Back in the Bedroom

How could he just turn it off? She squirmed a little, and felt his erection against her bottom.

So he hadn’t just turned it off at all. “But—”

“Be good and go to sleep.”

Be good?

Go to sleep?

Was he kidding? The man kissed like no one she’d ever met, touched like no one she’d ever met, and he thought she could just turn it off and go to sleep? “Reilly…”

A soft snore sounded in her ear, making her want to scream in frustration. She couldn’t decide if she hated him or wanted him. Her body was still humming and twitching, so that meant she wanted him, but he’d firmly set her away as if it’d been nothing.

Definitely she hated him, she decided.

Eventually she set her head down on his arm and tried to follow him into slumberland. As far as pillows went, he wasn’t soft and giving, but he sure was warm and smelled like heaven.

And—this was such a terrible thought she couldn’t even believe she’d had it—she was glad he’d been stripped, because feeling his body against hers could take her mind off her troubles as nothing else could.

Unless, of course, he’d kept kissing her.

4

REILLY AWOKE to a jostling that made his head hurt all over again. For a brief flash, he thought he was on a mission and it had all gone really, really bad.

A feeling he knew all too well.

He opened his eyes and promptly wished he hadn’t.

It had most definitely gone really, really bad. It was still dark outside, but that hadn’t stopped Tessa from standing on the cot at his feet and jumping up and down, trying to open the attic access herself, which stayed stubbornly out of her reach by a good six inches.

He did find himself sidetracked as the wide skirt on her sundress flew high on her thighs with each leap, but not even the quick flash of light-blue lace panties could help the hammering at the base of his skull.

Still, he watched for a long moment. Up and down. Up and down. And as she jumped, she turned so that she was no longer facing him, leaving him to notice that with each leap, those light-blue lace panties rose a little higher on those rounded cheeks of hers. She had quite a wedgie going.

“Not helping my head,” he finally said, and startled, she whipped around to face him again, then lost her balance and fell to her knees onto the cot, using his chest as a grip.

Automatically he reached for her, steadied her and she sprawled out against him, slipping her arms around his body with an ease that bewildered him. She stared, apparently enraptured by whatever expression he wore on his face, making him wonder if he’d let his lusty thoughts show.

“Are we going to kiss again?” she whispered.

Oh, yes, he’d definitely let his thoughts show. Plus, now there was a hopeful quality to her voice that made him want to groan. Instead he ruthlessly tugged her skirt down as far as it would stretch over her thighs. No more visuals of that squeezable ass. “No.”

“Because—”

“No.”

Kissing had been a really bad idea. Now that he’d tasted her, it was hard—no pun intended—to get the thought out of his brain, and other parts as well.

“I’m really going crazy,” she whispered.

Yeah, well. Join the club.

“I need out.” She made a fist against his chest and speared him with a frustrated glance. “How can you not need out?”

Simple. Just the thought of being enclosed in that dark attic, of how it would remind him of his last mission and how it had all gone bad, made him break out into a sweat.

“Reilly?” Her fingertips ran lightly over his shoulders.

He wasn’t used to being touched, not like this. Give him a good fight, give him good sex, those were the kinds of touch he was used to.

“If we can’t get out, if we have to stay here, then I have to talk,” she said. “I have to hear you talk.”

“I’m not much on talking.”

She laughed, and the sound went through him like wine. “That’s probably the understatement of the year,” she said and put her head on his shoulder as if they were old lovers.

Or worse, friends.

“My brother, Rafe, is like you,” she told him, her fingers dancing over his flesh. “He only talks when it’s really important. The strong, silent type, I guess you’d call him. Maybe that’s why he’s a good photographer. But my sister…” she said, smiling. “Two peas in a pod. I think Carolyn can outtalk even me.”

“This I can’t imagine.”

“It’s true. I’m the baby of the family, you see, so believe it or not, I didn’t talk until I was three-and-a-half. There was no need for me to say a word, Rafe and Carolyn talked for me. And then one day I just started speaking in full sentences, and I haven’t stopped since.” She smiled. “So. Your turn…you’re an only child,” she prodded gently when he didn’t speak. “Eddie said so.”

