Deception (Carrington Hill Investigations Book 1) (11 page)

Lexi
swallowed hard as she stood mesmerized, watching Trip’s fingers push each button through the holes and then letting the cotton slide down his arms. Her fingers ached to explore each dip and valley running down his chest. His muscles and abs bulged and constricted with each movement. It was evident that he took just as much care of his body as he did everything else in his life. “Trip…”

Trip
dropped the shirt on the bed and grabbed the black bag on the floor by the door. He sat it on the bed, unzipped it, and grabbed a pair of lounge pants and a black T-shirt. “Don’t worry, Lexi. I’m just getting comfortable. I had a feeling you’d turn me down. I came prepared to spend the night in with my wife.”

Trip stripped down to his boxer
s. Her gaze devoured every inch of his tanned body down to the bulge behind his black silk boxers. Her heart raced with possibilities no matter how mad she was with him. She’d have to be dead not to appreciate the man standing in front of her. He redressed then climbed onto her bed and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. “What do you like on your pizza?”

His question reminded her how little they truly knew about one another.
“Just pepperoni.” She grabbed her own clothes and walked into the bathroom. He might be comfortable stripping in front of her, but she didn’t feel the same.

Five minutes later she walked into her room to find Trip lean
ing against her headboard with his feet crossed. He patted the bed next to him, and she automatically moved to the bed and climbed up. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side. “Pizza will be here in fifteen minutes. What do you want to do to fill the time?”

“Isn’t your family missing you, Trip? Shouldn’t you go home?”

He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her shoulder. “Lexi, you’re my family and my wife. You’ll always come first.”

If only that were true.
She wasn’t naïve enough to believe his words. After all, their situation was temporary. Even so, she couldn’t control the thump of her heart in her chest or the tingling that ran through her body when she was in his arms. Why did it have to be him? Why did she have to be so committed to her damn job that she let herself get in this predicament?  She tilted her head back to find Trip staring down at her, his eyes filled with compassion.

“This isn’t real. It never has been.” Lexi slid off the bed and moved to the window, pulling the curtain back.

The smell of his aftershave was the only sign that he’d moved behind her. Trip turned her gently in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. A kiss she wasn’t expecting. She found herself melting in his arms and leaning into his chest as he deepened the kiss, setting every one of her nerve endings on fire. He lingered, taking from her what a man expects from his wife. He pulled her closer and angled his head, devouring her with the sizzling heat and lust she’d longed to feel. Taking and giving much as a lover would, she was lost in an all-consuming desire, needing more. Trip ended the kiss with his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. His heart raced underneath her palm.

“Tell me you didn’t feel that. Tell me you don’t want me every bit as much as I want you.”

Lexi couldn’t answer him. Her body urged her to take what he offered while her mind screamed at her to stop.

“We shouldn’t.”

Trip ran his palms down her back as he placed tender kisses on her neck. “We should.”

A knock on her door had her stepping out of his arms and away from the warmth of his body. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lexi pulled her door open to find Jonathan waiting on the other side with a pizza box in his hand. “I assume you ordered this?”

The wonderful smell of the pizza drifted to her nose, reminding her that she was starved. This was what she’d needed and hoped that the food would bring her back to her senses and pull her thoughts away from another hunger she longed to sate. “Yep. It smells delicious.”

She took the box out of Jonathan’s hands and placed it on
the table across the room.

“I’ll sen
d up some refreshments and silverware so you won’t have to eat like a heathen.”

Lexi waved her hand in acknowledgement with her back to Jonathan as she simultaneously opened the box and grabbed a slice of pizza. The melted cheese
dripped over the side as she shoved the first bite into her mouth. She closed her eyes and moaned around the slice of heaven.

Trip chuckled. “Thank you, Jonathan.
If you don’t mind, could you send up a couple bottles of beer as well?”

Lexi turned around just as Jonathan pulled the door closed. She felt the heat rising to her cheeks as she swallowed. “Oh my God
, this is good.”

Trip grinned as he moved beside her and grabbed himself a slice. “When was the last time you ate?”

She shrugged and plopped down on the bed
. Jonathan returned ten minutes later, carrying their drinks and plates and then setting them on the table across the room. He shook his head when he spotted her sitting on the bed. “Really, Lexi?” He rolled his eyes and handed her a paper towel. “At least use this.”

She swiped it from his hands and gave him a fake salute. Jonathan shook his head and walked out
of her bedroom.

Trip handed her a beer
and grabbed another one for himself then resumed his spot on her bed, watching her inhale the pizza before taking her first swig of beer.

“You should ta
ke better care of yourself.”

She pulled open her bedside drawer and pulled out
her laptop. Laying on her stomach with her legs crossed in the air, she logged in and started pulling up the files of accounts Trip had given her. She still had work to do and needed to get started, and she also needed a distraction from the sexual tension floating in the air. She would immerse herself in numbers trying to forget that Trip was in her room.

The bed dipped as he le
aned forward, closed the laptop, and set it on the bedside table. “We need to talk.”

She rolled over onto her back. “No
, we don’t.”

He slid to l
ie beside her and placed his palm on her stomach. “Yes…we do.”

“This is a temporary solution remember.”

He pulled her closer to his side. “What if things have changed? What if I want it to be permanent?”

Lexi sighed and placed her arms over her eyes, afraid that he’d
see the truth. “What if I don’t?” She moved her arm to rest over her heart. “We have more important things to discuss than us. We should be concentrating on finding your thief.”

