Jill Shalvis - Superb And Sexy

They were a second away from being discovered, which was a hell of a time to realize that Brody’s brilliant idea of saying that they’d taken the honeymoon mobile didn’t seem too brilliant.

Not when they were both still fully dressed. “Your shirt,” she hissed. “Give me your shirt!”

While he tugged it over his head, she yanked on the sleeve of her own shirt, revealing a bare shoulder and nearly a breast in her haste to make it look like they were in the throes of passion.

That was as far as she got before the door handle slowly turned.

Too late for panic, Maddie knew, painfully aware of the door creaking open. With her life passing before her eyes, and Brody’s, too, with his hard thighs pressed to the backs of hers, she struggled to look turned on, completely in the moment, because that’s what honeymooners did, right? They had wild animal sex everywhere, never in a bed, so it should seem rational that they’d be down here at her workstation, jumping each other’s bones.

Or so she hoped.

All they had to do was make it look good, real good. Turning her head, she sought Brody’s mouth with hers, sliding her tongue into his open mouth, absorbing his murmur of surprise while arching back against him, rocking her bottom to his crotch.

As the door opened, Brody’s hands dropped from his waist to her hips, squeezing gently before one hand slid to her belly, his fingertips spread so wide they nearly touched the undersides of her breasts.

Not good enough because someone was watching, maybe trying to decide if they should be brought to Rick…

“Here,” she panted, trying to sound sexy in her panic, but sounding more like a porno queen, and a bad one at that. She arched her throat so that the back of her head was cushioned in the meat of his shoulder. The movement arched her back, too, filling his hand with her breast as she ground her bottom into his crotch. “Yeah, oh yeah, just like that…Brody, baby, tell me you have a condom in your pocket.”

Voice low and husky, he nipped at her jaw. “For you, baby, I’ve got anything you want.”

Acting. They were acting. Trying to prove they were so hot for each other that they’d left her bedroom to make it somewhere else, maybe a whole bunch of somewhere elses, just because they could. She knew it, so why did her nipples harden? “This room makes what?” she asked breathlessly. “Room number three?”

“Don’t forget the bathroom.”

Where they hadn’t been acting…“Right. Four. You’re such a stud.”

The sound he made might have been a snort. Turning her head, she nipped his jaw. Don’t make me laugh.

His hands tightened on her. “Maybe the kitchen next,” he murmured. “There are utensils in there for all sorts of things, especially bad girls like yourself.”

Funny. Wasn’t he so funny?

Were they still being watched? She didn’t dare look. “You don’t need utensils. You’ve got all I need, baby.”

“Do I now?”

“Yeah.” And he had all she could ever need now.

His gaze slid briefly to the door, then back to her, filled with such fierce protection and anger that she knew that yeah, they were still being watched. Worse, she knew that if anyone caught that look on his face, they’d know he was capable of being a huge threat, so she hooked an arm around his neck and tugged his face down to hers, taking his mouth with hers to keep his expression hidden.

Anything to keep him safe, even if it meant kissing him, and kissing him…which of course, was no sacrifice at all because man, the guy could kiss…long and deep and hot, and the feel of his tongue dancing to hers was making her wish they were alone, back at her place or anywhere other than here.

How long could they do this? And what would happen if they stopped? Not willing to take the chance, she let the show go on. The Brody and Leena Show. “Here,” she whispered huskily-a tone she didn’t have to fake-and bent forward over the desk, shooting him a come-get-me smile over her shoulder, using the excuse to peek at the door.

Yeah. Still a big, beefy shadow standing there.

Eyes smoldering with temper, and also a heat that stirred her up pretty good, Brody wrapped himself around her, using his free hand to swipe the desk free of the tools in front of her. They clattered to the floor, and as a gesture, even a pretend gesture, it made her knees weak. If only they didn’t have an audience. If only he could unzip his pants, pull down hers, and push into her-

God. It definitely was no hardship pretending to be lost in the throes. Brody had kept her completely covered, but opening his mouth over hers, he let his thumb come up and over her nipple, back and forth.

God, she wanted this to be real. Needed it to be real. “Brody-I can’t stand.” To prove it, her knees buckled.

He slid down to the floor with her, out of sight of the door. Heart pounding in her ears from adrenaline, fear, and a lot more, she gripped onto him and put her mouth to his. “Are we alone?”

