Beneath the Badge (First Responders) (5 page)

“Of course not. I just
like
you.” He let his gaze slid down past her breasts and back up. “Yeah,” he said, a slow grin spreading across his face. “I like you a lot.”

He pushed himself up and sat astride her hips just long enough to reach for her T-shirt and pull it up over her head. Her caramel-colored hair spread across the pillow and he swallowed as he looked down at the pink lace-edged bra. The gentle swell of her breasts curved above the edge, forming a delicious line of cleavage. Matt thought about removing the bra but curiosity got the better of him. “Is that part of a matching set?” he asked, sliding his gaze up to meet hers.

“Maybe you should find out,” she answered, giving her hips a little lift.

His erection was straining against his jeans now, but he didn’t want this to go too fast. He slid down her body and worked the rivet of her jeans through the buttonhole, then inched the zipper down over her flat stomach. Slowly, he peeled the denim away. Mercy, it
was
a matching set, a delicate shell-pink bikini that was nothing more than a scrap of fabric.

“Dr. Swan, you are full of surprises tonight,” he said richly, bending his head to lick along the edge of the lace at her hip. She jerked and gasped and then laughed, a throaty exhalation of breath that was sexy as hell.

“I’m ticklish,” she warned.

“Where?”

She braced up on her elbows and her hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. “Everywhere,” she admitted.

He grinned. “Everywhere? I think I might have to test that theory. No one can be ticklish everywhere.”

He tested his theory by kissing her belly button. She squirmed and gave a breathy giggle.

“Okay, so you are ticklish there.” He licked the curve of her waist and she twisted beneath him, trying to escape his tongue as she fell back on the soft pillows. His smile widened. Maybe she wasn’t lying, but he was sure having fun finding out. Next he tasted the inside of her elbow, the hollow of her shoulder. There was less twitching now, and the heat in the room seemed to climb with each laboured breath. The soft giggle was replaced by a gasp that sounded far more like pleasure than sheer sensitivity. “Hmm,” he murmured, letting his lips hum against her skin. Slowly, he slid down, inch by inch, until his mouth was at her breast. Through the fabric of the bra, he sucked on the pointed tip.

“Matt,” she breathed.

“I found one place you’re not ticklish. Are there more?”

The bra fastened in the back, so he slid his hand between her body and the bedspread and flicked open the clasps. The moment the elastic went slack in his hands, he pulled it away from her body, leaving her with only the scrap of her panties remaining. Before he looked for any more sensitive spots he was going to enjoy this part completely.

The skin of her breasts tasted like sugar and vanilla, and before long she arched against him with a familiar rhythm, seeking a partner in the dance he’d begun. He tangled his fingers with the material of her panties and slid beneath it to find her hot and wet. She cried out as he touched her, and he nearly went up in flames. Screw taking it slow. There was a new urgency now pounding through his veins. A need to seek and possess. He slid from the bed and hurried out of his jeans. It was an odd sort of relief, being out of the confines of his clothing, but it was short lived as the demands of his body took over. He wanted her. He wanted her so much it physically hurt.

He reached into a drawer of his bedside table, grabbed a condom and tore the packet open with his teeth. He smoothed it on and then turned his attention to Lindsay. God bless her, she’d hooked her thumbs around the tiny strings at her hips and was wriggling out of the last barrier that stood between them. She was as anxious as he was, and it only increased his urgency.

He joined her on the bed again and spread her knees wide before taking his place between them. She bit down on her lip and met his gaze, her blue eyes on fire with passion and challenge. The fire inside him suddenly blazed out of control. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted a woman this badly. Or the last time a woman had looked at him with that naked desire in her eyes.

The invitation was all he needed. He didn’t worry about finesse. Didn’t think about wooing or impressing. He only heard the heavy beat of his pounding need as he pushed inside her, felt her muscles tighten around him as her eyes slammed shut and a low, sexy growl tore from her throat.

He lost his mind completely then, all thoughts crowded out by the intoxicating pleasure of his hips grinding against hers. He loved her strength and how she pistoned her hips upward, meeting each stroke until she had to reach back and grip the bars of the headboard for stability. Sweat slicked both their bodies, and Matt put his hands on the bars next to hers for extra leverage.

God, he was so close, but he didn’t want to go yet. Not without her. The hoarse cries from her throat only urged him on and he pressed his face to her breast and latched on to her taut nipple as he fought to hold on a minute longer.

He didn’t need a whole minute. As he swirled his tongue around the pink tip she let go of the headboard and gripped his ass with strong fingers, pressing upward with surprising strength as she ground against him, coming apart with a long, low growl.

He lost the thin grip of his control and pounded mercilessly until everything tightened and exploded, stars exploding behind his eyelids. Release pulsed through him until he was finally aware of the sound of their harsh breathing, and a soft, sexy laugh that reached in and twisted his heart.

Shit. What had he just done?

Lindsay looked over at the red numbers on the alarm clock and blinked. It was just past five in the morning and by her count she’d had six hours sleep. The first two had come immediately following round one. And it had been quite like a boxing round—they’d pummelled each other, no holds barred, until both of them got their bell rung. Matt had pulled a blanket over them saying they should just catch their breath. Next thing she’d known it was ten o’clock and she woke up curled next to his warm, naked self.

They’d only eaten about half their dinner, so she’d pulled on one of his T-shirts and they’d gone to the kitchen and reheated the takeout. By the time they’d finished they were hungry for each other again, and they’d discovered the convenient height of his bar stools.

She’d decided she really should get going, so she went back to the bedroom to get her clothes. But then Matt had decided she needed a kiss goodbye, and before she knew it he was sneaking his hand beneath the T-shirt, turning her knees to jelly and they were in the bed again.

