Flirtation (9 page)

She mumbled something unintelligible, an irrational sense of guilt and sadness clogging her throat, blocking any response. She’d lived through dark times before, but she’d thought all of that was in the past. Now a man had almost died, her brother was missing, her home was destroyed, and she was…what? A suspect? A target?

EJ had said he believed her, that he was protecting her, but how could she know for sure? He obviously didn’t trust her, but she supposed she’d brought that on herself. If he hadn’t shown up when he did, who knew what could have happened to her if that man had gotten her in his car? She could be dead in a ditch by the side of the road by now, too.

An encroaching feeling of helplessness and desperation surrounded her, she almost forgot EJ’s presence, until she felt a rustling of the blankets as his weight shifted on the bed, and the room became bathed in soft light when he clicked on a bedside lamp. She squeezed back tears, gripping the blankets in a painfully tight grasp.

“Charlotte.”

She looked at him, swallowing at how handsome he was, tousled by sleep, his clothes completely rumpled, his gaze sleepy but filled with great concern. He held out his hand to her, and she released
her grip on the blanket to take it, unsure of what he was offering, but needing the connection. His warm fingers massaged hers, the metal of the cuffs clinking together. His voice was soothing, and his gaze never wandered from her face.

“This is in no way your fault. You have to believe that.”

She took a deep breath, and nodded. Deep down, she still felt she should have noticed something, should have had some sense of what was going on with Ronny, but she also acknowledged that her brother was an adult man, and she didn’t control his actions.

“I know, I guess, on some level, that that’s true. But I can’t help but feel…bad.”

“I know. You have every right in the world to feel that way.” His voice lowered. “C’mere, darlin’. Let me hold on to you for a little while.”

Her heart tripped a little faster, and she kept the blanket hitched up as she scooted over closer to him, breathing in the wonderful scent she’d awakened to.

Images of making love with him in the car flashed in front of her eyes. It felt like a dream, like it had happened years ago rather than just hours, but her body dampened in response to the memory and his nearness. It was unusual, but undeniable, that she wanted him so much. So she sat up a little and tucked in underneath the arm he stretched out for her. God, he felt so good. She cuddled her cheek down into the intersection of chest and shoulder, sighing.

“Better?”

She nodded, loving the feel of the hard muscles of his chest underneath of his shirt as she snuggled closer. Her fingers slid in between the buttons, touching his skin, and she thought she heard him catch his breath before he grasped her seeking fingers in his other hand.

“Just rest easy, darlin’. Relax, think good thoughts.”

She felt him kiss her hair as he moved her fingers gently back to a less sensuous position and melted under the sweetness of the caress. She sniffled, tears welling up again, but she pushed them back and felt EJ’s arms tighten around her, the one solid thing in her world, and she held on tight.

“It’s going to work out, Charlotte. Things will be okay.”

“It’s just gotten so complicated so quickly, I feel like I can hardly keep track of what’s going on.”

He reached down and tipped her chin up, looking deeply into her eyes. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise that.”

“It’s not me I’m so worried about. Ronny is out there somewhere, involved in God knows what. That poor officer is in the hospital, and Phoebe could lose her job over me. And then there are all the other people I have responsibilities to. I am supposed to be reading cards tomorrow, and walking dogs, and instead here I am, and everything is falling apart.”

“Who’s Phoebe?”

“Oh, she’s the girl at the thrift shop who lent me the dress. She said her boss wouldn’t be back for a few days, so no one would know if I got it back there this morning—undamaged, of course. I know I shouldn’t have borrowed it. I knew it then, but I wanted to look like the kind of woman you expected me to be.”

His eyebrows crunched in the middle, the ends of his gorgeous mouth turning down. “What do you think I expected?”

She sat up a little, the sheet not quite covering the fullness of her cleavage as she did so.

“Someone sophisticated and well put together. Someone who wasn’t going to show up at the best restaurant in Norfolk in discount clothing.”

To his credit, he looked surprised as she elaborated, and she reached up, touching his face.

