Cavanaugh In Plain Sight (Cavanaugh Justice Book 42)

by Marie Ferrarella

  But then she had turned her cheek toward his chest and he wound up kissing her lips. Before he fully realized it, he was full-on kissing her.

  Rather than just stopping there, the kiss blossomed into a deeper one.

  And an even deeper kiss after that.

  Morgan’s pulse quickened. He kissed her over and over again until he finally pulled her onto his lap, enfolding her in his arms. He deepened the kiss between them until it felt as if her very soul was touching his and everything that had come before this moment was just a prelude to what was happening between them right now.

  No, damn it, he was getting ahead of himself, Morgan’s mind all but shouted. He couldn’t let this happen even though every part of his soul was begging him not to stop.

  He wanted her.

  But it didn’t matter what he wanted, Morgan silently insisted. He wasn’t the one hurting here. He wasn’t the one in need of something to raise his spirits and bolster his very soul. He wasn’t the one who mattered here. She was and he couldn’t allow himself to take advantage of this situation, not if he felt that she was swept away without being given a chance to think.

  And he did.

  So, as hard as it was, Morgan forced himself to draw back from Krys even as every ounce of his body begged him to stay, to take this to its very logical, very fulfilling conclusion.

  And when he did pull away, Krys could only stare at him, utterly stunned.

  Chapter 18

  Morgan took the surprised look on Krys’s face as a clear indication that he had overstepped his boundaries. He hadn’t meant to do that, despite the fact that he was really attracted to her, really wanting her.

  “I am sorry,” he apologized. “I shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t very professional of me,” he admitted.

  “No,” she agreed, “it wasn’t.” Then in a softer voice, she told him, “But it was very nice.”

  That just added to his confusion. “Then you didn’t mind?” he asked, trying to understand what was going on in her brain and to reconcile that with what was happening in his. He wanted Krys more than he had ever thought he could want a woman, but he was afraid she might feel as if he was trying to force himself on her or to take advantage of the situation.

  Krys smiled at him. “Not everything has to be taken up for a vote,” she told him.

  Morgan was being incredibly sweet. Far sweeter than she had thought he could be and she really appreciated that.

  Apparently his outward persona hid a completely different man on the inside.

  “I know,” Morgan replied, “but I didn’t want you to feel that I was trying to take advantage of the situation or of—”

  Krys bracketed his face between her hands. “Cavanaugh, the lady is throwing herself at you. The least you can do is have the decency to catch her.”

  That was when Morgan grinned at her, his smile traveling straight up into her bloodstream. Shining in his eyes, it seemed to leave her all but breathless.

  “Well, if you put it that way,” he told her, taking her words into account as his voice trailed off.

  Oh lord, but she wanted him.

  “I do,” Krys whispered, her heart pounding so hard against her rib cage, it threatened to break a few of those ribs.

  Morgan pulled Krys closer to him and kissed her.

  Again.

  Kissed her with all the powerful emotion he had been so vainly trying to deny or at least suppress.

  This time, however, he allowed the fire that was igniting to consume him. Allowed himself to let go of the restraints he had been trying so unsuccessfully to impose on himself.

  Rather than hold back, he was suddenly set free. Free to make love with Krys, free to savor every warm, willing inch of the woman he was holding in his arms in anticipation of the final consummation.

  Anticipation grew stronger and stronger within him as his lips traveled along her face, her neck, her shoulders. Each kiss he pressed against her soft, supple, willing skin just continued to fuel the fire that he felt burning within his own loins.

  It was as if he had unleashed an overwhelming desire the likes of which he had never experienced before. The more Morgan kissed her, the more he touched her, the greater this incredible desire to possess her grew within him.

  All she had wanted to do tonight was to ride out this sadness within her she was dealing with. She had wanted to forget, for a few hours, all the frustration, all the fear that insisted on haunting her thoughts, shadowing her path.

  But right now she had managed to get so much more than she had bargained for. When she had returned his kiss, she hadn’t realized that she would wind up getting so caught up in this incredibly exhilarating feeling of desire.

  It was, she thought, like dancing on air. She was giving herself up to the swirling, heated feelings that were growing ever stronger, increasingly more demanding as they stole her very breath away.

  Krys felt weak and her head was swirling. The eagerness palpitating within her was almost impossible to contain.

  A part of her wanted nothing more than just to consummate what was happening between them, to feel the sweet euphoria that lovemaking wound up generating. Another part of her wanted nothing more than to savor what was happening, to feel that sensation building ever stronger and more powerful as she waited for that absolutely delicious explosion to ricochet throughout every single hungry inch of her body.

  She went with the second part.

  That feeling only heightened as she felt him undressing her, running his strong, capable hands all along her throbbing body.

  Wanting desperately to reciprocate, to make him feel what she was feeling, Krys began undressing Morgan, pulling his clothing away from his taut, hard body with all its tempting muscles.

  She couldn’t hold herself back, eagerly pressing her lips against his bare skin.

