The Pleasure Seekers

He was here?

Still?

Her gaze trailed to the bed, to him and back.

Oh, no…

His grin was one hundred percent pure sin.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

His words contradicted his naughty expression.

He openly looked her over, his gaze lingering in places that made her blush everywhere but on her cheeks. Well, at least those on her face.

She glanced down. She held the throw between her breasts, leaving them both bare. When she’d faced him, the fabric had twisted around her legs, her pubis clearly visible.

She gasped and turned around to adjust the material, then realized she was giving him a full back view. She couldn’t move fast enough to cover herself even as she ducked into the connecting bathroom.

Oh, no…oh, no…oh, no…

Regina leaned against the doorjamb, her eyes closed, her lungs refusing air.

This wasn’t happening… It wasn’t even remotely possible she…

What was going on?

Her mind reeled, racing from one thought to the next. Had all three of them spent the night together? In the apartment? In her bed?

She remembered kissing Linc. She ran her tongue over her lower lip. Boy, did she ever remember kissing Linc. And she even recalled some clothing removal. And soft moans. And…

Oh, God…

INCREDIBLE. She was even more beautiful in the morning. Short hair mussed and framing her face. Smudged mascara darkening her eyes, her mouth swollen.

Linc put down the coffee cups on the nightstand, noticing the way Vivienne lay back in the bed staring at him invitingly.

An invitation he wasn’t interested in acknowledging much less accepting.

“Well,” she said with a suggestive purr. “Since Reggie couldn’t tell me what happened last night, perhaps you can.”

He smiled rather than grimaced. “I’m heading out. Pass on my goodbyes.”

“Leaving so soon?” she asked. “Don’t hurry out on account of me.”

She was exactly the reason he was leaving.

“Nice meeting you, um…both,” he said.

Within moments, he was closing the front door of the ground-level apartment behind him. It would be nice if he could leave the image of Regina’s nakedness behind as easily.

Oh, nothing had happened. At least nothing near what the two women might believe. Not because the opportunity hadn’t existed. But in the end, no matter how attracted he’d been to Regina, he hadn’t been able to take advantage of her when she’d been so obviously intoxicated.

The memory of the taste of her mouth made him groan even as he allowed himself the freedom to recall exactly what had gone down last night. And what hadn’t…

They’d returned to the small apartment complex on the edge of town, a place like many that was short on quality but high on location, the view of the Rocky Mountains to the west enough to make a hole-ridden tent look appealing. He’d viewed it from the outside on several occasions over the past few days, but it was the first time he’d gotten a glimpse inside. He’d been surprised to find it so stark, barren of all sign of the woman who lived there. Well, except for the stacks of books, some that bore the plastic covers indicating they came from the library.

It reminded him of his place.

As he climbed into his company SUV, he ousted the reflection and replaced it with the memory of kissing Regina.

Or had she been kissing him?

Definitely a mutual kiss.

They’d been dancing in her living room, her face alluring in the flicker of the candlelight. Her friend Vivienne had essentially passed out on the sofa, an empty bottle of Merlot tucked in her arm, leaving him alone for all intents and purposes with Regina. Which is what he’d been angling for all evening.

She’d seemed to read his thoughts and swayed into him, her mouth millimeters from his.

Oh, he’d kissed her all right.

And kissed her and kissed her and kissed her.

He couldn’t recall a time when he’d enjoyed feeling a woman’s mouth against his so much.

Then she’d pressed her hips against his in an instinctively female way that set his every male instinct ablaze and he’d suddenly wanted much, much more.

In that one moment, he hadn’t cared if she stumbled a bit when he walked her toward her bedroom. He’d only known an intense desire to be buried deep inside her. To watch her mouth open in a soft moan. To hear her throaty sounds as they had sex.

They were no sooner in the bedroom than she was pulling open his jeans while simultaneously trying to strip him of his T-shirt. He’d chuckled, helping her even as she tugged at her own clothes.

