Hidden Hearts

by Marci Bolden

  She gasped, as if she had just remembered to breathe. “There are two missing women—”

  “I know.” He cupped her cheek.

  “We can’t afford any distractions.”

  “I know.” He slid his fingers into her hair to find the strands as soft as he’d imagined.

  “Their families are counting on us.”

  “I know.”

  She didn’t resist as he pulled her to him. He tugged her hair gently enough to tilt her head back so she was looking up at him. Her breath hit his face in short warm bursts. As she looked into his eyes, the shade of her irises shifted from light blue to a much darker color as her pupils dilated.

  Her compliance was all the invitation he needed. He crushed his lips to hers, pushed his tongue into her mouth, and fisted her hair in one hand while the other jerked her body against his. She fit as perfectly as he’d known she would. She slid her hands up his chest and around his neck as she blessed him with that moaning sound that went straight to his crotch. His body came alive and begged for more. He dragged his palms down her sides, over her slender hips. Reaching around her, he cupped the perfect ass he’d been admiring all week. Lifting her against him, he took the two steps needed to press her back against the wall as he kissed her hard.

  The best part was she kissed him just as desperately. She moved her mouth against his as she gripped his hair and pressed her body into his, confirming what he needed to know—he definitely wasn’t alone in this insane attraction he had for her.

  Pulling her arms from around his neck, he used one of his hands to press and hold both of hers above her head. She could break free if she wanted—hell, she’d have his nuts crushed and his arm broken in a split second if she wanted. But she didn’t. She let him hold her there as his mouth assaulted hers. He used his other hand to brush her hair from her neck and push aside the collar of her blouse, clearing the way for his kisses to move there.

  He licked her neck and then gently sank his teeth into her flesh, and she moaned. When he gripped her breast, she arched into him.

  “I want to touch you all over,” he whispered before nipping her earlobe. “I want to feel every part of you.”

  She responded by exhaling harshly. He took that as her acceptance of what was coming next and slid his hand down between her legs, cupping her hot center through her slacks. In the next instant, she kicked one of his legs from beneath him and shoved her body against his. He was falling, bound to land flat on his back, but she clutched his lapel and eased his descent. His landing wasn’t exactly gentle, but he hit the floor with far less momentum than he would have had she not grabbed his jacket.

  He wasn’t sure why she’d thrown him to the ground—maybe he’d pushed her too far—but then she sat, straddling his hips and leaning down. Holy. Shit. He’d fantasized about this since the first day they’d met—her over him, hair hanging down, with raw lust in her eyes.

  She kissed him then, exerting her control over the situation. Another thing he was more than okay with. Some men might be intimidated by her strength and determination, but he found her independence sexy as hell. She could throw him down anytime she wanted. He squeezed her thighs and pulled her even closer to him. She responded by grinding her hips, rolling over his hard-on as she bit his lip and tugged the plump flesh and then let it snap back into place.

  Leaning up a few inches, she met his gaze. “What part of no distractions didn’t you understand?”

  “All of it.”

  She held his stare and rolled her hips again. Neither could possibly miss how rigid he was against her. She was torturing him, and he had no doubt from the glimmer in her eyes that she was loving it.

  “You should stop doing that, Princess,” he whispered.

  “Why, Jackass?”

  He grinned as he exhaled and tightened his hold on her hips when she shifted again, causing a tightness deep in his groin. “It’s been a while since… I don’t want to…” He moaned when she moved again, and then a small laugh of embarrassment left him as the pressure started to build in his balls. “I’ll finish in my pants if you don’t stop.”

  That clearly was the wrong thing to say. Mischief lit in her eyes as her grin widened.

  “Holly,” he breathed, but he wasn’t sure if he was warning her to stop or pleading for her not to.

  She ground into him again as she put her lips to his ear. “You shouldn’t have called me Princess.”

