A dozen reasons but they were mostly personal. The bad blood between him and Howler didn’t prove the man was dishonest. He didn’t know the Harrison County sheriff but there was no reason to suspect him.
“Whatever happened,” Quinn said, “odds are El Jefe or one of his men is going to be in touch. Let me know the minute that happens.”
Linc worked a muscle in his jaw. “We’ll let you know.” But he was no longer sure bringing the feds in had been the right decision. He hadn’t wanted Carly involved in the first place. After tonight, she might be in even more danger.
“What do you think?” she asked after he’d hung up the phone.
“I think we’ll find out what happened when El Jefe is ready for us to know.”
“I’m worried,” Carly said. “I wish I hadn’t told the FBI about the pick-up.”
Linc stood up from the sofa, drew her up beside him. Knowing the stress she was under, he had ignored the desire pulsing in his groin all evening. But the tension for both of them had just ratcheted up another notch.
“It’s almost morning,” he said. “I’m taking you to bed.” Tipping up her chin, he settled his mouth very softly over hers. The kiss was brief and gentle, a promise of things to come. “You need to get your mind off El Jefe and with any luck, I’m the man who can make that happen.”
Carly smiled for the first time that night. Sliding her arms around his neck, she went up on her toes and kissed him. Just a brush of lips, a tasting that heated into something more. When her soft mouth parted in invitation, his tongue swept in. His body tightened, his erection throbbed, and an ache rolled through him. He wanted this woman, had almost from the moment he had met her.
The bedroom seemed miles away. He carried a condom in the pocket of his jeans. When she pulled his T-shirt over his head and pressedher mouth against the muscles across his chest, his decision was made. Stripping her out of her clothes, he sat down on the sofa and pulled her down to straddle his lap.
Her pretty breasts bobbed forward, tempting him. He palmed them, caressed them, bent his head, and drew each one into his mouth. The rose tips hardened into tight little buds he nipped with his teeth and soothed with his tongue.
Carly whimpered. Cupping her face between his hands, he kissed her, sank into those soft lips. Trailing kisses along her throat, he returned to her breasts, nibbling and tasting until she was panting and squirming on his lap, begging for exactly what he intended to give her.
His erection throbbed. He unzipped his jeans, retrieved the condom, and sheathed himself. Carly lifted, took him deep inside, and Linc groaned.
“I love the way you make me feel,” she whispered. “I need you, Linc.”
Sweet Jesus, he needed her, too. The woman drove him crazy.
Bracing her hands on his shoulders, her thick blond hair forming a curtain around them, she rose up and sank down, rose and sank down, taking him deeper, gloving his heavy arousal, up and then down, riding him, turning his erection to steel.
He let her take charge, gritted his teeth to stay in control until he couldn’t wait a moment more. With a growl of possession, he gripped her hips to hold her in place and drove upward, taking what he so desperately needed, giving her what she needed in return.
A moan escaped as her body tightened around him and she reached her peak, but Linc didn’t stop, not until she cried his name and came again. His own release struck hard, a wild, untamed response to a woman who was becoming as necessary to him as breathing.
He held her as they spiraled down, their bodies, still joined, slick with perspiration, her arms locked around his neck, her head on his shoulder.
A deep breath whispered out. Seconds passed. With a last soft kiss, he eased her off his lap, rose, and headed for the bathroom to dispose of the condom.
When he returned, he smiled at the sight of Carly curled up on thesofa, still naked, her eyes closed, a soft smile on her face, so damn sexy he wanted her all over again. Then her phone started ringing.
Linc growled low in his throat, wishing he could ignore it, knowing he couldn’t.
Carly grabbed her T-shirt and pulled it on while Linc slid into his jeans and sat down on the sofa beside her. Her hand trembled as she plucked her cell off the coffee table and checked the screen, saw the number was blocked.
Biting the plump bottom lip he loved to taste, she held the phone to her ear, tilted a little so Linc could hear the conversation. “This is Carly.”
“You’ve been a very naughty girl,SeñoritaDrake.” The familiar male voice, touched with Spanish, sent a shot of dread down his spine. “Perhaps I should punish you,” El Jefe said. “Yes, I think I would like that.”
Linc’s hand unconsciously fisted.
The voice hardened. “I told you no police.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Carly said.
“Do not make the mistake of thinking I am a fool.”
Carly looked at Linc, who nodded. There was no use denying it.
