Dangerous Grounds (13 page)

He ran a hand over her back and paused to massage the soft curves of her bottom. She had gone to bed in panties and a tank top again. It seemed to be a favorite of hers for bedtime attire. And he loved it.

Gabe pulled the panties down, so he could look at her. The firm globes of her bottom popped free and his palms slid to cover them. He kneaded them and moved his thumb up and down her crack.

“Mmm.” She stirred, and lifted her ass further into his hands. “You decided to join me.”

“Like I could resist.” He moved his fingers back down and probed the hot moistness between her thighs.

She moaned and wiggled against him, opening her thighs wider. He started to finger her until she grew hotter, wetter, and she squirmed on the bed.

“Gabe…you’re teasing me.”

“You like it.” He reached underneath her to squeeze her breast.

“Yes. But I like other things too.” She giggled and then groaned when he rubbed her clit.

He pulled her panties all the way off her body. “All right. Why don’t you get up on your hands and knees,
mi vida
.”

Maddie struggled to pull herself up, shrugging off her tank top at the same time. She moved onto her hands and knees as he’d requested.

“I like the sound of that.”

His gaze lowered to her sex, shiny with moisture.
So do I
. He grabbed a condom out of the bedside table and put it on.

He grasped her hips and probed the slit of her sex with the head of his cock. Taking a deep breath, he pushed inside her slow and steady. Her inner muscles tightened around him, her liquid warmth welcoming him.

“Oh God.” She pushed back against him, sending his cock deeper. “You feel so good.”

“I was going to say the same thing.” He pulled out and thrust back inside.

He reached in front of her to cup her breasts, which bounced with each thrust. She moaned as he plucked at her nipples, bringing them to their full length.

Gabe started pounding into her harder. Maddie’s cries turned to screams, and her body clenched around him. The sensation drew a ragged groan from him and sent him over the edge. He came hard, squeezing her hips and thrusting until he had fully spent himself.

Madison’s knees gave out and she fell forward with a sigh. Gabe pulled out of her and lay down beside her, kissing her shoulder and nuzzling her neck.

“God, you are sexy,
mi vida
.” He nipped at the nape of her neck, loving the saltiness of her damp skin. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“Don’t apologize,” she replied, drowsy again. “It was a helluva way to wake up.”

Gabe smiled, nuzzling her neck again before he closed his eyes. God, she was an incredible woman.

Madison opened her eyes the next morning and realized Gabe’s head was just an inch away from her.

She smiled and sat up. His arm slid off her back where it had been resting. He lay sleeping, but the dark circles under his eyes showed that he hadn’t been getting enough.

She climbed off the bed, hoping he would stay asleep. She watched his brows draw together in a slight scowl, but he didn’t stir.

Once out of the bedroom, Madison headed straight for the kitchen. It was time to repay Gabe in the cooking department. Biting her lip, Madison glanced into the somewhat stocked fridge. Someone must have been here not too long ago because there were eggs and milk that hadn’t yet expired.

She pulled the eggs from the fridge and began searching the kitchen for bread. When none could be found, Madison grabbed the box of pancake mix she’d seen earlier and opened the freezer. Aha. Chocolate chips. Gabe might not need a chocolate fix, but she sure did.

Especially when she was also being deprived of her morning latté. They were going to have to find an espresso stand sometime in the next couple days. One day, she could handle. Two days and someone would get hurt.

Ten minutes later she was in the midst of flipping a pancake when Gabe walked in. The stunned look on his face made it difficult not to smile.

“You’re making breakfast?”

“Yeah, the eggs are almost ready,” she replied and slid the pancake onto a plate beside her.

Gabe’s glance slid to the stove and he frowned. He must have been looking for the frying pan.

“Not there. There.” She jerked her head to the left just as the microwave dinged.

His eyebrows drew together and he opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head. Instead he walked over to the microwave and opened the door, pulling out the steaming bowl of scrambled eggs.

“What, you’ve never microwaved eggs before?” She took the bowl from him and dished out equal portions onto two plates, and divided the remaining pancakes between each plate.

“I can’t say that I have.”

