He started loosening the buttons of his chambray shirt.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s customary to undress before getting into a bath.”
Ava peeled her eyes away from the expanding swath of flesh, and reminded herself she had working brain cells.
“Pardon me, but you seem to have lost your grip on reality. This is my apartment, my bathtub. You’re not getting in here with me.”
“Oh yes,” Jordan said, and dropped his shirt to the floor. “I am.”
Honestly, the man was either stupid or had a will forged from steel. “Look, Jordan, I know I haven’t been very accommodating the past few days, and I’ll apologize for that. Of course, your blatant, bullheaded trespassing in my apartment – in my damn bathroom, for pity’s sake – should pretty much cancel out any rudeness on my part. I agree there are some things we need to discuss, but this is not –”
His pants slid to the floor.
“Jesus.”
“Jordan. Though there have been times I felt like I’ve seen God myself. I figure tonight’s going to be one of them.”
“You…you can’t just…”
He raised a brow when she simply sputtered.
“I can’t think.”
“I can’t say that I have a problem with that. But if you want me gone Ava, now’s the time to say so.”
And she knew without his saying so that it would be the last time she had to tell him. He wouldn’t bother her again after this. It was what she wanted, or at least what she’d tried to convince him she wanted, since she’d seen him standing in her waiting room.
But now that the cards had been dealt, she just couldn’t ante up.
“Just get in.” She scooted forward to make room.
With a wordless nod, Jordan climbed in behind her, stretching his long legs out to the sides.
THE water was hot enough to boil shrimp, he thought. And slick and scented with one of those mysterious products women used. Lavender, he realized. He took a deep, bracing breath of it, and willed himself to settle. Damp tendrils of hair trailed down Ava’s neck as she leaned back, and despite the emotion churning in his gut, he pressed a light kiss to her shoulder.
The past few days had been hell.
He’d been swamped at work, worried about Ava and angry with it.
She hadn’t answered his calls, hadn’t returned a single message. He’d driven by, pathetic fool that he was, and failed to find her car in the driveway.
But she’d been into work. He’d called there, too, and been informed that she was in surgery. Which meant that while she may have returned to town, she wasn’t spending her nights at home.
It had been a knife to the heart, he thought as he grabbed one of those balls of mesh women used in the bath. Hot, sharp and lethal. To think that maybe she’d gone back with the ex.
And he’d considered saying screw it, throwing in the proverbial towel, and leaving her to her dubious decision. Until he thought about his conversation with Lou Ellen. Not a pansy-ass, she’d said. And that things weren’t always what they seemed.
So he’d swallowed an extra thick serving of pride, and come over, ready to fight for her.
And simply melted, lust and tenderness, at the picture she made sitting in the old claw foot tub.
The little jumps in his gut that had been worry, had been anger, dissolved with the steam. This wasn’t the time for battle. Whatever problems lay between them, he figured they’d work them out later.
Now was the time to show her what was in his heart.
With a squeeze of some bath gel on the mesh, he started rubbing it into her skin.
“Jordan. I… oh God, that feels good. But I don’t know–”
“Shh.” He brushed a stray lock of hair aside, kissed her neck. Gently. “It’s okay. I do.”
THE warmth of the water, the slick slide of soap across her skin, the feel of his body – big and hard – had Ava lulling in a kind of stupor.
Gone was the frenzied, uncontrolled heat she’d come to expect from him. In its place was restrained sensuality. Tenderness, even. She didn’t entirely understand the change, given the fact that she knew he’d been angry, but it didn’t seem to matter. She responded to him either way.
He slid the sponge down her arm, across her quivering stomach. Circled her aching breasts. When he cupped one, tested its weight, drew her nipple between thumb and finger, Ava felt the moan spill from her slow and sweet as honey. As she drifted there, in that pleasured warmth, his hand drifted up her thigh.
So slow, so soft, that Ava thought the anticipation would kill her. And just when she was on the verge of begging, he allowed his fingers to find her.
