B008DKAYYQ EBOK (24 page)

Instead, he touched her arm, felt her stiffen almost imperceptibly. Well, damn. “I know that was tough for you,” he said gently.

Her gaze shifted to his face, and as her eyes narrowed, something he’d never seen before flickered in them. The intensity of it startled him, and he almost stepped back. “What?”

She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tugged him forward. He stumbled against her, knocking her back into the passenger side of his SUV. Before he could right himself, alarmed that he might have hurt her, her mouth was on his. Her tongue drove all reasonable thought from his brain.

* * *

Bailey felt the moment his stunned surprise vanished. His weight, pinning her awkwardly against the SUV, shifted. As he eased back, he clamped an arm around her waist to plaster her body against him. His free hand fisted in the hair at the back of her head.

This kiss was as mind-blowing as the first, except this time it was instantly mind-blowing. No warm-up necessary. Just sudden, intense heat that made her entire body hum. She couldn’t think, didn’t want to. She was so very tired of thinking.

God, the man could
kiss
.

She lost herself in it, lost herself in
him
as color burst behind her eyelids. Fireworks, she thought dimly.
Huh.
 

Everything was hot: The sun bearing down. His body pressed against her. His mouth, ravaging, destroying her senses. The want that shot through her so sharply she could have moaned with it.

She felt his heart thundering under the palm she braced on his chest before she slid her hands up, wound her arms around his neck and clung to him, hoping, praying that he wouldn’t end it too soon.

She imagined that diving head first out of an airplane at twelve thousand feet felt exactly like this. The punch of terror as you first went into free fall, followed by the heart-in-your-throat thrill, the earth, green and lush, rushing up at a hundred and twenty miles an hour. She wanted to wait until the very last second to yank the ripcord.

And then he gentled the kiss. His fingers in her hair relaxed, and her pulse stuttered, tripped.
 

Oh God, oh God, don’t let go yet.

He didn’t. But now his lips slid over hers, so slow, so gentle, that she felt as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs. A roar began in her ears. And she began to float.

She couldn’t breathe and didn’t care. Compared to this, breathing was highly overrated.

When he finally shifted back, he didn’t release her, his chest rising and falling rapidly against her. His thigh had found its way between her legs, and a hard bulge rested against her hip.

Her knees threatened to buckle. When she finally managed to drag in some air, she felt as if she’d been held underwater for too long.
 

Cole kissed her again, quickly, sweetly, before resting his forehead against hers. “What just happened?” he asked.

His voice was so thick with longing that it sent a lash of excitement zinging through her.
She
did that to him. “I kissed you,” she said, her own voice husky and breathless.

“I wouldn’t call what you just did to me something as mundane as a kiss. But semantics aside, why?”

She sifted her fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Touching him, letting him touch her, made her feel reckless, daring. She imagined throwing open the castle door and shaking out a welcome mat that was dusty from being folded up in the foyer for far too long.
Come on in!
“You checked her out,” she said with a shrug.

“Checked who out?”

She laughed low. “Good answer.”

“So that’s all I had to do to get you to melt? Check out someone else?”

“I wanted to deck her when she looked at you like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like she wanted to eat you alive.”

He was obviously enjoying himself. “I didn’t notice.”

“Yes, you did. But I appreciate you saying that.”

“Who knew that the way to Bailey Chase’s heart was through pure, unadulterated jealousy?”

She frowned, smoothing her hand over the front of his shirt, aching to dive in and feel bare flesh under her palms. Her pulse tripped into a gallop. She couldn’t remember ever being so eager to get a man into bed. “It was more than that,” she said.

“I don’t care. I’ve got you where I want you.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re very cute after you’ve been ravished.”

Her heart gave an ominous thud. He’d kissed her nose, for God’s sake. It seemed the man had no clue what he was getting himself into. “I should warn you, Goodman. I’m a mess.”

“Well, I’m in tip-top shape emotionally. No baggage here. No, siree. Not even carry-on.”

She laughed. “No, siree?”

He grinned. “That part a little too earnest?”

Feeling bold, she pressed her hip against the bulge of his erection. “There’s another part that’s pretty earnest.”

He dropped his head back with a shudder. “God, woman. You’re killing me.”

She planted a wet kiss at the base of his throat. “Not so lame and pathetic after all, am I?”

He cupped her face in palms that felt as if he’d held them to a fire. “I think that might have been the smartest thing I’ve ever said.”

She cocked her head. “How so?”

“Bailey, darling, it’s no secret that you can’t stand to pass up a challenge.”

Darling? Oh, Lord.
 

She’d been managing to hold the alarm at bay—what the hell was she doing?—but it was growing fast. She’d sworn that she would never again make herself vulnerable to a man. But Cole wasn’t a careless man, she reminded herself. And besides, no one here had declared undying love and commitment. Maybe all they’d have was a couple of steamy kisses and perhaps later some phenomenal sex and that’d be the end of it.
 

Fighting the fear back, she said, “I really do have an assignment in half an hour.”

“More like twenty minutes.”

She smiled, imagining showing up at the retirement home to take photos, looking as if she’d just been kissed senseless against the side of a truck. “Don’t you have work to do today?”

“I’m on the schedule tonight. Cops beat. Bert had the nerve to go on vacation.” He brushed his lips over hers, just barely skimming them. “Though there are certain other things I’d much rather be doing.”

Her heartbeat slammed into the next gear. Oh, God, was she ready for that? Oh, yes, she thought, her mouth going dry as he nibbled his way toward her ear. She was
more
than ready. But what about afterward? Would she be ready for more or ready to run?
 

