by Julie Miller
“You’re not over the hill, Dwight,” she protested. A few gray hairs couldn’t erase the power of that body or personality.
His boxer’s knuckles had been bruised up in his fight with Joe, but his fingers were amazingly gentle as they touched the bruise swelling her own cheek. Dwight’s smile faded, but the intensity of his pinpoint gaze did not. “I’m forty-three years old, Maddie. Older than that inside, where it counts. I’ve loved and lost everything a man can. You stir things up inside of me that I thought were dead. I don’t know that I want to feel them, but they’re there.”
“What are you saying?”
“That I’m done talking.” His fingers slid from her cheek into her hair. He palmed the back of her head and pulled her onto her toes for a kiss.
Maddie’s palms sizzled where they braced against his chest. She tilted her mouth and let him plunder. He slipped his tongue inside to slide against her own. Maddie moaned at the seductive discovery of his direct approach and tried to wind her arms around his neck. But the robe caught and bound her, frustrating desires that were awakening and growing and eager to be released.
Dwight swept his hands down her arms, taking the robe with them and tossing it aside. He guided her arms back and pulled her against him, pillowing her breasts against the wall of his chest. The pearled tips caught in the crisp hair there, even through her gown, tugging and rubbing and making her want.
He skimmed his palms down her back, igniting a delicious friction that fired her pulse. Maddie slipped her fingers into the short fringe of his hair and pushed it against the grain, loving the prickly feel against her palms.
When Dwight skimmed lower and squeezed her butt, she gasped her first startled breath. “No.”
With a self-conscious haste, she reached behind her to move his hand to someplace a little less endowed.
“Yes.” He grabbed her bottom again. Grabbed it with both hands. And then, with an almost feral growl in his throat, he added, “I want the whole package.”
When he lifted her off her toes, up into the heat of his body, there was no way to lie about where this was leading.
He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to the hot pulse at her throat. “Here comes that honesty part.” He laved the same spot with the rasp of his tongue and Maddie shivered in anticipation. “I can’t get it out of my head that Rinaldi got to you.” He gently kissed her cheek. “That he hurt you.” He bent even lower and stroked his lips across the swell of her breast, where the neckline of her gown pulled taut across her skin. “That he made you feel afraid.”
Maddie dug her fingers into his shoulders, seeking purchase. “It wasn’t your fault.” Was he shaking? The molten heat flowing through her veins chilled with concern for a moment. “Dwight, put me down.”
Instead of setting her on the floor as she expected, he sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her into his lap so that she straddled him. Leaving them both very vulnerable to the need that filled the night around them.
Dwight’s hands ran aimless circles against her back and shoulders. Maddie stroked her fingers against the bold line of his unshaven jaw and waited for the emotions that racked deep breaths through his chest to subside.
When he was ready, he reached up and framed her face between his hands and looked her straight in the eye. “I haven’t made love to a woman since Alicia died. I haven’t wanted to. Until you. Until tonight. Somehow I can’t get it out of my head that I can only keep you safe by getting closer to you.”
“You want to make love to me so you won’t worry about me getting hurt?”
“Real romantic, huh?”
“What, like a bouquet of roses?” Maddie matched his position, framing his face between her hands before the glower in his eyes could take hold. “I didn’t ask for romance. I asked for honesty.”
“Say no and I’ll walk you back to the kid, tuck you in and deal with it. Say yes and…” He brushed his thumb over her kiss-swollen lips and, just like that, her body was alive with hunger again. “Say yes.”
It wasn’t a profession of love. She probably wouldn’t have believed it if it had been. But Dwight was attracted to her on some level. For some reason. And he needed her.
A man like Dwight Powers. Needing her.
Heady stuff, indeed.
Maddie nodded. “Yes.”
With a sound that was half relief, half joy, Dwight tightened his arms around her and fell back onto the bed, claiming her mouth in a kiss. Their legs tangled together and she squeezed her thighs around his, gasping at the instant pool of heat that rushed to her feminine core. He slipped his hand beneath her gown, beneath her practical pink panties, and palmed her, skin to skin.
