After Midnight (11 page)

“That’s exactly why I could afford it. As you can see, this isn’t a particularly nice part of town. He and I became acquainted because I patrol this area and I stopped some major theft issues of building supplies and appliances. Then came the economic downturn and the housing bust and several people forfeited on their units. He thought it would be a good selling point to have a cop nearby, so he gave me a discount I couldn’t refuse.”

“Doesn’t it feel…well, odd, to live in an old church?”

“Let’s get inside, and I’ll show you around. It’s really comfortable and has a great view.”

Sam retrieved her bag from the tiny trunk, locked the doors, and led her up the wide stone steps. He punched in a code and opened one of the ten-foot-tall doors and held it open while she entered.

“There’s no elevator. I’m up just one flight of stairs. The third-floor apartments all have huge vaulted ceilings, and one even has that stained-glass window in its living room. But they were way out of my budget.”

Kate looked up at the center atrium, which must have been forty or fifty feet tall. “Not to mention all those stairs at least twice a day. You must not have to pay for a gym membership.”

“It’s worth it.” He nodded toward the stairs and encouraged her forward.

And he was right. As soon as Kate stepped inside his apartment, with its spacious, open floor plan, she felt
comfortable…and
safe. It was beautifully, if sparsely, decorated in shades of blue and gray with stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and only cozy furniture groupings dividing the living room from the dining room. A thick navy-blue rug covered much of the hardwood floor under a leather couch, two recliners, and a gigantic television. It was very much a man’s apartment, but not the playboy pleasure palace she had expected.

“Very tasteful,” she commented in approval.

“You sound surprised.” Again that grin tugged at his lips.

“I had a different mental image of cops.”

“We’re not all alcoholic womanizers. Some of us are just normal guys who love our jobs. You watch too much TV.”

“Speaking of televisions, yours is bigger than my bed.”

“My mother helped with the decorating, but I picked out the TV.” He shrugged. “It’s a guy thing. Watching football on that thing is like being on the field.”

“I’ll bet.” She walked over to the balcony and looked out through the glass-paneled French doors. “Great view.”

“If you stand to one side and lean out and look between the trees and the buildings, you can almost see Longs Peak.” His tone was light, but she could tell he was proud of his home. “That’s sort of the trade-off for living downtown. But Denver requires that its employees live in the county, so this was a good solution for me.”

She turned back to him and smiled. “It’s really nice. I can see why you love it.” She glanced at the clock on the microwave and saw that it was almost three a.m. Suddenly, total exhaustion washed over her, and she wanted nothing more than a quick shower and a soft pillow. She walked over to the couch and dropped her purse on the floor next to it.

“If you’ll throw me a blanket and a pillow, this couch looks pretty comfortable.”

“Oh, no. You get the bed.” He headed toward the bedroom with her bag, and she rushed to stop him.

“I won’t let you give up your bed for me.”

“Look, you’re dead on your feet. Why don’t you take a shower and we’ll talk about this when you don’t look like you’re about to faint.”

“I’ve never fainted in my life.”

“I’ll bet a lot of things have happened to you in the last month that have never happened to you before. Now go.”

Meekly, she followed him to the bedroom. She was almost glad to see that his bed wasn’t made and there were articles of clothing lying around. She was beginning to think he wasn’t human. He must have realized how the room looked, so as soon as he dropped her bag on a chair, he walked around, picking up shoes, socks, a crumpled towel, and various items of clothing.

“Sorry. I wasn’t expecting company.” He seemed a little embarrassed at his messiness, but Kate was unreasonably happy that none of the clothing had belonged to a female.

The king-sized bed looked amazingly comfortable, and Kate felt her resistance weakening. The bed in her apartment had long ago given up pretending to have any sort of shape. She tried to sleep on the edge because if she let herself fall into the deep dip in the middle, the mattress closed around her, and it was a struggle to get out.

Sam took a navy blue towel and washcloth out of the linen closet and handed it to her. “Take your time. There’s plenty of hot water.”

