her nose bright pink. At least now she was clean. She took her wins where she could.

  She could go back to her plan A and have Chelsea overnight her passport. That seemed easiest at this point. Once she got her credit card she could replace her phone. No way in hell was she scouring the crash site two days in a row. Just because she thought she spotted her phone today didn’t mean she’d find it tomorrow. Plus, what if the shooter was watching? Waiting for the next time she showed her face? She had to admit that having Leo with her all day had saved her life. He’d kept her sane, kept up the conversation as he absently stroked his hands down her back or her arm, comforting her without even realizing it.

  Or maybe he did. Because no matter how much he pissed her off sometimes…sometimes he was just a damn good man.

  Kim shivered as she stepped into a pair of new black sweats from Leo’s mall excursion. The soft material draped loosely on her legs. She combed out her wet hair, slathered moisturizer on her sunburnt skin and called it good.

  She made her way downstairs and the mouthwatering smell of a home-cooked meal filled her head. She found Leo, freshly showered, wearing loose black sweats, white socks and white T-shirt that molded to his ripped chest. They were almost a matched set. “I don’t know what you made, but it smells like heaven.”

  “Grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetable soup.”

  “The sandwich king strikes again.” She winked when he glanced at her. She liked how he took her teasing with a sexy smile. He made it hard not to like him in general. But did she know better than to fall in love with a man who’d been as brutally honest about what he wanted in life? Absolutely.

  Leo scooped their sandwiches out of the pan and onto plates.

  Kim grabbed glasses from the cabinet and poured them both water from the fridge door while Leo set the sandwiches and two steaming bowls of soup on the bar. They worked as if they’d been a team for years. Too bad the rest of their relationship couldn’t be as easy. Kim placed the drinks next to their plates, grabbed napkins and they sat down at the same time. They practically inhaled their food.

  “I need to figure out what I’m going to do,” Kim said when most of her sandwich was gone. “I’m not sure the airline will let me fly without ID.”

  “Let’s worry about it tomorrow.”

  He had a point. She was too tired to think about anything right now. After she cleaned her bowl with the last bite of her sandwich, she sighed and finished off her drink.

  Leo stacked the dishes and put them in the sink before grabbing her hand and leading her to the sofa. He set the ottoman close so they could stretch out. He turned on the TV, grabbed a blanket, plopped down next to her and covered them both.

  He made it hard to stay mad or frustrated with him because he always did something nice. Just a little gesture like the ottoman or wrapping a blanket over her knocked down the defenses she built. “This is cozy,” she admitted, yawning on the last word as Leo channel surfed. It was more than cozy. It was the exact thing she wanted in a relationship. Intimacy with the normal things in life. Someone to confide in. A partner. That reminded her of the question she’d asked him earlier. “You know, you owe me an answer from earlier.”

  “Answer about what?” He sounded guarded.

  “Your parents. What happened to them?”

  He sighed. It took him a minute, but he finally started talking. “I can’t tell you anything about my dad since he was never in my life. My mom remarried when I was a teenager. My stepfather died from pancreatic cancer a couple years after they got married. My mom had high blood pressure and died from a heart attack a handful of years after that.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She couldn’t imagine growing up without her father and he’d essentially lost two. “It’s hard sometimes, isn’t it? Being alone.” When he didn’t answer she kept going. “Sometimes I think I’m lucky because I have no one to answer to. I can eat ice cream from the carton. I don’t have to be considerate of anyone else in my condo. I can keep my own hours.” She shook her head. “Then other times, I wish I had someone to watch football with. Or someone to make breakfast for. Or someone to just hold me when I watch a sad movie.”

  Leo hugged her tighter. “You like football, huh?”

  Kim sputtered a laugh and looked at him. “Of all the stuff I just said, that’s what caught your attention?”

  He shrugged. “I’m a guy.” Then he went back to channel surfing.

  Shaking her head, Kim chuckled. He did know how to make her laugh. “Wait,” she said, pointing to the screen. “What was that?”

  Leo flipped back. “Where?”

  “There!” She wiggled in her spot and got more comfortable. “Dangerous Race is on. You can tell me all the insider stuff while we watch. It’ll be fun. I only got to visit the set for a few days, so I’d love to know some of the trivia.” She pushed at his bicep. “Pretty please?”

  A groan vibrated through his chest. “Fine.” Leo hit the sound and the ending notes of the movie’s score finished as the opening credits blasted off the screen.

