For a fleeting second, he wished he were bringing a little more experience to the table. He didn’t want to think he’d forgotten how to do this, but it’d been a long, long time since he’d had sex with another person.
But then he licked his lips, the taste of her sex still on his mouth, and he figured, what the hell. Sex was like riding a bike, only a lot more fun. “I’m here.”
She was splayed out on her side, moonlight kissing her in the most intimate of places. Places he’d kissed. Places he was going to kiss again.
He watched as she slid a hand over her breast, cupping it and stroking her own nipple. He went painfully hard at the sight as her head lolled back. “Did you find a condom?” she asked in a breathy voice.
Instantly, he was hard all over again. His mind might have some performance anxiety, but his body was raring to go. “I found several.”
“Oh, thank God.” She pushed herself up and patted the bed next to her. “Come to bed, Tom.”
He dropped the supplies on the sheets and crawled over to her. “You look good in my bed,” he murmured, rolling onto his back. “I like you there.”
He reached for the condom—but before he could, her mouth was on him. “Caroline,” he groaned, trying to pull her up.
“You didn’t tell me what you liked,” she said, her voice throaty as she licked up his length.
He sank his fingers into her hair, trying to pull her up and trying to hold her where she was at the same time. His brain short-circuited as the unfamiliar sensations rocketed through him. Her mouth was warm and wet and she was just as fierce as he’d hoped.
“This...this is good,” he ground out, his hips moving on their own. She gripped him tightly as she licked at his tip. “God, Caroline.”
Then he looked down at her. She was staring up at him as she licked and sucked, a huge grin on her face as she pleasured him. “This isn’t a hazardous activity, is it?”
He wasn’t going to make it. He sat up and pulled her away. He needed the barrier of the condom between them, because it was too much—she was too much. “I can’t wait,” he told her, rolling on the condom and applying the lube. “I need you right now.”
“Yes,” she hissed, straddling him again. This time, when his erection found her opening, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she lowered her weight onto him, slowly at first, and then, with a moan that made his gaze snap to hers, she sank down the rest of the way, taking him in fully. “Oh, yes, Tom.”
His mind blanked in the white-hot pleasure of it all. It’d been so long—but his body hadn’t forgotten. The smell of sex hung heavy around them, and Caroline’s body pinned him to the bed. He blinked, bringing her into focus. He let go of her hips only long enough to shove the pillows under his shoulders.
Because he hadn’t forgotten what she’d whispered to him. “These are amazing,” he told her, doing his best to focus on her needs, her body—and not how he was already straining to keep his climax in check. He stroked his fingertips over her breasts. “Simply amazing.”
Her back arched as her hips began to rock. “Do you like them?”
“I do. But,” he added, reaching around her waist with one hand and pushing her down to his mouth, “I like them more here.”
With that, he sucked her right breast into his mouth and teased her left nipple with his fingers. He didn’t bite—but he didn’t have to. Caroline went wild as he lavished attention on her breasts. She moaned as her flesh filled his mouth, his hands. He wasn’t gentle, either. She wanted loud? She wanted to feel like he couldn’t hold back?
It wasn’t a stretch, that. He lost himself in her body, her sounds, her taste. She grabbed onto the headboard and rode him wildly. It was all he could do to hang on long enough.
But he did. When she threw her head back and screamed out his name, he dug his fingers into the smooth skin of her hips and, thrusting madly, let go. God, it felt so good to let go again.
She collapsed onto his chest, panting heavily as he wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. In that moment, he felt like he’d come home again.
Who knew that by losing himself in her, he’d find himself again? But he was alive from head to toe, truly alive.
“Tom,” she whispered against the crook of his neck.
“Yeah.” He exhaled heavily and wished he were a younger man, one who had it in him to roll her onto her back and take her again. He shifted, lifting her off enough that he could get rid of the condom before settling her back against his chest. “Wow.”
After a long time—Tom had begun to drift—she propped herself up on her elbows. “So,” she said, the happiest smile he’d seen yet on her face. “What are the plans for the rest of the weekend?”
And then, because he wasn’t as old as he thought, he did roll her onto her back and cover her with his body. “This,” he said, flexing his hips and grinding against her. “Pizza and wine and the pool and this, Caroline.”
“Finally,” she murmured against his lips as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “A straight answer.”
He was already thrusting inside her when he realized that the sensation was more intense than it’d been last time. He withdrew long enough to get another condom before he buried his body in hers again.
He’d finally come home, and he damn well intended to stay here.
Eight
This was a mistake, Tom thought as he stood next to the bed, staring down at Caroline’s sleeping form. A rare tactical error. A series of errors, each compounding the other until what he was left with was a huge mess of his own making.
He shouldn’t have brought her out here, knowing damn well he had to fly out of South Dakota first thing Monday morning. And he shouldn’t have fallen into bed with her, either.
But he’d done both of those things, anyway. For once, he hadn’t put the case first. And now he had to deal with the consequences.
She wasn’t going to like this.