Nibbling along her jaw line, his breath warm and smelling of something sweet – peppermint, she thought vaguely – Jordan moved his long fingers in slow and torturous circles. Ava stiffened, half inclined to jerk away from the intensity of the pleasure, but he locked his arm around her stomach and held tight.
“No. Don’t hold back.” It was a hot whisper, and it shivered through her blood when his fingers plunged. “Ava. I want to watch you go up.”
And she climbed, step by silky step, until she was desperate in his arms.
“Now.” Body throbbing, mind spinning, Ava pushed away and turned so that she could take him into her. “For God’s sake, Jordan. I want you inside me now.”
“Easy,” Jordan murmured. And getting a good, solid grip on her slippery waist, lifted her as he stood up. “Not yet.”
“What do you mean, not yet?” Flummoxed, Ava goggled at him as he reached for one of her deep red towels. “You drop by unannounced, invite yourself into my bath, get me all stirred up and then….” she waved her arm around “have the nerve to tell me not yet?”
He also had the nerve to grin as he snagged her arm. “Careful sweetheart. You’re gonna poke your eye out.” When she growled, he wrapped them both in the bath sheet, damp skin to damp skin. Then he lowered his mouth to hers.
And kissed her breathless.
“I just realized,” he said after he eased back, and Ava’s blood was pumping madly. “That the cot in your clinic, or your kitchen counter – even that charming bathtub – aren’t what I want for our first time. So though it nearly killed me to wait, I’m glad it didn’t happen before.” He lifted a hand, and laid it like another kiss against Ava’s cheek. “I want soft. Slow and sweet. I want to savor you, Ava.”
The towel fell into a crumpled heap at his feet, and Ava figured her heart landed right along with it. And when he lifted her into his arms, carried her to that big, brass bed, the space where her heart had been filled.
“Jordan.” His name drifted out on a sigh.
“Ava.” He laid her down. “Let me look at you.”
SHE was… lush, he thought would be the right word. Dark hair spilled haphazardly from some sort of clip to fall across rounded shoulders. Her breasts, rosy-tipped from the bath, curved round and plump above a tiny waist. Full hips – and his hands itched to grip them – gave way to slim, pretty legs.
Her eyes, that deep, deep Spanish brown, flickered with a hint of impatience.
But he didn’t want to rush this.
He’d spoken the pure truth. Jordan didn’t want the first time they made love – the first time of many, if he had his way in the matter – to be done in simple heat, or haste. So he called up every ounce of his control to ensure that didn’t happen. This was something he wanted her to remember for the rest of her life.
For the rest of their lives. Together.
The corners of his lips tugged into a smile as he brought his weight down next to her. The mattress sagged, and he took the opportunity to roll her beneath him. Then he kissed her again, with tenderness and possession.
AVA felt it, felt the blatant ownership with which his mouth claimed hers. And while some rational part of her brain continued to flash mistake! like a neon sign, the purely romantic, feminine side of her sighed, and reveled. His body was huge
and so utterly male, his lips hard, his tongue hot. And his hands – those magic hands – deft and sure as they traveled her body.
“Ava.” The murmur was reverent as he reached down to capture her breast. He gently cupped her tender flesh, traced lazy circles around her nipple. And then lowered his lips to her skin.
More, was all she could think as he opened his mouth, suckled. The heat of that wet space blasted through her and left her trembling. Teeth nipped at her collarbone, fingers trailed along her belly.
Then he found her thighs, pushed them wide, and proceeded to destroy her.
Hot and sweet, utterly carnal, the orgasm rocketed through her. Blew her apart, body and mind, until she broke into a million pieces. And as she gripped the sheets, coasted down, Jordan pressed a kiss to her inner thigh.
Reeling, she could do no more than breathe when he stroked her calf.
“That’s my girl.” He dipped his tongue into her navel.
“Right now? You bet.”
And his chuckle was just a little smug as he worked his way back up. “We’re just getting started.”
