by Jaci Burton
When they finally broke the kiss, both were breathing hard. Luanne looked dazed.
“And?” he managed to say. “You were going to tell me about your job?”
Luanne dropped her gaze. “You sure you want to know the sordid truth?”
“More than anything.” Well, almost more than anything. Right now he wanted to kiss the hell out of her again, and possibly see what she looked like without those clothes on. But he’d settle for her snuggled up on his lap, her ass pressing down against his erection.
Luanne sighed. “It’s not that I want to keep doing the Jane stuff. It’s that I don’t have any other options.”
“What do you mean?”
She paused for a long moment, and the room got so quiet that he could hear a nearby clock ticking. Then, she blurted out the truth. “I was stupid over a man.” When he said nothing, she looked over at him. “I told you I have a master’s in finance, right? I also had investment certifications. I am eminently qualified to sell and trade stock and handle investments.”
That sounded totally foreign to someone like him. “I see.”
“The problem is, when you’re working in investments, your credit rating is of the utmost importance. After all, you can’t really be trusted with other people’s money when you can’t handle your own, right?”
Realization dawned on him. “And your credit’s bad?”
“My credit’s awful,” she admitted, a tiny, forced laugh escaping her. “You see, about two years ago, I had a live-in boyfriend who stole my mail and ran up a bunch of credit cards in my name. And then he left me and ran off to the West Coast to find his inner self or some crap. I didn’t even know he’d run up all the cards until a few months later, and the banks would only let me dispute some of it. My credit was shot to hell, and I was laid off from my job for an unrelated reason, only to find out that I couldn’t get another because my credit was hosed. I went through all of my retirement savings paying off debts and trying to fix things.”
He rubbed her back, letting her know that he supported her. He didn’t interrupt, just let her talk.
Luanne twisted her hands and continued. “The Jane thing started as a joke. A friend took me skydiving to help me forget my problems, and it was the most ridiculous thing ever. We both dressed in absurd getups and cracked jokes the entire time to hide the fact that we were about to pass out with fear. And it turns out they record videos of your dive and sell them back to you, right? Well, she posted the video online and the next thing I knew, it had a hundred thousand hits and more people demanding stunts and suggesting them.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “One thing led to another, and I started doing stunts because it was an interesting way to pass the time while I was job hunting. I got an offer to host ads on my website, and it seemed harmless, so I gave it a shot and then forgot about it. The first check was for four figures. It startled the hell out of me to get that out of the blue, and then after that, I was addicted. I was putting up videos constantly, and cultivating an audience, blogging, everything. I’ve made a small fortune from Jane and have sunk it into paying debts back.” She looked over at him and smiled weakly. “But it’s not what I want to do with my life. The thought of jumping out of helicopters or eating strange stuff just to get video hits got old about a year ago, except I can’t turn the money down. I’m unemployable in my field. I do Jane stuff because Jane’s the only thing I’m good at.”
He was surprised. Stunned, actually. “I thought you liked it.”
She gave him a brittle smile. “Kind of hate it at times, actually. No one wants to talk to me. They only want to see Jane perform some wacky trick. I’ve gone out with guys who want me to turn into Jane the moment the lights are off. I’ve had waitstaff spill plates of food on me in the hopes that I’m filming and they’ll get into the next shot. I’ve had stalkers waiting at my car.”
His hands tightened around her. “You can find another job if you hate it. One that’s safe. One that’s quiet.”
Luanne shrugged. “Sometimes it’s just easier to be Jane and let the money roll in, though.”
“I have money,” he said quietly. “Do you want to borrow some?”
“God, no. The last thing I want is to owe someone else. I pay off my last credit card next month. Then it’s only five years or so until my credit’s fixed.” She gave him a weary smile. “See, you thought I only played a train wreck. Turns out I am one in real life, too.”
“I don’t think you’re a train wreck,” he told her, continuing to rub a soothing hand on her back. “I think you trusted the wrong guy and got burned, and you fought your way out the only way you could. That doesn’t change what I think of you. If anything, it makes me like you more.” At her skeptical look, he grinned. “Underneath that rakish, devil-may-care exterior, Luanne Allard’s a completely responsible stick-in-the-mud. Just like her boyfriend.”
She leaned in so close that her breath fanned against his cheek. “There are worse things than being like my boyfriend,” she murmured.
“Mmm. Such as?”
“Being lonely,” she told him, and slid her hand between his legs, cradling his erection. “I missed you.”
“Missed you, too, baby,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. And then he groaned. “Hell. I have to get back to the station. I’ve been gone too long already and I’m the only one there tonight.”
She wiggled on his lap in a way that made his eyes want to cross. “Can I come with you?”
“Only if you promise to distract me.”
“Deal.”
Hank got to his feet and set her down, letting her long body slide against his equally long one. She felt so good against him. “I think you should walk in front of me when we leave.”
“Why’s that?”
He rubbed his chin, grimacing. “I don’t feel like showing your sister my nightstick, and right now I can’t seem to put it away.”
“Naughty officer.” She gave him a lascivious grin and rubbed her hand along the front of his pants again. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll distract Emily and let you sneak out.”