  Gratified, she could feel Morgan reacting to her and it just added to her ever-growing excitement, heightening it.

  Morgan moaned in response to what he felt was going on within him. Who would have ever thought she was like this? That this work-obsessed woman could also be wild once her inhibitions were subdued and she was unleashed?

  With her lips pressing themselves everywhere along his damp body, she created ripples of passion within him and he struggled to hold himself in check. Morgan was determined to pleasure Krys first before his own final release occurred.

  She had become that important to him.

  Capturing her hands to keep them still so that she wouldn’t interrupt his concentration and he could focus it exclusively on her, Morgan slowly laid a wreath of soft, openmouthed kisses along her body.

  He worked his way down, moving ever lower along her trembling body until he heard her gasp in delighted surprise. Her fingers delved into his hair, pressing his head to her as she twisted and turned beneath him. More than anything, she savored the sensations Morgan had managed to create within her.

  She wanted more.

  Krys arched and bucked against him as she desperately tried to absorb the tantalizing feelings that were growing ever stronger, ever more gratifying throughout her exceedingly tantalized body.

  She climaxed once, twice, all but collapsing in extreme gratification from the experience. The wonderful sensations created by the climaxes echoed throughout her body and all but vibrated, leaving their imprint on her.

  She wasn’t prepared for Morgan to slowly slide up along her loins, wasn’t ready for the urgent, throbbing demands that suddenly surfaced, all but begging her for more.

  And then, just like that, he was there, seemingly suspended directly above her, so close that their breaths mingled, forming a single entity.

  Capturing her hands in his, Morgan laced their fingers together. And then, his eyes holding hers, he parted her legs with his knee. Moving almost achingly slowly, he entered her.

&nb
sp; Krys drew in her breath quickly, her heart beginning to pound in anticipation. Morgan slowly began to move within her.

  The rhythm was timeless and eternal, managing to grow stronger and stronger with each movement, each forceful thrust.

  As every second passed, she felt the rhythm between them grow more and more forceful, increasing in its demands. Her hips moved more urgently, matching his, which then in turn matched hers.

  It built like this, one movement surpassing the other, until they could barely keep up with one another. Barely keep from gasping for breath.

  And then, their lips sealed to each other’s, Morgan and Krys raced for that one final culmination, that final joyous, all-encompassing explosion that wound up raining over both of them.

  When that final moment came, there was nothing else but that, nothing else but them and the wild, erratic pounding of their hearts that beat so hard, it felt as if they had become one.

  Her chest was moving so fast, she could barely catch her breath.

  She was convinced that she never would, but eventually, Krys felt herself freefalling to earth in slow motion as euphoria slipped away through her fingers.

  Reality with the world in tow came back into the room.

  It took Krys a few moments before she was able to form any coherent words. When she finally could, she murmured, “This was better.”

  Morgan shifted his weight off her, moving as best he could into what little space was available beside her on the sofa.

  “Did you say something?” he asked, not certain if he had imagined her voice or if she had actually said something to him.

  Krys took in a deep breath and repeated herself. “I said ‘This was better.’”

  Morgan still didn’t understand. Was she trying to compare their lovemaking to something? “Better?” he questioned. “Better than what?”

  Shifting her head, she looked up at him and smiled. “This was definitely better than Casablanca.”

  He didn’t know why that would strike him as funny, but it did and he started to laugh. Once he began, he couldn’t stop himself. Delighted at her assessment, laughing at her innocent observation, Morgan tightened his arms around her and kissed Krys again.

  Any residual tension disappeared like a sprinkling of dust left in the spring rain.

  Settling in and turning his face toward hers, Morgan deadpanned, “All right, so what do you want to do next?”

  Her eyes sparkled as she suggested, “How about more of the same?”

  “Lord, yes,” he wholeheartedly agreed, enthusiasm ringing in his voice. “But you’re going to have to give me at least thirty minutes to regroup.”

  “Thirty minutes, huh?” she asked, rolling the directive over in her head and then raising her head to press a kiss to his neck.

  He could feel the effect of her mouth against his skin, creating a warm ripple that grew in magnitude and desire. He could feel himself wanting her more quickly than he thought he was capable of.

  “Well, okay,” he amended. “Maybe twenty.”

  Krys shifted, raising her body so that she could reach the other side of his neck and then kissed that.

  “Maybe make that ten,” Morgan corrected himself, finding that he was having some trouble trying to catch his breath.

  “Ten?” she asked teasingly, feathering her fingers slowly down along his torso until she finally brushed just the very tips of her fingers along a swiftly growing part of him.

  Morgan groaned again, then caught her hand with his, keeping her fingers still. She had definitely aroused him.

  “You realize that you could definitely wake up the dead,” he told her.

  The smile that curved her mouth was nothing short of pure mischief, and her eyes dipped down again to take note of the havoc she had just created with her lightly moving fingers.

  “That, Cavanaugh,” she told him with pride, “is definitely not ‘dead.’”