  He swallowed hard as his mind went blank and he gladly accepted his punishment. Only this was the furthest from punishment he could imagine. Feeling her body pressed against his, moving over him, was heaven. Yes, he wished they were skin-on-skin, but this was good enough. Gripping her ass, he held on as she slid over him, her body caressing his.

  Lying against him, pressing her chest to his, she whispered in his ear, “Would you like me to come for you, Jack?”

  Jesus, this woman was perfect. “Yes,” he panted.

  “Say please.”

  Pulling her to him, he kissed her deeply, dragging his tongue over hers, before putting his forehead to hers. “Please,” he whispered, because no man in his position was above begging, no matter how tough he pretended to be.

  She leaned back, putting more pressure on him, pressing herself against him in just the right way. Watching her cup her breasts, even though they were fully clothed, was about the sexiest damn thing he’d ever seen. She was a mess—her hair was in disarray, her clothes disheveled, and her face flushed—and he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any other woman.

  He tried to push her up, roll her beneath him, but she pressed back, keeping him pinned. Moving his hands to her thighs, he ran his palms over her muscles as they tensed and she moved herself over him again. He really needed to make her stop before he actually did fill his underwear with what had been building since the first moment he’d seen her.

  As much as he wanted her to end this torture, he wanted her to continue. She moaned—that damned moan of hers—as he ground into her.

  “You like that?” he asked breathlessly.

  “Mmm. I think you like it, too.”

  “Jesus, I want to be inside you.” More than that, he wanted to see what she looked like without the shield of her suit. Wanted to feel her skin against his.

  She bucked again, and his body pulled tight. To hell with it. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and jerked her down. If he was going to go off like a hormonal teen, he wasn’t going alone. So long as she came with him, he didn’t care if he embarrassed himself.

  He tugged her hair, forced her to look at him as he rolled her beneath him. His hand moved between her legs again, and while he didn’t have the best access to her clitoris through her slacks, he knew the moment he found the little bundle of nerves by the way she jolted and took a sharp breath.

  Oh, no, he was not going over the edge alone.

  She lifted her head, catching his mouth with hers. One more grinding of his hips, and she stiffened as her breath caught. She was having an orgasm. For him. Right there on the conference room floor where she’d first body slammed him into submission. Now it was her turn to lie there at his mercy. And seeing her give in to him was fantastic.

  She bit her lip and creased her brow as her entire body tensed. One long groan ripped from her, and he lost what was left of his control. Rubbing his body against hers, he let go just as she had. She lifted her hips against him, and he grunted and finished in his pants, just like a goddamn schoolboy.

  Finally, she relaxed beneath him, and he let out one last deep groan. He laughed softy as he buried his face into her hair, taking a few moments to slow down his breathing.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered.

  He leaned back and brushed her hair from her face. In response, she closed her eyes and shook her head.

  “Why are you looking so embarrassed?” he panted. “I’m the one with a mess in his underwear.”

  She laughed quietly as her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red. “Did we jus
t do that?”

  “Act like two horny teens on their parents’ sofa? Yes, we did.”

  She turned her face away as she untangled her legs from his. “I can’t believe we let that happen.”

  He used his fingers to turn her chin back to him. “Believe it.” He kissed her. “And believe it will happen again. Hopefully with less clothing and in a much more appropriate location.”

  She stared at him for a moment. “There’s a bathroom at the back of the room. You go first.”

  “Such a gentlewoman.” He pressed his lips lightly to hers before grabbing her hands and pulling her up with him, much the way she’d done when she helped him to his feet. Before stepping away, he ran his hand over her hair. “That was amazing.”

  She diverted her gaze. “We just dry-humped each other.”

  “And it was amazing. Sleeping with you is going to be incredible.” He kissed her lightly before heading to the bathroom.

  8

  Holly didn’t look up when someone walked into her office. She was finding it incredibly difficult to look at her teammates without feeling ashamed of her behavior.

  Alexa set a cup of coffee and a bagel on her desk. “You’ve been distant today.”

