His Taste of Temptation: In the Line of Duty, Book 3 (4 page)

His hands slipped around her waist and settled on the small of her back. He sucked in a breath. “What…uh…what was it you forgot to tell me?” he asked.

She pushed her hair off her face, her mouth only inches from his. “Oh, I just wanted to let you know I made you a sandwich in case you got hungry. It’s in the pastry fridge.”

Her lush warm body felt so good on top of his…so fucking good…his cock grew an inch. She squirmed, like she was about to slide off, but he held her tight.

He pinned her to him and groaned. “Stop squirming.”

“Why?” she asked, her voice sounding breathless.

“Because you don’t want to get wet.”

Her eyes widened and her lips inched open. “Wet?” she asked, her breathing becoming a little harsher, more erratic. “Why…why would I get wet?” Everything in the way she said wet sounded so sinful, and he couldn’t help but wonder how wet he could make her, if given the chance.

He jerked his head to the side. “The floor. It’s still wet. If you slide off, you’ll get your clothes wet. You won’t be able to go to your meeting if your clothes are all wet.”

Christ, how many times could he say wet in one sentence?

“Right. Right. I knew that was what you meant.” She frowned. “How am I supposed to get up?”

“Hold on to me.”

With her body molded to his, he wrapped one arm around her waist while he pushed himself up off the floor with the other. She snaked her arms around his shoulders and held tight as he climbed to his feet.

Once upright, his head began spinning. Feeling dizzy, the room tumbling out of control around him, he stumbled, slamming her against the wall as he tried to regain his balance. Shit, maybe he’d hit his head harder than he first thought.

Madison gasped, and when her sweet, minty breath wafted before his nostrils all coherent thought fled. Her lush body fit so perfectly next to his, and her soft breasts were so hot against his chest that all he could think about was kissing her, having his way with her right here against the wall. Christ, what could one little taste hurt? One tiny fucking nibble…

As the bathroom faded in and out of existence, her voice sounded as if it were thousand miles away. He pushed against her, caging her with his body. Knowing he wasn’t thinking straight, he dipped his head, and even though she was speaking, saying something to him, he couldn’t hear her, not when his entire focus was on that sweet mouth of hers.

Before he could get his shit together, he closed his mouth over hers, and when he heard a heated groan, he wasn’t sure whether it was his or hers. He sank into her mouth, reveling in the delicious taste of her. With little finesse, he pushed his tongue inside to play with hers.
So fucking sweet
. Greed urged him on and his tongue slashed against her mouth, his cock aching to sink inside her wet heat and stay there for the rest of the day. Jesus, her mouth tasted like mint, cherry and sugar all rolled into one—the best thing he’d ever tasted.

Some part of his brain registered that her hands were on his body, touching, tugging at his shirt, pulling on his shoulders. Jesus, did this mean she wanted him as much as he wanted her? But when she raked her fingers through his hair and pain zinged through him, reality crashed over him like the cold water from her broken pipe.

He inched back and stared at her. When he saw the way he’d smudged her lipstick and mussed her hair, and noted the almost frightened look in her eyes, his heart raced. Okay, so apparently her hands were all over him because she was trying to push him away, not because she was eager to touch him. What the fuck was he thinking?

“Jesus, Madison. I didn’t mean—”

“Brad.” She carefully smoothed her hand over the back of his head. “I think you have a concussion.”

His hand went to this head, and when her fingers moved aside he found an egg-sized lump and winced. “Shit.”

“You must have hit your head when you fell.”

“Yeah, I…uh.” His glance went to her mouth again. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You’re just not in your right frame of mind right now. I don’t think you even knew what you were doing.”

Oh, he knew all right.

“You need to sit,” she said, her beautiful breasts rising and falling as she stared at him, wide-eyed.

“I’m fine,” he murmured, inching back.

“You’re not fine. Come with me.” She grabbed his hand and took him to her bedroom. She sat and patted the mattress beside her. “I think I’d better cancel my eleven o’clock.”

