by Linda Turner
It was the wrong thing to say to a man who’d spent the last four hours of his shift worrying himself sick about her. Dammit, what did he have to say to get it through that pretty head of hers that she was in danger? Yeah, he could put another uniform outside her door—hell, he could put ten men out there! But that wouldn’t necessarily keep her safe. They weren’t dealing with a man who played by the rules. The bastard had shot Stubbings, and the old guy hadn’t even been much of a threat to him. If he had any connections on the street at all, he had to know there was a sketch of him making the rounds of every pawnshop in the city, and only one person could be responsible for that. Jennifer. If he wanted to get rid of her, all he had to do was get a long-range rifle and take her out from any one of the surrounding rooftops.
It was that thought that had sent him rushing over to her place just as soon as his shift was over. He’d pictured her hurt and bleeding, and all the time he’d been battling with the need to race to her rescue like a damn knight on a white charger, she’d been sound asleep.
Staring down at her flushed cheeks and mass of sleep-tousled curls, the bare toes that peeked out from beneath the soft crushable flannel of her gown and robe, something in him seemed to snap at the thought of anyone hurting her. Muttering a curse, he reached for her.
The second his fingers closed around her flannel-covered arms he knew he never should have touched her. Not when she was warm and rumpled from sleep and he remembered all too clearly what it felt like to carry her off to bed and lose himself in her. God, he wanted her! She was a craving in his blood, a fire that should have begun to burn itself out by now. So why the hell hadn’t it? She’d obviously accepted the fact that they didn’t have a future; for the past two weeks he’d barely caught a glimpse of her.
And there’d been no mention of the L-word since that one time she told him she loved him; he only had to remember how she’d drawn into herself when she’d left his apartment that morning to know she’d never bring it up again. He should have been thrilled. Wasn’t that what he wanted? Instead, he couldn’t walk into his damn apartment without remembering what it was like to make love to her. It—she—was driving him crazy!
“You are leaving, and I can make you,” he said between his teeth. And before she could do anything but sputter, he bent down and slung her over his shoulder.
“Sam! Dammit, what are you doing?”
“Taking charge,” he said. “If you won’t listen to reason, then I’ll just have to do what I think is best. Quit squirming.”
“Oh! You...you Neanderthal! Put me down!”
He should have carried her over to Alice’s right then and there, but he knew he wasn’t going to do that. The second he’d snatched her up, all he could think of was finding a place to lay her down and make love to her. Striding over to the front door, he turned the dead bolt and set the chain. Ten seconds later he was striding into her bedroom.
“What are you doing? I thought you were taking me out of here.”
“So did I,” he said roughly. “Looks like we were both wrong.” Leaning down, he dropped her on her back on the bed and immediately followed her down. She was still gasping when his mouth covered hers.
She should have punched him one. She at least should have demanded to know why he was sweeping her off to bed now when just two weeks ago he’d gone to such painful lengths to make it clear he wanted nothing more to do with anything that even hinted at a relationship with her. But every night of those two weeks had been too long, too lonely, and already her arms were lifting to encircle his neck as her body softened to accommodate his much larger, harder one. And the sweetness of it nearly overwhelmed her. Tears stung her eyes, then trailed silently down her cheek. Dear God, how she loved him!
He felt her pain, tasted her tears—she’d known he would, but there was nothing she could do to hide her emotions from him. She was an open book where he was concerned, and when he pulled back suddenly and tenderly cupped her cheek in his rough palm, his eyes searching hers in the darkness, she couldn’t look away.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered, pressing a lingering kiss to his palm. “Ever since the fire, I cry about the craziest things. Molly says it’s just the stress of losing everything and starting over.”
“You shouldn’t have left Alice’s, sweetheart. You were safer there.”
“I know, but I needed to come home,” she said simply. “Even if it’s not the same as it was before, this is where I belong.” Afraid he would press her to go back to the Lone Star again, she distracted him by pushing his jacket from his broad shoulders.
In the darkness his eyes glinted down into hers. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He spoke in that husky growl she loved, stroking her with just his voice alone. Flashing him a mischievous smile, she lifted her fingers to his tie and began to loosen it. “Trying to distract you. How’m I doing?”
With gratifying swiftness, he settled himself between her thighs and moved against her. “I don’t know,” he murmured wickedly. “You tell me.”
Caught off guard, she gasped. He was hot and hard and flush against her, tugging her gown up out of the way before she even knew what he was about. Against the tender skin of her inner thighs, the fabric of his slacks was a breath-stealing caress. A shudder rippled through her, dragging a soft moan from her. Abandoning his tie, she pulled him back down to her for a long hungry kiss.
Fire licking at her veins, she was almost past reason when he gently tugged her arms from around his neck and returned her hands to his tie. When she groaned in protest, he chuckled and dropped another kiss to her mouth. “Finish it, honey,” he rasped. “Get me out of these clothes.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. Before he could blink, his tie went flying. A heartbeat later, her fingers were rushing down the center of his chest, making short work of the buttons. In ten seconds flat she had his shirt off and her hands were at his belt. And no one was more surprised by her own daring than Jennifer. He watched her eyes widen and her cheeks bloom with color, and his heart turned over. Lord, she was something!
