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The feel of the subtle tremors racing through her delicate body had the power to piss him off as nothing else could. It was like this every time he neared her, every time the hunger flared between them. She would tremble, get that look of wariness in her eyes, and instantly retreat.
He was damned sick of her retreating.
“Why are you scared of me?” Focusing his gaze back on her, careful to keep his voice too low to carry beyond the room, he demanded an answer.
“I am not scared of you. ” Determination and fiery stubbornness filled the deep sea green of her eyes and tightened the kittenish features of her face.
“Then what are you scared of?” Lowering his voice further, Jed brushed his lips against the swollen curves of Piper’s while fighting the nearly overwhelming need to steal another kiss. To forget his partner was awaiting him and that now was not the time to make slow, easy love to her.
He would never pull himself from her if he did.
Elijah could walk in on them and it wouldn’t stop Jed from having her.
“Don’t you have to go to work or something?” she muttered instead as she pushed at his shoulders. “Let me up, Jed, before Elijah starts picking the lock. ”
Elijah sure as hell wasn’t above it if he thought the situation warranted it.
“What makes you think he would pick the lock?” He knew Elijah would do it, but what made her think he would?
Piper rolled her eyes up at him.
“Do I really look that stupid to you, Jed?” Mockery filled her gaze as he levered himself from her body.
He watched silently as she hurriedly pulled the shirt over the swollen mounds of her breasts and pushed the material of her skirt back down her legs before sitting up quickly.
A second later she was standing and sliding her feet back into the sandals she had somehow managed to lose. Or had pushed from her feet as he picked her up moments ago.
“You don’t look stupid at all. ” Arching a brow, he strode to the chair across the room where he’d laid his clean clothing earlier.
Pulling boxer briefs over his legs and then the raging erection that refused to soften, he sat down, never taking his eyes from her, and pulled white socks over his feet.
She wasn’t saying anything more.
Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts in a classic defensive posture as he almost gave in to the urge to sigh wearily.
Standing, Jed picked up an ink pen from the table next to him before moving to her once again.
She always carried her date book, with a small sketch pad in it, with her. At the moment, it was tucked in the side of the cleaning carryall she’d placed on the floor when she entered the room.
Bending, he pulled the five-by-seven leather-bound journal from the side pocket, flipped it open, then quickly scrawled his cell phone number in the back. The sketch pad enclosed with it was filled with colorful sketches of clothing designs and scrawled with notes. He would have loved to flip through the new designs he only glimpsed, but knew from experience she’d become immediately defensive.
“What’s that for?” she questioned warily as he finished.
Tucking the book back in place, Jed straightened and stared down at her with a sense of heavy disappointment.
“When you decide you can give me a chance to prove that I have no intention of tying you down, Piper, then give me a call. ” Yeah, he knew at least part of her problem.
Strong men, men born with the same arrogant determination her Mackay brother and cousins possessed.
Capping the pen, he tossed it to the bureau close to the bed, then turned and moved back to the clothing he’d abandoned moments before.
He was aware of her watching him as he pulled on his jeans, secured the belt he’d already pushed through the belt loops, then pushed his arms into the white, long-sleeved dress shirt he’d chosen to wear.
White was for meetings; dark colors were for on the job. And all of it was bullshit, despite the sense of fulfillment he was getting from it. Far more fulfillment than the daily lies and undercover crap he was forced to practice.
“Why would I be afraid you could even come close to tying me down, Jed?” she finally asked, her lips curling into an amused little smile of disbelief. “Really? Do you think I’m attaching more to this”—she waved her arm toward the bed—“than what you intend?”
Using the chair once again, he sat down, pulled on his boots, and never took his eyes from her.
