by Julie Miller
Eli shook his head. Getting naked in Shauna’s house was a sure way to fog up his brain and miss the next time Yours Truly decided to call or pay a visit. “The doc said I needed to keep my arm as dry as possible until the new skin starts to set.”
But she wouldn’t be deterred. Once Shauna Cartwright had decided to break one of her rules, then, by damn, she was going to break it. “A bath, then. It’s how I like to unwind. You’ve earned a long, hot soak.” She left the kitchen with his things and headed upstairs. “I’ll go draw one for you.”
“I haven’t taken a bath since I was a little kid.”
“It’s like riding a bike, Eli. You don’t forget where to scrub.”
“What about the neighbors, Shauna? They’ll see my SUV parked outside and know I’m in here spending the night. They’ll talk.”
“Let them.” She paused at the door to the bathroom. “Unless you’d rather sleep out in the cold, with those long legs twisted up like a pretzel inside your car?”
Good God, give a man patience. She was finally inviting him inside, finally leading him to her bedroom—where the master bath and tub were located, finally asking him to strip…and all he was going to get out of it was a hot soak for a few sore muscles.
“The guest bedroom will be fine.”
Chapter Eleven
Good God, what was she thinking?
Shauna pulled back the covers and fluffed the pillows in the guest bedroom, acutely attuned to the splashes, rock-ballad serenades, and occasional curses from the naked man in her bathtub.
The problem was, she hadn’t been thinking at all. She’d been feeling. Instead of reminding herself for the umpteenth time that Eli Masterson worked for her, she’d acted on the guilt she felt over everything she’d put him through. Her heart ached for the anguish he felt over his sister’s addiction. She understood that helplessness, that sense that no matter what she did to help, she couldn’t really help.
She understood Eli’s pain and sacrifice.
So she could offer a friendly massage for a few aching muscles. She could give him shelter and do what she could to ease the physical pain. She could end his isolation—and her own—by holding him, understanding him, loving him.
Eli needed somebody to care about him—to push past the sarcasm and cynicism—to ignore the reputation and see the real man. The one with the big passions and bigger heart and protective streak he wore like medals of honor across a good portion of his upper body now.
Shauna had seen the real man. She was falling in love with him.
“It would never work.” She couldn’t be what he needed. And it wasn’t just about rules and protocol. She hadn’t loved a man since Austin, and that had been a long time ago. Maybe she’d forgotten how.
She wasn’t the right woman to tempt fate and break hearts and ruin careers.
A loud thunk from the bathroom startled her. “Eli?” The curse that followed warned her he was hurt. Shauna shot to her feet and ran across the hall. “Eli!”
She knocked on the bathroom door and cracked it open. She could still hear him grumbling a curse. Good. Not dead or drowned. “Eli?” The mirror had steamed over and she couldn’t see his reflection. So she pushed the door wider and crept in a little farther. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“You know, boss lady—first, you’re taking my shirt off. Then you ask me to stay the night. Now you’re walking into the room when I’m buck naked. I figured you to be the kind of woman who was more direct about what she was after.”
Heat steamed through her pores at the flirtation in his voice—and she didn’t think her rise in body temp had a thing to do with the warmth of the room. Shauna started to speak, but had to clear her parched throat and try again. “I heard a crash. Are you all right?”
“The only thing hurting now is my ego.” With the door propped open, the fog in the room began to clear, and gradually, Eli’s dark hair, his handsome, battered face and bruised broad shoulders came into view. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat. “You’re peeking, Shauna.”
Their eyes met in the mirror—intense and suggestive. There was an invitation issued, but she wasn’t sure how to respond. “Dammit, Eli, just answer the question. Do you need my help?”
“I need you.”
The humidity in the air must have filled her lungs because she suddenly found it difficult to breathe. But maybe she’d misunderstood. “For what?”
His grin turned wry and he broke eye contact in the mirror. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to bathe with one arm hanging over the edge of the tub? It’s practically impossible to wash your hair.” He dropped his gaze to the soapy trail on the tile floor that led to the bottle of shampoo in the far corner. “Please?”
