Undercover Hunter(71)

                Sheer torment and sheer delight met head-on in her as he found her breasts and sucked them as gently as he had licked and kissed her elsewhere. She grabbed his shoulders, trying to bring him closer, but he resisted. Clearly this was going to happen his way.

                She groaned as his mouth left her breasts and worked its way down over her belly, causing muscles to ripple helplessly. “Cade...” His name was the only coherent word that escaped her. She was capable of nothing else.

                Then, at long last, he closed his mouth over the sensitive nub of nerves between her legs, a sensation so intense that at once it hurt and felt so good she almost couldn’t bear it.

                But he offered her no quarter, lashing her with his tongue, nipping gently with his teeth, carrying her to a mindless place where nothing existed except sensation. Colors exploded behind her eyelids, as if fireworks and rainbows were the only way she could process what was happening to her.

                The explosion that tore through her made the entire world vanish. She might have fainted—she didn’t know and didn’t have time to wonder, because then he slid up over her and entered her, pumping into her until she began to fly all over again.

                She knew the moment he found his own explosion of pleasure, but she followed him so swiftly it seemed simultaneous.

                For a long time, she was aware of nothing except his weight on her.

                * * *

                She had no idea how much time passed. It seemed not to matter. He stirred first, rolling off her and pulling her close. They’d visited a realm she had never known existed. Visited worlds beyond her imaginings. She wished she dared to let him know how she felt.

                She hoped he felt the same. And then she cursed her own weakness. For the first time it occurred to her that she might be seriously messed up.

                A long, long time later, he sighed. “Did I make my point?” he asked.

                “Mmm?” She still had hardly enough energy to speak.

                “Take care of yourself. You matter to me.”

                His concern warmed her almost as much as his way of showing it.

                Reality, however, wouldn’t go away. The case insisted on creeping back into her mind—what they needed to do, the uncertain time frame before another youngster disappeared.

                “You’re tensing again,” he remarked. “Okay. You hit the shower, I’ll make more coffee. It must be almost late enough to call Gage.”

                * * *

                She emerged into the kitchen wrapped again in her robe with a towel around her head. Fresh coffee was waiting, and she smelled toast.

                “Grab a seat,” Cade said. “I’ll be calling Gage shortly.”

                “How’s the weather?”

                “It might have calmed a bit, but only a suicidal idiot or a plow driver would attempt to move out there.”

                Instead of sitting, she went over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a hug. “Thank you.”

                He returned her hug, giving her a squeeze, as well. “I should thank you.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead, then said, “Now sit. Neither of us has had enough sleep, and I don’t want to burn the toast because you’re a major distraction.”