The corners of his mouth hitched upward and he undid the top button of her shirt. “Will do.”
No doubt about it, the guy was a deadly force when he smiled. She watched his hands while he unbuttoned her shirt, anticipation building inside her. Already her nipples strained against her bra and she ached to have him touch her.
He released the last button and pushed the shirt off her shoulders before cupping both her breasts and giving them a little squeeze. “Perfect size.” He pulled the fabric down, exposing one nipple and took it into his mouth.
Holy wow! Pleasure exploded and traveled though her entire body. For a second, Allison gripped his shoulders and enjoyed herself; then she moved her hands toward the buttons on his shirt. Her hands shook a little as she undid the first button. When she started on the second, Rock pulled her other breast free and rolled its nipple between his fingers and she gasped.
“Ya like that.” It wasn’t a question but a statement, one she didn’t feel any need to answer. Instead, she concentrated on getting the rest of his shirt unbuttoned.
The lips that had a moment ago been wrapped around her nipple, kissed the side of her breast and moved upward. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to kiss this spot.” His warm breath spread over her already heated skin, sending another bolt of excitement to her core.
Looking away from his shirt, she watched him kiss the birthmark on her left breast, the one she usually forgot was even there. His lips lingered long enough for her to push his shirt off his shoulders before they came down hard on her mouth. With his shirt gone, she ran her hands up his taut corrugated stomach, enjoying the way his abs contracted beneath her touch. Reaching his chest, she brushed her hand over his flat nipples and started to reverse her path, the button on his jeans her ultimate destination.
She didn’t get far.
The hands he’d buried in her hair moved, and before she could consider what that meant, Rock tugged down her leggings before slipping a finger inside her panties to touch her.
Two can play that game. Allison didn’t bother with the button or zipper; instead she slipped her hand inside his jeans and touched him.
With a growl, Rock pulled away and tore off his jeans and boxer briefs.
Can you say big? For a second, she couldn’t look away from his erection. She’d been with men before, but none of them had looked like him.
Before she could really enjoy the naked view he provided, he reached for her bra clasp. Then he pushed her down on the bed and removed her leggings, which were still bunched around her calves. Starting at her ankle, he placed kisses up her shin and along her inner thigh. Sucking in a deep breath, she waited for him to touch her again when he reached the top of her leg. Instead, the weight of him pressing against her thighs disappeared.
“What’s wrong?” Propping herself up, she watched him grab the jeans he’d dropped on the floor.
Opening the wallet he’d retrieved from a pocket, he pulled something out of it as he looked over at her. “Nothing.” He tossed everything on the floor again and leaned over her. “Needed to grab these.” He pressed a condom into her hand before tearing open the one he still held and slipping it on, his eyes never straying away from her face.
Good thing one of them was still thinking clearly. Protection hadn’t even entered her mind when she’d come upstairs with him and it should’ve. She was on the pill, but they weren’t 100 percent foolproof, and she didn’t have any condoms in the house. Rock was the first person she’d been with in several months and the only man she’d brought back to her house since she moved to Virginia. She’d have to grab some this week.
Rock leaned over and kissed her before he hooked a finger under her panties and pulled them down, tossing them over his shoulder.
Allison all but squirmed on the bed as he stood there staring at her. If he didn’t do something darn soon, she’d have to grab him and toss him on the bed.
“You’d make a terrible poker player.”
They were naked and he wanted to talk about cards?
“Your expressions give ya away.”
Guilty as charged. “What am I thinking then?”
Rock gave her a wicked smile. “This,” he said before he slipped a finger inside her, rendering her speechless for the foreseeable future.
***
She couldn’t stop from touching the pulse in her neck. The silly thing remained almost as out of control as it did when she finished the intense fitness challenge training class at the gym. Maybe she should give up her gym membership and have sex with Rock everyday instead. It was definitely much more enjoyable. No, enjoyable wasn’t the right word to describe it. Incredible and mind-blowing were much better adjectives. At least it had been incredible for her. Hopefully it had been for him too, not that she’d ever ask him such a question. What if he said no? Talk about the ultimate in embarrassment.
