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“Not long.”
“Right. So by not alerting your attention to a wide-open bay, the thief saved himself a couple of minutes, tops. That’s not really worth the effort of getting off the bike and messing with the door, especially since he had no idea when you might come back.”
Delaney rubbed her temples in slow circles. “None of this makes sense.”
“Agreed. That’s why I’m not convinced this was the Dudes.” Sean crossed his arms over his chest. The gesture highlighted his big pecs and biceps. He looked like a tough, sun-kissed cowboy in his boots and jeans. “I know you dislike them, and for good reason. But I’m not convinced they stole your bike.”
“Oh, really?” Delaney crossed her arms over her chest, too. “Then who did? Poor old Walt, the retired shop teacher? C’mon, Sean.”
“I don’t know yet. But I’m going to find out.” This was the first time that Sean’s gray eyes looked the tiniest bit blue, like sparks of the sky had shot through the clouds.
Delaney stepped a little closer, rested her hands on Sean’s biceps and peered up at him. The blue inside the steely gray intensified. “I think you’re wasting your time,” she said. “If you focus on the Dude brothers, you’ll find the evidence.” Though, suddenly, she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. The day was over. The bike was safe. The shop was closed and Wyatt was asleep and happy in the next room. Delaney could pick up the threads of this knotted mess tomorrow, when her head was clear.
Sean’s arms loosened, inviting her closer. “I don’t think I’m wasting my time one bit,” he said, though the tone of his voice suggested that he wasn’t focused on the Dudes anymore, either. He reached up and rubbed the scar near his eye, then blinked a few times, like he was clearing away some dizziness.
It hit Delaney then just how hard Sean had been working on this case. Just how much time he’d been putting in for her. All for her. He must be exhausted.
She held his gaze for a spell before she tipped up on her toes, leaned in and gently pressed her lips to that scar. Sean’s body jolted. He gave a sharp exhale. She lingered there until his arms loosened completely and one of them crooked around her waist.
Delaney drew back slowly. “I wanted to give you something else to think about when you see that scar,” she whispered.
Sean’s eyes changed, pupils expanding. He watched her a moment in silence, like he was making a decision. Then he leaned in, pausing at her lips. Instead of kissing her, Sean dipped his head down and pressed his lips to her neck, just below her jaw. The contact rooted and bloomed, sending a rush of heat through Delaney’s weary body, livening her. He kissed her again, a little lower. Then again, right at the crook of her neck and shoulder. His lips were soft and suggestive. Curious. Warm.
Delaney’s body had the slightest tremble. She could feel it all over, like a tremor beneath her boots. She wasn’t used to patient men. Men who didn’t leap at the chance to immediately get her naked. Men who touched her like she was delicate and worthy of deliberation.
Sean worked his way back up, his breath sweet with the mints he kept in his pocket. After a pause, impossibly soft lips touched hers, brushing against her until her mouth parted. Delaney’s arms went around his neck. One of Sean’s hands was at the small of her back, holding her steady. He suckled her lower lip, then gave a soft lick of his tongue, just a suggestion, an invitation. Her arms tightened as her legs lost their strength. Sean responded by pressing her tighter against his body, offering up his arousal, openly sharing how his body was responding to hers. His lips and tongue traced and teased her own, not too much, not too little, just enough, like a wine tasting, warmth blooming in their shared breath, filling her, all the way down to her gut, then her toes. Sean’s soft groan finished the ceremony, a verbal offering to show her how much he wanted her.
Delaney took a moment to regain her senses, to figure out where she started and ended, before she grasped Sean’s hand and guided him out of the storeroom and upstairs to the apartment. They didn’t even bother flicking on the lights. As soon as they hit the top of the stairs Delaney pulled him against her. They fumbled their way to the bedroom, locked in each other’s arms, their kisses growing more insistent, rougher, desperate. As soon as the backs of Delaney’s legs hit the bed, Sean pulled away. His movements slowed, like he was trying to regain control, slow things back down. His fingertips slid beneath the hem of her shirt, his touch burning over her rib cage. He expertly undid the front clasp of her bra and slid her shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor.
His eyes fixed on her bare skin. “I’ve been dying to know what you looked liked since that last night in your apartment.” Sean’s voice was raspy. “You had on that white top with no bra. I could see a little bit but not everything. Just enough to drive me crazy.”
Little shivers built inside Delaney’s body. Sean ran his hand up her spine, soft enough to raise goose bumps, then rounded over her midriff as he traced his thumbs over her nipples, slow and sweet, until they’d hardened to stiff peaks. He tipped his head down and took them into his mouth, one after the other, his tongue rolling them around with just enough pressure to send tremors shooting into Delaney’s core.
