“No. I almost lost you. I’m not putting you anywhere. You’re staying with me until we catch this bastard. And stop trying to talk,” he muttered, finally settling her rump on the counter and keeping one arm around her waist as he opened cupboards and rifled through them with his free hand.
Much to his relief, a jar of honey had been in the groceries ordered and delivered to the townhouse. Closing his fingers around it, Thomas slid his arm under her legs, carried her out to the living room and settled on the couch with her. Reaching his arms around her to get both hands on the jar, he unscrewed the cap and then hesitated as he realized he’d forgotten a spoon.
A glance at Inez showed her biting her lip, amusement twinkling in her eyes.
Thomas felt a laugh bubble up in his own chest at his ridiculous behavior and then sighed. “I’m going to set you on the couch and go get you a spoon.”
Inez nodded. “You could do that,” she whispered. “Or you could use your fingers.”
Thomas eyed the challenge in her eyes, and then dipped one finger in the honey jar and scooped up some to hold out before her. Inez leaned forward, opened her mouth and closed it around his finger, slowly drawing her lips the length of the digit, her eyes meeting his the whole time.#p#分页标题#e#
“Damn,” Thomas breathed as Little Thomas stirred to life beneath her bottom.
When his finger slid free of her warm, wet mouth, Inez smiled like a satisfied cat and licked her lips. Thomas watched her little pink tongue slide over those soft, full lips and felt Little Thomas come to gasping life. When she finished and raised an eyebrow, he quickly scooped up more honey and held it out.
“For heaven’s sake, Thomas. Use a spoon.”
Little Thomas fell into a faint as Thomas turned sharply to see Rachel standing in the door shaking her head.
“I’ll get you one.” Still shaking her head, Rachel headed off up the hall in search of a spoon.
“I used to like her,” Thomas said sadly, staring at the empty doorway after she’d gone and then glanced quickly at Inez as she fell against him making alarming noises.
Promptly dropping the honey, Thomas caught her by the arms and urged her upper body away from his chest to see her face and figure out what to do to help her, but paused in surprise when he realized that she was laughing.
“What’s so funny?” he asked with confusion, which just brought another round of the rather horrible honking sounds from her.
“Here. You can——” Rachel had started into the room, holding a spoon out before her, but suddenly stopped, her eyes going wide before she hurried forward. “Gees, Thomas, you’ve spilled the honey everywhere!”
He glanced down as she snatched the jar out of Inez’s lap and noted that he had indeed spilled the honey. It was all over her lap, glistening on her bare thighs where the shirt had slid up, not to mention other delightful places that were still mostly covered.
“So I have,” Thomas murmured and stood abruptly to carry Inez around Rachel and out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Rachel asked with surprise, trailing them to the doorway.
“I’m just going to see her cleaned up,” Thomas called as he hurried up the stairs, bouncing Inez around in his arms. “We’ll be back to hear what Bastien said later…Maybe a lot later. Inez is tired and needs a nap.”
He’d reached the top of the stairs by then and hurried quickly into the bedroom with twin beds, kicking the door closed behind him. Inez was making those horrible raspy, honking sounds again, her body trembling with laughter in his arms, but Thomas didn’t order her to stop laughing to save her voice. Instead, he simply kissed her to shut her up and didn’t stop until the laughter died and a broken moan slid into his mouth.
Satisfied, he lifted his head to peer at her.
Inez opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow and said in a whisper, “I thought you were going to clean me up? Shouldn’t you have taken me to the bathroom for that?”
“Oh no,” Thomas assured her, moving toward the bed. “We don’t need the bathroom for this.”
Inez smiled quizzically. “You’ll need at least a damp washcloth and towel, Thomas, I’m soaked with honey. It started on my upper legs but your bouncing me about sent it running in every direction.”
“I know.” He grinned. “And I will remove every last drop, I promise. I’m in the mood for sweets.”
“Oh,” Inez breathed, her eyes going wide as he laid her on the bed and turned his attention to keeping his promise.
“Good morning, Inez. I hope you’re feeling better this morning.”