Killer Daddy, page 16
“Language.” Said without heat because Harper, asleep on his chest, couldn’t hear him, and she could see the anger in his eyes. A righteous anger—on her behalf. “Don’t act so pissed. My problems belong to me.”
“What part are you not grasping? I’m saying you shouldn’t have been going through this alone.” He sounded so disgusted.
“What part of I messed up and paid the consequences for it don’t you understand?”
“Consequences shouldn’t include living in fear that this Mendez character will come after you or the kid.”
“It is his child,” she pointed out. “He has a legal claim to see her.”
“If he was that keen on custody, he could have taken you to court. Kidnapping is never all right.”
“Assuming it was him.”
Declan gave her a look.
She sighed. “Fine. It’s most likely him. But why now? He disappeared. Why surface now and try to abduct Harper?”
“Maybe he was waiting for the right time.”
“Then he’ll be waiting a while longer. He won’t get her.”
“Of course, he won’t. We’ll keep her safe.”
We.
He said it so easily, and for a moment, Audrey let herself believe it. How nice would it be to not be alone?
Except the reality remained, this was only a momentary blip in her life. Once this mission with Suarez was over, she’d go back to being a regular ol’ mom. A new place for her new life, but still one where she pretended to be someone she wasn’t.
Sigh.
“You look tired. We should go to bed,” he declared. “You take the master, I’ll sleep out here.”
She wouldn’t argue the use of a big bed. But she did wonder at his choice. “Why not use the guest room? It’s got a bed, too.”
“I don’t like its location. I want to be able to hear in case someone comes after you and the baby again.”
The sweetness of his words brought moisture to her eyes. She turned away before he could see. It also shamed her to realize that he’d thought of something she hadn’t.
Sleeping in the master bedroom, far from the front door, she would never hear someone breaking in. The reminder that she had to be on her guard once more brought weariness to her mind, but a determined tension to her shoulders. “I’ll sleep out here.”
“Like hell, you will.” He crossed his arms over his wide chest.
“I am because it makes the most sense.” She angled her head towards the playpen. “Probably better off letting it stay put. Moving it might wake Harper up.”
If anything, his stony countenance got even rockier. “I can handle the baby. Go sleep in a bed. I’ve got things covered.”
The fact that he wanted to protect them melted something in her. There was a temptation to just say yes. To let a man take care of her. What happened the last time she’d let her guard down for a man?
She shook her head. “I don’t need protecting.”
“Because you can protect yourself.” He rolled his eyes. “You think I haven’t figured that out? I know you kick ass. Don’t forget, I saw the bruises you left on Malcom. Watched the videos. You are badass. But, guess what, Ree, even badasses can use a hand sometimes.”
She wanted to say something, but he’d left her without words. Here was a man who’d known her a scant few days, and yet he put himself out on a limb for her.
“What do you want in return?” What would he demand of her in payment?
“I don’t want anything, Ree. It’s as simple as helping out because it’s the right thing to do.”
“I didn’t get the impression you always did the right thing.” She used to be that way, too, once upon a time.
“Don’t, usually.” He shrugged, and his grin turned a touch mischievous. “Guess you bring out the good guy in me.”
“A good guy wanting to protect a badass?” She arched a brow as she threw his words back at him.
“It’s a classic love story.” The moment the words left his lips, his eyes widened. Even his beard couldn’t hide the tense shock in his expression.
Had he seriously said love story? “We are hardly a—a—” She couldn’t say it aloud. She skipped the L word for something her tongue managed to spit out— “Cliché. I don’t particularly care for you.” Had there ever been such a huge lie spoken?
“Are you really going to throw shade at me after what we’ve been through? That’s cold, Ree.”
“You implied there was something happening between us.” There totally was. There shouldn’t be. She had to stop it.
He appeared determined to do otherwise. “There is totally something happening.”
“Hormones. Nothing else,” she said aloud not just for him. She needed convincing, too.
“It’s more than that.” He stepped closer to her.
Her nostrils flared, and she heaved in a breath. Jeezus, the scent of him. She wanted to close her eyes and just smell him. The sharp tickle of his cologne, and man… Hot hunk of man.
“I am not sleeping with you,” she declared. Sleep. Ha. It would be passion and screaming all night long. She wished she could cross her legs and turn it off. The melting continued.
“I didn’t realize I’d asked?” He arched a brow. “Go to bed, Ree. Alone. I promise if Harper starts hollering, I will wake you up. We can both be wide-awake and take care of her. Because that makes more sense.”
“I’m her mother.”
“And I was her fake father.” A sheepish smile tugged his lips. “Let me pretend a while longer. She’s cute.”
So was he. “Wake me,” she admonished.
“Yeah, yeah. Go to bed.” He pointed down the shadowy hall to the bedroom. Not his lap. He didn’t even offer her a goodnight kiss.
How disappointing.
She left the door open a crack and stripped down to her shirt and panties. She slid the gun under the pillow—after checking it again for bullets, astonished he’d actually given her a loaded weapon. What kind of crazy person did that?
