Cheyenne McCray - Point Blank (Lawmen Book 4) (15 page)

He wasn’t sure she was using it as a ploy to get him to move his boot, but he did as she asked and she closed the door softly. He heard the scrape of the lock sliding free and then the loose jingle of the chain. The door opened and she looked out at the hallway from one direction to the other. She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

She carefully shut the door behind her them turned on him. “What the hell are you doing here? You said I have a tail. What if whoever is following me, if that’s true, saw you?”

“I’m a Federal agent.” Brooks studied her. “It’s my job to get into places without being noticed if I need to.”

She folded her arms across her chest. She looked wild and beautiful even as tears dried on her face. She wore the same blouse she’d had on earlier, but he thought he saw a streak of red, like blood. Her skirt still flowed around her legs, but the material appeared wrinkled. Her feet were bare and she was digging her toes into the carpet like she was digging her nails into her palms.

He wanted to gather her in his arms and never let anything bad happen to her again. Because whatever had happened, it must have been bad.

“Why are you here?” The words were filled with anger and pain, as was her expression. “I didn’t invite you.”

“You’re in some kind of trouble.” He watched a flicker in her eyes. “Tell me what it is and I can help.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She tightened her hold on herself. “I’m fine and I’m not in any kind of trouble.”

He reached for her, not wanting to scare her away. She didn’t flinch as he touched her face and slowly stroked his thumb over her cheek. “You can trust me, Natasha. Know that you can
always
trust me.”

She turned away, breaking the contact and tearing her gaze from his. With her back to him, her voice trembled. “You have to leave.”

“I can’t do that.” His gut ached from seeing the pain she was in. “I won’t leave you alone like this.”

She made a sound like her breath had caught in her throat. He wanted to fix this. Whatever was bothering her, whatever trouble she might be in, he had to make everything right again.

For the first time since his teenage years, he was unsure of himself and how to handle this woman and whatever it was she was going through.

A kind of desperation rose up inside him, so powerful it rocked him to his soul. Goddamnit, but he needed to help her. Needed to make her feel safe.

Even if he wanted to try, he couldn’t stop himself. He walked up behind her, slid his arms around her waist, and brought her back against his chest. He rested his chin on top of her head and breathed in her scent of apples and sunshine.

“Maybe we don’t know each other well, but I’ve grown to care for you in the short time.” Her hair felt so soft beneath his chin. “You’re important to my close friends, and you’ve become important to me.”

With those words, she turned in his arms. She braced her hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but he was too strong for her. “You need to leave.” He saw her throat work as she swallowed. “It’s very important that you go. Now.”

“Tell me why.” He moved his hands to her upper arms. “Why are you so upset? Why do I get the impression that you’re terrified of something or someone?”

He couldn’t tell her his suspicions, because that could lead to questions he couldn’t answer now. Later, when she was cleared.

“I can’t.” The words came out in a whisper. “You’re endangering everyone I love by being here. Just go.”

His entire body went rigid even though he’d already suspected as much. “You’re being threatened. Why?”

For a moment she appeared to be grasping for strength, trying to hold onto her composure. In the next moment, she looked away, her eyes glittering with more tears.

“Natasha,” he said softly.

A sob tore from her and she buried her face in her hands. Her entire body shook as she cried with deep, heart-wrenching sounds.

“Oh, honey.” He drew her into his arms, holding her close. “You need to get it out.”

She shook her head, her face sliding across his overshirt. “Hold me.” The word came out on another sob. “Please, just hold me.”

Brooks held her close, whispering soft words as his arms enveloped her. “It’s going to be all right,” he murmured, but she only cried harder.

It was clear she was in a hard place, and she felt she had nowhere to turn, and no one to talk to.

If she wouldn’t share now, maybe he could get her to later. Maybe she needed time to trust him. For a long time he held her, feeling the softness of her body pressed to his, breathing in her scent so that it filled his entire being. The thud of her heartbeat matched his and it was as if he could feel the rush of blood race through her.

