Cold Snap, page 25
Grady closed the door, met her gaze as he flipped the lock. “Do you want me to?”
Brynn’s pulse punched up a notch as he walked toward her with an expression that made her toes curl. She put down the glasses before she dropped them. “Yes.”
He took her mouth in a smoky kiss that had her plastering herself against him. His hand smoothed down her back and drew her even closer.
She reached up and gripped his shirt. “I have an hour before I need to go to work. Come to bed with me.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “What I have planned will take much longer than an hour.”
Her blood sizzled.
He went to pull away, but she tightened her grip. “Then go faster.”
He stared at her for a moment, pupils flaring. He seemed to read the hunger in her eyes, the demand.
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
He picked her up in his arms, and she wrapped her arm around his neck, rearing up to capture his lips with hers.
He nudged open her bedroom door but didn’t stop at the bed. He walked into the bathroom and let her slide to her feet, never stopping the kiss or releasing his hold. He reached into the shower stall and turned on the water, checking the temperature with his hand as she undid the buttons of his filthy shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.
He flinched under her fingers, and she drew back, stared at the nasty scratches and welts that marred his otherwise perfect torso.
She opened her mouth to say something, but he spun her around. “Where the hell is the zipper on this thing?”
She lifted her arm, and he found it, tugging the pull carefully down and helping her drag the dress over her head. She stood there in her best underwear and stay-up stockings which were filthy and full of snags.
His eyes widened appreciatively as he traced the tip of his finger over the top of her plain black bra. “You’re beautiful.”
She fought not to fold her arms. “I don’t feel beautiful.”
And it wasn’t the smoke and dirt and sleepless night. It was inside, where the demons lived.
His eyes flicked back to hers, sharp with attention. “We’ll have to do something about that.”
“Therapy or hypnosis?” She joked as she peeled off her ruined stockings and kicked them aside. Then she unclipped her bra and shimmied out of her panties.
Those sky-blue eyes of his glowed neon as he took her in. “How about a little positive reinforcement?”
He picked her up, strong fingers spanning her waist and placed her in the shower. She gasped, but the warm water was the perfect temperature as it plastered her hair against her skull. Hot but not scalding.
She absorbed the pummeling spray with a sigh. She’d been so cold. For hours and hours, her feet had felt like icicles. She hadn’t dressed for the weather. She’d dressed for seduction.
And she was finally getting around to it.
She leaned against the cold tile and opened her eyes just in time to see him kick off his pants and underwear. He turned but not before she spotted more burns and blisters on his neck. With the gash just visible in his hair, the guy looked like he’d been in a war zone.
“You’re hurt.”
Those bright eyes held hers. “Nothing serious. I’ll deal with it later. First,” he picked up her soap from a shelf, “I want to deal with you.”
His confidence was sexy as hell, and she wanted that. Wanted a man who knew what he wanted. For now, anyway.
For this moment.
Temporarily.
He lathered the soap as she leaned back and watched him. Water sluiced over his body, causing the soot and smoke to streak his skin. He’d been so incredibly brave and competent this evening. He hadn’t hesitated to enter a burning building to rescue those animals and get them to safety.
A hero.
A real-life hero.
She wasn’t sure she’d met one before.
He washed her like she was precious, deft touches of clever fingers igniting her nerves in a wildfire of their own. He poured shampoo into her hair, which he then used to tip back her head, and kiss her mouth as he lathered the wet strands.
She could dive into those kisses and never surface. They were like a drug she didn’t want to quit, creating a craving that kept growing. A storm brewing in her blood.
For more.
For everything.
She took the soap and began her own exploration. His short hair, the strong bones of his handsome face. Soft bottom lip. His neck and broad shoulders. Wide chest with all those bumps and ridges that had her fingers dancing.
She placed a kiss beside each burn and scratch, in a vain attempt to ease some of the pain. She had a blister on her wrist that smarted like hell, so she knew he must be hurting despite his stoic denial.
Her hands ranged down to his lean waist to the jut of his hip bones. She wrapped a soapy hand around the hard length of him and watched his pupils flare.
“I don’t have a condom.” His voice was rough with smoke and regret.
She was on birth control because her periods were irregular and painful, but she wasn’t ready to have sex without protection. She wasn’t a risk taker with her health—only with her heart apparently.
“I have some in my bedside drawer.”
He walked away, uncaring of the water dripping off his naked body, and came back with the entire unopened box.
He ripped it open and grabbed a foil package. Climbed back into the shower and kissed her again. Then he worked his way down her body, finally centering on all the areas that were desperate for his touch and that he’d assiduously avoided until now. He took her nipple into his mouth, sucking hard enough to have her quake before he shifted to the other side. He palmed her breast and rolled one puckered areole between his thumb and forefinger and pressed, just firmly enough for sensation to shoot through her body to her sex, which clenched and throbbed with want.
Could a woman have an orgasm from having her nipples touched?
He sank to his knees before she could find out.
He looked up.
