by Leann Harris
“Don’t stop,” she gasped.
He gave her a satisfied grin. “Like that?” He gave her other breast the same loving attention.
In spite of the pleasure, J.D. couldn’t remain passive. Her hands wandered over his back, learning the texture. Luke pulled away, and she started to protest until she noticed he was stripping off his running shorts.
He settled himself in the cradle of her thighs. Cupping her face, he forced her to look at him.
“We do this, Counselor, and we won’t be able to get an annulment—not honestly, anyway.”
“Don’t worry. In this state, it’s easier to get a divorce than an annulment.” She kissed him deeply, then pulled back. “Besides, this has nothing to do with annulments and divorces. This is what we want. Toss caution to the wind, Detective.”
His eyes were black with fever, yet he gently rebuilt the tension between them with his hands and mouth. J.D. did everything she could think of to speed him up, to bring this exquisite torture to an end, but he refused to be hurried.
When he entered her in one smooth stroke, she convulsed in a shower of fire and light. Luke called out her name, joining her in her individual heaven. Hearing her name on his lips, J.D. knew she’d been forever changed.
She was no longer alone.
CHAPTER 14
Luke studied the sleeping woman in his arms. Grasping a lock of her silky hair, he rubbed it between his fingers, luxuriating in the feel. He brought the strand to his lips, brushing the softness across his mouth. The sweet smell of her surrounded him, bringing back to mind their loving.
It had been wild. Incredible. Mind-blowing. But what had occurred between them had not simply been great sex.
This time making love had gone beyond the physical act, and for the first time in his life, Luke had given completely of himself. His heart and mind had been involved, as well as his body. Incredibly, the instant he entered her, with the firestorm of delight and pleasure, he felt whole. Completed. And he knew one of the greatest mysteries of life had been revealed to him in the wee hours of this night.
He was sure it had been the same for J.D., because she hadn’t tried to disguise her reaction to him.
The question was, where did they go from here?
She stirred, stretching like a cat. She was an incredible sight, clothed in nothing but her gold hair. His body sprang to life. Lightly, he brushed his mouth over her forehead.
“Ah, that feels so good,” she murmured sleepily. “You want to try that a little lower?”
He couldn’t help but grin. She was asking for it. He placed a scalding kiss between her breasts.
A startled sound escaped her lips.
“Is that what you had in mind?”
Her eyes flew open and locked with his. “No.” Her eyes darkened with her awakened passion. “But since you’ve had such a smart idea, why don’t you finish what you’ve started.”
He did.
* * *
The weekend passed in a haze of passion. They were locked in their own private world of joy and discovery. They would make love, eat, sleep, then wake to start the cycle over again. Both avoided thinking about the future.
Monday morning Luke returned to a semi-normal work schedule, each day increasing the hours he spent downtown. He was surprised how much he missed the counselor and often found his mind wandering to what he and J.D. had done in the early morning hours before he left for work. For the first time in nearly twenty years, he looked forward to going home each night.
Progress on the investigation of Gwen’s murder was stalled, and Luke didn’t know whether to be frustrated or elated. The longer it took to find the killer, the longer J.D. stayed with him.
By Wednesday, J.D. was ready to climb the walls. There was only so much television a sane person could endure. Even Emma’s frequent calls didn’t help break the boredom. Over dinner that night, J.D. announced that she wanted to go looking for a new office.
Luke set down his ice tea. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
She shrugged.
“When do you want to do this?”
“Tomorrow.”
“No.”
Alarm bells went off in her head. It had been too good to be true. Their time together had been like nothing she’d ever imagined. They’d been happy. But dreams had a way of disappearing in the harsh light of morning.
Now, for the first time since they’d become lovers, she wanted something different than what Luke wanted. She was challenging his authority.
He stood, and she braced herself for his commanding orders. Instead, he came to her side and knelt by the chair. “J.D., it’s still too dangerous for you to go out.” He sounded worried and sincere.
“Luke, I’ll go crazy if I don’t get out of this house. Besides, Emma is having trouble getting all my cases together. I have clients showing up at my old office and going into hysterics when they see that burned-out shell. You’ve got to understand. A lot of my people are illegals, and when they see that burned building, they think they’re in real trouble if the government blows up their lawyer’s office.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know that, you know that, but the people I deal with don’t know that. They come from places where such things are commonplace. I’ve got to find a way to reassure them.”
“I understand, sweetheart, and maybe I can get off tomorrow afternoon and we can look for an office for you. But you can’t move in until I get a better handle on who’s trying to hurt you.”
“So I can rent an office, but can’t go to it until you catch this criminal?” She wanted to make sure she understood what he was saying. “What if you never catch the guy?”
Luke’s expression hardened.
She stood so quickly the chair tumbled to the floor. “You’re being unreasonable, Luke.”
He slowly stood, towering over her. “Maybe, but if you’re going to push the issue, that’s the best I can do.”