“Considering I’ve turned into a human puddle, it’s possible I’m already done.”
“A puddle, huh? Guess I better take a dip.”
He plunged.
Blue eyes hot, and fiercely triumphant, he caught her gasp between his lips. The small sound of shock vibrated there and had Jordan clenching his teeth. He gave her body another moment to adjust, then trapped her with his gaze.
“LOOK at me, Ava. Look at me and know. This isn’t just sex.”
It was everything.
The rhythm built, stroke by deep stroke, as Jordan slowly, thoroughly showed her. Skin, already coated in bath oil, slicked as they slid together. The air in the room went fragrant, and hummed with pleasured sighs.
Jordan struggled for control like a man drowning.
When her nails sank into his back, and her gasps became his name, he lost his grip on the line, dragging her legs to his shoulders.
“Ava.” And with his hands linked to hers, he plundered.
OPEN now, no barriers left, Ava rode out the fierce possession. Those hot eyes bored into hers in a silent message of conquest.
She was his. And for this moment, by God, he was hers. As their bodies raced over that final edge, he emptied himself inside her.
“Oh. God.”
Jordan turned his head, kissed her neck. And after a moment spent gathering his breath, said “Told you we’d see Him.”
The laugh just bubbled up. “If there was any feeling left in my legs, I’d feel obliged to kick your arrogant ass.”
“If there was any feeling left in my ass, I’d feel obliged to comment on the scratches you put there. I…”
“What?” she said when he trailed off.
“NOTHING. It’s not important.” Jordan shook off the weird sense of déjà vu. And dredging up some energy, brushed a thumb across her cheek. “You’re beautiful.”
Ava curled around him like a contented cat. “It’s a little late for sweet talk. You already got me into bed.”
“I did, didn’t I?” He dropped a kiss onto her lips. “It just occurred to me that I might need to apologize.”
“For getting me into bed?”
“Not a chance. For letting Finn in. He whined when I tried to leave him in the car, and… well, to be honest, I planned to use his sad puppy-dog eyes to help get me in your door. Which I’m going to scold you for leaving unlocked, even though it worked to my advantage. But anyway, I’m pretty sure he cracked your lamp.”
“AH. That explains the crash.” Although at the moment she couldn’t care less. Her head felt fizzy, like she’d bathed in champagne instead of lavender. “Where is he, anyway?”
“Shut up in the kitchen. We’ve probably got about ten more minutes before he decides to launch a vocal protest.” Jordan rolled to the side, and let out a short yell of his own.
“Okay.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m not sure what’s more disconcerting. Finding myself face-to-face with Donkey, or realizing One-Eyed Jack just watched us have sex.” The cat twitched his tail from his position on the windowsill.
“Well, he’s missing an eye. He couldn’t have seen that much.”
Jordan laughed, then leaned over to set the stuffed animal on the floor. “Um, Ava. About the other morning –”
“Don’t.” Suddenly desperate, Ava reared up to touch a finger to his lips. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. “Please. Can we just… be, a little while first?”
His eyes were intense as he searched her face, but he pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand. “Sure. No place I’d rather.”
When he opened his arms, she cuddled in, but inside her something quivered.
“You know.” Jordan stroked a hand down her back. “I think that may be the first time I’ve ever forgotten to suit up for the party.”
“Suit up for the….” And what quivered stilled as she put it together. “Well, hmmm.” He hadn’t worn a condom.
She hadn’t even given it a thought, and that was incredibly uncharacteristic. After some rapid mental calculations, the quiver shimmied again. Her last period had ended about ten days ago.
Noticing her silence, Jordan gave her shoulder a little squeeze. “If it will ease your mind I can assure you that I have a clean bill of health.”
“What? Oh. That’s… good. And same goes.” She’d always been selective, and very careful, even when she’d been with Michael.
But aside from disease control, condoms provided another very important function.