In a bid to appease her, Brad dropped down next to her on the bed. “You’re not canceling anything.”

“You shouldn’t be alone.”

“Madison, I’m fine.” She frowned and he suspected there was only one way to get her to leave. He pushed his index finger into her sheets. “If I promise to stay here until you get back, will you go?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Brad. I was just born yesterday.”

He grinned. “You know me too well.”

“What I know is how stubborn you are.” She tugged at his T-shirt. “At least get out of these wet clothes.”

There was that word
wet
again. He shouldn’t tease her, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from responding with, “So what you’re saying is you want me naked and in your bed.”

Her dark eyes widened and she opened her mouth and closed it again. “I just don’t want… You have a cold…”

“Fine. If I grab something of Jonah’s to wear and promise to take it easy, will you go?”

She glanced at her clock and climbed from the bed. “Okay, but I’m getting you ice first and if you need me, call my cell.”

Twenty minutes later, Brad listened to the sound of her car leaving the driveway. He dropped the ice-filled cloth into her bathroom sink and checked the copper pipes to see if they were dry enough to solder.

Satisfied that they were, he grabbed his gear from his toolbox and lost track of time as he went to work on fixing her faulty plumbing. Before he knew it the afternoon was upon them and Madison was back from her appointment. Her heels clicked on the stairs as she came to check on him.

“Brad,” she called out as she cautiously turned the corner, walking slowly like she was trying to avoid another run-in with him. And who could blame her, considering how he’d ravished her, damn near taking what wasn’t his to take.

Sitting on the edge of her tub, Brad turned off his soldering gun, and said, “I’m here.”

She stepped into the bathroom and looked at the gaping hole in her wall. She crinkled her nose when her glance went back to him. “You didn’t change your clothes.”

He shrugged. “They were only going to get wet anyway.”

For a moment she looked like she was going to give him a lecture, but then she looked beyond his shoulders and asked, “How’s it going?”

“Almost done. You’ll have running water in no time at all. Then I’ll see about fixing this wall.”

She shook her head. “You’ve done enough already. And don’t think I forgot about that bang to the head.”

He ignored her protest. “How did you make out at the country club?”

She smiled. “I got the contract. Which means I really need to get to work.”

“Almost there,” he assured her. “I’ll give you a shout when I’m done.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” She clicked her way down the hall, his focus locked on her curvy ass the whole way. When she reached her bedroom, he shifted his position for a better view and damn near swallowed his tongue when she kicked off her heels and tore off her blouse, clearly forgetting that he had direct line of sight from the bathroom. She probably never expected him to be sneaking a peak. After all, they’d been friends for years and she was dating his brother.

A gorgeous lace bra covered her ample breasts, and his gaze latched on to the creamiest cleavage he’d ever had the pleasure of viewing. His cock tightened and his nostrils flared, heat careening through his blood at dangerous speeds. He wet his mouth as the need to taste her set his body on fire. He was so goddamn hot, burning from the inside out, he was sure he could smell smoke. He inhaled then jerked back with a start.

Wait! He
could
smell smoke.

He jumped from the tub. “Fuck.”

“Brad,” Madison called out, rushing down the hall. She tied the waistband on her sweats. “I smell smoke.”

“Me too.” He pushed past her and rushed down the stairs to the basement, Madison tight on his heels. He reached her furnace room and cursed under his breath when he saw her water tank smoking. His glance went to her circuit board, and he raked his hands through his hair, kicking his ass for forgetting. But goddammit, he wasn’t in his right mind when he was around Madison.

“Shit.”

“What happened?” Madison asked.

“I drained the tank but forgot to switch the breaker. I burnt out the heating element.” He walked to the circuit board and flicked off the breaker. “I’ll have to run out and get a new one. Water might be coming a little later than I had hoped.” He drove his hands into his pockets and shook his head. Jesus, he’d told her not to call a plumber because he could fix it for her, and what a fine mess he was making of that. “I’m sorry, Madison.”

