“Exactly my thought,” Luke agreed. “This whole secrecy thing just doesn’t add up.”
“Agreed,” Royce said, glancing at the caller ID as his phone beeped. “Speak of the devil, the senator is calling me. Text me when you find something out.” He ended the call and flipped over to the next. “This is Royce.”
“Update, son. What is happening with my daughter?”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out,” he said. “And it would be easier if we told her what is going on.”
The senator grunted. “Absolutely not.”
Royce ran a hand through his hair. “She is going to hate us both when she finds out we didn’t tell her.”
“Then don’t let her find out,” he said bitingly. “Where is she now?”
“She’s safe.”
“Translate that to a detailed assurance.”
“I’m with her, out of her hearing range.”
“Well done,” he said. “I’ve got to head to a meeting. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”
“Have you?” The line went dead.
Royce dropped the phone to stare at it in disbelief. Damn it to hell, he’d hung up. And without one single question about the progress on finding out who was behind the letters or what the lab had found out. More and more, something didn’t add up.
***
Lauren returned, having dried her hair, dressed in black sweats, a tee, and slipper socks, to find Royce stoking a fire that seemed to be on its way to a nice blaze.
He rotated on his heels from where he squatted, apparently hearing her approach, his gaze hotter than the fire as it traveled a path up and down her body and settled on her t-shirt. He laughed, a deep rumble from his chest. Damn, she loved his laugh. “Lawyers have more fun?” he asked.
“Julie got it for me since I always tell her blondes have more fun. I told her the shirt proves nothing.” She motioned to the kitchen. ”I’ll grab the drinks. I’m starving.”
A few minutes later, they both sat on the floor with their laptops at the ready, their Reubens on plates. The fire crackled and rain splattered against the window.
Lauren took a bite of her sandwich and sighed. “Either it’s good or I’m just really, really hungry.”
“It’s good,” he agreed. “I haven’t had one of these in a long time.” He opened the container with his cheesecake and took a bite. “It’s good, too.”
“I’ve never seen anyone eat dessert with their meal instead of after.”
“It’s better than before, right?”
“I suppose it is,” she agreed and found herself considering him a moment. “You know, you really aren’t what I expected.”
“You said that before, the other night before you fell asleep. This time you’re not getting out of an explanation.”
“You’re just...different.”
“Different from other men you’ve known? From the politicians you work with?”
“Everyone else around me. I’m surprised you took the state advisor job. It doesn’t seem like you to want to deal with the politics of things.”
“I tolerate the politics because I’m able to influence decisions that impact the safety of the public. I worked some pretty intense post 9/11 FBI operations. I don’t ever want the people of this country, this city, to see 9/11 happen again. And as I suspect you have done, I made the decision to grin and bear what I had to, to make an impact, or at least try. Frankly, I‘m shocked you aren’t working for your father’s law firm.”
She took a sip of her drink and set it down. “My father is all about money and power. That’s just not who I am. It wasn’t who my mother was either. Looking back, I think she chose to be a professor over a practicing lawyer to avoid the differences between her and my father.” She opened her cheesecake and took a bite. “Oh, that’s good.” She shoved her sandwich aside.
“Now look who’s eating out of order,” he teased.
“I ate half my sandwich,” she said. “That’s enough for me. You want the other half?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said and grabbed her plate, setting his now empty one aside. Then he surprised her by asking, “Didn’t I read you were engaged at some point?”
Her fork stilled in her mouth a moment before she nodded and set it down, her gaze fixing on the orange flames of the fire. “Yeah. I was.”
Royce slid a finger under her chin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You're not. It’s just not a happy subject.”
“He hurt you.”
“I caught him in bed with another woman.” She held up a hand. “And don’t do the sympathy thing. After I was over the initial shock of his betrayal, I was actually relieved.” Lauren turned to face him, leaning her elbow on the couch, her legs curled to her side. “I wasn’t happy with him. I knew long before we broke up that he didn’t want me. He wanted control of my father’s law firm. By him taking it, I didn’t have to deal with my father’s nagging for me to take over.”
“He hates it,” she said. “And he really hates this case I’m about to go to trial with, because the defendant is playing the battered woman card and I’m being painted as a monster. He’s been getting hate mail and phone calls over it.”
“Have you seen any of the mail?”
“I don’t want to see it. I get plenty of my own. It’s part of the job. But that’s just it. It’s my job, not his. I’m helping victims fight for justice and that feels good. I hope my ex stays with my father’s firm forever and the two of them live happily ever after making tons of money. That’s not what motivates me.”
“Wait. Are you saying he still works there?”
“My ex and my stepbrother are controlling partners.”
“I’d have kicked his ass and wiped the floor with him and then thrown his stuff out the door with him. I can’t believe your father let him stay.”
“It’s business.”
“It’s family.”
Her chest tightened. “Not everyone has the kind of bond with their family you seem to have.”
He studied her a long moment and then pushed the table away from them. He scooted back to sit beside her, his back against the couch before pulling her legs over his lap. Awareness rushed through her, and something else, something warm and right, like she’d never felt with another man.
