by Anne Rainey
Wade turned her to her back, then slid his tongue over her plump lower lip, knowing the instant she woke. He pul ed back and watched her eyes flutter open. “Hi,” he murmured.
She pushed her hair off her forehead. “Hi.”
“Jonas wil be here in a few minutes. We need to get up and get dressed.”
“Oh, of course.” She bit her lip and looked away.
He cupped her chin and tugged her face back to his. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
She shrugged. “This feels like the awkward morning after.”
“It’s actual y ten o’clock at night, not morning, and there’s nothing awkward about what we did. Now, if you had stood on your head while I licked your pretty pussy, then I could understand your feeling a little awkward.”
She laughed and slapped his forearm, which was stil wrapped tight around her middle. This time when her gaze met his it was fil ed with joy.
“How do you do that?”
He flicked the tip of her nose. “Do what?”
“Make me feel so at ease. I’ve never been good around the opposite sex. I’ve always been too shy, and I usual y end up saying something or doing something completely embarrassing.”
“First, I’m glad you’re shy around other men. Let’s keep it that way. Second, the only thing you need to be around me is you.”
She cupped his cheek in her palm. “I can do that.”
“Good.” He kissed her, keeping it quick and light, lest he get distracted, then scooted off the bed. He held out a hand, and she took it wil ingly.
He looked down her body and hummed his approval. “You are a sight, pretty Gracie.”
She looked down at herself and grimaced. “My bruises are turning al sorts of shades. Not exactly sexy, Wade.”
“Al I see is pierced nipples that I want to lick. Swol en pussy lips that I want to suck on. And”—he turned her around—“a sexy ass that I desperately want to fuck.”
“Wade.” His name, nothing more.
He turned her toward him again and cocked his head to the side. “And how do you always do that? ”
“Do what?”
“Say my name. Al you do is say ‘Wade,’ and I know that you’re turned on.”
“How can you tel just from a single word?”
“I can see it on your face; hear it in your breathless voice. And, I can smel the delicious scent of your arousal, Gracie.”
“Oh.”
He winked and stepped back, away from temptation. He slid open a dresser drawer and pul ed out a pair of worn, cotton shorts and an old Tshirt from his army days. “Here.” He handed them to her. “You can wear these.”
She didn’t take them. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I could just put my own clothes back on.”
“Uh-uh. I’d much rather see you in my clothes.” He pul ed her arms away from her body and started to dress her. “Raise your arms over your head for me, sweetheart.” When she did, he was careful not to hurt her as he slipped the T-shirt over her cast. After pul ing it down, hiding the al ure of her gorgeous breasts, Wade knelt down and started on her shorts. To distract himself from the fact that her soft pussy was within kissing distance, he asked, “How’s the wrist feeling? Need another half a pil ?”
Gracie placed her hands on his shoulders for support. “I think it might be time for another. It’s a little sore.”
As he tugged the shorts up her calves, he sent her a hard glare. “How sore?”
She took over tugging the shorts on once they reached her thighs. Dressed now, she stepped back. “Just a twinge, real y.”
She was lying to him; he could see it in the way she frowned and bit her lower lip. “You’re more than a little sore.” He stood and closed the distance between them. “You should have said something earlier.”
Her chin went up in the air. Damn, she was adorable. If she was going for intimidating, it wasn’t working for shit. “Wel , I’m saying something now.”
He heard a knock on the front door. “Ah, saved by the knock.” Wade grabbed her hand; entwining their fingers seemed as natural as breathing. “Come on; let’s get those pil s, then we can get to work on those e-mails.”
“What’s Jonas going to do with them?”
When they were halfway down the stairs, Jonas knocked again. Impatient bastard. “He’l try to track down the IP address. I would do it myself, but computers boggle my mind. I’m lucky to get the damn thing turned on.”
When they reached the living room, Gracie looked up at him and grinned. “So, Jonas is the brains, and you’re the muscle, huh?”
She was tweaking him, and he loved it. The wal was coming down. He cupped her chin in his palm, more because he wanted an excuse to touch her than anything else, and growled, “Be good.”
She rose on her toes and murmured, “Or what?”
Wade started to tel her, but Jonas’s fist against the door interrupted him. What had he been thinking texting Jonas? He could stil be wrapped around Gracie, al warm and cozy.
In two long strides, Wade crossed the room and flung the door wide. “Wil you stop it already! I heard you the first time, damn it.”
Jonas pushed his way in. Some things never changed. “Hel , took you long enough.”
Wade reached over and flipped on the light. “A little fucking patience would do you good.”
Jonas’s face split into a grin when he saw Gracie standing in the middle of the room. Wade watched him rake his gaze over her body, slowly.
When he seemed fixated on her chest, Wade pushed him, hard, ready to gouge the lecher’s eyes out. Jonas stumbled, but wasn’t dismayed.
He started toward Gracie. To what? Hug her? Flirt? No way in hel . Wade moved around him, cutting him off and effectively blocking Jonas’s view of Gracie’s sweet tits. “Gracie, can you grab your computer and boot it up for me?”
“Sure.”
After Gracie turned around, Jonas flipped him off and whispered, “Kil joy.”