“Really, EJ, I’ve seen who you are, how you live. The kind of family you come from. You are so elegant and refined, so gentlemanly. And I don’t even know how to order off a fancy menu. Even though you’re a cop, none of that other stuff goes away.” She took a deep breath, looking down at her fingers wrapped around the edge of the sheet, before going on.

“Now that you know who I am, and all the trouble that’s surrounding me, are you really all that interested in me anymore? I have no family except a brother who’s probably a criminal, I live in a cheap
little apartment that’s been completely ruined, and I wear borrowed clothes and don’t have an education or a real job. Not exactly your type.”

He pulled back, mild surprise turning to something stronger, and she tugged the sheet up, suddenly uncomfortable.

“EJ?”

He blinked, his voice quiet when he spoke. “I didn’t realize I came off as such a snob.”

Her hand flew to her mouth, causing her to drop the sheet again, and she shook her head emphatically. “No, I didn’t mean that! I just meant…I don’t know exactly, but it was more about me than you. Just that I’m not…I’m—”

He leaned in, his eyes intense, and though he didn’t touch her, she felt like squirming. “What? What are you, Charlotte? Not good enough for me? So sure that I’m going to turn my back the moment you don’t wear designer clothes?”

His lips thinned, and she realized she’d actually hurt him, and was stunned by the fact.

“What a woman wears is not high on my list of necessities, though you did look stunning in that dress. But here’s a news flash: you look stunning out of it, too. You’re sexy, soft and entirely too concerned about others and not nearly concerned enough about yourself, from what I can tell. And though there have been times when you have been scarily perceptive, especially with those cards of
yours, there are other times, like now, when you can’t see past your nose.”

She felt her eyes widen in response to his words, and gasped when he reached out, tugging her up against him, his jaw set, his eyes moving over her hungrily.

“I’ve played the part of the gentleman, Charlotte, but that’s not all there is to me. Not by far. I have money, and breeding—whatever that all means—but at the moment, it doesn’t seem to matter.”

Barely able to catch her breath, she couldn’t look away from his intense stare. “What do you mean?”

“I can see who
you
are, Charlotte, and it makes me crazy. I want you so much I can barely think straight, and that’s not a familiar, or comfortable, place for me to be. Even when I shouldn’t have wanted you, when I thought you were a criminal, I couldn’t keep my hands off you. Before I met you in person, I knew I wanted you.”

He rubbed his thumbs over the bare skin of her arms, his voice becoming raspy with unmasked desire. “I came here tonight with the best of intentions, to protect you, and had every single intention to keep my damn hands off you.”

She shuddered as his palms moved over the bare skin of her back, pushing the sheet farther away.

“I told myself you’d been through enough, and I wasn’t going to take advantage of a woman in your vulnerable position. But all I know right now is I want you to see
me
. Not a romanticized image of
someone you’ve cooked up in your head, not a cop or anything, but a man. A man who can’t keep his hands off you. So right now, I’m not feeling like much of a gentleman.”

His hand stole up to her shoulders and pulled her over top of him, the sheet sliding down to her waist, exposing her to his view. He devoured her with a lustful glance, possessing her with his eyes before he matched his mouth to hers.

Charlotte wanted to respond, to tell him she did see him for the man he was, to tell him she didn’t just think of him as a shallow romantic prince or her personal protector. But the desperation of his kiss, the need that fueled it, overcame her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, weaving her fingers tightly into his hair and crushing her mouth into his to try to let him know how she was feeling in the only way she could. The muscles of his neck were tense and hard beneath her fingers, and she massaged them with her fingertips as they kissed. She wanted to send a clear message: if he wanted her, she was his.

When he yanked the sheet away completely, she tugged at his shirt, wanting him out of his clothes as quickly as possible. He was obviously in agreement, his breathing labored as he slipped off of the bed, forgetting the cuffs, his linked arm tugging at hers before he got very far.

“I think we can take those off now, don’t you?” She looked at him from beneath her lashes, his
arousal obvious. He stared at her, as if considering, then, pulled a small drawer out from the bed-stand, and he took out a small key. He loosened his cuff, and she scooted forward, holding out her wrist, but gasped when he took her other hand, pulled it forward, and locked it into the loose cuff.

“EJ! What are you—don’t you trust me to stay here with you?”

