Intimate Desires (The Love and Danger Series) (8 page)

She was painfully conscious of her own need to brush her teeth and pulled back as soon as he lifted his head.  “Go get dressed,” he told her.  “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

She was just about to brush her teeth when she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye.  The man had actually pulled off his boxers in front of her! 

And what was worse, she hadn’t looked away! 

She quickly brushed her teeth, her mind flashing back to his perfect butt over and over again.  She tried to close her eyes, but she couldn’t get the incredible sight out of her head.  She clutched the towel to her breasts as she frantically finished brushing her teeth, then scrambled out of the bathroom. 

When she was alone again, she leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths to get her mind back in control.  Wow!  The man really had an incredible butt!  And his thighs!  Muscular and long with just a touch of hair covering everything but that butt!  Oh my!

She heard the water turn off and realized she was still standing against the wall with the towel wrapped around her.  Since she knew he was about to come out any moment, she grabbed her underwear, a pair of jeans, a tee-shirt and a bra and scrambled out of her bedroom. 

He’d actually chased her out of her own bedroom!  Darn him! 

Tossing the towel onto her big, comfy chair, she pulled on her underwear and bra, sliding her legs into her jeans and was just about to pull her tee-shirt down over her head when she heard her bedroom door open.  She pulled it down with a squeak right before she heard him mumble, “Damn!  Too slow,” under his breath. 

She flung her wet hair off her shoulder and glared at him.  “I still need to dry my hair.”

He chuckled as she stomped back into her bedroom.  “I didn’t kick you out of there.  I would have loved it if you’d stayed.”

He was wearing the same clothes he’d been in yesterday, but his hair was still wet and his face was free of stubble.  She sucked in her breath when she realized that he’d used her razor and that silly, warm feeling of intimacy washed over her once again.  She shouldn’t like that!  She’d been there, done that
with her ex-husband.  She hadn’t liked it when Horrible Henry had invaded her space and, when everything started falling apart, it was even worse. 

So why did she like it so much with Sam?  Why didn’t it bother her when he used her toothbrush or her razor? 

She sighed, not understanding any of this but she didn’t have time now to figure it out.  She snapped on her hair dryer and let the hot air dry her hair, using the noise as a convenient excuse to avoid looking at him. 

But he wasn’t a man who was easily ignored.  He finished putting on his
socks and shoes, then stood across the bedroom watching her, making her feel all gushy and soft and feminine when he had that admiration and heat in his eyes. 

She wouldn’t look at him, she told herself.  But their eyes collided numerous times despite her admonition to stop herself from looking in his direction. 

“Ready?” he asked, his eyes roaming over her figure appreciatively. 

She added mascara, powder and a touch of lip gloss, then, just to make him wait and try to irritate him, she added a pair of earrings.  “Okay.  Now I’m ready.”

He smiled as if he knew something she didn’t and she raised her eyebrows at him.  “What’s wrong?”

He walked over to her and, when he was less than an inch from her, he wrapped his muscular arm around her waist, lifting her up against him and said, “Not a damn thing,”
a moment before he kissed her, thoroughly taking her breath away. 

“Okay, now you’re ready.” He released her, but grabbed her hand and started walking out the door.  Hannah barely had time to grab her purse before he pulled her out of her apartment. 

The sky was barely brushing the horizon when they stepped out into the parking lot.  When they reached his truck, he opened the door and waited for her to get in. 

Before getting into his truck, she turned around to face him, needing to set things straight before they proceeded further. 
“I hope you know that you’re not going to be sleeping in my bed or my apartment tonight.” 

Sam simply
grunted a non-answer, then lifted her up by the waist and deposited her in the passenger seat of his truck.  He didn’t even respond as he slammed the door closed and walked around the front of the truck. 

The five minute ride to her café was spent in
fulminating silence and she tapped her foot on the floorboards while he worked his way through the quiet streets of Chicago.  He didn’t make a straight line to her coffee shop though.  He turned left and right, left and right again.  She was almost lost by the time they pulled into the parking lot in front of her café.  “What was all that about?” she asked, opening the door and jumping down. 

He was already around the front by the time she’d closed her door.

“I was trying to make sure no one followed us.”

That took the
power out of her indignation.  “Oh,” was all she could think of to say.  And then he took her hand again, walking inside.  “Thank you.”

He stood at the doorway, looking down at her.  She stared right back up at him, almost lost in those blue eyes
, her mind quickly moving back to the image of his incredible butt, her short peek at other, more interesting parts of his anatomy….  When he continued to stare at her expectantly, she wasn’t sure what to do.  “What?” she asked, prompting him. 

“Keys?” he asked.

“Oh!  Darn it!”  She jumped and pulled her purse around, digging into the bag to find her keys.  When she found them, she held them up victoriously.

“Good job,” he said,
chuckling as he took them in his hands and unlocked the door. 

They went inside and he locked the doors again.  “Wait right here,” he told her and moved to the back of the store, turning on lights as he went.  He went into every room, even the bathroom, checking the corners and she felt another wave of something warm and wonderful at how careful he was. 

Her whole body tensed when he opened the back door, looking around, even stepping outside and checking the area more closely. 

When he came back inside, she saw the look in his eyes and relaxed, hugely relieved that there wasn’t another dead person propped up against the fence back there.  “All clear?” she asked. 

“You’re good to go.  Do you need any help getting ready?” he asked.

She shook her head. 
“Nope.  This is the easy part of the day,” she explained and stored her purse in the office, then moved about her café, cleaning, setting up, stacking cups and items her team would need when everyone arrived.