Rolling onto her side, she propped herself up on her elbow. With his eyes closed and an arm tucked under his head, he appeared the most relaxed and easygoing she’d ever seen him. And since he seemed unaware of what she was doing, she let her gaze roam down his chest and over his stomach, her eyes drawn to the scar on his right side. She hadn’t noticed it when he’d first undressed. Other parts of his anatomy had held her attention. “What happened?” she asked, touching the scar and tracing it with her finger.
Without opening his eyes, he covered her hand with his, making it impossible to move. “Bullet grazed me a few years ago. No big deal.”
In her book, bullets and bullet wounds were a big deal, but he said it as if he was talking about a piece of paper giving him a papercut. Maybe to do what he did, you had to think that way.
“It must have hurt a lot.”
“Like I said, it was no big deal.” He moved her hand away from the scar and up to his chest.
She got the hint. He didn’t want to talk about it. “Can you stay tonight?”
At her question, Rock’s eyes opened and he pulled her head closer to his face. “Definitely.” His lips closed over hers before she could respond.
From the hallway, the doorbell chimes echoed, but she ignored it. The only guests besides Rock she’d had since moving in were Jake and Charlie. With a new baby at home, neither of them would be ringing her doorbell tonight. Her Uncle Warren and Aunt Elizabeth didn’t do last-minute visits and she didn’t have any other relatives in the area. That only left some door-to-door salesman like the cable guy who rang her bell last week. No way was she getting out of bed for a salesman.
Rock pulled her on top of him, his hands moving to her butt, as the chimes echoed again.
“Do ya want to check the door?” He squeezed her ass before sliding a hand in between them so he could touch a breast.
“Nope,” she said, her lips inches from his neck.
The faint sound of her brother’s ringtone traveled up the stairs from where she’d left her phone in the foyer and Allison froze. She didn’t need to look. She just knew Derek was ringing her doorbell. And since he saw her car in the driveway, he was calling to see why she hadn’t answered the door. Darn it. If she didn’t answer the phone or door, he’d worry.
Scrambling off the bed, she grabbed her leggings and yanked them on.
“What’s going on?” Rock asked, his voice both confused and surprised at the same time.
“Derek’s here.” She pulled on her shirt and at the same time tossed Rock’s jeans on the bed. “It’ll be easier if I just let him in.” Man, oh man. Of all the times for Derek to visit, he had to pick now.
By the time she finished buttoning up her shirt, Rock had his clothes back on too.
“Talk about friggin’ déjà vu,” Rock said as they walked downstairs together.
Allison paused. Did he make it a habit to greet all his girlfriends’ family like this? “What?”
“I showed up at Addie’s place to surprise her last fall. Ended up interrupting her and Trent like your brother.”
Right now she wished she were a little
more like Trent. He wouldn’t have been at all embarrassed. She shouldn’t be either. They were all adults and it wasn’t her dad waiting to come in. Maybe she’d get lucky and Derek wouldn’t suspect they’d been doing anything but watching a movie.
Don’t give yourself away. Derek glanced up from his smartphone the moment she pulled open the door. “Hey, you. Come on in,” she said, pasting on a smile.
Stepping inside, he looked past her at Rock and then back, a smirk on his face. “Bad timing I see. Guess I should’ve called on my way over.”
So much for a little luck tonight. “We were just hanging out.” A little lie in this instance wouldn’t harm anyone.
With a laugh, he hugged her. “Bull. You’ve got a rat’s nest on your head and your shirt’s buttoned wrong. You weren’t just hanging out.”
She looked at her shirt. Sure enough, in her rush, she messed it up. So much for playing it cool. Clearing her throat, she reminded herself again how much worse it’d be if her dad was there instead.