His grin was wicked, his intentions clear. Charlotte’s lips formed a silent “oh” as she watched him undress and understood his restraining her had nothing to do with law enforcement.

“As much as I love those warm, soft hands on me, honey, this time, I want you at my mercy. Do you mind?”

EJ watched her slow smile with primal satisfaction, her eyes caressing his naked body with a sweeping glace.

“Not one bit.”

EJ
WANTED TO POUNCE
on her and take her fast, sate the hunger that had spiked in his soul, but he intended to do just the opposite, and enjoy every exquisite second, and take her as slowly as he possibly could. He wanted to expose every secret, know every soft, unexplored place of her body. He wanted her completely.

He moved forward, gently lifting her arms, joined at the wrist by the cuffs, and dragged his tongue down the length of the inside of her arm, from palm to shoulder, before taking her mouth in a carnal kiss. It was as if every woman he’d ever made love to were stops on a long journey to finding this one woman, who aroused him more than any other ever had.

He pushed her back gently, lifted himself up over her and planted his long length firmly between her thighs. He shuddered when his erection graced the silky inside of her leg, and nearly lost it. He was dying to get inside of her, but instead just teased the hungry core of her sex with the tip of his erection, pushing inside slightly, then pulling out to slide
along the slick alley between her legs, stimulating her until she was crying out and arching up underneath him.

He backed off, denying his own hunger, his breath coming hot and heavy as he watched her flushed form writhe on the messed bed, the sight of her restrained hands fueling some basic passion within him.

He levered up over her, placing a hand on either side of her breasts and pushing them together, fitting them closely so he could take both peach-colored nipples in his mouth at once and nipped her with gratification when she yelled his name, bucking. He sucked hard, then licked, burying his face in the fragrant fullness of her bosom and found, when he finally moved away, that his own hands were shaking.

“Charlotte, I swear, you are the most delicious woman…I have ever been with. I can’t keep my mouth off of you…”

He returned to her skin, burning a path down her belly and beyond, holding her thighs wide apart with his hands while exploring the slick folds of her sex with his mouth, stroking her with his tongue into an orgasm that had her fighting the hold of his hands, tightening her legs around his shoulders and crying out into the room. EJ delved even farther into her, unwilling to stop even though she’d come, moving down her legs and eating every inch of her, committing each spot to memory.

“EJ, please, I want you.”

Charlotte felt like a hot-buttered noodle, reveling in the feeling of being totally female and totally ravished. Her mouth was raw from kisses and the scraping of his light beard, the spot between her legs melted and craved more of him.

As he moved up over her, she licked his shoulder, savoring the taste of his skin as he nudged against her again, teasing and torturing. She wanted to touch him, to pull him into her, but her hands were still bound. She had expected frustration at the restraints, but instead she felt stimulated by the denial, open to him and at his bidding. It was completely erotic, and made her skin tingle at every touch.

He lifted up, the separation eliciting a cry of protest from her as she saw him reach for the key again and move to uncuff her. And just when she was totally getting into it.

“I want you free. Free to move when I’m inside you.”

Oh, she thought, not missing the handcuffs one little bit, suddenly.

He stood, looking at her with raw desire in his eyes, and she crawled forward on the bed, watching him watch her, his chest heaving, glistening with a fine film of sweat, his hands clenched as his gaze bore into her. She stayed planted on her hands and knees, looking at him seductively, sensing he was holding on to the last bits of his control. And she wanted to shred them.

“Whatever you want, EJ. I won’t hold anything back.”

He growled and his cock jerked with arousal at her words, and she smiled, wicked and wanton. He walked toward her, his erection tantalizingly even with her mouth for a moment, and she suddenly couldn’t resist tasting. He stilled, freezing, as he seemed to intuit her intentions, and edged a little closer, encouraging her.

The heat from his body radiated out like a furnace and she thought she could feel a sizzle as her lips closed over the smooth head of his shaft and slid all the way down in a wet, testing caress. He cursed out loud and wove his hands into her hair, directing her but not forcing her as she experimented to find what pleased him and sighed against his skin when he reached farther down to massage a breast while she sucked him to the edge.

