The Warrior In Me

by Anita Philmar

  Yet, until she met him, she hadn’t considered herself a sensual or sexual creature. Maybe even undersexed some would say. Now, she labored to picture her life without him. Try as she may, she’d gone and committed the ultimate mistake by falling in love.

  What a stupid thing to do.

  Embroiled in a murder that involved not only her ex-husband but also his best friend, she should avoid everyone. And what if the police determined she had the best motive and arrested her? Then what? Would he or anyone else believe she was innocent?

  “Can you please quit thinking so hard?” His rough tone startled her. “It’s keeping me awake.”

  She shoved on his arm. “Then let me up.”

  He burrowed his face against her neck. “I like where you are.”

  “But if I’m disturbing your sleep, wouldn’t it be better if I got out of bed?” she countered.

  Without releasing her, he flipped on the lamp on his side of the bed.

  Blinded, she blinked several times to adjust her vision and glanced around at the white walls. The bed sat low to the floor with the creation of two nightstands as an extension from the curve of the headboard. Two doors led from the room, probably the exit and a bathroom or closet. On the other side of the room sat a wall of glass covered by metal blinds that shielded the room from excess heat. “Where are we?”

  “Paradise.” He rolled onto his back. One foot nudged hers, and he stretched his arms up over his head. “And we’re here for a while so you might as well make yourself comfortable.”

  Sitting up, she noted the covers at the end of the bed. Her gaze slid up between their legs. She had on no clothes. Though the idea didn’t distract her as much as the naked man beside her. She swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in her throat. God, he was beautiful.

  She turned away to avoid temptation and moved to exit the bed.

  He grabbed her wrist. “We need to talk.”

  Glancing over her shoulder, she charted a course over his hard body. The primal urge to pounce ripped through her gut, luring her ever closer. With a chokehold on her control, she denied her lust, edged away, and grasped her thighs. “Why don’t we get up and get dressed?”

  “No,” he said, adamantly. “I have no desire to get out of bed. If you want to hear what I have to say, you have to stay in bed, naked.”

  Exasperated, she chewed on her lip to keep from arguing. With them both naked, he’d be tempted to touch. Once he had his hands on her, she’d require even more, and then she’d be in trouble beyond what she already was.

  “What exactly do you want to talk about?” She hoped the conversation would end quickly, and she could escape.

  He tugged on her hand, drawing it to his chest and holding it there. “A number of things, first being the reason we need to stay here for a few days.”

  “Because you want me to yourself,” she muttered under her breath, knowing the odds of that being true were probably a million to one.

  A smile fluttered briefly across his lips before his expression turned serious. “The police have issued a warrant for your arrest.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding?” She studied his face, praying he’d chosen to tease her with the impossibility of such an occurrence and then would offset the outrageous claim with some type of demand, perhaps free access to her body.

  “I only wish I were. Bruce told you yesterday your motive appears to be the best one going at the moment. Especially, when you have Olivia telling the police she heard you threatened Mark.” He cupped a hand over her shoulder and drew her down to his chest.

  “But why would she do that? I never said—” Lily recalled her conversation with Mark when he told her about buying her and Zane out. Upset, she had spouted off “I’ll kill you first” but hadn’t meant anything by the statement.

  “Rex and I both believe she’s telling Detective Callahan what he wants to hear as a way of getting back at you. After all, she was left completely out of his will. What better way to seek vengeance than to frame you?”

  Stifling the panic building inside, Lily lifted her body off his. “Okay, we’re hiding out here until…”

  “Until we have more evidence to prove you weren’t involved.” Sebastian stroked a hand along her arm and cupped her face in his large palm. “Now, tell me why you wanted to meet with Devin?”

  Glancing down at his sculptured body, she reminded herself this was a temporary situation. Once Sebastian found the killer, he would be off to a new case. She’d be all alone again. Still, he had the skills to prove her innocence. “Remember me telling you, Devin was adopted. I remembered his birthday and realized it correlated perfectly with the timeframe in which Violet had Mark’s baby.”

  “You think he might be Mark’s son?”

  “I believe it’s possible. That’s why I wanted to talk to him and see if he’d ever asked Mark if he was his father.” Without conscious planning, she stroked his chest and found the small buds of his breasts with her fingertips.

  Sebastian groaned and captured her hands. “That’s not a motive for murder. Just because the man wouldn’t admit he’s your father is no reason to kill him.” His serious tone had her wondering if he’d previously considered the possibility of Devin killing Mark.

  She hated saying the words aloud. Not only because it’d bring to light the possibility of her assistant being a killer but also shine light on her ex-husband as an uncaring father. Even so, the nagging suspicion wouldn’t go away. “But what if Mark was a DNA match to Devin and refused to help him with his cancer treatment?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Sebastian rose enough to drop a quick kiss on her lips, then fell back to the mattress and drew her on top of him. “That’s exactly what we need. The problem is proving it.”

  The dark, crisp hair running over his chest and stomach sent tingles of awareness over her skin. Fighting to keep her thoughts on who might have murdered Mark, she sputtered, “Please keep your distance. With you so close, all I can think about is sex.”