Wade felt a headache coming on. “Let’s remember why you’re here.”
Jonas waved a hand in the air. “IP address. Stalker. Yeah, yeah.”
Gracie moved past them and went to the kitchen table. Wade stared, transfixed by her precise movements. Her fiery red hair was al mussed and looking sexier than ever. The voluptuous curves of her ass beckoned him to reach out and squeeze. She sat the laptop on the oak tabletop, then pul ed out a chair and sat down. He noted the way she used only her right hand. Already she was getting used to doing things one-handed.
Then he remembered the pain pil s. He looked around the room for her purse but came up short. “Where’s your purse?”
“Oh, I think it might be upstairs in the library.”
He smiled when her cheeks started to turn pink. “Be right back.”
He took the steps two at a time, not wil ing to leave Jonas alone with Gracie any longer than necessary. He hadn’t liked the look on his friend’s face when he’d stared at her breasts. Wade didn’t think Gracie’s piercings were visible through the thin cotton T, but damn, he should have given her a sweatshirt to wear instead.
Wade located Gracie’s purse on the chair next to the bookshelf. She must have put it there after she’d placed the cal to the doctor. Christ, he wanted Jonas gone. Wade wanted Gracie beneath him again. First things first. If they could find out more information about Gracie’s stalker, then maybe they could track the prick down. Gracie would final y feel safe.
Safety trumped his hard-on.
When Wade came back into the kitchen he found Jonas leaning over Gracie’s shoulder with one hand beside her on the table, practical y caging her in. Wade ground his teeth and just barely kept himself from leaping. He handed Gracie her purse. “Do me a favor, babe.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah?”
Wade stopped, stared. God, she was beautiful when she smiled like that. It lit her entire face. “Grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator and take half a pil before that wrist gets any wo
rse.”
She rol ed her eyes. “Yes, doctor.” Not giving him a chance to reply, she looked over at Jonas and said, “Once it’s booted up just hit the e-mail icon, and it’l pop up. You’l see a folder cal ed ‘Admirer.’ I’ve stored al his e-mails in there. Any new ones that come in wil go in there as wel .” She vacated the chair and turned to Wade. “Mind if I use your restroom?”
Wade cupped the back of her head and hauled her in for a quick, hard kiss. “Use the one upstairs. And take your time.” He wanted to have a word or two with Jonas, and he didn’t want Gracie overhearing.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice a little shaky. She picked up her purse and reached into the fridge for the water, then headed back up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Wade grabbed Jonas by the front of the shirt. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Jonas quirked a brow, and his lips twitched. “Uh, I thought I was here to track down a stalker. What did you think I was doing?”
“Flirting with Gracie. And you can wipe that innocent look off your damn face, I know you too wel .”
Jonas grinned, as if he weren’t in danger of dying at any moment. “She is a pretty little thing. Al those curves. Mmm, makes a man want to reach out and touch.”
Stepping closer, Wade bit out, “She’s off-limits. Touch her, flirt with her, hel , look at her wrong, and I’l make it so you’re the one with the broken bones. Got that?”
A frown replaced the shit-eating grin. “You’re awful y damn touchy about this one. What’s your problem?”
“This one? Hel , Jonas, she’s not a damn poodle. She’s a woman, and she’s been through hel . Give her some fucking breathing room.”
“Like you are, you mean?”
Wade released him and watched as Jonas went about straightening his shirt. What the hel was wrong with him? He’d never had the urge to hit Jonas before. But then again he’d never been so jealous over a woman either. It was damned unsettling. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jonas took the seat Gracie had occupied and started going to work on her computer. “You’re panting after her like a bul who’s just spotted the pretty red flag.”
Wade watched as Jonas pul ed up Gracie’s e-mail. He hit a few more buttons and e-mail started to download. He’d connected her computer to their wireless network apparently. It pissed him off that Jonas knew how to do shit like that. It wasn’t that Wade couldn’t; he’d just never wanted to learn. It had seemed easier to let Jonas handle that end of things. Now, he wished he could be the one touching Gracie’s computer.
There was something strangely intimate about it. Jonas was touching something of Gracie’s. Keys that her fingers had stroked. Now Jonas was touching those same keys. Jealousy. A damned ugly emotion. “I’m not panting. You just worry about finding this prick.”
Jonas started to flip through the folder Gracie had told them about. Wade pul ed up a chair and started reading. After the first two e-mails, Gracie reappeared. He looked up and saw the embarrassment. As if somehow she’d brought this al on. Like it was her fault some asshole had set his sights on her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged until she was sitting on his lap. Ah, now that was much better. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, baby. This guy is messed up. If it weren’t you, it’d be some other woman.” And then, because he couldn’t help himself, he kissed her.
Wade pried her lips open with his tongue, too eager to wait a minute longer to taste her sweet flavor. He needed her, ached for her like no other. She opened wil ingly. Her body was pliant under his seeking hands. Her slender arms wrapped around his neck, and his strong hands wrapped around her waist. His tongue dueled with hers. Sucking and savoring her sweetness. He heard someone cough and remembered then they weren’t alone. Gracie pul ed back, ending the kiss. The hunger in her gaze had him wishing Jonas would just disappear.
