by Holmes, Dee
“Come upstairs with me,” he muttered.
“No.”
A shadowed coolness dusted through the space between them. She wanted to press her cheek against him, she wanted to run away, and she wanted to fling herself into his arms and tell him everything.
Instead she leaned against the wall, watching Bosco slink out from under the stairs. She opened the door to Gail’s apartment and the cat scooted inside.
“Kathleen, I admit you are the most evasive and fascinating woman I’ve ever met. That little performance out there was no aberration. Since you don’t seem inclined to tell me what you’re hiding, then maybe we can find some common ground in bed.”
“Just like that? You give the order and I’m supposed to obey?”
“It’s not an order.” He sighed. “I thought you wanted to have sex. You just asked me two minutes ago. Or were you lying?”
“No. I wasn’t lying.”
He glanced at his watch. “I’m on duty in a couple of hours.”
“I have to work tonight, too,” she said, feeling a new sense of panic, a loss of control over everything. This wasn’t the way she wanted their lovemaking to be. Suddenly it felt contrived—not romantic and exciting. “Maybe we should wait.”
“Is that what you want?”
She scrubbed her hands down her face, her thoughts so chaotic, even she wasn’t sure what she wanted. One thing, though, was true. “I don’t want you to hate me.”
To her distress she felt her eyes fill with tears.
Instantly Booth hauled her against him. “Hate you? Kathleen, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I do know I don’t want to take advantage of you or seduce you into something that you aren’t sure about.”
She rested her head against the wall, her eyes still moist, a smile curving her lips. “You seduce me when you walk into a room.”
Booth caught his breath. “I won’t tell you what you make me want when you walk into a room.”
She tipped her head to the side, a fullness filling her heart. “Tell me.”
“No way.”
She giggled. “Is it dirty?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “It’s a guy thing.”
Before she could ask him to expand on that, he took a step down and caged her against the wall. She brought her arms up and curled her fingers around his forearms as if they would steady her. She turned her face and kissed the inside of his right elbow. Her tongue touched his skin.
“What do I make you want?” she murmured.
“Persistent, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You make me hot, babe.”
“I want you to want me so much you forget everything else.”
“Done now. Done a week ago...” He leaned down, brushing her mouth, covering her lips with moisture, with the taste of him. “And I promise no unexpected interruptions.”
“Lisa?”
“Mom has her. She wanted to show off her new walking ability to Darlene. I’ll pick her up in the morning.”
“I didn’t see them leave.”
“Because you were too busy checking out the car. Any minute, I expected you to pull out a fingerprint kit.” As her eyes widened, he added, “You do have to admit, your curiosity was over the top.”
“I didn’t know it was a crime to be curious,” she replied as he slung an arm around her neck and they walked up the stairs.
Inside his apartment, he closed and locked the door. Then he went to the phone.
“Booth?”
“This will just take a minute.” He punched out some numbers.
“Can’t it wait?”
He turned around, gave her one of those dark intense looks and covered the mouthpiece before saying, “Want me that bad, huh?”
In response, she opened the buttons on her blouse and let the garment slip off. Booth stared, and his expression delighted her.
“What?” he responded to whoever answered, but he was still staring at her. “This is Rawlings. I got a plate number I want checked out. Is Frank on duty? I’ll wait.” His gaze was on her as she moved slowly toward him. He leaned his shoulder against the wall, shifted his body, his expression lazy and languid.
Kathleen felt shy and wild at the same time. This was new ground for her, and she couldn’t have imagined herself doing it just weeks ago. Booth had given her back the confidence she’d lost during her troubled marriage. Doing this with him was okay, and one of her walls of mistrust crumbled.
When she dispensed with her bra, he dropped his head forward and swore. “Hold on a minute,” he said into the phone.
She was close now, and his breathing became heavy and ragged. “Come here,” he said.
“Promise to touch me?” she asked, wondering where all this boldness was coming from, but loving it.
