He wanted to follow her into oblivion but didn’t figure his back would thank him for sleeping on the couch.
But he liked the feel of her sprawled all over him way too much.
So damn soft. All of her. Her skin, her breasts. And that hair… It felt like silk. He wanted her to rub it all over his body.
When he got into bed, he made sure he kept her by his side. She made no attempt to move away, probably because she was unconscious. But she did throw one arm and a leg over him. And all that hair draped over his chest.
He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, light streamed through the window he’d forgotten to close last night and Merri had her hand on his cock.
He was already hard, already aching. Which probably explained the dream he’d been having. Involving his cock and Merri’s hand.
Shit, what if he was still dreaming?
He couldn’t see her face. Her head rested on his chest, facing down, probably watching her hand stroking him. He really liked that.
She held him loosely and he put his hand over hers and tightened her fingers. She took the hint and he groaned as heat flashed through his body, threatening to make him melt into the sheets.
When she repositioned herself farther down his body and he felt her breath against his hip, he let his fingers wind through her hair.
Her lips brushed the skin over his hip then just below his belly button then, finally, enclosed the head of his cock. She didn’t mess around, didn’t press little kisses or tease him.
She just took him. No hesitation, no lack of confidence.
And made him burn.
Her mouth and tongue worked the head and the shaft until he panted, muscles straining. Her hands flattened on his chest, kneading at his chest, her fingers pinching his nipples and making him squirm.
He enjoyed the hell out of the sensations bombarding him until he knew he couldn’t take it anymore.
Then he sat up, his hands gently cupping her face and easing her off his shaft. Reluctantly, she did, staring up at him with those cat eyes, sexy and half-lidded.
“Merri. Up. Now.”
When the hell had he become a caveman? He didn’t care.
She didn’t give him what he wanted right away. She made him wait until he thought he’d have to take matters into his own hands.
Then she straightened, repositioning herself until her knees settled on both sides of him. His hands reached for her hips, helped her reposition until her sex brushed against his cock. He hissed in a breath at the sensation of liquid heat against that sensitive skin then nearly came up off the bed again when she started to roll her hips, rubbing her sex against his shaft.
Groaning, he let her torment him because he absolutely loved it.
Forcing his eyes to stay open so he could watch her, he saw the flush rise on her cheeks and the way she bit her lip as she moved.
He saw the second she’d had enough teasing and wanted more. Reaching for the bedside table, he fumbled open the drawer and grabbed a condom, which he handed to her.
Her eyes focused on his, making sure he watched her as she dealt with the condom then wrapped her hand around his cock and positioned him. As she slid onto him, her expression slackened and her eyes finally closed. Her head fell back as she sank down, the tips of her hair tickling his thighs.
Without giving him time to catch his breath, she took him in, clenched around him. Reaching for him, her fingers laced with his, steadying her as she rode him.
He could barely breathe, his heart pounding, his cock ready to burst. He held off his release with the thought that she was so close and he didn’t want to disappoint her.
“Merri. Come.”
She moaned, her hands clenching on his as her sex clenched around his cock.
“I want to watch. I want to see you—”
Her body shuddered as she obeyed and he had a second to enjoy it before she took him over the edge.
Seconds later, she sank onto his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.
He realized he was doing that a lot. Wanting to keep her close.
Don’t get used to it. She won’t be here long.
Yeah, that thought pretty much sucked.
With a sigh, Merri disengaged and slid to his side again, ending up where she’d started.
Where she fit perfectly.
He held for several long, quiet minutes, listening to her breathing even out again. Then he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and slid out of bed to go to the bathroom.
She protested with a quiet sound but didn’t cling. And when he returned, she watched him unabashedly.
“So, maybe you could teach me how to make omelets this morning.”
It was so not what he’d been expecting to hear that he laughed and said, “Good morning to you, too.”
Sitting up, her hair covering all the interesting parts, she grimaced. “Sorry. I guess I should say thank you for the great sex first, huh?”
His smile grew. “Maybe I should say that before you offer to cook me breakfast.”
She shrugged, not looking embarrassed exactly, but chagrined. “Sorry. Not used to this whole morning-after stuff. But you did agree to teach me how to cook.”
His inner caveman beat his chest at that morning-after comment then smiled at the slight pout on her lips, swollen from his mouth.
“And I will. But that means we both have to get dressed. Don’t want anything important to get burned at the stove.”
Her smile returned as she looked for her clothes before realizing they weren’t anywhere to be seen. He saw the exact moment she remembered where they were and how they’d gotten there.
“So I guess you either have to be a gentleman and get my clothes or you need to lend me a shirt.”
Turning to the chest of drawers, he grabbed a shirt for her and a pair of gym shorts for him. The shirt should be long enough to cover all her important parts. Then again, he really didn’t want her to get hurt accidentally so he dug around in his drawer until he came up with the smallest pair of drawstring shorts he owned. He and his friend Caz had a matching pair. They’d worn the orange zebra-stripe shorts—and only the shorts—as a joke years ago for a Polar Bear run.