  Holly exhaled as she forced the image of Jack hovering over her from her mind. She’d replayed those few minutes over and over in her mind. So much so that she’d been tempted to call him in the middle of the night and beg him to come to her place to finish what they’d playacted.

  She cleared her throat and gestured to the papers in front of her. “I’m trying to get a list of employees together for the company that crossed the Nelson and Fredrickson homes. If the same man happened to be in both homes, I’ll run the background check, and hopefully we’ll find this bastard. Jack said he’d take the evidence to the detective working the case.”

  “Where is your handsome detective today?”

  Holly started to argue, but the barely visible grin on Alexa’s face made her realize the reference to Jack belonging to her was a trap. “Detective Tarek has active cases he’s working on for the department. I’m taking the lead on this. He’ll be by later.”

  Alexa sat in the chair across from Holly and stared at her in the way that Rene did when silently demanding information. Alexa wasn’t nearly as good at breaking people as Rene, though. Alexa’s talents were better used playing big sister, but that didn’t work on a loner like Holly, either. She didn’t have that unrelenting need to please a disapproving sibling.

  “You like him,” Alexa finally accused.

  Holly tilted her head and cocked her brow—her go-to move that usually convinced people to spill their guts or back off a subject she didn’t want to delve into. However, just as Holly was immune to Alexa’s special power, Alexa was immune to hers.

  Holly sighed and gave a nonchalant shrug. “I barely know him.”

  “And yet, he’s getting to you.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “The way you stare at him.”

  She couldn’t stop the way her brow creased as she denied the accusation. “I don’t stare—”

  “Bullshit. I watched you during dinner last night. You could barely take your eyes off him, and I don’t blame you. He’s as adorable as my abuela’s chow chow. Not quite as hairy, though. At least I hope.” She scrunched up her nose and shivered. “Hairy men creep me out.”

  Holly smiled but fell short of laughing. “I didn’t realize you had standards for men.”

  Alexa dropped her mouth open at the jab. “And I brought you coffee.”

  “You did. Thank you.”

  “He seems like a nice guy.”

  “He does.”

  Alexa gave Holly an exaggerated frown. “You really need to work on your girl talk. I’m trying to dish about this hottie who is clearly into you, and you’re not giving me an ounce of dirt.”

  Holly took a breath, very nearly confessing to her own attraction, but then snapped her jaw shut. The last thing she wanted was for her co-workers to be any more distracted by Jack than they already appeared to be.

  Alexa didn’t miss the sudden change of Holly’s mind and sat forward, her eyes and her smile widening. “Nope. Uh-uh. Spit it out.”

  “What?”

  “Damn it, Holly. Don’t think I won’t resort to torture to get this out of you. I will make you listen to Sam munch on those damned mints until you crack.”

  Holly should have laughed at the threat, but instead she frowned. She tapped her pen on the desk a few times before dropping it and looking at Alexa. “I’m not like you and Sam.”

  “You’re not a slut?”

  Holly’s eyes widened. “What? No. That’s not—”

  “I’m kidding.” Alexa grinned wickedly. “I’m not a slut.”

  Holly didn’t take the opportunity to comment on Sam’s always-active social life. “I meant I’m not good at…you know…”

  “Sex?”

  “No. Sex is the only part of being with a man that does come easy for me.” She laughed softly, and her skin warmed as a flash of memory struck her—Jack pressing himself against her as they both groaned with release. “No pun intended.”

  Alexa simply lifted her dark brows suggestively.

  “I’ve never been good at relating to people. Even when I was younger, before…”

  “You relate to us just fine.”

  “That’s different. You’re my team. We have to know how to read each other. We have to trust each other. But I’ve always been on guard. I don’t know how to relax and just…be. Jack… He makes me feel like I can let go a little, and that’s nice.”

  “But it’s also frightening,” Alexa said gently.

  Holly nodded. “Incredibly.”