“Nice to see you again.” Derek moved past her and shook hands with Rock. “Since I’ve already interrupted you two, do you mind if I stick around and visit?”
Oh, man how she wanted to slap him. “Mi casa es su casa,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “Let’s go in the other room.” She loved Derek but the sooner they finished their little visit, the sooner he’d leave. “What are you doing here anyway?”
Derek put an arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the kitchen. “What, I can’t visit my lil sister?”
“See what I mean?” She looked over at Rock, but he only grinned back at her. “Five minutes between us and he acts like it’s five years.” She rolled her eyes and turned her attention toward Derek again. “I talked to you two days ago and you didn’t say anything about coming down.”
“Decided at the last minute. Figured I’d visit you and then go see Jake and the baby. Then head home on Monday morning.” Derek went straight to the refrigerator. “I didn’t stop to eat on the way down. Do you have anything good in here?”
“Help yourself,” she said, although there was no need. Before the move down here, Derek had always treated her apartment in Providence as if it was his own, so it made sense he’d do the same thing here. Of course she more or less did that too whenever she visited his condo. “Where are you staying?” She already knew the answer to her question, but asked anyway.
“With you.” He put the pizza she hadn’t finished the night before and a sparkling water on the table and looked over at Rock who’d sat next to her. “Unless that’s a problem, lil sis.”
“If you don’t stop calling me that, it will be.”
“Has she been this grumpy all day?”
“She was very happy until you arrived,” Rock said, leaning back in his chair as if he hadn’t just hinted at what they’d been doing when Derek interrupted them.
“Guessed as much.”
Her brother’s answer sent the heat in her face up to her scalp.
Derek pulled a slice of pizza out and smiled at her before he nodded in Rock’s direction. “After I eat, I’ll disappear for a few hours.”
Were Rock and Derek really having this conversation?
“Much appreciated.”
The groan slipped out before she could stop it. “Will you two please stop.”
Her brother and Rock exchanged some kind of look she couldn’t decipher, and she held her breath. What are they going to say next?
“I saw Trent and Addie on Tuesday,” Derek said.
Thank you.
“I got the impression they know the baby is a boy. They both denied it when I asked. Have they said anything to you guys?”
“Got the same answer,” Rock answered. “But I think you’re right.”
Allison listened as the men switched from one topic to another, the whole time wishing her brother would do less talking and more eating. The faster he finished eating, the sooner he’d be gone
“Allison, you’ve got to work on that,” Derek said, his sudden switch in topics jarring.
“Uh? What?”
“Not letting the world know what you’re thinking.” Her brother pointed a finger at her. “You’re wondering how much longer until I leave.”
Did she really give herself away that much?
“Told her she better never play cards,” Rock said, offering his opinion on the subject.
Great, another one from the peanut gallery.
“She’s better than when we were kids. We used to play a modified version of poker. She always lost. Couldn’t bluff to save her life.” Chugging the rest of his water, Derek pushed his chair back. “I’ll see you guys later. Maybe around ten or so.”
“Thanks for the warning, brother dear.”
“Do you have a key I can use to get in when I come back so I don’t disturb you again?”
Nope, don’t respond to that one. Allison grabbed the spare key she kept in a kitchen drawer. “Don’t worry about rushing back,” she said, dropping the key in his hand. “And if the alarm is on when you come in, the code is the same as the one I had at my apartment.”
“Have fun tonight,” Derek called out as he walked away.
Allison relaxed in her chair when she heard the front door close. She’d thought her brother would never leave. She still couldn’t believe he’d alluded to the fact he’d interrupted her and Rock in the middle of sex so many times. Talk about embarrassing on a grand scale. The only way it could’ve been worse would’ve been if he’d actually walked in her bedroom. She owed him big time. But she’d figure out her revenge later. Right now, they again had the house to themselves and several hours to do whatever they wanted.