Her body trembled even as he held her. He nuzzled the top of her head “Everything will be all right, sweet Natasha.”

“If only I could believe that.” Her voice cracked.

He slid his knuckles over her cheek. “Know that there’s nothing we can’t face together and triumph against.”

His own words caused him pause. Where had that come from? He was talking as if they were together, a unit. As if he would be at her side, every step of the way, beyond that of being a Federal agent determined now to protect her.

Maybe it was his weakness for vulnerable women that made him to feel so protective over Natasha. The strength of his belief that she was innocent floored him. Was it his weakness for women in distress that caused him to come to that belief?

Despite the turmoil churning inside him, he relaxed as he felt tension drain from her body. She clung to him, appearing almost limp from exhaustion and turbulence that had clearly been raging through her.

When had she begun to face alone whatever it was that had happened? “How long?” he said softly. “How long had this been going on?”

“I can’t talk about it.” She clung to him. “Just stop.”

He had no doubt it had happened sometime before he went to the tradeshow to pick her up. She’d changed from a vibrant joyous woman, to one filled with fear.

Anger rose within him and he wanted to lash out beat the shit out of whoever had terrified her and threatened her. It had to have something to do with Mark Okle. Brooks wanted to kill the bastard.

Her eyes were glossy with the tears she held in when tilted her head back. He hid his anger as their gazes met. He brushed loose strands of hair from her face and into the wind-tangled mass tumbling around her shoulders. “We won’t talk about it…for now.”

She buried her face against his overshirt again. “You smell good.”

“Not half as good as you.” He pushed his hand into her hair and his fingers caught in the tangles. He cupped her head and held her to him.

She looked up at him, the back of her head still in his palm. Her eyes were wide and searching. She appeared confused yet certain, a combination he didn’t understand.

Every thought fled as her inner glow, the person she was despite whatever had happened, shone like a beacon to his heart.

“Kiss me.” A light burned in her eyes like a kindling fire. Flames of desire, need, and longing grew with every passing moment. “Please, Brooks.”

He couldn’t refuse her. He lowered his head, gently brushing his lips over hers. She sighed into his mouth and raised herself on her toes as she pressed herself tighter against him and slipped her tongue into his mouth. She slid it out and lightly bit his lower lip.

A groan rose inside him. The fire he’d seen in her eyes turned into flames within his own body. The heat expanded as their kiss grew more intense and they demanded more and more of each other.

The way her hands roamed his body—it was like she couldn’t touch him enough. She pressed her lithe body to his, stealing and lending warmth at the same time.

“You feel so good.” She let out a sigh. “I feel safe with you. I could stay like this forever.” She snuggled even closer so that her body was flush with his.

Need rose inside him. He couldn’t hide his desire as his cock hardened and pressed into her. His breathing grew more ragged. He couldn’t think clearly. All that would come to mind was burying himself deep inside her, the two of them intertwining in every way possible.

She parted her lips from his. “I love how hard your body is.” Her hands didn’t stop moving. She caressed his chest and slid her palms over his clothed body.

“You’re so damned soft.” He cupped her ass and pressed her tightly to him. “You’re so beautiful inside and out. Every inch of you is perfect.”

“You need to take your shirts off. I want to touch your skin,” she said a moment before her fingertips brushed his holster. She went still and looked up at him. “I keep forgetting who you are.”

“Being an agent isn’t who I am.” He slid his arms out of his overshirt and tossed it aside. “It’s what I do.”

She traced her fingers along his shoulder holster strap. For a fraction of a moment, he wondered if she was using him and if she would go for his gun and pull it on him. He dismissed the thought at once. That wasn’t Natasha.

He unfastened the holster and removed it before he laid it on a nightstand beside the bed and moved his hand away.

When did he decide he was going to go to bed with her?

Christ.
It was a bad idea. A very bad idea.

Especially since he hadn’t told her why he was really there. He couldn’t take another step without telling her everything, and now was not the time.

He started to reach for his holster to put it back on. He would tell Natasha that spending the night together would be a mistake they both might regret.