* * *
They made it back to the station in record time, and as soon as they hit the door, Hank left her side and moved to the switchboard, checking the phones. He exhaled a sigh of relief. “No calls.”
Luanne grinned at him “So very responsible.”
The smile that curved his mouth was slow, and incredibly sexy. “It turns you on.”
“It just might,” she agreed, sauntering over to his side. She stood over the edge of his desk, but he grabbed her by the waist and dragged her into his lap again, which she loved. Hank was the only guy she’d ever dated who she didn’t tower over, and his manhandling of her? It made her feel small, petite, and utterly feminine. She was eating it up.
At least, she was until he logged in to a web portal on the computer. “Oh my god, what is that?”
He frowned at her. “What?”
She took the mouse from him and clicked backward. “That website you were just on.”
“That’s the Bluebonnet city website.”
A giggle escaped her throat. It looked…awful. Like if she scrolled down, she expected to see glittery unicorn gifs at the bottom of the page. An obnoxious picture of the city’s symbol was set as a repeating, blinding wallpaper, and dear god, was that Comic Sans they were using as the font? “Please tell me it doesn’t play music.”
“We couldn’t figure out how to get it to play,” he admitted.
She gave him another horrified laugh. “Did you put this together?”
He nodded, a grin slowly curving his mouth. “Told you we were shit with computers.”
“Oh, honey…it’s so cute.” And awful. “You want me to fix you a new website?”
“If you do, you have to promise to show my dad how to use that Access thing again.”
Luanne curled up in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck again and nuzzling him. “Do the big bad po-po need a little woman to come a
nd straighten out their computers for them?”
“I think they do,” he said in a husky voice. “This can be your community service.”
“Community service?” She raised a teasing eyebrow at him. “Am I under arrest for something, Officer Hotness?”
“Concealment of a deadly weapon,” he said quite seriously, and then squeezed her ass.
“That is so lame,” she told him with a mock groan. “Seriously. If those are the best lines you have, Officer Sharp, it’s no wonder you’ve been single for so long.”
With his hands still on her ass, he stood up, hefting her into the air and carrying her across the room. “It’s true, ma’am. You’re under arrest.”
“What ever will you do with me, Officer Hot Stuff?”
“Well,” he drawled, and then gave her an appraising look. “I think I should search you and then take you into a private room for further…questioning.”
“That sounds so sexy.”
“Doesn’t it?” He continued walking to one of the back rooms and then set her gently down on a long wooden table.
Luanne glanced around the room in surprise. It was tiny, with only one mirrored window and two chairs. Nothing hung on the walls. As she sat on the edge of the table, watching Hank, he moved to the outside of the door and returned a moment later.
“Where’d you go?”
“Turned off the camera for the interrogation.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Unless you felt like showing the world how Jane gets out of an arrest?”
She stilled. His deliberate stress of the word “Jane” told her everything she needed to know. If she wanted to continue to be Jane, well, he’d live with it. “You don’t mind?”
“You’re an adult, Luanne. I can’t make you do anything. And I just want you to be happy. We’ll figure something out.”
Affection swelled in her chest and she had to blink back sudden sappy tears. “I don’t want to show anyone how Jane makes love to Hank. I want to show everyone how Luanne makes love to Hank.”
Hank paused, watching her for a long moment, and then his hand slid up to cup her cheek. “You want to make love to me, Luanne?”
She nodded and gave him a cheeky grin. “Actually, I’d prefer if we kept the cameras off, though.”
“That, I can do.” He leaned in to kiss her. “You sure you want to take this step?”
“Absolutely. I keep throwing myself at you but you’re playing hard to get.”
He raked a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. “I don’t have a condom.”
“It’s okay. I’m on the pill and clean. As long as you’re clean as a whistle, we’re good.”
“I don’t think my whistle’s ever been dirtied much,” he admitted ruefully.
She grinned and undid the first button on his shirt. “We can fix that for you, lickety split.”
He groaned. “Don’t say the word ‘lick’ or I might lose track of my thoughts.”
“Can I show you instead, then?” She leaned in and popped the second button of his uniform, then pressed her mouth against the vee of skin revealed. “Mmm, delicious.”
“You’re the one who’s delicious.”
“We can both be delicious.” She pulled him closer, settling the weight of him between her spread thighs and smiling up at him. Then one hand slid to cup his ass and she tilted her head, as if judging the quality. “Nice and tight. I approve of your butt, Officer.”
“I thought this was my interrogation.”
“Looks a bit like I’ve turned it into my exploration.” She slid her other hand between two more buttons of his shirt, and pouted when she discovered a white undershirt instead of bare skin. “You are wearing entirely too many clothes.”
“And here I thought women liked a police uniform.”
“Oh, they do.” She squeezed his ass again. Lord knew that she sure liked looking at him while he was in uniform. It did naughty things to her insides. “I’m thinking you should keep it on.”
His smile was slow and sexy. “Were you planning on getting me out of it?”