“Caroline.”
She startled, blinking sleepily at him in the soft light from the bedside lamp. “What? Time to get up?”
“Yes.”
Tom handed over the cup of coffee. She sat up to take it, which made the sheet fall down around her waist. He almost groaned at the sight of her breasts. Damn it, this was not how he’d wanted to wake her up, either. But the die was cast.
She smiled sleepily at him, an invitation and a promise all rolled into one. “How much time do we have?”
He gritted his teeth. He’d indulged himself all weekend long. That was a luxury neither of them had right now. “Get dressed.”
She blinked at him. At least this time, her eyes were almost moving at the same speed. “Are we back to this? You’re not going to answer any question directly? Come on, babe.”
Crap. It wasn’t even five fifteen in the morning, and all he wanted to do was climb back into this bed with her and forget about the rest of the world, just like he’d dared to do for the last two days.
The rest of the world, however, wasn’t about to be forgotten. He sat down on the bed. Which was a mistake, because when he did that, he reached over and cupped her cheek. “There’s been a change of plans.”
She leaned into his touch, looking worried. He didn’t like that look. “How bad is it?”
There was probably a diplomatic way to inform her of the change in their travel plans. But he didn’t have time to figure out what it was. “You’re coming to Washington, DC, with me.”
Her mouth fell open, and she jolted so hard she almost spilled her coffee. “But I’m supposed to be at work today...”
Tom forced himself to stand and move away from her. “There’s been an emergency. Your house will not be secure by the time you get off work today, and I’m not willing to risk you going back there without having it swept. So you’re coming with me.”
She b
linked again and then, in one long swallow, finished the coffee. When the mug was empty, she smiled widely. “Funny. Real funny, Tom. It’s a little early for practical jokes, but it’s good to see that you have a sense of humor at any hour.” Her voice trailed off when he didn’t return her easy grin. “Wait—you aren’t joking?”
He shook his head. “This trip has been planned for months. I thought I’d be able to secure your house before my flight left this morning, but when I realized I wouldn’t have time, Carlson was going to do it for me. But he’s had an emergency and I don’t trust anyone else to do it.”
The ticket desk at the Pierre Airport wasn’t open yet, so he’d have to buy her ticket when he got there. He hadn’t once been on a full flight from Pierre to Minneapolis to Dulles, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
“I have to go to DC because you have to go to DC,” she repeated, as if she were trying to learn a foreign language. He nodded. “Because the only other person you trust to sweep my house for bugs that may or may not exist is dealing with an emergency.”
“That’s correct.”
She flung off the covers, and despite the early hour, despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, his pulse beat a little harder as she stomped around his bedroom wearing nothing.
“I have cases on the docket,” she announced, her voice suddenly loud. The caffeine must have kicked in. “I can’t just jet off with you. There has to be someone else—”
“No, there isn’t. I told you—Carlson and I keep our activities quiet. That way no one can compromise our investigations. His wife is having pregnancy complications and I’m not about to mess with our operating procedures—procedures that have led to several successful convictions—just because—”
“You’re being ridiculous,” she snapped, throwing on her clothes.
Maybe he was. Maybe he shouldn’t be taking her anywhere. After all, it hadn’t taken more than a few hours out here, away from prying eyes and ears, before they’d wound up in bed together. It was one thing to indulge in a long, satisfying weekend with her at his isolated cabin—it was something completely different to take her to DC.
Then, before he could come up with any sort of witty retort to “ridiculous,” she pulled up short. “Wait—Maggie’s having complications?” She spun on him. “Is she okay?”
The fact that she was suddenly concerned for one of his oldest friends—whom she did not know—despite the fact that she was furious with him made something tighten in his chest. “She’s got the very best watching over her. She’s had some problems with high blood pressure, but they’re controlling it.” He hoped like hell Maggie would be okay. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing another woman he cared for.
“That’s good. I hope she’s okay. But I can’t fly to Washington, Tom.”
“Take a sick day. Two,” he corrected. “We’ll fly back tomorrow.”
She jammed her hands on her hips. She’d gotten her bra and shorts on, but she hadn’t zipped them up. He knew what she was going to say before she said it, though. “No.”
“Yes, Caroline.” He began grabbing the rest of her things and shoving them into her bag. They could argue in the car. And, knowing Caroline, they would. “I don’t know what kind of man you think I am, but after what’s happened between us this weekend, you have to realize that I’m not about to do a damn thing that would put you at risk.”
“Except drag me across time zones.”
“I’m not leaving you behind, and that’s final.”
“I’ll stay at a hotel,” she announced, pulling her shirt over her head.
For a moment, he considered that. Hell, a hotel was where he should have put her in the first place. Anyone else, he would’ve done just that.
But could he trust that whoever had bugged her house hadn’t also bugged her office? That they wouldn’t be waiting to track her back to wherever she went—her home, a hotel, the safe house?
Bringing her out here hadn’t been his tactical error. Not the big one, anyway.
