It would take a lot of time for their family to heal. God, she ached for all of them.
Ben stared up at the sky and Grace let him be. Several yards ahead, the trail veered to the right of a small clearing. She heard water and followed the sound to a stream, bubbling over and around rocks and branches. Crouching, she scooped a handful of the cool water and splashed her face.
“Sorry for unloading.”
She smiled up at him. “It’s fine. I just wanted to give you some space.”
“I figured you’d written me off.”
“Stop it.”
“If you knew what a complete bastard I’ve been—”
“Shut up. Or I’ll—” She couldn’t find the right words.
His lips twitched. “You’ll what?”
“I’ll arrest you.”
Giving in to the smile, he helped her to her feet. “For what?”
“Noise pollution. You’re hurting my ears with a bunch of crap.”
“Ah.” He put his arms around her. “Let’s see if I can make it up to you,” he said, and kissed the spot behind her earlobe.
“You’re on the right trail.”
* * *
BEN HUFFED A laugh and tightened his hold. “That was actually pretty funny,” he said, his breath heating her damp skin.
Her hand moved up his back. “I’m occasionally witty.”
“Sexy, too.”
She sighed as he rocked her body. “With the right motivation.”
He pulled back just far enough to look at her, to make sure she meant what he thought she meant. “Challenge accepted,” he said.
“Right out here? In the middle of the woods?”
It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what she was doing. He’d just revealed more about his life to her than to anyone he’d ever met. She didn’t seem shocked or appalled, at least not at him. He hadn’t realized how much he needed her teasing smile and her welcoming body until he’d pulled her close. “Right out here,” he said. “I’d never make it to town. But this is perfect. No one will hear when I make you scream.”
She was the one to pull him into a kiss. And not just any kiss. Both of her hands cupped his face, and her tongue gave his a wicked workout. Not quite what he’d promised her this morning, but so much better.
While Grace had them both busy from the neck up, he started working on her buttons. She bowed her back as soon as she realized his objective, and he finished the job in record time.
“Don’t forget you,” she said, giving them both a chance to catch their breaths.
“Kiss more,” he said, unhooking her bra with one flick. “Talk less.”
She laughed. Then she kissed him again and moved her thigh between his legs, rubbing him right where it counted.
He couldn’t hold back a moan, and now the race was on. To get them both naked, to remember the condom in his pocket before maneuvering them down to the grassy clearing, and damn, whatever was next was wiped clean away as both of her hands moved from his face to his other cheeks.
She gave him a nice squeeze just as he thought he’d be able to push down her jeans and panties in one quick swipe.
“You okay, stunt man?”
“That sassy mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble one day.”
“I think I can take care of myself.”
“Hell, woman. I saw what you can do with a rifle. I didn’t say you’d get in trouble with me.”
She grinned. “You want me to let go?”
“Only because there are bigger and better things to come.”
Grace laughed. “Ah, so modest.”
“Yep. How about you take off your shoes while I get out my wallet?”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Condom.”
“Right. Okay, shoes.”
He hated letting anything get between them, even the cool afternoon breeze, but there was nothing to be done except get his boots off while he got the condom out. By then, she was barefoot and topless. He could almost feel his tongue swirling around those beaded nipples as she bent over his eager—
“More stripping, less drooling.”
He hopped to it. Literally, but he finally was barefoot, as well, and he wasted no time stripping down to the skin.
Once they were naked, he did a slipshod job of setting out his jeans and shirt on the ground as a blanket. It didn’t matter. He would have lain down if the grass were on fire.
“Wait, what are you—?”
God, she looked gorgeous with her hands on her bare hips, her breasts rising with each breath. He waved her closer as he lay back. “Straddle me.”
* * *
THE COOL AIR wasn’t quite enough to keep up with the heat between them.
Grace gasped as she rose a little higher. The trick was to keep him inside her, but only just.
“You’re going to kill me,” Ben said. “Dead.”
“It’s okay,” she said, her voice as wobbly as her thighs. “I know where you keep your car keys.”
Her knees on the thick, cool grass, she gripped Ben’s hip bones like handles. He’d lowered his butt to the ground, but she hadn’t gone with him this time. Instead, just before he slipped out of her, she tightened her muscles around the crown. She wouldn’t be able to hold him for long like this, but she sure did like how it felt.
What she hadn’t counted on was his next thrust. He was so strong, he pushed through until he was all the way inside her. After going at it hot and heavy for at least half an hour, this lift was as high as the first.
Once she regained the ability to speak she said, “How are you able to do that? I’m not exactly light as a feather.”
“Sheer will.”
As cocky as he was, she knew he couldn’t keep up this pace forever. She was thinking very hard about moving a lot faster herself, but the way he seemed to be drinking her in made her clench.
The problem was, he hadn’t touched where she needed to be touched.
It was time for her to take it to the next level. First, she closed her eyes. She couldn’t think when she was looking at him, at the five-o’clock shadow that made him look mysterious, or the way he’d lick his lips as if he wanted to eat her right up.
