Last Night (23 page)

So why was she washing her face while he w
as
outside hurting? B
ecause he'd insisted. He was ac
customed to getting his way. Well, if they were going to have a relationship he'd have to learn to compromise.

She marched to the lanai and found Rob on the chaise, the ice bag held against his jaw.

"
It takes two, you know."

Rob dropped the ice pack, revealing a vivid bruise that made her wince.
"
Two to what?
"

"
To have a relationship.
"
She sat beside him, but didn
'
t put her feet up.
"
I insist you tell me w
hat you
'
re thinking. You haven
'
t said anything since those creeps left.
"

"
What do you wa
nt me to say? I screwed up—big t
ime—okay? I
'
m pissed as hell at myself.
"
His voice was low, charged wit
h emotion, and she could tell t
hat he truly blamed himself for the loss of the tapes.
"
I
should have known Big Daddy could pick up the phone and have some
mokes
waylay us.
"

"
You couldn't have known that he
'
d discover the missing tapes so quickly.
"

"
Wrong. I was in his suite, remember? I saw all
the
electronic gadgets he had. I
must have tripped
s
ome hidden device. That
'
s how he found out so
fast
."

"
At least you got Vanessa and Jason out. I
'
m proud of you for that—for all you did.
"

"Hell,
you
saved
me,"
he said, not sounding too
ha
ppy
about it, and she chalked it up to masculine
pride
.
"
I haven't been much help. I haven
'
t found
the blackmailer and I haven
'
t helped your sister
'
s custody case either.
"

"The fight's just beginning—on at least two fronts. But I can
'
t tell you
how glad I am to have you with
me."

A sigh that seemed to well up from the bottom of his soul startled her. "I swear, I won
'
t let you down again.
"

"
You haven't let me down.
"
She stared into his deep blue eyes, and for once the words came easily. "You
'
ve made me happy.
"

She swung her legs onto the chaise so she was reclining beside him. He grimaced, obviously in pain, but managed to put one arm around her. She gently rested her head on his shoulder.

The rhythmic
thump-thump
of his heart against her chest generated a longing deep within her. Her reaction wasn
'
t just physical. It went far beyond that into a part of her psyche she'd never explored. What she wanted was intimacy. Someone special to share her life with.

She gazed at Rob and found him studying her. He had the most insightful eyes. They saw right through her. Then he smiled, his lips canted to one side because of his bruised jaw, and she was truly lost.

"Y
ou could have been shot—killed,
"
she whispered.

"So what? I wasn
'
t going to let you be raped again.
"

"Again?
"
The word came out much louder than
she intended, echoin
g in the darkness like the foot
steps of the night marchers.

"The knife that man
'
accidentally
'
fell on. He got what he deserved. He raped you, didn
'
t he?
"

20

"
H
ow did you know?" she asked, hoping he'd believed the rest of her story about how Hank Rawlins had died.

Rob tried to shrug, but winced at the effort.
"
The FBI trained me to develop psychological profiles of criminals, remember? I didn
'
t get a chance to use what the Feebies taught me while I was on the force, but it
'
s helped me with my reporting. And I
'
ve been watching you.
"

The heartrending tenderness in his gaze astonished her. Tonight he
'
d proved that he cared enough to risk his life to protect her. Now he'd revealed that his interest in her wasn
'
t new. It went back months or maybe even years.

"
I
'
ve studied you closely these last few days. I rethought your story abou
t the guy falling on the knife,
then I put it all together.
"

She didn
'
t bother to deny it. What good would it do to lie now?
"
I
'
ve never talked about being raped, not even to Vanessa."

"
Sometimes talking helps."

"
Sometimes,
"
she admitted,
"
but sometimes it only brings back the pain. I
'
ve concentrated on the future, not the past, and that
'
s been my salvation.
"

He gazed at her a moment, seemed set to argue, but said,
"
Okay. You
'
ll tell me about it when you
'
re ready.
"

He tenderly gathered her in his arms even though it must have hurt him. They cuddled, reclining on the chaise and watching the moonlight shimmering down on Koko Head. The trades had died down as they did most nights, leaving only a flicker of wind to rustle the palm trees.

