Nobody's Hero (17 page)

“Riley. I want….”

“Shhh.” His lips clasped her ear softly as his free hand slid to the button on her jeans. She inhaled sharply as he flicked it open. And then ever so slowly, he slid the zipper down. Inch by inch, but never touching.

Whimpering again, she looked in the mirror, saw her mouth open, her cheeks red, her lips full.
 

“Riley.”

When he met her eyes, he whispered against her ear. “Tell me what you want, Callah.”

She wanted him to release her hands, to bury himself in her, to let her break apart in his arms.

“I want you.”

“You’ve got me. Tell me what you want me to do.”

Pressing against his hand, she told him. “I want you inside me.”

He laughed softly again. Tormenting her. And then his finger slid under the side of her panties, found her hot wetness and pressed against the pulse thrumming there.

“Like this?” He whispered the words against her ear, and she felt them clear to her center.

“Yes.”

She tried to free her hands, but he held them tighter. “Don’t fight this, Callah. Let it happen. Watch it happen.”

“I want….”

“Watch, Callah. Watch.”
 

He set the tempo with his finger, soft but fast, slicking the edge of her sex, brushing the hard nub that threatened to be her undoing in perfect time to the pulse deep inside her.

As he spoke, as his fingers played along her body, she couldn’t take her eyes from the mirror. “Riley.” She said his name again and again, and then, finally, she found her release. Hot, fast, intense.

She collapsed against his chest, closed her eyes as he finally let her wrists go.

For a moment, she didn’t think she could move. Didn’t think she could open her eyes. Not yet. Not and see him there behind her.

She started to turn into his chest, away from the mirror, but he stopped her with his gentle hands on her shoulders. “Look at us, Callah. Look at you.”

The temptation in his voice called to her and she did as he asked and there they were. Still standing half dressed, and her completely spent. The woman staring back at her was a stranger. An uninhibited, desirable, sexual creature who went after what she wanted. Something in her heart broke free at the sight. He couldn’t know. Couldn’t begin to understand the gift he’d given her.
 

When his eyes met hers, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and pulled her to him, cupped her hand against his hardened arousal.
 

“You’re driving me completely insane. When I’m with you, I want you. Completely. Like this. It doesn’t matter where we are. What we’re doing. This is what I’m thinking about.”

As he spoke the words, Callah laughed, determined to show him he wasn’t the only one.
 

Riley watched the hooded sexual awareness come back over Callah’s eyes as her palm pressed his hardness, and he sucked in his breath.

How could this woman have ever believed she wasn’t sexy as hell? He turned her in his arms and smiled when she pulled his mouth to hers.
 

The kiss was hot and deep and carnal. He feasted on her lips, let her feast on his, even though what he wanted was to sink deep inside her. Now. But this exploration was important for her. He knew that. If they were going to do this again, they’d do it right.

“We didn’t even undress.” She laughed against his mouth, and he smiled.
 

“We didn’t need to.”

She pulled away from him, grabbed his hands and led him to her bed.

A few seconds later they were naked, sprawled on her comforter, and he was bringing her to climax again, this time with his mouth. When she screamed his name, he thought maybe it was enough to heal the place inside him that wanted her ferociously all the while believing he’d never be good enough. Never be the one.

He hadn’t truly realized that thought still controlled him where she was concerned. Even though he’d spent the better part of the last day and half calling her princess, seeing her as that girl she’d been with the eyes of the boy he’d been, he hadn’t realized how deep those old feelings still ran. Not until the diner when she’d called him her make-believe hero.

She stilled beneath him for a few moments and he brought her to climax yet again, this time moving her almost to tears as she whispered his name, begged him to enter her, to finish what they’d started.

And even as she begged, he held back, determined to make this a moment she’d never forget. Determined in some way to mark her forever. So that when this holy hell of hers worked itself out, she’d still look back on this night and remember. And maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to go back to his life of one day at a time, just getting by.

She stilled beneath him again. Her breath slowly returned to normal, and she ran her fingers through his hair as he kissed her stomach, her side.

Testing, he ran his fingers along the cleft between her legs and still, she gasped as her stomach muscles quivered and her legs fell open to give him more room.
 

He slipped on a condom as he kissed her, and as he did, he felt her relax, ready for the moment they’d been building toward all night.

“Riley?” The question was tentative, unsure. Even after a day spent making love, she didn’t trust him.

He pushed the thought away and kissed her neck, her breasts, her belly.

Then he turned her, knelt behind her and finally, finally thrust inside, slow at first, but he couldn’t continue the slow pace. Not with her begging him to go faster, deeper, please.

She threw her head back as he led her toward climax, and still he continued.
 

Finally, with a growl he found his release. She collapsed under him seconds later, and he knew she’d found hers once again.

And then she slept. He wasn’t sure he would ever sleep again.

When Callah woke she found Riley’s fathomless blue eyes watching her, and she smiled. This man had awoken a part of her she’d never known existed. So why was he frowning?

She drew a lazy circle on his upper arm. “You okay?”

“Umm.”
 

One word answer. Not even a real word.

He kissed her shoulder then her neck, and she knew he was trying to distract her. To keep her from asking him what was wrong.

For a moment she considered letting him get away with the stealth move. After all, he didn’t owe her explanations. They’d shared an incredible day of lovemaking. He’d helped her forget the mess of her life. But he didn’t know how he’d changed her.