He cleared his throat, and looked down at the plate, obviously hesitant to try it.

“You should. It’s so much quicker. Just be careful not to leave them in too long or they start exploding.” Just then there was a popping sound and the scrambled eggs shifted on his plate. “See, like that. Have a seat.”

Gabe sat, sliding his chair toward the table. He stared at the plate in front of him. Did people really microwave their eggs? Why, when they were so easy to make on the stove?

“Do you want syrup and butter?” She waved a hand. “Never mind, I’ll bring them out, because I do.”

She went to retrieve them and came back a moment later, setting the syrup, butter, and a bottle of ketchup on the table.

“Ketchup?” Gabe raised an eyebrow. What the heck did she need ketchup for?

Madison grabbed the bottle and flipped open the lid. “I like them on scrambled eggs.”

He watched as she squirted a glob in the middle of her microwaved eggs, holding back a shudder. He would never have picked her for a ketchup-on-eggs type of girl. Shaking his head, he decided to try the pancake. He wasn’t avoiding the eggs—he just wasn’t quite ready to try them yet.

The pancake couldn’t be bad. It looked like she’d even found some blueberries. He took the first bite and stopped chewing.

“Are these…chocolate-chip pancakes?” He forced himself to swallow the ultra-sweet concoction.

Madison glanced up from her task of drenching her pancake in syrup. “Yeah, do you mind? I guess I could have made some plain.”

“No, this is fine,” he heard himself say, and then it hit him. He was in way over his head.

He sat here eating microwaved eggs and chocolate chip pancakes, for God’s sake. He could have refused her breakfast in a polite way, come up with some excuse. Instead he shoveled it in and grinned like it was a five-star meal.

“You like it?” Madison responded to his smile, looking happy with herself. “You should let me try dinner sometime. I can do the most creative things with chicken.”

“I’ll bet you can.” He forced a bite of egg and immediately realized why she used ketchup. He moved his teeth back and forth over the rubbery eggs until they were chewed up enough to swallow. “But you’re treating this time here like your vacation, so I should do the cooking. You relax.”

“Yeah,” she waved a fork at him. “But I got you shot yesterday. It’s the least I can do.”

“Grazed, it’s just a graze.” He forced himself to keep eating. “Do you want to go for a walk on the beach after breakfast?”

Madison glanced up at him, her eyes shining like he’d just offered to take her to Paris.

“That sounds great. I need time to shower and put on makeup—”

“Skip it,” he interrupted. “You can take a long bath tonight. You’ll need it more later. Just throw on some jeans you don’t mind getting dirty and a T-shirt. Pull your hair back in a ponytail, and you don’t need makeup.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Bare-faced in the morning is okay…but as the day goes on, it’s not pretty.”

“Oh, please.” He stood, having managed to eat more than half of the breakfast, and took his plate to the sink. “You’re gorgeous and you know it. With or without the makeup.”

The room went dead silent, and he turned to see what he’d done wrong. She stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth parted in a smile of amazement. It was a look that broke all the rules, one that said the word rebound might once again just be a basketball term. The thought struck a strange note inside him and he turned back to the sink.

“Why don’t you go get ready when you’re finished eating and we’ll head out. Wear a bathing suit under your jeans if you brought one.”

“I did.” Her voice sounded different, as if she too were aware of the subtle change that had just occurred.

When she’d left to go change, he wondered why a conversation about makeup had altered things. But that was stupid. It had been about more than that. Nothing about their relationship had been casual since that first sexual encounter in the coffee shop. Add to that the fact that he’d saved her twice from being killed, and things got even more complex.

Gabe shook his head to clear his thoughts. Turning from the sink, he dried his hands on the kitchen towel and went to grab some things for the hike.

Madison shrugged into a wool zip-up hoodie and glanced at herself in the mirror.
No makeup
.

She tilted her head and looked at her profile. It wasn’t so bad. Maybe she could do this natural thing more often.
Or maybe that pretty flush in my cheeks is due to Gabe.

Madison smeared on sun block and applied lip balm. Technically they weren’t makeup, but still a necessity.

