VANISHED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (Edgars Family Novel) (17 page)

“That’s it, baby. Right there.” He gripped her hips tighter in his hands, urging her to move faster. His balls started to tingle and the need to release poured through him. He gritted his teeth, determined to last. “Come on, Abby. Do it. Come on me.”

Almost as if she’d been waiting for his strangled command, she tightened around him as a spasm wracked her body, her fingers digging into his shoulders. “Oh, oh…ah.”

Her half-moan, half-scream echoed around the shower’s walls, sending him over the edge. Gripping her to him as he surged his hips off the granite seat and exploded inside her. “Fuck!”

She collapsed down onto him and he wrapped his arms tightly around her as their bodies rode out the storm raining through them in aftershocks. As his brain cleared and he sucked in slow deep breaths to will his heart to slow, he felt her shiver in his arms.

“Abby?” He reached up to smooth the wet strands of hair from her face.

“I didn’t…know.” She murmured, her face still against his neck.

“Didn’t know what?” he asked, cupping her head in his hands and making her look at him.

“That I could let go like that. And…”

“And?”

A beautiful grin split her lips and lit her face. “That it could be so damn good.”

He brought her head down towards his, claiming her lips once more. He took his time, pressing, releasing, stroking her tongue with his. He varied the pace. Long and slow. Quick nips until she was trying to rock on him again. His cock thickened with the need for more of her.

Another shiver ran through her. He released her face and slid his hands down her arms, noticing the goose flesh pebbling her skin.

“You’re cold.”

“No, I’m not,” she argued, trying to capture his lips once more.

Before she could, he gripped her arms a little tighter and pulled her back.

“Not here. The water is growing cold.” He let go with one hand to turn off the showerheads. Then gripping her ass to keep her legs locked around him, he stood and carried her out of the bathroom, slipping only once on the slick floor and causing her to hold him tighter even while she giggled.

At the bedside he paused, capturing her mouth once more in a hard, hot kiss. Breaking the kiss, he knelt one knee on the bed and lowered her onto the mattress. He settled in between her thighs, his cock sliding back into the moist, hot warmth of her pussy.

“You fit me so perfectly,” he murmured, before kissing her again in a long slow savoring.

She wiggled beneath him, wrapping her long legs around his hips and thighs once more. “You fill me completely.”

“Aha, your former lovers were a bit lacking, huh?” he teased, leaning back to stare into her eyes, only to see the pleasure darken just before she looked away.

What the hell?
Had something bad happened to her with another lover?

Cupping her face in his hands, he gently forced her to look at him. “What’s wrong, Abby? You can tell me.”

“It’s just that…” She paused a moment. “It was only one other lover. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Why not?” Had someone hurt her? Raped her? If so, he’d find out the bastard’s name and hunt him down.

“Nothing to talk about. It’s in the distant past,” she said, reaching down to cup his ass cheeks and pull him in tight. “Make love to me, Luke. Make me feel like flying again.”

He stared into her eyes, then tucked one loose strand of hair behind her ear. Later he’d get her to tell him what happened. But for now he’d be sure to replace that old memory with another earth-rocking orgasm. Leaning in, he kissed her long and slow, letting tenderness show before the heat sparked once more.

Reaching down he pulled her hands free and brought them up to the spindles in the wrought-iron bedframe. “Hold on, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s going to be bumpy ride.”

“I sure hope so,” she said and the sexy, playful smile was back on her face.

Extending his arms so he rose above her, he drank in the sight of her stretched out before him. The passion in her wide, green eyes. The pert nose that balanced her glasses when she was working. The plumpness of her freshly kissed lips. His gaze traveled lower—across the long slender column of her neck, the collarbone of her strong, but delicate shoulders, finally landing on her breasts. Not huge, but big enough to fill his hands, their dusky tips taut and tempting.

Mine.

“Damn, you’re beautiful,” he murmured just before latching onto one tight nub and suckling on it.

