Her finger turned blue from where she’d wrapped the belt of his robe around it and pulled tight. Yeah, she wasn’t nervous or anything.
“Risa?”
She spun around so fast she lost her balance. With her arm flung out to the side, she stopped herself from tripping and falling onto the bed. She sat down hard to end the comical display.
The sight of him with nothing more than a crisp white towel wrapped around his slim waist didn’t help her equilibrium. If possible, his shoulders seemed even more broad without a stitch of clothing. The way his bare chest dove in a V to his muscled stomach made hers do a crazy somersault.
No wonder he ran and shot with ease. Every inch of him was physically perfect. So lethal.
Her mouth went dry.
“You okay?” His husky voice dipped into sexy territory.
Heat rushed to her cheeks. She inhaled a few times, trying to put the fire out, but the embarrassing giveaway didn’t lessen.
“I’m usually more graceful than what you just saw.” That wasn’t true, but he could find that out on the tenth date.
He held up the burn cream tube. “I meant this.”
The tightening inside her unspooled. “Oh, what about it?”
“You need to put it on.”
Yeah, and after that she’d throw on a pair of panty hose because they were just as sexy. “I’m fine.”
“Get on the bed.” When her eyebrow raised in question, he laughed. “Not subtle, I know, but medicine before fun.”
“I can think of a better order of events. I’m happy to make a list and include a description.”
“I’ll pass out if you do.”
She pretended to check her mental list. “Fainting is not anywhere on my priority list.”
He shook his head. “Point of order. Women faint.”
“What do men do?”
“Drop over.”
“I’m looking that up later on.” And she would because that seemed like hokum to her.
“Not now.” He put his hands on her shoulders and eased her onto the bed, then squeezed some cream onto his finger.
“Definitely not now.”
She sat there, thinking this had to be the least sexy start to a night that any woman had ever had.
Then his hot mouth found the sensitive bend in her neck. She leaned back to give him great access, and his lips traveled. He rained kisses across her collarbone as he untied the belt at her waist.
When she fell back across the mattress, he followed. His mouth dipped to the soft valley between her breasts as his hand found her stomach. The gentle caresses had her forgetting this was partly about doctoring her up. All she could think about was what would come after. She longed to make love to him.
Her hands wandered over his back as his fingers traced the aching skin around her injury. The raw skin soothed under his touch. When his mouth found hers again, she didn’t care what he rubbed all over her.
Heat pounded off him. Energy buzzed around them until she was lost in a sensual haze of his hands and mouth.
He lifted his head. “Let me make you feel better.”
“You are.”
His mouth traveled over her and down the sliver of skin peeking out from the open center of her robe. When his lips brushed over her breasts and kept going, she nearly jumped out of the bed to beg him for more.
She glanced down her body. His fingers rubbed the cream in soft circles over her injury while his mouth inflamed the rest of her. The mix of delicate touches and his hungry mouth proved to be the hottest foreplay she could imagine.
When he dropped the cream container on the floor, she pulled him back up to face her. “Thank you.”
“We’re not done yet.” He rolled to his back, taking her with him. “I think you’ll be more comfortable in this position this time around. No pressure on the stomach.”
Her legs straddled his trim hips. His impressive erection pressed against her as she cradled him, teasing and preparing them both for what was to come.
He reached over and grabbed the condom off the nightstand. All traces of exhaustion had left his face. His eyes glowed with a vibrant desire as his hands skated over her.
“I don’t want to be done.” She kissed his chin, then his neck when he lifted his head higher. “I want to burn. Make me burn for you.”
His mouth closed over hers, and her body caught fire. She felt the tug at her waist then the robe fell open. Every cell caught fire as his hands roamed over her. The brush of his fingertips. The sure touch as he found a spot that had her head falling forward.
Her breath jammed in her chest as his palms landed on the back of her thighs and pressed her closer. She felt him enter, gasped as his body stretched and inflamed her. She wanted to talk, to whisper his name, but instinct took over. Her body moved, slow and steady until he took over the rhythm and everything inside her tightened.
Then she couldn’t think at all.
Chapter Sixteen
An hour later, Aaron still couldn’t sleep. Thoughts and possibilities pinged around his brain. He’d taken all the pieces apart from Elan and still couldn’t get any of them to fit back together in a logical way.
When he wasn’t thinking about strategies and plotting, his mind wandered to Risa. The smooth skin and expert hands.
Yeah, if this level of work and personal life continued, he didn’t foresee a decent night’s sleep in a very long time.
He bent his arm behind his head and wrapped the other arm around Risa. She lay naked and curled up on his side, her light breathing blowing across his hypersensitive skin.
This he could get used to.
She’d been as free and giving in bed as he’d fantasized she’d be. With her mouth and her hands, she’d zapped his strength and then refilled it. She wrapped around him until all he could feel or see or smell was her.
The hours of violence that had preceded the session in the bedroom hadn’t cooled his desire for her one bit. If anything, by the time he got her to safety he’d wanted to rip her clothes off and push deep inside her. Probably not very heroic on his part, but she didn’t complain when he did just that.
