“I don’t know about that,” she answered. “Aches and pains I can handle. I once broke my wrist and still managed to get through the day before Miss Joan caught on and forced me to go see the doctor. But this is different. I feel really, really drained and tried. The kind of tired that if the sofa was on fire, I still wouldn’t be able to get up.”
Sully laughed at the image she’d just painted. “Oh, you’d be surprised at how fast you could move if there was a fire underneath you. And, personally, you turned out to be a lot stronger than I thought you were.” He paused a moment, looking at her, his head being the only thing he was able to move. “In fact, I’m going to give you the ultimate compliment. You are actually strong enough to be an honorary Cavanaugh.”
Taking a deep breath, Rae turned her head to look at him, although it took effort.
“I’m flattered,” she told him, allowing a laugh to escape her lips.
“You should be. Not everyone can measure up to that or be that strong. As a matter of fact, it takes a steel resolve and a large amount of stubbornness. A hell of a lot of stubbornness,” he emphasized.
And as he said it, he felt something stirring within him.
A moment ago, Sully would have sworn he was drained. As drained, both physically and mentally, as Rae had just said she was. But after having turned to look at her, he found that he had mysteriously gotten a second wind from somewhere, one that if not totally rejuvenating him at least gave him the energy to cut the small amount of distance that had been between them down to much less than half that.
And even less than that.
Without fully knowing how, he had managed to shift so that he was less than a hairbreadth away from her.
Sully told himself that he should move. That right now he was far too close to her and that would only lead to him making a mistake. Besides, he’d already kissed Rae. Twice. It wasn’t as if he was motivated by a sense of adventure or exploration.
But that was just it. He had kissed her before, and what was motivating him now wasn’t curiosity—it was a desire to repeat the sensation, to feel what he already knew he would feel, except perhaps more so.
This was absurd.
He was in the middle of an investigation, for Pete’s sake. He didn’t have time to behave like some impressionable adolescent.
And yet...
And yet everything inside his body suddenly wanted to experience that rejuvenating kiss one more time. To feel as if the weight of the world wasn’t threatening to come down on his shoulders, pressing him to the ground. All he wanted to was to feel the way he had when he had been a teenager, a time when nothing else mattered and the evening was endless with possibilities.
You’re going to regret this, a little voice in his head warned him.
But Sully had never listened to the voice in his head, he only listened to his gut—and his gut was telling him to kiss Rae.
Chapter 17
Every single pulse point in her body was pounding wildly in ever-growing anticipation. She was suddenly a symphony of needs and desires, and it had all taken her totally and utterly by surprise.
Only a second ago, Rae could have sworn that after the full day they had just put in, she was utterly spent.
Yet the single unspoken promise of what was to come telegraphed itself through her body, causing every nerve ending she had to stand at attention—waiting.
Hoping.
The air in her lungs had stopped moving, almost solidifying.
She was literally holding her breath.
Was he going to kiss her? Or would he draw away at the last moment because he didn’t want to mix business with pleasure, as if he felt that would somehow wind up degrading both?
The moment stretched out, feeling as if it was lasting a lifetime.
The ache inside her grew.
“Are you going to make me kiss you?” she asked. Her voice seemed to echo in her head.
Rather than move in, or pull back, Sully asked her, “Do you want to?”
She could have screamed. “What I don’t want, Cavanaugh, is to verbally fill out some questionnaire about—”
Rae didn’t get a chance to finish. She didn’t have to. Sully had his answer.
His lips found hers, and with almost aching precision, the moment was suddenly ignited, setting off flames all around her that were ten feet tall.
What began almost in slow motion suddenly seemed to explode. Needs took over, demanding satisfaction. Demanding tribute.
Suddenly, that fire they had just discussed in hypothetical terms became very, very real. It raced through her limbs, feeding on everything in its path, obliterating it.
She didn’t know it, but she was experiencing a complete mirror image of what was happening to him right at the same time.
The rest of what was happening became almost a blur, a heated, glorious blur of clothing disappearing. Of incredibly hot, life-affirming, demanding kisses, of body parts threatening to melt into throbbing heaps as possessing hands and questing lips seemed to touch just about everywhere, leaving no part unconquered.
Flames were being fanned rather than being set to rest.
Rae had never imagined, not even in her wildest dreams, that making love with someone could ever feel like this. Her very thoughts were incinerated, vanishing from existence to be replaced by the urgent supplication beating in her brain: more.
She wanted more.
The more he touched her, kissed her, caused her body to spontaneously writhe and twist almost as if it was a separate entity, the more she wanted him to touch her, to kiss her.
To caress her.
Struggling to catch her breath, Rae did her best to turn the tables on him. She wanted nothing more than to return the favor by making Sully’s body sing the way he was making hers.
