All that time, his hands were under the dress, holding my ass. As I moved down his body, they slid out and up, forced my back and torso straight, then went under my arms and yanked me up over him, then he flipped me.

Our legs and hips hit the coffee table, it flew to the side, teetered and toppled, remotes, magazines and phones flying everywhere.

His body on mine, he captured my wrists and pulled them over my head and he looked at me.

“You really are in a hurry.”

“I said I was, didn’t I?”

His mouth brushed mine. “Relax.”

“You relax! Can you guarantee that the buzzer isn’t gonna go on the door?”

“No.”

“Can you guarantee that your phone’s not gonna ring, my phone’s not gonna ring, that the whole western part of the United States isn’t gonna fall into the Pacific Ocean?”

I felt as well as heard him give a soft laugh.

“No.”

“I’m sorry about your man, I really am. That sucks and I’m not blaming you but I didn’t get my buzzer rung while you had my mouth between your legs. Catch my drift?”

He nuzzled my neck, still not letting go of my hands.

“I’m beginning to see your point.”

“Well?”

“We’re still gonna take it slow.”

I gave an impatient noise.

“Why?”

“Because I want to.”

“What about what I want?”

His head came up and he looked at me again, his eyes warm.

“You’ll get what you want.”

I glared at him thinking, you bet your sweet ass I will.

He went back to nuzzling and I started squirming. I couldn’t help it, his mouth on my neck felt good.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t in a race for an orgasm because this was Lee Nightingale or because I hadn’t had one for awhile (which I hadn’t, at least not one that wasn’t self-induced) but because I was seriously aroused and had been nursing a slow burn for days.

Lee was good with his hands, with his mouth, his body was so warm it was hot and it not only felt good because of the warmth, but because it was hard and heavy. He was strong which made me feel safe. Something else was hard and pressing against my thigh and I knew what that something looked like and I wanted it. First in my hand, then in me and if there was time in between, there were other things I was considering doing with it.

His hands slid down my arms and his mouth went lower, he skimmed my breasts over the fabric with his lips, then he came back up to kiss me.

My hand went to his ass, inside his jeans, grasping it. When his lips broke from mine, my lips went to his neck, using the tip of my tongue I explored his throat and jaw.

My hand moved from his ass around the side to the front.

“Indy,” he said, part warning, part growl, part laugh.

I didn’t bother with the buttons, my hand dove in and while I kissed him, I found him. With what little room I had between his jeans and his package, I wrapped my fingers around him.

Finally.

“Yes,” I whispered against his lips as I stroked downward.

“That’s it,” he said.

Lee jackknifed up and I lost my hold. He bent over, grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

“What?” I asked.

He bent over again, put an arm behind my knees, one at my waist and lifted me.

“You want fast, we’ll go fast.”

“Yippee,” I said.

He was carrying me to the bedroom. “Did you just say ‘yippee’?”

Oopsie. I didn’t realize I spoke aloud.

“It slipped out,” I told him.

“Well, this is one thing I’m gonna allow you to cute your way into.” He dropped my legs when he reached the side of the bed, released me and sat down to take off his boots but looked up at me. “Don’t get used to it,” he warned.

Whatever, I thought and bent to tug the bows on the straps on my shoes. The tight straps immediately came loose so I kicked the shoes off and straightened, pulled my dress over my head and threw it aside.

I put a knee to the bed, started to crawl in and two hands caught me, flipped me onto my back and in a flash, my panties were pulled off my legs. Just like that, poof, I was naked.

I hadn’t been paying attention, Lee’d been watching me and I was guessing he liked what he saw. Lee also hadn’t wasted any time getting himself naked. He came over me, his eyes so melty-chocolate, they were glistening.

His hand went between my legs, I felt strong fingers and they were magic.

“We don’t have to go that fast,” I said but pressed against him.

“Too late.”

His fingers went away, his hands opened my legs and his mouth went to where his fingers were. The choir had already warmed up and within minutes, his talented mouth and tongue sent me straight to the high note of the aria.

God, it was amazing.

Before I’d finished singing, he was up and over me, sliding inside me and it felt so unbelievably good that even though the first act was pretty spectacular, the second act followed close on its heels and it rocked my world.