“E-mails,” Jonas reminded him.
Wade wil ed his raging hard-on down and gritted out, “Right.”
14
Gracie wanted Wade with a desperation she’d never before felt. It was insane the way he could so easily light her on fire. A look, a touch, a simple smile, and she went up in flames. She’d always been too embarrassed to kiss a man when others were around. Public displays of affection weren’t her thing. And yet, had Jonas stayed silent, she knew she would have gone on kissing Wade for as long as possible.
To get her mind off the erection pressing into her bottom, she pointed to the laptop and asked, “So, how does this work exactly?”
Jonas tapped the screen. “Every e-mail has an IP address. I’m going take that address and feed it into an IP tracer site.”
Confused and distracted by the way Wade kept drawing little circles on her thigh with his middle finger, Gracie asked, “A what?”
Jonas crossed his arms and sat back. “There are tons of online sites where you can simply input the address, and they’l tel you a general location of the user. They’l even tel you what operating system the person is using, and let you know who the person’s Internet service provider is.”
Intrigued now, Gracie sat up straighter. “Wow, I had no idea that was possible.”
Jonas grinned. “It’s not a big deal. Anyone can do it.” He looked back at the computer screen, his smile turning into a scowl. “But I’m not feeling real confident.”
“Why?”
“This guy doesn’t strike me as an idiot. Sick, but not stupid. I’m betting he’s using some sort of spoofing software.”
“English, Jonas,” Wade growled.
“Spoofing software is a utility that masks the person’s IP address. If he’s using that then the e-mails are useless.”
Gracie didn’t want to think negatively. She wanted this over too badly for that. “Who comes up with this stuff?”
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of people on the Net with something to hide. A company can make quite a profit off them. Now, hackers are a whole different breed. They don’t need the software to hide their IP addresses.”
Gracie placed her hand over Wade’s to stop the caressing. Getting turned on and not being able to do anything about it wasn’t her idea of a good time. “They don’t?”
Jonas looked at her hand and winked, as if he knew what she was feeling. Thankful y he didn’t comment. She wasn’t sure how she would’ve handled it if he had. “Nope. A hacker wil just find an IP address of a trusted host, and then they’l modify the packet headers. It’l look as if it’s coming from a legitimate source.”
Wade cursed. “Tricky bastards.”
She couldn’t agree more. “We can stil bring the e-mails to the police, though, right? I mean, maybe they could track down the right Internet service provider.”
Jonas shook his head. “They’d have to get a court order first in order to get the ISP to hand over their records. And since our boy hasn’t technical y done anything wrong, I highly doubt they’re going to go to those lengths.”
“Nothing wrong? Have you seen her, Jonas?”
Jonas held up a hand. “Don’t get so damn testy. I’m not saying this asshole doesn’t deserve a bul et for the shit he’s put Gracie through, but he’s not exactly a terrorist here. In the grand scheme of things, a stalker is pretty fucking low on the list.”
To diffuse the rising tension she could feel brewing between the two men, Gracie leaned back against Wade’s chest and said, “You both curse way too much.”
Wade wrapped an arm around her waist. “I’ve been told.”
“Then maybe you should clean it up a bit, Mr. Harrison.”
He smiled down at her and her heart did a little flip. “What’s my incentive?”
It wasn’t so much the question as the heated promise behind it. “What do you want?”
“A kiss every time I curb my tongue,” he quickly said.
She liked the idea, way too much. “And if you don’t manage to curb your tongue?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”
“You should be punished, don’t y
ou think?”
“You can spank me. How’s that sound?”
Jonas cleared his throat. “Uh, does this include me too?”
She laughed. Wade didn’t. “Find your own woman, Phoenix.”
Jonas tsked. “Always a black cloud.”
“So, back to the e-mails,” Gracie said. They could work out the details of their little bargain later. When they were alone.
Jonas sat up and started tapping the keys. “Right.”
Silence descended over them. Gracie could feel the tension in the air. They were al hoping her stalker had made it easy for them.
Several minutes later, Jonas was scowling at the computer screen. “Judging by the first fifty—and for the record this guy must seriously have nothing else to do—it’s pretty obvious he’s masking his IP. The e-mails are a dead end.” He looked over at her, his gaze fil ed with regret.
“Sorry.”
“It’s not over yet.”
Wade’s determination renewed her fast waning strength. “What do you mean?”
“We stil have his words. We can learn a lot just by reading his e-mails. The way he talks to you, the terms he uses. There might be something there that’l give us a clue as to where he’s met you.”
“Do you do anything else online?” Jonas asked. “Any social networking sites you belong to?”
“I blog if that’s what you mean.” Realization dawned. “You think he reads my blog or maybe comments?”
Jonas turned his attention back to her computer. “It’s a possibility. What’s the blog address?”
She bit her lower lip before replying, “Uh, I’d rather not say.”
Both men were suddenly staring at her. Wade spoke first. “Why?”
Like a kid in the principal’s office, Gracie felt like squirming. “It’s personal. Like a diary. I feel . . . exposed.”