Stunned, Sully didn’t know what to think at first. Because she had surprised him. In each relationship he’d had, in each encounter, he had always been the one to do the pleasuring. That was how he had gotten his own pleasure.
To suddenly be on the receiving end of the sensations he had always bestowed was something entirely new for him. Suddenly, the pleasure threshold that existed had been surmounted—and surpassed.
Engaged in a passionate, exquisite contest of one-upmanship, they wound up tumbling from the sofa without even realizing it at first.
Their bodies remained tangled together as they took turns delivering and receiving volleys of almost surreal pleasure to one another.
Her head was spinning, but she was still aware of every movement his body made along hers. He’d done wondrous things with his mouth and tongue, causing one climax after another to burst through her, consuming every square inch of her until she was certain that she was totally spent—only to realize that she craved more.
And then, as the entire world was swirling, seeming to spin almost out of control all around her, Rae caught her breath as she felt Sully enter her.
Not as if he was storming the gates, but slowly, gently.
Teasingly.
Which only created yet another vast, endless ache within her.
Rae raised her hips, urging him to move faster. To bring that final, deliciously beautiful explosion vibrating all through her.
She mimicked his movements; he increased the tempo until neither knew who was in the lead and who was following.
They both were.
One final thrust did it, brought them both up to the highest peak.
Simultaneously.
Fireworks and stardust seemed to rain down all around them, and they both held on to that one moment for as long as they could—aching for it to go on just a little longer.
The beat of their hearts mimicking one another was all they were aware of.
Slowly, the beat muted, slipping away.
Sully didn’t want to let her go, didn’t want to allow
this moment to slip into the past. If he could, he would have gone on holding Rae forever.
He knew that he couldn’t.
Still, he kept one arm tucked around her, holding Rae to him as if she was something very precious, and the second he let go, she would disappear. Along with the moment.
“So I guess you can move if there’s a fire under you,” he teased.
She turned her head toward him. “Meaning you?” she asked. “Are you the fire?”
He felt her hair as it brushed against his cheek. Why did that feel so sensual? And why in heaven’s name, after making love with her like some possessed wild man, did he feel himself wanting her again with a verve that left him speechless?
“I’ll be anything you want me to be,” he whispered almost hoarsely.
She’d been with three men in her entire life. Each of them had managed to fill the moment while it was happening. But none had ever managed to fill her soul.
Yet this man who was almost already gone out of her life, he had filled the terrible emptiness that she assumed was her heart.
She was being self-destructive. There was no doubt about it in her mind. Why else would she have allowed herself to respond like this, to have actual feelings for someone who she knew for a fact was only temporarily in her life?
Who would be leaving all too soon, disappearing from her life forever? Leaving an insurmountable ache in his place?
She felt tears dampening her lashes and bit the inside of her bottom lip, willing the tears to go away. Tomorrow would be here fast enough, taking him away from her. If not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. But she still had now.
And now was all she wanted.
“Good,” she whispered, lacing her arms around his neck, surrendering herself to him. “Because I need that fire.”
Sully came very close to groaning, feeling his body responding to her all over again.
“One fire coming up,” he told her, his voice growing thick just before his mouth covered hers.
The fire went on for a long time.
* * *
Morning found them in her bed. She’d taken him there with her and they had made love one final time before exhaustion finally claimed them both.
They’d slept straight through until morning, when beams of sunlight shining into the room had nudged them awake.
Not wanting Sully to feel as if he owed her any morning-after conversation, Rae quickly grabbed her clothes and hurried into the bathroom, where she dressed in record time.
“Cash should be back sometime within the next couple of hours,” she told him, doing her best to sound like she was all business and not as if just being close to him like this made her want him all over again. “We should get to his office if we want to question him. We can ask him about any conversation he might have had with Wynters before his clients start coming in. He might not have any time—or want to—talk at that point.”
Sully shoved his hands into his pockets. It was either that or he’d wind up reaching for her.
“If we want to get to him first thing, we should go to his house, not the office. I’m sure that when he got home from his business trip, Cash went straight home to his wife,” Sully pointed out.
She was usually sharper than that, she upbraided herself.
“You’re right,” Rae agreed. “Want breakfast?” she asked, realizing that they hadn’t had any dinner last night. Lovemaking had usurped hunger.
But hunger was back.
For a moment, Sully considered her suggestion. If they stayed here for breakfast, he knew what was bound to happen. With no one around to interrupt them, one thing would easily lead to another, especially since he wanted her.
He needed to focus on solving this crime. A lot of people were waiting for answers, and no one was going to sleep easy in their beds until whoever had committed this murder was caught.
He had to keep the bigger picture in mind—even though all he could think of was Rae.
“Why don’t we get some breakfast at the diner before we go talk to Cash?” he suggested.
Rae read between the lines. She knew what Sully was doing.
