Molly slid her panties off, scooted forward, and hooked a leg over his hips to straddle him. Only the thin layer of his satin boxers separated her from his hardness. At the contact, waves of electricity shot through her body. She groaned and braced herself on his torso. His hands settled on her waist.
“Are you sure?” he whispered huskily.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Yeah, absolutely.”
A slow grin spread across his handsome face. Her lower belly clenched and the slow pulse between her legs began to beat double-time.
She pushed his shirt up and helped him remove it, then she bent down to kiss his chest. His pecs were rock solid, the bronze skin hot and salty. The buzzing in her ears grew louder as she kissed her way up his neck and found his mouth.
Their tongues tangoed in a hot, wet, luscious dance. The hair on his chest scraped the tender skin of her breasts as they pillowed against his hot flesh. Anders stretched their joined hands over his head and rested them against his pillow.
She undulated against him and whimpered.
He sucked in a harsh breath and muttered against her lips, “Fuck.”
“I’m trembling.”
“Are you cold?”
That was like the match asking the flame if she needed a coat. Molly shook her head. “No, I’ve just…never felt like this.”
“Your heart is going a mile a minute. I can feel it against my chest.”
“Yours too.” She smiled and nuzzled his jaw.
Outside, the rain surged against the windows as short flashes of lightning illuminated the room.
He kissed her again and the world spun as he rolled them over. When he removed his boxers and came back to her, she was ready for him. He gripped her hips and buried himself deep with one hard thrust.
They both gasped and went very still.
Molly clung to him, quivering with relief and desperation. His skin was shockingly hot against her over-sensitized flesh. The pulse between her thighs thumped against the hard steel pinning her to the mattress. Her body clenched and rippled with anticipation. She arched to take him deeper and saw stars. Crying out, she grabbed his ass and bucked against him.
“Oh, God,” he groaned and started to move inside of her.
Wild for him, Molly demanded more, urging him deeper. The ancient bedsprings screamed in protest, squeaking obscenely, rivaling the storm outside. Shifting the angle, Anders came into her faster and harder, driving her up the bed until she had to reach for the slats of the headboard to keep her head from knocking into it.
The bed squeaked.
The wooden headboard thumped against the wall.
The rain blew and the wind howled.
But Molly only noticed these things abstractly.
Every nerve ending in her body was attuned to the rising tension bringing her closer to the edge. His mouth was on her breast, suckling the nipple almost too roughly. The pleasant pain shot straight to her groin. She let go of the headboard and grabbed his ass again. Arching beneath him, she wrapped her legs around his waist and met his urgent thrusts.
Anders cursed and she contracted.
A white light exploded behind her eyelids as her body was anointed in a surge of euphoric sensation.
“Molly. Sweet Molly. Oh, God,” Anders muttered against her ear as he kept thrusting, almost desperately now.
Responding to his delirious pleas, she wrapped her arms around his neck and bit his shoulder.
Suddenly, he stopped and looked down at her. His eyes were black and glossy with the madness of desire. His flushed face was tight with strain.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered fiercely, and her heart soared.
Thrusting again, he groaned into her mouth as he started to come apart. Then he shouted as his climax overtook him and he shattered in her arms.
He collapsed on top of her, burying his face in the crook of her neck with a sigh.
Molly stroked his back, savoring the weight of him pressing her into the mattress. She took a deep breath and sighed too. Tomorrow she might mourn her decision to be with him, but right now, with her body still thrumming and her heart swollen with joy and love, she had no regrets. How could she when—
Something thumped against the bedroom door and shattered.
Startled, she looked toward the door, half expecting someone to come barging in on them.
Anders hadn’t seemed to hear the noise. Drained from the intensity of his release, his body rested heavily on top of hers, not moving.
“Anders? What was that?”
He didn’t respond.
“Wake up. Something broke.”
“Huh?” he muttered against her shoulder. “It’s just the storm.”
She tried to shove him off, but she would’ve had better luck lifting a truck off her chest.
“I think someone’s out there.”
His head came up and he looked at her with bleary, hooded eyes.
“An intruder?” he murmured.
“I don’t know. Possibly. They broke something.” By now, Winston Wade had to know they were still alive. What if he found them? Molly tensed and grabbed Anders’ shoulders. “Obie’s upstairs alone? What if it’s Wade?”
“Mitch sent me a text about an hour ago saying he’s in downtown Nassau tailing Wade. And besides, he assured me Wade doesn’t know about Ms. Vivian’s place. He’s not connected in the Bahamas like he is in Jamaica, but I’ll check it out.” Moving slowly, Anders pulled away from Molly and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Anders!”
“I’m going. I’m going.”
“Please be careful.” She pulled the bed sheet over her body as he slid on his boxers. “Take a weapon.”
He gave her a sardonic look. “I’m telling you, there’s nothing to worry about. It was probably just the wind.”
The storm was pretty intense. The rain was blowing so hard now, it looked like a hose spraying a steady stream of water against the window. Maybe he was right and something had hit the side of the house, but she would’ve sworn the noise came from inside.
Anders opened the door and stopped short, looking down at the ground.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. Just broken glass.”
