When his body started tingling, an indication that he was perilously close to losing control, he shoved a hand in her hair again and stilled her eager movements.
Rebecca lifted her head and gave him a questioning look. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. But it’s my turn.”
“What are you—”
He flipped her over before she could finish, bringing a startled squeak to her lips. He swallowed that adorable sound with his kiss, then pulled back and met her pleasure-hazy eyes.
“Mind if I do a little seducing of my own?” he murmured.
“Not at all,” she said breathlessly.
“Good, because I’ve been dying to have my way with you since the moment we met.”
And he proceeded to do just that. He kissed every inch of her hot, silky flesh. Nuzzled her neck, sucked on her ear. Her soft whimpers and husky moans told him exactly what she liked and he paid attention to the signs her body gave him—the way her nipples went impossibly harder when he flicked them sharply with his tongue. The shiver that rolled through her when he kissed that sensitive spot right above her hip bone. The way she shuddered when his fingers grazed her warm mound.
He inched his way south, and when his mouth found her core, she cried out in delight.
As a spark of male satisfaction lit his gut, he focused on pleasing her. He licked her, slowly, lovingly, enjoying the way she sighed, the way she murmured his name. Her hips began to move and he followed her rhythm, bringing her closer and closer to the edge, refusing to stop until she toppled right over it.
“Nick.” She said his name on a groan and clawed at his shoulders, urging. “I need more. I need you.”
She didn’t have to ask him twice. He swiftly covered her petite body, no longer fearful that he was crushing her. Whenever he tried to give her room to breathe, to raise himself over her on his forearms, she always pulled him down so that her breasts were crushed against his chest and held him in place. Truth was, he absolutely loved the way her body constantly strained to get closer to his.
And he loved the feeling of sheer completion that overtook him when he pushed into her welcoming heat. As usual, the need to take her hard and fast was ever present, but he forced himself to slow the pace and make it last.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Rebecca whispered as he began to move in slow, deep strokes.
“Very nice,” he said hoarsely.
The mattress squeaked as they moved together, neither one of them racing to reach that finish line. Nick cradled Rebecca’s head with his hands and kissed her deeply, his tongue matching the movements of his cock.
When release finally seized his body, it wasn’t so much an explosion as little sparks of heat that danced through his nerve endings and shivered along every inch of his flesh. He knew Rebecca was feeling that same rush of bliss because her eyes had glazed over and she was rocking her hips with abandon.
Eventually they both went still, and a comfortable silence fell over the room. Nick rolled onto his back and twisted his head to look at her while a feeling of pure and utter content washed over him.
“Wanna go back to sleep?” he suggested.
“Kinda.” She laughed. “Is that too decadent of us?”
“Well, McAvoy isn’t back until tomorrow. What else are we going to do until then?”
She wiggled her eyebrows in an overly lewd way that made him smile. “How about more of what we did just now?”
“Well, duh, Rebecca. Of course we’ll be doing that.”
“A lot?”
“A lot,” he confirmed. “In fact, we should definitely go to sleep. That way I can be the one giving you the wake-up surprise this time.”
“Deal.” She abruptly slid off the bed. “Gotta pee. BRB.”
A laugh tickled his throat. Lord, he liked this woman. She was so full of life, so fun and sassy and entertaining—yet at the same time, focused and intelligent. It was an odd combination, but he liked it.
What he wasn’t crazy about was the way his heart skipped a beat when Rebecca stepped out of the bathroom, or how his pulse sped up when she hopped back into bed and cuddled against him like it was something they’d been doing for years. Cuddling, having sex, laughing together.
Not that there was anything wrong with any of those things. He liked doing them with her, but...
But what? the voice in his head mocked.
After a moment, he gave up on trying to finish the rest of that thought. It was too early in the morning to be thinking about stuff like this.
Which was why he promptly rolled over again, spooned behind Rebecca and went back to sleep.
* * *
Nick wasn’t kidding—three hours later, Rebecca was coaxed out of slumber by the feel of his tongue between her legs, which led to another round of incredible sex that left them both breathless. Afterward, they devoured the two remaining sandwiches that Nick had stashed in the fridge the night before, then returned to bed.
“I can’t remember the last time I was this lazy,” she confessed as she idly dragged a finger over Nick’s bare chest.
“Me neither,” he said in a contented voice. “I think I like it.”
“I don’t know. It feels wrong. I feel like we should be investigating, following up on a lead, looking for a clue. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah. But our only lead is still out of town. McAvoy’s the one who dealt with Waverly, and chances are, he’s Mr. X.”
“And if he is?” she asked carefully. “You’re not going to go all Rambo again and kill him, are you?”
Nick’s pecs vibrated with his laughter, tickling her ear. “Relax, I’m not pulling a Rambo again. I promised my dad we’d handle the fallout properly, remember? McAvoy will be going to jail, not the grave.”
“Good, because it would be better for my career if he was alive,” she teased. “That way I can score an exclusive with the good old dep sec def.”
She could swear Nick’s abdomen tensed, but when she ran her fingers over his tight six-pack, his muscles were relaxed.