  Kim settled in next to him, her thigh brushing his. The opening scene was a spectacular car accident, and Kim’s heavy lids drifted closed as she listened to the dialogue, waiting to hear Leo’s voice.

  Leo glanced at Kim and did a double take when he saw her asleep. Crisis averted. Rule number one. He never watched one of his movies with a date or potential date…or the mother of his child. He hated how that r
eminder kept jumping into his head. It was like a jack-in-the-box wearing a Freddy mask, scaring the shit out of him every time. He lowered the sound and leaned his head back along the sofa.

  What a day. He really did want to know who was shooting at them and why. Was it a random thing…some whacked out guy getting his rocks off with moving targets? Or was Kim right. Did he have a stalker or someone who wanted him dead? Or did she? He closed his eyes as he made a mental list of possible people. He lost count at twenty-seven.

  Vibrations woke him and Leo’s adrenaline spiked as a small earthquake shook the house. Kim stiffened in his arms. Somehow he’d ended up spooning her on the sofa, their legs stretched out on the ottoman. She smelled like his shampoo and the turn on was instantaneous.

  “Leo,” she whispered.

  He heard the apprehension in her voice. “Yeah?” She was probably going to blast him for getting another hard-on while being pressed up against her ass. He eased away from her backside.

  “What the hell was that? And please don’t tell me it was an earthquake.”

  This was a much easier subject to tackle. He remembered how much the small earthquake two months ago at his house had scared her. It really was the last thing she needed after the day they’d had. “Okay. I won’t tell you it was an earthquake.”

  She bolted to a sitting position, her eyes wide and her muscles tense. “Oh my God. This is the exact reason I can’t live in this city.”

  “Take it easy,” he soothed, bringing her down next to him. “That was just a baby. Doesn’t even count.” They’d been having tons of aftershocks since the big 7.1 a month ago. “I’m surprised we haven’t had one sooner than this since you’ve been in town.”

  “Oh, man!” Damn, she sounded sweet when she was stressed.

  Leo chuckled and pulled her closer. “C’mon. You’re tough. You’re not going to let a little aftershock get you down, are you?”

  She turned over and faced him. “What was the earthquake like?”

  Leo saw the mix of curiosity and fear in her green eyes. “I won’t lie to you. It scared the shit out of me. It happened later in the morning, which if you ask me is better than the middle of the night. I hate when they wake you up out of a sound sleep.” He eased some hair behind her ear, enjoying the silky softness. “I was going through my memorabilia in the garage when it hit. Everything came down off the shelves, everything was jumping up and down like popcorn. It was crazy.”

  “How’d the house survive?”

  “Pretty good in the scheme of things. Just cosmetic damage. Nothing structural.” Which was lucky since the house was still in escrow and the buyers could’ve pulled out. He never would’ve ended up in this house if it hadn’t been the only one of his choices to remain standing after the quake.

  She shivered and Leo pulled the blanket over her. Her skin gleamed in the moonlight shining through the skylight and he smoothed his thumb across her cheek.

  “You know what earthquakes do?” he asked.

  Shaking her head, she took his hand and linked her fingers in his.

  “They make you glad to be alive.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the abraded skin on her knuckles from yesterday’s accident.

  “I guess after the last couple of days, I should be very glad to be alive.” Her gaze roamed to his lips and Leo’s dick took immediate notice.

  Long moments passed as they watched each other. The attraction they worked hard to avoid pulled them together like a giant magnet. Leo couldn’t say who moved in first. It might’ve been a mutual thing, but her warm breath wafted along his lips a second before he brushed his mouth over hers.

  Her small inhale set him on fire, but he didn’t rush into anything. He liked her like this. Liked the gentle brush of her lips against his, liked the soft caress of her fingers through his hair. He especially liked the way her curves molded to his chest as she wrapped a leg over his thigh. His heart pounded like a drum and his blood flowed hot as he skimmed the dip of her waist and rise of her hip. She melted his thought process until the only thing that mattered was touching her, tasting her, feeling her.

  Leo pulled her beneath him until he lay nestled in the vee of her legs. She moaned, a sound of need that cut straight through him. “Want you. Now,” he said between deep, drugging kisses. She gave him her tongue in response and he took the offering like treasure, sucking and licking and making a meal of it.

  Her legs locked him to her and he pushed his hips against her to take the edge off his raging erection. As if. The only hope of that happening came with burying himself deep inside her.

  “I thought we agreed not to do this anymore,” she panted between kisses before opening her mouth for his questing tongue.

  “Circumstances have dictated otherwise.” He nuzzled her jaw and nibbled her sensitive earlobe.