“You’re killing me, babe.”
He did indeed look as if he wasn’t going to last much longer. She took the few steps needed to reach him, and was rewarded with his hand around her neck and his mouth covering hers. He hauled her closer, crushing her bared breasts against his shirt.
She pressed against the zipper of his jeans and was rewarded with the hot evidence of his arousal.
He anchored her close, his hand cupping her breast and palming her nipple into pebble hardness. She nibbled at his neck, brushing his chin and jaw with kisses.
“Yeah, Frank,” he said, his voice husky and raw. “I got a Georgia plate I need you to check.” He gave the series of numbers and letters and then swore in disgust. “Terrific. How long is it going to be down? Never mind. I’ll handle it when I come in at five.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Computers are down. Some system screwup somewhere. They’ve been out for a couple of hours, which means a backlog.”
“That’s too bad,” she said, feeling as if she’d escaped execution.
He lifted her off her feet and into his arms, lowering his head to kiss her. “I think we can find a way to fill up the time.”
She slipped her arms around his neck. “You’re very persuasive.”
“You’re very sexy,” he murmured as they entered the shadowy bedroom. He kicked the door closed, crossed to the still-rumpled bed and lowered her to the floor. He plunged his hands into her hair, kissing her deeply. She clung to him, as if sustenance and hope could be found in their union.
He buried his face in her neck, his body shuddering against hers, his breathing ragged. “How do you do this to me, baby? How do you make me want you so much?”
His muffled questions caught her by surprise, showing a need and vulnerability that touched her heart with newfound joy. Never had she believed she possessed such erotic allure. Her whole body felt alive and throbbing as her mouth explored and possessed, hungry to give and to take.
With one blazing kiss, he had managed to evaporate her past and her problems into the dustbin of yesterday. She pressed against him, her breasts aching, her thighs restless, her body slick despite the chill in the room.
He pulled back, releasing her. “No...please don’t leave me.”
He bent and kissed her neck and breasts. “Not a chance.” He sat on the bed and tugged her between his legs. His hands ran up her sides, then slid to her back, over her bottom, and urged her forward. His mouth brushed her breast with tantalizing slowness. Pleasure rolled through her womb, but when she tried to guide his mouth to her other breast, he pulled away.
“Booth, please...”
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to kiss me and love me and make me belong to you.”
Booth went still, certain every bone in his body had just dissolved. The afternoon light arced across the cream of her breasts, making the nipples appear a deep rose. He took each one into his mouth, laved it and then watched as the moisture changed the color to rich wine. He felt as if he were indulging in a feast of discoveries. He found a place on her side where she was ticklish, a small mole on her hip when he lowered her shorts. He found skimpy lacy panties tha
t revealed more than they hid, and he found a pleasure point on the inside of her thigh that made her quiver.
He brushed his thumb across it, watching her, suddenly realizing she’d only just discovered the tiny spot’s existence.
“What are you doing to me?” she asked when he touched it again and then lowered her shorts and panties.
“Tell me what you feel,” he whispered, urging her close to the bed as he stretched out across the rumpled covers. He brushed his hand across the spot again and watched her shudder. “Kathleen?”
She clasped his hand and pulled it to her breast. “You make me light-headed and dizzy and achy. and...”
He touched her between her thighs, pushing his fingers into the rich, damp heat.
Her hands fisted and unfisted, her body rising and lifting, hips coming forward, knees touching the edge of the mattress, her hand locked around his wrist. “Oh, Booth...” Her eyes were wide, the pupils dilated. “This has never happened.... I can’t stop...can’t wait....”
“Baby, let go. I want you to come.”
She did, calling his name, over and over again in a way Booth knew he would never forget. This wasn’t just sexual release; this was new and fresh and so mystifyingly innocent, Booth was at a loss for how to respond. He hadn’t experienced or even wanted the responsibility of innocence in sex since the awkwardness of the teenage grope-and-hope. Yet here he was at thirty-six, fascinated, delighted and honored by something as basic as a woman climaxing for him.
