by Desiree Holt
Slade knew the way to her apartment complex so she leaned back, closed her eyes and wished by the time she opened them this had all gone away. He reached across the console and took one of her hands in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. He continued holding it all the way to her apartment, the warmth of his touch infusing itself into her body. When they got to her complex, he helped her out of the car and up to her apartment, where he dumped her purse and briefcase on the floor and nudged her to sit on the couch.
She waited, still too numb to move, while he prowled around the apartment. She heard the sound of water running, then glasses clinking in the kitchen. Then he took her hand and led her into her bedroom.
“Okay.” He stroked one cheek with his fingertips. “Here’s how it goes. The bath is running. Strip and get into it. I’m fixing your drink and will bring it in to you.”
“But—”
He touched the tip of one finger to her lips. “No buts. Tonight I give the orders.”
“Orders? Are we trying something new?”
Slade cupped her chin in his palm. “Maybe a little, when you’re ready. Not tonight, though. Right now I want you to just get into the tub.”
A weak laugh bubbled up from her throat. “Yes, sir.”
“Okay. Get cracking.”
She left her clothes in a pile on her bedroom floor, something she rarely did, while Slade finished getting her bath ready. Pulling her hair to the top of her head, she then twisted it into a messy bun and pinned it in place. The bathroom was filled with a wonderfully fragrant mist. Slade had obviously dumped a generous portion of her bubble bath into it plus some of her scented bath salts. He had also pushed the button for the Jacuzzi jets and the water was whipping into a froth. She slid down until she was immersed and leaned her head back, closing her eyes, enjoying the soothing feel of the jets pulsing the water. Wouldn’t it be nice, she thought, if the bath could wash away this nightmare the way it washed away the grime of the day?
She heard the clink of ice and the twist of the taps as the water was shut off. When she opened her eyes, Slade was standing there holding a rocks glass with ice cubes and a generous portion of bourbon.
“A woman after my own heart.” He grinned. “I didn’t look during the weekend. I was afraid you didn’t have anything except wine and I have a feeling whatever this is calls for something stronger.”
She took the glass and swallowed some of the smooth aged whiskey. The burn as it slid down her throat was a pleasant feeling and almost at once began to soothe her jangled nerves. Was she overreacting to this? After all, it was just some mail. Wherever it came from, the sender couldn’t just give out her new address, right? And the thought that this might be someone she knew, someone she worked with, maybe even someone she thought of as a friend— She couldn’t help the tiny shudder that raced over her.
Slade sat on the edge of the big tub, facing her, watching her sip the rich bourbon. Kari wanted to close her eyes, take a deep breath, and when she opened them, everything would have gone away. But no, it was still there. All the fear, all the terror, everything she thought she’d at least tucked away with the move had come rolling back like a thick black fog. She drank as slowly as she could, but Slade was not moving and nor apparently was he going to let her move until she told him what was bothering her.
“Slade,” she began.
He held up a hand. “Don’t even think it. We may have only been together for a couple of days, but this thing between us started five years ago. We have strong feelings for each other, Kari. There is something here that’s way beyond casual. I’m not sure I know where it’s going and I’ll bet you don’t, either, but it won’t go anywhere if we keep secrets from each other.”
There was such concern in his eyes she had to look away.
“You don’t need my problems.” She wanted to sink beneath the bubbles and pretend this wasn’t happening. How could she bring her troubles into his life? “You have a job that requires all your concentration. I don’t want this to spill over onto you.”
“Sugar, you were nervous as a cat when you got that call. Right now you look like you’d spring if I touched you. There’s something wrong and I want to know what it is.” He grinned. “If I have to feed you the entire bottle of booze to get it out of you, I will.”
Kari studied his face, set in stubborn lines. No, he wasn’t going to let her keep quiet about it. Nor was he going to get up and walk away. Maybe telling him would ease some of the fear she still lived with, the fear that had exploded after Ross’s call.
“Slade, I—”
He shook his head. “Whatever you’re going to say, forget it.”
“You’re going to be sorry you asked,” she warned.
“You let me be the judge of that, but I don’t think that’s a worry here.”
He wasn’t going to give up. She could see it in the line of his body and the set of his jaw. If she told him, he might decide she was too much trouble and get up and walk away. But if she didn’t tell him, she knew for sure he’d be gone in the next five minutes. She might just as well give up and give in.
“Okay.” She took another fortifying sip of her drink and set the glass down.
Slade took her hand and wove his fingers through hers. “Take your time, darlin’. Don’t rush it. Just…however you want to tell it.”
She hadn’t thought the retelling would be so painful, or dredge up even more fear. Somehow, putting it into words brought it all back. But Slade’s hand locked with hers gave her strength and comfort. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes and gave it all to him, chapter and verse. The flowers with their special meanings. The notes. The hang-up phone calls. She held it together pretty well until she got to the part where she’d woken up and someone had been in her bedroom.
Slade’s fingers tightened with hers, but when he spoke his voice was low and even, unhurried, calm.
“He didn’t touch you, did he?”