"I wish you
'
d let me take you to a doctor.
"

"Know what would make me feel a lot better?
"
Slowly and seductiv
ely his gaze slid downward, tak
ing in the filmy black nightgown, which had ridden up to reveal most of her thighs.

"
You couldn't possibly. Not in your condition.
"

He chuckled, a masculine, sensuous sound tha
t
seemed to vibrate deep within her own chest. "You
'
re right. I can barely move, but it would feel great to h
a
ve you touch me the way you did the other night.
"

"
What night?
"
Then she remembered. "I though
t
you were asleep. I—I—I—
"
How could she explain caressing him in such an intimate way?

"
Couldn
'
t resist me, could you?
"
His smile was so adorable that she couldn
'
t help smiling back.

"
I
don
'
t know what got into me,
"
she said.
"
I
honestly don
'
t.
"

"I loved every second, but you left me with a stick of dynamite in my pants.
"

"
Well, we certainly don
'
t want to cause you any problems tonight.
"

"
Why not? Everything else hurts.
"

She kissed his cheek, tenderly brushing her lips against the bristle of emerging whiskers. She meant to stop, she really did, but a few seconds later she found her lips on the curve of his neck. A trace of his after-shave mingled with his male scent and the smell of night-blooming jasmine that hung heavily in the soft night air. Beneath her lips, his pulse throbbed. She gently caressed his well-toned shoulders, savoring his strength and the slightly salty taste of his skin.

"I feel better already, darlin
'
.
"
The slight inflection surprised her, once again reminding her that he
'
d grown up in Texas. His drawl seemed to appear most often when he was being amorous.

Suddenly it seemed ridiculous that they were joking, considering what they'd just been through. He
'
d saved her, and that couldn
'
t be taken lightly.
"
How can I thank you for what you did tonight?
"

"
By remembering that we're a team. It took both of us.
"

She
closed her eyes and nestled her head against
the
crook of his neck. Was he reading her mind?
Ea
rlier she'd thought much the same thing. Part
ners. She
wasn
'
t facing her problems alone any
more.

It was the most comforting thought she
'
d had in
years, and with it came a slow-dawning realization. She needed to love someone. All this time she
'
d thought in terms
of someone to love her, not ac
cepting that love was a two-way street. If she were honest she
'
d admit that she'd been afraid to love a man.

She let her hand drift down the solid plane of Rob
'
s chest. He
'
d taken off his bloodied shirt, and the heat from his skin and the rasp of his hair reminded her that she was willingly, happily snuggling with a big, powerful man. A man who had just proven she could trust him with her life.

If you couldn
'
t trust, you couldn
'
t love. Take it easy, she reminded herself.
Don
'
t make any commit
ments yet—even a mental one. Just ride with the tide and go with the flow; see where this takes you.

She couldn
'
t resist stroking him gently, being careful in case she was touching a bruised area. The muscular length of his torso intrigued her. He had a rugged, thoroughly masculine chest that she couldn
'
t help kissing. She flicked her tongue over his skin. Once. Twice. How long had she wanted to taste him? Forever, it seemed.

In slow motion she ran her tongue over the surface until she found a nipple concealed by a whisk of hair. She blew a jet of cool air across it. Rob groaned, a low sound from deep in his throat that made her pulse skyrocket.

"
Admit it,
"
he demanded, his voice a shade shy of a whisper. "I
'
m the one—the only one for you. You want me. Don
'
t be afraid of how you feel.
"

"I
'
m not.
"
Now she had an entirely different fear. She was experiencing such an uncontrolled rush of longing that it frightened her more than she could ever have imagined. Yet it excited her too.

"Don't stop now." Rob stroked the back of her head, twining his fingers through her hair. "Touch every inch of my body.
"

With a sigh of anticipation, she lowered her head and kissed him again. She traced the solid contours of his torso with the liquid tip of her tongue. Tasting and kissing as she went.