“Eddie talked about me?”

“He mentioned you on my first day of work. In fact, Eddie’s so young himself, I actually assumed you were just a kid.”

“He had me when he was a teenager.” Far before he’d finished sowing his wild oats, which had left Reilly alone with his teenage mother, Cheri. But because Eddie hadn’t been a cruel kid, just a stupid one without a condom, he’d given them half of the trust fund he’d been born with. Cheri had saved every penny for Reilly’s college, which he’d gotten halfway through, studying business and finance, before Eddie decided he wanted back in their lives.

Ten years later, both mother and son were still resisting Eddie’s efforts.

“You didn’t grow up with him?” Tessa asked.

“No.” He could feel her breath against his chest, could feel her waiting for more. “I told you, I’m not good at this.”

“Well, we could always escape instead.”

She was something, he’d give her that. Determined and spirited and brave as hell. But against him she felt so tiny, and he knew she’d be utterly defenseless in a fight against those four. He traced the bruises on her throat and felt an odd and unwelcoming urge to keep her safe. “It’s almost dawn. I’ll go soon.”

“But—”

He put his finger over her mouth before it could start running again. Had he wanted to protect her? Well, who the hell was going to protect him, and not from the perps, but from her? “I said I’d go.”

She pulled his hand from her mouth and blinked those dewy eyes up at him. “Okay.”

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t really mean okay?”

“No, really. I’ll…be patient.” She shot him a wistful smile. “Just tonight I was wishing for more adventure and excitement in my life. It’s why I took the job with your father in the first place. I figured a variety of different tasks at different places would help provide some of that. But now that I’ve had a real adventure and real excitement, all I want is my own bed, and maybe a bubble bath to go with it.”

In spite of himself he smiled. “A bubble bath?”

“Strawberry-scented. What are you wishing for?”

A bottle of something aged and expensive. A faceless woman. A break from the nightmares this night had brought back.

But he’d settle for just being out of here. Alone.

“Reilly?”

What the hell. “Sex.”

“What?”

“Forget it.”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “I asked.”

Yeah, she’d asked. He lay there on the small cot with her, soaking up the feeling of being so close to another human being, trying not to think of what they could be doing to pass the time.

Maybe silence wasn’t the way to go after all, because when her mouth wasn’t running off, his other senses sort of took over, starting with how her soft curves felt against him.

“Reilly? What do you do? For a living?”

“Why?”

“Just filling time.” She cocked her head. “Is it a secret?”

“Accounting.”

“You’re an accountant.” Her tone was disbelieving.

“Yep.”

“What did you do before that?”

“Why?”

Now her lips curved and he couldn’t take his eyes off them. Since she was still staring at his mouth, he figured it was only fair.

“Is that a secret, too?” she asked.

“Actually, yes.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

No. He just didn’t want to get into it. He didn’t like to talk about it, and he wouldn’t start now with the woman who was plastered against him from head to toe, feeling soft and sweet and everything he didn’t want but suddenly craved.

“It’s just that you don’t really seem the accountant type to me,” she said. “More like…secret agent man or something.”

Since that was so close to the truth, he didn’t say a word. For distraction, he looked beyond her, out the small window, and saw the pink tinge to the sky. Thank God. “Time,” he said, and carefully disentangling himself from her curvy little body, stood.

Tessa stood, too, and watching the enigmatic Reilly Ledger stretching his long, beautiful body, she felt…confused. Several times now she’d actually thought she’d seen a gentler side to this man, it was part of what had made her melt all over him, what had let her allow him to kiss and touch her like he had, and yet then she’d blinked and it had vanished.

It occurred to her how little she really knew about him, other than he had a king-sized alpha attitude. Oh, and that he kissed like heaven.

Good thing she wasn’t attracted to attitude, not in the least. Nope, give her a kind, warm, safe, beta man any day of the week.

Please give her a kind, warm, safe, beta man. It was her turn for one.

But that kissing like heaven thing…that could be a problem. “You wanted to wait until daylight,” she said, trying not to sound as ruffled as she was. “For safety reasons or whatever.”

