Daniel woke up with a jerk and knew something was wrong. Looking around, he assessed the situation. Ella was safely curled up next to him, her naked body pressed against his own. All good there, he thought. Despite the danger he sensed, his body still reacted to her nakedness.
Trying to ignore that aching erection, he looked around. Movement and a strange sound. Something vibrating. Lifting his head, he realized that something was between his legs, pinning him down. When he looked around, he still wasn’t sure what it was.
It was heavy, definitely, but…
When he realized that it was one of Ella’s cats, he almost sighed with relief. “Ella, there’s something heavy between my legs,” he told her softly, nuzzling her neck. He wanted to wake her up and try that all over again, but if she was too tired...
“Just rub it. It goes away.”
Daniel froze. Then lifted his head and looked at his erection. Was she really…
Looking at Ella, he knew that she was mostly asleep. The woman was out, not snoring but definitely a heavy weight against his side. He remembered the way she’d blushed last night when he’d introduced her to different ways of moving, on top of, beside him…damn, his erection was throbbing now, just thinking about last night.
He still had trouble reconciling the blush and her innocence last night to the crude words of advice. She couldn’t mean….
The cat wiggled around, pressing harder against his leg. Oh! The cat! Rub the cat’s belly!
Hence the name Tummy instead of Tommy!
He almost laughed out loud, but was aware of Ella’s exhaustion so he smothered his laughter and reached down to rub the cat’s fluffy belly.
After several minutes of this, and some of the most disgusting noises he’d ever heard coming from a cat with an obvious sinus problem, the giant fluff ball rolled over, snorted a few more times, then jumped off of the bed.
Where the fat cat went, Daniel didn’t know, nor did he care. He relaxed back against the pillows and resettled Ella against him. Sleep, he told himself. Don’t wake her up. She was too tender after the last…he had no idea how many times he’d made love to this woman. And his body didn’t seem to care. His erection was more than ready to go for another round with her soft, amazing body.
But then something zoomed across the room.
Daniel grabbed his weapon and aimed, still trying not to disturb Ella. Tummy had obviously found a pillow in the corner, purring like a chain saw. How could a cat make that kind of sound?
And then he saw it again. Something zipped down the hallway. It was too small to be a human being but…
“Ella, get into the closet,” he ordered, nudging her awake. He heard a grumble, then she lifted her head and looked around. “What? What’s wrong?”
It flew by again and he jumped out of bed, his body immediately moving to protect Ella. “Get in the closet!” he commanded and hoped that she obeyed the urgency in his voice.
All of a sudden, the zipping thing raced by the doorway, skidded on furry paws along the hardwood floors and then pranced into the bedroom, completely unconcerned. Sitting down on his furry butt, he started grooming himself as if he didn’t care that a tall, naked man was pointing a weapon at him.
“You’re not going to shoot my cat, are you?” Ella asked, sleepy amusement in her voice.
Daniel spun around. “I might,” he came right back.
But then he saw the way she was holding the sheet over her naked breasts and his mind immediately shifted. Clicking the safety back on his pistol, he walked over to the bed, towering over the blond beauty who was laughing at him.
“I think I’m going to arrest you now,” he said and whipped the sheet away from her, his eyes moving over her nakedness even as he set his pistol back on the nightstand.
Ella laughed but backed up on the bed.
“Trying to resist arrest?” he teased and grabbed her ankle, gently tugging until she was flat on her back again. Putting his knee on the mattress, right between her legs, he moved over her, pulling her arms over her head. “I don’t think that’s the best way to handle being arrested, my dear.”
He kissed the sensitive skin along her neck, loving the way her lips changed from laughing to gasping. His free hand ran over her breasts, stopping to tease her nipples along the way before moving lower, smoothing along her waist and then her hip.
“I guess you’ll just have to think of some appropriate way to punish me, officer.”
He loved the way she gasped when he smacked her bottom, not hard but with enough sting to make her feel it. “That’s detective, woman,” he growled and lowered his head to her nipple, biting and nipping, soothing with his tongue then starting all over again while she writhed under him.
“I’m sorry. I’ll get it right next time,” she promised. It was a lie and she smiled in anticipation. “What do you want me to do, Officer?’
Another smack and he moved over to her other breast, teasing it until she was screaming and moaning. “That’s what I want you to do,” he told her and moved lower.
“No, no, no, no!” she gasped when his mouth moved over her flat stomach. But when his mouth moved even lower, she spread her legs voluntarily this time. “Yes!” she hissed when his mouth covered her heat. His teeth and tongue were different this time, more insistent and torturing her sensitive bud until she screamed in frustration. But right before she could fall over that peak, he pulled his mouth away.
“How are you going to address me in the future, Ella?” he asked and kissed her inner thigh.
“Any way you want,” she gasped, panting with desperation as her fingers curled into his hair, pulling and tugging, her body arching and silently begging him to continue.
His mouth moved in again, this time not relenting until she screamed out his name and he felt her shudders. Holding her against him, he moved higher. Not allowing her to come down off of that pleasure, he captured her nipple once again as he rolled the condom down over himself. Pressing into her swollen flesh, he closed his eyes as her body invited him in. Moving gently at first, trying to be slow, trying to be careful because she’d been a virgin yesterday and he’d done this too many times…but she wouldn’t allow that. Her hips moved, shifted, pulled him closer and deeper. When her legs shifted, lifted around him, he went deeper and he couldn’t stop the groan. “That’s it, Ella!” he told her. “Hold me closer!”
Ella loved the way he moved, filled her up, made her feel so wonderful. “Daniel,” she gasped.