He lifted her higher in the bed, giving his mouth access to her breasts. He caressed them with his hands, then took one aching tip into his mouth, sucking hard through the cotton until she quivered and whimpered and begged him to do the same to the other breast.
And when the self-conscious echo of Joe Rinaldi’s cutting words tried to steal the pleasure of Dwight’s mouth and hands on her body, she cast the memory aside and made a few bold moves of her own. Laving her tongue around Dwight’s taut male nipple. Palming his pulsing erection through the tented cotton of his pajamas. Kissing a spot on his throat and listening to him groan in response.
“Now, Maddie.” He sat up, spilling her into his lap. “Now.”
In a flurry of need, he pulled her gown over her head and peeled off his pants and her panties. He pushed her back into the pillows and covered her body with his. His fingers were there between them, slipping inside her, testing her slick readiness. Maddie squeezed her eyes shut and twisted beneath him as the pressure built around his touch and drove her closer and closer to the edge of a dangerous, maddening precipice.
Every nerve ending became a supersensitive trigger, firing a ribbon of molten heat to the juncture between her thighs. A prickle of hair against her aching breast. A heated murmur against her throat. The musk of their sex filling the air with its intimate smell.
He propped himself up on his elbows above her. “Open your eyes, Red. I want to see your beautiful eyes. You’re so responsive. I can look at you and know when I’m doing something right or wrong.”
She did as he asked and he entered her in one long, smooth stroke. Maddie gasped as she stretched to accommodate him. He was so much. She felt so full. So complete.
Yet she wanted…more. All. Now. “Dwight,” she gasped. “Dwight.”
Feeling feverish, she dug her fingertips into the base of his spine and murmured her need. She turned her cheek into the pillow to find cooler air. Dwight’s fingers traced the heat she could feel rising along her skin. They trailed around a taut, dancing nipple. Along the length of her throat. Across her lips. He took her by the chin and forced her gaze back to his while he pulled out and entered her again.
She moaned as he dangled her so close to the edge of what she craved.
He smiled. “So far, so good, hmm?”
Maddie could only nod her pleasure.
His jaw clenched with the power of his own need. “I can’t make this last.”
“Don’t.” Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pulled him back down to reassure him, to keep him close as they careened toward the edge of that precipice. “This is right. It feels right.”
He ground into her a third time, crying out harshly against her throat as he poured himself into her.
But Maddie barely heard him. The fire inside her erupted in a cascading heat that rolled over her in waves, tumbling her over into the abyss so that they were falling together. The wind roared in her ears. The ground rushed up to meet her.
But there was no hard landing, no shock to destroy the moment. She was simply drifting. Soft, husky praises whispered against her skin. Strong, sure hands stroked her hair and lips, slowly guiding her back to her senses and laying her gently in the circle of Dwight’s arms.
She was still a little dazed when Dwight pulled back the covers and crawled underneath them w
ith her. He tucked her in up to her chin and spooned behind her. He wedged one muscular thigh between hers and claimed her breast in a proprietary hand. Brushing the hair away from the dampness of her skin, he kissed the back of her neck. “Earlier tonight, you asked me what I needed. Just this. Holding you close.”
He wanted to hold her. Close enough so he could drop his guard and sleep. She was an antidote to stress and nightmares—a release for a very physical man, that was all. He needed her, all right. She wondered how she could feel elated and disappointed at the same time.
“Thank you for giving me this,” he whispered, the rhythm of his breathing relaxing into sleep.
Maddie nodded. He was talking about her body. About sex.
But as she snuggled down into the haven of Dwight’s arms, she feared she had already given him much, much more.
Chapter Ten
Dwight followed Maddie out of the sixth-floor courtroom, carrying a diaper bag and a truckload of guilt.