“It’s nearly daylight now.” He eyed the access above them with the look of someone about to undergo a root canal without drugs.

“You’re just trying to get away from me.”

He looked so startled, she had to let out a low laugh. “Don’t worry. I often have this impact on people, especially…” Her smile faded, and embarrassed at what she’d nearly blurted out, she lifted a shoulder.

“Especially?”

She looked out the window.

“Oh, now you’re going to go shy on me?”

“On men,” she finished. “I often have this impact—that need-to-run impact—on men.”

He didn’t say anything so she risked a look at him. “What, no comment?”

He was looking at her, his light eyes inscrutable. “I think a guy would be an idiot not to want you. If he was looking for a woman, that is.”

“But you’re not looking.”

He gave a slow shake of his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not looking.”

She managed a wobbly smile. “You’re very sweet to be so kind about it.”

“Sweet and kind are two things I’m most definitely not. Let’s get out of here.”

“Too much confession going on?”

“Too much something.”

She looked out at the brightening dawn. The Angeles Crest Mountains were blooming, as was everything, because in April in Southern California, that’s how it went. Just another beautiful day. They were all beautiful days.

Reilly stood on the bed. He was going to get them out and then she’d probably never see him again. Suddenly she couldn’t remember what her rush was to get out.

If they got out.

His big, beautiful body was tense, his hands in fists at his sides as he stared up at the access, and despite the utter toughness emanating from him in waves, she once again sensed that there was more, much more to this man. “Reilly—”

“Watch out.” He easily reached the ceiling. His arms were taut with strength. Corded tendons stood out in bold relief as he worked the square cover of drywall loose. Under his arms were soft, sparse tufts of dark hair that matched the light spattering across his chest. And those legs…long and delineated with strength. She’d never really understood the debate between boxers and briefs, but the way Reilly filled out his black clingy knit ones made her a firm believer in boxers—

“Tessa?”

“Hmm?” She jerked her gaze off his body, a little horrified to have been caught gawking at the guy who’d been hit on the head, stripped and was now doing his damnedest to get them out of their hell.

His disconcerted gaze told her he knew exactly what she’d been doing and that he hadn’t found it so flattering. He had the drywall off and was handing it down to her.

She took it, set it against the wall and turned back in time to see him pulling himself up with the agility of an athlete. His head and chest disappeared, leaving just the bottom half—which was not a bad view at all—and then he was gone entirely.

A flash of panic hit her, but then he poked his head back in. “I’ll be back for you.”

“No.” She’d gone all shaky again at the thought of being there alone. Before she could think, she leaped onto the cot and reached her hands up. “Take me with you.”

There was a conflicted look on his chiseled features. “I’ll be right back, Tess.”

“No. Don’t leave me here alone. Please?” She lifted her arms up toward him, knowing the impossibility of him being able to pull her up, but—

But nothing. With a grim expression, he reached down, grabbed her hand and pulled her up into the opening of the attic with such ease she could hardly believe it. He scooted back to make room for her as she sat on a beam, surrounded by more beams and insulation.

Yep, they were in the attic, which gaped open to large and unknown depths. In the darkness she could see nothing but Reilly, and had no idea how she’d imagined this as a great plan. “It’s…dark.”

“Yeah.” Hunched over his knees, he rubbed his hands over his face. “I thought for a moment there you’d been shocked into silence.”

“And you liked it, right?” She rolled her eyes and mimicked zipping her lips and tossing away the key.

“Don’t tease me,” he said, and looked around. “Okay, listen. I want you to follow me. And seriously, toss away that key. We have no idea if we’re alone and once we get over another access, any noise at all will echo down.”

“I’ll be quiet. Let’s just do this.”

“Right.” He turned away from her and looked into the black, dusty gloom of the gaping attic.

And didn’t move.

“Reilly?”

“Yeah.”

But he still didn’t budge. She touched his bare shoulder. Beneath her fingers, his muscles leaped. “Hey. You okay?”

“Terrific. I love being in a small enclosed space with no light.”

“You’re really afraid of the dark?”

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