Hot water! Those were the magic words. Kate nearly knocked him down in her eagerness to experience her first civilized shower in months. Her intentions were honorable. She was going to keep the shower brief, then collapse on the couch. But the large shower was clean, well lit, and had a shower head that felt at once like a Shiatsu massage, then with a twist of the head, a gentle rain shower.

She used Sam’s shampoo and soap, and, in spite of smelling like a dude, she couldn’t remember ever enjoying a shower more. The whole room was steamed up by the time she finally stepped out and dried off.

She had rushed in so fast that she had forgotten all her toiletries and had to sneak back into the bedroom with the towel wrapped around her. She could hear the television in the living room, so she assumed Sam was in there also. But just as she picked up her bag, he stepped out of the walk-in closet.

“Uh…I thought you might need this.” He struggled to keep his eyes focused on her face and not on her boobs, which were threatening to spring free of the towel. He held out a short silk robe woven in bright colors and decorated with a fire-breathing dragon. She took it gratefully.

The robe felt soft and fluid in her hand, and she couldn’t resist teasing him. “Kinda girly, isn’t it?”

“My brother brought it back from the Middle East when he was in the navy. I’m not sure what message he was trying to send, but I never got around to donating it to Goodwill.”

“Thanks. I forgot my nightgown.”

Sam’s mouth opened as if he wanted to say something else, but he remained silent. Kate clutched the robe against her chest with one hand and picked up her bag in the other and headed back into the bathroom. By the time she had dried her hair and brushed her teeth, she was almost dizzy with exhaustion.

She truly meant to sleep on the couch, but like Goldilocks, she found the bed irresistible. She would lie down for just a minute, then as soon as Sam was finished in the bathroom, she would move to the couch. The bed felt
heavenly—appropriate
for being in a former church—and she snuggled into the mound of pillows and firm but wonderfully soft mattress. Her eyelids drifted closed.

It was midmorning when Sam awoke, and instead of jumping out of bed, he snuggled deeper under the covers. Of course, the fact that there was a warm, seminude woman in his arms swayed his decision. Kate still slept soundly, curled against his chest, her head resting on his left shoulder and one leg nestled between his. He could feel her warm breath against his skin, and the fresh, clean scent of her hair filled his nostrils. Everything about her was soft: soft skin, soft hair, soft curves.

It was those curves that were driving him crazy. Her breasts were barely touching his chest, but even through the thin layers of their clothing, every time she breathed, the brush of her nipples sent heat waves radiating through him. His right arm was resting over her, and he was very aware that his hand was on the bare skin of her well-rounded ass. His right fingertips had been suffering from nerve loss for almost two weeks, but their sensitivity was alive and well now. They ached to be stroking the flesh beneath them.

“Is that your gun or are you happy to see me?” Kate’s muffled voice, husky with sleep and tinged with humor, alerted him to the extent of his arousal that was pressed against her.

“My gun’s on the nightstand, so I must be one happy fella.” He tried to keep his tone light, but he was a little embarrassed to be caught in such a compromising position. Here he was supposedly her protector, not a man too weak to resist taking advantage of a woman who trusted him.

He scooted away, disentangling their legs, but stopped when there were several safe inches between them. Looking down at her, all tousled from sleep, he had never seen anything more sexy or more beautiful. All the willpower in the world couldn’t make him leave her lying in bed alone.

Sam reached out and, with one gentle finger, pushed a silky lock of hair out of her eyes. She looked up at him, curious but not wary. Her eyes, darkened to the color of a deep Caribbean pool, were heavy lidded and not quite awake. She propped her head up on her arm, and he did the same so they were on the same level, looking into each other’s eyes.

“So, how did we get here…like this?” she asked. “The last thing I remember was that I was going to sleep on the sofa.”

“You must have fallen asleep here, and I dozed off on the couch. But you had a heck of a nightmare.”

“I haven’t been sleeping well since…you know.”

“Me neither,” he commented ruefully. “You were crying and tossing around, so I lay down here and held you. That seemed to help.”

“It must have, because I slept great the rest of the night.”

“So did I.”

Unexpectedly, she reached out and stroked his cheek, her fingertips scratching across his stubble. Her touch sent a fresh rush of heat to his loins, and he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his distance.

