Part 46 (1/2)
His hand reached out and closed over hers. ”You're a d.a.m.ned good lawyer.”
”Even if I'm on 'the dark side?'”
”I'm sorry for that remark. I saw what you did for Nan. And I've heard about your work at the shelter. You just always ...” He searched for the words.
”Irritated you?”
”I wish it were that simple. Irritated. Challenged. Bruised my ego. Even worse, attracted me.”
She chuckled.
He looked at her suspiciously.
”Those are exactly the same words I would use as to my reaction to you.”
”The same?”
”Well, I might throw in that I thought you were arrogant and obnoxious.”
”That's cruel.”
”I was wrong.”
”No, you weren't. A lot of people say that about me.”
”They don't know you.”
”And you do.”
”I'm getting there. Slowly.” Her smile was like a gift.
His dessert came. A huge piece of Key lime pie.
He took a forkful and offered it to her.
She opened her mouth and ate it. ”Hmmm, that's good.”
They shared the rest of it, their gazes seldom leaving the other.
It was gone much too quickly. He ordered a barbeque sandwich for Beast, shrugging at her amus.e.m.e.nt. ”I forgot his dog food.”
”That should make him happy.”
”That will make him ecstatic. You give it to him, and he'll be your friend for life.”
They smiled stupidly at each other again. Gage wondered what in the h.e.l.l was happening to him. He was acting like an adolescent in love for the first time.
Just then the waitress brought the sandwich and bill. Meredith started to protest as he took it, and he silenced her with a look. ”You can pay for breakfast.”
”Promise?”
”Promise.”
It was an abrupt reminder that they were partners, two people working together to solve a mystery. Well, dammit, wasn't that what he wanted?
Meredith wondered how she had ever thought him cold and arrogant.
He'd said very little about her parents. Sympathy probably would have induced a fountain of tears.
Instead he had transported her for a few hours to a safe place. A warm and comforting place.
He stopped briefly at a drugstore. She bought some shampoo while he made his purchases, then they returned to the motel. He drove around it several times, his eyes watchful.
”You don't think...?”
”I don't want to take chances.”
Then he parked and they went inside. He unlocked the door and made it clear he wanted to enter first even though Beast would have probably scared the stuffing out of anyone who dared go inside.
Beast 'was' ecstatic at their return and even more so about the barbecue sandwich. Surprisingly, instead of gulping it in two or three bites, he was very much the gentleman, taking it piece by piece and savoring it, then licking his chops in appreciation.
Then he returned to his place at the full-length window.
Gage took her hand and she looked up at him. Magic enveloped them. He brushed her cheek with his hand, then gently traced patterns along the back of her neck, the very lightness of the touch making it incredibly erotic. Her every nerve ending tingled with expectancy, and she was filled with an aching hunger as his lips moved from her mouth to the hollow of her throat with scorching thoroughness.
”You're beautiful,” he whispered, and she felt beautiful.
Her fingers went to the back of his neck, catching locks of his hair, and she felt him tense, just as she had. The air in the room was charged now, dense with voltaic energy.
This time he was taking time to seduce her. His mouth returned to hers, played against it, loving, teasing. Every part of her body ached and quivered and strained toward him as she met him kiss for kiss.
When his lips parted from hers, he touched her face as if reluctant to lose contact.
She leaned against him, needing the warmth to fill the cold emptiness and fear of the last few days, the loneliness and grief. He was a loner. She knew that. There were no promises. But she would grab these moments and know that for tonight she was wanted.
His eyes searched hers. Then he kissed her again, but this time there was no gentleness, as if he were trying to banish something. Or prove something.
There was desperation, urgency, demand ... a primitive need so strong it set ablaze every feeling part of her. She'd never thought herself a sensual person but now she knew how wrong she'd been. Her heart, her body, her senses were swamped by the pure animal vitality of him, the magnetism of his eyes, the magic of his touch.
She didn't care if there was a tomorrow for them. She needed him tonight. She needed to fill all the empty places in her heart.
There was tonight, and it was a gift she'd never expected.
She led him to the bed. She undressed him while he undressed her, both taking their time, fingers lingering and lips meeting. Then he lowered her to the bed.