Chapter 6 #2
The thudding of his heart and the heaving of his chest to gulp in air as if he’d been holding his breath for a day brought him back.
He was above her and looking into her eyes and she gazed back looking dreamy, her breath coming in gasps.
He became aware of her hands slowly caressing his back in a circular motion, leaving a trail of want and comfort where there had been a burden.
*****
The heat and weight of his body pressed on her as she struggled to breathe normally.
Sweat matted her hair in streaks across her face.
But she didn’t want to let the feeling of him inside her slip away, the feeling of completeness and well-being, the closest feeling she guessed she’d ever have to being in heaven.
He lay half on top of her, staring into her face, his eyes dark and glassy and more unreadable than ever if that were possible.
But if she could guess she’d say he felt powerful and that same sensation of approaching a heavenly state.
His sensual lips hovered near hers and salty perspiration dripped on her face.
The suffocating heat intensified the earthy scents of their lovemaking, making them more heady than she could resist.
Still, as her racing pulse slowed back to normal—or at least to a more content pace than before—and her blood turned to molasses causing her to sink into a sex-drugged serenity, the bright turquoise color of her dress caught her eye. Awareness sparked.
The dress hung on the door and she focused on it over Dane’s shoulder now.
“What?” he said.
He sounded untroubled, but a flash of panic gripped her. How long had they been? What time was it now? She shoved him aside so that she could see the clock on the dresser.
“Oh—that. Maybe we ought to—”
“Damn.” She pushed him away in earnest now, but in true Dane Blaise form, he took that as a challenge and put his full weight back on top of her, pinning her back down under him. She felt his renewed excitement and her damn body responded with dizzying desire.
“Do we really need to go now? How important is this case—this money—to you?” He whispered the words as he nuzzled her earlobe. She shuddered.
“It’s important. Damn you.” Her words might have had more impact if she hadn’t purred them and arched against him while she spoke. He gave a soft chuckle, disturbing the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck, sending another shiver through her.
“I know it’s important. But I don’t know why it’s so important, girlie. I never figured you for the mercenary type—”
“I’m not.” His words teased, but she felt the sting. “I need the money. You know I do.”
“No—”
“Don’t be a thickhead.” Now she pushed him off. His weight felt like a trap and his arms and every hard muscle felt constricting. “I’m tired of telling you. I have no money. I have no income except what we make in our business.”
“We make plenty of money—”
“When?”
“The last—well not the last case, but the one before that—”
“I—we need more than two income-producing cases a year to survive.” Then she corrected herself. “For me to survive.”
He rolled off of her then. “You know my answer to that. I have money to get us past any lean times.”
“And you know my answer to that.”
“Shit, Shana. We made a hell of a lot of money on that case. And whatever happened to all that money from—”
“Don’t start questioning me.” She scrambled off the bed. She didn’t want to explain. She had her reasons.
“You gave the money away didn’t you? To that damn home for single mothers. And you sent money home—”
“Stop it.” She scowled at him, but it was no use. She sighed. “Not all of it.” She stood naked staring at him as he lay on the bed. Naked. She hated that he knew. He stared back at her. She didn’t want to meet his eyes.
Scars streaked his golden skin. Taut muscle sculpted his body. The sight of him melted her insides. He didn’t appear to be twelve years her senior. But she knew he was. In his soul and his heart. She turned and got out of the stifling room. She needed to shower.
*****
There was no way to stay annoyed. Dane tried like hell.
But he was a professional and he had pride.
He understood hers even as it maddened him.
In the end, he stood behind her and zipped the short zipper up to her waistline in the back of her backless dress and fastened the delicate clasp of the thin gold chain holding the locket around her neck.
The fan blew her hair and it teased his face and nose as wisps brushed his skin.
The sensation that they were an ordinary couple going out for the night caught up with him as she turned to look up into his eyes. He read the wistful look there, the regret and the longing. Or maybe it was him feeling those things and wanting to see them in her eyes.
“Ready to go?” she said and turned away. She picked up her designer clutch from the dresser and he followed her from the room. He forced himself to remember she carried a gun in that clutch. Hardly the harmless accessory of an ordinary wife going out on the town with her husband.
The clench returned to his jaw and the muscles across his shoulder blades tightened. He and Shana were partners. And this was a job. And they were only playing house for a while. Maybe not much longer.
“I was born ready,” he said. His voice sounded light and cool and she laughed and kept walking.