Chapter Twenty-Four
“How strong is that table of yours?” Mac asked.
Tess shook her head, looking wonderfully mussed and fucked and bewildered. “It’s solid oak.”
Her last lover had been a jackass. Mac knew they shouldn’t be doing this, but he figured if he was going to fuck up, he’d at least do it in style.
He had about three hours to prove she was a sex goddess. Then he’d grab a shower, drink a gallon of coffee and head back to HQ in time for the team meeting.
And it might not be romantic to think about murder and team meetings when he had a naked woman in his arms, but he dare not think about the sweet heat or long legs wrapped around him or else he’d be like the other prick who hadn’t been worthy of this beautiful woman.
He pushed aside the nearest chair and the detritus from her purse, and lowered her carefully onto the solid, wood surface. Her eyes widened as the cold hit her back but he didn’t give her time to think about it. He drew her knees up and enjoyed the sight of her taking him deep inside her.
Christ, she was beautiful. He’d thought that her face was pretty but the rest of her was spectacular. Hand-sized breasts with perfect, pink nipples he could feast on for days.
As much as he liked this view he knew she was starving for more. Not just sex, but that notion of sexual daring. He pulled out and flipped her onto her stomach, pulling her thighs on either side of his as he stretched out over her back.
Slowly he guided himself back into her molten heat and gently rocked forward, careful not to crush her against the unforgiving surface. She clung to the table edge. She was completely at his mercy like this, unable to do anything except take what he was giving her and hang on for the ride. He drove her higher and higher again. Heating her blood, wanting to hear those panting cries that had almost driven him over the edge last time.
Backing off again, smiling at her little mewl of frustration, he lowered her feet to the floor and pulled her along his length. Now she was able to brace herself against his thrusts, and the feel of her pushing back, of wanting this as much as he did, made sweat break out on his forehead.
He was officially an animal and he didn’t care. He ran one hand over the ridges of her spine. Cupped her breasts and made her moan again. She was perfect. She clenched around his dick and he moved one hand lower, scissoring two fingers around her clit as he did the same with one nipple and drove harder and harder into her. She cried out again, internal muscles squeezing him so hard he gave a roar of triumph as ecstasy rushed over him.
Even as he lay with his cheek pressed to her back, his heartbeat thumping loudly in his ears, the weight of his decision to have sex with Tess Fallon crashed over him.
What the hell had he done?
He squeezed his eyes shut, stroked her skin, warm and pliant beneath his hands. Despite his team’s doubts Mac knew this woman, knew she had a pure heart. But it was possible she was aware of something she wasn’t telling him and he was going to figure out what that was. He couldn’t do that by walking away and, fuck, if he was honest, he didn’t want to. Not yet.
The Bureau might not approve of his methods but hopefully he’d never have to spell them out on an FD 302.
He withdrew to get rid of the condom and tossed it in the garbage, feeling like a sonofabitch for even thinking of using Tess.
When he turned around she was standing beside the table, her expression happy rather than the vulnerable he’d expected.
Because she isn’t in your head, dickhead. She doesn’t know you’re a douche.
Or maybe he was feeding himself bullshit. Just the sight of her had him growing hard again.
What did it matter if he slept with her? She wasn’t the killer. She wasn’t actually a suspect, although technically she was involved—why else had someone broken into her home? And if it was Eddie then the more he was around the better chance he had of putting that fucker back in the cage.
She stepped toward him, definitely not able to read his mind as she brushed her body against his and took his insatiable cock in her hands. Within seconds he was unyielding as granite.
“Sex god,” she purred against his throat.
“Pretty sure you’re having something to do with it,” he muttered.
Her head rested against his shoulder. “I want you inside me again.”
His fists clenched at the words. He wanted inside her, too. “I don’t have any more condoms.”
She hesitated, then her breath brushed across his skin. “I’m on birth control. I’m clean. I got tested after Jason cheated on me. You’re the only person I’ve slept with since.”
“I’m clean, too.” He’d had a full medical when he’d changed jobs. He held her hands. “But I don’t do this.”
“That’s okay. We can do other things.” She dropped to her knees.