No, where he’d really screwed up was thinking that he could separate this weekend with her from everything else—his work with the foundation, his job investigating the corruption case, his life. All of it.
He hadn’t put the case first. He’d made an exception for Caroline because when he’d looked at her, he’d felt this spark—and the power of that pull had completely erased his professional distance.
She was his assignment. That was all that should be happening between them.
But now that he’d gotten in this deep with her, he couldn’t walk away. Or fly away, as the case might be.
“No,” he announced.
“Why the hell not?” It was easier to have this argument with her now that she was fully dressed. She grabbed the duffel from him and gave him the kind of look that most likely had wayward attorneys wetting their pants. She was ferocious, his Caroline. “Give me one good reason why, Tom. One really freakin’ good reason.”
He could run through the list of collateral damage this corruption case had left over the years. Lives destroyed, reputations ruined. Justice subverted.
Or he could argue about her personal safety. He could go into excruciating detail about how he’d seen other people’s houses get bugged and that information had been used to wreck their lives. He could scare the hell out of her, because a scared witness was willing to do anything to stay safe.
He could also tell her what, up until sixty hours ago, had been the truth—that one person’s inconvenience and discomfort meant nothing—not hers, not his. Breaking this case open was the only thing that mattered, and he would do whatever it took to finally get to the bottom of who was buying and blackmailing judges.
He did none of those things. Instead, he closed the distance between them, pulled her into his chest and kissed the holy hell out of her. She tasted of coffee and Caroline, a jolt to his system that he was already addicted to.
“Because,” he said when he broke the kiss. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing hard, and if they weren’t pushing deadlines, he’d lay her out on the bed and to hell with the rest of the world. “Come with me, Caroline. I...”
He almost said he needed her. Which was not true. He needed to know she was safe. He needed to know she was beyond the grasp of blackmailers and violent criminals.
It wasn’t like she was someone he couldn’t live without.
“Just come with me,” he finished, which was not a good reason. It barely qualified as a bad reason, but damn it, it was early and he had to get her to the airport.
Her brow furrowed and her tongue traced the seam of her lips. It was physically painful, resisting the urge to lean down and replace her tongue with his own, but he managed to keep his distance. “Please,” he added, way too late.
Her shoulders sagged. “I am definitely going to regret this,” she murmured as she shouldered her duffel. “What the hell. Let’s go to DC. But,” she added, jabbing him in the chest with her finger, “you better make it worth it.”
“I will,” he promised, trying not to grin and failing. “Trust me, I will.”
Nine
“Celine. It’s me. Listen, there’s been a change of plans.”
Caroline had no idea if she was supposed to be eavesdropping—but it was hard not to. Tom was pacing in a small circle about five feet away from her. That was all there was room for at the gate in Minneapolis, while they waited for their connecting flight.
But even that small space couldn’t contain his energy. Caroline couldn’t stop staring at him. Even though she was beyond irritated with the man, there was still something about him that called to her.
Tom’s voice was pitched low, and she had to strain to hear him over the noise in the terminal.
She’d had no plans to be in Minneapolis today. Sure, it was always great to come home again,
but being stuck at the airport for a ninety-minute layover wasn’t exactly a homecoming.
“I’m bringing a guest,” Tom went on.
Well. At least Caroline had been upgraded from security risk to guest. That had to count for something, right?
Tom’s gaze cut over to her. “For a case...No. Don’t worry—she’ll be fine. But we might have to change dinner plans.”
Caroline was tempted to point out that nothing about this situation was fine, but she didn’t want to interrupt. Who was Celine? Not a girlfriend, she was pretty sure. But not a hundred percent sure, because she wasn’t one hundred percent sure about any of this. Had she really been pulled onto a plane by the man of her dreams without luggage, toiletries, coffee...?
“We’re traveling light, so if you could have something for her tonight?...Yeah. I’m sorry to be such a pain.”
Wait. Had Tom Yellow Bird just apologized? Oh, she had to meet this Celine. Because Caroline was reasonably sure she’d never heard the man apologize for anything, and he’d quasi-kidnapped her twice now.
No, he hadn’t kidnapped her. That wasn’t fair to him. She had, after all, willingly gone along with him both times.
And why had she done that? There wasn’t any rational reason for why she had thrown caution, common sense and her professional reputation to the wind. Sure, Tom would try to dress the last four days up as a matter of her safety. Yes, there’d been something off in her house.
But who were they kidding?
She’d come with him because she couldn’t help herself. Tom Yellow Bird made her want to do things that she shouldn’t—want things she shouldn’t. And as ridiculous as this whole situation might be, she’d come with him because it’d meant another few days with him. It’d meant learning a little more about Tom Yellow Bird.
It’d meant another night in his arms and, apparently, that was worth the risk.
A sour feeling settled into her stomach. At this point, at ten fifteen on a Monday morning, when she was supposed to be in court, Caroline was completely out of rational reasons for any of the choices she’d made since calling Tom on Friday night.
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