She touched his shoulder. “Hey, don’t be sorry. I just appreciate what you’re doing for me.”

With the heat of her hand seeping into his wet flesh, he could feel his body reacting, hardening. Need careened through him and his glance dropped to her mouth. For the briefest of moments he thought about kissing her again, but doubted he could get away with blaming it on his concussion a second time. She was too smart for that, and if she knew how much he wanted her it would make things awkward between the three of them when Jonah returned.

“I have some paperwork to take care of anyway, so going without water for a little longer won’t hurt me.”

He took note of the tank’s model number. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

Brad climbed into his truck and spent the next few hours driving around town. Her tank was old and getting the right part proved harder than he expected. When he finally arrived back at her place, night was upon them and his stomach was growling, not to mention the throbbing at the base of his neck. Shit, maybe he really should have taken it easy.

He parked in the small parking lot and fished out the key Jonah had given him from his pocket. But when he found Madison standing at the bakery door, waving him over, he secured the new heating element under his arm and walked toward her.

Her eyes narrowed as they moved over his face in concern. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it just took longer than I thought.”

“Come on.”

She led him inside the dimly lit bakery that always smelled like sweet icing sugar, like Madison herself. Then another scent caught him. Pizza.

“Have a seat and eat with me.” Madison pointed to one of the many tables scattered throughout the small space.

He held up the heating element. “Let me get this done first.”

His stomach took that moment to grumble, and Madison took the part from him. “You’ve done enough for today. Time to eat.”

Hunger pangs gnawed at him. “Yeah, that does sound like a good idea.” He grabbed a chair and Madison divvyed up the pizza before handing him a cola.

“It might be a little bit cold. I was waiting for you.”

He felt a strange hitch in his chest. “You waited for me?”

She nodded, then looked at the dim lights. “I have to keep them low, otherwise customers might think I’m open.”

He grinned. “The
Closed
sign hanging on the door doesn’t do the trick.”

She laughed. “Apparently not. Customers still come up to the door and peek into the window. But I guess I’m grateful that customers like my goods enough they they’ll stop by at all hours.”

Her customers weren’t the only ones, he thought, as his glance moved over
her
goods. Oh yeah, he liked them enough that he’d stop by at all hours too.

She continued to talk about her business, and how she’d like to hire more staff to keep later hours. He listened to her ideas and scarfed down his first piece in record time, following each bite with a swig of his cola.

“Have some more.” Madison nudged the box toward him.

He helped himself to more and as he chewed he noticed sauce on Madison’s face. He grabbed a napkin, and without giving it another thought, swiped at it, but when his fingers connected with her soft flesh, something that looked an awful lot like heat moved across her face.

“You…uh…you have sauce on your face,” he explained and jerked his hand back. As the air charged and his blood ran south, he quickly changed the subject. “I guess it’s going to be hard for you with Jonah away for a month.”

He watched her throat work as she swallowed and realized it felt a little odd sitting in the dark bakery with her like this, a little intimate. “I kind of got used to the company, and because I don’t have an alarm system, I sleep better when he’s here.”

“He takes good care of you?”

“Yeah, Jonah might be a lot of things,” she said, a knowing grin on her face, “but he’s good to me.”

“That’s good.” Brad stuffed his face before he said something he might regret, like how she should ditch his punk-ass brother and give him a chance. But he’d never do that to Jonah, no matter how much he wanted Madison for himself.

Madison finished eating and said, “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Brad pushed back in his chair and looked around her bakery as she disappeared into the kitchen area. He was impressed that she’d built the business from the ground up and was garnering quite the loyal following in town and in the wedding circuits. Too bad she had to start out in such a crappy building, and if he ever came face to face with her landlord, he was going to give him a good shit kicking.

Madison stepped up behind him, ice clinking in a bag.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

He was about to turn but her hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Shh, just let me check your head, okay?”

Her body crowded his as she carefully placed the ice on his lump. How long had it been since someone had taken care of him? Not since before his mother had passed. That Madison was the one caring for him now caused a tightening in his gut.