Close To The Edge (Westen #2)

by Ferrell, Suzanne

He glanced at her once more.

  It wasn’t just sadness radiating from her, but fear.

  Anger flared inside him. She’d come to his town looking for a little adventure, not real danger. Her simple estate investigation had turned into something darker, something evil. Something that had hovered just under his radar and he hadn’t seen coming in this small, sleepy town. Somehow he’d been lulled into believing this town didn’t have problems like the city did. Her arrival triggered events that put her life in danger and shone a light on a part of his town where darkness lay.

  This was his town and his responsibility to protect everyone in it—another glance at her silent figure—especially her. Despite her calm head and cool thinking, Bobby was vulnerable and out of her element.

  The primal need grew. He didn’t like it.

  “You should go home.”

  Her head jerked around. “What?”

  “It isn’t safe for you here, now. You should go home and let me handle this. I’ll give you the credit with your sister once I figure out how all this ties together.” He pulled into his drive and parked behind the house once more. They sat in silence for a moment.

  “No.” She climbed out of the car and stomped to the back door without waiting for him.

  “What the hell do you mean, ‘no’?” He grabbed her suitcase out of the back and strode right up behind her on the porch.

  “No, the opposite of yes.” She’d crossed her arms over her chest, still clutching her laptop and that damn suit. She stood looking at him like his eighth grade science teacher.

  The upstairs light next door at widow Munroe’s house clicked on and Princess started barking. Great. Just what he needed, an audience.

  With a growl of frustration he unlocked the door and waited for her to get her fanny inside. Once inside, he set her suitcase on the table and locked the deadbolt. She moved away from him, her belongings still clutched to her like some magical shield. To protect her from this new fear or him, he wasn’t sure. He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her.

  Instead, he stood across the chasm of the kitchen from her and sucked in a deep, calming breath. “This case is dangerous now.”

  “Believe me, after seeing Harley this afternoon and my motel room tonight, I have a clear picture of the situation.”

  “Then why are you refusing to leave and let me handle this?”

  “Believe it or not, I’d like nothing better than to turn tail and run back to the suffocating confines of my classroom.”

  She raised a hand to stop him when he started to agree that’s just what she should do. The honest look in her eyes stilled his words on the tip of his tongue. The least he could do was listen to her.

  “When I made the decision to become a PI, it wasn’t just some harebrained idea, despite what you and my sisters believe. I didn’t just choose to do this for the glory. Average people need someone to speak for them, to ferret out the truth. Someone who isn’t obligated only to looking until the letter of the law has been reached, but who’s willing to go the extra mile beyond that.”

  “That’s my job, too.” He started toward her, but she shook her head.

  “Hear me out. When I came to Westen I didn’t expect to find a dead body. It was supposed to be a simple case. If I turn tail and run because of one dead body and one desecrated suit what does that say about me? I agree this has become a dangerous situation, not exactly what I expected. If I quit now, I’ll always regret it.” She glanced out into the dark night, then back at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

  “Someone killed Harley. No matter what his involvement is in the Byrd case, he didn’t deserve that. I want to help bring his killer to justice. I want to make sure Chloe’s client isn’t being swindled. I know you can make me go home, but please don’t. I’m not a coward. No matter what this killer believes, I don’t scare this easily.

  “Besides, who’s to say the killer won’t follow me home? Wouldn’t I be safer here where you’re watching me and know the danger, rather than at home where the police have no vested interest in assuring my safety?”

  Damn. The woman had a point. He rubbed his hands over his face—hard. At some point he was going to regret this. “Okay. You can stay.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me, yet.” He walked over to her, removed her laptop from her hands, laid it on the counter and her suit on top of it. Resting his hands on her shoulders, he stared down into her eyes. “You can stay, but we’re going to have some ground rules.”

  “Okay.”

  “You go nowhere without telling me or in the company of me or one of my deputies.”

  “That’s a little on the drastic side, don’t you think?”