“I owe you an apology,” he confessed, his hands settling on her legs.
“An apology?” She laughed. “For eating my sandwich? For being bossy by nature? Because I can’t imagine what else you have to apologize about at this point in our short relationship.”
“I judged you by a stereotype before I met you. I thought you were the pretty, spoiled senator’s daughter. And now, more than ever, I not only know how unfair that was, I know how much it eats you alive.”
“Thank you,” she said, moved by his honesty. “I appreciate that more than you can know, but if you’re apologizing for your assumption, then I have to apologize for mine. I thought you were an arrogant ladies’ man. Single, good looking, in your thirties, with two different women at the two different functions I saw you at.”
His chest expanded with an inhalation before he exhaled. “I haven’t been much on serious relationships but I was engaged once, right when I joined the agency. It was the wrong time, the wrong situation, and I was the wrong man for her. I was high on my job, and she wanted me home when I wanted to catch the next bad guy. The deeper and more dangerous my work became, the more I saw the writing on the wall. You put bad guys behind bars, they become your enemies and you become dangerous cargo to the people you love.”
“Well, I guess I’ve proven I’m dangerous cargo,” she said, a shiver chasing a path up her spine. “And I guess being alone is a small price for fighting for the innocent.”
“You're not alone now,” he said softly, brushing his fingers down her cheek, sending a tingle of electricity through her body. “I’m here and no one is going to scare me away.”
“Have you met my fa
ther?”
He laughed. “Not even your father.”
“We'll see about that one.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We will. I’m not going anywhere unless you make me.” He turned to his side to face her. “I know I said this before, but I’m going to say it again. I’m not here because of the threats. If they didn’t exist, I’d still be here, if you’d have me. I’m here for you, Lauren. I’m here because there is something about you I can’t escape, and I don’t even want to try.”
The rain pelted against the windows, the fire crackled in the fireplace. Electricity sparked in the air, intimacy thickening with it.
“I’m glad you’re here, and not because of the threats.” She hesitated. “Okay, maybe I’m a little glad you’re here because of the threats. I’m rattled, Royce. I don’t know why; it’s not like me, but I am. And I wouldn’t tell anyone else that, but I am. And I feel like I can tell you that without it becoming everyone else’s knowledge.”
“You know what I think?” he asked, lowering his head slowly, his breath warm, teasing her with the promise of intimacy. “I think you need something else to think about.” His lips touched hers, a soft caress that traveled her nerve endings. Her nipples tightened, and heat pooled low in her belly.
Nerves fluttered in her stomach, with the awareness of where this was going, but his tongue, his hands, his touch, drew her deeper into the fog of desire. She lost herself in the moment, savoring the feel on him, a soft sound of pleasure escaping her lips as his tongue swept against hers. He deepened the contact and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hand traveled her back, scorching her with heat, melding her closer. She could feel the desire expand between them, consume them, and leave her with only him.
Chapter Ten
Royce pulled Lauren into his lap to straddle him, the V of her body pressing against the thick ridge of his erection. He wanted this woman, wanted her like he had not wanted in a very long time. Wanted in a way like he’d never wanted. Her hair was soft on his face, and that damn vanilla and honey scent was driving him wild. So much of what she had told him had twisted him in knots. Her ex cheating on her explained the insecurity he’d seen in her, the fear of intimacy.
He drank her in, kissing her, making love to her with his tongue, and vowing to be the man who showed her just how sexy she truly was.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured against her mouth. “And your ex was a fool.”
“Royce, I-”
He swallowed her words, working his hands under her shirt to her soft skin, not allowing her to reject his words, showing her how much he meant them. She reached behind him and tugged loose his hair, twining her fingers into it. Her touch was like silk and fire at the same time, soothing him even as she ignited his hunger. He touched her, filled his hands with her high, full breasts and shoved down her bra to tease her plump nipples.
She shifted on top of him, arching against his cock, and he moaned with the ache and pleasure that crashed into him. He tugged at her shirt. “Take it off.”
She leaned back and stared down at him, and he saw vulnerability wash over her face. He wrapped his fingers around her neck and pulled her mouth to his. “You. Are. Beautiful. And I want to feel you next to me.” He reached over his head and tugged his shirt off, trying to make her feel more comfortable by undressing first.
Her gaze swept his chest, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “You’re beautiful,” she said, her hands splaying over his pecs, his arms.
He kissed her, hard and fast, caressing her sides, her breasts, before easing her shirt up again. “Take it off. Let me feel you next to me.”
She pulled it over her head and tossed it and he cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples even as he unhooked the front clasp of her bra.
Her lashes fluttered, her hands covering his. He rolled her to the ground and eased her legs apart, settling his hips between her legs and going down on top of her.
Their eyes locked and held, the connection, the desire he felt with Lauren, expanding inside him, feeding a possessive need to pleasure her, to protect her, to hold her. He kissed her, trailed lips down her neck, taking his time until he lapped at one perky nipple, and suckled.
