“Ready to talk about the underwear Ted found?”
“I didn’t say they were mine.” She winced when he lowered her foot to the floor.
“You didn’t deny it either.”
This time she sighed. “I’m sore and tired. Is there any way we can table this until tomorrow?”
The officer in him wanted to say no. The man knew the answer would be yes. Maybe they both needed to take a break until morning. “Let’s go to bed.”
“You go ahead.” She stood up, leaving him on the floor next to her bare feet.
“We both go.”
“Until the knee stops thumping, I won’t be able to do much other than toss and turn.” She tried to take a step but limped instead.
He jumped to his feet and put his hand on her elbow. “We’re going to bed, Annie.”
She shook off his hold. “I get it, I’m still a hostage. You think I’m going to run.”
He hadn’t until she put the idea in his head. Now he’d have to worry about that, too. “The thought had occurred to me.”
“Well, I’ve got news for you, genius. I can barely walk, and I don’t have anywhere to go. Right now you’re stuck with me.”
“Then we’ll do it this way.” He scooped her up into his arms and felt some relief when her arms wound around his neck in response. Hitting the light switch with his elbow, he marched out of the bathroom and into the adjoining bedroom.
“I can walk, you know,” she said.
He noticed she wasn’t fighting him or demanding to get down. That could mean only one thing: her knee hurt a hell of a lot more than she was letting on.
“Indulge me and stay quiet for a second,” he said.
“Or what, you’ll use a gag as well as the handcuffs?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“This attitude of yours is why I didn’t invite you into the bathroom.”
He thought about dumping her on the bed, letting her bounce a time or two, then walking away. No matter how tempting, he decided against it. Whatever crap came out of her mouth and whatever she thought of him, he would help her.
Unless they killed each other first.
“A little gratitude wouldn’t be a bad idea,” he said.
She blinked several times, as if the comment actually shocked her. “For what?”
“Rescuing you. Feeding you. Not turning you in to Ted. Not throwing you in jail. Pick any of those.”
He stopped making a list. Once he started he’d never stop. The goal was to make her comfortable, convince her to trust him and get some answers. Not antagonize her.
“Are you ever going to put me down?” she asked in a chilly voice.
Comfortable. Not antagonizing. He repeated those places in his head.
Yeah, great in theory. Impossible in practice.
Chapter 12
Kane hadn’t counted on how good Annie would feel snuggled in his arms. How sexy she would look curled up against his chest and hanging on to him.
Comfort hell. That he could walk was a small miracle. So was her willingness to ignore the erection poking into her hip.
“I told you that I can’t sleep with the pain.” Her fingers slipped into his hair.
He doubted she even noticed the intimate gesture. “Did you take some aspirin?”
“Of course,” she snapped back.
“You are not the best patient in the world.”
“I’ve had a hard couple of days.”
“Might help to share. Let me hear the story and then see what I can do for you.”
She made a face. “Nice try.”
He eased her onto the mattress and fluffed up the pillows behind her. That type of thing worked on television. The sensitive hero always did something totally unbelievable like patting a pillow. Looked ridiculous, but he was willing to try anything to help her relax.
He blew out a tense breath. “Move over a bit.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to massage your leg.” He gave her a gentle push until she shifted to the middle of the mattress. “I’d prefer not to fall off the bed and on my ass while I do it.”
“I’m fine.” She clamped her lips together. Her thighs followed, so did a sharp intake of breath.
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“What does that mean?”
He pointed at her lips. “Those tiny lines around the corners of your mouth suggest you’re in pain.”
Her gasp—this time from indignation, not pain—nearly knocked him over. “I don’t have lines.”
“I only meant—”
“I’m too young for wrinkles.”
The conversation had taken a turn he didn’t understand. “When did I say wrinkles?”
“That’s what you meant.”
This was why a life without women suited him just fine. They were all nuts. “If I had meant wrinkles, I would have said that.”
She scoffed, and those lips pressed together again.
He tried blowing out a second breath. Then a third. Nothing seemed to calm him down. “Okay, let’s try this. You lie back. I’ll massage your leg. If it hurts, I stop.”
After a slight hesitation, she leaned back all stiff with her hands plastered to her sides. “If it hurts, I’ll kick you.”
“Now there’s something to look forward to,” he grumbled as he moved to the bottom of the bed and started to part her legs.
Her body sprang right back up again into a sitting position. She grabbed the edge of the tee and stretched it toward her knees. The move pulled the neck edge down, flashing him with a view of the tops of her pale breasts.
“Where do you think you’re going?” She actually squealed.
“Your knee is down here. You know, toward the bottom of the bed.”
“Your head needs to stay up here.” She smacked the pillow.
Rather than argue, he let his hands speak for him. With slow certain squeezes, he massaged the ball of her foot. Kneading with his thumbs and soothing with his palms.
“Holy…You’re amazing at that.” With a groan, she flopped back against the pillows.