  His dark eyes turned almost black. With feather light caress, he traced a hand down her spine. “That’s the next thing on our list.”

  “But we haven’t finished discussing ways in which Devin might have discovered Mark was his father.” She trudged through her memory, straining to recall if she’d seen Devin doing a DNA test on himself.

  “Too late, I’ve moved on.”

  “But I didn’t mean we needed to talk about sex, only that I…” She couldn’t be in this vulnerable position without wanting more. The alluring pressure of his hand on her ass had moisture already weeping from her core.

  “Like it as much as I do?”

  She frowned, annoyed at how he kept twisting her words. “Sebastian, be serious. We have more important things to discuss.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, sex with you is serious. The kind where a man is willing to spend the rest of his life making love to you.”

  “Whoa, you’re way past serious. You’ve moved into the having lost your freaking mind category.” She couldn’t help her skepticism. The man had a life. Why would he give it up to live with her?

  He propelled an impatient hand through his hair. “Why do you say that? Have I done anything to indicate I plan to leave?”

  “No. I mean…” How should she respond? Yes, he’d promised to see her through the ordeal of Mark’s murder and protect her from harm. Both were part of his job. A long-term relationship fell in a completely different category.

  Shoving her hands against his chest, she lifted her upper body away from his. A muscle in her leg twitched, she struggled with the need to get out of bed and run. “You’re not talking about just sex anymore.”

  “Oh, I get it. It’s the idea of commitment that scares you.” He rolled over and nailed her to the bed. “Why?”

  Damn, this was exactly what she had been afraid of when she’d agreed to sleep with him back in Alaska. She’d failed once in her duties as a wife. She had no desire to try again. “You’re the one who lives in another state
and travels all over the country on different cases.”

  “Which means I can’t settle down with one woman?” He queried as if she had the answer for him.

  “Why would you want to and especially with me? I’m a boring, science geek who’s lost in the ancient past.” Her gaze glided over his dark hair, square face, and wide mouth. Every place his body touched hers sizzled with a tempestuous heat. “You’re so hot. You can have any woman you want. There’s no way you could ever be completely happy with someone like me.”

  “And you know this how?” He shifted his weight to one elbow and cupped his free hand around her breast.

  A wave of pure lust shot through her. She groaned at the salacious assault. “Because the excitement of a new lover is intoxicating, you want to experience the thrill over and over. Marriage isn’t like that.”

  He teased his thumb back and forth over her nipple, each strike wearing down her ability to think clearly. “Then you can’t see yourself as my wife?”

  “No. Yes.” She had to tell him the truth. “I’m no good at it. Just ask Ma— It doesn’t matter. I spend hours at the lab, and I’ve been accused of being a workaholic. I’m a mediocre cook and terrible in social situations. I bring nothing to a relationship.”

  “I think you’re underestimating what happens when we make love. I’ve found a connection with you I’ve never found with anyone else.” His gaze dropped from hers, and he plucked at her nipple. The ruthless caress had the tip tightening with need. Other parts of her body responded as well. Quivers fluttered through her stomach and additional moisture pooled between her legs.

  “But there’s no way to know how long it will last.” She smoothed her hands over his shoulders and toyed with the hair at the back of his neck. “We might wake up one day and find we were just fooling ourselves.”

  “I’m willing to take a chance.” He leaned closer, his breath brushing teasingly against her sensitized skin. Without warning, he licked at her breast, drawing a circle around the stiff peak and driving her slowly insane with the anticipation of having his mouth cover the tip.

  “I’m, uh, not sure that’s wise.” She knew in her heart of hearts she’d gladly lose this argument. Nonetheless, she couldn’t bear the burden of ever disappointing him either.

  “Then just be crazy—about me.”

  His comment reawakened her fear of being locked away in a hospital room, restraints on her hands and legs, her cries for help going unnoticed. Air backed up in her lungs and she fought to breathe.

  They had believed she was crazy for wanting to die.

  Now, Sebastian wanted her to take the leap into insanity again by allowing him into her life. He wanted her to give herself completely to him. Could she take the risk? Trust another man after Mark’s infidelity?

  The two were nothing alike.

  Nevertheless, if Sebastian left, her world would crumble into a million pieces. Fighting to come up with the right words, she realized she’d already stepped over the edge and had fallen into the dangerous snare of needing him. No matter what, her life would never be the same.

  “I can’t breathe.”

  ****

  Drunk on the taste of Lily, Sebastian didn’t immediately react to her distress. The curling of her fingers in his hair alerted him to the problem. He glanced at her panicked face and realized she was beginning to hyperventilate. “Easy, babe.”

  He rolled off the side of the bed, stood long enough to lift her upper body off the mattress and settle back down behind her. “Now, breathe.”

  “I can’t—” She wrapped her arms over the one he had around her waist, holding onto him as if he were her lifeline.

  “Yes, you can. I just upset you with my off-hand remark about being crazy, didn’t I?” He didn’t know why it upset her so much to have been placed in the psych ward of a hospital, but any reference to a mental problem set her off.

  She bobbed her head against his shoulder, her hair brushing seductively against his cheek. Gasping for air, she drew too much air into her lungs.