“Sexy,” she murmured.

“You should see the view from where I am.” His voice came out raspy as his eyes lowered to her full lips.

A soft pink blush touched her cheeks, and she let her fingers move down his neck until they rested lightly on his T-shirt-covered chest. Slowly, they moved lower, following the curves of his muscles, until they reached his stomach. Involuntarily, his core flexed, and he sucked in a lungful of air.

Her eyes had been following her fingers, and it was obvious that she saw the masculine bulge pressing against his running shorts. Her gaze lifted to meet his again.

“Careful,” he warned. “I’m not a saint, you know.”

“Neither am I.” Her fingers moved lower and splayed apart as they stroked down the length of his erection.

Sam reached down and captured her hand. “You don’t have to do this to thank me.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” she whispered, the softness of her voice taking the edge off the harshness of her words.

Sam gave up. He had been attracted to her since the first moment he laid eyes on her. And now she was lying in his bed, as sexy as hell and wearing nothing but that damn silk robe.

“Yes, ma’am.” He closed the distance between them and buried his fingers in her hair as his lips found hers. That one brief kiss had been just an appetizer. Every time he was with her, he had wanted to taste those delicious lips again. And now he realized his memory hadn’t done them justice.

Her arms circled his neck, pulling him even closer. She returned his kiss with a fervor equal to his. Her lips parted, and when the tip of her tongue touched his, he groaned. He wanted to go slow and be gentle, but he was on fire. His fingers moved down and fumbled with the knots on the sash of her robe. Damn physical therapy. Instead of squeezing a rubber ball, he should have been trying to recover some valuable skills, like getting her naked.

The knot finally slipped loose and his eager fingers slid inside, anxious to feel the silkiness of her skin. His hungry mouth moved to her neck, then lower until it found her breasts. Pulling one pert nipple into his mouth, he suckled it, delighting in the way she tasted. Kate whimpered and arched her back. Her fingers threaded through his hair, clenching and unclenching as he ran his tongue around the swollen bud, licking, then sucking, then lapping it with his tongue.

His right hand moved lower, sliding over her quivering stomach before stroking between her legs. She was so wet, and the feeling of her opening to his fingers almost pushed him over the edge. Pulling away, he jerked his T-shirt off, ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder at his roughness, then pushed his shorts down and kicked them off the bed.

Kate lay there, her silky chestnut-brown hair billowing around her head and the vivid reds and blues of the gaudy robe making her pale skin almost glow. She shrugged the sleeves off her shoulders and stretched her arms toward him.

With a breathless sigh, he moved over her, centering himself between her legs. She looked up at him, her eyelids lowered with desire and her lips moist and slightly parted as if she couldn’t quite catch her breath. He bent and possessed them with another long, passionate kiss as he eased his maleness inside her.

She was tight and oh so warm. He moved in slowly, filling her, afraid he would hurt her, but so turned on he thought he would explode. Her nails scraped his back and then her hands gripped his buttocks, pulling him in deeper. He started to move, in and out, gently at first, but quickly increasing in both speed and thrust. She moved with him, her hips lifting to receive him. To encourage him. To urge him on.

He felt her tighten around him at the same instant she gasped and cried his name. Her waves of passion stroked him, pulling his own heat from him in a molten rush, pouring into her. Too weak to support himself, he collapsed half on her and half on the bed as his lungs struggled to regulate his ragged breathing. His heart pounded in his chest, and his hand resting lightly on one of her breasts could feel hers matching his.

“Wow,” she exhaled in a sort of half breath, half exclamation.

He didn’t have the strength to lift his head, but he nodded his agreement, rubbing his cheek against hers. It took them several minutes to come down off the dizzying heights of their lovemaking. Absently, he stroked her hair away from her face. Her hand moved up his arm, then stopped when she felt the edges of the bandage on his shoulder.

Abruptly, she pulled back, just a little, but enough so she could look at him. “Oh my God, I forgot about your shoulder. Are you okay?”

He flexed it and winced. “It hurts now, but it was the furthest thing from my mind a few minutes ago.”