She climbed out of bed wrapped in the sheet and joined him at the door.
“Careful,” he said, holding her back.
The glass of water Anders had left on the counter was now scattered in a thousand pieces across the kitchen floor. “How did that happen?”
Anders shrugged. “Maybe I left it too close to the counter and it rolled off?”
“That doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
Caught by the wind, one side of the old casement windows above the sink yawned open and then slammed back against the frame.
“Mystery solved.” Anders nodded toward the window. “The wind blew the glass off the counter.”
“But I definitely heard something hit the door.” Bending to check for damage, she was disappointed when she didn’t find anything.
“That old door is made of solid wood.” Anders touched her arm. “A bighorn sheep could ram its head into it, and I doubt you’d notice any damage. You probably heard the glass hitting the floor and your guilt made you think otherwise.”
“Guilt?” She stood up and frowned at him.
His arms slid around her sheet-clad waist and hauled her closer. “Guilt. For stealing my heart.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “Now don’t go getting cheesy on me just because we had sex.”
“It’s not cheese, it’s charm.”
“That’s what you call it?” She snorted and pulled away from him to hunt down a pair of shoes and her nightshirt.
“Where you going?”
“To clean up the glass. Stay where you are. I don’t want you to get cut.” She slid the shirt over her head and slipped a pair of Keds on her feet.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said, watching her make her way around the worst of the glass to get to the pantry clo
set on the other side of the kitchen.
“Since I’m the only one here with shoes, I do.” She paused in front of the kitchen sink. An odd feeling came over her. Something didn’t make sense about this. She knew what she’d heard. The glass wouldn’t have fallen on the floor and shattered into a million pieces like that, but what other explanation could there be? After shoving the window closed, she flipped the old-fashioned hook latch back into place. “You know, this window wasn’t open earlier.”
“It might have been shut but not latched.”
“I guess.” She eyed it with doubt and then continued on to the pantry where she found a broom and dustpan behind the door. “Go on back to bed and keep it warm. This won’t take long.”
Anders stayed where he was, leaning against the doorframe watching her sweep up the glass. “You reckon we need to talk about the elephant in the room?”
“If you’re referring to my ass then no.”
As she was bending over in front of him with her can up in the air, she thought it might be a possibility.
“No.” He chuckled. “I’m talking about the fact that we didn’t use a condom.”
Molly’s stomach did a little flip and she almost tripped over the broom. Catching herself, she stood up and looked at him. “If you’re wondering if I’m on the pill, I am.” She carried the dustpan to the trashcan to dispose of the broken glass. “And I haven’t had sex in a very long time so I know I’m disease free. Do I need to be worried about you?” She shook the glass into the can and steeled herself for his answer. She really didn’t want to hear about his sexual exploits, but she needed to know.
“I always use protection.”
She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.
He shifted uncomfortably. “Well, except for tonight. I’m not usually so careless. I even remembered to use one that night I was skunk drunk after the wedding.”
She was well aware of that because she’d found the used condom in the wastebasket next to her bed when she was freaking out the morning after. She scrunched her nose at the memory.
“But tonight…” He shrugged helplessly. “It never crossed my mind.”
Molly’s hand trembled. She reached for the broom and went back to sweeping up the last remnants of broken glass. “And other women haven’t made you forget like that.”
“Never.”
Their eyes met. The current that was always present between them hummed.
He shifted again and straightened away from the doorframe. “You almost done?”
“Almost.”
“I’m clean,” he said. “I get a checkup every six months, and I’ve only been with one other woman in that time.”
“Just one?”
“Yeah. Casey. And, yes, we used protection. Every time.”
“Oh,” Molly said flatly and dumped the last bits of glass into the trashcan. Of course, now, she couldn’t not picture them together. The beautiful blonde starlet and the hunky country star. She really didn’t want to feel jealous of a dead girl, but the bitter stab got her right between the ribs. She returned the broom and dustpan to the closet. “I think I got it all.”
“What’s the matter?” he said when she met him at the door.
“Nothing. I’m really tired and we have to be up early to meet the ship. Are you staying or going back to your room?”
Not waiting for his answer, she tried to slide past him. He caught her waist. “What Casey and I had… It was nothing. Just a few days of meaningless sex. This is different.”
“Different how?”
“Well, for starters, I like you. We’re friends. Maybe more than that. I don’t know what this thing is between us, or what’s gonna happen tomorrow, but I want you to know that I didn’t make love to you tonight just because I’m crazy hot for you. I did it because I wanted to be close to you. I care for you, Molly.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked back the moisture pooling behind her eyes. He had her at We’re friends. Maybe she hadn’t screwed everything up by sleeping with him after all. Maybe they could be something more. He cared for her and she cared for him and that was a start—not an ending—in her song book.