She smiled at him. “Safety in numbers, is that it, Detective?”
Sully saw no reason to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. He respected her thought process too much.
“Something like that,” he acknowledged.
Her smiled widened. It was nice to know that this had affected both of them.
“Okay. I’ll just talk to Clint’s brother to let him know where we’ll be this morning and then we can get going,” she told him.
Just as she opened the door, he put his hand on her arm. She turned to look at him quizzically. “What?”
“You do know that you can stay here and see to the ranch if you’re worried about how things are going,” Sully reminded her.
“Actually, for the first time in a long time, I am not worried about how things are going on the ranch. Turns out that Washburn’s really good at running a ranch. From what I gather, he even got Rawlings to put in a full day’s work with the horses.”
“You’re good at getting Rawlings to pull his weight, too,” Sully pointed out loyally.
“No, I got Rawlings to put in what looked like a full day’s work. On closer examination, I found that he kept cutting corners, and he made himself scarce whenever possible. Washburn, on the other hand, has him reporting in at regular intervals. Things are getting done,” she said with satisfaction.
“Does that bother you?” Sully asked her out of the blue as they were leaving the house.
She wasn’t sure what he was asking about. Rae got in behind the steering wheel. “Does what bother me?”
He got in on the passenger side. “The fact that Washburn has everything under control and running so well according to what you just said.”
“That would be petty,” she said, the truck humming to life as she turned the key. “This is Miss Joan’s ranch. She gave me a break by giving me a job here. It’s just that I’d hate to see it go under because she did a good deed for someone else in need.” She drove toward the road leading from the ranch into town. “We both know that as a ranch hand, Rawlings is a regular sloth. If Washburn can get some work out of him, more power to him. I’m all for it.”
Sully smiled as they continued on into town. “That’s very fair of you,” he told her.
“Well, Miss Joan’s always been very fair to me,” she said. “I can’t allow my ego to get in the way of repaying her.”
“You don’t have an ego,” Sully observed.
She was touched, but not taken in. Rae spared him a quick glance.
“Despite what happened last night between us, you don’t know anything about me, Cavanaugh,” she informed him.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Sully answered loftily. “I’m a pretty good judge of character.”
“Sure you are,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
He nodded. “You’re selfless, a hard worker and very passionate about things you care about.”
“I sound terrific,” she quipped.
He took no notice of her sarcasm. “That’s because you are,” he told her.
She slanted a glance at Sully, then decided that it just might be simpler and safer all around if music filled the inside of the truck’s cab rather than the sound of their voices. At least then she wouldn’t feel so embarrassed and at a loss for words.
* * *
“Any progress?” Miss Joan asked when she saw them approaching the counter.
Several people were having their breakfast at the counter. They turned to see who had walked in, prompted by idle curiosity and/or a desire to know who Miss Joan was talking to and what the answer to her question was going to be. It was the locals’ version of reality TV, Forever-style.
Sully slid on
to a stool and leaned in, his body language telling the older woman that what he was about to share with her was for her ears alone.
Miss Joan immediately understood. “Rear table,” she said.
Sully and Rae followed Miss Joan, just as they had the first time she’d indicated where she wanted them to sit in order to have privacy.
This time Miss Joan took her seat first, waiting for them to sit and speak.
“We talked to a number of people yesterday, and it hasn’t led us anywhere yet,” Sully told her. “Although Garrett did mention that he thought Wynters looked spooked when he saw Cash.”
“Cash?” Miss Joan repeated. “You mean my grandson?” It was obvious that the information was not what she’d expected. “Why on earth would Wynters be scared by my grandson?”
“We were hoping to talk to Cash and find out,” Sully explained. “Turns that your grandson was out of town yesterday.”
“I know,” Miss Joan responded.
Sully was beginning to believe that what everyone said was true—there was nothing that went on in Forever that the woman wasn’t aware of. He decided to ask her first.
“Any idea why Wynters would be afraid of your grandson?” he pressed.
Miss Joan thought a moment. “He consults on out-of-state cases sometimes. Maybe Wynters thought he recognized him, or maybe he crossed paths with Cash while he was still in his other identity. I guess you’re going to have to talk to Cash to find out. It could just be that Wynters wasn’t looking at Cash but someone else near Cash,” the woman speculated.
“I believe that this is where that phrase comes into play,” he said after they had eaten and were leaving the diner.
“What phrase?” Rae asked.
“‘So near and yet so far,’” Sully answered matter-of-factly.
Chapter 18
Rae pulled up her truck in front of Cash’s house just as he was about to leave for the law office he shared with Olivia Blayne-Santiago, the sheriff’s wife.
Cash stopped as he was about to close the door behind him. Surprised to see the detective from California and Rae on his doorstep, he commented, “This must be really urgent if you came to my house instead of the office.”
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