As if he’d read her mind Jordan’s hand stilled on her back. “So I’m guessing that since you were engaged and all,” And wasn’t his tone extra casual? “You’re probably on the pill.”
“I can’t take the pill,” she explained, equally breezy. “It makes me violently ill. And anyway, my engagement has been broken for nearly two years. The, um, issue of birth control hasn’t really been a factor since.”
“Ah,” Jordan said, and gave her a little squeeze. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. Not about the pill. But about the fact that you haven’t needed it.”
Ava leaned up on her forearm to get a look at his face. Aside from the obvious – and what she liked to think of as purely masculine – satisfaction that she hadn’t been interested enough to sleep with any other men in recent memory, she detected a reasonable level of concern. But he hadn’t lost his color or gone cross-eyed or broken out in hives at the idea that they’d been completely unprotected, so she had to give him credit. “If it will make you feel any better, I don’t think I’m ovulating.”
Jordan stared at her for a moment. “Just out of curiosity, you know this… how? Your ovaries put up a little sign that says eggs for sale when you are?”
“Actually, some women claim that they can feel the egg travel down the fallopian tube into the uterus when ovulation occurs. I don’t happen to be one of them, but boy, wouldn’t that be handy? However, the egg is typically put up for sale fourteen days before the start of a woman’s menstrual period. Also –”
“Ava. Ava.” Jordan held up a frantic hand. “Christ, never ask a veterinarian about reproduction, I guess. Lesson learned.”
When Ava started to grin at him, he gave her a pained look. “I’m a guy, okay? And I grew up with four brothers. Female… cycles have never exactly been a hot topic of conversation for me.”
“You are so damn cute, you know that? All flustered by the birds and the bees.”
“Ha.” Jordan sat up. “As fascinating as this topic is, I’ll save us both the embarrassment and get the condoms out of my wallet.”
“I’m a scientist.” Ava decided she was thoroughly enjoying herself now. “Nothing embarrasses me. If you’d like me to explain how the stringier vaginal secretions during ovulation allow the sperm to –”
“No!” Jordan covered her face with the pillow. “No, I really wouldn’t like you to do that.”
> Ava laughed so hard that her shoulders shook.
“It’s really not funny,” he complained as he lifted the pillow to frown at her.
“Yes,” she disagreed. “Yes it is.” Then she rolled on top of him and planted a kiss on his lips. “Now. Why don’t you check on Finn and get those condoms? And when you come back, I’ll teach you a thing or two about reproduction.”
The look in his eyes this time was pure male appreciation. “You know, I’ve always wanted to play Doctor.”
“Oh, honey, I’ll do you one better.” She brushed her tongue over his lips. “You stick with me, and I’ll show you how to play Vet.”
FROM his position in the tree, Bobby Lee Bender looked through the bedroom window with a kind of giddy disbelief.
It was that prosecutor. The one who’d taken over Elijah Fuller’s trial.
What were the chances?
He’d seen the man on TV, caught glimpses of him coming and going around the courthouse from time to time. And after the other attorney had keeled over with the bad pumper, Bobby Lee had followed this one around the park.
He liked knowing who the players were on the chessboard he’d set up.
Of course, he hadn’t anticipated the little queen in there.
Foul-mouthed bitch.
Bobby Lee wasn’t sure just what to do about that. He’d already tied things up so neatly.
It excited him to remember.
The first one, well, the woman had badgered him, cursed at him. Threatened to call his boss because he’d stepped in her stupid flower bed and accidentally trampled some stupid plant. He’d been doing his job, hadn’t he? And he’d had to shut her up. He just hadn’t expected it to be so… satisfying. He’d made a few mistakes, sure he had. It was his first murder, after all. And he’d waited, sweating a little, a little nervous, a little sick, for the cops to figure it out.
Couldn’t they see it when they looked at him? See the power he had?
But they hadn’t seen it. No one did. They just saw good ole Bobby Lee.
Only he knew what he was capable of.
So the second… yes, the second had been a sort of practice. A way to hone his skill.
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