When she hesitated, he covered her hands with his and felt her fingers tremble. Too late, he remembered how new she was to lovemaking. Tenderness welled in him as his eyes met hers. “You want me to do the rest?” he asked hoarsely.
He expected her to nod and look away, but he hadn’t counted on the depth of her need. Her eyes turned fierce and sensuous, her hands sure as his zipper growled in the darkness under the play of her fingers. He sucked in a breath, but then she had him naked, and he didn’t for the life of him know how she’d managed it. She not only touched him, she stroked and caressed and took infinite pleasure from the differences in their bodies. His jaw clenched, sweat beading on his brow, he let her explore him to her heart’s content and somehow just managed to hang on to his sanity.
Then she pushed him onto his back and kissed him, her tongue darting into his mouth to torment and tease, and what was left of his self-control shattered. His blood roaring in his ears, he never heard the groan that ripped from his throat, never remembered hauling her up over him until her hips were straddling his. With one stroke, he was buried deep, her cry echoing in his ears. With the second, she came undone around him. With the third, he forgot his own name.
When the alarm went off at four-thirty, Jennifer groaned and hit the cut-off button. Beside her, Sam only mumbled something in his sleep and buried his face in her pillow. Memories of the loving they’d shared warming her, she smiled sleepily. When he hadn’t been reaching for her during the night, he’d been stealing her pillow, until they’d finally ended up sharing it.
An experienced woman would have had a spare, but she hadn’t allowed herself to dare hope for his company when she’d bought a bed, complete with new mattress and bedclothes, to replace her smoke-and-water-damaged one. That, she suspected with a grin, might have been a mistake. He could shout it to the rooftops that there was nothing more between them than
desire, but every time he’d touched her, kissed her, during the night, she’d felt a love that had brought tears to her eyes. He loved her, and she had to believe that one day soon he would realize it.
She had no intention of making the same mistake she’d made the first time they’d made love, however. She’d keep her heart out of her eyes and give him the space he needed, she promised herself as she quietly eased from the bed and padded into the bathroom. And if she was lucky, it wouldn’t be too much longer before it hit him that space was the last thing he wanted from her.
She was taking the first batch of cinnamon rolls from the oven when she heard Sam’s footsteps on the outside stairs. Her heart lurching, she threw him an easy smile as he stepped through the back door and tried not to notice how good-looking the man was in the morning. But she was fighting a losing battle. He wore the same thing he’d worn last night of course, but he’d left off the tie and his shirt was open at the throat. She wouldn’t have minded if he’d used her razor, but he hadn’t, and his granite jaw was shadowed with stubble.
He looked rough, sexy, wonderful, and she wanted to go to him so badly she ached. But that was something she’d sworn not to do. Turning her attention back to her baking, she said with a cheerfulness that didn’t come quite as easily as she would have liked, “Good morning. C’mon in. These are ready and the coffee’s on. Grab yourself a cup while I put another batch of rolls in the oven.”
All business, she shoved another pan of cinnamon rolls into the oven, then looked behind her to find him still standing right inside the door, as if not quite sure how to take her. Biting back a smile, she could almost see the wheels turning in his head. He knew she loved him—she hadn’t been able to hide it during the night—and he obviously expected another emotional confrontation with her. He didn’t know what to make of her casualness, she thought, pleased. Good. The more she could shake him up, the better.
“Molly will be here in a few minutes if you’d rather wait for bacon and eggs,” she said when he made no move to help himself to a sweet roll. “Normally I’d be happy to cook it for you, but we’re going to have a real crowd this morning and I’ve got to get this baking done.”
“I’ll have something later,” he said in a voice still gravelly from sleep.
He didn’t, in fact, give a damn about food, but she was another matter. Was this the same woman who’d told him she loved him the first time they’d made love? he wondered, scowling. The same one who’d surprised herself and almost set the sheets on fire loving him last night? He’d expected blushes from her this morning and that loving light in her eyes that always made him want to haul her close and kiss her. Instead, her smile was friendly—friendly, dammit! Like they were best buddies or something! And nothing out of the ordinary had happened between them last night. And he didn’t like it one little bit.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said airily. “Why wouldn’t I be? We reopen this morning, and I’m back home where I belong. Things couldn’t be better.”
His eyes narrowed at that. “You’re not staying here alone. You might not think you’re taking a chance, but I know you are. So if you won’t go back to Alice’s tonight, then I’m moving in here. And don’t give me a hard time about it. I’ve made up my mind and I’m not changing it.”
If he’d wanted to knock that irritating smile off her face, he couldn’t have found a better way. “Oh, really,” she purred, her eyes snapping. “And just who died and left you in charge? This is my place. Mine, dammit! And you’re not moving in or doing anything else I don’t want you to do just because we had sex a couple of times.”
“Sex?” he repeated, stung. “You think what we shared was just sex?”
“Of course. What else could it be?”
“What else...” Realizing he sounded like a damn parrot, he ground his teeth together and reached for her before he could stop himself. “So you think we just had sex, do you?” he said grimly. “Then maybe I need to show you the difference between that and making love.”