Within seconds they were both naked…and she was dropping to her knees to take his pulsing length into her sweet mouth.

Linc swallowed hard, his jeans tightening at the mere memory. It had felt so good having her attention focused so intensely on pleasing him. More, it appeared she drew pleasure from the sexual act. He knew plenty of women who did it as part of a show, looking up at him perhaps in approval, or to check to make sure they were getting the reaction they were after. Not Regina. Her attention was solely on what she was doing.

And oh, she had done it so very, very well…

He hadn’t planned to come, but he couldn’t help himself. She’d easily adjusted, smoothing his semen over his still-hard length then licking him clean.

Hell, he’d nearly come again just watching her.

Then she’d stood up and nearly fell over.

And he knew he couldn’t take it any further.

He groaned now as he had then. He’d had every expectation that sex with her would be even better than the blow job, but he’d known it wasn’t a good idea to go any further than they had. Especially since he was afraid he’d allowed things to go too far already. He didn’t want her regretting anything that passed between the two of them. Ever.

As he drove toward his own apartment across town, he reminded himself there was another, primary reason why he needed to keep her friendly: she was the key to his catching her ex.

He grimaced. How had a woman like Regina ever become involved with the likes of Billy Johnson? It was a thought he wouldn’t have entertained for more than two moments before. Who cared, so long as he met his objective? But now that he’d spent a little time with her, he couldn’t help wondering what she’d found attractive in the no-good criminal.

As far as he could tell, she led a clean life. Even under her own name, she held no record.

She was the only child of a single mother. She’d grown up and had lived her entire life in the small town of Livermore Falls, Maine…until leaving after Johnson’s sentencing.

Could limited options have been the reason she’d hooked up with Johnson? A check of an online high school yearbook found Johnson had graduated two years before her. In a town where the entire senior class was only thirty students, he figured opportunities would have been greatly limited.

It was something with which he personally couldn’t identify having grown up in the Bronx, where he couldn’t have named ten percent of his graduating class much less every one of them.

At any rate, that was a long time ago.

His cell rang. He picked up on the second ring. “Yeah.”

“Some information came in on that fugitive.”

One of his contacts from Quantico.

“Shoot.”

“There’s a report out of August, Maine. It’s believed he was pulled over for speeding eighteen hours ago.”

“They’re holding him?”

“No, they let him go. They didn’t realize who they had until an hour afterward.”

Linc had heard far too many stories of a similar nature. Close calls, near misses. Of course, in this case, it was probably a good idea the officer hadn’t been following national news bulletins or he might have ended up dead.

He didn’t see Billy Johnson allowing himself to get nabbed during a routine traffic stop. Had the officer tried to arrest him, no doubt Johnson would have pulled out the gun he undoubtedly had. And he would have used it.

“So he’s hanging around home, then.”

“Looks that way.”

He thanked the contact and disconnected even as he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex. Ten minutes. That’s all it would take for him to grab a shower, dress and be back out in the car. He needed to check in at Lazarus, then map out Johnson’s possible whereabouts and try to figure out where he might be heading next.

And how long it would take him to make his way to Colorado Springs.

In the meantime, it was still a good idea to stick as close to Regina as possible.

His immediate jolt of desire at the prospect made him grimace…

4

“HEY! WATCH IT!”

Regina grabbed napkins from the table holder to mop up the water she’d just accidentally spilled on a guest. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know where my head is today.”

A lie, to be sure. She knew exactly where her head was. And where it had been all morning.

She was an hour into the lunch rush and this was the second time she’d spilled something. Unfortunately, the first time had been coffee. Fortunately, it hadn’t been on the customer.

Seeing as she worked mostly for tips, she figured she could rule out getting anything from the upset businessman who snatched the napkins from her and then waved her away.

Sigh.

