The Perfect Solution

by Day Leclaire

  “Aw, hell,” he muttered.

  He yanked off his shoes and ripped his shirt over his head. Then he unzipped his trousers and stripped to his boxers. Just as he stepped over the threshold, Dipstick came charging up the steps and plowed past them. Barking furiously at having been left out of the fun with the hose, he shook his head.

  “Dipstick, no!” Jane shouted.

  Dipstick listened as well as every other soaking wet dog. Working from his head downward, he shook himself from snout to tail, sending muddy water, leaves and twigs flying in all directions. He gave his back leg a second shake as punctuation.

  Flynn sighed. “Do you have a spare tub where Dipstick and I can get cleaned up?”

  “Top of the steps, turn right. There’s a full bath at the end of the hall.” He started toward the stairs and Jane caught his arm. “Flynn?”

  She didn’t know what she wanted to say, but oddly enough he understood. “You’re welcome.” He flashed her his most endearing grin. “You get warmed up in the shower while I take care of Dipstick.”

  Trudging up the stairs behind man and dog, Jane realized the truth. How odd to discover you’d fallen in love with someone because he’d offered to wash the dog so she could have the first shower. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door. She never knew how long she stood in the middle of the tile floor, tears streaming down her cheeks. When she finally awoke to her surroundings, she turned the shower on full force and stepped beneath the hot spray.

  What she felt for Flynn wouldn’t work, she tried to tell herself as she shampooed the last of the day’s events from her hair. Nothing could possibly come of their relationship. She’d gone from lust to love, whereas Flynn had gone from...perfume-induced lust to more perfume-induced lust. She applied a soapy washcloth to every nook and cranny she possessed. He didn’t believe in love. Heck, he’d flat-out told her he didn’t believe in anything at all. Her tears came harder and she dropped the washcloth to the floor of the shower stall. And tomorrow... Tomorrow he’d turn in his final report on her security needs and leave.

  Sliding down the tiled wall, she crouched, curled in a tight ball. Beneath the sound-deadening drum of the water, she sobbed.

  “Aw, hell,” came a familiar-sounding voice. Arms lifted her, held her, comforted her. “Shh. Don’t cry. You’re killing me, sweetheart. Please don’t cry.”

  Jane covered her face, unable to look at him. “What are you doing here?” she hiccuped the question.

  “You took so long I got worried.”

  He reached past her and turned off the spray. Gathering her closer, he carried her out of the stall. She noticed then that he was deliciously, deliriously naked. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

  Snagging a couple of towels off a nearby rack, he dropped one on top of her curls and used the other to rub them both dry. “Why were you crying?” Her lips trembled and she pressed them into a firm line, struggling to find a reasonable excuse. He tipped up her chin and kissed her before she could. “Don’t do that,” he murmured.

  “Do what?”

  “Don’t scrunch your mouth up like that. You might unplump it.”

  A gurgle of laughter escaped past her tears. “Unplump?”

  “Yeah. Unplump.” He traced her bottom lip with his index finger. “Do you know your smile was the first thing I noticed about you? I spent most of our dinner date trying to prick your sense of humor so you’d show it to me.”

  “It’s my bruises.”

  “What?”

  “I was crying because of my bruises.”

  “Not because I’m leaving tomorrow?”

  “Maybe that, too,” she confessed. “Stupid, huh?”

  “I didn’t mean for you to cry. Or for you to miss me when I left.”

  Tears filled her eyes again. “I know,” she whispered. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I shouldn’t have kept kissing you.”

  She leaned forward and captured his mouth with hers. “Like that?”

  “Yeah. And like this...”

  He tipped her back, protecting her from the chilly tile with a towel. He kissed her, dipping in and out in smooth, leisurely strokes. She sighed in sheer pleasure and he quickened the pace ever so slightly.

  “I could do this all day. I could do you all day.”

  “And I’d let you.” All day. They didn’t have another “all day.” All they had was tonight. “Make love to me, Flynn.”

  He pillowed his cheek against her breasts, fighting a private war. “I can’t do that. I can’t make the hurt any worse. I did that once. I won’t let it happen again.”