Ben touched her cheek. “Look at me.”
His voice was velvet and grit, and she automatically obliged. Again, he thrust to the hilt, the connection between them electric, a sizzle that reached every part of her. She squeezed her muscles around him, and oh, she could see he was getting close. It was his turn to fight shutting his eyes as she lowered herself once more.
“What the hell are you doing to me, Grace?”
“I’ll stop if you want me to—”
“God, no. Don’t. Please.”
She doubted he saw her smile. “I’m close, Ben. All you need to do is touch me.”
“Already?”
“Knock it off or I really will stop. Come on. I need both hands to balance.”
“If you kiss me,” he said, finally looking up at her, “we’ll be at just the right angle. No hands needed.”
She grinned. He was brilliant. She leaned forward until their lips were inches from each other. He almost closed his eyes again, so she bit his chin, just enough to get his attention. “Hey, kiss more,” she whispered seconds before she made her move.
The kiss was meant to be hard and sexy and full of sass, but it quickly softened from all the tenderness that had been building since he’d offered her his vulnerability and trust.
He stilled, lowering himself to the ground. He cupped the side of her face as he pulled back from her mouth only to kiss her chin, the tip of her nose, then a soft kiss on her parted lips.
“Grace.” His hoarse whisper made her shiver.
As she kisse
d him again, his hip arched slowly. She gasped when she felt the base of his cock rub just right. Their faces were very close, but she knew he was smiling the whole time. She blinked in delighted surprise. She’d expected a little rub, but what she got was so much more. The next time she kissed him, he did it again. And again.
She moved a bit to the left, and he set a bruising pace. Her muscles tightened, and she couldn’t concentrate on anything but the oncoming storm. Gasping and trembling, she knew it wouldn’t be long...
She came like a powerhouse, loud enough to chase the birds from the trees. It was messy and wonderful. He just kept going until he cried out and came with a tremendous shudder, and they both collapsed like gasping rag dolls.
* * *
IT TOOK GRACE a while to figure out they weren’t moving. Not below the chest, at least. After the best workout ever, all they were both good for was filling their lungs.
Without any warning, she rolled off him, onto the grass. “Oh, for God’s sake.”
“What’s wrong?”
She tried to lift her head but gave up instantly. “We’re going to have to sleep here because I’ll never get up again.”
“I’ll help you,” he said with great assurance.
She managed to turn her head to face him, just as he turned his. “Who’s going to help you?”
He grinned. “I think there are some edible berries somewhere near here. If not, there’s always bugs.”
She sat up with a great heave. “Unless there’s a Starbucks behind that tree, we’re going back.”
16
BEN HELD THE door open for Grace, and she gave him the eye roll he expected before getting into the Porsche. “What, I’m not supposed to be polite because we’re in the woods?”
The minute he got behind the wheel, she was ready with a retort. “I figure sweaty sex and cleaning up in a stream—without towels—meant neither of us had to be polite for about a week.”
“Hey, I dried you with the shirt off my back.”
“I appreciate that. My breasts have never been drier.”
Ben laughed. “And don’t forget, I remembered the condom.”
“Fair enough,” she said as she settled into her bucket seat.
He took the drive to the highway slowly, reminding himself that the scratch on his door was worth it. Which it was. Cars could be fixed, even beauties like this one.
When they were safely on the highway headed for town, he finally looked at Grace. The worry etched in her face was definitely not expected. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Grace.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, just that business with Wade. I was an idiot to pull that stunt today. I know he’s a jerk, and I could have avoided all of this by not showing off.”
“Seriously? Wade? He’s a moron. Besides, what could he possibly find out about you?”
“Plenty,” she said, then hesitated. She was staring straight ahead. Her jaw was tight, and so were her shoulders. Another glance and he saw that her thumb was rubbing her finger rough and fast, all of which made him realize this thing with Wade was far more than it appeared. Grace was giving too many signals for him to back away now. Instead of making a joke, he waited, concentrated on driving, snatching glances at her when he could.
When he’d pretty much given up on her talking to him, she said, “Back in Arizona, me and my partner from the task force—we were eating dinner in our vehicle. Honestly, we were arguing more than eating. Out of nowhere, some guy barrels out of the corner market holding a .357 Magnum. The bastard shot into the store before the door closed behind him. T.J. jumped out of the car. A minute later, he was...”
She took a couple of breaths and lowered her gaze to the console. Ben wanted to pull over, but he was scared Grace would stop talking.
“He’d been acting weird for a while. Asking me to cover for him at work, which, okay, we have to sometimes, but then he was asking me to cover for him with his wife. He knew she and I were friends. But T.J. was my partner. That trumps everything. I don’t know if you can understand—”
“I do incredibly dangerous stunts for a living. I know what it is to trust.”
She nodded, and he focused once more on the mostly empty road.
