1:40A.M.
Kendra drew a deep breath and then called the phone number. It only rang once before Lynch picked up. “How nice to hearfrom you, Kendra. I take it that you have an emergency or you wouldn’t be calling me in the dead of night.”
“Stop exaggerating. It’s not the dead of night. It’s barely after midnight. I need to come and talk to you and I didn’t want to have to dodge bullets if you thought I was Cambry or Korkil trying to take you out. Unlock your door and I’ll be there within ten minutes.”
“Good Lord, flying bullets?” His voice was mocking. “I’m terrified. But I’ll try to pull myself together. I assume this is very important?”
“It is to me. I can’t be sure if it will be to you. All I know is that Stevie came to see me tonight, and I decided I had to talk to you.”
“Stevie?” Abruptly the mockery was gone from his voice. “Dammit. What’s wrong now? I was hoping that whatever was bothering you had nothing to do with our own particular nightmare. Get over here right away!”
“I’m on my way.” She hung up and left her bedroom on the upper floor. Five minutes later she was running down the hallway of the first floor toward Lynch’s room. His door flew open just before she reached it. She could see him coming toward her out of the darkness. He was half dressed, shirtless, hair tousled, eyes intense. And he wasn’t waiting for her to come to him. When he reached her, his hands were instantly cupping her shoulders, and he shook her a little as he looked down at her face. “Is everything okay? You said something about Stevie.”
“It was really all about Stevie,” she said breathlessly. “And nothing really happened to either of us. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.” She knew she had to explain. “But she was talking about you, and after she left, I started thinking. Iremembered what you’d said that first night about me not understanding and that we needed to talk. And I knew I had to get everything straight about—” Her voice broke, but that didn’t matter. Because it was already too late and it was clear she’d made a complete disaster of what she’d thought was a perfectly sound and
reasonable idea at the time. “The conversation was also really about her father. She was saying that nothing was really perfect and you had to work at it until it became that way. I agreed with her. But I never expected perfect from our relationship. However, I didn’t deserve you leading me on that nightmare race to know if you were dead or alive, either. If I’m going to be a part of this case, I want to know that you’ll accept me and my work without question.”
“Oh, there will always be questions,” Lynch said. “But you can be sure that I accept every single thing about you . . .” He paused. “. . . with open arms.” He suddenly grinned. “And any other part of my anatomy that you might find desirable. But then you know that.”
Yes, she did. Even now her breasts were taut and tingling as she remembered how often she had known his every movement, every hold and touch. She could feel a sudden ripple of heat as she looked at him.
He nodded as he read her expression. “Me, too,” he said softly. “All this anger and emotion is just leading in one direction that we both know very well. And I don’t want there to be any more regrets for you. It might be best if you leave now.”
She couldn’t seem to look away from him. “Is that an order?”
He shook his head. “No way.”
“Good.” She nodded slightly. “Because I didn’t tell you what else Stevie said before she left the sunroom tonight. She wassaying that when you were waiting for perfect, you had to take whatever you needed from each other and hope it was enough to get by until you got to perfect.”
“Really?” Lynch took a step closer to her. “It seems that Stevie has the makings of a sage. And what are you gathering from that?”
She couldn’t look away from him. And all she could think about was the agony and loneliness of the past days and nights when she hadn’t been sure whether he was alive or dead and whether she’d ever see him again.
“Stevie was talking about her father. I was sympathetic.”
“You always are.”
“It was only later that I realized it also applied to me.” Her hands clenched into fists. “And I decided that I didn’t care about what you wanted to talk to me about or that you were having problems with our relationship. Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than what I’ve gone through lately. It was only after I got here that I decided that maybe that’s why I’d needed to come here tonight.” She started toward him, fists still clenched. “Because at the moment we don’t seem to have anything else going for us but anger and misunderstanding. So I was reaching out to take what I knew never failed us.” She reached out and grasped his shoulders and gave him a firm shake. “So do something about it, dammit!”
Then she was in his arms and she was kissing him. When she finally lifted her head she was breathless as she looked up at him. “Yes, this is what I wanted. This is what I can take. But it’s not the way I had it all planned. It wasn’t supposed to be this . . . earthy. You had those questions and I guess we need to talk about them, too.”
“Do we?” He kissed her again. “I’d forgotten. Perhaps I need a refresher. Let’s start over.” He was unbuttoning her shirt and pulling down her jeans. “Though I do like earthy. But as I remember, so do you.” His teeth were pulling gently on her nipple. “But I should get the basics straight before we go too far. You’re going to use me and take whatever pleases you? Oh, I like that idea.” He dropped his pants, and a moment later, his fingers were stroking her belly and then rubbing deep and hot between her thighs. “And earthy is definitely growing on me.” He smiled when she gasped and her back arched as his fingers sank deep and probing. “I’m even fonder of the idea of pleasing you any way you tell me to. Say the words and I’ll be there for you.” He was carrying her over to his bed. “Because I’m positively really crazy about when you scream when I do this.” He brought her hips up to him and plunged deep!
She groaned as she bit his shoulder. The sensation caused the muscles of her belly to tense as his heat overwhelmed and filled her and the plunging went deeper and deeper and deeper until she was panting and lunging up at him.
Then he went even beyond that.
She arched and screamed.
He laughed. “More?”
Of course she wanted more, and he knew it. He knew everything about her body. But she also knew him, and as she moved over him she could feel the hardness, the passion, the need, and then . . .
The huge explosion of release!
He was gasping and tears were running down her cheeks as the pleasure convulsed and became that boundless need again.
How many times?