  “Already you’re arguing with me?” He winked and leaned down to stop her next protest with a soft kiss. “This is for practical purposes. I need to figure out who’s doing this and why before anyone else gets hurt. I can’t do that if I’m spending all my time worrying about you. If you say you’ll be somewhere, I need you to be right there. I want you to keep your phone charged and with you at all times. Until I know who’s trying to hurt you, I need to know you’re safe with me or one of my deputies.”

  “Okay. I can live with those restrictions.” She smiled. “Besides, I can’t leave until I’ve unraveled the labyrinth Ruby calls a filing system.”

  He slid his hands down her arms to rest on her hips and pulled her up against him. “I knew there was a perfectly good reason to keep you around.”

  “Ah, you need me for my filing skills.”

  Slowly he pulled her hips tighter, grinding into her pelvis just slightly. “Yes, I need you for your skills.”

  With a soft smile, she slid her hands up his chest to his neck and pulled his head toward her. “I like you for your skills, too, Mr. Sheriff-Man.”

  “Oh sweetheart, you ain’t even seen half of them yet.” He slid his mouth over hers, giving her a soft kiss that promised untold pleasures. Deepening it when she moaned, his tongue slid in to tease hers with light strokes. He tried to pull her tighter, leaning her backward against the counter. When a soft whimper escaped her, he eased back, both of them panting.

  “Mmm, why don’t you take me upstairs and show me some of those skills,” she managed to say while he caught his breath.

  He took a step, but kept one hand on her hips. “It would be my pleasure, ma’am.”

  “Mine, too,” she said with a wink as they mounted the stairs together.

  Inside his room he stopped her at the bed, his hands stilling hers at her sweater’s hem. “Let me, this time.”

  Grasping the edge of her sweater, he pulled it over her head. Next, he unfastened her pants, slipping them over her hips and down her thighs to pool at her feet. A shiver ran over her as she stood before him in only her bra and panties.

  The hour was late and after all of today’s events she had to be tired, but visions of how she’d looked just an hour earlier standing in the chaos of the motel room, her face pale and anxious, filled his mind. Anger had come over her as she realized someone had invaded her privacy and tried to destroy her belongings, making her face flushed and tense. Finally, she’d withdrawn into her fear on the ride home.

  Tonight he wanted to take all those memories away from her and replace them with only hot images of them together.

  Slipping his index fingers under the straps of her bra, he slid them down off her shoulders and over her arms to hook in her elbows with extreme leisure. The goose bumps that sprang up along the path of his fingers thrilled him. He followed her bra’s lace over the mounds of her breasts with his thumbs, slipping the cups off, her nipples taut in the room’s cool air. Leaning in, he kissed her shoulder, letting his lips suckle softly along the ridge of her collarbone to the pulse at the notch.

  “Oh God,” Bobby whispered in a hushed moan, her knees wobbling and her arms trapped at her sides by the bindings of her bra. For the first time in her life she was at the mercy of a man. One
strong enough to press his advantage yet touched her with such tenderness instead.

  Another shiver of excitement shot through her.

  Encouraged by her passion, he licked up the column of her neck to her ear, his thumbs flicking softly across her nipples. His hard body, with all its planes of muscle and scars that spoke of his inner strength, pressed against hers. She wanted to pull his shirt off and feel every inch of him. She wanted all that strength to take her without any preamble. He teased her earlobe with his mouth, teeth grazing the sensitive skin as his hands slid down her sides to cup her cheeks and pull her in tight against the bulge straining at the zipper of his jeans.

  Okay, preamble was good.

  She moaned again.

  “Mmm, that’s it sweetheart, purr for me.” That exotic flower scent filled his senses. Plunge into her now. Take her. He banished the thoughts to the far corner of his libido. He’d take it slow if it killed him.

  Another sweet moan escaped her.

  And it just might.

  Banking his need as best he could, he gently pushed away from her. He let his body caress hers as he slid down to kneel at her feet. His face even with her breasts, the dark nipples pointed at him, begging for attention. Not to comply with their demands would be a sin against nature.