“I don’t know how you have the stomach to interview people like that,” he admitted. “I remember that segment you ran last year about America’s child predators. I wanted to throw up listening to some of those sick bastards.”
“Me, too,” she said frankly. “Believe me, being in all those prison visitation rooms and hearing those men try to excuse their crimes was pure torture. Jesse almost had to pull me off one of them. I was two seconds from strangling the life out of him after he made an appalling comment about redheaded girls.”
Now Nick definitely stiffened. “I probably would have killed the son of a bitch.” He paused, hesitated. “Yet you still put yourself through that. Why?”
“People needed to be aware that predators like that existed. Sometimes when I run with a story, it’s to shed light on an injustice, or to inspire others to act, or change, or contribute.” She shrugged. “Other times, I just want to warn citizens that there are some messed-up people in this world. Those prisoners probably thought they were getting to defend their actions, but that’s not why I put them on the air. I wanted to warn parents that predators are everywhere—in the playground, in schools, in grocery stores. And I wanted those parents to take better precautions when it came to their kids.”
Nick dragged his hand over her bare back in a fleeting caress. “Do you want kids of your own?” he asked, curious.
“Definitely.” She propped herself up on her elbow. “A boy and a girl.”
He grinned. “Have it all planned out, huh?”
“Yep. I love kids.” She grinned back. “I think I’d be a really fun mom.”
“Will you quit your job once you have kids?”
She wrinkled her brow. “Of course not.”
“So you plan on taking off and leaving your children at home with your husband or a nanny when you’re on assignment?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Taking off? It’s not like I’m gone for years at a time. O
ther parents travel a lot more for their jobs. I’m gone for only a few days usually. Sometimes a few months, but only if I’m covering a war zone or something huge. I plan on being there for my children, don’t you worry.”
When he grew silent, she studied his troubled expression and smiled again. “By the way, I think you’d be a good father.”
That grave look in his eyes faded. “A good one. Not a fun one?” he teased.
“No, you’ll be fun, too, when you’re not in father-hen mode.”
Not that she was complaining about that particular quality of his. She was actually beginning to enjoy the way he fussed over her and how attuned he was to her needs. Bringing her sandwiches because he knew she hated those prepackaged meals. Surprising her with a pen and notebook he’d swiped from the deli—he’d stolen them right off the counter just so she’d be able to jot down her thoughts. Nick Barrett, committing theft to make her happy.
She’d never been with anyone like him, and she had to admit, she was finding her time with Nick a lot more rewarding than all her past relationships combined.
“What was your father like when you were growing up?” she asked, suddenly curious to learn more about the man in her bed. “Was he fun?”
“Not really. He was strict. Very big on rules, and right and wrong, and taking responsibility for your actions. It’s a military thing—he came from a long line of army generals. The drill-sergeant attitude is in his DNA.”
“And your mom?”
“She followed my dad’s lead when it came to discipline,” Nick replied, absently running his fingers through her hair.
“Did she work?”
“Nah, she stayed home and took care of me and Viv. She was really into the domestic stuff—cooking and gardening and doing these dorky crafts. She’d always sucker me into helping her, too. My friends would be out riding their bikes and I’d be helping my mom paint a bird feeder, or making a collage out of found items in the woods behind our house.”
Rebecca snickered. “I think you loved every second of it.”
After a beat, he sighed. “You’re right. I did. My mom was just so easy to be around, whereas my dad was so stern and composed, you know? She was like a ray of sunshine that lit up our house.”
Hearing the pain in his voice, Rebecca stroked his chest in a soothing motion. “When did she die?”
“When I was fifteen, and my sister was seventeen. My dad never really got over it. He hasn’t dated another woman in the thirteen years since Mom died. Whenever Viv and I bug him about it, he says he’s not ready. Sometimes I wonder if he ever will be.”
“He must have really loved her.”
“He did. They had the kind of marriage you see in those cheesy family sitcoms. So in love, decades later.”
And that was what Nick wanted—Rebecca suddenly knew it without a shred of doubt. Nick aspired for what his parents had shared. That everlasting love, the sunny housewife who spent time at home with her kids while her husband brought home the bacon.
Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach as she realized something else. She could never be the docile housewife that Nick wanted. She craved excitement, adventure, new experiences. Her genetic makeup didn’t allow her to sit idle. She didn’t want to experience the world looking out the window of her kitchen while she slid a fresh tray of cookies into the oven—she’d never wanted that.
But Nick did.
Question was, what did that mean for them?
Or better yet, what did she want it to mean? Did she want a future with this man?
Yes.
The answer breached her consciousness so swiftly she didn’t know why she’d bothered asking herself the question.
She totally wanted to be with Nick Barrett. She was more than ready to say goodbye to the bad boys of the past and focus on the good guy in her future.
Now she simply had to convince him they could have one.
Chapter 15
Thursday didn’t come soon enough for Nick. He definitely wasn’t complaining about the explosive sex he and Rebecca were having at regular intervals, because that wasn’t the problem. At all.
No, the problem was that he was starting to enjoy her company way too much.