Neither did he. The lovemaking session relaxed his muscles and fed a need that had been brewing inside him for longer than he would have guessed. He toyed with the reason he’d failed to call her back for another date a week ago.
He had all sorts of excuses about being busy and concentrating on the Craft problem. The reality was being with her like this made it hard to imagine being anywhere else. The last time he’d walked down that road he’d ended up alone, watching the couch he’d owned for years get loaded into his ex’s moving van. Not exactly an event he wanted to repeat.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Risa’s mumbled question vibrated against his bare chest.
The sound of her voice wiped out all memories of Pam and their train wreck of a relationship. It almost knocked out the nagging questions about what had happened tonight at the conference center. Almost.
“Still on edge, I guess. It’s hard to turn the adrenaline off once it starts pumping.” And his mind took even longer.
She treated him to a fake half snore, half grunt. “I could sleep for a month.”
“I am all for staying in bed, if that is the offer you’re making.” His hand slipped down to her lower back and the soft skin he’d kissed so many times just an hour before. “Or is that not what you meant?”
“You wore me out with an hour. If I stayed here I’d need medical attention.”
She balanced on her elbow and stared down at him. With her forefinger, she traced a pattern over and around his nipple.
Even in the dark bedroom he could see the flash of her smile. Talking with her, watching her face light up, calmed the frustration gnawing at the edges of his brain.
“Just what every man wants to hear.”
“Then you should be delirious.” She dropped a nibbling kiss on his chest.
“Much more of that and we’ll need to find more
condoms.”
“Tomorrow.” She snuggled closer, with her long hair fanning over him.
He ran his fingers through the strands, feeling the ends still damp from her shower. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Can we just agree tonight was the worst holiday party ever? I mean, like epically bad.”
He laughed until his muscles ached. It took a small pinch to his biceps to get him to focus again. “Any chance you’ll still hold yours there?”
She lifted her leg in the air behind her and twisted her ankle around in circles. Watching the move made his twisted knee throb in pain.
“Since we were hoping for an indoor venue and Elan is now open air, I kind of doubt it.” Even she laughed this time, causing her body to vibrate against him.
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t blow it up or let in the bad guys or cause any one of a hundred of the odd things that happened tonight.” Her leg stopped moving. “We still don’t know who did, do we?”
“Not yet. The fire marshal will do an investigation. The bomb components were crude and not well hidden, so I don’t think this will take too long.”
“That’s probably good for Elan.”
“I doubt they see it that way, but the owners want the conference center up and running fast, and that will require a closed investigation and insurance money.”
She let her leg fall back to the mattress. “Any more information on Craft’s son and Royal?”
Aaron reached over and grabbed his cell off the nightstand. He’d already read the text an hour ago but wanted to double-check. He was desperate to hear good news about Royal and kept asking for details until Gail joked about needing sleep.
He clicked a few buttons. “The last report from Gail was that Brandon was still not responding but the doctors were hopeful. Royal has moved into the bitching phase of his recovery where he insists on going home immediately and coming to work tomorrow.”
“At least the part about Royal is good to hear.”
It was the best news, actually. Aaron appreciated Royal more with every assignment.
Risa yawned and Aaron closed his eyes on the hope sleep might finally come. Her husky voice had him opening them again.
“Tell me about their marriage.”
Aaron turned the alarm clock to face him. The bright green numbers showed a time that couldn’t possibly be right…could it?
The hours had flipped by and his eyes still stayed open. It was like some sick cosmic joke. “Now?”
“Talking will help you sleep.”
Aaron had no idea how that was possible, but he was enjoying the intimacy, so he didn’t argue. “They got married at nineteen. He told me once he would have married her right out of high school but he worried people would think they had to get married.”
Risa’s shoulders shook on a new round of laughter. “That would be terrible, I guess.”
“Apparently it was pretty normal for where he grew up and he wanted to act a different way.” Aaron scooted down on the bed to fit his body closer against hers. “He went into the army, got out and threw in with me. For the most part, he seems satisfied with the life he picked.”
“You sound skeptical.”
“It works for him. Wife and kids aren’t really my thing.” Aaron said the last words as part of an automatic loop. He’d repeated the refrain so many times that it now came out without any thought.
“You’re antimarriage?”
Talk about a conversation he never wanted to have again. “My dad would probably like grandkids but I tried the marriage thing once and only got as far as the engagement. She left.”
Risa scoffed. “So?”
He froze. “What do you mean, so?”
“One woman broke your heart and now you swear you’ll never love again?” She snorted.
She couldn’t make her view clearer than that. “You’re making a lot of noises all of a sudden.”
“Sounds to me like a bad country music song.”
He almost laughed at her choice of words. “I think I expected more sympathy.”
She lifted her head and stared him down. Her eyes penetrated the darkness and bored right into him. “My boyfriend took all my money and more than a little of my pride. He ruined my credit. By the time his butt hit the skids, I was in huge financial trouble.”