His reward was her moan of pleasure and the arching of her back, making her pussy glide over his cock until just the head was in her entrance. Without breaking his hold on her nipples, he thrust forward, burying himself hilt-deep again. He repeated the motion, growing thicker inside her and his need to claim her rushing through his veins.

Releasing her nipple, he reached up to entwine his hands with hers around the spindles and rested his forehead on hers.

“Look at me, Abby,” he ordered her.

She focused those magnificently intelligent eyes on him and he began the fast, hard joining of their bodies, her legs wrapped tightly around his hips as he drove deeper and deeper into her core.

As her body clenched around him, she closed her eyes, her mouth parted in her passion. He wanted to watch her release, to see her when he finished his.

“Look. At. Me,” he growled as he worked harder, every muscle in both their bodies, taut and straining in the age-old rhythm of the mating ritual. Her eyes snapped open, their depths so dark he felt his soul sliding into them. Bending his knees, he pushed her thighs wider as he pumped into her with every force his body could muster.

“Luke. Oh, sweet heaven.”

“That’s it. Sweetheart. Come. With me.”

She panted, fighting the need, until her body couldn’t help itself. With one giant spasm, her body arched beneath him, gripping his cock tightly as her orgasm tore through her, bringing him over the edge as well. He sank down on her, his face pressed into her neck, shuddering as his orgasm ripped through him.

As Abby dragged in ragged breaths, her scent—lemony-citrus mixed with the heady spice of her passion—and her arms came around him, holding him close.

Then it hit him.

Twice he’d come inside her. Unprotected.

“Shit,” he muttered into her shoulder. Then he lifted up to stare at her once more. Worry filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Abby.”

“What for? I don’t think I could survive anything more intense than that.”

He gave her half a grin. “Neither can I. No, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you.”

Confusion quickly replaced her worried look. “Protect me from what?”

“Abby. We didn’t use a condom. Either time.”

She blushed when she smiled. “It’s okay. I’ve been on the pill for years.”

“Good.” He kissed her softly, slid out of her and rolled to his side, pulling her up against him. “Next time I promise to use a condom, extra protection wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Especially since the way his body was already warming to the idea of another go round, he doubted he could keep his hands off her.

“You’re pretty sure there’s going to be a next time, aren’t you?” she murmured against his chest, but he could hear the humor in her voice. He waited a few minutes, listening to the rhythm of her breathing as she fell asleep.

As he drew the covers over them, he faced the truth. Five years ago he’d resisted the need for her, knew just how hot things would be between them, even if she’d had no clue. They’d both been too young, had too much to learn. He’d pushed her away and kept his distance. But now? Now that he’d tasted her, held her, claimed her body with his…
Hell, yes there’d be a next time
.

Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he wrapped his arms around her.

But first, he had to keep her safe.

* * * * *

The sound of the garage door motor grinding woke him with a start. The sun was just coming up. Grey streaks of light filtered into the room.

Luke slipped away from Abby’s warm body, drawing the covers over her. He slipped on his black jeans and threw on his T-shirt then grabbed his gun from the holster by the bedside. Barefooted, he hurried quietly to the garage door and waited, willing his heart to slow as he focused, ready to take down the intruder.

The knob turned and the door opened inward. A large body with a hoodie covering his head and hiding his face entered the nearly dark kitchen, and set a bag on the table.

Luke moved in behind him and pressed a gun to the back of the man’s shoulders. “Don’t move.”

“I hope you don’t plan to use that thing. Your mama’s grown to like me, kid.”

“Dammit, Frank,” he said, lowering the weapon and moving away from his friend. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too. I told you once I’d wrapped up what I was working on, I’d be up to help you.” Castello shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the back of a barstool at the island separating the kitchen from the great room.

“I didn’t say I needed help, just some place safe to stay. And what happened to the twenty-four hours you were going to give me?”

“The twenty-four hours was for notifying the family you were in trouble, not a time limit for me to come check things out. Decided you might be in over your head, what with a female witness.”

“She’s not a witness.”

“Your female partner.”