  “I was a kid when my sister disappeared, but I remember the fear I felt. I remember the horror of never knowing what happened to her and wondering if whoever took her could still be out there just waiting for a chance to get me, too.”

  Holly closed her eyes and shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. I’m not on guard for my physical safety, Lex. I just don’t know how to let people in. Emotionally. Does that make sense?”

  Understanding softened her eyes as she nodded. “Perfect sense. But you can’t shut everyone out forever, Hol. At some point, you have to try to connect with someone. He likes you.”

  “He doesn’t know me.”

  Alexa shrugged. “Sometimes you don’t have to know someone to know you click. The way you two look at each other—the tension in the air when you are close—you click. And trust me, Rene looked into every dark corner of that man’s life she could find. He’s a good guy.”

  Holly wasn’t surprised by the revelation that her co-workers had done a background check on Jack without her knowledge. As paranoid as she could be, Rene was tenfold.

  “He’s the kind of guy who still looks out for his mom and helps old ladies cross the street. A real Boy Scout kind of guy.”

  Holly bit her lip, debating whether she should tell Alexa she and Jack had kissed. She wasn’t about to tell her the rest, but maybe Lex could help her sort out this mess of emotions going on inside if she knew half of the truth.

  Alexa gasped and leaned so far forward in the chair, Holly was certain she could fall off the seat and land on her ass at any moment. “You slept with him.”

  “No,” Holly snapped.

  “Yes, you did! I can see the guilt on your face.”

  “No. We just… We kissed. A few times.”

  Alexa narrowed her eyes, and for the first time ever, that demanding sisterly look hit the mark with Holly.

  She swallowed but couldn’t stop herself from confessing. “Okay, it was more like severe heavy petting.”

  Alexa clapped and laughed. “Yes! How severe?”

  “That’s all you need to know.”

  “Clothes on or off?”

  Holly widened her eyes. “On.”

  “Did he get his hand inside your shirt?”

  “No.”

&n
bsp; “Your pants?”

  “No.”

  Some of Alexa’s glee abated into clear disappointment. “So how was this junior-high-school-level heavy-petting session?”

  Holly’s cheeks started to burn. “Very good.” She let a laugh leave her, something reminiscent of a giggle, if she were honest. “Very, very good. And it was more like…sophomore-year-level petting. I mean, it was a little adult-ish.”

  Excitement lit Alexa’s eyes again. “Who started it?”

  She drew a breath. She didn’t want to share. She was a private person and never partook in the kiss-and-tell mentality of her friends, but then she said, “He did. In the conference room last night.”

  Alexa did that head-throwing, hand-clapping laugh thing again. “Oh. Em. Gee, Holly. That is awesome.”

  “No. It isn’t awesome, Alexa.” She lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “I practically screwed him in the conference room while you guys were in your offices working.”

  “Oh, honey, we weren’t in our offices working. We were in the lobby eating Sam’s candy and wondering how long before you two got down to business. You are going to screw him, aren’t you?”

  “God, I hope so,” she muttered, surprising even herself. She closed her eyes as another round of Alexa’s whooping laugh filled her office. “It’s just…” Holly’s amusement faded, and she shook her head slightly. Lifting her gaze to her friend, she sighed. “I sense that he’s looking for more than a few rounds of inappropriate sex. I don’t get the impression he’s the fuck-buddy type. He’s too…honorable for that. I’m actually surprised he made a move last night. That seems a bit soon for a guy like him.”

  “Oh, come on, Holly. First, the guy has a penis. No move toward sex is too soon as far as a penis is concerned. Second, don’t act as if you don’t want more. Everyone does, at least on some level. You aren’t twenty anymore, honey. Even if you don’t want the whole two-point-five kids locked behind a white picket fence thing, you have to want more in your life besides this team of crazy-assed women who try your patience for the fun of it. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to go home to who could take your mind off all the shit we see here?”