He took a peek. “Yeah.” Sinking all the way to the ground, he leaned against a leg of the desk. “Jesus,” he breathed and then again, more softly, shoving his hair back with hands that weren’t quite steady. “Stud?”

“Utensils?”

He managed a smile, but it was fleeting.

Her hands weren’t any steadier than his as she righted her clothes, her body still hot and sweaty and definitely on overdrive. “That was close. And I’m all hot and bothered. I need another shower.”

“Too bad. You’re not taking one until we’re out of this fucking Alice in Wonderland nightmare.”

And once they were, she’d be busy finding her sister. Following the grand Plan.

He was watching her carefully. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, there’s something. Spill it. You don’t see us taking this thing back with us to Sky High?”

Yeah. Yeah, she did. That was the problem. But it wasn’t going to happen, unfortunately.

“What was your original plan, before you and your sister got your signals crossed?”

“Brody-”

“Ah, Christ. Tell me you weren’t going to just run away.” He stared at her. “You were.” He pushed to his feet, staring down at her. “You were just going to leave your place, your job, the people in your life. Shayne, Noah…”

Him.

But he didn’t say that; he just shook his head in disbelief. “Come on.” Turning back to the room, he began searching again.

She got to her feet and joined him. They worked in silence, and as they decided a few minutes later, in vain.

Defeated, they left the workroom. Not stopping at the kitchen, utensils or otherwise, they headed straight for Leena’s room.

Maddie had no idea if the surveillance cameras were back up and running, but knowing it was a possibility, she didn’t say a word. Didn’t have any words to say anyway.

But it was nearly dawn now. They could go to meet their charter boat for their ride to Nassau.

“Get your things,” Brody said. “We’re getting out of here.”

When she didn’t respond, he tugged her close, bending a little to look directly into her eyes, his own a little hot, undoubtedly because she’d failed to tell him about her plan. “We’re leaving,” he repeated very softly but with unbendable steel in his voice. “We’ll find another way to deal with what we need to deal with.”

“Brody-”

“No, I mean it. I’ll help you find another way; you’re just going to have to try something new and trust me.”

Trust him. A promise that just might be even more terrifying than anything she’d faced so far, and that was saying something.

Brody didn’t take a deep breath until they’d set foot down on Nassau’s shores. He took Maddie directly to a huge, luxurious five-star resort, not even wincing when he handed over his credit card to be abused because he wanted that look of failure off of her face yesterday.

Then, and only then, could he deal with how furious he was at what she and Leena had planned to do.

Maddie stood in the center of the lobby looking out the huge windows toward the ocean as he waited for their room key, and when he got it, he walked up to her.

“I can’t believe Rick actually let us go,” she said.

Brody either. “At least you’ve given your sister a head start. Rick won’t need her again for a while.”

“Hmm,” she said noncommitally and followed him to the elevator. “Why are we staying here?”

“You said you wanted to take a shower.”

She stared at him. “Are you telling me you just paid nearly a thousand dollars for a five-star suite so that I could take a shower?”

“Yeah.”

She just stared at him some more as if maybe he was the best thing since sliced bread, so he moved in close, lifting a hand to her jaw. With his thumb, he stroked her skin, not liking how pale she seemed or the purple bruises beneath her eyes. “Let’s call it a present. From me to you. Okay?”

“I want to give you a present, too.”

“Yeah? Then abandon your plan. That could be a great present. The best present. The king of all presents ever.”

They got off the elevator to walk to their spacious, gorgeous room. Maddie checked her cell phone for at least the hundredth time, waiting fruitlessly for a call from Leena. Then she looked at Brody.

The despair in her gaze killed him, and he discovered standing there, exhausted himself, feeling more than a little raw and unsettled, he needed to touch more than her face, so he pulled her into his arms.

“I could have gotten you killed,” she whispered.

“But you didn’t. I’m still very much alive and well.”

That she even allowed his hug told him more about her mental state than anything she might have said. She simply wrapped her arms around his waist and set her head against his chest with a long, shuddery sigh. “Brody.” It did something to him, her holding on to him. It cut through all the uncertainty of his feelings for her, the ones he’d simply set aside rather than face, and told him the truth.