“Didn’t say that either.” For some reason Castello’s presence made him feel like he was back in high school defending his actions to his older brothers and parents when he’d came home with a busted lip and the beginnings of a black eye. He’d done nothing wrong. Hadn’t started the fight. Simply stepped in when two bullies were picking on a friend known as the school geek.

“Oh, that’s right, a fellow agent.” A smile lifted the corners of Castello’s lips a mere millimeter. “A very sexy fellow agent.”

Luke looked over his shoulder.

Shit.
There stood Abby in the doorway to the bedroom. All she wore was his sweatshirt from the night before, her long, bare legs visible beneath. Hair tousled, looking very much like a woman who’d been thoroughly made love to, except for the gun in her hand, pointed at the floor. Fighting the urge to groan, Luke turned back to face his friend. The light in the other man’s face triggered the need to protect his woman and Luke moved to stand in between them.

“Yes. A fellow agent.”

“You must be Abby,” Frank called out.

“Abigail. And you’re Marshal Castello?” Abby walked over, stepped around Luke and extended her hand. “Thanks for letting us use your safe house. It was very kind of you.”

Luke wanted to roll his eyes. Kind wasn’t exactly a word he’d ever use for the taciturn Marshal. He sort of grew on you—like black mold.

“Please, call me Frank,” Castello said, his face crinkling with a smile as he shook her hand. “Anything to keep a lovely lady like yourself safe.”

Abby actually blushed.

Luke wanted to cold-cock Castello and tell him to let go of
his
woman. Which was stupid, as she wasn’t his in any form or fashion, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to go all caveman over her.

She stepped back, looking down at the gun in her hand. “I’ll just go put this away,” she said then turned and headed back to the bedroom.

“Abby,” Luke said, stopping her. He handed her his gun. “Give us a minute, okay?”

She turned her head to the side as if trying to understand what he was saying, then glanced from him to Castello and back again. Finally, she nodded, her blush spreading. “Sure. I’ll put on something a little more appropriate.”

Any other time he’d love seeing her padding around the place in only his shirt, but not now and not with Castello eyeing her long legs. Luke watched her go until the door closed behind her. When he turned back around, Castello stood leaning back against the island counter, arms crossed over his chest, his face back to its usual granite look, except for the one eyebrow he’d lifted in Mr. Spock fashion.

“Don’t say anything,” Luke muttered as he stalked past him to the coffeemaker. For a few minutes the only sound was him scooping coffee from the container he’d found in the cupboard, pouring in water and hitting the on button. He stood watching the hot liquid drip into the pot, his shoulders burning from the tension building in them. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“Oh, you do?”

The quiet comment irritated Luke more than if his friend had yelled at him like either of his older brothers would’ve. It also took some of the anger out of him. Slowly, he turned, leaning his hips back against the counter and folded his arms in the same manner as Frank’s and returned the stony look.

“Yes. You’d tell me it was a mistake,” he said, finally breaking the silence.

Castello just stared at him.

“You’d tell me I need to be focused on the case and not Abby.”

Nothing.

“That she’s untried in the field and that it’s my job to keep her safe, even from me.”

Nada.

“That it’s unprofessional to sleep with my partner, another agent, and possibly a potential target.”

Still nothing.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he growled.

“You finished?”

Luke surged off the counter behind him and moved to grip the island counter across from Castello. “Yes.”

“While those are all valid points, it wasn’t what I was going to say.”

“It wasn’t?” Luke said, then narrowed his eyes. “What were you going to say?”

“That’s one fine woman and your mama’s going to love her, so you’d best be prepared to protect her ass at all cost.”

Luke’s jaw dropped a moment, denial frozen on his lips. Then he closed his mouth and gave a nod, reading in the other man’s words and face what he already knew. No matter what happened in this case, protecting Abby had just become his lifelong mission.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Abigail secured her weapon before giving into her curiosity and pressing her ear to the door to try and hear whatever might be going on in the other room. Low male voices sounded on the other side of the bedroom door. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, or rather, what Luke, who seemed to be doing all the talking, was saying.