Harlequin Romantic Suspense July 2021 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  She was out of her mind with need. It had been so long...so achingly long since she’d felt a man’s desire for her. Still, she didn’t want just any man. She only wanted Brad.

  One of his hands slid down her belly and lingered at the top of her panties. She arched up, inwardly screaming with the need for him to touch her. And then he did. His fingers slid beneath her panties and danced against her heated flesh.

  She clutched at his shoulders as a tension began to build inside her. He moved faster and faster against her, touching her at the perfect spot, and she climbed higher and higher. The tension pulled tighter and then suddenly sprang loose. She cried his name as wave after wave of intense pleasure rippled through her.

  When her climax was over, she kicked off her panties and plucked at his boxers, wanting...needing to touch him, to give him as much pleasure as he had just given her.

  He took off his boxers and she took him in her hand. His hard length pulsed as she stroked him and their gazes remained locked. “I want you, Brad. I want you inside me,” she said.

  His eyes flared with fire and he gently pushed her onto her back and then moved between her open thighs. “Tell me to stop, Simone, and I’ll stop,” he whispered.

  “Please, don’t stop,” she practically hissed.

  He entered her slowly and for a long moment they remained locked together yet not moving.

  He raised his hands and tenderly framed her face. He kissed her gently and then began to thrust into her. Slow at first, and then with a moan he increased the speed of his hips against hers.

  She moaned along with him, her heartbeat pounding as the tension began to build inside her once again. She met each of his thrusts with her own, wanting him to feel as much pleasure as he’d already given her.

  Faster and faster he moved against her until she was climaxing once again. He stiffened against her and groaned as he found his release at the same time.

  They remained locked together for several minutes as each of them waited for their breathing to return to normal. He then collapsed on the blanket next to her.

  He was so handsome with the golden light of the fire playing over his beautiful and perfect naked body. She was boneless and utterly sated. She smiled at him. “That was absolutely wonderful, Brad.”

  He frowned, grabbed his boxers and jeans and then got to his feet. “I’m sorry, Simone. That was totally unprofessional of me and it won’t happen again.” With those words, he stalked into the bathroom.

  CHAPTER 9

  Brad stared at his reflection in the small mirror above the bathroom sink. He had just been a perfect example of a major jerk to a woman who had not deserved it. He sluiced cold water over his face and then looked at his reflection again. “You’re still a jerk,” he muttered to himself.

  He’d been so shaken up by what they had shared, by the passion he’d had for her, a passion that had stolen all rational thought from his head.

  He had never, ever had such a mind-blowing bout of lovemaking in his entire life. The moment he’d tasted her lips, he’d been lost in her. He’d thrown all caution to the wind and had forgotten all about the reasons why they shouldn’t make love.

  And what bothered him more than anything was that he knew if given the chance , he would make the same mistake and make love with her all over again.

  Now she was in his very blood. He wouldn’t be able to look at her without remembering the sweet, hot taste of her lips or how her naked body had felt against his. He now would never be able to forget the throaty little moans she had made and how her eyes had glowed like those of a hungry wild animal as he had stroked into her.

  He couldn’t regret what they had shared, but they definitely needed to have a conversation about it and he owed her an apology for the way he had just acted toward her. He’d diminished what they had shared and that wasn’t fair.

  He got dressed and then stepped out of the bathroom.

  She sat, fully dressed, on the sofa. She stared into the flames in the fireplace and didn’t look at him as he sank down next to her.

  “Simone,” he said softly.

  “What?” She still didn’t look at him as she wrapped her arms around herself.

  “I’m sorry for being a jerk.”

  “You were a jerk,” she replied.

  “I know. I was just afraid if I told you how great our lovemaking was, if I stayed there next to you for another minute, I’d want you all over again.”

  She finally looked at him, her eyes holding a vulnerability...and a touch of hurt. He hated that. He hated that he had put that hurt in her eyes. “I just wanted to linger for a moment in your arms. I just wanted to bask for a moment in the...you know...the afterglow.” A blush colored her cheeks.

  “And I should have given that to you, but I was afraid that it would lead to another mistake. Simone, it’s obvious we share an intense physical attraction to each other. Acting on that attraction was my mistake. While it was an incredible experience for me, it was still a mistake. There’s no future for us and it would be irresponsible for us to think otherwise.”

  “Brad, I wasn’t looking for a future,” she replied. “I was just acting on what I wanted in the moment. I wanted you and I knew you wanted me. We are two consenting adults and so we acted on it. It was nothing more than that. I’m well aware of our positions and that when this case is over we will never see each other again.”

  He somehow wanted to protest her words, but he couldn’t. The truth of the matter was that they would probably never see each other again once Leo was under arrest and Rob Garner was no longer a threat.

  “And it was a mistake that I didn’t use any protection,” he added. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have any.”

  She stared back into the dying fire. “If you’re worried about me getting pregnant, I’m on the pill. And if you’re worried about catching something from me, I got tested and was clean after my last breakup and I haven’t been with anyone since then.”