She rolled
over him and grabbed her laptop with both hands before rolling back onto her stomach.

“I’ll make you a deal.”

She glanced over at him. “Don’t we already have enough of those?”

He shook his head. “This is too important to me to let go unresolved.”

She rolled her head easing the tension in her shoulders. She was finding it harder and harder to resist him when in his presence. His suggestion of a deal scared her. “What’s the deal?”

“When all of this is over, I want
you to give me thirty days to prove we can make this work.”

His suggestion made her heart stop.
She was falling for him and knew it wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge. He was the whole package and, knowing that, she also knew he’d be hard to get over once he was gone. And he would be gone. The heartbreak alone might just kill her, if Constanza didn’t first. She couldn’t take the chance. Deep down, Lexi knew she wasn’t right for him and couldn’t understand why he couldn’t see it too.  “Trip…”

He silenced her with a kiss
, trying to break her resolve. “Just give us a chance.”

He stroked her hair
, moving down her cheek to stop on her neck. She closed her eyes, fighting the sensations and unspoken pleasure his simple touch gave her. It was in that moment she knew what she had to do. She wanted him in the most carnal way but understood she’d need to make him understand. She slid off the bed and away from his touch. The desire in his eyes was unmistakable and probably matched her own.

She picked up
the laptop and moved it to the table near the pizza and flicked off the light switch. The light shining from the open bathroom door cast a soft yellow glow throughout the room. Trip righted himself and placed his hands behind his head. “What’s your answer?”

She pulled her
T-shirt over her head, let it drop to the floor, and stood in front of him naked from the waist up. “It’s unacceptable, but I have a compromise.”

“
Compromise? You want to counter my offer?” Trip asked as his gaze traveled down her chest, he leaned up on his elbows. His gaze moved to her lips as she moistened them and then followed the movement of her hands as she shimmied out of her cotton pants and discarded her panties with them. She climbed up on the bed on all fours. His gaze held hers even as his hands slid to her hips, helping her to climb on top of him. He reached up and cupped her breast as her mouth came down on his, kissing him with the heat she felt running through her. She broke the kiss even as she nestled closer, fitting her hips to his. He tried to pull her back down to him, and she resisted so he settled with kissing the column of her neck. His bulge hardened beneath her stirring her own excitement. “You’re beautiful.”

“When this is over, you sign the divorce papers as we agreed.”

His brows dipped down, and his hands stilled on her body. “Lexi…”

She leaned down and kissed her way
up his neck and over his cheek and chin before hovering above his lips. The stiffness vanished as his hands relaxed.

“Baby
, that’s not giving us a chance.”

She pressed her lips to his
, giving him a taste of the passion she was threatening to unleash. He pressed up against her core, eliciting a moan from her throat. “Trip, all I can offer is here and now. Take it or leave it.”

He lifted his hips
, pushing against her, and she closed her eyes. He rolled with her, settling above her and between her thighs. She was wanton, needing something only he could give her. She was offering all of herself to him, his for the taking. She held her breath, hoping he would see that this was all she could give. Just here, just now, and in this moment. She shielded her heart as seconds ticked by that seemed more like minutes. “Counter.”

Her eyes flew open.
“Non-negotiable.”

He lifted a brow before he leaned down and pressed his lips against the curve of her shoulder and neck
, and then he moved slowly down to her breast. He swirled his tongue around her nipple as his fingers pinched and pulled at the other. Her eyes slid closed as she arched into his touch, needing more.

His words were a whisper on her skin.
“Counter?”

She gripped his head
, pressing it against her chest, afraid he would stop. “Counter,” she agreed.

He
continued to kiss her, inching down her body and settling above her core. He ran his tongue against her slit, and she was dying for more. She would have agreed to anything to have him give her what she craved, what she needed more than her next breath.

“
You agree to the honeymoon we never had. One week of nothing but you and me wherever you want to go.”

He slid his tongue over her once again.
“With nothing else to worry about; no assignments and no family.” He pushed a finger into her, slowly stroking her need. “Just you and me, baby.” His fingers stilled. “Agreed?”

She nodded
, unable to speak. He grinned, pushing another finger to join the first, stroking her body with both hands and mouth. Her muscles tightened around his thrusting fingers as his mouth clamped down on her, sending her careening over the cliff. His fingers slowed as she came down from her orgasm. He kissed her once more and slid off the bed, stripping in front of her as she’d done for him before he once again settled between her thighs and slid inside making love to her more times than she could count until they both fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

Lexi woke with sore muscles in the darkness of her room. Her mind replayed their endless night of lovemaking
. Who was she kidding? Their endless night of sex. Every position, every gentle caress, every desire she’d ever had was now fulfilled. She snuggled deeper into his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. She placed a light kiss to his chest before she rolled out of the bed, picked up her discarded clothes, and quietly shut the door to the bathroom behind her. 

Lexi leaned against the
wood and grinned, letting herself enjoy a brief respite from thinking about thieves and drug lords. Trip lay sleeping peacefully on his stomach in her bed. A sorrow filled her soul, knowing she was becoming too attached and that it would be almost impossible to watch him go when all of this was over. They lived in different worlds. He lived in one she tried to her best to avoid. The closeness she’d felt with him last night was something she hadn’t expected. She’d let her guard down, and he’d seen clear down to her soul. She dressed as her mind whirled with the implications.