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She leaned back into the spray, the water sluicing over the crown of her head and down her body.
“What do you think will happen to Jakes?” Royce asked as he ran the soap over his skin.
“Mm. He’s out of a job, for sure. But since he was in a rock and a hard place, I think he’ll eventually land on his feet. Maybe not in traditional law enforcement, though.”
Jakes had woken right around the time they found Tia and started talking. From the sound of it, his husband had admitted who he was before they killed him, and in retaliation for the op, or to try and get an in with the ATF, the Spiders MC had abducted Tia, adding her, as it were, to their inventory.
The Spiders MC—or the mysterious Russian Briar had heard Hog mention—had brought Tia to Skagit keeping Jakes under control with threats to send her overseas. Jakes wasn’t clear on who was blackmailing him.
“Why didn’t he ask for help?” Royce wondered.
“People under stress do weird things. Plus, his husband had been brutally murdered, and Jakes was under a lot of pressure.”
“What do you think?” Briar moved around him, brushing her body against his. Royce stepped under the spray, the hot water pounding against his shoulders, relaxing him somewhat. “Did Tor fall or was he murdered?”
The coroner had called and left a message on Royce’s phone while they were at the crime scene, explaining that she’d declared Tor’s death an accident because if he’d been shoved, there was no way to know. Jakes confessed to killing the corpse they’d found upstairs, having tracked the creep to the house and not knowing that Tia had escaped and taken cover there.
“We’re never going to know but if he was pushed, then justice has been served.” She turned, reaching for the soap. “Klay offered me a job today, a permanent position on his team.”
“Oh? What did you say?”
“Told him I’d think about it.”
“Oh.” Royce pushed aside the disappointment that welled up. He would just have to woo Briar in his own way. Convince her that Rexville and him, were worth moving for.
“I did, for about twenty seconds.”
“Oh?”
His heart thumped hard against his chest.
“I accepted. I hope that’s okay with you?”
It was all Royce could do not to crowd Briar up against the tile and immediately demonstrate just how on-board he was with her taking a job close to Rexville. Close to him.
He did pin her against the wall, however—careful of her sore shoulder, of course—and stared into her eyes, trying to read her mind.
He ground his hips against hers. “I have a spare bedroom.”
“I was just thinking about that,” she replied with a mischievous grin, matching Royce’s movement. “What a great space for an office.”
“An office, huh?” he panted, not wanting the hope he felt to be false.
“Yeah, cause we’re going to need a bigger gun locker and it’s passe to store them in the living room.”
He quit trying to resist and, leaning in, he licked across Briar’s mouth, asking to be let in. Her lips parted, and Royce darted his tongue inside, where her tongue met and tangled with his. Briar tasted like the coffee they’d picked up on the way home, and honey. He didn’t know where the honey came from—maybe it was the taste of Briar—but whatever it was he loved it.
She moaned and adjusted her position, her body twitching.
“Your shoulder,” Royce murmured lifting his mouth off Briar’s. “Let’s take this into the bedroom.”
She made a noise of complaint but Royce turned the water off and handed her a towel.
“One of these days, we’re having shower sex,” Briar complained.
“Absolutely, more than once.”
With a laugh, Briar darted around him and into the bedroom, where she flopped down onto the mattress. Following behind her, Royce paused and took a moment to revel in her presence in his house—in his bedroom—in his bed.
“Quit gawking and get over here, I want to feel you against me.”
Grinning, Royce climbed onto the bed, covering Briar’s body with his.
“Is this good, is this what you want?”
She responded by wrapping her arms around his shoulders and her long legs around his thighs and rocking her hips against Royce’s. Any blood left in his brain headed directly for his already rock-hard erection.
“Yesss,” said Briar. “This is exactly what I want. I want you.”