  “Tell me what happened. Get it into the open so we can deal with it.”

  He sat up. Reaching behind him, he dragged more towels off her rack. Swathing them both from head to toe, he carried her into the hallway. “Which way?”

  “Directly across.” He nudged her bedroom door open with his hip. Carefully placing her on the bed, he backed off, distancing himself. “Flynn?”

  He paced to her dresser, picking up one of the dozen Josh Simpson globes decorating the surface. He stared into the colorful ball, much as she did when puzzling through a problem. “Her name’s Kim Jones. And I ruined her husband’s life.”

  She didn’t try and negate his statement. She didn’t say, “Oh, no. I’m sure you’re exaggerating.” Or, “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Or any of the other platitudes people often felt obligated to spout. Instead she asked, “How did you do that?”

  He shrugged. “I installed a security system in her home.”

  “How did that ruin her husband’s life?”

  Flynn’s mouth twisted. “I believe the ruination part occurred when my security cameras caught her husband in bed with another woman. Her best friend, as a matter of fact.”

  Oh, no. “Didn’t he deserve to get caught?”

  “Nope.”

  She closed her eyes for a brief instant. If she hadn’t heard the pain in that single word, she’d have thought he didn’t care. But he cared. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t he deserve to get caught?”

  “Because it was a setup and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. The con artist got conned.” He returned the globe to its stand and sat on the edge of the bed, facing her. “Kim approached our firm because she suspected her husband of having an affair—or so she said. I decided to rescue Kim from the bastard.”

  “Very gallant,” she approved.

  “It would have been, if it had been true.” His mouth tugged to one side. “I set up a few extra cameras to record his activities while she was at work.”

  “So what’s the catch?”

  “Kim had arranged for her best friend to set her husband up, get him in a compromising position on film so she’d be in a better bargaining position in divorce court. Since his firm takes a dim view of extramarital affairs, she was in a very strong position. My reward for helping her scam her poor beleaguered husband was a punch in the mouth.”

  “Courtesy of Paulie?”

  “The very same.”

  “I see.” And she did. “Kim’s husband was your ant.”

  He stared in bewilderment. “Huh?”

  “The ant you pulled out of my hair. You said you’d recently learned to protect fragile creatures, particularly from yourself. I thought you were talking about a woman. But it was Mr. Jones you inadvertently hurt.”

  “You’re right. He was my ant. One of many.” He left the bed and put some distance between them again. But he continued to face her, to meet her gaze with absolute frankness. “I’m good at hurting people. Most of the time it’s not deliberate, but that doesn’t change the end result.”

  “Why are you telling me all this now?”

  “Because you deserve to know the truth. You deserve to know why I’m leaving tomorrow. I’ve hurt enough people in my life. You’re not going to be one of them.”

  Jane caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I have a confession to make.”

  He looked like a man prepare
d for the worst. “Go on.”

  She yanked open the drawer to her bedside table. Condoms overflowed. “The only way you can hurt me is by walking away before we empty this drawer.”

  Flynn swore. “Honey, there’s not a man on this planet who can work through all those in one night.”

  “I guess that means you won’t be able to work through the ones I put in all the other drawers, either?”

  “Other drawers?”

  She crouched on the bed, shedding towels. “I don’t think there’s a single drawer in this entire house that isn’t stuffed full of foil packets. All colors, all types.” She emerged breathlessly from the last towel, revealed in all her glory. “I wasn’t taking any chances, you see. I wanted to be prepared no matter where we ended up.”

  “I’m leaving tomorrow, Jane. I can’t stay.”

  “Then when you leave, we’ll both have a smile on our face.” She demonstrated.

  His mouth settled in a grim line. “That looks like a pretty wobbly smile to me.”

  “I can fix it, honest. All you have to do is drop that towel and we’ll both have happy faces.”

  He choked on a laugh. “You want this towel off, you have to come over and get it.”