  “I want to taste you. All over,” he whispered over one taut bud, his breath caressing it. It tightened further against his lips.

  “Yes… Please.”

  The breathless plea was all the permission he needed. He slipped his lips over the peak and suckled hard. The sound of her sucking in air filled his ears and sent more heat straight to his straining erection. He repeated the effort on the other nipple, watching her eyes drift closed and her head loll back, her dark hair hanging loose behind her.

  Keeping her arms trapped at her side by the thin lace bindings of her bra, he skimmed his lips down her stomach to her navel, laving it with his tongue. In and out, darting like a feather into its depths.

  “Oh, my God.” She tipped her hips forward as he slid his mouth further down over the swell of her lower belly. Why hadn’t she done more sit-ups?

  “Mmm, sweetheart you’re like satin honey. Smooth and tasty.”

  Finally, he slipped his hands in the band of her silk panties, sliding them over her hips and down her legs to join the jeans around her feet. When she looked down, he’d sat back on his heels, his hands softly kneading her buttocks and his face mere inches from the apex of her thighs. The very spot where her body’s heat now swirled like the vortex of a sensual whirlpool. Lifting his head, their gazes locked.

  He wet his lips. “All over.”

  All she could manage was a slight nod. Never in her life had she been this vulnerable, this needy, standing before him nearly naked and completely at his mercy. She could slide her arms out of the lacey binding and stop him if she wanted to, but at this moment his idea sounded like pure bliss.

  “Open your legs for me.”

  Stepping one leg to the side, she obeyed his command. Determined to take all he had to hand out.

  “Damn, you’re beautiful.”

  His breath caressed her tender folds with the declaration, teasing them, increasing the heat flowing to them, the moisture gathering in anticipation. If he didn’t hurry and touch her, she’d die.

  As if he read her mind, his tongue slid along the center of her lips, parting them and sending fresh heat throughout her body.

  “Yes. More, please.”

  “Your wish, my lady.” He began an assault on her like none she’d ever had before.

  The man truly had a magic tongue. His mouth latched onto the nub protruding at the top of her lips and suckled. It was all she needed to hurl her over the abyss. Her hands flew to his head, holding him pressed to her, every muscle in her body tensed, as she exploded in pleasure.

  He held her to him as he lapped up her sweet essence, felt her body trembling like a willow caught in a tornado. With great tenderness, he eased his mouth from her, hands still cupped around her ass cheeks. Her weight supported on the strength of his arms.

  “Easy sweet, take it slow.” His face rested against the soft swell of her belly, licking her taste from his lips, his own breathing keeping pace with the speed of hers.

  “Gage. I…oh, that was…” she cradled his head against her, the words coming out as soft whispers.

  “Shh, we’re not done yet.”

  A soft laugh escaped her. “Speak for yourself, big boy. I don’t think I can do any more.”

  He leaned back on his heels, gently guiding her to sit on the bed in front of him. “You can handle it. You’re a lot tougher than you look.” He slipped his hands behind her, unhooked her bra to release her.

  Wiggling back on the bed, she licked her lips and watched him remove his clothing. As he reached for the condom on the bedside table the intensity in his gaze confirmed her fears. He wasn’t finished with her. The idea thrilled her. The man certainly knew how to follow through.

  With skilled movements, he slowly crawled over her body, a predator seeking his prey. His body all sinewy muscles, bulges in places most athletes would envy. The heat of his body warmed her chilled skin as it rubbed along hers. The sensation threw her back into need-mode. As he finally melded his body on top of hers, chest to chest, hip to hip, she slid her hands hard up the planes in his back.

  “Oh, yes, baby,” he whispered and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her hard.

  His gravely moaned words sent a thrill through her. Never before had she elicited such pleasure sounds from a man. Just to hear them again, she pulled her hands back up the hard muscles of his back a second time. She tasted her own passion on his lips as he moaned into her mouth.

