by Mallory Kane
“No you’re not. You keep getting shot.”
“If I weren’t careful, I’d keep getting killed.”
She grimaced. “That’s a very bad joke. If you cared about—people, you wouldn’t put yourself in danger.”
“Chère, I care about people.”
His keen look told her he knew what she hadn’t said. If he cared about her. “But my job is keeping people safe. And if that puts me in danger, well…”
He shrugged his shoulders. The unconsciously sexy movement distracted Dana. His golden skin shone, faintly pink where the sun had kissed it. His elbows rested on his knees and his fingers were covered with juice as he slowly peeled the orange.
Pulling her thoughts back to what he’d said, Dana shook her head. “I just don’t understand your logic. Of course you care. It’s who you are. You care about keeping all people safe. Everywhere. But you have this idea that you can save the whole world, when all I want is…” She stopped.
“When all you want is what, chère?”
She couldn’t tell him what she’d been about to say. It sounded selfish. All I want is you, safe, with me.
She wiped her hands on a paper napkin and spread it across one knee, then folded it carefully, smoothing the edges over and over. “I just want a safe, normal life. You know, the usual. Someone who understands their responsibilities. When someone cares about someone, they have a responsibility, and…”
“And what, Dana? What are we talking about here?”
She smoothed the napkin. “Nothing.”
“Then why are you so upset?”
She glanced up at him to find him watching her with a curious expression on his face. “I’m not upset. What do you mean?”
“Look at what you’re doing, chère.”
“What am I doing?”
“The way you’re folding that napkin. Like the world will end if you don’t get every corner folded just perfect.” A shadow crossed his face for an instant and he grabbed the paper napkin out of her fingers.
“Wad it up and throw it away, for God’s sake!” He ripped it in two and tossed it into the lake, shaking his hand when the flimsy paper stuck to his orange-juice-covered fingers.
“Cody, that’s littering.”
“Dana, it’s biodegradable.”
“See. That’s what your problem is. You’re so—intense.”
He laughed wryly. “It’s a defense mechanism against your obsessiveness.”
She winced. “Please try not to make everything I say into some kind of joke. I’m serious. You attack everything like you’re afraid you’ll miss one second of life. It’s exhausting. It’s scary.”
“What do you mean, scary?”
She swallowed. Had she really said scary? “Hey,” she said, laughing uncomfortably, “why the third degree? I feel like you’re cross-examining me.”
He was getting to her and he knew it. He’d always been able to do that. It was funny that she was the lawyer but he was the one who could fire off uncomfortable questions like a member of the Dream Team.
“Maybe I am, counselor.”
“Don’t call me that. You make it sound like an insult. I’m a good lawyer.”
“You were a good public defender.” His brow wrinkled for a second as he peeled off another section of orange.
“That was too intense, too.”
“Don’t you think intense is better than boring?”
“Absolutely not. I am perfectly happy with boring.”
“Now, why would you want that, chère? When you could have me?” Flashing his angelic smile, Cody leaned forward and pushed a dripping, sticky section of orange at her mouth.
“Cody, stop—” Dana’s open mouth was suddenly full of sweet succulent orange and two of Cody’s fingers. She caught his wrist reflexively, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he brushed his fingertips across her teeth.
Her tongue touched them. She didn’t mean to, it was an instinctive movement, but as soon as her tongue touched his fingers, a searing thrill ripped through her belly, knocking all thoughts of logic or boredom out of her head.
Cody took a swift breath and leaned closer to her.
She saw what he was going to do, and every brain cell in her head screamed Danger! Run! Don’t let him kiss you! But her heart refused to listen to her brain, and her body was acting on pure instinct.
Dazedly, she leaned forward, too, her eyes on his mouth, her mouth full of the sweetness of fruit and his fingers. As if in a dream, her lips curled around them and she sucked, her breath quickening at the erotic feel and taste of his skin against her tongue.
Then the golden halo of his head was blocking the sun and his mouth replaced his fingers. Now she tasted orange and sun and salty male sweat, and she savored it like the finest wine.
He kissed her tentatively at first, a sweet gentle touching of lips to lips, as his damp fingers trailed down the column of her throat.
Then, slowly, as if he were approaching a half-wild kitten, he knelt before her and pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her like a lover kissed his love, like a husband kissed his wife. He molded her body to his, using his big, elegant hands to keep her there, skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat.
Carefully, as if she were afraid he’d disappear, she laid her palms against his bare chest, sliding her fingers through the sparse crisp hairs that grew there. It felt so good to touch him again, to feel his strength, to feel his steady heartbeat against her breasts.
Her head spun, her heart fluttered like a captured butterfly, and her hands crept up his naked chest to his sun-warmed shoulders. His skin was hot and smooth, its velvety surface covering the steel-hard muscles she’d always loved to trace with her palms. Once she’d known every plane, every bulge on his beloved body.
Lost in erotic fantasy, she opened her mouth fully, allowing him in. She heard him gasp. She felt his arousal spring up hard against her.
Cody whispered to her…soothing words, sexy, naughty words, the love play he’d always used to calm her shyness while he worked his magic on her body. He cupped her breast, running his thumb over her nipple beneath the thin material of her swimsuit top. Her breast ached and throbbed.