  “I haven’t been with anyone in years,” he said. He hated the topic of the conversation and for some reason thinking about the idea of never making love to her again depressed him more than he wanted to admit. He stared at her profile for a moment. “Simone, I do care about you.”

  “You have to care for me. It’s your job,” she replied, her voice emotionless.

  “Beyond that, Simone.” It suddenly seemed important that she knew she wasn’t just a job. “I care about you as a woman, beyond this job.”

  Once again, she looked at him and this time a smile curved her lips. “It’s okay, Brad. Let’s just move on from here. Besides, I’m exhausted. It isn’t every day that I almost drown in a river.” She stood. “I’ll just say good-night and I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He wanted to say something to stop her from leaving, but he didn’t know what to say, and in any case, he wasn’t sure more conversation wouldn’t make things worse.

  “Good night, Simone.” He watched her until she disappeared into the bedroom and the door closed behind her.

  He got up from the sofa, too restless to sit still. The scent of her perfume lingered on his skin, in his head. He walked over to the window and peered out into the darkness of the night.

  His mind took him back to that moment when Simone had been standing on the riverbank and then she was suddenly gone. He’d faced down depraved killers before, and had been in life-and-death situations, but nothing...absolutely nothing he’d ever experienced before in his life had prepared him for the sheer terror of knowing Simone was in the river.

  Even now, just thinking about it, his heart began to race. He’d watched helplessly as the water had swallowed her up. He thought he’d lost her to the raging river. Horror had gripped him around the throat and then thankfully he’d seen her head bob to the surface.

  Thank God she’d grabbed on to that root, and thank God he’d been able to p
ull her to safety. Standing in the shower with her afterward, all he’d wanted to do was get the dirt and filth off her, warm the chill that had a grip on her and hold her until the fear left her eyes. He’d needed to hold her until the fear for her left him.

  He hadn’t planned on making love to her. He tried to chalk it up to the fact that they’d just been through a life-and-death experience and had needed a life-affirming action. And of course there was the fact that they had been fighting against their attraction to each other and that attraction had finally exploded. He just hoped they could deal with the aftermath without things getting awkward or weird between them. Still, he knew it couldn’t ever happen again.

  He turned around, grabbed the blanket he’d been using at night on the sofa, then shucked his jeans and took off his T-shirt. Once he was on the torturous sofa and covered up, he stared into the last dying embers in the fireplace.

  He desperately needed Leo to be found and arrested as quickly as possible. Not just to end the case, but to end his time with Simone.

  She wasn’t just a physical temptation. She was in his head in so many other ways. He loved the sound of her laughter and the way her eyes lit up with her smiles. He loved the serious conversations they had and he even liked the slight edge of defensiveness she displayed when it came to how smart she was.

  He loved the little wrinkle that danced across her forehead when she was concentrating on a chess game and her utter loyalty to and love of her family.

  The realization struck him like a thunderbolt stabbing through his chest. He was falling in love with Simone Colton. Rather than fill him with happiness, it had heartache written all over it.

  Of all the women in the world, why did it have to be a woman he had to protect against a potential killer? And why did it have to be a woman with whom he would never have a future?

  If his job and location weren’t enough to keep them apart, the fact that she was a Colton, an esteemed college professor, and he was nothing but a civil servant should be enough to squash any relationship he thought he could have with her.

  Somehow, someway, he had to gain some emotional distance from her. He prayed the sun continued to shine tomorrow so he could spend a lot of time outside and away from her.

  He finally drifted off to sleep with a deep sadness weighing in his heart. He jerked awake suddenly, his heart beating fast and with fight-or-flight adrenaline rushing through him. He grabbed his gun from the coffee table and shot upright.

  What had awakened him? What had pulled him from his sleep? He then realized Simone was half screaming in the bedroom. Had somebody managed to get inside? Had somebody broken in through the bedroom window and was now trying to harm her?

  He jumped off the sofa and raced to the bedroom. He yanked open the door and then halted. Enough moonlight drifted through the window for him to see there was nobody in the room except Simone, who thrashed and moaned in the throes of what he assumed was a bad nightmare.

  He set his gun on top of the chest of drawers and frowned, unsure what to do. Somebody had once told him it wasn’t a good idea to awaken a person in the middle of a nightmare, but he couldn’t just stand here and watch her suffer.

  And it was obvious she was suffering with whatever was going on in her dreams. “Simone,” he whispered her name softly and took a step toward her.

  She half screamed again, flailed her arms wildly and then brought her hands up to her throat as if fighting off an attacker. “Simone,” he said a little louder. Still she didn’t awake.

  He walked the last three steps to her bed and sank down on the edge of the mattress. “Wake up, Simone. You’re having a nightmare.” He gently took hold of her shoulder and gave her a little shake.

  She gasped and shot straight up. Her eyes flipped open. For a moment she stared at him blankly, as if she had no idea who he was, then with a deep sob she flung her arms around his neck and began to weep.