“I aim to please.” He sat against her outer thigh and reached across her legs to continue his ministrations.
“You do.”
Gently rubbing but never applying too much pressure, his hands moved up her leg. He tended to her calf, then to the area surrounding her knee.
“Mmmm…you could charge for this service.”
Her husky voice sent a wave of heat coursing through his body and straight to his groin. “Just relax and stay quiet.”
He caressed and touched, stroking his fingertips over her bare skin until her eyelids slipped shut. With the stiffness gone, her thighs fell open in a welcoming gesture. The arch in her back eased, and her arms dropped open at her sides as if her bones had turned to mush.
With each pass of his hands, he eased closer to her. As his fingers glided to the top of her knee, his body settled into the vee between her legs. She shifted to make room for him, so that one leg lay behind his back and the other across his knees.
“Damn, Kane.”
Yeah, damn. Shit. Hell. All of those.
The more relaxed she became, the harder he got. Comforting her and wanting her blended together. Her, here in his bed. Him, ready and in need of release.
Just then she tilted her head back and exposed miles of glorious neck. Flowing copper hair spilled over his white pillowcase.
Any smart-ass comment she might have made dissolved on her tongue. Instead, her mouth fell open in a tiny “o.”
The comfort part of the program had been accomplished. Well enough that his shorts felt two sizes too small.
Before he could think through all the ramifications, his hands eased higher. Past her knee and up to her middle thigh. The tiny whimpers at the back of her throat drove him to reach even higher. His palms massaged her warm skin as his fingertips dipped under the edge of her shirt.
If she yelled, screamed or followed through with that promised
kick, he’d deal with it. Hell, he probably deserved a shot or two for changing a therapeutic massage into foreplay.
He’d definitely regret this in the morning. Or when he had to haul her off to jail for kidnapping and murder.
A humming groan escaped her lips. When her hips lifted off the mattress, his hands pushed deeper under her shirt. Then his mouth followed their path. Breathing in the mixture of vanilla and sweet excitement on her bare skin, he kissed his way from the top of her knee, up her leg, to the top of her thigh. When his fingertips traced the elastic band of her bikini underwear, he sent silent thanks to Derek for his good taste.
He stepped over the line from protector to something else. He didn’t trust her or believe her, but he couldn’t stop wanting her. All of her.
He waited for her to push him away. Instead, her thighs fell wide open until he could see the dark patch under the thin yellow panties. Smell the hot scent of her sex.
She wanted him. The message connected in his brain. He wasn’t alone in this cross to the dark side.
Slowly at first, then with increasing firmness, he rubbed his thumbs over the base of her underwear. Pressing and circling until her head fell deeper into the pillows and her hips lifted against his palm. The cotton dampened under his fingers.
He needed to see her.
Shifting his body, he turned onto his stomach and settled deeper into the space between her legs. He slipped his open hands under her panties and up to the waistband. The warmth of her skin seeped into his fingers.
She whispered his name through shuddering breaths.
“Relax, baby.” Feel. Enjoy.
He wanted to prolong the seduction. Watch need wash over her. See all that attitude and strength transformed into desire and frenzied craving. But, having her come, hearing her scream her satisfaction, trumped all that.
With his hands under her panties, he plunged a finger deep inside her. A second joined the first. Pumping and moving. Internal muscles clenched and pulsed around him as her hips rocked back and forth. Pressing in and out, his speed matched the steady thumping in his chest.
Unable to stand another second of a barrier between them, he stripped the cotton down her legs and threw it across the room. Tomorrow he’d find the panties and remember. Right now, he wanted to shut out every memory. Forget every woman who came before her. Just to sneak a taste of her.
He pulled out, then slid his forefinger through her short red hair as his mouth settled over her sex. He licked and sucked. His tongue swept inside her wet body, alternating between short darts and long strokes.
Her back was arched, her breathing shallow. Sheets were clenched in her fists. Kane could see her hovering at the edge of reason. Could sense her orgasm rumbling through her.
He felt her desire in the tensing of her thighs. Saw the changes in her body as a deep flush spread over her pale skin. Heard the deep, drawn-out groan emanating from her throat.
When his fingers joined his tongue inside her, she came. Not on a soft pant and a sigh. No, she yelled her satisfaction. That tough and sassy exterior gave way to a primal orgasm. One so feminine and sexy that he had to bite down to keep from burying his body deep inside hers.
He wanted completion. To fuck her. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not yet.
That meant he needed another shower.
What the hell was that?
Annie asked the silent question a dozen times as she lay there, arms outstretched, half naked and totally confused in Kane’s king-sized bed. Sure, she had experienced a wild orgasm. She let go, listened to her body and found satisfaction like she’d never known.
Then he walked away, favoring a shower to the release of her body.
Yeah, making love with him would have been a mistake.
Yeah, she didn’t have time.