She realized, somewhere in the back of her fizzy mind, that she probably tasted like sweat. They’d been out in the heat all day, but that didn’t seem to faze Sean, who sank to his knees and undid her jeans. He pushed her back onto the bed, and drew off her boots, one by one. There wasn’t much that could make Delaney forget to take off her footwear, but kissing Sean was definitely at the top of the list. Her jeans came off next, then Sean’s fingers gently slipped beneath the simple cotton of her panties and drew those away, too. Once she was fully naked, Sean’s gaze was rapt, his breathing slow and hard.
“Take off your shirt,” Delaney said, with what little voice she could muster.
He obeyed, stripping it over his head and dropping it to the floor. He was leaner than he’d been on their last run, a fact she knew because he’d often mopped his face with the hem of his T that day. He’d been muscular then, but now Delaney could clearly see his abs etched above the hem of his jeans. “I’ve been running more,” he said, following her gaze. “You inspired me to pick it back up.”
“Well, let’s see. I need the whole picture.” Delaney sat up and undid the buttons on his jeans, opening him up slowly and pushing them down his hips. Sean naked was a match to his personality: hard, fast and edgy, like a lithe animal ready to give chase. She admired him for a moment before he pushed her back on the bed, forming a protective cage with his arms. Sean kissed her slowly, starting with her lips, moving to her jaw, neck, up toward her ear, and back again. The hollow of her throat. Her breasts. Delaney’s eyes closed. She hadn’t let go in so long. Always, Delaney was in control, in charge, running the show.
Right now she was glad to forget about everything, just lie there and let Sean do anything he wanted. Sean’s lips and tongue worked their way down, all across her body, a mingling of breath and tongue trailing a path of heat until Delaney was nothing but a puddle, melting into herself, her pulse raging. When Sean had wound her up so tight she couldn’t go another second without feeling him inside her, she pushed against his shoulders and made him flip over onto his back. She reached into the drawer of her end table and withdrew a condom, rolling it slowly over him before straddling his hips. Sean’s hands went to her waist, where he slowly helped guide himself inside. He squeezed her hips, his grip rough, his passion growing, despite how careful he’d been up to this point.
Delaney drew his hands from her waist and pinned them to the mattress. Sean’s body pulsed inside hers, hardening even more as she slowly rocked her hips up and down and around, waves of pleasure already rising and crashing inside her. The feeling of his hard body beneath her, the sound of his gasps and moans as she drove against him were too much. Her climaxes came one on top of the other, a new one starting before the first one even finished.
Sean broke free of her grip, his hands grasping her forearms then sliding around her waist, and pulled her beneath him where he drove deeper inside her, reaching, claiming, owning every inch of her body. Delaney’s arms circled his shoulders, his face in her neck as he gasped and cursed and praised his religion all at the same time.
The sun had shifted in the sky, the late afternoon rays coming through the half-open slats of the shades over Delaney’s bedroom window. She rested in the crook of his arm, her shoulder rising and falling gently in her slumber. Her hair was glossy and ruffled, the back of her neck browned from the sun. A line of tiny black bird tattoos ran from the inside of her shoulder blade, up toward her neck, their wings in different stages of opening and closing, making it seem like they were actually moving. Sean imagined the birds were her soul and her skin was the sky.
She seemed so vulnerable like this. Naked and asleep, her limbs still, the soft curve of her hip peeking out from under the white sheets, her body smelling salty and flowery, like the cup of jasmine tea Sean had once drank at a luncheon where he and Castillo had been undercover.
One of her legs was threaded through his. Her head was tipped forward, into her pillow, highlighting the rounded prominence of her spine. Sean ran his fingertips over the soft skin of her shoulder. Delaney didn’t even twitch, her breathing stayed deep.
The enormity of this moment was not lost on Sean. This was a woman who wouldn’t put her back to just anyone, let alone fall into a hard sleep in a man’s arms. She was completely open, her weapon only a reach away, the dog she’d been entrusted to protect downstairs, along with the prized motorcycle. Everything Delaney cared about was within Sean’s reach. Under Sean’s watch.
He nuzzled close to her neck and ran his lips over the birds, one after the other, drinking in the warmth from her skin. She made a soft noise and shifted, pressing closer. A few more kisses and she rolled over in his arms. Delaney blinked, her dark lashes fluttering over her eyes, bright with sleep. “Hey,” she said. Then smiled.
“Hey.”
