To Trust a Cop

by Sharon Hartley

  He popped open a beer and took a long drink. “Two is my limit tonight,” he said, crushing the side of the can.

  She nodded, not speaking, but feeling the weight of his scrutiny. Where to begin?

  “We’re safe here, Merl. Hell, the CIA would have trouble locating you tonight.” He paused. “But you should take what’s going on more seriously.”

  “I know,” she said. “I do, but—”

  “What?”

  “This is—” She stopped snapping beans and dared a look at him. How could she explain this to Cody? Would it reveal too much of herself?

  “No one has ever looked out for me like this before,” she said. “Well, no one besides D.J. anyway. It’s kind of, well, nice, but, I don’t know... Hard to get used to.” She lowered her gaze, returning to her work, the quick movement of her fingers soothing her nerves. “And I’m such an ingrate I haven’t even thanked you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  Finished, she rose and carried the beans to the sink. After a quick wash, she searched cabinets for a pot and dumped them inside. She added water, found salt and pepper and set the burner to simmer.

  She faced him as he emptied the beer, still watching her. “I’ve thought of a way to thank you properly.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Yeah? What’s that?”

  She dried her hands on a paper towel. “Those beans need to cook awhile. Come on.” Grabbing his wrist, she led him to the living room. “Sit on the floor and lean against the couch,” she instructed.

  “Sit on the floor?”

  “You’ve been rubbing your neck all afternoon, so I’m going to massage your neck and shoulders. You’re too tall for me to reach if you sit next to me.”

  “Ah.”

  “You should probably take off your shirt if I’m going to do this right.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He jerked the navy blue shirt over his head and tossed it on the couch. Her sense of security shattered.

  She’d thought she was safe, wrapped up tight in a protected cocoon. But the real danger had been trapped inside with her, a masculine threat full of sinew and sleek muscle.

  At the thought of placing her hands on Cody’s powerful shoulders, she swallowed hard and dug in her purse for lotion.

  Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. The best way to manage would be for him to sit with his shoulders between her legs, a position that seemed disturbingly intimate. She sat behind him on the sofa with a knee pressing into each of his arms.

  “I thought you were about to chicken out,” he said.

  I should, she thought, rubbing the lotion between her hands, releasing its citrus fragrance into the air. She stared at the sculpted body before her. He was gorgeous, perfect except for the two-inch raised scar at the base of his neck.

  When he turned to look at her, muscle rippled smoothly across his back.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “No,” she tried to say, but the word came out strangled. Merlene cleared her throat. “I’m just warming up my hands so I can get at those kinks in your neck. Turn around.”

  She placed her hands on his shoulders and methodically kneaded his muscles. One thing she’d learned while married to a neurologist was how to give a good massage.

  “You’re tight,” she said.

  “It’s been a hell of a week.”

  Merlene silently agreed. “What happened here?” she asked, running a finger along the ridge of the scar.

  “Another bad guy. This one had a knife and a grudge.”

  “Did you arrest him?”

  “Several times. He’s been in and out of jail more times than Doc Johnson diagnosed phony backs or the need for more pain meds. Hopefully he’s put away now to stay.”

  The knots in Cody’s back gradually loosened under her probing fingers.

  He rolled his neck forward. “Don’t stop,” he said. “This feels great.”

  The body beneath her hands felt strong, smooth and pulsing with life. The warmth from his flesh worked its way into her fingers, wrists, arms... Soon her entire body flushed with heat, as if she absorbed his energy, as if they were joined in some real, physical way. And touching him this way, giving him pleasure, somehow gave her pleasure, too. She liked making him feel good.

  She’d never felt such a connection to anyone else. It had to be because Cody was being so nice to her. He acted as if he wanted to take care of her. That was the thing she didn’t get. Duty didn’t require that he put her up like this.

  “Wow, sweetheart, you really know how to make a man happy.”

  “Feel better?” she asked, stilling her hands but holding them flat against his shoulder blades.

  “Much.” He turned to face her again, and her hands slid across his back as he moved. “Thank you.”

  Never had she seen bluer eyes. Only a cloudless sky on a clear summer afternoon compared with the clarity of the color.

  “I was thanking you, remember?” she said.

  He touched her cheek, and she fought to draw a breath. She could see each individual hair on his arm, the sharp ridge of veins and the clear definition of muscle.

  “Your turn,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I’ll rub your back now.” His voice held a challenge, as if he didn’t believe she’d allow him to.

  But she wanted him to. She wanted him to touch her the way she’d touched him, wondering if he’d feel the same odd connection.

  “Okay,” she said. “Get up.”

  An expression flashed across Cody’s face that catapulted a jolt into her belly. Was his look surprise—or hunger? She didn’t know or care, only knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself now. She wanted to feel his hands on her body more than she’d ever wanted anything.

  With their positions switched, Merlene felt dwarfed by the muscled strength of his thighs. He rested his hands on her shoulders, which hammered home how small she was. How vulnerable.

  He brushed her hair to either side of her neck.

  “Unbutton your blouse,” he said, his breath warm against sensitive skin usually sheltered by her thick mane.