  She wasn’t likely to receive a better invitation. But she’d make him pay for giving her such a hard time. Rising from the pile of towels strewn around her, she dropped onto all fours in the center of the mattress and negotiated a leisurely path toward the bottom of the bed. Reaching the bedpost, she grabbed hold of the wooden post and wrapped her legs around it as though it were a fireman’s pole.

  “Did I ever tell you I was an excellent climber?” Muscles straining, she demonstrated, working her way up the bedpost.

  Flynn’s towel did a lovely imitation of a well-pitched tent. “Come down,” he demanded.

  “Condom first.”

  Foil wrappers practically exploded from the drawer as he fumbled to nab one. The towel he’d insisted she remove went flying. Satisfied, Jane slid downward. He caught her when she was halfway to the mattress. His chest scraped along her back as he gathered her in his arms from behind.

  “Keep your legs around the post.” He filled his hands with her buttocks and slowly allowed her to slide down, impaling her. “Now ride me, sweetheart.”

  She gripped the post, unable to move a muscle. “I can’t ride. I’m—” Her eyes squeezed shut and she dissolved in his arms. Came apart. Flew apart. “Flynn!” she sobbed. “Flynn, I missed the bus.”

  He chuckled close to her ear. “There’ll be another one along soon.” He unwrapped her from the bedpost and maneuvered them to the bed. “Real soon.”

  Jane followed him down, inhaling a perfume sweeter than anything she could create in her lab. Flynn. She drew him deep into her lungs, filling every sense with his essence. And he returned the favor. He inhaled her, tasted her, drank her in. She wrapped herself around him instead of the bedpost. Kissing. Lapping. Nipping every inch of exposed skin she could reach.

  He groaned in her ear, filling her, expanding within her. Pressing. Pushing. Surging.

  She rocked. Bounced. Rocked again. And finally stilled.

  Something was wrong, she belatedly realized. Terribly wrong. And then she looked at him. Looked long and hard. His expression was determined...and distant. He was a man who knew what she wanted and was intent on giving it to her. But he wasn’t with her.

  “We’d have sex and then one or the other of us would leave,” he’d said to her in Martelli’s basement. “Sometimes we’d sleep. But we never held each other. That would have been too personal. Too...trusting.”

  She couldn’t let him do that to himself again, to allow the past to eat any further into his soul. The time had come to let go. To let go of the past. To let go of fear. To let go of his distrust.

  “Flynn,” she whispered. He didn’t hear, so she gathered his face in her hands. “Flynn. Look at me.”

  He looked. And he saw. “Don’t.” He swallowed harshly. “Don’t do this.”

  But she couldn’t not do it. “I’m Jane Dearly. And I love you.”

  “Jane, please.” He choked. “I can’t.”

  “I don’t want to have sex with you, Flynn. I want to make love to you.”

  His chest heaved against hers and his beautiful gold eyes reflected the painful battle he fought. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

  “Yes, I do. I’m asking you to trust. To have faith in just one thing. In me.” She ran her hands across the precious planes of his face, attempting to erase the harsh lines that cut across his brow. “I was wrong, Flynn. There is something that can’t be measured in my lab, that can’t be analyzed or reduced to its molecular structure. It’s you, my love, and what we feel for each other.”

  He stared at her and she sensed that he stood on the edge of a final precipice, one he’d spent a lifetime climbing toward. Teetering. Ready to fall into a dark, bottomless pit or tumble straight into sunshine. Straight into her arms.

  “Come to me,” she whispered. “I’m here for you.”

  Right before her eyes, he took a deep breath and leapt.

  “Jane...” He gathered her close. “Jane. Let me love you. Even if it’s only for one night.”

  “Together, Flynn. We’ll make love together.”

  He clung to her and she anchored him. This time when he surged into her, it was to make them one. He rode with her, not just on top of her, filled and completed her. When he cupped her breasts and ate at the tender tips, he touched her, made it unique and special and unlike any woman he’d touched before. The way he stroked her spoke of newness and joy, instead of practiced assurance. And when he finally climaxed, he called her name, shouted it, wound himself deep around her, twining straight through to her core. She burned with him, soared with him, fell from that precipice protected within his grasp.