* * *

“I think I’m hungry,” I told him after.

“Again?” he asked. “By my count, you came twice.”

Grr.

He would be counting.

I did come twice, well, maybe three times or the second was just really long.

We were all tangled up so I detangled and I slid away from him and searched under the pillow. I found that Judy had not only cleaned but ironed the Night Stalker tee (who irons t-shirts?) and I tugged it on.

“For food,” I turned and looked at him. “Do you want food?”

“What did you make?”

“I was going to make steaks, green beans and au gratin potatoes. I only finished the potatoes.”

His eyes softened when he heard the menu and he said, “I could eat.”

I guess I scored a hit with the meal, even if I hadn’t been able to cook it for him.

I padded into the kitchen and went straight to the wine. I was struggling with the cork when he followed me in, wearing only his jeans. He took the wine from me and effortlessly uncorked it. I grabbed the glasses, set them on the counter and he poured.

I slopped a mess of potatoes in a bowl and nuked them. To satisfy my own hunger, I decided I would skip the potatoes and go straight to the pie. I sipped my wine and watched the microwave, feeling weird. We’d taken another step towards togetherness, the best step by far, but it still freaked me out.

“How was your day?” I asked, trying to cover my discomfort.

Boy, that sounded lame.

“Progress is better on my other cases,” he said behind my back.

The dinger went, I pulled the potatoes out, set the hot bowl on a folded towel and handed it to him with a fork. He leaned a hip on the counter and ate standing up.

I sucked down more wine and headed to the fridge.

“I’ve decided to work the Rosie case again. I’m gonna recruit Tex. He has good skills.”

By this, I meant he wasn’t scared of anything, including breaking the law. Not to mention, he thought I was a fun date.

I opened the fridge and slid out the pie.

Lee was watching me. “You didn’t say anything about pie.”

“Chocolate cream.”

He stared at me, fork frozen halfway to his mouth. Something was working behind his eyes. Whatever it was, he processed it and I could tell it pleased him but he didn’t share it with me. I let it slide, he’d tell me if he wanted me to know but it didn’t take a brain surgeon to realize he liked the idea that I made his favorite pie.

“Why are you goin’ after Rosie?” he asked.

“Because he got me into this and I’m sick of dead bodies and bullets flying. Everyone I love is scared for me and Rosie’s the key. I’m gonna root him out, kick his ass and then things will get back to normal.”

I walked to the other side of the kitchen, slid the pie on the counter and grabbed a fork.

“What you mean is, you’re gonna get Tex to kick his ass,” Lee said.

I considered cutting a piece but decided against it. It was just Lee and me, no reason standing on ceremony. I dipped my finger into the cream and turned to Lee.

“I could take Rosie. No problem.” Then I stuck my finger in my mouth.

His eyes dropped to my mouth as I sucked my finger. I cocked my head and grinned at him. He one-upped me by gifting me with The Smile. The problem was, The Smile was not only amped up with a good deal of warmth and intimacy, it was mega-watt with the knowledge of the great sex that had gone before and the promise of what was to come.

My legs got a little weak.

“Last time you saw Rosie, he was waving a gun at you,” Lee pointed out.

“Tex has a gun.”

“Tex has a shotgun. Civilians with guns are a little scary. Civilians with guns they don’t know how to use are very scary. Toting around a shotgun is just nuts.”

I shrugged, jumped up, planted my ass on the counter, crossed my legs and took another sip of wine. Then I picked up the whole pie, took a moment to decide where to start and decided to start with the best part. I grabbed the fork and I dug straight into the middle.

After about four bites, I lifted my eyes to Lee. He was holding his wine and watching me, his bowl in the sink.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you upset about me bein’ late? You went out of your way with dinner.”

“Nope,” I replied.

“You lie as easy as you breathe, be honest.”

I stared at him.

“Why would I be upset? Do I seem upset? You said you’d call when you were on your way home. I know you’re busy and you have a lot on your plate. I planned dinner accordingly. Nothing’s going to spoil. Jeez, Lee. I may fib every once in awhile but only when it isn’t important. It’s just dinner, not missing a Led Zeppelin reunion.”