  She released one button, then another and shrugged to allow the soft cotton to fall away, imprisoning her shoulders. She closed her eyes when Cody took her bra straps and gently slid them down her arms.

  He kneaded her neck slowly, rubbing away aches and soreness she hadn’t known existed. Anxiety melted away, leaving her loose and restless, wanting more.

  She couldn’t help but release small sounds of pleasure. Maybe something sometime had felt better, but she couldn’t remember what. His hands worked lower and lower down her back, her blouse shifting with the movement of his fingers.

  She didn’t resist when he reached his arms around her and freed the remaining buttons of her shirt, exquisitely aware of the weight of her breasts against her bra as he slid the blouse toward him and slipped the sleeves off her arms. Her pulse drummed in her ears when his hands found the bra’s catch.

  The hook gave way, and she sighed, knowing that she shouldn’t want him to touch her this much.

  Neither of them spoke. He continued to massage her back, working even slower now, inching closer to the front of her body. She shifted beneath his touch, subtly encouraging his hands closer to her aching nipples. Still he moved slowly, rhythmically, until a finger brushed the swell of her right breast.

  She sucked in a breath, the movement of her chest forcing his hands closer to where she wanted them.

  “Merl?” His voice was a breathless question whispered close to her ear.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SHE DIDN’T ANSWER HIM, couldn’t answer him.

  He broke the silence by refastening her bra and lifting her onto his lap. She inhaled deeply of his scent, detecting
a hint of cinnamon in his aftershave. Pushing away disappointment, she buried her fingers in the hair on his chest and laid her palm against the steady beat of his heart.

  She studied his face as he buttoned up her blouse again. Why had he pulled back? There was no way she would have stopped him from making love to her, and they both knew it. She’d done everything but beg him. She closed her eyes at the memory.

  “How does your head feel?” he asked.

  “Fine.” She locked her hands around his neck and placed her cheek against his bare chest. “Thanks, Cody.”

  For what? dangled in the room between them, but they sat quietly together, and she relaxed into the sensation of Cody running his palm over her hair while she gathered her pitiful defenses.

  “What happened to you after your parents died?” he asked softly.

  She answered without thinking. For some reason it seemed natural that Cody would ask.

  “We had no family to claim us, so my brother and I were put in different foster homes. We hated being apart.”

  “You have a brother?”

  Had a brother, she almost corrected him, but noted the surprise in his voice. She’d never told Cody about Donny. “Yes, but...”

  “Older or younger?”

  “Younger. I was fifteen, Donny almost thirteen when we were separated. He ran away all the time trying to find me, got into trouble and eventually landed in juvie hall. He got beat up pretty bad once by an arresting officer.” She remembered his battered face a week after that beating. “But I’m sure he fought like a wildcat to avoid being caught.”

  “They were just doing their jobs, Merl.”

  She stiffened, the old anger creeping back. “I know, but they didn’t have to kill him.”

  Cody’s hand stilled. “What happened?”

  “He was killed in some kind of high-speed chase with the Centralia, Missouri, police. I never learned all the details.” She stared at her fingers on Cody’s chest. “But when Donny was fifteen, he stole a car to find me in Branson. By then I’d dropped out of school and run away to make my break into what I considered the big time.”

  Cody circled her with his arms. Long-ingrained instincts told her to push him away, remember this man was her enemy, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to. He didn’t act like an enemy.

  “He refused to stop when they tried to pull him over?”

  She nodded, miserably aware her voice would break if she spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Merl.”

  Brushing away a tear, she said, “Of course Donny shouldn’t have stolen that car. He had no clue what he was doing. I know he was terrified while being chased, didn’t know what would happen if he stopped. He was just a kid. I keep thinking that if—”

  “Shh.” Cody placed gentle kisses across her forehead, her brows, her closed eyes. He touched a tear on her cheek with his tongue. “That’s just it, sweetheart. Your brother was a kid and sometimes kids do stupid things.” His soft words rumbled close to her ear, his breath tickling sensitive skin.

  She couldn’t breathe. The emotional backlash from talking about her brother was choking her at the same time desire for Cody raged through her. Too much sensation at one time couldn’t be good.

  His mouth found hers, and she met him eagerly. She had wanted to kiss Cody, really kiss him like this with no interruptions since that day in the ballpark, the first time she’d been able to remember Donny without the huge hole in her heart growing deeper.

  Now Cody’s mouth against hers blocked any painful memories. She couldn’t focus on anything but him. He tasted faintly of beer, and the wet, smooth texture of his mouth stripped her of any thought but of how his bare flesh would feel pressed against hers.

  He loosened the buttons he’d just refastened. A sense of freedom swept through her as he tossed clothing to the floor. She registered the chill on her naked breasts, but warmth returned when he shifted to his side, gathering her body close.

  His hands were on her zipper, then sliding away her khaki shorts, and she heard the sound of another zipper over her ragged breath. She reached out and stroked his erection through his white briefs until he grabbed her wrist, extended it over her head and crushed into her with another kiss.