His stomach contracted as her soft hair brushed against him.
His hands shook at the thought of being inside her again, not that the idea of a blowjob wasn’t temptation in the extreme, but, fuck…
The fundamental question was, did he trust her? It wasn’t just his life at stake. What about the possibility of a baby? Was it worth the risk getting her pregnant? Unfortunately, the answer was yes and that meant he was about to commit a bigger, more stupendous sin.
He eased her off him and sank to the floor beside her, the wood cold against his bare skin. He lay back and dragged her on top of him. She grinned down at him, so incredibly beautiful in the moonlight his throat closed.
He cupped her cheek. “What do you want, Tess?”
A very female smile curved her lips as she wrapped her hand around his throbbing cock. “This.”
The way she touched him was earthy and sexy and honest.
“Show me where.” His fingers gripped her hips as he let her take control. He knew it was one of the things she craved in a world where her parentage seemed to be the only thing people gave a damn about. She hid her true self from the world—the fear of being judged outweighing the need to really be herself, to be free.
He made himself stay perfectly still as she took him inside her. And his mind was blown. He let her set the pace, let her use his body to arouse, to bring her blood inexorably to the boil while his simmered with need. He played with her beautiful breasts, tweaked the pink crests hard enough to make her buck.
When her eyes closed he took over, gripping her hips, grinding her against him, gathering a handful of her hair in his fist and rearing up, trying to get even deeper inside. And he was the one in charge, in control, right up to the moment she put a twist into the way she rode him and he was gone. She cried out as his world turned black.
* * *
Tess lay on top of Mac, their limbs entwined, hearts keeping pace with one another as they slowed down and settled back to earth.
She could feel his pulse in the tender flesh between her thighs and the contact was intimate, almost more so than having sex. She licked her dry lips and began to ease away from him, but he grabbed hold of her.
“Hold still. If you move too fast my head’s gonna explode.”
“Pretty sure it wasn’t your head doing all that exploding.”
He opened his eyes wide and a slow grin broke out on his face. “You have a dirty side. I guess that explains the books.”
The cold air raised gooseflesh on her arms and she shivered. She went to tug away from him, but he rolled them over until he was lying on top of her, staring down at her face.
“It’s okay, Tess. It isn’t against the law to enjoy sex. If it is I’m a repeat offender.”
The reminder he’d had plenty of sexual partners and she was just another notch on the bedpost made something hurt inside. It was dumb. Classic female mistake. She was old enough to know better so she pushed aside the feelings. Tonight was about exploring the sizzling sexual tension that arced between them and appeasing her curiosity about what it would be like to be with this man. And now she knew. She didn’t kid herself he’d be back with flowers and chocolates. She considered herself lucky he’d stayed this long.
For some reason, the weight of him felt so right, cradled between her thighs that she wrapped her legs and arms around him and squeezed him, everywhere.
He dropped his forehead to hers with a groan. “I’m not as young as I once was. If you’re determined to kill me I’ll need a few minutes.”
A strand of silver glittered in the moonlight. She reached up and touched it. “You have a gray hair.”
“I should have a million by now.” He didn’t sound like he cared.
“How old are you, anyway?”
He reared back. The question seemed to bother him. “Thirty-nine.”
“Ancient.” She joked and his lips twitched.
“I can keep up.” He rocked his hips to prove the point and her eyes widened. A cell phone rang from the hallway. MC Hammer’s “U can’t touch this” blared through the quiet of the house. He tensed. It was the irritating ex, who wouldn’t leave him alone. She let go as he propped himself on his elbows and swore.
“I’m about ready to smother the woman with a pillow.” He pulled away and stalked into the hall. She watched as he grabbed his pants and rifled for his cell. It stopped ringing but pinged with a text.
“Dammit. She says it’s an emergency.”
She propped herself up on one elbow and brushed her heavy hair back from her face. “Maybe it is?”
He made a noise than wasn’t flattering. “The emergency is that her ego was bruised and she wants to screw me to the wall so she can prove she still has someone under her thumb. Heather likes to control men with sex. She probably figures three a.m. is the perfect time to do it.”