When he handed them to Merri, she looked up at him with raised eyebrows but he just smiled in return. A guy had to have some secrets. Besides, it’d give her something to think about, and he knew it’d come up in conversation later.
But for now, they dressed and headed out for the kitchen.
Halfway through teaching her how to make French toast, he remembered the lab guys were coming to pick up his notes for the compound today. They always sent a registered courier and they were supposed to be here around nine a.m., which… Shit, it almost was.
And of course, he didn’t have the packet together.
“Hey, I totally forgot I needed to put something together for pick-up this morning. They’ll be here in minutes. Can you take care of the food ’til then?”
With her hair braided into two lengths and hanging over her shoulders, she should’ve looked like a twelve-year-old. But her glance gave him a heat flash. Definitely all woman.
“I think I can manage.” The sarcasm dripping from her tone made him think twice about stealing a kiss before he left. But he did it anyway and pulled away with a grin.
“It’ll just take me a minute to put it all together,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for his office.
He nearly had all the material in the envelope when the doorbell rang.
“Do you want me to get that?” she called from the kitchen.
“Sure. Thanks.”
He was on his way to the front door when he heard Merri yell, “Hey!”
He’d turned and was running for her before he’d realized what was going on. He got to the living room just in time to see a guy in a dark uniform muscle her out of the way and come straight for him.
Acting on instinct, he tossed the file back toward his bedroom then met the guy head on.
He was bigger than Jimmy, but Nic had taught him how to fight. He wasn’t worried about himself.
He managed to yell, “Merri, get the hell out of here,” before the guy took his first swing.
He didn’t know if she obeyed because the guy’s second swing was on its way.
With one arm up to block, he managed to use the other to send a roundhouse toward the guy’s chin. It was obvious the guy hadn’t expected Jimmy to put up a fight because the look on his face when Jimmy landed his first punch was pure shock.
The guy staggered back, shook his head like a dog shaking off water, then charged him. Jimmy braced for impact but hadn’t expected his assailant to sideswipe him.
And head straight to his bedroom. Where he’d thrown his notes.
“Fuck!” He hit the wall of cabinets hard, pain shooting through his body.
“Jimmy, here!”
Jimmy turned to see Merri rushing out the kitchen with a—
He caught the frying pan she tossed at him just before it hit him in the head. Then he turned and sprinted for the guy who’d almost made it into his bedroom.
Winding up, he smashed the guy on the back of the head with the pan.
With a grunt, the intruder weaved to the side then fell like a ton of bricks.
Behind him, Jimmy heard Merri approach. “Damn. Did you kill him?”
Trying to catch his breath, he shook his head. “He’s still breathing. You okay?”
Jimmy didn’t want to take his eyes off the guy in case he was faking unconsciousness and preparing for another attack, so he couldn’t tell if Merri was unharmed.
“I’m fine. Are you okay? You went into the cabinets pretty hard.”
“I’m fine. I’ve been blown up before. This is nothing.”
“Seriously?”
He smiled at the curiosity in her voice but only for a split second. “Yeah. Look, I need you to call Nic. My phone’s in the kitchen. Handcuffs—shit. Where the hell did I leave the handcuffs?”
A short pause. “Are they in the table by the bed?”
His laughter felt good, releasing some of the pent-up adrenaline still racing through his body. “No. I’ve never actually handcuffed anyone to my bed.” He did shoot her a very fast look over his shoulder. “But I’m always willing to try new things.”
The flush on her cheeks made him grin even wider. “I’ll just go get your phone.”
The guy didn’t move as Merri stepped away to make the call. He listened as she called Nic then heard her return.
“Do you have a gun?”
“No. Don’t like them. Won’t use them. No moral objection to them. Just not for me. I do have a Taser. That should be in my office in the desk. Along with the handcuffs, probably.”
And off she went again. While he felt like an idiot standing over the guy with a frying pan. At least it was cast iron. This sucker was heavy.
When she returned with the handcuffs, Taser, and a roll of duct tape, Jimmy had her hold the Taser on the guy while he’d bound his ankles with duct tape and slapped the cuffs on his wrists.
Several minutes later, the man groaned, opened his eyes, took a look around, then worked himself into a sitting position.
“Frying pan, huh? Had to be cast iron. You got some aspirin?”
Now that the immediate danger had passed, Jimmy studied the guy. Caucasian. Short brown hair, brown eyes, average features. No scars, no identifying marks.
Jimmy was pretty sure he’d never seen him before, but he’d never been good with faces.
“Who are you?”
The guy gave him an unmistakable “are you serious?” look. “I figure you already called your brother, so why don’t we just wait until he gets here. Then I don’t have to do this again.”
Jimmy’s gaze narrowed. “So you know Nic?”
“Yeah, he does. What the fuck are you doing here, Zeke?”
Jimmy turned to see Nic walking into the bedroom, shaking his head, a disgusted look on his face.
“You know him?”
“Yeah,” Nic sighed. “I do. Who you working for this month, Zeke? Apparently someone stupid enough to hire you.”