He was acting just like her father: pigheaded. She felt his hands on her shoulders. He turned her to face him. “You admitted yourself, Counselor, that if you had an office, you or whoever was there would be a sitting target. You want to put Emma in danger?”
She shook her head.
“Then give me until the end of the month. If I don’t have something substantial, then I won’t put up a fuss about you getting an office.”
Although she didn’t like it, she was willing to consider a compromise. “What do I do until then?”
His expression relaxed. “If you need to go to court, we’ll find an escort. You and Emma can work here or in that room you used before at police headquarters. The choice is yours.”
Luke’s arguments made sense. It seemed the man could persuade her with a little logic and a lot of charm. Or was it a lot of logic and a little charm? She had to admit the man was good at manipulation.
But was it manipulation or concern? She wished she knew.
“Okay, you’ve got until the end of the month.”
The self-satisfied smile on his lips didn’t sit well with her. “Wipe that grin off your face, Detective. It’s your night to clean up the dishes.”
* * *
The moment J.D. left the bed, Luke knew it. He watched as she slipped on her nightshirt and silently padded to the window. The moon was full, flooding the room with silvery light.
Something was wrong. He felt it in the desperation of her kisses, in the way she’d clung to him as they made love. Whatever had come between them, he didn’t like it. He joined her at the window.
She jumped when he slipped his arms around her waist. Her body relaxed against his.
This felt right. J.D. in his arms. He held her, content for the moment to share the quiet with her.
“I’m sorry if I woke you,” she said.
“It’s amazing how quickly I’ve become used to having you next to me in bed.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. There was something in her eyes he couldn’t rea
d that bothered him.
“What’s wrong, J.D?”
“What makes you think anything’s wrong?”
His arms tightened around her. “You’re a terrible liar, Counselor. So bad, it amazes me that you’re successful at your profession.”
She jammed her elbow into his stomach.
“Ouch, that hurt.” It was a weak protest.
“You deserved it.”
“And you’re avoiding my question, which is a skill at which you excel.”
She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. Her deep sigh caused his heart to falter.
“What’s bothering you, Counselor? And don’t deny it. I felt it in your kisses. Instead of your usual abandon, there was reservation.”
“I’m a poor bet, Luke.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, I’ve got a bad track record with men. You’ve seen it yourself. Allen is the biggest jerk this side of the Mississippi, and I fell for him.”
The drift of the conversation was making him nervous. “You had a reason for marrying the guy.”
Her harsh laugh bounced off the walls of the room. “I sure did. Allen was nothing like my dad, and that was his biggest selling point. I was flattered when Allen started to pursue me. I was in my first year of law school and still a virgin. To have such a handsome, charming man interested in me was a compliment.”
Luke knew in his bones what was coming, and his anger soared.
“I smartened up real fast after the wedding. It took less than two weeks for me to discover Allen had married me for my dad’s money and political connections. Allen had dreams of becoming governor one day. But he shot that hope to smithereens when I caught him in bed with another woman. She wasn’t even eighteen.”
J.D. fell silent, and Luke didn’t have to see her face to know she was in pain. He could feel it.
“What did you do?”
“I filed for divorce. Allen told me I could have it if my father paid a hefty settlement. I told him with clear, distinct words that I would have him brought up on charges of statutory rape and ruin him with every politician my father knew if he just didn’t fade from my life without incident.”
Luke shook his head. Her father had mentioned the mysterious thing that had happened between Allen and J.D. Now he knew.
“Funny, in trying to marry a man the exact opposite of my father, I came up with something worse.”
He turned her around and brushed a kiss across her lips. She was hurting and needed to talk. He settled her head onto his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. “Tell me about your dad, J.D.”
“What do you want to know?”
So, she was going to fight him. “When I met him, he made a vivid impression.”
She turned her face into his chest and giggled. The sensation was exquisite, and he was tempted to quit playing shrink and take her back to bed.
“A mild understatement if I’ve ever heard one. My father is the king of vivid impressions. But I guess it was that drive, that strong spirit of his that helped him overcome his dirt-poor beginnings. His parents were migrant workers. Dad determined he wouldn’t spend his life picking crops for rich people. He and a buddy went to West Texas and learned the oil business. The rest is history, so to speak.”
“What about your mother?”
“Dad lacked respectability. Mother was the only daughter of the bank president in Midland. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I think Dad loved Mother in his own way. It’s just that after twelve years of marriage, Mother had given him only one child. A daughter. Dad wanted a son, so he went looking for a woman who could give him one. When his secretary became pregnant, Dad got a divorce.”
She glanced at him. “Do you want to hear something funny? Dad’s second wife gave him two daughters. No sons. I always thought it was poetic justice.”
She slipped her arms around his waist. “Does that make me a bad person?”
“No.”
“I’ll give my father this—once he realized that he was only going to have daughters, he made sure they were self-sufficient. Don’t get me wrong,” she said, pulling back. “I love my dad and my stepmother. Lenore has been wonderful to me. It’s just that Dad mows everything down in his path, and if you happened to be in his way—” she shrugged “—well, too bad. I knew I could never live the rest of my life with a man like Dad, so I picked Allen. The cure was worse than the disease.”