  Together they created a new first. A joining that neither had ever known before.

  “I’m not letting you go,” he said once he could speak again.

  “Will you hold me, like you did in the basement?”

  “All night,” he promised.

  “And will you make love to me again?”

  “No worries there. I plan to make a serious dent in your nightstand table drawer.”

  “Okay, then.” Her eyes fluttered closed, exhaustion claiming her. “That’s good.”

  “Very good,” he whispered.

  He held her as she slept, making promises he couldn’t keep, whispering wishes that would never be, sharing the long night with the only woman who’d ever touched his heart. The only woman who’d ever taken the time and trouble to discover that he possessed one.

  The only woman he couldn’t have.

  * * *

  “IT’S FLYNN.”

  “Do you have the file?”

  “No. I can’t get to the lab without her catching on. You’ll have to take care of it yourself.”

  “That wasn’t our deal! I agreed to pay you a lot of money, Morgan. Now, get that file.”

  “Look... I’ll be with her all night. I can even keep her busy first thing in the morning. What you choose to do between now and then is your business. No one will be around to interfere.”

  “If I have to take care of it myself, I’m not paying you a dime.”

  “I’ll cut my fee in half. That’ll buy my silence.”

  “How do I know you won’t go back on our deal?” Mick asked suspiciously.

  “You know things about me, remember? Past events I’m not eager to have revealed.” Flynn closed his eyes. “I’m leaving tomorrow, Barstow. And I won’t be back. Put the cash in Jane’s lab coat and our business association is at an end.”

  “Screw me on this and you will pay.”

  “Don’t threaten me, Barstow. Forget to leave the cash and you’ll be the one paying.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “OH, DEAR. OH, DEAR. JANE? Er...Flynn? There’s trouble at the lab, children. Come quick.”

  Flynn fought to
unglue one eye. Jane had more success waking. In fact, she erupted from the bed. “We’ll be right there.” She reddened. “I mean...I. I’ll be right there.”

  “Hurry, my dear. I think this is a police matter. Oh, and good morning, Mr. Morgan.”

  Flynn sighed. “Yo, Rube.”

  Footsteps scampered down the hall.

  “Did you hear? There’s trouble.” Jane dragged the covers off him. “Flynn. Get up.”

  “There’s no hurry. This particular trouble isn’t going anywhere.”

  “But the lab...”

  “We are not going outside naked. Clothes, first. Lab, second. Sheesh.” He shook his head in mock disgust. “For a prissy scientist you sure come up with kinky ideas.”

  She planted her hands on her hips. “Sheesh?”

  “I’m making another life change.” He butted noses with her. “You have an objection to my sanitizing my vocabulary a bit?”

  Jane held up her hands. “Heaven forbid I interfere with any man attempting to evolve past what nature intended.”

  “Damn right,” he growled. “I’m a man on the move, so step aside.”

  “I’m proud of you, Flynn.” She grabbed his arm and nearly shook it off. “Now can I get you to move outside to the lab?”

  It didn’t take long for Jane to snatch up clothes and climb into them. Flynn progressed at a slightly slower pace. Opening the bedroom door, Jane followed candy wrappers trailing like breadcrumbs the length of the hallway. They continued down the steps and out toward the back.

  Waking Dipstick along the way, she flew from the house and into the yard, the Saint Bernard hot on her heels, barking his concern. To her horror, Sheriff Tucker stood outside her lab along with his deputy, Jimbo. Her uncles were gathered to one side, whispering urgently among themselves.

  “Sheriff,” she said, greeting him nervously. “Good to see you again.”

  “Morning, Miss Jane. How are you this fine summer day?”

  She lifted a self-conscious hand to her pillow-tousled curls. “Just great. And you and Elva? Were you able to get rid of the ants?”

  “Sure were. Sorry I wasn’t more specific about the kind of bug spray I needed.”

  Flynn strolled across the lawn to join them, yawning. She shot him an annoyed glance. “You sure took your time,” she muttered beneath her breath.