“Okay.” After cinching up her robe to ensure everything was properly covered, she pushed the door wide open and crossed the room to retrieve the shampoo. When she turned around, she glued her eyes to Eli’s curious, pleased expression. She sat on the edge of the deep, claw-foot tub, avoiding the urge to view the rest of his virile body beneath the waterline. He wanted a woman who was direct? “I’ll wash your hair.”
Shauna hadn’t seduced a man since, what, when the twins were conceived? Somehow, Austin’s recurring chatter about big trips, big scores and the big man he could be if she’d just support him a little more, hadn’t been conducive to feeling frisky. But what Eli Masterson could do with a single look made the whole of Austin’s amorous afterthoughts pale by comparison.
She couldn’t lie about what she wanted with Eli. And he’d made it clear what he wanted from her. A relationship with him would be too complicated out in the real world. But in the privacy of her own home, in the secrecy of the night, Shauna allowed herself to ignore her head and indulge her heart.
First, she squeezed a dollop of shampoo into her palm and rubbed it warm between her hands while Eli scooted forward and dangled his forearms over either side. Then, she combed her fingers through his wet hair and caressed his scalp, taking as much care to do this job as gently and thoroughly as she’d massaged the tension from his neck and shoulders. It was like playing with wet silk. The thick locks were smooth and clingy—evocative to the touch. He closed his eyes and looked half asleep by the time she worked her way through every dark, soapy strand.
“Don’t stop now.” One lazy eye slit open to watch her reach over to the sink to pick up the plastic rinse cup.
“Oh, I’m just getting started. Trust me.”
She dipped the cup into the water with one hand, and supported his neck with the other as he tilted his head back. She poured slowly, taking care that the water streamed across his scalp without any drips or dribbles running down his arm and soaking into the stitches or bandages there.
Shauna dipped the cup a little deeper this time, letting her thumb just brush against his stomach beneath the water. Eli flinched. “Easy.”
“Uh-huh.” Once he relaxed again, she poured the water, breathing deeply herself as the mellowing scent of spearmint filled the air with each splash. “Just remember who’s in charge around here.”
She dipped the cup a third time, dragging the sleeve of her robe through the water. The ripples at the surface muted the startling hue of his injuries, but magnified the dimension and strength of his chest and legs. The view was both heartbreaking and awe-inspiring, and Shauna unashamedly looked her fill. She was up to her shoulder now in liquid warmth. But where the water ended, a different heat continued, seeping into her blood and flowing to every part of her body. She brushed her knuckles against his thigh and his breath hissed at her ear.
“Just what is it you think you’re in charge of, boss lady?”
Shauna turned at the husky rumble to find Eli watching her intently. The twin kaleidoscopes of gold, amber and coffee-brown spoke of heat. Light. Virility. His eyes ignited a fever wherever they caressed her—her lips, her throat, her breasts.
But she wouldn’t surrender control so easily.
“My tub, my rules.” She boldly stro
ked his thigh again and there was no mistaking her ability to get a rise out of the man.
“Is my hair done?” he asked, holding her gaze just as boldly.
“My tub, Detective. I will tell you when you are sufficiently clean.” She dumped the cup over the top of his head, laughing as he sputtered out the water streaming down his face.
As he sank beneath the water to smooth away the strands of hair dripping into his eyes, Shauna put the cup back on the sink. But before she could turn around, a strong arm torpedoed from beneath the surface and snatched her around the waist. Eli dragged her down into the tub with him. “E—!”
Shauna’s squeal of protest became bubbles of laughter as he took her completely under. Just as quickly, they came back up. Water sloshed over the sides as Eli settled her squarely in his lap, her back to his chest, his right arm wedged firmly beneath her breasts. The tight confines left little to her imagination, and as the warm water soaked through her pajamas to her skin, there was nothing left to imagine about his muscular thighs and the bulge of interest in between that pressed against her bottom.