  He pulled back, and she met piercing blue eyes. He studied her with a quiet intensity that made her feel as if he could see right through her.

  “Please don’t stop this time,” she said, not recognizing her own voice. “Tonight can be our night. Just you and me, Cody Wyoming. We’re not letting anyone else in, okay?” He answered by sliding her panties over her hips and cupping her warmth with his hand, fingers gently probing.

  She arched beneath his touch, closing her eyes as he lightly kissed her belly. She’d never wanted anything as much as she wanted Cody at this moment.

  He pulled away, and she opened her eyes to find him sheathing himself. When he entered her, she didn’t know where Cody ended and she began, the boundaries between them blurred by swift, roaring passion. He created a hunger deep inside her, and each powerful thrust made her wanting rage hotter and stronger. She forgot everything but the need to hold on to the man inside her.

  “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, and the yearning deep in her center stretched a little further. She wanted to tell him he, too, was beautiful, but couldn’t formulate words. On a moan of desperate need, she closed her eyes. Cody answered with a husky sound of his own, and a rush of warmth triggered her startling release.

  * * *

  MERLENE WOKE TO Cody mumbling on the bed beside her and knew instantly he was having a bad dream. A nightmare. What kind of nightmares did cops have?

  So maybe their lovemaking hadn’t been the same for him, she worried, as she studied the symmetry of his powerful chest. After the explosive first act of love between them, he’d carried her to the bedroom where they’d explored each other again. She’d thought his lovemaking so perfect, so special, so... She stretched against the memories, remembering the cascade of sensation he’d aroused in her. She’d never experienced anything like it, although, sure, she’d read about such bliss. But her only previous sexual encounters had been with her husband, and those had usually ended in embarrassing failure. She’d never been able to please Peter no matter how hard she tried.

  Not that he’d ever pleased her, or seemed interested in trying.

  But Cody... Merlene took a deep, satisfied breath. Cody pleased her just fine. She recalled his hoarse whisper of her name while each separate pulse of him flowed into her. Smiling in the dark, she decided maybe she had pleased him, too.

  But now some unpleasant memory had come between them. He mumbled again and tossed an arm over his head, so she gently nudged his hip to rouse him from whatever fiend pursued him.

  “Cody. Hey, wake up.”

  He bolted upright.

  Clutching a sheet to her breasts, Merlene sat up beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “You were dreaming. It sounded like a nightmare, so I thought I’d better wake you.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” He took a deep breath, then pulled her down into the bed with him, cradling her head against his chest.

  She settled into his warmth, trailing her fingers across his abdomen. The flesh beneath her fingers began to vibrate, and a rumbling noise erupted from the direction of his stomach. She laughed but had to admit her own hunger had growled its presence a few times since she’d opened her eyes to his restless body. They’d fallen asleep without eating, and she could smell the beans she’d started earlier still simmering on the stove. She glanced at the clock for the time. Not even midnight yet.

  “Hey,” he murmured.

  “Hey,” she answered. Suddenly shy, she snuggled her face against his chest, his warmth spreading into her cheek. His stomach growled again and she giggled. “Hungry, huh, Detective?”

  He placed his hand o
ver hers and brought her fingers to his lips.

  “Very,” he said softly.

  She grinned.

  “I can feel your smile,” he said. “I wish I could see it.”

  She moved her hand back to his heart, wanting to feel the steady rhythm. “I smile a lot when I’m around you.”

  “I smile a lot around you, too.”

  They remained quiet for a moment. She suspected Cody was thinking, as she did, that they also argued a lot. But right now she didn’t want to think about the differences between them. Curling into Cody’s protective embrace was too special, felt too nice. Why couldn’t she stay right here, warm and safe, forever? Was that an impossible dream? Other people had happy endings. Why couldn’t she?

  “What time is it?” he asked.

  “Around eleven.”

  “Do you think the beans are done yet?”

  “I’ll be surprised if they’re not burned.” She pushed herself to her arms, then leaned over him and grinned. “Want some?”

  He placed his hand behind her head and pulled her back down to him. “Yeah, I want some.”

  They were kissing then, naked flesh to naked flesh, intent on each other until more rumbling from Cody’s belly broke them apart, laughing.

  “We haven’t eaten since lunch,” she said. “And a lot has happened.” She gulped back a nervous laugh at her understatement.

  He hugged her roughly, exhaling his warm breath against her hair. “Yeah, a lot has happened.”

  Merlene rose to her knees and swatted Cody’s hip. “I need food. Come on. Let’s go eat.”

  * * *

  HE RAN—RAN HARD, his breath labored as he tried to escape whatever chased him. He had to go faster, farther, work harder and then he’d be able to...

  Cody awoke with a start, totally aware of Merlene in the bed next to him, her breath feathering across his chest. She lay on her side, sleeping with dark, thick hair curling around her shoulders in sexy waves. He lifted a silky strand and let it sift through his fingers.

  He closed his eyes against the need to have her again. Had he made a mistake? He’d brought her to this secluded cabin to protect her, not seduce her.