When Luke had met George Anderson, he had identified with the man’s decisiveness and straightforward approach. And if he felt he shared some of George Anderson’s qualities, then what did J.D. think?
“C’mon, Counselor, let’s go to bed.”
After they were settled in each other’s arms, J.D. murmured, “You know, it’s not fair if I spill my guts and you don’t.”
She could always make him grin. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about your ex-wife.”
She was going to make him pay, tit for tat. Well, maybe it was time to talk about that sorry episode in his life. “Kay and I were high school sweethearts. And looking back on it now, the only thing she and I had in common was that our biggest goal in life was to get away from End of the World, Texas.”
J.D.’s small hand moved in a slow circle over his chest, making it extremely hard to think. He captured her hand. “Do you want to hear this? Because if you do, then you’d better stop distracting me.”
“Spoilsport,” she muttered.
“Kay was happy the first year we were in Dallas. But soon after that she got tired of waiting for me to come home. She didn’t understand paperwork and overtime. I encouraged her to enroll in college. Things quickly unraveled after that. I became too stupid, too conservative, too much a cop. I came home one day to an empty house and a note in the kitchen.”
He tipped her chin up. Her eyes glistened in the semidarkness. “Does that satisfy you?”
She leaned up and placed a tender kiss on his lips. “Kay was a fool,” she whispered fiercely.
At that moment, everything came together and he knew he loved her. He pulled up onto his chest and showed her with his body what he couldn’t put into words.
* * *
Kay was a fool. Her words echoed in his head. He glanced in the mirror, the razor poised over his lathered cheek. Did she really think Kay had been wrong? Had J.D. really understood that Kay had been ashamed of him?
She’s a smart woman, a voice in his head argued. She understood the implications. Would J.D. ever be ashamed of him?
No. If anything, the counselor would probably punch someone in his defense. He grinned at the thought and nicked himself. “Ouch.”
“What’s wrong?” J.D. called from the bedroom.
“Cut myself.”
She appeared in the doorway, concern on her face. “Is it bad?” Standing on her tiptoes, she tried to see over his shoulder. He saw her head weave and bob in the mirror.
“No.” He turned his head and kissed her on the mouth. She sputtered, shaving cream on her lips and surrounding skin. She looked ridiculous, funny and, with her golden hair hanging past her waist and nothing else on, sexy. “If you don’t leave this instant, J.D., we’re going to see how comfortable it is to make love in the bathroom.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe next time, Detective. My ribs are still a bit sore.”
He glanced at the toilet, then at the sink. “There are other ways.”
She scurried out of the room, her laughter filling the hall.
As he shaved, he recalled their long conversation last night and the passionate lovemaking that followed afterward. He loved J.D. with an intensity that made what he had felt for Kay pale in comparison.
The feeling was petrifying and exhilarating. Sunlight and shadows. It filled him, seeping into every part of his soul. He was laid open to the warmth. Bare against the cold.
She had told him that she couldn’t live with a man like her dad. He had many of George Anderson’s qualities. Did that me
an she couldn’t live with him?
And could he live with J.D.’s drive? Would she sacrifice her personal life for her career, just as Kay had? Could he endure watching his love killed, one case at a time?
There were problems. The question was, were there any solutions?
* * *
J.D. pointed the remote at the TV and clicked it off. If she saw one more game show, she was going to throw up. She glanced at the romance novel on the coffee table but decided against reading. Restless, she wandered out into the backyard. The sight of Luke’s garden made her face the tormenting demon that had plagued her the last few days.
She was in love. In love with a cop. A complicated, complex, wonderful cop.
The admission didn’t make her feel better.
Did he love her as hopelessly and as foolishly as she loved him? Could Luke live with who she was and what she did for a living?
She was afraid. Afraid of her past blunders, of the rotten judgment that allowed her to marry Allen and date men like him. Afraid that Luke was too much like her dad.
She had tried to tell Luke of her fears last night but knew she hadn’t adequately expressed them. He probably hadn’t understood.
Wasn’t loving someone supposed to bring joy, peace, contentment?
One out of three wasn’t bad.
* * *
Luke had just finished a report and was thinking about taking J.D. out to look for an office when his phone rang.
“Detective McGill.”
“Luke, this is Marv.” Marvin Street was Luke’s old landlord.
“Hi, Marv. How’s everything going? Are you missing your favorite tenant? I bet since I left, Mrs. Ables has targeted you with her cakes and cookies. She always wants to mother someone.”
“Everything’s fine. But something just happened I think you should know about. Remember you asked me to call if anyone came around asking about you?”
Luke leaned forward, tension gripping him. This was it. “Yeah.”
“Well, about twenty minutes ago someone was here asking about you. Ask—”
The line went dead.
“Damn,” Luke growled, slamming down the receiver.