Beyond the Call of Duty (6 page)

The idea of being trapped in this house, and under Jack’s thumb until she got Gabe through this entire process, had her feeling antsy. She wanted nothing more than to get dressed and tell Jack to drive her to her house, to take her chances, but that was stupidity, and Lexi was nowhere even close to being stupid.

She finally got out of the shower, drying off quickly. Reaching into her bag, she grabbed the bottle of lotion she used every day after her shower. Rubbing it on, the semblance of normalcy of the actions calmed her shattered nerves. She got dressed, throwing on a pair of pajama pants and a tank top and sliding a sweatshirt jacket over the top. She put on a pair of socks and packed up her shower stuff, and then hung up the towel she’d used and opened the door.

She could hear Jack and Joe talking sports in the kitchen. She knew that a dutiful marshal would have gone back into the kitchen and found out about the particulars of the next day, but amazingly enough, she didn’t feel like being a good, dutiful marshal. She felt like being irrational, of thinking of herself for once in her life. Turning toward the stairs, she ignored Gerald’s call and headed up as quickly as her sore body would go.

Instead of going into a bedroom, she headed toward the room she knew Gabe was using. She stepped inside and saw him in the bed. His shoulders were naked above the blankets, and he had one arm thrown above his head covering his eyes.

Lexi felt a surge of pleasure at the sight of him. He was a handsome man, one fact she was sure he knew. He groaned in his sleep, moving as if he was in pain, his feet catching in the blanket and pulling it down to just below his stomach.

Her breath caught, not just at the sight of his half-naked form, but also at the sight of his wounds. From the reports she read, he’d been stabbed three times and shot once when he refused to die right away, but his attackers hadn’t appreciated the man they’d gone after. He was stubborn, and his constitution showed it. What would have killed a man in less sturdy condition, laid Gabe low to be sure, but hadn’t even put him in the hospital for over a week.

She admired that. She came from a family of strong and stubborn men and women, and she admired the same attributes in the people she kept around herself. Jack had been strong until he’d had his heart attack. The attack and the operation afterward had taken a lot out of the man. She could understand that, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to continue working for him.

This man in front of her, and what little she’d come to know about him, she found extremely attractive. Yes, he was a criminal, but he’d also taken the stab wounds to the gut for a friend. When they couldn’t kill him that way, they shot him as well. That spoke a lot to her about his devotion to the man he’d been willing to die for. It told her about exactly what kind of man he was.

She found herself walking closer to the bed, sinking down next to him. She put out her hand to touch his shoulder. “Gabe?” she whispered.

He moaned again as he slid his hand from his stomach to cover hers. “Lexi,” he murmured, still half-asleep.

“It’s me, Gabe. It’s Lexi.”

He opened his eyes and blinked, his gaze blurry. “Lexi? What are you...”

“I’ve had to go into witness protection, Gabe. We’re now roommates.”

He tried to push himself up. She helped him, piling pillows behind his back. “What happened?”

She ran her hand from his shoulder down over his bicep to his hand. He turned his over, capturing her fingers in his. “Tell me, Lexi. What happened?”

“Jack will have my ass for this,” she said with a sigh and a shake of her head. “I had a visitor when I went back to work tonight. Whoever it was, well, he was searching for you. When I tried to arrest him, he threw himself out of a window.”

“Did you find blood or...?”

“No, Gabe. You don’t understand. It was a window from the eighth storey he went through.”

“So he’s dead?”

“No, that’s the problem. There was no body, no blood, no ropes. We have no idea how he managed it. I watched him go out the window. I was there only seconds later, Gabe. I can’t explain it, but they have associated me with you. I had to go under; there was no other way to keep you safe.”

“And you,” he said softly. He was playing with her fingers, trailing the tips of his across her palm. She couldn’t hide the shiver he caused or the sensations that were running through her. No man ever made her feel this way.

She parted her lips and moved closer to him. Her heart was racing, her pulse throbbing in her wrist and throat. She wished she had the nerve to lean forward, to kiss him like she wanted.

“Lexi?”

“Yes, Gabe,” she answered, her voice husky.

“Why are you here?”

“Uh, I just told you.” She stared at him as if maybe he were having a relapse, and raised up her other hand to lie gently against his forehead.

“No, Lexi. You told me you would be staying with me. You didn’t need to come up here to tell me that. It could have waited until morning.” He reached up, taking her hand off his face and holding on to it. His eyes were intense, direct, and she felt a thrill at the strength she could sense inside him.

“I guess I should have waited.” She made to get up, to pull her hands out of his, but he wrapped his fingers around her wrists. He tugged, and she fell against him, unable to use her hands to stop herself.

“Why are you here?” His voice was soft, husky, sensual, and she felt its effect. Her hands shook slightly, and she dropped her gaze.

“I...I had a rotten day. I wanted to see you.”

“To see me?” He lifted her hand up, letting his lips touch her palm. “Why would you want to see me?”

“I’ve been asking myself that question for the past five minutes.” She shook her head. “If you’ll give me back my hands, I’ll go find my own bed.”

“Not yet,” he said, putting both wrists into one of his huge hands, and then he lifted her chin in the other, staring down at her. “You’re beautiful, Lexi.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t say it to compliment you. I am just speaking the truth. You’re a beautiful woman. Any man would think the same.” He let his fingers stroke over the skin of her face. “You aren’t in just any man’s room, Lexi. You’re in mine, and you have a reason. I want to know what it is.”

Her heart was thundering in the pulse throbbing under his hand.

“Do I make you nervous?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Why?”

“Why?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “You’re holding me captive, Gabe.”

“I’m not doing what you want me to do.”

“What do I want you to do?”

