Page 50 of Hooked on Trouble

Now she’s mine.

I shake out the blanket I brought from my car, throw it around my shoulders, and sit on the sand. I pull her down between my legs.

Sighing, she nestles her back into my chest. “I’ve never done this.”

I wrap the wool blanket around us. “Sat on a beach?”

She jabs her elbow into my side. “No, jackass. The girlfriend-boyfriend thing. Sitting together. Just being. Not flirting as a prelude to the main event.” Her deep inhale forces us closer. “This is just…more. I’ve never had more.”

Exactly how she makes me feel. I squeeze my knees around hers and dip my head to kiss her cheek. “It’s why I suggested this. I can’t control myself around you. Knew we’d be sweaty fast at your place, which is pretty fucking amazing. But I like this, too. A lot.”

She twists her head until our lips meet. A slow kiss later, she says, “Not that I’m complaining about the naked parts. Just so we’re clear.”

I brush her nose with mine. “That mean I get to see your ink again tonight?”

“How do you get off a nonstop flight?” She matches my stupid question with her own.

“Carefully,” I say. “Or with a parachute or a really long zip-line.”

Her body relaxes into mine. “You into that stuff? Extreme sports?”

“Nope. That’s Sawyer’s thing. I have enough excitement with my job. Enough adrenaline with Nikki and Josh to last a lifetime. You?”

“I’ve always wanted to jump from an airplane. Love the idea of how liberating it would feel. Like flying. Same reason I wanted to be a pirate as a kid. Freedom to escape life for a while. But it’s always been too expensive, and the move sapped my savings. Maybe if our event business takes off.”

If it doesn’t, she could seek the nomadic life she once craved. We might not find her sister, and she could get frustrated and move on. The thought has me tightening my arms around her. “But you plan on staying in Vancouver? You like it here?”

“I love Vancouver. The mountains. The ocean.” She reaches behind her back and cups my dick over my jeans. Little devil. “Everything’s bigger and better than back home.”

A man strolls past us, his beagle tugging him along, not another soul visible on this stretch of sand. Under the cover of the blanket, I could unzip her jeans and touch her and let her stroke me until I spill onto her hand, but that’s not why we’re here. I pull her hand away and brush my lips over her black nails. “Good. I like having you here.”

“Enough that you’ll pose for me?”

“Pose?”

“Yeah, pose. As in model for some photographs. You owe me one after tonight’s ambush.” Her fingers drift over my forearms, along the muscle, then circling the bone at my wrists. “I snuck some ass shots of you a few times, but I’d like to add a few in the buff.”

I’m no exhibitionist, but there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for Raven. “Don’t those always end up on the Internet?”

“Only if you’re a movie or reality TV star. So unless you plan to pilot a show called Hot Cops of Vancouver, I think you’re safe.”

I came down here to cool the fire between us, but her hand on my cock just now and picturing her studying me, naked, through her lens, aren’t helping. “I’ll pose. On one condition.”

“Does it involve listening to more country music?”

“I get to take some of you.” Study every line and dip of her body.

She purrs and nestles farther into me. “You have yourself a deal.”

I also have myself a hard-on.

Waves lap into shore, the sound rolling over us, her ass flush against my erection. Instead of dragging her back to her place, I enjoy the slow burn, the sweet anticipation. The briny air on my tongue. We trade stories like in the motel. Our clothes are on this time, her hair tickling my jaw when she moves. She tells me how hard teaching was for her. How the kids were draining, and that she got in shit for playing inappropriate music to inspire them. I tell her about my first day in Police Foundations; I was so damn nervous I sweat through my shirt. The longer we talk, the more I learn, the more I want to know.

“Josh is crazy talented,” she says after we listen to the waves awhile.

“He’s always been good. Guess I didn’t know what to do with that, how to foster him. That’s a big deal, what you suggested tonight. I could tell he was excited.” His skills might not translate to sculpting like Raven explained, but it eats at me he won’t get the chance. Won’t reach his potential.

I must sigh loudly, because Raven takes my hand and plants a kiss in the center of my upturned palm. She traces the dips between my fingers, stopping on the fleshy part between my thumb and forefinger. She seems intense, all at once. Focused on that one spot on my hand, like she’s a fortune teller about to read my future.