She hadn’t been scheduled to work until later that afternoon, but the owner, Trudy Grant, had asked her to come in when one of the other waitresses called in sick. No matter how much she would have liked to decline, she could use the extra money. And anyway, she’d hoped keeping busy would take her mind off other, um, uncomfortable thoughts.

When she’d finally come out of the bathroom earlier that morning, she’d found Linc gone and Viv dressed. She and her friend sat down in the kitchen to drink the coffee he’d brought them (if that’s what you could call her choking down a small portion of it), but she’d quickly found out Viv wasn’t any more enlightened on the previous evening’s events than she was.

“God, I hope nothing happened,” Viv had said.

Regina had nodded in full agreement, relieved she shared her hope.

“Although not for the same reason as you, I suspect.” She’d sipped her coffee loudly. “If something like that goes down, I want to remember every last sweet moment of it.”

Regina had found an excuse to usher her friend and her outlandish ideas out of the apartment as quickly as possible. Then she’d spent the next two hours frenetically cleaning the place from top to bottom, although it hadn’t needed it. The physical activity had made her feel marginally better. But when she’d gone in to catch a shower, she’d discovered her mind going straight back to Linc and the night before.

She distinctly remembered him backing her into her bedroom…kissing…lots of kissing…and then she’d gotten down on her knees…and…

Oh, hell…

She spilled water from the pitcher again, this time on her way back to the kitchen. Brian, the busboy, shook his head and grabbed a mop to clean it up before someone slipped on the wet tile.

“Are you all right?” Trudy asked.

Regina finally put the water pitcher down and wiped her damp palms on the front of her white apron. “Late, um, night.”

“You? Well, then, you must tell me all about it.”

LINC SPOTTED REGINA the instant he walked into the diner.

It was just after seven and the dinner crowd was mostly gone. Regina sat at the end of the counter. One of her shoes was off and she slowly rubbed her bare foot against the shin of her other leg, engrossed in something she was reading in front of her. She was half turned away from the door, so he could see little more than her profile. But even in her plain gray uniform and white apron, her hair pulled up haphazardly, she was still the prettiest girl in the room, regardless of what room or how empty or full it was.

Damn. He’d hoped seeing her again would provide the evidence he needed to prove she was nothing special; allow him to forget how incredible it felt to have her full mouth on him. Instead, he couldn’t help noticing what made her unique, and the desire to sample that mouth seemed to have doubled.

Regina lifted her head as if hearing something. Then she turned and met his gaze as if knowing he was there looking at her.

He couldn’t help smiling.

And his groin tightened when she easily smiled back.

“Can I help you?” a girl who was probably no older than sixteen asked.

“I’ve got it, Tiffany,” Regina said, coming up behind her.

“I thought you clocked out?”

“Well, I just clocked back in.”

“Whatever.” The girl walked off.

Linc chuckled and Regina smiled.

“Need I ask if this is a coincidence?” she said, motioning for him to take a seat at one of the front booths. He slid in and she did the same opposite him.

“Is what a coincidence?”

“This. Your stopping by the same diner where I work.”

His grin widened. “You suggested I stop by. Remember?”

She looked down at her hands in her lap.

“You don’t…”

Of course she didn’t, he knew. She hadn’t said one word about where she worked. But he guessed she recalled very little about last night, which left him a lot of room in which to wiggle. And he planned on doing a lot of moving. Whatever it took to nab her ex.

His objective tonight was to find out if she’d heard from Billy. And if she had, to get an idea of where he might be.

“Did I suggest anything specific?” she asked. “You know, did I invite you here or…?”

He squinted at her, trying to follow her line of thinking. Then he shook his head. “No. I’m just here for a meal. And some good company.”

She pulled one of the menus in a stand free and slid it in front of him. She looked ill at ease. Much like this morning. Only with clothes.

He found his gaze dropping to where the material of her uniform stretched against her chest. Not overly generous, but he’d seen enough the night before to leave him with a lasting impression. Along with a lingering desire to sample each.