“Parts of you.” And she moved her hand from his ass to his cock, testing his reaction. Of course, her own reaction was one of surprise…and then pleasure. “Oh my. It seems my officer’s packing quite a lot of heat in his uniform.”
Hank groaned as her hand rubbed up and down his shaft in a slow, exploratory way. “You’re a tease.”
“I’m not,” she said playfully. “A tease implies that one is going to be left unsatisfied. And that’s not part of my plans at all.”
“You have this all planned out, do you?” His hand slid to her calf and then he raised her leg, hitching it around his waist.
Now she was reaching directly between them to stroke his cock. If she pulled her hand away, he’d be pressed up against the apex of her thighs…and she rather liked that thought. The low pulse of desire coursing through her veins began to centralize in her hips.
“I do have it all planned out,” she admitted, her breath coming in quick little pants. Actually, she didn’t have anything planned, but he seemed mesmerized by her boldness, and she was taking that ball and running with it. She liked that he let her take the lead. It was just another thing in their relationship that felt so very right. “First, I’m going to take off my top and amaze you with my breasts. And then I’m going to strip off my pants and amaze you with my long, sexy legs. And then I’m going to lie back on this table and unzip this monster out of your pants.”
And she stroked his cock once more.
Hank groaned again, and leaned in to kiss her, hitching her legs tighter around his waist. It pressed his cock against her hand hard, squeezing both between her thighs. His tongue plunged into her mouth and he kissed her with a brutal, fierce kiss that spoke of all kinds of need and left her breathless.
So much for her taking the lead in bed. Screw that. Him getting all fierce with her? Just as sexy and just as exciting. She wiggled on the table, looking up at him, breathless, waiting to see what he’d do next.
Hank leaned down and tugged on her lower lip with his teeth, playing with the soft flesh and then slicking it with his tongue. She whimpered in surprise at that. He felt delicious. “If you take off your own shirt, Luanne, you’ll deny me the pleasure of doing it for you.”
“Who am I to rob you of such things?” she said in a light, playful tone that seemed just a bit shaky. “Be my guest.”
His hands tugged at the hem of her shirt and then he pulled it over her head, revealing the gray sports bra she wore underneath and had forgotten about. She grimaced up at him. “I swear I have sexier lingerie. I really do. I just wasn’t expecting you tonight.”
A chuckle escaped him. “You look incredibly sexy in this. Don’t sell yourself short.”
“I’ll look better without it.”
His eyes narrowed and she could tell that turned him on. “Show me, then.”
She tugged her sports bra off as gracefully as she could—considering it was a slip-on sort of thing, it wasn’t all that graceful. But the look in his eyes when he saw her bared breasts made her forget all about grace and elegance and things like that.
“You’re gorgeous.” His hand cupped a breast, hefting the slight weight of it as if stunned by the feel.
She arched against his hand, pressing her breast against his palm. “Touch me more, Hank. Please. I want your hands all over me.”
He obliged her, one large hand continuing to caress and stroke her breast while the other began a leisurely exploration of her bared torso. The backs of two fingers trailed lightly down her rib cage and then over the flat length of her stomach, stopping briefly at the dip of her navel.
She shivered in response, the light touch sending shockwaves of response through her, her nipples hard and aching. Luanne glanced up at him, but he was staring down at her bared skin with an intense look of concentration on his face. As if she were the most important thing in the world at this moment.
And that was a heady feeling.
&nb
sp; His trailing fingers moved to her side and then around her back, lightly tracing up and down her spine in a soothing, rubbing motion that made her want to come out of her skin. When she looked up at him again, he was gazing back at her, his eyes heavy-lidded with desire.
“For a rather tall woman, you sure are small and soft in my arms, Luanne.”
Her hands went to his shoulders, pulling him close again. “You say the sweetest things.”
They kissed once more, the kiss a bit more intense and urgent. His hand went to her shoulder and he gently pushed her onto the table.
She leaned back until her skin touched the cool surface of the table, and her head leaned over the far side, her tousled hair spilling over the edge. She felt like a platter to be devoured, which was rather exciting all in itself. His large hands smoothed over her belly and paused at her hips, and as she stared up at him, he began to tug down the rest of her clothing.
A moment later, she was bare and sprawled on the table before him, her long legs hanging over the edge. Hank groaned at the sight of her and then leaned down to press a light kiss to her belly button. “So beautiful.”
For once, witty comebacks escaped her and she shivered with expectant excitement on the table.
He hovered over her belly for a long moment, pressing light kisses there, and just when she was about to turn blue in the face from holding her breath, he slid a bit lower and pressed another kiss to the top of her mound. Her breath exploded from her lungs, causing him to look up with a grin. “Too much?”
“No,” she breathed. “Keep going.”
Hank did, sliding a bit farther down and kissing his way until he reached the slick lips of her sex. He ran a finger along the seam, and she moaned in response. She was completely wet for him. When he continued to tease her, she lifted her hips, trying to encourage him to go deeper, to slide a finger home and help her ease some of the tension in her body.
But he only continued to tease her, stroking back and forth as she twisted on the table, raising her hips repeatedly.