  That was all it took for her to surrender to him once more, opening her legs and rubbing her swollen sex against his erection.

  He lifted up on his arms to stare down at her, the tip of him poised to slide into her wet folds. “I wanted to go slow, sweetheart, but I don’t think I can.”

  “I need you inside me…now.” To emphasize her words, she bent her knees and tilted her hips, making the head of him slip inside.

  With a growl, he thrust all the way in, his shoulders gripping her tight to him. Nothing in her life had ever felt so good as this man thrusting in and out of her, his body straining against hers. She wrapped her legs around his thighs and met him thrust for thrust, staying with him as he drove them to the peak. The sound of their mixed climax filled her ears.

  It seemed to take forever for her breathing to return to normal, the pleasant listlessness filling every fiber and muscle of her being. The man truly knew how to fulfill her fantasies. If she stayed around him too long, he’d probably kill her with pleasure.

  Slowly, Gage lifted up on one elbow, moved one strand of damp hair from her cheek and stared down into her eyes. “You okay?”

  “If the house caught fire right now, I couldn’t lift a muscle to escape.”

  A low, satisfied male chuckle rumbled from him, as he eased off her to stretch out on his back. “Glad I could help you relax.”

  Rolling her head to the side, she gave him a weak smile. “I’m so relaxed now, I feel like Jell-o.”

  With another chuckle, he pulled her to his side, her head resting on his chest, and pulled the covers up over them. “Good. Maybe you can get some sleep now.”

  “I hope…” a yawn interrupted her words, “…so.”

  In the late hours of the night he held her close, feeling her breath softly caress his chest. He hadn’t held a sleeping woman after sex in years. Not since Moira. Or had he? Come to think of it, his ex-wife had never really slept in his arms after sex. Instead, she’d hurry to her computer, using the excuse that sex invigorated her and she needed to use the energy to work on her cases.

  A soft snore slipped out of Bobby. Looking down at her face completely at ease against his chest, he smiled briefly then grew serious. The desire to protect her filled him once more. He tightened his arm around her. Because of her, h
is life had become complicated again in the past forty-eight hours.

  A year ago he’d come home to nurse his wounds physically and mentally in the peaceful rural town where he’d spent his happiest days as a kid. He’d wanted to take some time away from the crime and danger he’d found in the city. What he hadn’t noticed was that beneath the veneer of this quiet small town, something sinister had roosted waiting to rear its ugliness.

  With a soft murmur, Bobby turned onto her side, her back to him. Like hell he was letting go of her tonight. He rolled to his side, his chest pressed to her back, spooning into that delicious ass of hers, one arm draped over her, his mind still churning over the events of the past two days.

  In the morning, he definitely needed to interview Harley’s co-workers and look at the books regarding the Byrd property. There was no question in his mind that they were connected, along with the attack on Bobby’s motel room. But what about the fire? If the murderer was also into setting fires, things were going to go from bad to worse in a hurry.

  Chapter Ten

  The strains of Georgia on My Mind erupted from Gage’s cell early the next morning. Bobby curled around his pillow as he climbed out of bed and searched through his clothes for it.

  “This had better be good,” he grumbled into the phone. He began pacing the room as he listened to the caller, rolling his free arm as if to work out a kink in his shoulder. “A tweaker?”

  Barely awake and half-listening to his end of the conversation, Bobby watched him move about the room. Dear Lord, the man’s body. Even the three scars didn’t detract from the vision. If anything, they gave him a dangerous edge, like a warrior from days past.

  Technically, as the town sheriff he was the modern day version of a knight. A physically and mentally strong man sworn by his honor to protect the people around him. There he stood, in all his naked glory, hers to watch.

  Hers?

  When had she started thinking like that? She barely knew the man. A hot flush ran over her body. Oh God, she’d done the one thing she’d harped on her sisters never to do. Jump into bed with a man after the first date and think she was in love.