Her breath shuddered as he drew a lazy circle along her back, over her stomach, lower. “What’s wrong, Riley?” Her voice shook with desire as she asked the question.

He kissed her instead of answering. Deep, soulful.

Pulling back from him, she waited until he met her eyes and asked again. “What’s going on, Riley?”

“Don’t talk, Callah. Feel.”

She couldn’t fight him. That was her last thought as she went under yet again.
 

The next morning, Callah lay on the bed listening to Riley’s easy, deep breaths.

Whatever’d been bothering him had obviously ceased to be a problem.

She hugged herself, amazed that she could feel so completely alive after a night spent in arousal. How could she be so happy when everything outside of this house was so crazy?

Shivered, she rubbed her hands down her arms and decided it was time to face the real world once again. She’d had her break, courtesy of Riley Sorenson. But they couldn’t live in bed. She needed to think more about Logan Douglass, her father and whatever else might be going on. And surely Riley needed to go to work.

Quietly as possible, she slid out of bed, got dressed and kissed Riley softly. He opened his eyes and his seductive smile slid back in place.

“Hey.”

She smiled back. “Hey yourself. You better get up.”

“Why? You got a hot date?”

God, barely awake and his voice was even sexier than normal. She laughed. “I think I’m all hot dated out. But I believe the newspaper might be expecting their ace reporter to show up today.”

He covered his eyes with his arm. “The job can wait. At least that job can. Come on back to bed and let me show you some of my other talents.”

As much as she wanted to, she shook her head and walked to her dresser. “Get dressed, stud muffin.”

When she turned to her mirror, he groaned and she watched him pull his clothes on while she put her hair up in a ponytail.

Once he’d buttoned his jeans, he moved behind her, kissed her neck and she closed her eyes, let her hands fall. The perfect domesticity of the moment threatened to undo her.

He took the brush from her, pushed her down onto the seat. “I like the mirror on the door better.”

As she remembered her eyes heated, and she leaned her head against his warm, taut stomach muscles. “Me too.”

He laughed and wrapped the band around her hair. Once. Twice. Perfect.

“You’re pretty good at that.”

“I’m pretty good at a lot of things.”

She laughed. “Yeah. You spent all yesterday showing me.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Be good and maybe I’ll show you later.”

Callah smiled, but she wanted to frown. No way could they escape reality today. As much as she wanted it to continue, their fantasy time was over. And really, that was better because this morning-after Riley was far too tempting.

“Bad idea.” Riley watched Callah slap the bread onto his sandwich and wondered how they’d gone from hot and sexy to aggravated so quickly.

“You’re going to work. I’m going to make some calls, see if I can figure out what’s going on with my dad. Besides Jen will be here soon.”

“I’m not leaving you. It’s not safe.”

Callah put the sandwich in front of him and pointed toward the front of the house. “I have two FBI agents stationed outside my door and some crazy man named Douglass watching me constantly. I think I’ve got the safety issue covered. Besides, as we’ve already discussed, what are you going to do, Riley, stab the killer who comes in with a pencil? Knock him upside the head with a reporter’s notebook?”

Riley frowned. She had a point, but he couldn’t help it. The package had been delivered to him. He felt responsible. And he didn’t trust Agent Vince McBride. Not at all.

“I figure I might be a little more help than a pencil and reporter’s notebook.”

“And I figure I don’t need the help. Or rather, I do. In the form of more information. Go call your brother. Find out what else you can.”

Again, she was right. He had to get over this…he wasn’t sure what it was. An intense desire to keep her near him. They needed to move on with their lives as much as they possibly could.

“Oh, I get it.” He hoped the words sounded light.

She narrowed her eyes. “You get what?”

“You had your way with me and now you’re trying to get rid of me. I would’ve never pegged you as that kind of girl, Callah Crenshaw.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

Time to lighten this mood. “But you still like me.”

“I like you fine.”

“Because of my charm and good looks.”

“Yeah, there’s that.”

He laughed. Surprised once again that with her he was truly happy. “And maybe a few of my other talents.”

“A few.” She turned the conversation away from the playful banter. “It’s so weird.”

He bit into his sandwich. “What’s that?”

“How forty-eight hours ago I was avoiding your calls, wishing you’d just leave me alone with my chocolate and bills I couldn’t pay. Fate is so strange.”

“Fate nothing.”

“You don’t believe in fate?”

“It wasn’t fate that dropped that package in the mail to me. It wasn’t fate that sent Agent Vince McBride to Burkette or your father to jail or even scary Logan Douglass out to meet us.”

She could tell she wasn’t changing his mind. That was fine. “So you think it’s all what? Science?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Human nature definitely plays a part of it. But it’s more than that. Someone’s controlling this situation.”

Okay, she could concede that point. “True.”

“And even though the stakes are higher, this isn’t all that different from what I deal with on a daily basis.”

“I thought your last big story was the library and missing five hundred dollars.”

For the longest time he didn’t say a word. If she didn’t know better, she’d think that bit of truth hurt his feelings. But then he answered and she knew he was fine.
 

“Well, that’s true. But I’m not talking about big cases. I’m talking about every single day. People who talk to the press have agendas. It’s my job to figure out what those agendas are and sift through them until I get the real information, the stuff the public needs to know.”

“So someone with an agenda sent that package to you.”