Oh, God. It had been so long, and she did love him so much.
His hand slid downward, caressing her bare belly, as her stomach muscles contracted in anticipation. His fingers tantalized her as his hand reached around to cup her bottom and pull her closer, closer.
Dana’s whole body pulsed with yearning. It felt so right, and so familiar, to be held, to be worshiped by Cody. No one had ever made her feel so special and beautiful.
It was all she’d ever dreamed of, and everything she’d always feared. She was about to be lost, overwhelmed by his intensity, his power, his danger.
Almost too late, Dana heard her thoughts above the pounding of her heart.
Danger.
Chapter Nine
She pushed away, flattening her palms against his chest, turning her head aside, using all of the will she possessed to drag her mouth away from his.
He let her retreat, but only a few inches. He still held her imprisoned in his arms, his head was still bent toward her, proving to her that he could still be kissing her if he wanted to, telling her she was powerless against his greater strength.
“Come on, chère,” he whispered. “Relax. We’re out here in the sun, nobody around for miles. You and me and the gators. That’s all.”
He smiled sweetly and Dana almost smiled back at him, but the voice in her head wouldn’t shut up. Danger, danger!
“Cody, don’t,” she said weakly, her traitorous body still yearning for him.
He obviously felt her give in, because he pulled her back against him. He was fully aroused, his hardness pressing against her insistently, with a promise she knew he could fulfill.
His blue eyes were dilated, his cheeks faintly red with passion, his male nipples erect under her palms.
“Why not, chère?” he whispered, h
is breath tickling her ear. “Live a little.” He touched her earlobe with his tongue and a spear of desire stabbed her, so strong it made her moan.
“That’s it, let go. Be spontaneous.”
She felt passion heat her own face, felt her body respond with liquid warmth. Just touching him, just having his hands on her was like an aphrodisiac.
She gasped and buried her nose in his warm sweet hair. “This isn’t a good idea,” she panted as her body melted against his in languid defeat. Her breasts were taut and sore, rubbing against his chest through the thin material of her swimsuit. Her belly was rigid with expectation.
She was on fire for him. Languid heat suffused her as Cody nuzzled her neck and nibbled on her ear.
“Cody, please,” she whimpered, “you’re taking—advantage of me.”
He chuckled and the ripple of his diaphragm sent delicious shivers through her. “Oh yes, ma’am. I most certainly am.”
He ran his palm up her hip, across her bare stomach to the underside of her breast and curled his fingers around it again, intensifying the yearning inside her.
She gasped.
He turned his head and slanted his mouth over hers, stealing what was left of her breath and sending flames of desire through her again.
Her body opened to him, and warm dampness told her she was ready. Soon, if he continued, it would tell him.
His hand left her breast and moved lower, to the thin band of her bikini bottom. He slid his fingers beneath the material, caressing her belly, gently pushing lower and lower.
Dana’s desire-fogged brain finally registered what was about to happen. Stiffening, she tried to make her body obey her brain, tried to withdraw from Cody’s sensual seduction. She pushed against his chest.
He sighed raggedly and pulled back enough to look at her.
Dana stared up at him, unable to speak through lips swollen from his kisses.
“Ah, now, don’t stop.” He rubbed his thumb across her nipple and she shivered. “You’re so warm and sweet and sexy. We still fit together, don’t we?” He smiled, a lazy, sexy smile and dipped his head to kiss her. “Relax, chère,” he whispered against her mouth.
No. Almost against her will Dana squeezed her eyes shut and pushed him away. She’d give anything to be able to let go, to give Cody what he wanted. To take what she wanted.
But getting back into the habit of being loved by Cody would only bring her pain, just like before. He was too dangerous.
“Cody, stop!” she said hoarsely, reaching as far inside her as she could for restraint, for control. With determination learned from years of disappointment, she pushed her feelings back behind the wall she kept around her heart.
“How can you possibly relax?” she asked, determinedly reminding herself of why they were at the lake house together in the first place. “There’s a maniac who wants to kill you. How can you even think about—other stuff?” She strained against his embrace and finally his smile faded and he let her go.
“Sorry, counselor.” He pushed away from her and sat on the pirogue seat. “I guess I forgot for an instant who I was with. For a minute there you reminded me of the gorgeous woman I married. For a minute it seemed like old times.”
“Don’t do this to me, Cody.” She looked down and pretended to be searching for her sandals, so he wouldn’t notice the tears that pricked her eyes.
Stop it. He knows how to get to you. Don’t let him. She swallowed hard. “Don’t try to make this weekend into some kind of reconciliation. I’m not the same person you married.”
“That’s funny, ’cause I could swear you look just like her. Hardly aged at all.” He put his finger under her chin and tilted her head up.
She resisted, desperately afraid she’d give in if she looked into his smoky, sparkling eyes.
“You are not funny.” She swatted at his hand, then groped for her sandals. Her fingers closed around them, and she slipped them on.
“Chère?” His finger touched her cheek, and she recoiled again.