Reaching under the table, she touched Rock’s thigh and moved her hand upward. She smiled, her own libido kicking back all the way on when she hit his zipper and the erection behind it. Slowly, she rubbed her hand against him.
“Upstairs now.” He grabbed her hand, making it impossible for her to move it, and kissed her.
Chapter 9
He wasn’t a violent person. Really he wasn’t, but he had no other choice. He’d watched them kissing today at the Botanic Garden. Even now the creep’s truck remained parked outside her house. He’d seen her disheveled appearance when she opened the door for Derek. He knew what they’d been up too.
No man had any right to touch her but him. Yep, his mind was made up. The Marine had to die. Once that happened, she’d be his.
He knew the perfect person to contact too. Kane. A guy like him would know people. People who would take out Raimono and not ask any questions. Across the street, Derek exited Allison’s house and drove away, and he slammed his fist into the wall. Damn, they were alone again. Blood trickled down his fingers, but he barely noticed as he pulled his second cell phone from his pocket. From memory, he dialed Kane’s number and waited.
Soon, he’ll be gone forever. And she’ll be all mine.
Chapter 10
“I should’ve let him come up again,” Allison said, changing lanes on the highway again. She’d felt bad though. Over the past two and half weeks, Rock had made the trip from Dumfries to Alexandria several times. He never complained; then again, she doubted he complained about much. Still it hadn’t seemed fair he always went out of his way. Now, she wished she’d given in last night when they’d talked. Actually, they’d talked on the phone a lot, which surprised her because Rock didn’t seem like the type to have phone conversations on a regular basis.
“Relax and think about the night ahead.” Doing that shouldn’t be difficult. She’d been looking forward to spending time with him again since yesterday. As far as she knew, he didn’t have any definite plans for them tonight, but so what. Unlike the men in her past, Rock never insisted they go out every chance they got. In fact, since they’d started dating, their only three big outings had been the hockey game, the Botanic Garden, and a movie. They’d stopped for dinner one night too, but right afterward they’d gone back to her townhouse. The other tim
es he’d come up, they’d ordered takeout and just spent time together.
A good portion of the day she’d actually fantasized how they might spend their time together tonight. Since she’d gotten on I-95 however, she’d been wishing she could lock herself behind her front door and turn the security system on.
When she left work and spotted the car behind her, she’d assumed it just happened to be heading in the same direction. There were a lot of office buildings around the Falmouth Foundation and it was five o’clock on a Friday. She’d assured herself it was just a coincidence when the same car followed her onto the highway. Lots of people used Interstate 95 everyday to commute to and from work. Just because the car had been behind her since the city didn’t mean anything. The driver was probably heading home or off to meet someone like her.
That reassurance lasted until they merged with traffic and the same car stayed behind her. She’d changed lanes three times now, hoping the car wouldn’t follow. Twice the car behind her did the same. Had it followed this last time? Only one way to know.
Allison glanced in her rearview mirror then let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. A bright red tractor-trailer with a large Bulldog on its grill followed her, not the dark-colored sedan from earlier. She’d overreacted. Again. The car hadn’t been following her. They had merely been heading in the same general direction.
A sharp cramp shot up her hand, and she loosened her death grip on the steering wheel. “I need to get control of my imagination.”
The ridiculous thing had been acting up since January, but the silly bear and candy weeks ago had sent it into overdrive. So far, she hadn’t received any more gifts, but she also hadn’t figured out who sent the first one. She’d questioned the receptionist who’d accepted the present that afternoon, but she hadn’t remembered anything about the delivery person except that it had been a man. Unsure of how to proceed next, she’d seriously considered contacting the police like Derek suggested. Each time, she convinced herself not to bother. The police had enough to deal with handling real crimes. They didn’t have the time or manpower to hunt down her secret admirer, especially since the individual had only sent her a present. Sending presents, even anonymous ones, was not against law, just unnerving for the person receiving them.
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