That was where it had changed.

Lindsay rolled over to her side and faced Matt, who was still sleeping. He was so beautiful. It seemed funny to think of a man in those terms but it was true. He made her feel strange things. Like right now. She was feeling wonderfully relaxed. A little embarrassed, because she’d never let herself go like that before. She’d been completely wanton and reckless, and what was worse, she’d
liked
it. No man had ever made her feel that all-consuming need. No man had ever made her lose control like that. She was always the one in charge. Until now.

And that worried her. Because the physical need had tempered by the third round and they’d slowed it down, taken their time, and it had been devastating. It hadn’t been just slaking some physical demand or getting it out of their system. It had been slow, thorough, and it had touched something inside her she never knew existed. That scared the hell out of her.

She tensed her muscles, wondering if she could possibly sneak out of the bed without waking him. She’d just gripped the soft sheet in her fingers when he sighed and opened his eyes, slowly, dreamily. In the grey darkness his irises looked black, but she could see they were focused directly on her. They were naked, in his bed, facing each other, looking in each other’s eyes. It was the most intimate moment she’d ever experienced.

“Sneaking out? Usually that’s my MO.”

Guilt snaked through her and she looked away from his steady gaze. “Doesn’t make sense for you to sneak away. This is your place.”

“True. Never pegged you for a runner, though. Actually, you were right. You’re full of surprises.” Under the blankets, he slipped his hand over her naked hip. “Good ones too.”

Her face heated.

“See now,” he murmured, “you can look so shy and innocent. And then there’s this other side of you that is just about the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Who
are
you, Lindsay Swan?”

It was too complicated to answer in the way he wanted. “Ah, see, if I tell you that this will get all too serious and I know that’s the last thing you want.”

He smiled a little. “I never thought I’d meet anyone as scared of the truth as I am, but here you are.” The smile slid off his face. “How about I tell you something and then you tell me something? Then it’s even-stevens.”

She didn’t like the sound of that game much. But he did offer to go first, and she couldn’t just run out of here now, could she? For one thing, she’d have to find her clothes and they were strewn all over his room and that meant she’d be walking around naked while he watched…

Which hadn’t bothered her a bit last night, but right now she was the slightest bit self-conscious about it.

“You go first.”

“My favorite color is red, my favorite food is pizza and I once broke my leg playing Cops and Robbers.”

She frowned. “Do kids even still play those sorts of games?”

He laughed. “I was twenty-five and it was my first break-and-enter call.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Ha, ha.”

“Your turn.”

“My favorite color is blue, my favorite food is grilled cheese—real cheese and real butter—and I’ve never broken any bones, playing or otherwise.”

“Was that so hard?”

She met his gaze. They were face to face on the pillows, each with one hand tucked beneath their cheeks. Matt’s other hand still rested possessively on her hip, warm and firm.

“What are we doing, Matt?”

“Do we have to label it?”

She shrugged. “You’re only here while Kendra’s out on mat leave. You’re not the kind of guy who goes looking for a relationship, either.”

“So we should keep it as mindless sex? Interesting.”

“Come on, neither one of us wants this to get too heavy. It’s just…fun, right?”

But then she remembered the look on his face as he slept, a puppy in his arms. How caring and helpful he’d been even though he hadn’t needed to stay. There was more to Matt than met the eye.

“My turn,” he said softly. He grazed his fingers over her hip in a rhythmic motion. “The first time I shot someone in the line of duty, I threw up.”

Her heart squeezed. He was getting personal after all. “Oh, Matt…” Then she looked at him closer. He’d said the first time. Meaning there had been others. No wonder he looked a little dark sometimes. She didn’t imagine that was something an officer did lightly.

He looked at her expectantly. She was next. She scrambled to think of something to share. Something personal without going into the mess that was the downward spiral of her family life. Something to do with work…

She bit down on her lip. “The first time I lost a patient, I cried in front of the owner.”

“And you don’t do that?”

“I try not to. I’m supposed to be gentle and supportive. I’m not supposed to need them to hand me tissues, you know?” She smiled ruefully. “What about you, Matt? Have you ever had to deliver that sort of news to a family?”

He slipped his fingers off of her hip and she could feel, rather than see, him stiffen beneath the sheets. Something dark and foreboding made the air heavy now. All because of one innocently asked question. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You don’t have to answer that.”

His face, which had been relaxed and smiling only a moment before, was now a clash of hard planes and painful angles. Clearly he had done something like that only much, much worse. She should have known. Should have imagined when he said he’d done undercover work and been on special task forces. Who knew what sort of things he’d seen and done?

“It’s okay.”

“I don’t mean to pry. I’m serious. Just forget I asked.” And yet even as the words came out of her mouth she couldn’t resist adding, “Does it have to do with why you were killing the heavy bag yesterday?”

He sighed. “Let’s just say that seeing that puppy mill…it brought back memories, that’s all. It was looking in their eyes that did it. They looked so beaten, Linds. Defeated and sad and accepting. Like they’d somehow deserved it…”

“Are we still talking about dogs?” she asked quietly, gently.

“Perhaps not.” He sighed. “Sometimes you get the bad guy. Sometimes it’s too late, though. And you have to live with that as well.”

She didn’t want to see any more of the dark underbelly. She had enough of her own to deal with. Lots that she’d rather forget. “Well…” She tried to inject a little lightness into her voice. “Let’s not dwell on the past, eh? I’m starving. You got anything in this place for breakfast?”

He seemed to accept her diversion as his body relaxed. “As a matter of fact, I do. Breakfast is the one meal of the day where I excel. How does blueberry pancakes sound?”

“Like heaven.”