“Sam!”
“Don’t you dare Sam me,” he growled. “You asked for this and you know it.”
He never would have hurt her, but he was so infuriated he would have taken her right there on her work table. But before he could do anything but start to draw her into his arms, Molly arrived.
A blind woman couldn’t have missed the tension in the room, and Molly was sharper than most. Making no effort to hide her surprise at finding him there at that hour of the morning, she drawled, “Looks like I interrupted something. I’d offer to make myself scarce, but we open in fifteen minutes, and I need to fire up the grill and get things ready.”
Groaning silently, Sam forced a tight smile. “Don’t let me get in your way. I’ve got to be going, anyway. I was just keeping Jennifer company until you got here.”
Far from fooled, Molly grinned. “Keeping company, huh? I haven’t heard it called that in a while.”
His mouth twitched at her teasing, but his eyes were dead serious when he turned back to Jennifer. “Don’t think for a second that this discussion is over. I’ll be back later when you’ve got more time to talk.” Stepping close, he caught her off guard with a hot hard kiss that drew a chuckle from Molly and a gasp of indignation from her. She was still sputtering when he walked out.
The man hiding in the recessed doorway of the building across the street froze as the detective strode out the front door of the café and folded his long body into the unmarked police car that had sat parked in front of the building for most of the night. So the son of a bitch was finally leaving! It had taken him long enough.
He’d been watching the place as best he could the past two weeks, dodging the cops and construction workers who seemed to be constantly underfoot, cursing himself for not eliminating her when he’d had the chance. All she’d had to do was shut her yap after the fire like he’d wanted her to and he’d have left her alone. But, no! She’d gone to the cops, instead, and told them all about him. Now they knew what he looked like, and for that, she was going to pay.
Last night he’d finally thought his time had come. She’d moved back to her apartment, and the black-and-white that had sat across the street like a watchdog drove off the second Kelly arrived. He figured she was his as soon as the bastard left. But he’d stayed all night.
And with every passing hour his rage had grown. Kelly was finally leaving and the damn café was opening in fifteen minutes. If he didn’t get his hands on the little bitch now, when he only had that old cook of hers to deal with, there was no telling when he might get another chance. Customers would stream in and out all day, and Kelly was bound to be back that night. It was now or never.
The decision made, he moved soundlessly in the predawn darkness, blending in with the shadows as he peeked out from his hiding place. A quick glance in either direction assured him that the street was still dark and empty, the first customer nowhere in sight. His face twisted and ugly with purpose, he darted around the corner and sprinted down the street to where he’d parked his van. Seconds later he turned into the alley behind the café.
Still steaming long after Sam had disappeared from view, Jennifer wished, just once, she was the type of person who threw things when she was mad. She’d have already thrown every pot she owned out the front door after Sam. The nerve of the man! Who did he think he was, anyway? He’d made it clear he wanted no part of anything that even hinted at commitment, and just when she obliged him and cut herself out of his life, he came swaggering in like John Wayne, ordering her around just because he’d slept with her. He had no right, damn him. None! Even if she did love John Wayne.
Amusement sparkling in Molly’s eyes as she gathered the eggs and bacon and sausage she would need to feed the crowd that would soon descend on them, she said, “You want to tell me what that was all about, or do I have to guess?”
“The man’s insufferable!”
“All men are,” Molly retorted without missing a be
at. “But we can’t seem to live without them. What’d he do?”
Still bristling, Jennifer raged, “He thinks he can boss me around! But God forbid I should think I’m in love with him. Oh, no, that’s not allowed. He doesn’t want to get involved with me. I’m too young, too inexperienced. I can’t be trusted to know my own mind.”
Amused, Molly couldn’t help but grin. “Seems like you know it pretty good to me.”
“You’re dam right I do,” Jennifer snapped, then just as quickly laughed when she thought about what Sam’s unreasonableness meant. “Oh, Molly, I love him!” She laughed, suddenly feeling as if she was walking on air. “He’s fighting me every step of the way, but this morning I think I finally made a little progress.”
“If you’re talking about that clinch I saw when I walked in,” she drawled with dancing eyes, “then I’d say you were making a heck of a lot more than a little progress. The man definitely looked hot and bothered.”
Pleased, Jennifer grinned. “Oh, he was. I turned the tables on him, and he didn’t know if he wanted to strangle me or kiss me. And he’s got no one to blame but himself. I played by his rules and now he doesn’t like the game.”
Jennifer knew she was going on like a lovesick schoolgirl, but she couldn’t stop talking about Sam. Chatting happily as she helped Molly whip up batter for pancakes-and French toast, she never saw the man who slipped through the back door as soundlessly as a cat. One second it was just her and Molly busily preparing for the morning rush, and the next they found themselves face-to-face with a stranger with a gun.
Horrified, Jennifer froze. She felt Molly stiffen at her. side, but she couldn’t take her eyes away from the intruder who stood just inside the back door. Her heart slamming against her ribs, she wanted to believe this was just a simple holdup, but she knew with sickening dread that it wasn’t.