Before he could complete the movement, she pulled her blouse over her head and dropped it to the floor. He went still. She wore a delicate lacy bra, sheer enough that he could see her large nipples through the fabric.

She unfastened the undergarment and dropped it on top of the blouse. “Don’t—” He forgot whatever protest he’d been about to make as his sense of reason took a hike.

Her breasts were gorgeous. Perfect. Full with rose-pink nipples and large areolas. He found himself mesmerized, unable to take his gaze from them until she took a step toward him.

She grasped his T-shirt and pulled it from where it was tucked into his jeans. He helped her tug his T-shirt over his head and he flung it in the same direction his overshirt had gone.

He drew her into his arms. Her naked breasts brushed his bare chest, her nipples hard nubs against his skin.

She paused a moment and softly touched the scar from the bullet he’d taken when he, Trace, and other agents had been protecting Christie.

Her gaze met his. “Is this where you were shot?”

He had a hard time forming words with her nipples rubbing his chest and he gave a single nod.

She pressed her lips against the scar, a light butterfly kiss. She looked up and met his gaze.

He brought his mouth down hard on hers.

The passion she responded with was so urgent, so intense that it nearly made him crazy. When she pulled away and took a step back, their breathing was hard and ragged. Her movements were frantic as if she couldn’t get the rest of her clothes off fast enough.

She pushed her skirt over her hips and it slipped to the floor in a colorful pile. He liked how she wore so many colors that aligned with the woman she was.

His heart caught in his throat when she shimmied out of her panties. She was so damned gorgeous. Her perfect skin, her wild mass of dark hair flowing over her shoulders, her slender form and generous breasts made him want to drop to his knees.

“You are a goddess,” he whispered. He would serve her in any way she wanted him.

She smiled for the first time that night and took a step forward. “You are just as much of a god. In every way.”

Her scent of apples mixed with her heated musk as she reached him. She slid her palms down his abs to his belt buckle. He could tell her hands were shaking, but he wasn’t sure why. Was it desire or the fear she’d felt earlier?

He removed his belt and all he carried with him for the job. When he’d set it aside, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him back as she moved forward, never taking her hands from his skin.

For a moment his mind was too crowded with her and the desire he felt that he didn’t know what she was doing until the backs of his knees hit the mattress. He went with her clear demand and sat hard, the bed bouncing beneath his weight.

The naked goddess knelt in front of him and tugged off one of his western boots before reaching for the other and working it off before she got rid of it, too. Each boot thumped on the floor when she threw them over her shoulder.

“Such big feet.” She peeled off his socks and dropped them to the side. “Let me see your hands.” She grabbed both his hands. “They’re big, too. So, is what they say true?”

At that moment, he had no idea what she was talking about. He could hardly think as he looked at her perfect form.

She gripped his hands and pulled. “Get up, cowboy.”

He pushed himself to his feet, as she demanded it. She reached for the button of his jeans and pushed it through before tugging down the zipper.

He caught her face in his hands. “I’ve never wanted to be with a woman so much in my life.”

Every girlfriend he’d ever had paled in comparison to Natasha. Hell, he couldn’t have remembered any of their names at this moment if he’d tried. She was beautiful, sensual, and he wanted to fill her in every way possible at the same time she filled him with the essence of her soul. He wanted to give as much as she gave.

“Why?” She looked genuinely curious even with need burning in her eyes.

He could barely get the words out. “Because of who you are. What you stand for. I want to be with
you
.”

In all his life he never felt like this. As if he was a part of this woman. As if their hearts and souls were connected.

My woman.

“I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you, Brooks.” The truth was clear in her eyes. “Never.”

His pants landed around his ankles when she pushed them down his thighs, leaving him in his boxer briefs. His cock was a hard ridge that pressed against the stretchy material. He would gladly have shoved them down on his own, but it was clear Natasha wanted control, as if she
needed
control. She grasped the waistband of his boxer briefs and tugged. His cock jutted out, the shaft harder than he could ever remember it being in his life.