The soft sound she made, the twine of her fingers in his hair, worked a number on him. His zipper stretched, his cock throbbing uncomfortably. He lapped at the other nipple, scraped it lightly with his teeth, and then began a downward path to dip his tongue into her belly button, skimming her pants down her legs. He raised to his knees and pulled them off.
He smiled as he traced the dark triangle of hair, dipping his fingers between her thighs, and caressing the silky wet proof of how aroused she was. “No panties?”
She lifted up on her elbows, her cheeks flushed, pleasure etched on her face as he dipped a finger inside her, stroked her. “I don’t like panty lines,” she murmured.
“I hear ya,” he said. “Panty lines are a bitch.”
She laughed, her breasts jiggling with the action. Damn, she had nice breasts. High and full with pretty pink nipples. He pulled her sweats off her feet and took her socks with them. And why the hell her pink painted toenails seem to make him hotter and harder, he didn’t know. It was just Lauren. Everything about her turned him on.
He leaned in and kissed her clit. “Be right back.”
Royce sat up and yanked off his boots, then stood and made quick work of getting rid of the rest of his clothes, but not before he yanked a package of 3 condoms from his pocket.
She stared at it and he knew immediately what she was thinking. “I don’t walk around with condoms for easy access.” He tore one free from the package, reached down, and pulled her to her feet. “Blake shoved it in my hand as I was leaving the building. He’s a smart-ass, but for once I’m glad.” He tugged her to her feet. “You don’t want the floor. Carpet burn is a bigger bitch than panty lines.”
She laughed, and the soft, silky feminine sound was music to his ears. He settled onto the couch with her straddling him, his cock between them. He grabbed the condom. She covered his hand with hers. “Let me.” Her other hand wrapped his shaft, tightening around it, and her gaze dropped.
He let go of the package. “As much as I’m a guy who enjoys a woman’s attention to his cock, if you keep staring at me like that, I’m going to forget why I need that condom.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her head and kissed her. “I need to be inside you.”
She tore open the package and glanced up at him before rolling it over his cock. “Now, come here,” he said, the instant it was in place. He framed her hips with his hands and lifted her. She guided his cock to the slick heat of her sex, and pressed him inside her.
White-hot burn rushed over him, at the feel of her taking him, sliding down his length and taking all of him. When she’d taken all of him, he fought the urge to move, to thrust, to take.
He kissed her, tasted her, devoured her, inhaled her. She tangled her hands back into his hair, her tongue dancing with his, and he felt her give herself to him. Felt the moment when she forgot everything but this, now, them.
Royce pressed her down against him and then thrust. She gasped into his mouth and arched into him. Slowly, they began to pump until wildness exploded in him, in her. They were moving faster, harder, hands everywhere, anywhere, and he still couldn’t get enough of her.
“Lean back, baby,” he said, wrapping an arm around her back and flattening his hand on her chest. “I got you.” The angle tightened her grip on his shaft and let him see her body, her face. “That’s it.” He caressed her breast, suckled her nipple, and then thrust hard into her. She moaned and held onto his hand as he began a steady, hard pump in and out of her, watching her breasts bounce, her expression shift with the pleasure, the need.
She gasped and leaned forward, stiffening in his arms a moment before her tight little sex grabbed hold of him and spasmed, milking him right to release. A low hot throb expanded in his cock and then shot his release from his body.
They col
lapsed together, skin slicked with sweat, her face buried in his neck. Long seconds passed and she didn’t move. He knew she was feeling shy, or embarrassed. Damn, he was going to have to fix that. He rolled her to her back on the couch and leaned over her. “I don’t know if three condoms are going to be enough. We might need a store run because if you think I even came close to getting enough of you, you’re wrong. But for now, I’m going to get rid of this one.” He snatched his shirt from the floor. “And because I know you are about to scramble to get dressed, put my shirt on. It’s less effort for me to take off of you later.” He leaned in and kissed her. “And that was an order you won’t get an apology for.”
***
Lauren awoke naked, on the floor with a comforter underneath her and a heavy arm over her back. She inhaled the spicy male scent of Royce and smiled to herself. She was on her stomach, and she was pretty sure that was because Royce had refused to let her get dressed, so he’d trapped her there.
You need to be as comfortable with you being naked as I am, he’d told her.
I’m very comfortable with you being naked, she’d replied.
Her gaze fixed on the red glow of a fire not tended for a good while. The darkness of the room was lightening, as if the sun was replacing the moon. And unfortunately, as much as she wanted to savor this moment, Mother Nature called.
She tried to inch out from under Royce’s arm.
Royce pulled her back against him, rolling them both to their sides. “We aren’t ready to get up.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Close your eyes and you’ll forget.”
She laughed. “No. That’s not going to happen.”
“You're sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, damn,” he said. “I guess I have to let you up then.” He released her and she crawled and grabbed his shirt. He smacked her on the backside and she yelped, drawing a low, sexy chuckle from him.
Lauren stumbled groggily to the bedroom, surprised to see the clock read ten in the morning, until she heard a rumble of thunder. It was still storming. She went to the bathroom and her phone beeped in her purse. Five missed calls from Julie. It rang again in her hand. Lauren shoved down the toilet seat and sat down.
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