  “Breathe with me. In…” He pulled his arm away from her stomach and noisily drew in air.

  “Out.” He tightened his grip on her and forced her to release her breath. Working her through several deep inhalations, he supported her as she relaxed against him. “That’s it.”

  After a few more breaths, she released a huge sigh and slumped against him. “I’m sorry. I just started thinking about how much I love you, and if you left, what I would do. Then I panicked and couldn’t catch my breath.”

  Pleasure washed through him, setting his body on fire. No woman had ever admitted she loved him. Yes, they had enjoyed themselves during sex, but the “I love you” announcement had never been uttered.

  In truth, he hadn’t expected to hear any woman say them, not with his mixed heritage. He’d learned from an early age, people outside his community didn’t exactly enjoy socializing with him. Discrimination might be a socially unacceptable word, but a fact of life he’d learned to take in stride.

  Shifting her to one side, he peered into her flushed face. A desire to possess consumed him. She belonged to him now. “I keep telling you. I’m not going anywhere. You and I are a team, a couple. I guess I’ll have to slide a ring on your finger to convince you.”

  She blinked and swiveled around so she could face him. “Please don’t. Not now, not when the police could arrive and cart me off to jail any minute. I have no proof I didn’t kill Mark or Cain.”

  “Sure, you do. You rode home with Bruce the day Cain was killed. You would’ve had to turn right around after getting home and gone back to the lab immediately for the timing to work.” Sebastian had rehashed these details earlier in the car while driving to the safe house. “And you were on your way to Alaska when someone poisoned Mark.”

  “But I could have switched out his vitamins a day or two ahead of time.” She pointed out as if reviewing the evidence from the police’s point of view.

  The serious glint in her brown eyes set him off. He had to make her understand she wasn’t alone in this battle. He had her back and intended to argue her case. “True, but have you ever fired a gun?”

  Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No, but I could have hired someone else to kill Cain. He must have somehow discovered I wanted Mark out of the way.”

  Enticed by her creamy, white skin, he inched closer and closer using an intimidating glare to keep her focused on his face and not on his movements. “And is there any unexplained movement of money from one of your accounts?”

  She eased back, vainly trying to keep her distance from him. “No. But I could’ve used a partner like Zane or Devin. They did the dirty work because I promised them a portion of the lab after Mark was gone.”

  He continued stalking her, driving her down onto the bed and hovering over her. “Not wise, because one of them decided to shoot at you. Did you not give them something they wanted?”

  She guided her hands down the center of his body. “Yes, with Mark dead, Devin could probably use Mark’s bone marrow.”

  As if suddenly realizing the truth of the statement, she lifted her chest. “That’s right, we should’ve talked to Devin before we had Mark buried.”

  The fingers on his chest diverted direction and grabbed hold of his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. “I should call him.”

  “No. If Devin was truly interested in Mark’s bone marrow, he would’ve said something before now.” Sebastian eased over her, demanding her concentration stay on him. The smooth glide of her skin under his sparked a hunger in his groin.

  “Wait, maybe he didn’t because he feared he’d become a suspect. I mean I would have been tempted to murder Mark if he refused to help me if I was dying,” Lily toyed with his hair. The irresistible gesture indicated her confidence in her supposition.

  “Are you saying you think Devin killed both Cain and Mark?” He got the eerie feeling she spoke the truth.

  “Him or Olivia,” she offered and tilted her
head slightly to peer up at him. “You choose.”

  “Why Olivia?”

  “Because if she really did hear Mark and I arguing, she’d know he no longer planned to go through with buying Zane and I out of our portions of the lab. He changed his mind. Or rather I changed his mind. Anyway, maybe she thought Mark had no reason for marrying her.”

  “But why kill him?” He liked her deductive skills. After talking to Rex, he’d come up with the same conclusion she had, but he still hadn’t figured out a good reason yet for Olivia to commit murder.

  “Good point, but she may not have known he hadn’t signed his new will yet. They drew them up weeks ago, but Mark elected to wait until after the wedding to sign his.” Lily bit her lip.

  “What?”

  Her hands clamped around his bicep. “What if Devin and Olivia teamed up? They seemed pretty chummy at the funeral.”

  “Doubtful, and you’re making a case against Devin without knowing whether or not Mark was his father?”

  “Then let me go back to the lab and do a DNA test?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Now, Lily, you know I can’t do that?” Sebastian’s indulgent tone and the heat in his eyes told Lily he was changing his tactics. He would allow her to divert the subject from their future together. However, the conversation hadn’t eased his hunger for sex.

  Needing to have his hands on her, she lifted an inquisitive brow. “Then what should we talk about now?”

  “I believe action is in order,” he said softly, leaning down and clamping his mouth over hers. His tongue darted quickly past her lips, and he deepened the kiss. His erotic taste flowed through her, awakening the ravenous hunger for more. No man had ever tasted this good, sinfully scrumptious with a kick that set her heart into overdrive.

  Add to that how his magical hands drove her wild, and she’d swear he’d somehow taken possession of her body the first time they made love. She couldn’t get enough. One kiss led to two, two didn’t fill the need, three just wet her…