Her expression was dazed, and for an impossible moment he wondered—No, it couldn’t be. She’d been married; surely the bastard had given her pleasure.
Booth moved, bringing her forward. He laid her on the bed, absorbing her provocative sprawl. No inhibitions, no false modesty or guilty blushes. She bloomed before him like a dewy rose, soft and velvety and intoxicating.
Booth’s own body felt as if someone had released a trip wire. He was imploding with lust and fire and a kind of scorching heaviness that shot through his groin. He was hard beyond arousal; he was hard even in his subconscious.
Getting his clothes off took herculean effort, and still she lay sprawled before him, a veritable banquet just for him.
Finally he was naked, and she looked at him with such wonder, such desire, he felt heat stain his cheeks. She grazed her mouth along his thigh, and her fingers, like a delicate glove, curved around him and drew him to her.
He groaned. “Don’t.”
“I want to taste you.”
“Kathleen.” And before he could stop her, her lips kissed him and drew away; skimmed and retreated, feathered and kissed, and then, when he thought he could take no more, her mouth enveloped him.
Time stopped. Desire vibrated hot and raw and frenetic. Control abandoned him. There was only Kathleen and her mouth and her hands and this moment of insanity and wonder. He hung on the brink of every man’s fantasy, using what shred of control he still possessed to pull away.
“No. No, Booth. I want to.”
“I know.” Before she could protest anew, he slid his hands beneath her arms and lifted her back and onto the bed. Coming down on top of her, he slid into her as if they’d done this a dozen times. Her hips lifted to meet his thrusts, and with her mouth locking on his, her arms tightly around him, he reached his own release.
Booth rose up enough to stare down at her tangle of hair, her luminous eyes, her heated cheeks, her swollen mouth. “You’re the most delicious creature I’ve ever seen.”
He collapsed across her and she held him, her fingers light on his back. They lay like that, as their breathing slowed. The phone rang, but neither moved. A car roared down the street, but neither got up to glance out the window. Voices drifted upstairs, and Kathleen recognized one of them as Gail’s, but she didn’t stir except to kiss Booth and ask, “So when do we do this again?”
He looked down at her with amusement and a trace of intoxicating greed. “You just about killed me.”
“I climaxed twice.”
“You did, did you?”
“Yes, and it was wonderful. You’re wonderful and we should have done this days ago.” She stretched like a satisfied cat, and Booth decided he’d been given a gift far beyond good sex—he’d been given her heart.
He tried to roll away from her and was delighted when she refused to let him go.
Nipping at her mouth, he said, “There’s no law saying we can’t make up for lost time.”
“I’d love to, but you have to go to work and so do I.”
“Afterward.”
“I don’t know if I can wait that long,” she said.
Booth clenched his teeth, then murmured, “What have I have created?”
“It’s never been like this for me. Never.”
He kissed her deeply but didn’t say what he guessed she wanted to hear—that it had never been as good for him, either. Though it was true, something silenced him. Booth had been a cop for too long to ever completely capitulate. He knew Kathleen intimately, trusted her with Lisa without any hesitation, but something still held him at bay. And whatever that something was, she was doing her best to keep it hidden.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“ARE YOU SURE WE haven’t missed anything? Like the refrigerator or the bed?” Booth grumbled as he watched Kathleen add extra diapers and another change of clothes for Lisa. The baby was standing in her crib, glaring at him with an unhappy pout for putting her there.
Since she’d taken that first tottering step two days ago, she’d been walking like a demon; Booth was going crazy trying to keep her contained in one spot for more than twenty seconds. The crib had become a lifesaver.
“Always better to be prepared,” Kathleen said, tucking in another bib.
“The cookout is only for a few hours. You’ve got enough stuff for a week in the woods.”
She shuddered. “I hate camping.”