The woman should be sky-high after Judge Ellison had granted her temporary legal guardianship of Tyler. Lab work had proved that she was a relative. Roberta Hays had given her the recommendation of DFS. And a half dozen character witnesses, from Trent Dixon to Police Commissioner Shauna Cartwright herself had been on hand to testify that nobody came any finer than Maddie McCallister.
He could testify to that fact himself.
If she’d let him.
Despite her pasted-on victory smile, Maddie had been in a somber mood all day. That morning, Dwight had awakened to cold arms and an empty bed. The spicy scent of her lingered on the pillow beside him and on his skin. But he couldn’t savor the moment or the memories it triggered. The most contented night’s sleep he’d had in ages had been negated when he found her downstairs in the kitchen, snuggling with Tyler and singing some dopey song about fish and birds.
As if this were any other day.
As if nothing had happened between them.
As if he’d taken what he needed and left her wanting.
He could handle the singing. He understood the responsibility to a hungry child and even the trepidation about appearing in court.
What bothered him most was that Maddie hadn’t looked him straight in the eye since she’d come apart in his arms last night. Not once. Not really.
And why the hell was the woman who gave him such a hard time about everything else not talking to him about this?
She’d tied up her sexy hair in a prim little bun and shut down every effort at a conversation by…shutting down.
There was no sassy backbone, no nervous prattle, no challenging banter. At first, he thought the stoic silence was a dignified act for the judge’s benefit. But now Dwight had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that this shy, spark-less retreat was his fault.
Last night, Maddie had asked for honesty from him. She’d come to his bed with eyes open. He’d tried to make it good for her and hadn’t been disappointed in any way. She’d brought out the randy adolescent in him, just as surely as she’d tapped into something wiser, deeper inside him. Ultimately, he’d felt the humble satisfaction of a man who’d found everything he’d wanted and more. He thought he’d made that clear—she had a sexy body, beautiful skin and hair, an amazingly sensual mouth. She had a compassionate heart and a passionate soul—and he’d wanted it all.
Nothing Joe Rinaldi had said about her was true. He thought she’d believed that. There should be no regrets.
But as the sensuous sway of breasts and bottom inside that staid navy-blue suit disappeared around the corner ahead of him, Dwight admitted that he wasn’t being entirely honest with himself. He was the one with regrets.
He was falling for Maddie. But he might not be falling for the woman she truly was.
Last night, he’d claimed he wanted the whole package. He had wanted her body, her kisses, her hardheaded demands and gentle understanding. He’d wanted the solace of holding her close, the healing of losing himself inside her.
But that was Maddie the lover, Maddie the listener.
What about Maddie the mother? The rock who refused to let a child in her care be hurt in any way? She deserved a family, a home. A wedding cake and lots of babies of her own.
She was a giving lover. A stubborn fighter. A better friend than he deserved.
Maddie was a long-term kind of woman, not a one-night stand.
Dwight didn’t have any forevers to offer her.
She was smart enough to know it.
So why was her apparent willingness to move on and forget about last night bothering him so much?
“Ms. McCallister.”
“Ma’am.”
“Detectives.”
Dwight picked up his pace as he heard familiar voices.
Cooper Bellamy’s. “Congratulations on the custody hearing. You and Mr. Powers planning to celebrate?”
“I doubt it,” Maddie answered. “I won’t feel like celebrating until Katie’s home, too.”
Dwight hurried around the corner to catch up. Detective Bellamy and A.J. Rodriguez waited in front of the bank of elevators. But despite their polite greetings, Dwight could tell that this wasn’t a social call.
Striding up beside Maddie, Dwight rested his palm against the small of her back in a protective gesture of support. Did she stiffen because it was his touch? Or was it the stress of the day, compounded by armed detectives with grim expressions? He didn’t mess with pleasantries. Or let go. “What?”
Bellamy’s gaze darted to Maddie. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you might not want to hear this.”
Maddie wouldn’t be put off by anyone trying to spare her feelings. “If this has something to do with Katie’s disappearance, I’m staying.”
