Mercifully, the exchange was brief. He tossed the phone aside and brushed his fingertips across her lower back. "Sister. In case you were wondering."
"I wasn't," she said into his hair. Every muscle in her body eased and she realized she'd been more than wondering.
She'd been fearing.
As his chest rose and fell beneath her, she tried to pinpoint exactly when she'd begun to care. When had she begun to care about what he did with his personal time? What he did while he prowled the labyrinthine paths of the Jungle? Who he did it with?
At what moment had she let go of her conviction that she shouldn't want him? More, that she shouldn't indulge her desire? Because not only had she lost her certainty, she'd lost the confidence in her ability to carry through. This, tonight-this thing that had started as a mission to prove something to herself as well as to him-this. To say her half-baked, barely-thought-through plan had backfired was an understatement.
No, she hadn't wondered about the woman who'd called him.
She'd feared.
Inhaling deeply, she planted her hands on his chest and tried to rise. Jude's pecs flexed as he firmed up his hold.
"Liar," he murmured. "Now we're even. I wanted to tear someone apart when you told me you lived with a man."
"Not a man, a brother."
"And that's the only reason he's still walking."
Lily cringed at his choice of words and shook her head. She didn't want to talk about their siblings. Didn't want to them to know any more about each other than they already did.
Still holding her close, he ran his other hand down her spine, plucking at the hooks that held her corset together. She should stop him from undressing her. He freed a second, then a third, clasp. As the pressure on her ribs eased, she dragged a deep breath into her lungs. What matter did it make if she ignored one more "should" where he was concerned?
"She has high hopes of your lesbian leanings. I'll have to correct her misconception before she gets her feelings hurt." He unfastened the last clasp and spread his fingers between her shoulder blades.
Lily narrowed her eyes. "She who?"
"My sister."
"Women have their appeal, but I don't do family pairs," she said as she pushed herself up to sit on his groin, leaving her corset behind.
Jude's eyes immediately went to her breasts. When she moved to fold her arms across her chest, he caught her wrists. Transferring both wrists to one hand, he used his fingertip to draw a circle around her left nipple. "You're blonde beneath all that dye, aren't you?"
"Lip and nipple colors aren't reliable indications of hair colors." He was definitely blond despite the flat brown discs of his nipples. Golden hair dusted his chest and arrowed down the center of his stomach toward a darker patch currently hidden between her thighs.
"White-blonde, I figure. Any other shade, and I wouldn't be able to see these." He followed the faint blue path of a vein from the inner curve of her breast to her collarbone.
"It makes me look like an albino."
Jude shifted beneath her, abrading the over-sensitive flesh between her thighs. She sucked in a quick breath and lifted to kneel above him while reaching for her corset. As she did, he finally slipped free of her. Her body instantly missed his occupation but she ignored the twinge of longing. Outside, the sun had long since faded to nothing, leaving behind a slowly darkening sky.
"I need to get moving," she said. "I wanted to be home before dark."
Frowning, he tugged the corset from her grasp and tossed it aside. "You're afraid."
"Wouldn't you be?" Unsure why, she said, "I tried to dress the part of a fearless badass, but my dominatrix bitch underwear drawer has let me down. And created a few more complications," she said archly before gentling her tone and giving him a wry smile. "I do like the view of you from on top though."
"Everything looks magnificent from down here, too. Next time, we'll switch places and compare."
Next time.
She'd agreed to that, hadn't she?
An agreement made under duress in a moment of weakness. She couldn't honor it, but she kept that to herself. Time enough before Friday to break the news that they'd enjoyed their last illicit encounter. Time enough for her to get her reasons together and don her armor once more.
"Police should have forensics reports by Monday." changing the topic, on purpose, she suspected. He sat and offered his t-shirt. "Wear this. I've got something else in the car."
She doubted the abrupt topic change was coincidental. His instincts were too good. Probably came with his connection to a lion. She was still curious about that, still wanted to know how man and beast merged, but she hadn't forgotten the way he'd deflected the one time she'd voiced her curiosity.