“No. I think I frightened him away, although it was a toss-up which of us was the most scared.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’ve had the nightmare so often that I’m not even sure what’s real and what’s my imagination anymore.”
“You don’t strike me as someone who’d just imagine something like this, especially with all the things leading up to it,” he reminded her.
“I can still feel that brief touch on me, still hear that whisper of a voice. God, Slade. I can’t seem to stop dreaming about it and…” She let her words trail off.
He brought her hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “Nightmares can really fuck with our minds, but they are most often rooted in reality. And with everything else that happened, including this latest episode? I’d say you didn’t imagine it.”
“I came here to get away from it, you know.” She unwound her fingers from his and reached for the bourbon. “I left Chicago like a thief in the night. No forwarding address. No goodbye party. No anything. Ross helped me a lot. He even helped me get this job. I’m very grateful to him.”
He looked at her through narrowed eyes. “So, were you and he…you know…?”
“What?” Kari’s eyes flew open. “You’re kidding, right? Ross and me? He’s a good boss and a good friend who is very happily married.” She found herself smiling for the first time since Ross’ phone call. “Why Slade Donovan, are you jealous?”
“Damn straight and don’t you forget it.” He leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers, lips firm and warm and still tasting faintly of the ice cream.
“You know,” she told him, “you’ve got enough to deal with doing what you do. You don’t need my baggage to deal with on top of it.”
His smile almost wiped away her reservations about his involvement. Almost, but not quite.
“You have the sexiest baggage of anyone I know.” His voice was low and soft. “And I’ve had a lot of practice as a baggage handler. Let me help you with this.”
“B-But we hardly know each other. We’ve just—”
“I don’t want this to get in the way of whatever missions you have once you get back to base,” she protested.
“I’m very good at compartmentalizing. Believe me.” He gave her a look that she was sure could see clear through her. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. I am not going to let anything happen to you. Count on it.” He picked up the sponge. “Now let’s finish this bath. I have other activities in mind. Then we need to talk about this again. Any and every little detail can be a help. You never know what triggers something.”
Now she saw heat and hunger in his eyes. Surprised, considering the shock of Ross’s call, she felt an answering fire in her body.
“Lean your head back and close your eyes.” His deep voice was low and seductive. “Let me relax you. You’re wound up tight as a drum. That’s it,” he said, when she took in a breath and let it out slowly. “Good girl. Keep your eyes closed and just feel.”
Kari took another sip of the rich drink, the pleasant burn beginning to settle her nerves, and did as he asked. She felt the bath sponge coasting over her skin, skimming her neck and shoulders and arms. The soft material danced over her breasts, circling the mounds before stroking across her nipples. Little by little, as Slade moved the fluffy sponge over her body, her muscles relaxed and the tension that gripped her slowly eased.
The phone call from Ross, the worry about who her stalker might be and if he’d found her, all faded until she was wrapped in a cocoon of sensation. Slade swept the sponge from side to side over her stomach, gliding back and forth before sliding it down her legs and nudging her thighs apart. The touch of the sponge moving over her mound and down her slit was so erotic the walls of her pussy pulsed with need.
Then she felt it press between the lips of her sex and rub lightly on her now ultra-sensitive clit and her hips lifted off the bottom of the tub, rising toward Slade’s touch. She wanted his hands on every part of her body, inside her body, touching every inch of her. She tried to signal him to press harder, move faster, but he seemed determined to go at his own very slow pace. Kari couldn’t believe how easily and quickly he aroused her.
“Mmmmm.” The sound drifted from her lips as her body clenched with need.
Slade pressed the sponge harder, rubbing the inside of her labia. Electricity jolted through her system and she lifted her hips slightly to meet the pressure. The glass with the whiskey in it wobbled in her grip until he took it from her grasp. Good. She didn’t need the alcohol. Slade’s touch was more than enough. She pinched her nipples, squeezing them until pleasure spiked in a painful surge.
“That’s it.” Slade’s deep voice was low in her ear, his breath a warm breeze on her skin. “I like to watch you play with your nipples. Squeeze them like that. They’re so pretty, such a nice dark rose. They get even darker when they tighten and swell. Did you know that?”
Kari had no idea what she knew. Her entire focus was on the pleasurable pain in her swollen nipples and the throbbing in her clit. She clenched her internal muscles as they flexed and pulsed. The little ruffles on the sponge brushed back and forth on her swollen nub in just the right way to drive her even crazier.
When the orgasm came, it roared up from inside her, seizing her body and sending the inner walls of her sex into a frenzy of throbbing. She tightened her grip on her nipples, moaning loudly. Then, at the very peak, Slade dropped the sponge and thrust two fingers deep inside her. She pushed down on them, gripping them with her internal muscles as she spasmed over and over.
“That’s it, darlin’.” He worked his fingers in and out. “Let it come. Give over to it. That’s all you need to focus on, the pleasure, the sensations. Yeah, like that.”
The water sloshed as she hitched her hips and bore down on his fingers again and again, until the last of the tremors subsided. She lay there, head back, eyes still closed as at last her body relaxed. She unbent her legs, letting them slide down in the water. Slade kept his hand in place until she was at last so limp she could barely move. Then he removed it, let it drift up her body to caress her nipples before cupping her chin. Next, his mouth was there on hers, his lips firm, his tongue probing oh so lightly.
