The Right To Remain Mine (8 page)

        He had to be the dumbest man alive.

~ * ~

        What a total jackass!

        Willow's hands shook as she tugged on her clothes in the hallway, barely out of sight of Malloy. Horrified, embarrassed, completely aghast, yet still too horny to function properly, she couldn't believe she'd just about had sex with him, couldn't believe the way her body still blushed and tingled from his touch.

        She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her prickling arms, trying to forget the feel of him stroking her. Closing her eyes, she swallowed a little moan of distress. But ohmigod. She'd almost had sex with Malloy. Not only did she not like him, but she barely knew him. Hell, she hadn't even learned his first name until tonight.

        Willow had rules about this stuff. She loved to date men. She loved to kiss men. She loved to flirt with and totally entice men. But she typically didn't go too far with a guy. They had to meet certain criteria first, take her on a specified number of dates. And only a select few had progressed that far. Never did she have spontaneous sex... except for that first awful time when she was sixteen. But since then, she knew days beforehand whether she was going to let a man get into her panties.

        Not so with Deputy Raith Malloy. He merely strolled into her life and broke all her rules, rules she had in place for a very specific reason. Why, if she just let any guy screw her, then it could be a Garrett Evans all over again. She already felt like the dumb sixteen-year-old idiot she'd been in high school, walking down the school hall the next day to overhear Garrett bragging about how he'd deflowered Willow DeVane.

        Oh, yeah, she could already picture Malloy gossiping to his cop buddies. He had the lawyer lady naked and begging for it. The image made her skin chill. Oh God, how he was going to humiliate her. At least, this time, she didn't think herself in love with him as she had foolishly believed of Garrett, though a part of her had strangely respected him, until now.

        Damn it. How dare he? How dare he break her rules? She had worked hard to remain cool and removed. She didn't deserve to have him tear her down. Fists clenching, she bunched her jaw and decided enough was enough. Malloy wasn't going to get away with this. He'd somehow tricked her into wanting him, into actually acting on it. But she wasn't going to let him think he was the victor by any means.

        Ready to rip him a new one, she marched back into her living room only to jerk to a startled stop when she found him still lying on the floor where she'd left him. He'd had the presence of mind to lift his hips and yank his pants back up, but he hadn't zipped yet. Nor had he put his shirt on. He looked yummy, spread out on her carpet like some kind of sacrifice to the sex gods.

        The look on his face caught her off guard, however. With his eyes closed and his teeth clenched in agony, he bumped his fists against his forehead, muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid," to himself.

        And just like that, she melted. Sucking in a silent breath, she wondered what this must've been like for him. Maybe he wasn't quite like she suspected. Maybe his whole plan hadn't been about conquering and then bragging about his victory. Maybe he'd merely been as swept away as she'd been, swirled into some kind of physical whirlwind that killed all reasoning and left him emotionally confused and stripped bare.

        "You are so stupid, Malloy," he berated himself. "You had the most amazing woman in your arms…"

        "Well, I'll agree with that," Willow murmured, her chest tightening with pleasure. Did he really think her amazing?

        Leaning against the doorway, she gazed at the sexy man with whom she felt a sudden rare connection. He jerked at the sound of her voice and opened his eyes, immediately sitting up. His mouth opened as if to deny his own words.

        She spoke over him before he could say something to tick her off, which he most likely would. "Tell me something, Deputy." Taking a leap unlike any she'd ever jumped before, she flashed him a soft, amused smile. "If I give you another chance, are you just going to screw that up too?"

        "What?" Expression filling with alarm, hope, and wary doubt, he started to push off the floor to scramble to his feet, his eyes searching hers frantically for some inkling whether she was lying or not.

        But Willow set her bare foot on his denim-clad leg to keep him from standing. "No. Stay down and answer the question. Do I bother to give you a second chance or not? Yes or no?"

        He plopped back onto his butt and gulped as he swallowed. "Are you serious?"

        The hoarse, uncertain tenor in his voice was all she needed to hear. "As a heart attack," she murmured, kneeling in front of him and smiling in amusement when his eyes went wide.

        "Jesus," he rasped as she grabbed his jeans at his feet and tugged them down his legs.

        "You better have that condom on by the time I get these all the way off," she warned in a silken voice. "Or else."

        Quickly, he searched the floor around him and snatched up the condom so quick, she had to swallow back a laugh. She slowed her progress of slipping off his jeans to give him time. But he paused after grasping the package in both hands. Glancing her way, his blue eyes bored into hers.

        Surprising the heck out of her, he lifted the tiny item and quietly said, "You put it on."

        The pleasure that spiked through her was most gratifying. Raith Malloy obviously had some serious trust issues with women and protected sex. The fact he was going to allow her to touch his condom was humbling. But even more so was the fact he'd lowered his pride for her. The man was such a smug, arrogant guy, she never would've dreamed he would let her have her way.

        "Malloy—" she started, not reaching for the package.

        It was enough that he was willing to let her touch his condom. She only thought to give him his pride back. But he took her hand and wrapped her fingers around the prophylactic.

        "Don't let me mess this up."

        Raith knew he'd done the right thing when DeVane's eyes glittered with pleasure. Though he never believed she would actually tamper with his condom, he watched her carefully as she rolled it over him, because her hand on him looked too erotic to ignore.

        He sucked in a breath. God, he couldn't believe this was going to happen after all. By all rights, DeVane should've kicked him out and locked the door. Instead, she hovered above him and straddled his thighs. When she began to lower herself onto him, he had to close his eyes as not to go off too early.

        She hesitated.

        He stopped breathing and opened his lashes.

        "Are we really going to do this?" She bit her lip, looking uncertain.

        "Don't you dare think about stopping now." He couldn't take one more rejection from her today.