The guy had the nerve look offended. “Hey, you’re lucky it was me they sent and not one of the other goons they have on staff. They wouldn’t have been as…considerate of your brother’s feelings as I was. And they wouldn’t give a shit about hurting the girl.”
Nic flashed Jimmy a look that promised a follow-up question later. “So what are you here for?”
“Aw, now, you know I can’t tell you that. And you know I’ll be out on bail in a couple hours.”
“He’s here for my notes,” Jimmy said. “They’re being shipped out today. Obviously somebody hired this guy to take them before the transfer.”
“Well, shit.” Nic grinned at the guy, who must have known Nic pretty well because his expression finally showed the first signs of fear. “Guess your boss forgot to tell you this isn’t a private matter. It’s military. And the second I bring in the Feds, you’re screwed four ways to Sunday.”
Zeke’s response was so creatively obscene, Jimmy was slightly impressed. Even Merri, standing at a safe distance behind Nic, seemed impressed.
“So,” Nic continued when the guy finally wound down. “You want me to call my contact at the DOD? Or do you want to tell me who you’re working for and I’ll consider letting the locals have you for B&E?”
Instead of answering Nic, Zeke looked at Jimmy. “Whatever it is you’re working on, you might want to rethink your exit strategy. I’m not the only one who knows about it. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s coming after it.”
Chapter Seven
“So what now? Do we lie in wait for the next guy to get here? And what are we going to do with this one?”
Merri tried to keep the excitement out of her voice but didn’t quite manage. This was the most fun she’d had in…well, ever.
Sure, her side hurt from where she’d hit the door jamb after Zeke had pushed her aside to get in the house. But the fear she’d experienced in those first few minutes before Jimmy had knocked the guy out had been replaced by excitement.
Nothing like this ever happened at her office.
And from Jimmy’s apparent lack of surprise and Nic’s matter-of-fact questioning, it seemed like it happened here in the real world a lot.
As she stared back and forth between the brothers, Nic tried to hide a grin while Jimmy just stared at her with something like horror.
“We are going to do nothing,” Jimmy finally said. “You are going to go spend the day with Mal and Janey.”
“What? Why?”
Jimmy’s frown got so scrunched she figured his face had to hurt. “Because it’s not safe here.”
“So you’re leaving too?”
“Of course not.”
She slid a glance at Nic, who now had his head in his hand. Was he laughing too?
“So why is it safe for you and not me?”
Jimmy opened his mouth but words never emerged. Probably because what he was going to say would have pissed her off. Like “because you’re a girl.”
Yeah, that would’ve made her really angry.
Her hands went to her hips, daring him to say it.
When he kept his mouth shut, she couldn’t help herself.
“You do know I probably have more combat training than you, right? I have a brown belt in tae kwon do, and the only reason I don’t have my black belt is because I haven’t had time to take the test. I’m ranked expert in weapons qualifications and I have my own Berretta that my daddy bought me for my sixteenth birthday. Mal taught me everything I know about street fighting, and I’m pretty damn sure I can take care of myself better than you can.”
So there, she added silently, barely restraining the urge to cross her arms over her chest and stamp her feet because that would really show him just how much she could handle herself.
Ugh.
But, jeez, the guy was treating her like—
Shit. She was a total idiot.
“Jimmy, that was… I’m sorry. That—”
Curling his hand around her neck, he gave a slight yank and, as she stumbled toward him, he kissed her.
Right in front of Nic and the guy they had tied up on the floor.
It wasn’t a nice, tame peck either. It involved tongue and teeth and she totally forgot there were other people anywhere in the vicinity.
Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she flattened herself against him, letting him take what he wanted.
When Nic cleared his throat, Jimmy didn’t release her right away. When he finally did, she felt light-headed. Hot. Maybe a little embarrassed. But definitely not enough to not want to kiss him again.
Jimmy sighed as he released her only to put his arm around her shoulders and draw her into his side. “Okay, so now what?”
He directed the question to Nic, who looked at Merri. “You got your gun or do you need one?”
“It’s in my backpack.”
“Go get it. Jimmy, let’s see if we can find you something other than a frying pan to defend yourself with.”
Jimmy grinned. “I’ve got the Taser. But I gotta admit, the frying pan is pretty effective.”
Merri circled to the other side of the bed away from Zeke and retrieved her gun. She hadn’t been kidding about her training. Her dad had been downright militant about her knowing how to defend herself.
“All right then.” Nic cocked an eyebrow at Zeke. “Who else and how many?”
Zeke didn’t look at all frightened and Merri wondered how Nic and their would-be robber knew each other. “You know that’s gonna cost you, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. What?”
“You let me go. I tell you who’s coming, then I quietly disappear myself while you prepare for the next round.”
Nic just stared at the guy. “Zeke. How stupid do you think I am? Tell me who’s coming and then I’ll think about letting you go.”
“I’ll need your word that you’ll let me go first. And I’ll give you mine that you won’t see me again. Trust me. Next time I take a job, I’ll do a little more homework.”
“Good plan.” Nic nodded. “Deal. Now spill.”
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