At last she opened her eyes and looked into Slade’s hazel ones, flecks of gold and brown gleaming like polished metal. What she saw there rocked her. There was so much feeling, so much caring, so much desire. How had they gotten here so fast?
Or maybe it wasn’t fast at all. He kept reminding her this had all started five years ago. She was ready to believe it had been simmering and building since then, waiting for them to find each other again and reconnect.
“I think I’m ready to get out of the tub.” Her voice was a little shaky.
“No problem,” he assured her. “Leave it to me.”
He lifted her out and stood her on the large mat while he dried her off with a fluffy towel. Then he wrapped her in it and carried her back to the bedroom. He left her sitting there hugging the towel to her body while he dug through her drawers and found a sleep shirt.
“That’s not very glamorous.” Kari gave a little hysterical giggle.
“We have plenty of time for glamor. Tonight it’s just plain Slade and Kari.”
In what seemed like seconds, he had the towel whisked away, the sleep shirt over her head and her body tucked into bed, the bedclothes pulled up to her chin.
“Don’t move,” he ordered.
“Okay.”
She huddled into the warmth of the covers while Slade jogged into the bathroom. She heard him drain the water from the tub, then the sound of the shower came on. She closed her eyes and tried to recapture the peace she’d found when he’d made her feel so good in the tub. Then she wondered if she’d ever find that serenity again. If whoever this was would ever get tired of the game and leave her alone.
Before she knew it he was back, showered and dried, and climbing into bed with her, his naked body curled around hers. His muscular arm wrapped around her waist and he slid her close to him.
“Later we’ll worry about dinner,” he told her. “I want to get some food into you and another drink. Then I want to go over all this again so I have a good starting point.”
She frowned. “Starting point for what?”
“For finding out who this is. And for how I’m going to keep you safe while I’m on my next mission.”
Her stomach knotted. His next mission. Of course. He’d be gone and she’d be here wondering if whoever this was had managed to get her new address. Maybe he was right about a permanent relationship between them being impossible.
He kissed her cheek. “Close your eyes, babe. I’m going to take care of it.”
Kari was sure she would spend the night lying there wide awake, but within seconds she felt herself falling into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep, spooned against Slade.
Chapter Eleven
The bath had been the best medicine Slade could have given her. Shower, bath, he seemed to know exactly what she needed. Despite the disturbing phone call Kari had received and the details of her hair-raising situation she’d shared with him, he’d relaxed her enough so they’d managed to have a great evening celebrating her win in court. If there was an underlying note of strain, well, he couldn’t blame her. But he felt uneasy about leaving her to go back to work.
“I’m fine when I’m at work,” she assured him. “I’m surrounded by people and I’ll even eat lunch in the break room, if that will satisfy you.”
“It would,” he agreed. “Have someone pick it up for you.”
“Slade, I’m pretty sure whoever this is doesn’t know I’m now in San Antonio.” But her words didn’t have the ring of positive assurance he’d have liked.
“Pretty sure i
sn’t good enough,” he pointed out.
“Okay, very sure.”
She smiled, but he could hear the strain in her voice.
When Slade got his hands on whoever this was, there’d be very few pieces of that man left. And he would get his hands on him. He would go after this like he did a regular mission. It was unfortunate, however, that his day job would soon interfere with that. He and his team were due back on base Sunday and he had no idea how long it would be until he got some downtime again. He’d have to make some kind of arrangements to ensure Kari’s safety. At the moment he just didn’t know what those would be, but he planned to do some digging while he was at the ranch.
Beau had spent the night with his lady so he picked Slade up Tuesday morning to take him home. But Tuesday and Wednesday Slade left the SUV for the guys and used the pickup to drive into the city so he could spend those nights with Kari. Thursday morning she told him she’d be working very late that night.
“I’ve got depositions all day,” she explained, “and then hours reviewing case law for a new trial I’m just starting to prep for. By the time I’m finished with everything, all I’ll be good for is to fall into bed and collapse.”
“You could fall into bed with me,” he teased.
“It’s very tempting.” She shook her head. “But even when I’m asleep my mind will be a million miles away. I’d rather save it all up for a great weekend.”
“You don’t get much of a rest between trials, do you?” he commented.
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “The busier I am the better.”
He wasn’t comfortable not being with her, especially with this new development in her situation. He was trying to walk a fine line between protection and obsession. He did get her to agree to text him regularly and had to be satisfied with that until he could get something better in place.
According to Trey, the woman he’d hooked up with was also an attorney, but not criminal, like Kari. She worked for a silk-stocking corporate law firm in San Antonio that represented high-ticket clients. At first Slade had wondered what the two of them could possibly have in common. Then he gave himself a mental kick for selling his team member short. Trey had graduated from the University of Michigan with a history degree and a concentration in military science. He could hold his own with anyone. But Kenzi was off to Miami for two days to meet with a client, which left Trey at loose ends for the moment.