“Don’t, Cody. Please just don’t.” Her gaze met his, and she saw the pain etched in the new lines on his face.
She really hated herself. The words just spewed out, like paper through a shredder. Destroying. It seemed that was all she was good at. How could she love him so much and at the same time be so deathly afraid of giving in to him?
She stood up and started to get out of the pirogue, and almost fell. “Ack!”
The boat was no longer pulled up on the bank, but was floating away from it.
“Damn it, Dana, sit down!” Cody shouted, grabbing her arm. She fell back onto the hard seat.
Cody glowered at her. “You pull the damnedest stunts for a woman who says she plans everything.
You almost fell out of the boat.”
“Well who let it drift away from shore?”
“I didn’t practically turn it over getting in, you did. You dislodged it.”
“I did not.” Dana welcomed the cleansing anger that washed the haze of desire from her brain. She wasn’t being fair, but then neither was he.
They both knew perfectly well what had happened.
It frightened Dana that she’d been so overcome with plain old lust that she hadn’t noticed the boat drifting away from shore. It was strangely thrilling to her, in a very scary way, that Cody hadn’t noticed, either.
Her face flamed as she thought about what they had almost done in the open Cajun canoe in the middle of the day, even if it was in a secluded inlet. She stole a glance at Cody and found him watching her, a pensive frown on his face.
“What?” She could have bitten her tongue. She didn’t want to know what he was thinking.
He shook his head distractedly. “Nothing.” His voice was distracted, too, and his sharp blue eyes still watched her.
She swallowed. “Well, stop looking at me that way.” She patted the material of her swim bra, making sure Cody’s questing fingers hadn’t left her exposed.
“What happened just now?”
“You mean when I stood up?”
He shook his head and pushed his fingers through his hair. “No, before. What happened?”
She spread her fingers over her chest, where her heart was beginning to pound. “You got carried away?” Her voice made it sound like a question. She cleared her throat.
“You got carried away,” she repeated, avoiding his eyes.
“I got carried away.” His face held a look of exasperation. “So what do you call what you did?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
“I, um, well…”
“Would it be safe to say that you got carried away, too?”
She felt heat flood her face. “I suppose you could say that. I mean, it’s not like…”
He raised his brows. “Not like what?”
It’s not like I care about you. The words stuck in her throat, because she knew they weren’t true. She shook her head, a little jerkily. “Don’t, Cody.”
“Don’t what? Don’t ask you uncomfortable questions? Don’t talk about us, because you can’t handle it?”
“Could you take me back, please?” she asked icily. “I’ll leave you to some peace and quiet.”
“Too late now,” he said tersely as he retrieved an oar from the bottom of the boat and guided the pirogue in toward the bank.
As soon as Dana could see the bottom she jumped out of the boat and escaped up the hill toward the house. He was getting too close. Way too close. She would just have to be more careful.
Her brain lectured her in time with her swift strides. How, after all this time, could she still melt in his arms? How, after all the pain, all the heartache, could his kiss call up the good times, the exquisite memories of the once-in-a-lifetime love they’d shared so long ago?
She’d almost given in, and she knew how dangerous that was. If she gave in to him now, she’d have to get over him all over again. And if she were truthful, she wasn’t sure she had the strength.
CODY CURSED AND THREW the oar down into the boat. What an ass he was. Getting all hot and bothered about his ex-wife. He could imagine what Dev and the other guys would say. Well, the other guys, anyway. For some reason, Dev thought that Cody and Dana getting back together was the best idea in the world.
No way, he thought. Just look at her. She hadn’t changed a bit. She was still much too uptight for him. Two years of marriage had taught him that. And nothing he’d seen in the past two days told him any different.
But oh, could she turn him on.
Taking her into his arms was like coming home. Kissing her had always been like nothing he’d ever felt before or, he was sure, would ever feel again. He brushed an unsteady hand over his face. He was awed at how easily they had come together, as if it had been four days instead of four long, lonely years.
As he pulled the pirogue up onto the bank, Cody lectured himself. He couldn’t let himself fall in love with her again. He couldn’t risk being distracted by her nearness, by the haunting scent of roses that brought back memories of the passion they’d once shared. He was here for one reason and one reason only. He was protecting her. That was all.
And if he had anything to say about it, he wasn’t going to be doing that for much longer. He was going to get someone else out here to watch her, and he was going to catch Fontenot. It would be much safer that way. For her and for him.
Cody walked out onto the ancient dock that someone, maybe Dana’s grandfather’s buddy, had built decades before. At the end of the rickety wooden pier, he surveyed the area again, to satisfy himself that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Then he pulled a deep wire basket out of the water. He could tell by the weight of the basket that they were in luck. Dozens of crawfish were piled on each other, along with a few crabs.
He hadn’t caught any fish. He smiled as he remembered Dana’s question about bait. Not a one had jumped on his hook and begged to be caught. But they could have boiled crawfish for supper, and boiled crab for dessert.
Too bad they didn’t have any champagne, he thought, as a queer ache started in his chest.
He hadn’t thought about their honeymoon in a long time. They’d come up to the lake house, and eaten crawfish and drunk champagne, then made love all night.