“I don’t do rules, remember?” He tongued the nape of her neck. “I think we’ll do things my way.”
He wrapped his injured arm around her shoulder and splayed his fingers at the front of her neck. With the rough pads of one finger and thumb, he tipped up her chin and turned it to the side, stretching her neck so that he could nibble behind one ear. He caught the lobe between his teeth and she shivered against the unyielding hardness of his chest. He rasped his tongue along her cheek and traced a line closer and closer to her lips, reaching the corner of her mouth. But when she tried to catch him for a kiss, his fingers tightened on her jaw and turned her lips away from his.
“Two can play your game, Shauna,” he whispered against her ear. Then he repeated the same seductive process along the other side of her face—nipping and licking and teasing without ever giving her the satisfaction of that kiss she wanted so badly.
“Eli.” The tub was too narrow for her hands to do more than cling to his arm or grip the sides. The tiniest of movements stirred the water so that it lapped against her breasts. And squirming for any kind of leverage only rubbed her bottom against his arousal, eliciting a moan that vibrated through his chest into hers and became her own. “This isn’t fair.”
“I’ll tell you what isn’t fair.” He skimmed his fingers down her neck and dipped them beneath the collar of her robe, pushing the sodden silk across her shoulder and baring her skin to his lips. “That you…” Tiny little nips became a deeper, sensuous feasting of lips and tongue. “Can be so damn sexy.” He pushed the robe and collar down her arm, exposing more of her to the cooling air. “That you respond to the slightest look…” He dribbled a palmful of warm water over the goose bumps that erupted, then soothed each one with a kiss. “Or touch…” He palmed her breast and Shauna jerked against him as hot, burning need speared her to the core. “Or kiss.”
Every cell in Shauna clenched, then leaped in needy anticipation as Eli rolled her in the water and claimed her lips with his. Soft seduction and playful games were done. Water surged between them, then swept over the edge of the tub as Eli dragged her against him. She combed her fingers into his hair and clutched at his scalp. The thin layers of wet silk that separated them were no barrier to the hard warmth of his chest teasing the tingling, straining tips of her breasts. He bent one knee and wedged his thigh between hers. Shauna moaned into his mouth as he squeezed her bottom and forced her hot, aching center to ride his leg beneath the water.
“If being with you…” He kissed her chin. “…means breaking the rules…” He kissed the soft spot beneath. “…then I want to be a guilty man.”
He claimed her lips again in a kiss so tender, so needy, so long and deep, that Shauna lost track of where the water from the bath ended and the moist heat that Eli stoked within her began.
But their positions were awkward, the space was cramped, and it really wasn’t fair that she still had on clothes while he was gloriously naked and obviously as ready for this as she was.
“Eli…” She tried to push herself up, but shifting her weight to her knees could spoil the moment. She tried to pull herself out, but Eli’s arms trapped her. Under the water. “Eli, stop.” She dodged the mouth that tried to silence hers. “You’re supposed to keep your arm dry.” The next kiss skidded off her jaw. “I won’t break any rule that involves doing any more damage to you.”
She rose and fell on the massive sigh that lifted his chest.
“You’re right.” He pushed her back and pulled his feet beneath him. He grabbed a towel off the rack and tossed it onto the floor to soak up the puddles they’d made. Then he stood, rising like a water god from the deep, wet and sleek and potently male. “We can’t do this.”
For a split second, Shauna felt every one of those ten years that separated them. She’d borne two children, worked a tough job, survived a tougher marriage. How could she possibly please this Neptune? Of course they couldn’t do this. She’d find a way to deal with the disappointment.
But as she scrambled to pull the sticky silk from between her legs so she could climb out, Eli scooped her up into his arms and she tumbled against his chest. The desire in his eyes straightened out her misconceptions even before he spoke. “We can’t do this…here.”