"Ouch,
"
groaned Rob, smiling.

Dana drew back. "Sorry. I have no business kissing you when you
'
re in pain.
"

"You
'
re better than any painkiller. Cuter too,
"
he said, a teasing note in his voice, humor flirting in his eyes. "Besides, you don
'
t want to stop, do you?
"

She lowered her head and whispered,
"
No,
"
against the warmth of his skin. She hadn't a clue why she was behaving so wantonly, but she craved him. From her flushed nipples to the sweet throbbing between her thighs—she wanted him. Only him.

The urge to touch him and kiss him bordered on the primitive. She didn
'
t fight the feeling, didn
'
t even try to. Instead, she explored him, lightly caressing him with her hands and kissing him. Occasionally she stopped to taste, or put her cheek to the wall of his chest and listen to the ever accelerating thump of his heart.

"
Aw, hell," he muttered, his voice stripped to a husky growl by desire.

His breath was hot against the top of her head, and it sent a jolt of arousal through her. She sensuously stroked his hair-roughened chest, lightly teasing the skin by drawing the tips of her fingernails over it with tantalizing slowness.

His hands rested lightly on her hips, warm and solid. He flicked the sheer fabric aside and touched her bare skin with his hands. A depth charge of excitement exploded deep inside her. Slowly, ever so slowly, his hands coasted upward. Over the flare o
f
her hips. To the curve of her waist. Up to the tender underside of her breasts.

There he stopped to cradle their fullness in the broad palms of his hands. His thumbs rested on her nipples, idly moving back and forth, coaxing the soft peaks into rigid proof of the effect he had on her.

"
Take off the nightgown.
"

"
Me?" she said, stalling.

"
No, the man in the moon. Take it off. I want to see you.
"

She couldn
'
t deny this man anything. Lifting her arms, she pulled the gown over the top of her head, then sent it swishing through the air. She remained on her knees and let the moonlight wash over her full breasts. Dusky pink areolas circled her pouting nipples, revealing how aroused she was, but she didn
'
t care. She wet her lower lip with the tip of her tongue and tasted Rob
'
s after-shave.

"
God
…
you
'
re beautiful.
"
His heavy-lidded
eyes slowly drifted from her parted lips to the peaks of her breasts and lingered there.

She flinched under his intense gaze and her breasts swayed slightly, languidly moving like orchids in the island breeze. Rob's approving smile banished what little modesty remained, and she became keenly aware of an ache deep inside. The feeling increased, becoming a shudder of anticipation, as his gaze swept lower.

As surely as if he were actually touching her, she felt him scorching a path down the gentle swell of her hips and focusing on the juncture of her thighs, where pale blonde curls concealed her femininity. Heat shafted through her, arrowing to her most intimate place, her breath quickening. But she didn
'
t look away.

Here she was, wearing nothing but a smile.
"
I can
'
t believe I
'
m doing this.
"

"
Stop kidding yourself, Dana. You have a wild streak. You
'
ve been dying to get into my pants.
"

She smiled, not bothering to deny it. Going back to the first night she
'
d met him years ago, she
'
d felt
a
certain thrill. Now she recognized that thrill was desire.

"
Here I am
"
—Rob gave an overly dramatic sigh—
"
helpless. Have your way with me.
"

"
I intend to.
"

She crouched over Rob, her legs straddling his
hips.
A soft moan caught in her throat. She
'
d never dreamed of taking charge like this, but then no one
had
ever told her that she'd want a man so much. It
was a raw, primitive, physical pleasure, staggering in its intensity.

She longed to feel his mouth against hers, but his lower lip was split. She satisfied herself with the curve of his neck and the sensitive area behind his ear. Her bare breasts were so close to his chest that her nipples responded to the heat of his body by tightening even more. The hair on his chest tickled, adding to the excitement.

Driven by some forbidden impulse, she lowered her chest a fraction of an inch and let her breasts sink into the thatch of chest hair.
Oh, my.
She never dreamed a man could feel quite this good. Slowly, gently, she waltzed her taut nipples through the crinkly hair.