Rivulets of water ran down her front and dripped off her body onto his.
He ran his tongue firmly across her clit. Sensation hit her like a bullet. He looked up at her with hunger shining in his feral gaze. “I like you wet.”
Her knees shook as he went back for more.
Holy.
He moved her legs wider apart, and she watched as he lapped at her, the rough stubble on his cheeks scraping her soft skin in a way that was unbelievably arousing. She wanted to press against him. His tongue was magic, and his fingers joined in until she felt herself tipping over the edge, and a cry was wrung out of her, along with a shudder.
His satisfied grin was cocky, but he’d earned it.
She pulled away, and he stood. She pushed him back until he was against the tiled wall, and she copied what he’d done to her. Exactly. Slow deliberate torture until his knees were quivering as she took him inside her mouth. His grip on her hair tightened as her hands roamed. It didn’t take long for him to groan and swear. He gently pulled away and drew her to her feet.
The water was starting to cool. He shut it off.
His eyes gleamed as they held hers.
“You’re playing with fire, Ms. Webster.”
She tilted her head to one side. “I’m not sure what you mean, Agent Steel. I’m just an innocent bystander.” She stroked her hand up and down his throbbing cock. “Minding my own business.”
She gasped in surprise as he spun her around, and she found herself face to the wall. His warm breath tickled her neck as his teeth sank gently into the spot where it met her shoulder. He dragged her hands high over her head and pressed them there.
A bolt of excitement shot through her as she felt him hard against her.
“Interfering with an FBI Special Agent is a federal offense.”
She gulped. “I—”
“Don’t move.” His voice roughened. “I need to search you.”
“Oh…” She shook with anticipation.
His hands paused and his grip tightened. “Assuming I’m not violating any of your civil rights?” There was enough hesitation to make it a really sweet request for permission.
“Hmm.” She cleared her throat. “I guess if you have to search me, you have to search me.” Her voice trembled but she didn’t care.
She could feel his laughter as he nuzzled her neck before he gently scraped his teeth over the skin beneath her ear. A shiver of lust whispered down her spine in response.
His hands stroked seductively down her arms, and the flat of his hand brushed the side of her breasts before his flattened palm skimmed the tips of her pebbled nipples. Then he planted one foot between hers and tapped her ankles.
“Spread ’em.”
She melted with lust.
43
Grady couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this turned on. And he’d never played games. Life was always too damn serious for games.
But after everything that had happened tonight and the way Brynn reacted to him, he figured he’d keep going.
He’d heard sex was supposed to be fun.
He was usually too aware of the minefield of potential fuckups waiting for him in the aftermath. Right now, all he could think about was Brynn and making her feel good.
Her body was soft and lush. He ran his lips over the curve of her neck which was his favorite spot right now. She smelled like herbal shampoo and tasted sweet as a promise.
He cupped one perfect breast in his hand and tweaked the nipple until it formed a tight, dark pink bud. His other hand slipped between her legs and found her swollen clit. His cock throbbed against her ass but he put his own needs out of his mind. He didn’t want this to be over before it began. They didn’t have as much time as he wanted, but he was damn well going to make it good for her before it was over.
“You have the right to remain silent.”
She moaned as he found the right pressure to touch her and laid her head back against his shoulder. The view down her front was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen.
“Oh, god.” Her expression was lost in pleasure.
He smiled against her wet hair as he kissed her there.
“Anything you do say can and may be used against you in a court of law.”
“I want you inside me.” Her voice was ragged.
“Attempting to bribe a federal agent. That’s prison time, lady. You have the right to an attorney present before and during questioning.”
“I don’t think they’d fit in the stall.” She laughed and then tumbled over that edge again with a shocked gasp, shaking so violently he thought she was going to slip through his arms.
He wasn’t about to let that happen.
His grip tightened, and then he turned her around and lifted her over his shoulder, snagging a towel and the condom off the side as he went back into the bedroom.
He eased her gently to her feet and stood back to wrap the towel around her.
She took the condom from his hand and dragged him down to lay beside her on the comforter.
She grinned at him, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone more beautiful. She ripped the packet open and slid the condom over his throbbing cock as he stared deep into those smokey gray-green eyes. He’d never felt quite like this before. On some level he knew it was a mistake to do this now, without all the facts being laid out. But he didn’t think those facts affected what was going on here between the two of them. How either of them felt about the other. There was nothing he wanted more, right now, than Brynn Webster.
She rose to her knees and he rolled over onto his back, knowing what she needed. Control. She needed to be in charge because others had taken that away from her and destroyed her self-confidence.
She straddled him, and her hot flesh took him inside her. The brilliance of the sensation threatened to destroy him, but he gritted his teeth and watched her move her spectacular body over his, weaving her magical spell.
She rode him like a sensual goddess. Like a woman who knew exactly what she wanted.
He reached up to touch her breast. Seeing how that pleased her, he kept doing it. Watching her expression as her teeth caught her bottom lip, and then she gasped as she tumbled into the void again.