He caught her chin with his hand once more, the other hand holding onto her wrists. He tugged her even closer. “This,” he whispered. He moved his lips over hers, dipping his tongue inside her mouth. He kissed her wantonly, his mouth hot, his tongue tangling against hers. Her moan was caught in his mouth, and she fought against his hands, wanting to touch him.

He wouldn’t let her go. When he lifted his mouth from hers, it was well before she was ready for the kiss to end. The next words that came from his mouth surprised the hell out of her.

“It’s time to go to bed, Lexi. Your own bed, sweetheart.”

If he thought the affectionate nickname would make her feel any better, he was sorely mistaken. She sat there, staring at him, feeling her eyes growing harder by the second. “Let me go,” she said finally.

“Lexi...you’re taking this the wrong way.”

Before he could say anymore, she shook her head. “Just let go of me, Gabe. I’ll leave and then we won’t have to continue this embarrassment.”

He slowly let go of her hands, watching as she shook them to get the blood moving again. She rose and took a step to the door, stopping only when she heard him groan and the sound of the mattress creaking. She turned and saw him trying to hoist his injured body out of bed. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to keep you from making an ass of yourself.”

She glared at him, stopping herself from running over to help him out of bed. He finally made it to his feet, his nude body standing unashamedly in front of her.

She took in the hard-muscled body in front of her. He was a bit on the skinny side from being in the hospital, but the rest of him was very much eye candy. Lexi didn’t deny herself a sugar fix as she stared at him and felt her body soften against the words he spoke earlier. “How am I making an ass out of myself? You’re the one who told me to go; I’m just doing what you asked.”

“You were pissed, Lexi. Don’t even try to deny it. You need to know, I want you.” He could probably see the doubt in her eyes and took a step closer, sliding one of his hands down her arms to take her hand in his. “Does this feel like I don’t want you, Lexi?”

He placed her hand on his body, gently moving it to cup around his cock. He was hard and heavy in her hand, and she couldn’t help sliding her palm up and down, measuring his length.

His groan had his head falling back. “God, Lexi. Does that feel like I don’t want you?”

“Then...why?”

* * * *

“Why did I tell you to go to bed?” He reached down and took her hand again, trying to stop the way she was jacking him off. The scent of her, the exotic aroma of whatever she was wearing, seemed to be going straight to his head, making turning her down even harder. “I’m a pretty good judge of character, Lexi. I just don’t see you as falling into bed with a man, no matter how attractive he is to you, on the first night you know him.”

“This kind of tells me that you find me attractive as well.”

Gabe laughed shortly, groaning when she shook off his hand, hers going right back to where he so desperately wanted it. “God, Lexi, you’re going to kill me here.” He found the wall with his hand and used the leverage to hold himself up.

* * * *

“I don’t want you dead,” she mused quietly, and then wrapped her unoccupied arm around him, turning him back toward the bed. He was warm under her hand, almost too warm. She helped him into bed, covering him and tucking him in.

“What are you doing?” he asked, reaching out to grab her hand.

“I’m heading to bed, Gabe.” She shook her head when she heard his moaning protest. “You were right. You aren’t up for this, no matter the evidence to the contrary. You need rest and to recover.”

“Lexi...”

“No, Gabe. I wasn’t thinking very clearly earlier, your own fault of course, but what I wanted from you could have made you a lot worse. You need to sleep to heal.”

“Will you stay in here with me for a bit?”

She smiled as she looked into his face. “You aren’t going to try to change my mind, are you?”

He yawned, rolling to his side. “Nope. I just hope my snoring won’t turn you off.”

She chuckled and reached out, stroking her fingers through the thickness of his hair. “Sleep, Gabe.”

He turned his head and kissed her fingers before closing his eyes. It took little more than three deep breaths before she knew he was asleep. She sat for a moment, staring at him before she lifted her hand to her nose, smelling his excitement on her skin. “Soon, Gabe.” She got up and snuck quietly out of the room to find one of her own.

Chapter Five

Gabe woke early. He lay in bed, remembering the visit he had in the middle of the night. It was hard for him to believe now, to know Lexi craved him as much as he yearned to take her. The only proof of her being in his room last night was the faint left-over scent of her on his skin.

He lifted his hand to his nose, breathing in the exotic aroma. He hummed his pleasure, feeling his morning erection grow even harder. “You really are hopeless,” he growled to himself. With a sigh, he forced himself out of bed, walking slowly into the bathroom. It took several minutes, and some of the psalms Sister Theresa at the elementary school forced him to memorize every time he got into trouble, before it would go down enough so he could take his morning piss.

He decided to forgo taking the shower he was craving and put on the other set of clothes Lexi got for him. The thought of her picking out the clothes he was pulling on his body had his erection happy and waving at him before he put the boxers on over it. The sweats didn’t help much in disguising his arousal, and he sat on the side of the bed until it subsided.

He left his bedroom and headed down the stairs, favoring his side and holding on to the railing. He could hear raised voices in the kitchen and hesitated for a moment before he went in.

“She’s not going to like that.”

The words sent the small hairs on the back of his neck up. The only she he could think of would be Lexi. Whatever they were saying concerned her, so it concerned him.

“What isn’t she going to like?” he asked as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing a cup and pouring himself a coffee. At least he thought it was coffee. It seemed a bit thick to be considered coffee. He glanced at the three people that occupied the room. The woman was tall and slender, with red hair that curved perfectly under her chin. She had smoky gray eyes that seemed to flame when she was pissed, and she was definitely pissed now.

One of the men was as tall as the redhead, but his hair was as black as sin. His eyes were a bit on the spooky side, so light as to look white, but they were blue and icy, gazing over Gabe and then going straight back to the girl. He glanced back at Gabe as he spoke.