“Look,” she said, clearly uncomfortable. “Before you order, I need to ask you something…”

He waited, not about to let her off the hook she strained against, but not enjoying watching her struggle nonetheless.

The truth remained that he could have easily taken advantage of her last night. And while he got the distinct impression she’d been acting out of character and wasn’t the type to indulge in one-night stands with perfect strangers, well, what could he say he knew about her?

And what if it had been someone else her friend had pulled up to dance?

“Okay, I don’t know how to say this except just to say it,” she said finally. She lifted her eyes to stare into his. “Did we…sleep together last night?”

He liked her directness. As well as the earnest expression on her face. As if prepared to face the consequences, whatever they may be.

“You don’t remember anything?” He was a little disappointed she didn’t remember putting her mouth on him. Especially considering the impact it’d had on him.

Her lashes created shadows on her cheeks as she looked down, a pink blush covering her skin. But if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a little, naughty quirk to her lips as she said, “Well, I remember one thing…”

Linc shifted in the booth. So she did recall their encounter. That pleased him.

“Nothing happened,” he said.

She blinked to look at him. “Pardon me?”

His gaze locked with hers and for a moment, everything seemed to stop.

He wasn’t sure what it was about this one woman, but she seemed capable of seeing him in a way he hadn’t been seen in a good long time. And it both calmed and agitated him.

“Well,” he said quietly, sure his own lips were doing a bit of quirking. “Outside the one, um, thing…”

She laughed.

The sound was a welcome and sexy surprise. It told him she wasn’t sorry about what had passed between them, while leaving the door open for perhaps something more. Still, it spoke of her relief that her memory wasn’t faulty.

“Nothing?” she asked, a decidedly suggestive glint emerging in her green eyes.

His pants grew tighter. “Yet.”

“So are you going to sit here with him or wait on him?”

Linc hadn’t heard the irritating teen waitress approach until she popped her gum and intruded on the moment with her question.

He watched Regina’s smile widen as she reached down to take off her apron and fold it on the table in front of her. “I’m hungry. How about you?” she asked him.

Suddenly he was ravenous. And not for anything on the menu, either…

THE NIGHT WAS PLEASANT enough compared to the recent heat wave they’d been experiencing lately, and the air was filled with the scent of flowers. So much unlike summers in Maine when evenings like these might require a sweater.

Regina couldn’t remember a time when she’d so thoroughly enjoyed a man’s company doing something as simple as taking a walk after a meal.

“Haven’t you been on your feet all day?” Linc asked.

They both looked down at her sensible, thick-soled shoes, reminding her she still wore her uniform. Funny, she half expected to be clad in something comfortably appealing, based on how she felt.

“Yes.”

“Would you prefer to go someplace where we can sit?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m actually enjoying a walk longer than the length of the diner. Besides, this is nice.”

Silence fell between them, something it seemed to do often. Linc didn’t appear to be a man much for talk. And she liked that about him. Liked that there could be quiet without either of them feeling the need to fill it.

And for the first time in what seemed like forever, she felt…safe somehow. As if she didn’t have to keep looking over her shoulder, waiting for the shadow dogging her heels to rise up and suffocate her.

“So, are you from Colorado Springs?” she asked.

“No. New York.”

“City or State?”

“Technically, both.”

“I can’t say as I’ve ever met anyone actually from New York City.”

“Well, you can now.”

He had a great smile. One that seemed to surprise him as much as it did her whenever he used it.

“Which part?” she asked.

He hesitated for a heartbeat. Something that might go unnoticed in mixed company, but that she made a mental note of. “The Bronx.”

“I’m from Maine,” she offered without being asked, surprising herself. The story she’d concocted to protect herself had her from Boise. Why had she just told him the truth?

“I thought you said you were from Idaho?”

“Did I?” She must have shared more than she realized last night. What else had she said? She hoped not too much. She’d been so good over the past year and a half. So why was she revealing so much about herself now? And why to him?

“Yes.”

She tried for a casual laugh. “I must have been really drunk.”