Yeah, he’d hate her, possibly arrest her, if he figured out her plans for Sterling Howard.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
None of that explained how an interested, healthy guy walked away from a sure thing. The erection pressing against her side had not been her imagination. She’d heard the hitch in his breathing when he touched her and found her wet and ready. The guy wasn’t gay. He certainly seemed capable. He knew how to please a woman, that was for sure.
She hadn’t been with hundreds of guys, more like three. Exactly like three, but she could identify a skilled lover when he touched her. She could sense an emotional void when she fell right into it.
The void in question clicked off the lights in the bathroom, then stalked to the bed and slid between the sheets. The bedroom lights blinked off next. She waited for him to wrap her in his arms, maybe offer an explanation for his sudden celibacy preference.
He turned on his side away from her, blocking her out both physically and mentally. Now that she wanted attention, he wanted space.
Tough.
Time to explore the one issue she could think of to account for his sudden strange behavior. “Tell me about your wife.”
“Now?”
“Why not now?”
“This isn’t the time.”
“You are divorced, right?”
“No.”
This was far worse than she figured. Being the other woman was not on her agenda. Ever.
She tugged at his sleeve until he rolled onto his back with a moan. “Kane!”
“What now?”
The darkness made it difficult to read his expression. Hovering over his prone form, she let loose. “What do you mean, what? Start explaining or I will find your gun.”
“Keep your hands off my gun.” He lifted his arms above his head.
When he tried to cover his eyes, she pushed his arm away. She needed to see his reaction. “I’m serious, Kane.”
“Why?”
“Because you…we…you had your—”
He placed his fingers over her mouth. “You’re stuttering.”
“I’m trying to understand what the big secret is,” she mumbled behind his hand.
“We’re not cheating.” He dropped his arm back on the bed. “She’s dead.”
Dead, not killed. This time he didn’t play verbal gymnastics or take all the blame.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
That was it. Whatever information she wanted, she’d have to drag it out of him. “When?”
“About three years ago.”
“What did—”
“We’re ending twenty questions with two. Go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow, and your knee needs some rest.”
She let him change the direction for now. She had the most important information. She’d gather the rest later.
After a tick or two of silence, she started talking again. “What’s so big about tomorrow?”
“I thought we were sleeping.”
“Not until you answer me.” She hated being kept in the dark. Her life ran at a simple level of control. Growing up with a mother who needed pills to wake up and took pills to sleep had taught her to stay focused.
When he didn’t say anything else, she shoved him again. “Kane, I want—”
He swore into his pillow. “You’re sleeping outside from now on.”
“Tell me about tomorrow.”
“If you must know—”
“I must.” He sure was taking his good ol’ time providing the agenda.
“We’re going to commit a felony.”
She rubbed her hands together. “Now you’re talking.”
He yawned and sank deeper under the covers. “Thought you’d like that idea.”
She noticed he also sounded pretty serious.
“Wait, you’re not kidding?” she asked.
“Breaking the law isn’t something I joke about.”
For some reason the idea of being his sidekick in crime excited her. “Any felony in particular?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She curled up next to his side with a hand on his chest. “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
His hand covered hers. “And you know how to screw up a guy’s vacation.”
Chapter 13
When Kane said tomorrow, he forgot to mention he actually meant the early hours of the same day. As in just a few hours after they went to sleep.
As in before sunrise.
As in four o’clock in the damn morning.
Yeah, that was the kind of information that would have been helpful to know before she’d decided to skip his offer of toast a half hour ago. The hunger pangs were taking over. In a few more minutes she’d wrestle anyone to the death over a bran flake.
Standing there in the marina parking lot wearing one of the only two outfits she now owned, Annie shivered from head to foot. Kane had warned her about the early morning trade winds and the chill off the ocean. If he had suggested she change instead of ordering her to do so, she would have listened.
Soon she’d have to deal with his over-the-top bossiness. Unless she starved to death first.
The lights of the marina bounced off the metal trim on the boats and reflected on the water. The shine guided their steps across the deserted lot to the docks. Sailboats, fishing boats and speedboats of all sizes floated on their moorings.
The closer they got to the lapping water, the cooler the breeze felt against her bare legs. The more the smell of fish and salt overshadowed the fragrant scent of plumeria in the night air. By day the view over the vast ocean filled her with awe. At night, like this, the endless darkness sent her stomach flopping.
“There she is.” Kane pointed off to the right, squarely behind the clubhouse, where heavy ropes tied the Samantha Ray to a dock far away from the other boats. The private dock sat behind a locked gate.
Yellow police tape marked the area, warning passersby to keep out. She assumed they planned to ignore that legal mandate.
Part of her feared what they might find once on board, but the rational side of her brain knew Kane stood as her only connection to, and hope for, catching Sterling Howard.
“Do policemen always get up this early?”
“Only when there’s something they need to do.” He shortened his long strides after she stumbled trying to keep up.
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy Page 10