Declan did. A guy sleeping alone on a couch, guarding.
She tried to sleep. Really, she did. Rest eluded her. Desire for the man in the other room not the only reason.
She worried.
Worried that Mendez was indeed still alive and actively hunting her.
Worried that she’d fail her mission.
Worried that she was turning into someone who hesitated because of a broken heart rather than grasp the possibilities life offered.
Why was she afraid to sleep with Declan?
He’ll try and use it against me.
How?
What benefit would he gain from it? Nothing. Her boss wouldn’t care if they had sex so long as it was Audrey’s choice.
Sleeping with him, though, might affect her mission. Could she concentrate properly if distracted by him? She couldn’t afford to have her mind turned right now. Not with everything at stake. Most especially a little girl.
At the same time, though, was abstinence needed to do her job?
An appealing thing about Declan was the fact that he knew about her. Knew her fall from grace, her shady redemption. Her baggage and greatest treasure.
And he was so good with Harper.
It made her wish things were different.
Made her wish he weren’t in another room, so very far away.
Chapter Twenty
So close, and yet so far away. Declan lamented his choice of the sofa, not because it was shorter than his body but because he wasn’t in bed with Audrey.
The more he got to know the woman, the more he needed to know. He wanted to learn everything he could about her. Especially how she’d feel coming for him.
Keeping a cool lid after that scorching make-out session following his shower proved almost impossible. He could understand her hesitation over getting involved. He hesitated, too. She might not work for his office, but they were collaborating. It made them coworkers, in close proximity. They had to be careful to make things work. Yet, at the same time, the enforced living situation meant he got to know her more quickly than say a woman he met at a bar or had dinner with. They’d already spent hours together. Talking. Eating. Playing—with Harper, not each other, which created its own brand of closeness.
Because there was no mistaking he felt close to Audrey. Wanted to be closer.
He blamed that for the restless sleep he tumbled into. Dreams of chasing her, capturing her for a kiss, only to have her melt in his arms and lead him on a chase again haunting him.
A few hours were all he managed before a noise had him rising. He checked the door first. No one in the hall, according to the peephole. Which, he might add, he didn’t put an eyeball to. Good way to lose an eye. He used the iris-cam in the peephole to look via the app on his phone.
He checked on Harper next. She slept, ass in the air, thumb tucked in her mouth.
The noise came again, a mumble, a rustle of sound that justified him lightly pushing open the master bedroom door.
Audrey rolled on the bed, grumbling in her sleep. The faint light from the bedside clock illuminated her face enough for him to see that her eyes remained closed.
The sheet had ridden down, displaying the flesh of her leg. The pale skin of her ribcage and belly peeked as her shirt twisted around her in slumber. Only her panties covered the essentials, and he allowed himself one heated look before turning away.
The disappointment was very real, but he knew it was wrong of him to watch her while she slept. Creepy, too. Only weird peeping Toms ogled women without their knowledge. He went to leave, but she mumbled again.
“Zee.”
Probably wishful thinking made him think she’d said his nickname.
“I want to.” The words were soft but distinct. “We shouldn’t.” She kept talking, and he couldn’t help but listen.
“Oh, Declan.” No doubt she sighed his name. Nicely. The kind of sigh that made a man harden.
She’s dreaming of me. An erotic dream, apparently, given that he could hear the rustle of sheets as she squirmed.
Turn around.
He didn’t. Looking now would be wrong. So very wrong. He needed to leave. This instant. He made it through the doorframe when he heard it.
“Declan?”
He froze. Did Audrey still sleep talk?
“Why are you in my room? Is Harper okay?”
Uh-oh.
He glanced over his shoulder to see her sitting upright, the blanket clutched to her chest. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. Heard something and was checking it out.”
She went to swing her legs off the edge of the bed.
“Don’t get up. Turns out it was a false alarm.”
“Are you sure? If you heard something, we should check it out.”
“Already did. “A grin tugged his lips. “Did you know you talk in your sleep?”
“Do not,” she huffed.
“Do, too.”
She frowned. “What did I say?
Pride filled his masculine reply. “My name.”
“Probably giving you heck.”
As if he’d let her off the hook. “Not the way you were saying it.”
“You are imagining things.” She leaned over and grabbed a glass from the nightstand.
Rather than leave, he moved towards the bed. “How long you going to keep fighting what’s happening between us?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He sat on the edge of the bed, and she froze, glass to her lips, eyes wide in the gloom.
“There’s something sizzling between us. Don’t deny it,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “I feel it. You feel it.”
“We can’t act on it.”
“You started it earlier today.” He’d been thinking of it ever since.
“A mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“My mission—”
“Has nothing to do with this.” He reached out and ran a knuckle down the soft skin of her cheek.
“Us getting involved wouldn’t be professional.” The words tumbled out, high and rapidly.
“Jumping out of our skin each time we touch isn’t good either. It’s the middle of the night. Everyone is asleep. Except for you.” He drifted closer. “And me.”
“We could work on the case.”
