Лиза Джонс - Hot Secrets

“What happened when you came out of the bathroom?”

“Nothing,” she panted. “I just... wanted you.” She gasped as he sped his pace, pumping and thrusting, and twisting her nipple roughly.

She covered his hand with hers, dropped her head against him. “Oh God. It... you... I’m...” Her tight little sex grabbed a hold of him and squeezed.

He exploded inside her, groaning loudly with the force of it. Shaking until she had all he had to give, every last pump and drop of him.

When finally they were quiet, he didn’t let her go. He held her there. “Now, tell me.”

She buried her face in her hands. “There’s nothing to tell.”

He pulled out of her and grabbed his shirt, turning her to face him and giving it to her to dry off. He pressed his hands on the couch on either side of her, framing her body with his. “Talk to me, Lauren.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I’ve told you before. The truth. Say what you feel.”

“Confused. I feel confused. You went from one night stand to my private bodyguard.”

“You were never a one night stand to me, Lauren. But maybe that’s the problem. This has gone way farther than you wanted it to.” He started to move away. Damn, this woman had a hold on him that he didn’t understand.

She grabbed his arm. “No. No. It’s not that. I... I just don’t understand what we’re doing.”

“I thought we were getting to know each other. Apparently, I’m helping you work another man out of your system by way of sex.”

“Oh God, no, Royce. No. There isn’t anything to work out of my system.”

“He hurt you and messed with your head.”

“He did. You’re right. That doesn’t mean I’m using you. It means,” she inhaled and let in out, “it means you scare me. If this is just sex then I need it to just be sex. Clearly. Cut and dry. I don’t want to mix it in with conversation and pretend fluff to feel better about that.”

There it was. The truth. What she really felt, and he was damn glad she’d told him, that she hadn’t played games. That she had honesty in her. And what was he doing? Hiding things from her, lying to her. Anything he said to her now, she’d question later and he knew it. But he was in too deep to turn back. If he confessed, she’d kick him out, push him away, and he’d struggle to protect her.

Royce kissed her and then pushed her away to stand up and grab his pants. He stepped into them, and she blinked at him, looking dazed and confused. He yanked the blanket of the floor and crossed back to her, wrapping it around her and squatting in front of her.

“I need you covered before I try to prove to you this isn’t just sex. I want you, Lauren. I tried to resist and I was weak and if you sit there naked I’ll be weak all over again. There’s something going on between us, and I know it’s happening fast, but I’m not sure there’s any other way two people as drawn to each other as we are can do things. This is new territory for me. I’m not the stay-the-weekend kind of guy, Lauren, but you have to kick me out if you want me to leave.”

“Because you’re trying to protect me. You’re law enforcement. It’s your nature.”

Those words punched him in the gut, because he knew they were a preview of what was to come, what she would think when he finally confessed his deal with her father.

“I have a staff,” he said. “I have resources. If I felt some obligation to protect you, I could put surveillance on you and you’d never know it.” He traced the delicate line of her jaw. “I’m here because I want to be. Because I thought you wanted me to be.”

“I do,” she whispered. “I do want you to be here.”

“Good,” he said. “And if keeping our clothes on will prove to you that there’s more to this than that, then we will step back and start over slower. I won’t lie and say it won’t kill me, but I’ll happily take the couch if that’s what I need to do.”

She dropped the sheet and wrapped her arms around him, her soft curves pressed to his chest. “Only if I’m on it with you.”

His resistance lasted all of a few seconds before his arm wrapped around her body, his mouth closing down on hers, tasting her, drinking her in like a man weeks without water. And as she moaned into his mouth, as possessiveness he’d never felt for another woman ripped through him, he didn’t question the need to make her his. He simply knew she was the one woman he had to have, the one he’d never found until now. The one who was going to hate him before this was over. The one who would rip his heart out. And worse of all he was going to be the bastard who deserved it.

Chapter Eleven

Monday morning, after a weekend of pure bliss with Royce, Lauren stood in the kitchen holding a steaming cup of coffee, dressed in a tan fitted skirt and cream silk blouse, ready to start her work week. As much as she’d loved her escape with Royce, she’d bypassed work for movies, conversation, and a lot of unforgettable moments that required no clothing, and now she was behind.

Royce appeared in the archway, his dark hair tied at his nape, his jeans and t-shirt molded to delicious muscles she now knew intimately. “I’m driving you to work,” he said.

She should have been irritated about the command, but a few of his bedroom orders flashed in her mind -- harder, faster, lick me -- and her mouth went dry. Lauren set her cup on the kitchen counter. “You don’t have to take me to work.”

“Yes, I do.” He leaned on the archway, his shoulders taking up the entire tiny space.

She studied him, reading what he wasn’t saying, and nerves knotted her stomach. “Stop. Stop acting like a watchdog. You’re making me uptight. You’re making me think about the phone calls and the calendar pages. I can’t do my job if I can’t think straight.”

“You have to think about this, Lauren, and you have to look over your shoulder. And I’ll be looking too.”

“You can’t watch me all day, Royce. And even if you think you can, for how long? We didn’t get another call, or another calendar sheet, this weekend. Maybe it’s over. Maybe this person got their laughs and moved on. Or maybe you being with me scared them off.”

“No. He’s not tired. He’s not scared. He’s trying to get you to let down your guard.”

“You don’t know that. We don’t know anything at all. And you’re going to make me crazy.”

He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. ”Just humor me for a few days and play things safe until I get some answers. I’ll drop you off at work and pick you up. That way I have an excuse to take you to dinner,” his lips curved, “and have you for dessert.”

“Bribery isn’t going to make this better.”

He laughed. “Bribery, huh?”

She couldn’t laugh. She couldn’t do anything with the invisible vise tightening on her chest. “I’ve been working criminal cases for years. I’ve had threats. I did with those what I told you I do with everything else. Threats, bloody pictures, and random body parts in bags. They are the same to me. I put them in this imaginary place in mind, a box that I seal and don’t open unless I have to. It’s how I keep going.”

“I know,” he said. “If anyone gets that, it’s me. If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t push you on this. There’s something about the way this has all gone down that I don’t like. I need you to be on alert, and I need you to be cautious, until I figure out why.”

“Damn you, Royce. That just made me more on edge. I know to be careful. I’m always careful.”

“Curse me if you want,” he said. “Yell at me. Just do what I say.”

She let out a sigh. “What is it about me and controlling men? I’m drawn to them.” She stepped out of his reach. “Drive me if you must.” She tried to walk around him and he caught her arm. “Please don’t. Not now. And I know I’m probably being unfair but I just feel like everything is spinning out of control. I need some space to figure out where my head is.”