“Ah, love, just like that!” he encouraged.
Ella shifted her head back and forth against the pillows. “I can’t!” she screamed. “Too much!”
“You can!” he came right back and pressed into her deeper, harder, faster. “Come for me, Ella,” he said and pressed his fingers against that nub. Over and over again, he watched, trying to make it perfect. And when he felt her body shiver, her inner muscles tightening, he threw back his head and reveled in how amazing she felt when she climaxed like this. His own body took control and he felt himself dissolve into her, felt her tighten even more and her slender arms wrapped around his neck as he fell on top of her.
A long time later, he rolled over and pulled her against him. “Sorry,” he said as he tried to get his breathing back under control. She was having the same problem and he was painfully aware of her chest heaving in and out, her nipple grazing his side with each gasp.
He wouldn’t touch her again. At least not this morning. He would give her delicate body a break.
“Sorry for what?” she asked as she smoothed her hand over his chest and stomach, resting low enough so that he thought about moving it higher.
“Sorry for making love to you again,” he said and kissed her temple. “I couldn’t resist you.”
Ella laughed, thinking he was sweet and charming. A complete transformation from when he’d walked into her apartment last night.
“I didn’t realize my complaints were so loud.” She laughed again when he smacked her bottom and she buried her face against his chest.
“Go to sleep,” he grumbled. “Morning is almost here.”
She sighed and ran her fingers over his chest muscles. “I don’t think I could sleep after that,” she told him honestly. “You sort of woke me up.”
He lifted his arm and glanced at his watch. “You’re going to be worn out when you get to work,” he warned.
She yawned. “I can take it,” she assured him.
He listened while her breathing slowed down. Eventually, she sagged against him, sound asleep. Unfortunately, he was wide awake. Her hand resting on his abdomen was too much for him. Besides, it was almost five o’clock. He normally woke up at this time and went for a long run, clearing his mind and trying to put his thoughts into perspective. Running helped him work through his cases and he came up with new ideas to investigate and sometimes, the pieces all just fell into place with the rhythmic pounding of his feet against the pavement.
Not to mention, he refused to be in worse shape than the criminals. He would never let a criminal outrun him. Never!
Slipping out of Ella’s bed, he tried hard not to disturb her. Grabbing his clothes, he took one last look at Ella before he left her bedroom.
He was pulling on his clothes as he walked down the hallway but came to a halt when he saw that same horrible sight. Tummy was once again sprawled out on his back, legs spread-eagle while his furry tail swished back and forth, obviously waiting for Daniel to rub his belly one more time.
He shook his head as he pulled his clothes on. “No way, Fuzzbutt,” he said and walked around the cat while buttoning his shirt.
He was astounded when the feline who, only minutes before, had been snoring worse than a five hundred pound gorilla, jumped up and dashed about three feet ahead of him, then flopped down, rolled over and…tail swishing in anticipation.
“If I rub your belly, will that stop you from running to the next place?” he asked.
Daniel looked at the cat’s eyes, the promise to be satisfied in his expression. So he bent down and rubbed the cat’s belly for a few moments, almost laughing out loud when the giant feline started purring with happiness again.
“Okay, I’m outta here. Tell your mother that I’ll call her later this morning, okay?”
Daniel didn’t trust the animal’s eyes so he rummaged through her drawers again and found a notepad and pen, writing her a note. Finished, he turned around and…stopped. The stupid cat was laying in front of the door, same position.
“You’re a liar,” he groaned but bent down and rubbed again, ignoring Rocket that was sprinting back and forth as if he might have lost something, but there was no rhyme or reason to his sprints. He just ran one way, came to a stop, sniffed a bit then ran to another spot. Repeat. The cat was a spaz!
He didn’t have time to worry about the two felines in her life. He had to get out and catch the guy who was running the protection racket in her neighborhood so that she wouldn’t step in the way of whoever was sent to pick up the protection money next time. He had no doubt that Ella would come charging in, just like she had yesterday.
And for some reason he wasn’t willing to define too carefully, he couldn’t let her do that.
He’d be back tonight and this time, he would make sure that they went over the basics of self-defense. He wasn’t going to let the woman put herself in danger. And maybe if she understood just how vulnerable she really was, she would be more cautious.
After one more tummy rub, he pulled the door open and slipped out, closing it as quietly as possible.
Back at his apartment, he showered and changed, feeling better than he had in a long time.
Arriving at the station, he was greeted with whistles and cheers. As soon as Daniel looked around, he spotted Jim leaning on the cubicle wall and knew that his partner had relayed the entire story from yesterday.
“Any new blond lovelies to handcuff today?” someone called out.
“Nah! He’s not going to cuff the ladies today. He’s going to let them punch him!” Another jeered.
On and on it went and Daniel took it all in stride. He’d given it out often enough, so he could take it now. “Very funny,” he said when he walked up to Jim and tossed his canvas coat into the corner of his cubicle.
“What have we got?” he asked. The two of them brainstormed for a while and a few more detectives strolled in and they all tossed out ideas on the two cases. All of them were aware that Morgan’s crime ring was tormenting the city but so far, they weren’t able to pin anything on him.
“He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, guys!” Jim ranted with frustration. “There must be something he’s done that could point us to the man and make the charges stick.”
But they had nothing. Daniel rubbed his face and stood up, needing to get some fresh air. “Jim, why don’t we wander down around the waterfront? Wasn’t that where you said you’d heard something?”
“I have a confidential informant who might have ideas.” The two of them walked out of the station, both eager to find some break in the case.