“So do L”
“Then it’s a good thing we don’t have to sleep in a tent tonight, isn’t it? Why don’t you take Lisa down to the car. I already changed her. I’ll get the rest of the stuff and pick up a sweater I left at Gail’s.”
The two women had spent most of the previous day together, catching up, with Kathleen taking Gail to show her the carriage house. The place would be ready for her to move in in a matter of days, but in the meantime Kathleen was staying with Booth, who’d observed the women’s closeness with a kind of wonder, because the two didn’t seem a whole lot alike.
Gail was blunt, and too acerbic, judging by the snatches of conversation he’d overheard when he’d gone downstairs to retrieve his mail. And he’d heard a couple of cracks from Gail reminding Kathleen that relationships with cops were bad news. His ears had pricked up, then, and despite feeling sneaky, he’d listened, hoping that Kathleen would mention her reasons. But all she’d said was, “Booth is different.” That, of course, pleased him, but still left the question unanswered.
By the time Kathleen had returned to his apartment, Booth had pushed Gail out of his thoughts. He wouldn’t have Kathleen with him for very long, and he sure didn’t want to spend the time discussing a woman who obviously didn’t like him.
Now, Booth shouldered the diaper bag as Kathleen glanced around, tapping her finger against her cheek.
“Oh, no, you don’t. No more. And we’re going out together. If I leave you up here, you’ll be packing Angie’s clock collection.” He lifted Lisa from the crib. She immediately grinned and squealed, grabbing her favorite blanket. Booth rolled his eyes, asking himself how one twenty-pound baby could require so much junk.
In the living room, Kathleen slid another small bag over her shoulder, then picked up her handbag. In her free hand she carried a folder of sheet music.
Booth eyed the folder. “I don’t think Gail’s piano will fit.”
“Very funny. Mavis has a piano and she asked me if I’d bring some of my music. She said you’d mentioned to her that I played.”
He shrugged. “Don’t remember. I could have
.”
“It just seemed like such an odd request.” She hesitated, then set the sheet music aside. “It is odd. I’ll leave it here. We have enough stuff.”
“Better take the music. If Mavis asked you to bring it, she wasn’t kidding.”
“But maybe she was just being polite.”
“Or she’ll be annoyed that you didn’t.”
“Hmm, all right.” She retrieved the music folder. “So, are we all ready?” she asked, tickling Lisa’s pudgy leg and then glancing back as Booth urged her out of the nursery. “I wonder if—”
“I rented a truck? No. Let’s go before you think of something else.”
Booth followed her downstairs. Kathleen stopped at Gail’s, and Booth went on out to the car. He got Lisa into the child carrier in the back seat, checked for the cream-colored car and noted it was gone.
The plate had come back clean. The vehicle was registered to a Mason Knight of Savannah. Booth had Knight’s name checked for any outstanding warrants, but didn’t even come up with an unpaid parking ticket. He’d called a retired bounty-hunter friend in south Georgia to ask him do some digging around—probably a waste of time, but his gut hadn’t been satisfied. His pal had assured Booth that if there was anything to be found, he’d find it.
The car had been parked in the same place the previous night when Booth had come home from work. The fact that it was missing today could mean something or nothing. In the meantime, he had no cause to do anything official. But Booth had taken note of Kathleen’s relief when he’d told her the plate was clean. He had kept his own expression bland, tossing out the information as if her over-the-top reaction a few days before hadn’t lingered in his mind. It had been too similar to her reaction that first night about hating cops.
Pieces weren’t fitting together, but without being direct with her, and risking her closing down, he’d decided to let the issue drop.
The past few days had been crazy—moving her things into his place, juggling their schedules so that someone would always be available to care for Lisa, making arrangements for Kathleen’s move into the carriage house and the arrival of her piano on the following Tuesday. And Booth wasn’t all that pleased that she’d be moving out almost as soon as she’d moved in.