        He drilled his stare into her, mentally begging her to accept him without looking like a loser beggar. She must've seen exactly what kind of insecure desperation ate at him because her lips parted with understanding. Awareness jolted through him.

        Nothing had ever felt this personal before. Not even five years of marriage to Deb had pushed the boundary of his inner privacy like this. But he sensed Willow DeVane saw something in him no other woman had witnessed before. It was intimidating. And he wasn't sure he liked it. Wanting to block it, he tried to figure out how she was getting through in the first place.

        Maybe their intense eye contact enflamed the sensation. He couldn't recall looking up in Debra's eyes like this as she used to hover above him, prepared to unite them. He couldn't recall looking into any woman's eyes during sex before. Or, maybe it was the fact that neither of them were speaking. The silence was making him assume words that weren't there.

        Jesus, what was it about this specific woman?

        And then he stopped wondering as she slipped down and around him, making them one.

        His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Goddamn, she was tight. With her reputation, he would've thought would be more—

        Oh, holy mother, that felt good.

        Knowing he was forever changed, he groaned and pushed up into her only to gasp as her snug core gripped him even deeper. He bowed his hips up, desperate. Needing. He almost bucked her off with his urgency.

        She reached down to steady herself by slapping her hands over his pecs.

        "Your heart's beating so fast."

        He grabbed her wrist to remove her hand from the revealing area, but she ground down around him and instead of removing her fingers, he tightened his grip and held her closer. Unable to take any more, he wrapped his other arm around her hips and went a little crazy.

        Willow cried out. She leaned over him and curled her fingers into his chest hair, holding on for dear life as she looked down at him with a dazed expression. It was more than he could handle. He let go of her wrist and buried his hand in her hair to bring her close for a kiss.

        Her tongue tasted so good he shut his eyes and tried to block out the pleasure so he could last longer. But in the next moment, she bit down on his lip and her body shuddered. Groaning, he followed her into ecstasy.

        When coherent thought returned, Raith grunted out an oomph of air as DeVane collapsed on top of him, her auburn hair fluttering over his face. Trying to get his breath back, he blew a few locks out of his mouth, but more strands squirmed up his nose and made him sneeze. He pushed the mass out of his way.

        She turned, smiling pleasantly. "Hmm?" When she realized she'd been killing him with her hair, she chuckled. "Sorry." After she scooped it up and tossed it to the other side of her head, it floated down over his arm.

        Raith stared up at her living room ceiling and smoothed a hand down her hot, sexy, naked back. She remained sprawled on top of him, limp and exhausted.

        When foreign emotions filled him, he stopped touching her, realizing his hand had begun to shake. What the hell? He felt like saying something nice to her, like she was the best he'd ever had. And he didn't think it had anything to do with her sexy body—though, okay, she was probably the bestlooking woman he'd ever been with—but it had more to do with her: Willow DeVane. She made everything more thrilling.

        Forcing himself to keep quiet about all that, he cleared his throat and instead blurted, "Where's the nearest filling station?"

        Willow lifted her face from his shoulder. "Three blocks east and one block north of here. Why?"

        "Need more condoms," he answered before he realized what he'd just said. Assuming he'd get another round with her—and tonight, at that— probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done. But when he looked up at her warily, she merely smiled.

        "Good idea." She crawled off him and sat up.

        Raith winced as he sat up as well and then nearly laughed when he realized he had carpet burn on his butt.

        "You get more condoms," DeVane instructed as she examined the red abrasions on her knees. "And I'll clean the kitchen. Then we can meet in the bedroom in fifteen minutes."

        Thinking this was a fine idea, Raith reached for his pants. By the time he had his clothes on and his wallet back in order, stuffing it into his hip pocket, she had dressed as well.

        He wasn't sure why he did it, but a spur of the moment reflex had him leaning toward her and placing a closed-mouthed but lengthy kiss to her mouth. "See you in fifteen," he murmured against her lips, feeling a spark of accomplishment when her eyes filled with a dreamy glaze.

        "Yeah," she murmured, frowning slightly as she reached up unconsciously to touch her lips. "See you in... oh, wait. My car's blocking yours in the drive." He expected her to move her BMW to let him out, but she surprised the heck out of him when she shrugged and handed him her keys. "Just take mine."

        He stared at her car keys a moment, feeling a sudden bout of nerves. Okay, it was one thing to have an intense physical moment with a woman and start feeling things that borderlined true feelings, but this driving of each other's automobiles? That was downright domestic. Before he knew it, they would start themselves a real relationship.

        The most terrifying part of that thought, though, was how it made his blood churn with excitement. Curling his fingers around her keys, he headed out the door before she could change her mind and take them back.

        He returned to her place in eight minutes and forty-five seconds, parking her BMW on the curb so he could get out later without disturbing her. He went inside through the back door that led straight to the kitchen, hoping to find her there. But DeVane had already finished cleaning.

        Wandering idly through the house, he finally found her in her bedroom. He paused in the doorway and watched from the hall as she bent over her bed to straighten the sheets. It made him grin, realizing she didn't make her bed every day either. But the sight also rustled up a daydream of her in that messy bed first thing in the morning, her skin dewy from sleep and her body warm and malleable.

        He went instantly hard and took advantage of her upraised backside, coming into the room to grasp her hips and pull her bottom against his lap. "Why are you even bothering?" he asked, grinning at her sound of pleasure and surprise. "We're just going to mess them up again."

        DeVane moaned and stopped fiddling with the sheets. "Malloy, you—"

        She sounded hesitant, as though maybe she'd changed her mind

about giving him a second round.

        Not ready to be kicked out just yet, Raith reached around to stroke her through her thin shorts. "Correct," he murmured in her ear. "How'd you guess it was me?"