He liked lying in bed with her. He liked listening to her childhood stories and work anecdotes and passionate tirades. He even liked the way she teased him mercilessly whenever he did something “overly” chivalrous. Although in his defense, how on earth was leaving the toilet seat down considered overly chivalrous? He’d shared a bathroom with his sister growing up—he was perfectly aware of what happened if you left that seat up.
What he also knew was that no matter how much he liked Rebecca, she couldn’t be a part of his future. He didn’t want to be in a relationship where he’d be worrying about the woman he loved 90 percent of the time. Each time she went off to cover a dangerous assignment, he’d be freaking out and climbing the walls with panic.
And yeah, he saw the hypocrisy in that, considering his military career had placed him in many dangerous positions over the years, but that didn’t mean he wanted the woman in his life doing the same.
Besides, his career was over now. Once he put this mess behind him, he’d probably look for a civilian job. Maybe he could find a place at the DoD with his dad where he’d work his ass off to make sure nothing like this ever happened again.
If he got seriously involved with Rebecca, he’d go gray within the year. The woman was stubborn, reckless, bold. She gave no thought to her well-being, only the adventure, the next big scoop. When he’d yelled for her to get down outside the hospital in Mala, she’d done the opposite and gone for that mercenary’s gun instead. When he’d ordered her to stay put in Costa Rica, she’d showed up in the doorway of Waverly’s beach house.
How could he be with someone who would undoubtedly argue with him every step of the way? Challenge every decision or suggestion he made?
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Nick turned away from the window and found Rebecca smirking at him. She’d taken to mimicking his “good guy lingo” as she liked to call it, and he had to admit, hearing the outdated phrase leave her mouth made him realize how nerdy it was.
“I’m just watching the sunset—” he started.
“Aw, you big romantic, you.”
“—because I can’t wait for it to get dark so we can get out of here,” he finished.
“Oh, like you haven’t enjoyed every second we’ve spent in this room.”
Said the beautiful, naked woman stretched out on the bed. Despite himself, Nick’s body reacted to the tantalizing sight, and he couldn’t have mustered up a denial even if he’d tried.
“Of course I have,” he conceded, “but I’m also anxious to get this confrontation with McAvoy over with.”
“Did your father message you again?”
“Not since he let us know that McAvoy landed three hours ago.”
“He was supposed to meet McAvoy at the Pentagon, right?” Rebecca paused. “I hope he didn’t give anything away. We can’t tip McAvoy off yet.”
“Trust me, my dad knows how to play the game. He lives and breathes secrets and lies.”
“This is D.C. Who doesn’t?” Her tone was dry.
She stretched her arms over her head, drawing his gaze to her bare breasts. His mouth immediately watered, his tongue tingling with the urge to taste those rosy nipples.
As she noticed where his gaze had landed, Rebecca’s lips curved in a smile. “Hmm, I think I’d better get dressed before you ravish me again.”
“Good idea,” he agreed, because yep, he was in real danger of doing some ravishing.
After Rebecca disappeared into the bathroom, Nick donned a navy blue button-down over his black tee, then tucked his SIG into the waistband of his jeans. He didn’t like the fact that Rebecca was coming along, but sometime in between all the sex they’d been having, she’d actually come up with a plan that Nick had grudgingly seen the merit of.
Her approach
was far more diplomatic than the course of action he’d planned on taking, but he still would’ve preferred to handle this alone.
Rebecca emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing jeans, a blue T-shirt, an open plaid shirt and her brown hiking boots. Her red hair was loose and cascading down her shoulders, and she looked so damn pretty that his heart squeezed.
“What is it?” she said warily.
“Nothing.” His voice came out so hoarse he had to clear his throat before speaking again. “Ready to expose some corruption, Sherlock?”
Her features relaxed, a broad smile stretching across her sexy mouth. “Heck yeah. Let’s do this thing.”
* * *
It didn’t take long to reach Deputy Secretary Fred McAvoy’s house. A quick trip on the freeway, a drive across the bridge into Virginia, and then they were on a residential street in Fairfax County staring at the gated entrance of McAvoy’s Tudor-style home.
Rebecca eyed the wrought-iron barrier. “Should we buzz the intercom?”
“Nah,” was all Nick said.
As she battled her confusion, he stopped at the curb a few yards from the gate and parked on the street. Shutting off the engine, he unbuckled his seat belt and said, “Give me a minute.”
Now she was even more confused, especially when he twisted around and grabbed a small leather case from the duffel in the backseat.
Before she could ask what the little kit contained, Nick was out of the SUV and striding toward the house. Because the gate was set away from the street, she couldn’t see what Nick was doing once he disappeared behind one of the concrete posts on either side of the gate.
But he stayed true to his word, returning to the SUV a minute later and gesturing for her to get out.
Rebecca’s palms were unusually damp as she followed Nick. She couldn’t believe he’d agreed to her plan; she’d been expecting to fight him tooth and nail about coming along, and she wondered if his willingness to let her risk her life was a sign that he was warming up to the idea of having her in his life.
Being with Nick in the motel these past couple of days had provided her with some real insight into his head—and heart. She was pretty sure she knew what he was looking for in a partner, but she hoped he would be open-minded enough to accept that sometimes what you were looking for was not what you needed.