Then she began to laugh. No, not laugh. That was a straight up, girlish giggle.
Okay, not the response he’d expected. “Something funny?”
She combed her fingers through his hair. “You’re much, much better at this than any horny, teenage boy.” He could hear the grin in her voice.
Laughing himself, Nash rolled until she was beneath him. “I’m about to prove in no uncertain terms that I am definitely not a teenage boy.”
She arched her hips against him. “Please do.”
He made quick work of the little ankle boots, dropping them with a thud to the floor. Her jeans and panties came next. He took more time with them, kissing each new inch of revealed skin as he tugged them down, down. By the time he finished, he was a little drunk on the musky scent of her arousal and the little sounds of pleasure she made. His own jeans were beyond uncomfortable. But he loved every minute, knowing he could take her out of her own head, away from her problems and stresses, to focus only on him, on how he made her feel.
“Nash.”
He paused. “Yeah?”
“You aren’t nearly naked enough.”
He dropped his jeans and boxers, stepping free. “How ’bout now?”
“Don’t know. I think you have to come closer for inspection.”
His cock twitched at the idea of that. Crawling back up her body, he stretched over her, stopping a few inches shy of where he really wanted to be. “How ’bout now?”
Even in the ambient light from down the hall, he could see her eyes glitter. She wrapped a hand around him and his eyes rolled back in his head. “We’re getting there.” She made a few, testing strokes along his length that had him surging forward in her hand. “Definitely not a teenage boy.”
He choked out her name and fought for some control. “I’m trying to take my time here.”
“But I don’t want you to take your time. Not right now anyway. Maybe next time.”
She was already thinking of next time and his own brain had stalled out on the suddenly complex mechanics of retrieving a condom from the bedside table. Needing to take back some control of the situation, he lowered his head to trail a line of slow kisses along the column of her throat, ending at the tender juncture by her collarbone. Rowan shivered. She was so unexpectedly soft. Nash loved the contrast of that softness against the tough-as-nails cop he knew her to be. It felt like an erotic secret just between them. He liked the idea of being her secret keeper. He liked just about everything about Rowan Beale.
Just as he inched lower, intent on lavishing some more attention on those glorious breasts of hers, she clamped her legs around his waist and rolled. He could’ve overpowered her and flipped them back, but he recognized that she was done giving up control. He’d entice her to hand over the reins again later. Right now, the sight of her rising over him, her dark hair tumbled around her shoulders all but stole his breath. Plus, his new position put the nightstand into actual reach. Without taking his eyes off her, Nash reached for the drawer, fumbling around until he came up with a foil packet.
Rowan snatched it from his hand, handily ripping it open and rolling it on. She paused, running her hands over the ridges of his abs and across his pecs. “I’m just gonna say, I appreciate the fact that you haven’t stopped PT since you left the Navy.”
Nash skimmed his own hands up the toned length of her legs. “Consider me your playground and do with me as you wish.” He couldn’t imagine anything better than having her use him to satisfy her every carnal desire.
Her lips curved in one of those secretive, female smiles that suggested she was on board with that plan. Scooting up his body, she reached between them to guide him to her entrance. Planting her hands on either side of his head, she began to sink down, taking him in inch by slow, torturous inch. Though every nerve demanded that he touch and take, he held himself perfectly still. She was so tight and hot. He watched her face, searching for any signs of discomfort, but all he saw was a fierce satisfaction as he filled her in a slow rise and fall that finally seated him fully inside her.
She dropped her brow to his as her body stretched and eased around him. “God, you feel amazing. I could stay right here, exactly like this, for a long damn time.”
“I might die.” It felt like a very real possibility, trapped, unmoving, in the hot prison of her body. Nash couldn’t stop the tremble in his body from the strain of holding himself back.
Grinning, she brushed her lips to his. “Can’t have that.”
So she took him at his word, using him for her pleasure until they were both slicked with sweat and mindless of anything but the touch and taste of each other. And as she bowed back, lost in him, her body clamping around his, Nash thought himself found and followed her over the edge.
Later, a long time later, he came back to himself. All the tension she’d been carrying since she walked into his life had dissipated. For now, at least. She lay draped over him, a warm blanket of woman. He skimmed his hand along her spine, stroking that soft, soft skin and wishing she could stay. But they both knew she had responsibilities. Responsibilities she’d need to get back to. He knew she’d already made up her mind about that even as she sucked in a breath.
“At the risk of destroying a lovely afterglow, I should be getting back.” She rolled away from him and Nash immediately missed her heat.
He sat up himself, scooping hands through his hair. “I’ll drive you next door.”
Rowan huffed a laugh as she located her bra. “If you think Robert didn’t notice your truck getting back, you don’t know him very well. He knows I’ve been over here.”
Nash stiffened. “We could’ve been watching a movie.”
“We could’ve.” The heated look she shot him had Nash wanting to drag her back to bed for some more alternatives to Hollywood entertainment. “But I’m banking that he’s not that stupid either.”
“I don’t wanna think about that.” Robert still had firearms in the house.
“I sure as hell don’t intend to talk about it. And I don’t think he will either. My love life is none of his business, and I have no trouble telling him so, should it come up.”
Nash fervently hoped it didn’t come up.
In the end, he walked her home, enjoying holding her hand as they strolled up his drive and across the street. She’d tidied her hair and didn’t look as thoroughly rumpled as she had in his bed. He already wanted to see her there again.
On the porch, she turned to face him. “I had fun tonight.”
“Me too. We should do it again.”
A flash of humor crossed her face.
Nash leaned close. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
She was smiling as he kissed her, and he considered that a victory for the night.
“See you tomorrow, Flyboy.”
“Tomorrow,” he agreed.
Chapter 8
At the crack of gunfire, Rowan jolted awake. Heart threatening to beat straight out of her chest, she hit the floor, cracking her knee on the hardwood and automatically covering her head before she was even truly conscious. Awareness of where she was slammed into her. Robert’s. She was in the guest room at Robert’s.