  With a gleeful laugh, Morgan shifted their positions and proceeded to make love with her for the second time that night, this time deliberately going so slowly that every single precious moment that followed burned itself into her memory.

  * * *

  When Krys woke up the next morning, she found herself alone on the sofa with only a light blanket thrown over her.

  Startled, not knowing what to think, she sat upright, clutching the blanket to her. When it began to slip, she realized that she was still very nude beneath it. She grabbed the blanket and held it against herself. Then she did her best to wrap it around her like a less than fashionable-looking sarong.

  Rather than calling out Morgan’s name, she decided to try to find him first.

  Moving from one room to another, she refrained from giving in to the very strong urge to demand to know just where the hell he was. He couldn’t have run out on her during the night, could he?

  No, he might have wanted to, she argued, but the man was all about duty and he had made it clear to her that he wasn’t about to leave her on her own unguarded.

  So where was he?

  At the end of her patience as well as growing slightly panicky at this point, Krys finally found him in the back bedroom.

  He was on the phone.

  Morgan looked up when she entered. “Gotta go now,” he told the person on the other end of the call. “Something just came up.”

  With that, Morgan ended his call and put his phone away.

  Unlike her, Krys noted, Morgan was completely dressed. “Going somewhere?” she asked him, hiking up her drooping blanket and holding it closer to her.

  “Eventually,” Morgan answered, never taking his eyes off her. How did she make a simple blanket look so sensuous? He took a few steps closer to her. “I like what you’re not wearing.”

  In the light of day, Krys felt somewhat insecure about what she had allowed to happen between them. Hell, she had not only allowed it to happen, she was the one who had pushed for it to happen.

  Well, no time like the present to talk about the elephant in the room and get it out of the way.

  “About last night,” Krys began.

  But she got no further, stopped cold by the very wide, happy grin on Morgan’s face.

  “That was pretty spectacular, wasn’t it?” he asked her.

  She frowned a little, pulled up short. “That wasn’t what I was going to say.”

  “It wasn’t?” he questioned innocently. “Well, I was—and I just did,” he added. Morgan looked at her more closely. “Didn’t you enjoy yourself?”

  Even though she wanted to deny that she had, she couldn’t very well lie about it. He’d see right through her. “Well, yes, I did.” Then, annoyed, she told him, “But that isn’t the point.”

  “It’s not?” he asked. “I certainly thought it was. A very pertinent point,” he added. “But I’m interrupting,” he told her. His eyes captured hers, delving into them. “What was it that you were going to say about last night?”

  She took a deep breath, as if to fortify herself, and then said, “That it shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Oh. But it did,” he pointed out. “That means the cat’s out of the bag and there’s no putting it back in,” he told her, his grin only growing wider with each word. And then, just like that, it vanished. “Are you having regrets?”

  “Yes,” she said quickly, then amended, “No, I’m not.” Finally, she said, “Not exactly.”

  “I didn’t realize I was asking a multiple choice question,” he told her, his grin returning.

  Krys frowned slightly. It was a frustrated frown. “I shouldn’t have done it.”

  “Can we vote on that?” he asked her. “Because if we can, then I vote yes—that you should have done it.”

  “I’m getting a headache,” she said, running her hand along her forehead as if that could somehow wipe it away out of existence.


  “I happen to have an old family remedy for that,” Morgan told her. He cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Interested?”

  It made her laugh. He made her laugh. But the remedy had to be made up, she thought. “I think I’ll pass,” she told him.

  “Too bad. It really is a great remedy,” he confided.

  She chose to ignore him.

  Chapter 19

  Krys had just slipped into her bedroom after telling him she was going to get ready for his uncle’s party. She closed the door behind her.

  Morgan resisted the temptation to follow her. While it was true that over the last few days, he had gotten to intimately know every inch of her body and she his, it still wouldn’t be right to have her think that he was taking things for granted. After all, she did deserve her privacy.

  Trying to keep his mind occupied, he decided that this would be a good time to check in with his partner to see how things were going. The last he had heard, as of yesterday, his team was still following up every available lead to find out just who had killed Claire Williams. He knew that Krys was hoping they could trace the person back to Jacobs, the CEO in charge of production at Weatherly Pharmaceuticals, but right now, all they had was her gut feeling, or what passed as a gut feeling.

  As he listened, the number at the other end of his cell rang a total of five times. He was about to hang up and call again when he heard the cell on the other end being picked up.

  Finally!

  “I was beginning to think that you had gone on vacation,” Morgan quipped to his partner. “Your phone must have rung at least ten times, if not more.”

  “You’re exaggerating, Cavanaugh,” Fredericks told him. “And besides, I’ve got better things to do than just to sit around, waiting for your call.”

  “Right. You know, for a change of pace, you could try calling me,” Morgan pointed out.

  “If I wanted to be nagged about a litany of imaginary shortcomings, I would have stayed home today,” Fredericks told him.