“The case can wait until morning. This can’t.” He slanted his mouth over hers, capturing and caressing it, swallowing the hitch of her breath.
He went slow, waiting to see if she’d protest or push him away. She didn’t. She leaned into him, her fingers clutching at his shoulders, her mouth taking the kiss to the next passionate level, devouring him. Her tongue sliding in for a hot dance.
It took only a little nudge to have her lying down on the bed, and him alongside her. He ran his hand up and down her hip and waist, content to take things slow.
She was the impatient one. She rolled him to his back, straddling him, her eyes glittering in the shadowy room. Snaring the hem of her shirt, she pulled it off in a fluid motion, revealing her handsful of breasts, the nipples large and inviting. He cupped them, feeling their weight in his palms.
As if sensing his urges, she leaned down enough so he could latch his mouth to one, sucking on that nub, feeling it harden. He kept tugging, slightly surprised by the sweetness he tasted.
He switched breasts, lavishing the other with the same attention while she moaned and squirmed atop him.
Despite his track pant bottoms and her panties, he felt how hot and wet she was. The dampness permeated the fabric. Made him eager.
He cupped her head with his hand, drawing her to his mouth. He wanted to taste her. “Strip off those panties and bring that pussy to me.”
She gasped.
“Now,” he growled.
The strip of fabric went flying, and he remained on his back as she straddled him and worked her way up his body. The narrow strip of hair at the top of her pubis was hypnotizing in the shadowy room. She didn’t stop until she’d positioned her legs on either side of his shoulders and head. She held herself over him, a pink, teasing temptation.
He grabbed her around the thighs, pulled her down to his mouth. He tasted her sweet honey. Immersed himself in the heat of her. His tongue flicked at the slit of her sex, the wetness of her passion only increasing his hunger. He devoured her clit, latching his lips to that nubbin of pleasure. He teased her. Nipping. Licking. Worrying that button of flesh while she writhed and cried out. He opened his eyes to watch her. Saw her looming over him, her hands pressed to the wall to hold herself upright, her eyes shut, her lips parted, panting and wet.
She was so fucking beautiful.
Especially when she came. The ripple of her orgasm had him digging his fingers in as he let his tongue ride the wave of her pleasure. His hips thrust, his cock thick and hard. She did this to him without laying a hand on his dick.
Her writhing slowed, and she groaned. “That was so…” She didn’t finish the sentence, suddenly moving instead, and it was his turn to gasp as she sat on him.
Sheathed his cock in one swoop that engulfed him in an inferno of flesh. He scrabbled to hold on to something. Her hips proved a nice anchor, holding him to one spot, gasping as she ground against him. Groaning deep when she bounced, driving him hard. Then huffing against her mouth, their lips meshed together as closely as their bodies. The rhythmic stroking, her body sliding hard against his, brought his pleasure coiling. He teetered on the brink.
When she came again, moaning his name, “Declan,” he lost it.
Completely lost it inside her. Spilling his seed.
The condom still forgotten in his pocket.
First time ever.
He didn’t panic.
Happiness wouldn’t let him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Audrey lost track of the times they made love. Lie. It was three, with over five orgasms for her. A record. Her body felt relaxed. Pleasured.
Hungry…
Even after a night of sensual exploration, a night of insane bliss, she was greedy.
She wanted more.
And he would have given it to her, too. He stirred against her backside. He was a spooner. His body wrapped around hers. So nice. The heavy weight of him pure delight.
She would have totally gone for round number four if she hadn’t heard Harper begin to squawk.
Before she could roll out of bed, he had, bouncing to his feet and yanking on his track pants. He muttered a brisk, “Stay in bed. I got this.”
Like hell. Harper was her responsibility.
She had her legs thrust over the side when he reappeared with the baby.
“Say morning to your mommy?” He cradled her against his chest and had his head against Harper’s putting them cheek-to-cheek. He held up Harper’s hand and waved it before mimicking in a high-pitched voice, “Hi, Mommy.”
Audrey gaped.
“Ma!” Chubby arms reached for her, and she took her daughter, expecting the sloppy morning kisses.
“I’ll grab the bum stuff. Hold on,” he announced.
Sure enough, he returned a moment later with a fresh diaper, wipes, and a sleeper.
“No pad?” she asked.
“Er.”
Audrey snickered. “I’ll manage this time.”
“I’ll be right back.” He popped out again as she changed her daughter. The happy baby gurgled and immediately flipped for a crawl once Audrey had finished buttoning her into a fresh sleeper.
He reappeared, juggling a bottle and two coffees. The hot cups went onto the nightstand. The bottle he offered to Harper, who pulled herself to a sitting position and snatched it from his hands. She immediately tipped it back.
Declan slid into the bed, and Audrey couldn’t hide from him in the dawning morning light. Nor did her humming body want to. No point in pretending that last night didn’t happen.
“Coffee.” He handed her a cup, carefully watching Harper, who’d flopped in between them to drink her bottle.
Audrey took the mug and sipped. “That was a fast coffee.”
“Got to love a Keurig machine.”