“Charlotte, I need to get inside you. Now.”

She pulled back, gasping as he caught her by the waist, swinging her around until her backside faced him and her knees perched precariously on the edge of the bed. But she didn’t have to worry about sliding off—EJ was solid and close behind her, massaging her bottom with both hands, spreading her and pushing forward until he was buried deep inside, extracting groans of sheer pleasure from them both.

The soft cotton of the comforter teased her nipples to excruciating sensitivity as he moved behind her,
his own animalistic sounds filling the room as their flesh slapped together echoing the rhythm of their urgency.

Charlotte dug her fingers into the blankets, pushing back for all she was worth, grinding against him in the total pursuit of the pleasure that hovered again, just past the horizon.

When he leaned forward, sucking the tender skin in the middle of her back, she lost it, a blinding orgasm hit, the sensation blasting through her, disintegrating every inch of her to her fingertips. Only seconds later she heard his cry of release as he let go, still buried deep, filling her with a different sense of satisfaction.

They stayed linked in their positions for a few minutes, catching their breath, and finally Charlotte moved forward, collapsing on the bed and EJ slid up alongside of her, pulling her into his arms.

“You’re amazing, Charlotte.” He leaned down, capturing her mouth and kissing her until she couldn’t breathe, but they both came up laughing. “I can’t seem to stop wanting you. You’re like a drug.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” She laughed, kissing him lightly, then drawing back when she saw his expression fall, his eyes close.

“Damn it.”

Charlotte put her hand to his face, concerned.

“What?”

EJ turned his head to press a kiss into her palm,
his gaze regretful, and she felt her heart clench in reaction, stealing her breath as he spoke.

“We didn’t use anything.”

His eyes bore down into hers, and she didn’t quite understand for a second until his meaning dawned on her. They’d forgotten contraception. Tired, emotionally drained, needy and pushed to the edge, precautions had been the last thing on her mind. Or on his, apparently.

“Oh.”

She counted mentally. She’d had her last period two weeks before, but she really had no idea if this was a “safe” time or not. She’d never really committed the schedule to memory. Sex had been such a nonfactor in her life that she’d given up the pill years ago, disliking the effects of synthetic hormones and figuring she’d deal with the issue when it arose.

Well, it had just arisen.

And surprisingly, she felt no panic at all. Not even an iota. Maybe her life was in such chaos that she’d developed a resistance to any new shocks, or maybe it was the safety of the night, and being here with EJ. Maybe things would be different in the morning, but right now the slip-up didn’t seem to be all that big of a concern to her. However, he still looked really worried. Probably because pregnancy was the least of people’s concerns these days. She took a deep breath.

“Listen, I was tested years ago in school, and I haven’t slept with anyone since then, like I told
you, so you don’t have to worry about catching anything from me.”

The words seemed to add to the distance between them.

“I figured as much. You don’t have anything to worry about in that respect either, from me, but still…”

Charlotte took a deep breath, and couldn’t repress a smile, for some unknown reason. “I know. There are…other risks.”

“You don’t seem all that upset about it.” EJ watched her smother the smile, and wondered at the curious response. Once Millie had forgotten her pill and had nearly had a heart attack when she remembered. It had taken EJ days to calm her down. But Charlotte didn’t seem angry or panicked that he’d forgotten to protect her.

“Well, you know, I guess I’m not. Chances are nothing happened. I heard once that the chances of getting pregnant are really pretty slim, statistically speaking, you know, so many people try for months and years, so it’s unlikely that one time will result in a pregnancy, though that does happen, of course…” She took a deep breath, trying to stem the nervous babble that just seemed to spout.

“I think I’m probably at that safe time of the month, though I can check for sure later. But even if something did happen, I guess I’m okay with it.”

The fact surprised her as much as anyone, and she continued, talking to herself as much as to him.

“I never thought I’d want to have a baby by myself, in fact, I always wanted to make sure I never repeated my mother’s mistakes. But I wouldn’t do what she did. I wouldn’t give up my baby. It would be mine, and we would be our own little family. I wouldn’t be alone anymore, and neither would he or she. I’d make sure of it.”

