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He rocked the handle into her, in quick, rhythmic strokes, as his mouth sucked her sanity away in long, deep pulls…sucked it right out of her body.
The brush disappeared. She had one bereft moment to cry his name before his hot, hard length filled the void. Her body clenched around him like a savior, and spiraled into ecstasy. In the midst of the chaos, he murmured something that sounded like, “Take a ride with me.”
The last aftershocks of an awe-inspiring orgasm rattled through her, and she wasn’t sure she heard him right. The blindfold loosened and fell away. She blinked her eyes open, and looked up at him. “Do what? When?”
He stared down at her from the distance of his braced arms, and then turned his head and placed a kiss on the inside of her left knee, and then her right. Both sat in easy range of his lips, because somewhere along the line, one of them had hitched her legs over his shoulders. He relaxed his arms and brought his body down to hers in a slow, controlled descent. “A drive. With me. Friday.”
She lowered her legs and wrapped them around his waist for the sheer thrill of holding him to her a little longer, enjoying the weight of his body pressed to hers. “Where?”
“Out to the Browning farm.”
Her heart kicked up a little at the invitation, inadvisable as it was. How would it look if people spotted them hanging out together? Questions would be raised, to say the least. She snuggled her face against his neck and inhaled the warm, slightly woodsy scent of his skin. “Uh-oh. Sounds like somebody’s been talking to Tyler.”
He untied her wrists, wrapped an arm around her, and rolled until he’d reversed their positions. “I have. We finished my roof this afternoon and I went over and checked out the site. Longfoot told me they still need hands, so I’m
going to join his crew and put some work in on the restoration.”
His tone remained casual, but she could tell he was excited…or at least interested. A little bubble of happiness floated up into her chest. Working with those guys would do him good. Get him out of his own head. “I’m glad you’re going to lend a hand on the Browning place. Everybody in town is looking forward to seeing how the project turns out, including me. The farm is a piece of Bluelick’s history, and it’s been left rotting on its foundations for too long.” She darted a glance at him, and then traced the letters of his tattoo. “Plus, I like thinking about you out there, all shirtless and sweaty, with Tyler and Junior and the rest of their team.”
“Spend a lot of time thinking about me shirtless and sweaty, do you?”
More than she should. “Don’t let it go to your head. To be honest, what I really like is the idea of you among a group of people, instead of holed up in your cabin all by yourself.”
“I’m fine on my own. With a rare exception or two”—he leaned down and kissed her where her shoulder met her neck—“I prefer my own company.”
“I doubt that. You went to boarding school, and then Annapolis, then the SEALs. You’re used to living, training, and working as a team. You’ve been doing it over half your life. This wall-of-privacy thing you’ve got going is new for you, not the norm.”
His expression told her she’d blindsided him with the insight. It shouldn’t have bothered her. A lot of people discounted her as nothing more than a good-time girl and a gossip—Tom, for one—but she’d hoped she rated a bit higher with Shaun.
“Maybe I hit my limit on group participation, and now I’ve swung to the other end of the spectrum?”
“Nope.” She forced the weight of disappointment off her chest and concentrated on him. “The fallout from your last mission and a difficult transition to civilian life shoved you to the other end of the spectrum, but you won’t stay there forever. Despite what you say, part of you wants to be around people. That’s why you sneak into the back of church and watch the service, or walk downtown for no reason.”
He gave her a long, assessing look, and then his mouth quirked up in a small grin. “You’ve got me all figured out, haven’t you?”
“Hardly.” She nudged his foot with hers. “For instance, I can’t for the life of me figure out why you want to go out to the Browning estate tomorrow evening, with me.”
“Because everybody in town is looking forward to seeing how the project turns out, including you. I figured you might enjoy a preview. It’s a pretty property, even with the main buildings under construction. The crew clocks out at four, so if we arrive around sunset we’ll have the place to ourselves. I’ll bring some sandwiches, and a blanket. We’ll douse ourselves with Off, have a picnic by the pond, and watch the stars come out.”
“Sounds very peaceful.”
“Some of it would be,” he agreed, “but you should also prepare for some vigorous moments.” His big hand found her butt and squeezed playfully.
Yeah, and afterwards, he’d drop her off on her doorstep and drive home to sleep in his own bed, because God forbid he so much as nap at her place. In theory, his habit of leaving worked out for the best. The last thing she needed was Ms. Van Hendler getting an eyeful of Shaun stumbling out her door at dawn. A tidbit like that would travel down every spiraling branch of the local grapevine faster than she could say “lost credibility.” But in practice, waking up to an empty bed sucked. At least it did now, for some reason.
The solution seemed simple enough to her. She could spend the night at his place, because the cabin offered all the privacy anybody could want. The only thing standing in her way was lack of an invitation. And that stung. It also left her conflicted about this invitation. Was this a date? Was he attempting to share something of himself with her, or let her into his life by taking her to a place he’d be spending significant amounts of time and energy? Or was he just down for some outdoor adventures?
Because she didn’t know, and pride forbade her from asking, she rolled off him, stretched, and dodged the issue. “Tyler’s got his hands full right now, between rehabbing the horse farm, and basically rebuilding Josh and Melody’s house from the ground up after crazy Rusty Deemer burned it down.”
The look Shaun sent her told her he’d noticed her retreat, but he didn’t call her on it. “I heard about that. Fireman arsonist, right here in Bluelick.”
“It’s one of the reasons I’m running for mayor. The sheriff’s department dragged its feet on the investigation. They refused to take the first incidents seriously, even after Josh told them he suspected arson. He had to force them to do their job.” She managed to refrain from adding, And your father did everything he could to stop Josh from pushing on them, including threatening to fire him.
“Don’t think much of the organization, huh?”
“Maybe they do a fine job for the rest of the county, but they treat us like the red-headed stepchild. It’s not like we demand a lot of attention and resources—normally things around here are pretty quiet—but when we have a problem, we deserve to have them take it seriously, not just go through the motions. A local police department would provide the support we need, at equal or better cost.”
A memory niggled at her. The night Justin…er…correction, an unidentified person, had sprayed graffiti on her wall, Shaun had been the one to insist she call the sheriffs, and he’d been on a first-name basis with both deputies. “You seemed familiar with the deputies who came out to take the report. Why was that?”