He pulled on his boxers, then his pants. He didn’t seem to notice Tess had stiffened in place.
Is that what he thought she’d tried to do? She had literally and metaphorically nailed him to the wall. Or him her. She wasn’t sure the logistics were salient.
He shoved on his shoes, scrubbed a hand through his hair before he did up the buttons of his shirt, which he’d retrieved from near the front door. He pulled on his shoulder holster and checked his sidearm. She lay stretched out on the floor, the stickiness of what they’d done smeared on her thighs, evidence of her immense folly.
She heard his footsteps and opened her eyes. He knelt down, ran a finger over her jaw and fleetingly over her breast. Her body reared up like iron drawn to a magnet.
She made herself smile as he withdrew his hand. She wouldn’t be a woman who tried to cling to him. He wasn’t hers. She didn’t need him. She just wanted him.
“Maybe you need a restraining order,” she suggested in a low voice.
He grumbled. “I’d be laughed out of the Bureau.”
He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth again. Didn’t appear to know what to say, but this was clearly goodbye. Awkwardness rose up between them as she pulled away and she forced herself to stretch out rather than curl up in a ball and lick her wounds.
“Well, thanks for the ride, cowboy.” She grinned as if she wasn’t hurting on the inside. “I can now vouch for the sex god status.”
He frowned. Then drew back, as if uncertain about what they’d done.
Join the club.
“Tess—”
“Call me if you have any developments with the case.” She told him before he made promises he couldn’t keep. “Or if anyone tracks down that ass of an older brother of mine.”
He smoothed his tie, avoiding eye contact as her heart shriveled. “Sure. Keep the doors locked. I put your Ruger on your bedside table. Ammo in the drawer.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t move from the floor. She was too crippled on the inside. Instead she stretched out, gave him a lazy smile and then let one hand drift down, her fingers stroking over her nipple. As if she were simply a sensual creature who cared nothing about the emotions they’d disturbed like sediment in the water, clouding an issue that should have been crystal clear.
Her body language said she didn’t need him to love her. That was for weaker people than her. The sad and the needy. Not the goddess he’d awakened.
“Keep doing that and my ex-wife can forget it.” His voice dropped an octave as his eyes followed her hand.
She smiled and didn’t stop and he took a half step forward before another text dinged. He groaned with what sounded like genuine frustration.
“Bye, Mac.” She smiled, letting a little sadness seep through as he held her gaze.
“We’ll talk tomorrow, Tess.”
She shrugged like she didn’t care. Tension tightened his features. He looked pissed to have to be heading out to talk to his ex. Or maybe it was an act. Maybe he couldn’t wait to get out of here and away from the potential conflict of interest that Tess represented. And sex with his ex had once been good enough for a marriage proposal, so who said he wasn’t going to the pretty blonde for another round?
She heard him pick up his things off the floor. The front door opened and shut quietly, leaving only the shame of their encounter behind.
Cold washed over her but even as she shivered she didn’t get up. She closed her eyes at the realization she’d made another colossal mistake. In her sexual haze, she’d allowed herself to ignore the fact her feelings for this man had deepened. She admired everything about him, his determined search for the truth no matter the cost, his dedication to his job. Combine that with the hot bod, cute dimples and that profound sense of connection she shared only with him, she’d been foolish to assume she could keep her emotions out of this. Her heart was entangled as surely as when she’d been that moonstruck kid watching her idol drive away.
Steve McKenzie was an FBI agent, one who’d saved her life and her soul. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t sacrifice her now, she realized miserably.
When her teeth started to chatter she figured it was time to move. Tess rolled over on her side and put her hand out to push herself up. Her fingers curled around Cole’s data stick.
She didn’t remember seeing the drive with her belongings earlier.
Whoever broke in here tonight had been looking for something that wasn’t cash, or jewels.
No sign of forced entry…
Cole could not be the intruder.
Her brother wasn’t that good an actor. Was he?
Her fingers tightened on the hard plastic. She needed to know. Right this minute. She needed to find out if Cole was involved in this mess. She climbed to her feet. She wasn’t putting this off any longer. She needed to know the truth and she needed to know now.