Whatever amusement he felt fled. The idea of Risa with some loser made him ready to punch someone. “This is the guy who lied?”
“Yes, and you don’t see me writing off the entire male population in response. After all, I think we learned tonight that life is too short and too risky to waste on thinking negatively all the time.”
Aaron ignored the lecture and went to the topic most on his mind. “Where is this guy?”
“Long gone and he’s judgment-proof, so don’t bother.”
She glanced at the window and held there as if mesmerized by the snow blowing under the streetlights.
Aaron had other things on his mind. “I can still track him down and hit him.”
“Just that you offered is enough.” She rubbed her palm over his chest, then kissed the area she’d caressed. “And, really, I’d rather you just admit that not all women are disposable.”
“I know I never said that.”
“You sure?”
“I’m not an idiot, first of all. But I don’t believe it, either. You’re not interchangeable or whatever word you used.” He searched his mind for any woman he’d switch with her, and every cell inside him rebelled at the idea. He couldn’t even go there.
“But you like to keep things light.”
The warning light flashed. Nothing good waited in the direction of that conversation. “How did we get on this subject?”
“What would you rather talk about?” She lifted herself up higher off his body, then suddenly stilled. “Was that a knock? Now?”
He was moving before she finished the question. He flipped the covers off him and started for the door.
“You should put on some pants.”
He stopped in midstride and changed direction. “Good idea. Easier to hide the gun.”
“That’s totally not what I meant.”
He turned and pointed at her. “In the bathroom and do not come out. Take the phone with you in case you need to call 911.”
“It could be something else.”
“I doubt it.”
Chapter Seventeen
As soon as Aaron left the room, Risa jumped off the bed. She scanned the room and then went to the credenza under the window. Opening the top drawer, then the second, she rummaged through the stacks of folded clothes and found exactly what she needed.
Grabbing her underwear from the chair, she slid them on. Next came the pair of his boxers she borrowed. The makeshift shorts slipped when she walked, so she rolled the waist to make them tighter. A sweatshirt from the floor that fell to her knees and the gun he had tucked in the nightstand while she watched completed the outfit.
She slipped her cell next to the gun in the elastic band of her panties and slipped into the hall to check on Aaron. A light by the television cast a soft glow on the room. She could hear the pounding of a fist from the hall and the incessant chime of the bell.
Whoever this was didn’t honor the idea of nighttime privacy. He also didn’t understand that making a lot of noise in a condo complex guaranteed numerous calls to the police.
Right now nothing much was happening. Aaron stood to the side of the front door wearing nothing more than a pair of jeans.
“What do you want?” His muffled voice traveled down the hallway to her. “Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow.”
Control oozed off him and anger edged his voice. Whatever he saw had him steadying his stance and tensing his shoulders. She knew from experience that could not be good.
She couldn’t hear what the visitor said, but it must have satisfied Aaron because he unlocked the door. The knob twisted next.
When she saw a guy walk in—a guy she recal
led from the incident at Elan—she figured he was one of Aaron’s men. She missed that Aaron hadn’t lowered his weapon until she got halfway down the hall toward them. By then it was too late to turn around and pretend she wasn’t there.
The guy was thirty-something with dark hair. He shared the same lethal look as Aaron but had the benefit of being fully clothed. If the puffed-out chest was any indication, the visitor also wore a protective vest. Aaron didn’t even wear a shirt.
As if sensing her presence behind him, the guy turned and nodded in her direction. “Ma’am.”
Aaron barely spared her a glance, but his furious expression said everything she needed to know. This guy, whoever he was, was not a friend.
“Go back in the bedroom.” Aaron motioned as he spoke.
The guy held up a hand. “Wait a second. This impacts her, too. She was at the conference center.”
She ran through every memory of the past day, trying to recall one of him. Nothing came to her.
The end of the night was a haze of emergency responders and explosion debris. A parade of people passed by her, some from the Elan Conference Center and others from Craft and medical services. After a few seconds all the faces except those of Royal and Aaron blended together.
She gave up and asked what she wanted to know. “Who are you?”
Aaron pressed his hand against the door and flipped it shut. With his gun up, he walked the other man deeper into the living room. “This is Max. He works for Palmer, the Craft head of security.”
The name tickled a memory free. “Someone said you were dead.”
“Apparently not.”
Aaron shifted until he stood in front of Max. “Why are you here?”
Max smiled as he nodded at Aaron’s gun. “Are you going to lower that?”
“No.”
The smile disappeared as fast as it came. Max increased his stance, balancing his feet apart and keeping his hands at his sides. “I have some information you need for the investigation.”
“Bring it to my office tomorrow. This is unacceptable.”
“It’s an emergency.”
“I think we’ve had enough of those for one evening.”
Something in Aaron’s tone had Risa backing up. She stopped when her bare calves hit the chair by the sliding glass door. She wished she’d put on pants and a bra. Her current outfit made her feel even more vulnerable than the hulking intruder.
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