  “Circumstances?” The dreaminess in her voice spurred him on. He had to have her. He needed her like California needed rain. Like fish needed water. Like man needed air.

  “Between your car yesterday, the gunfire today and the earthquake tonight, I think it’s a sign from above that we should live each day to the fullest.” He pushed his hard-on against her and she met him, locking her legs around him even tighter. His heart threatened to burst out of his chest.

  They usually kept their relationship friendly. Kim wasn’t a woman to hang on to his arm or demand attention. But it was the times they let their attraction speak, the times they touched and gazed and couldn’t seem to stop from taking the next step until it was too late and they ended up locked in an embrace that neither had the desire to extricate themselves from.

  Skimming his fingers under her sweatshirt, he groaned at the warm smoothness of her skin and the way she arched into his touch. “Arms up,” he whispered and he pulled her top off in one quick motion so he had her at his fingertips. Though her full breasts filling out a delicate lace bra made his chest ache with her beauty, he didn’t take the time to admire the sight. He pulled one cup down and took her pebbled nipple into his mouth, sucking, teasing and laving the hard bud until she was panting.

  “Oh God, Leo. So good,” she whispered.

  He loved driving her crazy. Loved taking her to the edge where nothing mattered but the way he touched her, so he did the same thing to the other side. Every once in a while she lifted her head and tongued his ear, or grabbed his ass and squeezed him tight and every time she revved him up even more. Regardless, her hands stayed busy, either running through his hair or digging into his back. The beast inside him roared.

  Leo hooked his thumb into the waistband of the soft cotton sweats and eased them down along with her underwear. Kim pulled a leg out of one side to expedite the process at the same time she grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.

  Nothing felt better than the soft crush of her bare breasts against his chest. Nothing tasted sweeter than the slow, deep penetration of her tongue in his mouth. He loved her boldness, loved the way she let her body do the talking when they made love.

  She yanked his sweats over his ass and cool room air kissed his bare skin as she held him tight. “Leo, come inside.” The whispered invitation made his heart race faster. Sweat slicked their skin.

  He took her mouth a little harder, a lot deeper. He cupped her head and held her steady as he plundered her mouth and took everything she offered. Easing his hand up the inside of her thigh, he struggled to slow down, to savor every second.

  “Hurry,” she said. “Need you. Want you.”

  All those words went to his head and made him fuzzy. How many times had he heard the same thing the past two months, only to wake up and discover it was all a dream? How many hours had he spent remembering his time with this woman? How often had he had to convince himself that he’d never have her again?

  Leo pushed a finger inside her, smoothing the hot cream around her clit as she jerked and gasped into his mouth. God, he loved her like this. Out of control. He loved her begging for him. Loved to see this business
woman let her hair down and give it up to him. It wasn’t until he got the head of his penis right at ground zero that he remembered something.

  “Shit. I forgot a condom.” He lifted up. “I need to grab one.”

  She held on tight as she stared up at him. “A little late for that, my friend. The horse is long out of the barn. No need to close the door now.”

  Because she was already pregnant. With his baby. It was like a tidal wave of information he’d somehow forgotten while enjoying these last few minutes.

  Intuitive woman that she was, she read his every thought. “I know. Scary, right?” She swallowed. “But what I said when I came in the door still stands. I don’t expect you to—”

  “Shut up,” Leo whispered before kissing her. He pushed inside a second later, electricity flashing through him as his dick found home. He didn’t want to talk about it. Didn’t want a reminder that she thought so little of him. How could he just ignore the fact that she was going to have his baby?

  Wrapping her arms around him, she arched up and met his every thrust. He went at her hard, driving himself deep inside her heat as her gasps fueled his fire. Hot. Wet. Tight. His head nearly exploded from the sensory overload, from the sheer physical sensations of their connection.

  Until he touched a rough patch of skin on her thigh and stopped, buried to the hilt, his heart pumping hard and fast. A wave of disgust washed through him.

  “What?” She searched his eyes, hers were bright, dazed and heavy lidded. “What’s wrong?”

  He moved out slow and pushed in slower. “I don’t want to hurt you. I got carried away.” He took her mouth in a gentle kiss and let the build start over, taking her to the top with long slow strokes and deep penetration.

  The only time he’d gone without a condom had been with this woman. The hot clasp of her body hugged him tight as he moved inside her. The perfect friction sent his blood pumping hotter and harder. All Leo wanted to do was give her an orgasm. Her muscles tightened with every new thrust, her short, panting gasps drove him closer to the edge.