His teeth sank gently into her earlobe, and she opened her eyes to nearly blinding sunlight, surprised that she had closed them without realizing it. “It’s probably best that we take it slow, don’t you think?” she asked, breathless all over again.
 

He returned to her lips for a fast kiss, his tongue just glancing off of hers. “Going slow with you … not going to happen,” he murmured against her mouth.

The carnal images that swirled through her head nearly made her moan. No doubt, sex with him would short-circuit her brain far more thoroughly than a couple of passionate kisses.

“You might have to learn some control, Goodman.”

He took her hand and drew her away from the SUV so he could open the door for her. “Chase, if you call me Goodman one more time, I’m going to ravish you right here.”

She shot him a wicked smile. “That sounded like a challenge.”

Chapter 32

Cole couldn’t concentrate. Nothing was going on anyway. The scanner traffic had been dead, other than a fire call that had turned out to be a false alarm.
 

The newsroom was virtually empty. The only noise came from halfway across the office, where the copy desk folks raced to make deadline, swearing loudly at glitchy computers and stories that didn’t fit. He was used to the din and ignored it.
 

And thought about Bailey. It killed him that he’d had to work tonight. He would have preferred to whisk her away somewhere and … well, screw her brains out.
 

He smiled ruefully at the crude thought. He planned to use far more finesse than that when the time arrived, but for now all he seemed able to do was think in such simple-minded sentences. She’d fried his synapses with that kiss.

So unexpected. So unlike Bailey.

He’d seen in her eyes that she’d shocked herself. Within minutes, she’d been trying to work through how to retreat, and no doubt she would have everything figured out by the next time he saw her. But he wouldn’t let her back off. As soon as she started making excuses, he’d plant his mouth on hers and let his tongue do the talking.

That
she couldn’t deny.
 

His phone chirped, and he snatched it up. “Goodman.”

“Cole, it’s Kathleen.”

He sat back in his chair, disappointed. He’d hoped to hear Bailey’s sultry voice. “Hey, Kath. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.” Seven hours had passed since he and Bailey had left the FBI agent’s office. Seven hours since Bailey had made his eyes cross …

“We’ve got something.”

He straightened. “Already?”

“The cops in Bailey’s photo are clean. But we found something else on the negatives. How soon can you get to Bailey and bring her in?”

He stood, his heart, and brain, racing. Kathleen sounded uncharacteristically tense. “You already know she’s staying at Payne Kincaid’s. Can’t you send agents?”

“I’d rather not.”

Fear closed his throat. “What’s going on?”

“I just need you to go get her, okay? And I need you to play it cool.”

“Jesus, Kathleen. Tell me what the hell’s going on.”

“I’ll explain later.”

“Explain now.”

“Cole … we don’t have time.”

He slammed down the phone and sprinted for the door.

* * *

Sitting on the edge of Payne Kincaid’s swimming pool, Bailey dangled her feet in the cool water of the deep end. She wondered how Cole’s evening on the cops beat was going and whether he was as distracted by thoughts of her as she was by thoughts of him. But she supposed the time apart was a good thing. It gave her the opportunity to think.

After a dinner of pasta and grilled vegetables, Payne had suggested she take advantage of the pleasant evening and lounge by the pool while he retired to his office to wrap up some leftover business of the day.
 

Liking the idea, she’d slipped into a red bathing suit, hoping to get in some sauna time. Swimming was out of the question with her still-healing stitches, but steam heat shouldn’t hurt anything.
 

She also brought Payne’s phone out so she could call James.

She didn’t make the call right away, though. Instead, she dropped her head back and took in the stars. Here, far away from city lights, the dusting of the Milky Way in the midnight blue sky was clearly visible, looking close enough to wave a hand through. In the distance, she could hear the waves of the gulf sloshing onto shore, the air tangy with a dash of salt and a touch of chlorine. A perfect evening for relaxing.

Unfortunately, she was about as far from relaxed as anyone could get. Her brain seemed to bounce from one quandary to the next: Cole to James to Austin to Cole to Austin to James. Over and over. She didn’t know what to do about any of them.
 

When she thought about Cole, her brain stalled. The memory of his mouth on hers overwhelmed all coherent thought. The man made her head spin, and when she was around him, she found herself constantly groping for balance. She couldn’t imagine what a relationship with him would be like. If it were anything like what she felt when he kissed her … well, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. Feelings that powerful, that sharp, couldn’t possibly last. Their relationship, if they even had one, would probably be one of those that burned brilliant and intense at first, then fizzled fast, like a sparkler on a birthday cake.
 

Then there was James. What had he gotten himself into? Was he back on drugs? His behavior had certainly been erratic lately. But that could just be stress. God knew he’d been under a ton of it. She felt guilty for compounding his anxiety by keeping a close watch on him. But someone had to make sure Austin was properly taken care of. Someone had to make sure that James stayed on the right track, because if he veered off, the person most likely to pay—besides James himself—would be Austin. Bailey refused to let anything hurt that sweet little boy. If that meant James felt over-scrutinized, well, then, so be it. He was an adult. He’d have to deal.
 

Just like she was going to have to deal if she had just turned evidence over to the FBI that could possibly send her brother back to prison.

Her stomach recoiled at the thought. She couldn’t imagine how a photo of two cops and another man could implicate James. But there had to be a reason her attacker had mentioned him. Telling Kathleen Quinn about the comment had been tough, but she hadn’t been able to justify withholding the information. Not when there could be even the tiniest indication that someone out there might go after Austin to get at James.