  He hesitated only a moment and then gathered her into his arms. “Shhh,” he whispered against her ear. “It’s all right, Simone. Was it a nightmare?”

  She nodded and continued to cry, deep sobs that convulsed her body. He held her tight and continued to croon soothing things. Finally, her sobs stopped, but she didn’t attempt to move out of his arms. “It must have been a bad nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly.

  She leaned back from him but didn’t completely leave his arms. His heart broke for her as the moonlight played on her slightly swollen and red eyes.

  “It’s always the same thing,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “I’m in a graveyard and standing in front of my father’s headstone. Then his face manifests out of a mist. He begs me to get his killers behind bars. He tells me he can’t rest until I do.”

  Her body began to shake and tears once again filled her eyes. “Then he gets angry and starts yelling at me that he can’t rest until I get the killers in jail. His skeletal arms come out of the headstone and his hands wrap around my neck and they start strangling...and then...and then I usually wake up.”

  She leaned back in, pressing her face against his chest as she began to cry once again. “It...it’s so terrifying.”

  “It’s just a dream, Simone. You know your father would never try to strangle you,” he said softly. “He’d never want to hurt you. He would only want good things for you.”

  She cried for a minute and then she regained control. “You must think I’m the biggest baby in the world,” she finally said. “I cry over thunderstorms and over bad dreams, and I cry because of my father’s murder. I really am a strong woman, Brad. I’m really not a crybaby.”

  He released a small laugh. “Oh, honey, I know that.” He rubbed her back until she leaned away from him. She appeared exhausted but still haunted by her nightmare. “Come on, get back beneath the blanket and I’ll tuck you in.”

  She reached out and grabbed hold of his hand. “Brad, will you stay with me...just for a little while? Just until I fall back to sleep?”

  A little alarm went off in his head, telling him it wasn’t a good idea, but how could he deny the plea in her eyes, the faint fear that still lingered there?

  “Okay, I’ll stay here for a little while,” he replied. “Just until you fall back to sleep.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered softly. She settled back into the mattress and closed her eyes as he began to rub her back.

  There was no way he was going to get beneath the blanket with her. He just didn’t trust himself. He continued to rub her back and finally felt her relaxing. Thankfully within minutes she was once again asleep.

  He waited a few more minutes and then he got off the bed, grabbed his gun from the top of the dresser and then returned to the uncomfortable sofa to finish out the night.

  God, he needed to keep his head about him where she was concerned. Unfortunately, he could do nothing about how deep his heart had gotten involved.

  * * *

  Simone awakened early. A mere whisper of light lit up the eastern skies. She dressed and quietly left the bedroom and went to the table and sat.

  Brad was still asleep on the sofa, and although she’d like a cup of coffee, the last thing she wanted to do was awaken him. She had no idea how long he’d stayed with her the night before after the terrible and familiar nightmare. She was just grateful that he’d been there to soothe her back to sleep.

  He was such a good man. He was exactly the kind of man she wanted in her life forever. He was funny and smart and incredibly sexy. He was caring and brave and she was in love with him.

  She nearly fell off her chair as the realization hit her hard. When had it happened? When had her physical attraction transformed into something deeper, into something far more meaningful?

  Was it when they’d laughed together or had it happened when they were having one of their serious talks? Was it when they had trash-talked each other while playing card
s or when she’d thought about the lengths he had gone to in an effort to assure her safety? Had it happened when he’d pulled her from the river and then made sweet, hot love to her?

  It didn’t really matter when she’d fallen in love with Brad. What mattered was that she was in love with him and there was no future between them. What mattered was that she was headed for a deep and painful heartache where he was concerned and there was nothing she could do about it.

  At that moment Brad moaned and he sat up. His hands immediately went to his back and he moaned once again. He stood and walked over to the window. He stretched with his arms overhead and continued to groan.

  It was obvious he was having some back pain. The sofa was uncomfortable just sitting on it. She hadn’t even considered how terrible it would be to sleep on. And he’d been sleeping on it every night without complaints.

  Even thinking about how hard it had been for him, she couldn’t help but admire his physique. He was clad only in a pair of black boxers and the muscles in his broad back were well-defined and perfectly toned.

  He turned away from the window and jumped at the sight of her. “Jeez, Simone. You scared me half to death. How long have you been sitting there in the dark?”

  “Just a few minutes and it’s not completely dark,” she replied.

  “I don’t smell the coffee, so I can’t believe you’re actually talking to me.” He reached for his jeans at the foot of the sofa and quickly pulled them on. He then turned on the light overhead.

  “I was going to start the coffee, but I didn’t want to wake you. But since I was up before you, I’ll take care of the coffee this morning.” She got up, and as she made the coffee, he sat at the kitchen table.

  “Thank you, Brad.” She turned around and leaned against the counter as she waited for the coffee to drip through the carafe.

  “Thanks for what?” He looked at her curiously.