by Jane Cousins
Okay he wasn’t in the living room. Darn she thought he might be waiting there for her with breakfast. No sign of him in the spare room, the second bathroom or the patio. Finally she entered the kitchen to find him leaning against the bench by the sink drinking coffee. He was wearing full combat fatigues. Sighting her he stiffened, his face taunt, his eyes devoid of expression.
She paused in the doorway for a split second, something was wrong, something was very wrong. Taking several steps into the room, she paused by the stool where she had sat the first day having lunch with him. “All that’s missing is the full body armour.”
Still he said nothing, just sipped his coffee eyeing her as if she were a stranger.
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Texas.”
Whoa could he be more abrupt? “You’ve found Serena?”
“Not yet. Marcus is changing the search parameters, you can change a prisoner’s name but they still have to eat and be clothed so he’s looking for anomalies in their billing reports.”
“And you intend to base yourself in Texas?”
“Yes.”
“What about the rest of the TV season?”
“Re-runs.”
“Okay Texas it is, let me grab my gear and we can head out.”
“No.”
Hadleigh’s eyes narrowed. “No you don’t want me in Texas?”
Vaughn placed his coffee mug down carefully, stepping forward to push a piece of paper and a pen towards her across the kitchen bench separating them.
“Sign this.”
“And this would be?”
“A parting of the ways. Thanks for helping out.”
Hadleigh laughed, causing Vaughn to frown.
“What no pat on my rear and thanks for a good time babe? Here I’ll make it easier for you.” She tugged on the robe letting it slide to the floor in a satin puddle. Turning she presented her naked backside to him, bending ever so slightly, looking back over her shoulder, sending him a taunting smile. “Go on touch me, I dare you.”
Vaughn swallowed hard, his eyes moving around the room looking anywhere but at the shapely rear currently pointed in his direction. “Hadleigh…”
“Hadleigh what? You might be saying one thing Vaughn but the front of your pants seems to have a different opinion.”
“Hadleigh put some clothes on.” There were tension lines around Vaughn’s eyes and mouth.
If this hadn’t been so serious Hadleigh would have enjoyed the effect she was having on him. “No.” She turned and forced a cheeky grin. “But I will get my butt out of your face.”
Moving she picked up the pen, leaning on the kitchen counter to get a better look at the document. Making sure she kept her shoulders back and arched so that her breasts were front and centre right in Vaughn’s face.
“Hadleigh.” Vaughn growled, high colour staining his cheeks, sweat dotting his brow.
If he’d continued to just give her that blank expressionless look he’d sent her way when she’d first entered the kitchen she would have signed the paper and skedaddled home to sob over her broken heart but this man was far from unaffected.
“So.” She picked up the contract rounding the bench to stand next to him, so close her bare skin brushed the front of his shirt. “You want me to sign here?”
She held the contract low, so Vaughn was forced to look down. He groaned her name this time like he would a curse word, his eyes directed down that lush curvaceous body, bare to the elements. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away now that he was looking, now that she was so close he could feel the heat of her body washing up against his own. Placing the contract and the pen down on the counter behind them Hadleigh went up on tippy toe, looping her arms around his neck, bringing her entire body flush against his. Vaughn issued another groan, determinedly keeping his arms at his sides.
“You want to tell me what’s going on Viking?” Hadleigh breathed the question softly, pressing a barely there kiss against the madly throbbing pulse at the base of his tanned throat.
“Hadleigh.” He started to lift his arms, perhaps intending to push her away before suddenly deciding that touching her wouldn’t be a good idea, once more dropping them to his sides. “Hadleigh what I did was unfair to you.” Sincerity shon in those golden depths as he looked down at her, their faces only inches apart. “But what you did to me was worse.”
Hadleigh frowned, tilting her head slightly to the side pondering her gorgeous man, who currently was not making one lick of sense. “I missed something important didn’t I?”
“You crossed a line.” Vaughn stated abruptly, his whole body rigid under her touch.
“You’ve seen me naked before so I’m guessing it’s not the nudity, in fact as I mentioned parts of you seem to be enjoying that fact immensely.”
“Don’t.” Vaughn bought his hands up to her arms, willing to touch her now if it meant breaking her hold on him. “Don’t make jokes.”
Hadleigh held on to him as if her life depended upon it. “Talk to me Vaughn. What did I do?”
He stopped trying to peel her off but left his big hands wrapped around her upper arms. “You melded with me.” He sounded so forlorn.
Hadleigh’s head jerked back for a split second in surprise. “You melded with me first.”
“You pity melded with me.” He accused, a flash of anger making his gold eyes darken.
“I did no such thing. Besides you only melded with me because you thought I was dying.”
“I love you.” He growled into her face.
“I love you back.” She raised him a growl as little arcs of lightning flashed across her pupils.
“Then what are we fighting for?” His arms wrapped around her body, bringing her in even closer, his voice still a growl.
“I don’t know.” She hugged him tighter. “It could be the fact that I’m naked and you’re not. Your belt is digging into me by the way.”
Vaughn flashed a smug grin, the sight of it went straight to her knees, thank the Goddess she had Vaughn to hold her up. “I’m not wearing a belt.”
She laughed for a moment then looked serious. “I do love you.”
He released a deep sigh, happiness blanketing his face. “Mine.” He leaned down searing his possession onto her lips with his own. “Does this mean we’re married?”
“Pretty much. We kind of jumped the gun but I think the High Council will understand.”
“So we don’t need to do the whole church and ceremony thing?”
“I’d rather we didn’t. But we could throw a party … if you want?”
“Oh I want … but maybe.” He kissed her. “Not for a couple of weeks.” Kissed her again. “...months maybe.”
“A party … sounds great … in a couple of months.” Goddess she could barely think, the man was doing incredible things with his mouth, with his hands. “Now Vaughn I know how much you love rules. So in the interests of equality, from now on when I’m naked you need to be too.”
Vaughn raised his head from her breast, laughter spilling across his handsome face. “Agreed.” He reared back slightly yanking off his top with haste, before gripping her around the waist lifting her to sit on the kitchen bench. “Expect to be naked a lot from here on in woman.”
“Woman?” She placed her hand on his shoulder attempting to give him a little shove of rebuke, typical Vaughn she didn’t move him an inch.
Instead he just laughed, pulling her body back hard up against his own. “Warrior … Mine.”
Her laughter echoed his as she raised her lips to his, murmuring his words back. “Warrior … Mine.”
The End
About the Author
Jane Cousins is a not so mild mannered IT Project Manager by day. Her greatest working achievement has been to perfect ‘the silent glare of promised retribution’ that encourages her team to meet their promised deadlines. Over the years her job has taken her all around the world, requiring she live in the UK, China and Singapore. Now settled in Melbourne
, Australia she has adopted the night time persona of author. Which generally involves donning a silk mask, hunching over a computer and fighting in the name of alpha males and their more than a match female counterparts everywhere.
A huge fan of witty banter and smoking hot instant attraction Jane has never let the facts or inconvenient reality interfere with the telling of a great story. Currently she is hard at work on book 2 of the Southern Sanctuary series. Be on the lookout for Nell and Drum’s story next.
Books by Jane Cousins;
Southern Sanctuary series:
To Woo a Warrior
To Trap a Temptress (coming soon)
By the Numbers series:
One For The Wedding
Two For The Show (coming soon)