He saw something flicker deep in her eyes as she spoke the words and he leaned in, kissing her softly. It was the only thing he could think of to do, and there was only one thing he could say.

“You wouldn’t be by yourself. I wouldn’t leave you alone.”

He meant it. He’d made a mistake, and he would take responsibility for it. But was there more than that going on here? He fell back to the pillows, processing what had happened, and how the hell he could have let it. He’d never slipped up like this once before—never—and he didn’t know what to feel.

It had only been a day, and everything in his life had changed. He wasn’t the kind of guy to abandon his responsibilities—but wasn’t that exactly what he’d done with Millie and his family? What of the carefree lifestyle he enjoyed? Was he ready to give that up? Did he love Charlotte, or were they just dealing with the moment?

All questions he couldn’t answer right now. He cast a glance at Charlotte. She seemed unperturbed. Cool as a cucumber.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but I think we should still strive to be, uh, careful from now on. The situation isn’t exactly uncomplicated at the moment.”

She propped herself up on her elbow, staring down at him. “Okay.” She leaned down, flicking her tongue over a flat brown nipple. “So there’s going to be a ‘from now on,’ huh?”

He couldn’t believe the effect she had on him, and his dick twitched in response to her caress.

“I think I’d like to see what could happen once we get out of all of this mess.” It was a nice, noncommittal answer.

“Me, too.” She yawned, curling into him, and wrapping herself around him in way that made him feel in a way he never really had before. Did he love her? Was that possible? He didn’t know, but whatever they had, for now, it was enough.

EJ
STEPPED FROM
the shower, his body tensing in immediate alert. He heard noises in the kitchen, looked across the room and saw that Charlotte was still asleep. Someone was in the house.

As he reached for the gun he’d left on the table by the bed, Charlotte’s eyes popped open and he quickly lifted a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. There was another rattling sound from downstairs, and she slid to the side of the bed, grabbing a robe he’d put out for her and quickly donning it.

EJ whispered for her to stay put and he slid from the room, hugging the wall as he made his way down the hall that looked down over an enormous great room, with its two-story vaulted ceiling and floor-to-ceiling view of the Atlantic coastline. He heard another clash and figured whoever was down there didn’t know the house was occupied or didn’t care, because they weren’t being particularly quiet. It sounded like they were looking for something.

Sidling down the steps, he slipped quietly to the corner of the room by the kitchen, and caught sight of Charlotte standing in the doorway of the main bedroom, watching him closely, his cell phone gripped tightly in her hand.

While he wished she would stay put, he appreciated having her at his back, if only to dial 911.

It was then that he heard the familiar spitting of “
SugarHoneyIcedTea!
” that followed a huge clash of pans, and he swung around the corner, letting the gun fall back to his side with a whoosh of relief as he met the beautiful jade glance of his little sister, Grace.

Grace was the only one he knew who spelled out “shit” as a harmless acronym when she wanted to curse. Like his mom, Grace was a southern lady, though recently she’d been proving herself as one hell of a businesswoman as well. He grinned at her, setting his gun safely on the granite counter and pulling her into a bear hug.

“EJ! You scared me half to death.” She caught her breath, laughing as he squeezed her, pulling her up off her feet as he’d always done since he was able.

“Same back atcha, little sister. Didn’t you see my car?”

“I did. But when I came in, I called your name, looked around and didn’t see anyone, and figured you were out fishing or something.”

He must have been in the shower or sleeping like the dead. Luckily he and Charlotte hadn’t been up to anything more noisy.

Grace eyed the gun on the counter. “Is there a reason you were on high alert?” She studied him. “And while you’re welcome anytime, I’m a little surprised to find you here.”

EJ looked back over his shoulder, wondering where Charlotte was; it hit him that she might think he was still downstairs with a burglar. He walked to the doorway to signal to her that it was okay, but she wasn’t there anymore. She’d gone back into the room, apparently.

He assumed she’d heard their conversation and knew everything was okay. Ironically, the one thing he didn’t want right now was more cops showing up at the door. Not until he had Charlotte out of the line of fire for last night’s shooting.

“Uh, Gracie, I’m not here alone.”