“We have a legal matter we’d like to discuss with the ADA.” A.J., a veteran undercover officer, delivered the lie with such cool veracity that Dwight almost believed it.
“Oh.” For a brief second, her resolve gave way and Maddie sagged against his hand. “I was hoping you’d found out something. But, of course, Dwight has other cases.”
Considering Maddie’s plea for honesty, Dwight was on the verge of telling her to stay put. But then Tyler grunted in his carrier. Using the demands of the baby as an excuse, Maddie not only moved away from Dwight’s touch to push the elevator’s call button but also reinstalled that fake smile that never reached her eyes.
“I’ll leave you to your business, then.” She turned her attention to Cooper. “You’ll keep me posted on anything new you do find out, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You know, Coop, you don’t have to keep…”
Oh sure, for Bellamy, her smile softened into the real thing.
“Call me Maddie. You make me feel a decade older every time you ma’am me.”
“Yes, ma’am, um, Maddie.” Bellamy’s neck colored to match the renewed glow in Maddie’s expression. “Sorry.”
Dwight noted the stab of jealousy that bristled through him at their shared laugh, but he filed it away to deal with later. She could make friends with every man at the Fourth Precinct if that’s what she wanted. He got that he wasn’t the kind of man who inspired smiles and laughter. And he got that, despite the unexpected alliance that had formed between them, he had no claim to where she bestowed her smiles or kisses or any other damn thing.
He just had to get past wanting to make that kind of claim.
By now, the distinct odor of a diaper that needed changing had wafted up between them. Maddie shifted her gaze to a vague point near Dwight’s chin. “We’ll meet you downstairs in the parking garage by your car.”
She turned to the elevator and Dwight took a step to follow her. “Give me five minutes and I’ll go down with you.”
She tugged at Tyler’s yellow blanket, knowing the best deterrent to keep him at a distance. “The two of us need to make a pit stop. Like I said, do your thing and meet us downstairs.”
But her safety was the one issue he wouldn’t budge on. “Show your visitor’s
ID to one of the security guards on the parking level. Give him my name and tell him to walk you to my car.”
“We’ll be fine.”
She could think him any lowlife name in the book for not offering her a marriage proposal or whatever she’d expected after making love, but ’tude or no, she was going to be safe. Dwight looped the diaper bag over Maddie’s shoulder and, in the same motion, palmed the back of her neck. He slipped his fingers into her hair, loosened a couple of pins and turned her face up to his for a kiss.
The lush shape of her mouth softened beneath his almost instantly, casting aside guilt and concern in a mini-burst of passion. He kissed her squarely, succinctly, leaving no room for doubt that he cared about her welfare and he meant business. Just as quickly as it had started, though, he lifted his head. Better. Now she was looking. “Straight to my car,” he ordered.
The intoxicating pools of midnight-blue blinked their vulnerability. “You shouldn’t do that. We have an audience.”
“I don’t care.” Two weeks ago, he would have minded his decorum. Hell, two weeks ago, he wouldn’t have considered kissing a woman anywhere, much less in public. Today, he tangled his fingers a little farther into Maddie’s hair because he hated this distance that had come between them. “I’ll tell you if they say anything that pertains to Katie or the kid. I promise.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and held them out in his palm. She curled her fingers around the keys and he caught her hand in his. “Rinaldi might be out of the picture, but whoever killed him isn’t. The people who want Tyler are still out there. Let the guard walk you to the car.”
“If I don’t, will you send these two detectives after me?”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened behind her.
Dwight reluctantly loosened his grip and watched her back into the empty car. “I’ll come after you myself,” he promised, not quite able to match the teasing in her tone. “I’ll be down as soon as I can.”
“Wait! Hold the elevator, please.” Instinctively, Dwight reached out and blocked the doors to keep them from sliding shut. Roberta Hays’s smoky aura reached him a split second before the DFS caseworker dashed past him into the elevator. “Thanks.”