“Him keeping me in the dark was unacceptable. I had his back, but people were jumping to wrong conclusions—that we were having an affair—and the last thing I wanted was for the task force to lose faith in us, and God forbid, for his wife to hear the wrong thing.”
Grace sighed, and he put his upturned hand on her thigh. Lightly. Expecting nothing. But when she immediately entwined her fingers with his and gripped him tight, something deep clicked into place.
“He told me he’d been having an affair with the captain’s wife. That was bad enough, but then he told me the captain was abusing her. So of course, T.J. was trying to get her away from him on the QT. The captain had a lot of clout. T.J. couldn’t report it. I hate to say it, but he was right not to.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of loyalty when you’re in a job that can cost you your life. It sucks when it’s used to protect the wrong people.”
She didn’t deny it. “I told him to go to Internal Affairs. That I’d help him get the wife and her two kids away without anyone being the wiser. But he had to stop sleeping with her. For everyone’s sake.”
Grace squeezed his hand again as she looked at him. “I understand how dangerous it was for your mom to escape Antonio. The task force I was part of? It was to take down Arizona’s largest dealer. We’d been at it two years, and we were close to the crafty bastard. Damn close. T.J. needed to get his head back in the game, and he wasn’t going to do that if he was working solo to help Marie.”
“Well, shit. That’s a hell of a spot to be in. For him and you.”
“For everyone on the task force.” With her free hand, Grace picked up the water bottle he’d left in the cup holder for her. She offered it to him, but he shook his head.
“T.J. wasn’t supposed to go after the gunman, not like that. It was a rookie mistake. By the time I yelled his name, he was already dead. Bullet through his head. I didn’t even catch the guy. A uniform cop did. Someone I didn’t know.”
Ben pulled onto the turnout five miles outside of town.
“What are you doing?”
“Stopping for a minute.” It was getting dusky and her face was in shadows, which was for the best. “Go on.”
“There was an investigation. The rumors about the two of us were starting to spread. It was just a matter of time before T.J.’s wife heard. I couldn’t do that to her. Or their kids. So when the brass inferred I might not have provided adequate backup, I let it go.
“I was cleared by IA, but I’d already been condemned. I told Glen—he was the investigator—everything. I couldn’t help the captain’s family on my own. Even knowing I could trust IA completely, I was tainted in the eyes of the Tucson police, the sheriff’s division, pretty much everyone. No one would want to partner with me, not on the task force or my department.”
Ben wondered if she knew that while her voice was completely stoic, there was no hiding the hurt in her face. She looked defeated. And that got to him in a way he hadn’t imagined possible.
“The best thing to do was for me to leave. To let everyone think I might’ve been partly responsible for T.J. getting killed. That way, T.J.’s family could keep their memories of a loving husband and father and receive compensation. The captain’s wife would be moved somewhere safe. Eventually. After the task force makes their bust. I hate that part, but...you know, the greater good and all...” She shrugged.
“Internal Affairs agreed to that plan?” Ben asked.
Grace straightened, and he watched the warrior come back. “The task force was at risk. It was in all our best inter
ests for me to disappear so everyone could get back to focusing on what was important.”
“It sure as hell wasn’t in your best interest. There’s no way you made the decision to leave. If that guy from Internal Affairs had any sense at all, he’d have done everything in his power to talk you out of it.”
Grace sighed. “He did try.” She looked Ben in the eye. “There’s only one other person who knows what happened. That’s my father, who’s a retired sheriff and also happens to be old friends with Glen. Dad hated to hear that I’d be taking the blame, but he understood. So, yes. I made the decision, and I have no regrets. And now you know.”
He wanted to swear that he wouldn’t say a word, but she wouldn’t have told him if she didn’t already trust him. “So how is a little worm like Wade gonna find out anything about this?”
“If he makes a phone call to the right big mouth, it’s possible he’ll hear everything. Or the version that makes me look like a piece of crap.”
“Well then, leave. Damn it, Grace, you’re too good a cop to be wasted in this hick town.”
“It’s fine,” she said, releasing his hand only to push her fingers through her hair. “As long as T.J.’s wife never finds out about the affair, screw Wade, I don’t care what that idiot learns. She and the kids have been through enough. They all worshiped him.”
He knew better than to argue. What Grace really needed right now was support and trust. He’d do whatever it took to give that to her.
Instead of kissing her until morning, which he very much wanted to do, he said, “Hey, why don’t you come with me to the Sundance tonight? I can promise you my...the McAllisters will make you feel comfortable.”
He had almost called the McAllisters his family when only his mom fit the bill. What the hell? But the truth was, the Sundance really was his home, and he was as close to the McAllister brothers and Rachel as he was to Claudia.
Odd that he’d never once felt like LA was anything more than a means to an end. Certainly not his home.
“I can’t,” she said. “I’ve got things to do. I need to call my old boss. Do some damage control. And you need to spend some time with your mom. You’re going to be leaving soon, and you’re just getting to know her.”
Anywhere with You Page 16