“And you told me you were from Idaho because you were afraid I’d look you up?”

“Something like that.” She moved closer to him as another couple approached from the opposite direction. Her arm brushed his, sending shivers across her skin. “So, you know I work at a diner…”

“And are studying, if the books I saw you poring over earlier are any indication.”

She’d stowed the textbooks in her car before they went for their walk. “Yes, I’m studying to become a registered nurse. I volunteer ten hours a week at Beth El.”

He didn’t look surprised.

“So what do you do?”

“Me?”

“Mmm.”

“What do you think I do?”

“If I had to guess…” She looked over his close-fitting T-shirt and jeans with an appreciative eye. “Personal trainer?”

His chuckle filled the night. “A personal trainer?”

“Yes. Why is that amusing?”

“So, I look dense?”

“What, are you saying personal trainers are stupid?”

He didn’t respond, merely shook his head and continued walking.

“So what do you do then?”

“I’m in security.”

She was a little more careful with her response this time. “Like a night watchman?”

His chuckle tickled her ear. “Slightly more advanced.”

“Oh?”

His answer was another smile.

“Okay. A mystery.”

“Hopefully one you don’t feel compelled to solve.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do an internet search on you.” His expression sharpened. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

A heartbeat of silence and then he offered, “Maybe you should be.”

His words struck her as odd, and her footsteps slowed until she’d stopped altogether.

5

OKAY, ON the moron-o-meter, that comment ranked somewhere between asinine and flat-out stupid.

“I’m just saying that in this day and age, well, checking someone out may not be a bad idea. The technology’s there—it’s dumb not to take advantage of it.”

“Is that what you do? Do you perform background checks?”

“No.”

She’d resumed walking and he slowed his steps to allow her to catch up.

“I’m a partner in a private security firm. We handle various aspects of a company’s needs.”

“And before that?”

“I was a Marine.”

He kept his eyes trained forward but felt her gaze on his profile for a long moment.

“I can see that,” she said quietly.

He looked at her.

“My father was a Marine,” she said.

He hadn’t known that. Of course, her background material merely noted the basics: father deceased when she was six.

“Once a Marine, always a Marine,” he said.

The light briefly left her eyes. “Yes, well, then my dad is a Marine with wings. He was killed in combat when I was young.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” She looked down at her feet and then at him. “What about your dad?”

He shrugged.

“Would you rather not talk about it?”

“There’s really nothing to talk about. I don’t know my father outside the name on my birth certificate.”

A long silence and then she asked, “Have you thought of looking for him?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Closure, I suppose.”

“I’m not even sure he knows he has a son.”

“Don’t you think he deserves to know?”

“What?” He stared at her.

“I guess I worded that wrong—wouldn’t you want to know if you had a son out there?”

He’d never quite looked at it that way before.

The truth was, his mother had never really mentioned his father outside of saying he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him. He had been a one-night stand. And both his parents had been no more than sixteen at the time. Linc had been raised by his aunt.

He hadn’t realized he’d spoken the words out loud until Regina asked, “What happened to your mom?”

Lord. Had he ever told anyone this before? He must have at some point. But damned if he could remember. Which made it doubly interesting that he was sharing the information so easily with Regina.

“She moved to L.A. when I was an infant. I barely saw her while I was growing up. I talk to her every now and again, but for all intents and purposes, my aunt has always been my maternal figure.”

Her arm brushed against his and then she was entwining her fingers with his. He was glad for the touch and squeezed her hand. The desire to squeeze much, much more was growing with every step they took.

“My mom and I were always close,” she said quietly. “I miss her now we’re so far apart.”

“She still in Maine?”

She nodded and then looked in the opposite direction as if to keep him from seeing her expression. “I keep trying to talk her into moving out here with me, but…well, she says that’s where she was born, that’s where they’ll bury her.”

She looked sad somehow. Alone.

And Linc was surprised by the desire to protect her that surged within him.