Gabe was waiting for her in the living room, looking mighty fine in his snug jeans, with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Mr. Hottie-Hiker himself.

“Ready?”

“Hmm, maybe you should define ready.” She smiled, raising an eyebrow as she walked past him to the door.

He gave a soft laugh and followed.

Madison stopped on the porch, realizing she had no idea where they were going. She turned, waiting for him to take the lead.

“All right, Maddie, I hope you’re ready to get dirty.” He stepped off the porch, striding toward the edge of the cliff.

She smiled and hurried after him.

“So where are we going to hike anyway?” It almost seemed as if he was going to go right over the edge, but then he veered away from the drop and began walking parallel to the edge.

“Down to the beach.”

After a few minutes she saw it—a trail that weaved down the side of the cliff.

“The trail is steep, so watch your step.” He turned back around to look at her. “I’ll go slow, just let me know if you need to stop.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him and watched as he jumped over the edge and down a foot onto the trail.

He turned and offered his hand to help her over the slight drop. She glanced down at it and then placed her hand in his. The now familiar tingle shot up her arm when they touched, but she forced herself to ignore it and instead concentrated on getting her footing.

She released his hand the moment she had her balance and gave him a wide smile. “Ready when you are.”

“Let’s do it.”

Madison hurried to catch up with his brisk stride. The first half of the trail wasn’t very steep, but wound down the cliff in a gradual horizontal decline.

They moved at a steady pace for a good half-hour and she barely broke a sweat. It was the last five minutes of the trail that were the real challenge.

Gabe stopped, looking back to check on her. “Okay, you probably guessed, but that was the easy part. We’re almost down, but this last bit gets tricky.”

Madison glanced at the hillside that seemed mostly sand and rock. A pretty serious incline. She worried her lip. How primitive. Why hadn’t someone built some stairs down to the beach?

“So how do you go about getting down?”

“Small steps,” he answered as he began the descent.

She watched him for a moment, seeing how he did it. His steps were small, but still quite fast. That whole
run so you don’t fall on your face
method.

If I try that I’ll end up on my face
. She took a deep breath and set out. Gabe reached the bottom before she’d even taken five tiny steps.

Her tennis shoes slid in the sand and she cursed, reaching out to grab a shrub on the side of the trail.

The sound of Gabe laughing rose up to meet her and she glared down at him.

“Glad that you’re getting some amusement out of me just about falling on my ass,” she yelled and took another couple steps.

“You’re doing fine, Maddie,” he called, looking apologetic. “Baby steps, just take baby steps.”

Just when she thought she had the hang of it, her shoe skidded in the sand again and this time she did land on her butt.

She sighed. Well at least she’d taken his advice and worn some old jeans. She started to try to stand back up, but then stopped.

“Screw it,” she muttered. “My jeans are already dirty. I’m doing this the easy way.”

She sat back down on her butt and slid the rest of the way down. Gabe helped her up once she’d reached the bottom, a huge smile on his face.

“You did great.”

“I came down on my ass.” She shrugged. “But it worked.”

Even though she had made it to the safety of the beach he didn’t release her hand. “Hey, as long as you made it down, who cares, right?”

“Right, that’s what I figure. Although I’m afraid of what my butt looks like right now.”

Gabe stepped around behind her, taking in the view for himself and gave a wolf whistle.

“You look pretty damn sexy,
mi vida
. But you have a little dirt here…”

Madison focused on the hand that smoothed over her denim-clad bottom, instead of the fact that he’d called her
mi vida
again. The hand was a pleasant distraction.

His fingers gave her ass a light squeeze as he leaned forward and kissed the back of her neck.

She moaned and leaned back into him. “Mmm, so the hike was just an excuse to have sex on the beach?”

“Yeah, get naked.”

Madison giggled, closing her eyes as his teeth closed over her earlobe. She squirmed as heat flooded through her. “Isn’t this a public beach?”

“Of course.”

“Would we be breaking the law?”

“I’m off duty, don’t ask.” He stepped back. “But let’s go for a walk first. The low tide doesn’t last for more than a couple of hours.”