When she open
ed the door at six o’clock, Walker was actually the first person through the door.  He saluted her as he stepped inside and sat down at the big table where Sam was already working, papers spread out and laptop humming.  “You’re starting early,” she said and brought both of them a cup of coffee and an egg sandwich, warmed from the oven. 

Sam and
Walker both took sips of the coffee, closing their eyes at the robust flavor.  “This is so good,” Walker groaned, then set it down and grabbed the breakfast sandwich.  “What’s this?”

She waited until they’d taken a bite, watching their faces to determine if they liked the food or not.  When they both nodded with appreciation, she finally relented and told them what was in it. 

“Egg whites with soy milk, tofu sausage and spices on a whole wheat bagel,” she explained with a victorious grin and walked away.  She didn’t want to see their cringes, but waited until they tasted it for the first time.  She’d worked with a very expensive chef and they’d experimented with that recipe for months before finally getting it right.  The cheese she’d finally settled on was made with only two percent milk, cutting down on the fat while the peppers and spices made the whole sandwich taste fantastic. 

“Wow!” she heard
Walker exclaim.  “This is much better than it sounds, Hannah.”

She just chuckled,
then turned around when her first customer entered.  “Good morning, Luis!  How are you today?”

Luis
was a kind, older gentleman who was always the first to arrive and stuck around, reading his newspaper and doing his crossword puzzles for a couple of hours.  He was basically a fixture with several of the other regulars, calling out a greeting to them as they passed by.  “Good morning, Miss Hannah!  Another fine spring morning, wouldn’t you say?”

Hannah laughed, relieved that the normalcy of the day was starting.  She already had his coffee fixed just the way he liked it and his bagel warmed up by the time he arrived at the counter. 

Someone else walked in at that moment and her eyes widened when she saw Colt and Brock walking towards the big table as well, both of them carrying file folders and laptops themselves. 

“Looks mighty official,”
Luis commented and turned around to see the four of them confer on what they’d discovered overnight. 

“Yes.  They’re the detectives that are trying to figure out what happened to the two men in the back,” she said, feeling sad at the memory. 

Luis looked back at Hannah and shook his head.  “I’m so sorry about that mess,” he said with a kind frown.  “Such trouble!  So pointless!” 

“I agree,” she replied.  “But don’t let that mess up your mood,
Luis.”  She looked over at Sam and felt a surge of pride.  “If anyone can get to the bottom of this mess, these guys can.”

She felt a blush steal up her cheeks when Sam winked at her.  She ducked her head down behind the espresso machine and turned back to
Luis.  “What are you up to today?” she asked. 

Luis
didn’t look happy about the looks going back and forth between herself and Sam.  She thought it was cute that he was so protective of her. 

He stuttered for a moment, his eyes serious as he looked back
and forth.  “Uh…just working in my garden,” he said distractedly.  “Got to get all those weeds up.  They’ll choke the life out of the good ones if you don’t get rid of them right away.”

Hannah grimaced.  “I wouldn’t know.  Living in a
condominium apartment, I don’t really get a chance to do much gardening.”

Luis
smiled but moved on to his usual seat since someone else walked in at that moment.  From then on, the crowds were intense, many more clients than normal.  Hannah was relieved when her three other staff members drifted in and immediately started filling orders.  Hannah couldn’t believe how many people were lined up.  The door couldn’t even close today because there were so many people.  She thought about calling in her extra helpers, but couldn’t take the time to get to the phone.  For hours, the line didn’t diminish and she was thrilled, but not sure what was going on.  It wasn’t until about ten o’clock, when the line wasn’t so insane, that someone asked, “So any new murders today?”

Hannah stared at the
two young women, then over at the four men who were now glaring at the ladies.  “Um…no.  No new murders today.”  She thought about adding in “Sorry,” but thought that would be more than a little wrong. 

The
women walked out after that and Hannah took a few moments to walk over and refresh the coffee of the four large men.  “Anything new come up?” she asked. 

Sam ran a hand over his face and leaned back in his chair. 
“Nope.  Nothing.  We can’t find any connection between the two victims.  There’s no known relative for the second.  We’re going to head out now and see if we can find someone who knew one or both of them, get a bit more background.  And then hopefully the medical examiner will have finished the autopsy so we’ll head over there to get the details.”  He stood up and stretched, pulling her closer.  “Promise me you’ll stay here until I come by to pick you up tonight.”

Hannah placed a hand on his chest, knowing she should move it away but it felt too good resting there.  “I promise,” she said. 
Then blinked.  Those weren’t the words she’d intended to say but they felt right too.

“Great,” he replied and bent lower to kiss her. 

Hannah didn’t pull away but she did blush when he stepped back.  Walker winked and Colt smiled as they picked up their now full cups of coffee.  Brock smiled at her as he too packed up and followed the others out and for the first time, Hannah noticed the scar on his left cheek.  It was odd, she thought, that she’d seen the man several times now but hadn’t ever noticed the scar.  She suspected that his personality was too big for someone to see that scar, but it certainly made his face more interesting.  Sort of like Sam’s broken nose, adding character to his otherwise too-handsome features. 

Debbie walked up to stand next to Hannah and the two of them stood there watching.  “
Mmm mm mmh,” Debbie said.  “If I weren’t madly in love with my hubbie, I’d be all over one of those.”  She smacked her lips as if she’d just eaten a fabulous piece of candy.  “Finer specimens of manhood I’ve never seen.” 

Hannah realized
that she was staring and pulled her eyes away, but not before Sam turned to catch her and winked back at her. 

Moving behind the counter, she quickly started cleaning up and getting things ready for the lunch rush.  “You’d never leave your husband and you know it,” Hannah remarked.