She went up on tiptoe and tugged him down so she could reach his mouth. When their lips met, she kissed him sweetly. He picked her up, arms beneath her legs, cradling her against his chest as he carried her into the room. Divesting her of her nightshirt, he removed his boxers and followed her down onto the bed. They made love tenderly and further explored the indescribable thing that crackled between them, and her heart soared a little higher.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Anders slipped out of Molly’s bedroom just before dawn. He showered in his own room and dressed for the day in a pair of jeans and a V-neck T-shirt that matched his eyes. He could be vain sometimes, he’d admit. But having a job that required him to look a certain way made him more conscious of his appearance. He wanted to look good for Molly. He wanted her approval. He wanted…
Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted. He studied his reflection in the mirror above the sink. His toothbrush poked out of his mouth. His finger-combed hair was still damp. He needed a shave but ladies seemed to like the light beard. They said it made him look more ruggedly handsome. He wanted to look ruggedly handsome for Molly.
He wanted to see her eyes dilate with interest when he walked into the room. Wanted to feel the spark that zinged between them whenever their gazes met. He wanted to take her again like he had just an hour ago, right before he left her bed. He’d entered her while she was still soft and dewy with sleep. Rode her gently until she was wide awake and urging him on. Hell, he was half hard just thinking about being inside her again.
Reaching into the front of his jeans to readjust himself, he thought about rubbing one out to take the edge off. Testing the idea, he fisted his rapidly expanding erection and closed his eyes. Letting his head fall forward, he imagined Molly astride him naked and gasped when he saw stars. The damn woman and her tight little body were making him hornier than a teenager.
Someone pounded on the bathroom door.
The toothbrush fell from his mouth.
He dropped his cock and spun around half expecting whomever it was to barge in and catch him with his hand down his pants. Grabbing a bath towel to cover the bulge in the front of his jeans, he said, “Yeah?” When his voice croaked on the word, he cleared his throat and tried again. “What is it?”
“Anders?” It was Selena. What the hell? She must have let herself into his bedroom. “Mitch called the B&B. He’s been trying to reach you on your cell. You forgot to give him your new number.” Anders had picked up a new phone in Montego Bay to replace the one that took a swim with him in the marina.
“Did he tell you what he wanted?” He picked up his toothbrush and stuck it back in his mouth so he could finish brushing his teeth.
“The cruise ship came in early to beat the storm.”
He froze. “How early?”
“Around 5 a.m.”
He spat toothpaste and rinsed his mouth out with a scoop of water. “Please tell me Mitch has Cheyenne.”
Anders’ ears prickled with dread. He opened the bathroom door and found Selena sitting primly on his unmade bed. Surprise derailed him for a moment. How long had she been there? Had she’d heard him jerking off in the bathroom? The notion made him queasy. Annoyed she thought it was okay to let herself into his room in the first place, he growled, “What did he say?”
“The family who was looking after Cheyenne said a man fitting Wade’s description approached them in the cruise ship terminal. They were distracted for a moment and when they turned back, Cheyenne was gone.”
Anders’ clenched his fists in frustration. “God damn it! I thought Mitch was on his tail. Does Molly know?”
“No, I came straight to you, but I’ll tell her about Wade.” Selena stood up and headed for the door. “Maybe now she’ll notify the authorities and let them handle this.”
Anders shook his head. �
�Wait. I’ll talk to Molly. I told you before, we’re not getting the police involved. I trust Mitch. I want to see how he wants to handle this.”
Selena turned around in the open doorway, her brow knit with concern. “That woman almost got your son blown up. How are you going to protect him and yourself when bullets start flying? You’re not Superman.”
“You’re right.” Anders’ chest tightened with guilt. He’d brought Obie along for selfish reasons. He thought having the kid around would help put some distance between him and Molly, but that plan had not only crashed and burned, he’d put his son in grave danger. “Can you do something for me? Can you take Obie back to Key West? Sue and Oscar will look after him until I get back.”
“No!” The shout came from Obie who stood outside in the hall in Spiderman PJs. He pushed past Selena and came into the room. His hair was tousled from sleep and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. “I don’t want to go.”
Unsure of how to handle this, he looked at Selena for help.
She shrugged. “I’ll see if I can still get a flight off the island. It’s not like there’s a hurricane bearing down on us or anything.”
“Thanks, Fry.”
For a moment, she looked as if she wanted to say more, but she pressed her lips together and turned to go. “Don’t forget the press conference. I managed to get it moved to Thursday in Key West. You better be there.”
“I will. I promise.”
When he and Obie were alone, Anders sat on the edge of the bed and met the boy’s steady blue gaze. Anders swallowed hard, trying to think of how to send his son away when all he wanted to do was to keep him close. It wasn’t safe for him though, Selena was right about that.
Obie put his hand on Anders’ shoulder. “I don’t want to go home, Dad. I want to stay with you.”
The words squeezed Anders’ heart. “I’m not sending you home, cowboy. Just back to Key West. It’s too dangerous here with the storm and all.”
“But you said it was a baby hurricane. Please, I want to help.”
“You can help by going with Fry and being good for Ms. Sue.” He hadn’t planned on bringing this up now. Time was of the essence and he needed to break the news to Molly and get in touch with Mitch ASAP, but the troubled expression on Obie’s face got him in the gut. “I’ve been thinking, what if I didn’t send you back to California at the end of the summer? What if you stayed with me permanently from here on out?”
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