“You’re so beautiful.” His voice came out in a broken rumble, his throat raw.
And suddenly his control snapped, and he was moving her over him and going deeper, harder, his fingers gripping her thighs and knowing he should let go but couldn’t.
He couldn’t.
Brynn’s mouth opened and her eyes closed, and he could feel her clenching around him in one long wave of an orgasm that didn’t stop. His own release rushed through him now, and he couldn’t see. The climax hit him like a concussion wave and knocked him out of his body, as white light crashed through his brain.
She collapsed on top of him, and he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her to him.
Slowly she eased back and blinked at him as if she was coming out of a deep dream.
She moved away and found the towel and drew it around herself. This was the part he usually sucked at.
“Wow,” she said.
“Yeah.” His heart pounded. “Wow.”
Uncertainty formed lines between her brows.
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. He might not be being one hundred percent truthful, but he wasn’t lying about what he felt about her, even though these feelings were bigger than he’d expected or experienced in the past.
She pushed her hair behind her ear and for the first time he noticed a burn on the inside of her wrist.
He sat up. “You’re hurt.”
She angled the injury for a better look. “It’s small but it’s sore.”
“Do you have any first aid supplies?” He rolled to his feet and went into the bathroom. Got rid of the condom.
“I have a travel pack. Under the sink.”
He found it and pulled it out. Checked inside. “This’ll do.”
He went back and sat on the bed, naked.
She stood near the bedside table where she kept a nice little Springfield Hellcat RDP. Hopefully she wasn’t planning to use it on him.
“Sit.”
“I don’t have much time—”
“Sit,” he ordered. He was trained in first aid and knew what he was doing.
She sat with a humph. Held out her wrist obediently but with a pout on her lips.
The skin wasn’t broken, which was a plus.
“We’ll put a little steroid cream on it and wrap it in a clean bandage.” She was stiff with tension. He was gentle with the cream and the bandage, knowing it wasn’t the pain that bothered her. It was letting someone else take care of her when she was used to doing it herself. It took her a minute to relax, but he felt a warmth spread through him when she did.
“See.” He raised her fingers to his lips again and held her gaze. “All done.”
It was 7:45 a.m. and if she hurried, she wouldn’t be late to work.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’m fine. I’ll take care of the burns in a little while. You need to get to the café.”
A frown dented her forehead. “Stand up and turn around.”
He was unsure why she was asking him to do that, but he climbed to his feet, stood there, naked, tense.
She picked up the pot of antiseptic cream, and he blinked in surprise.
Her fingers were gentle and the ointment cool on his hot skin. Her breath skimmed his flesh with the sensuality of a delicately drawn feather. “Some of these must really hurt.”
“Right now, nothing hurts,” he muttered. It was an allusion to the sex they’d just shared. The endorphins flowing through his bloodstream were better than any manufactured narcotics.
Her fingers hesitated and then gently stroked over another wound.
Maybe she wasn’t feeling the same way. Maybe she hadn’t wanted any after sex interaction. Maybe she’d wanted a quick bang and then to be left alone. Suddenly, it felt awkward and presumptuous of him to be here still, standing naked in her bedroom.
She came around to his front and after a moment met his gaze. But she still didn’t say anything, and doubts swirled inside him.
She silently treated each welt and blister and he felt his muscles tense for the rejection he knew was surely coming.
Then she rose on tiptoes and kissed his mouth.
“You’re right.” She broke away and searched his eyes. “Right now, nothing hurts.”
Her words echoed his, but the pain that shadowed her gaze was all Brynn Webster and her idiot ex. She popped the top back on the ointment.
“I have to go.”
He cleared the gravel out of his throat. “You want any help at the café this morning?”
Her smile broke out like sunshine. “You’d do that for me after being up all night?”
He grinned slowly but ignored the response that wanted to leap onto his lips. He’d do anything for her, any time she wanted.
Sex had turned him into a sap.
“Sure. I have a couple of hours.” He was pretty sure there would be a team briefing at some point today, but he may as well make himself useful in the meantime.
Murphy whined and scratched at the door.
“After I’ve taken my dog for a quick walk.” It felt good to say it. He had a dog. At least, until Caleb Quayle lodged some kind of formal complaint, which he was bound to do. Although Caleb must be the main suspect in last night’s arson attack, so he should be busy getting arrested and too occupied to fight for doggy custody. Assuming Darrell was capable of putting a case together.
Grady had considered tracking Quayle down last night and repaying him for his actions. He’d reminded himself he had a job to do, and animals to take care of.
Not to mention, Brynn…
And maybe he’d needed the reminder for himself, that he wasn’t that young hothead anymore. He wasn’t his father. He was part of an elite tactical team of law enforcement professionals who knew how to follow orders and enforce the rules equitably.
He went over and picked up his filthy shirt off the bathroom floor. It stank of smoke. The last thing he wanted to do was put it back on but neither did he want to walk outside in nothing but his skin and give the gossips something else to chew on.