The utter determination in his voice thrilled her, reassured her, made her hungry with a need that transcended years and rules and lonely isolation. Eli Masterson wanted her. Shauna Cartwright wanted him.
They dripped on the carpet as he led her into the bedroom.
“You won’t be needing these.” He set her down beside the bed, peeled off her robe and skimmed her pajama top off over her head. Her pants landed with a plop at her feet. He paused a moment, literally licking his lips as her wet, naked breasts perked in the cool air. The lust in his eyes overrode any self-conscious instinct to cover herself. Her heart beat hard against the wall of her chest at the unique feminine power surging through her. Instead of hiding her attributes, Shauna reached up to tuck her damp hair behind her ears, innocently posing for his assessment. Just as she’d admired his body in the bathtub, Eli looked his fill of every dimple and curve before he groaned and turned away. “But I will need this.”
He dug through his clothes folded over a chair outside the bathroom door and came back to the bed with a condom in his hand. Shauna had already pulled back the covers and climbed into the middle of the bed when he lay down beside her and gathered her into his arms.
Their slick bodies melded together in a tangle of legs and heat and bone-melting kisses. With his mouth on her breast, Eli pulled Shauna beneath him. She nearly came apart when he tested her readiness with his fingers.
He kissed her neck, her cheek, her ear, then whispered. “I want to be a part of you, Shauna. I want to be a part of something bigger than me. I want us.”
She couldn’t go there. She couldn’t think beyond the perfection of this night. This moment out of time where she was a woman, nothing more, nothing less—where no outside restrictions or internalized doubts could keep her from what she wanted.
“There can’t be an us.” She framed his face in her hands and brought his mouth back for a kiss. “I’m the boss lady, remember?”
He teased her lips. “Not tonight. Tonight you’re just my lady.”
Eli completed the kiss and entered her in one erotic claim. Shauna moaned at the sweet stab of pleasure inside her. He held himself still as her body adjusted to his unfamiliar size and weight. And just when she began to relax, he pulled himself out and plunged in again. It was better the second time, and the next. And as they found their rhythm, Shauna dug her fingers into his back and gasped against his neck. “What are you…doing to me, Eli?”
“To each other, sweetheart.” He propped himself up with his elbows at either side of her, his eyes piercing her as he buried himself one last time. “We do our best work…together.”
Shauna cried out her pleasure
right along with him as the pressure inside her exploded. Stars of light and heat and satisfaction rained down around her, leaving her exhausted but replete as Eli curled behind her and tucked the covers around them both.
Her breathing calmed and her senses returned. With a possessive hand cupping her breast and his thigh thrown over her legs, Eli soon dozed off. Shauna knew she shouldn’t stay here, cocooned in the heat of his body, shielded by his tender protection—sharing in the fantasy of us.
But it was just for this one night, she rationalized. Come morning, she’d send Eli on his way to work before any of the neighbors or Yours Truly could spot him. She’d follow, alone, a little while later. There’d be no gossip. There’d be no threat. There’d be no relationship. Tomorrow, she’d become that lonely iron maiden of virtue again, and Eli would become that lonely outcast, the bane of cops and criminals alike. Tomorrow they’d go back to business as usual so they could get their jobs done.
Shauna covered Eli’s hand with her own and snuggled closer as fatigue claimed her.
She wished tomorrow didn’t have to come.
THE BARKING woke him.
Eli’s eyes popped open. He assessed his surroundings by sound and touch until his sight adjusted to the dark. For a few seconds, his darting eyes were the only movement in the room. In those few seconds, he asked himself three questions.
Had making love with Shauna really been as amazing, freeing and beautiful as he remembered?
Had he truly fallen in love with the woman stirring in his arms?
And had he ever heard Sadie have such a noisy fit about anything before?
Yes.
Yes.
No.
The dog alarm. More reliable than any technology he knew.
“What the hell?” Eli threw off the covers and rolled out of bed an instant before Shauna pulled the sheet over her naked breasts and sat up.
She pushed her hair off her face. “Sadie? What’s going on?”
