He’d lived this fantasy a dozen times since she’d left him that first night, imagined what it would be like to finish what they’d started, imagined the pleasure.
He stripped her soft knit top off over her head, unfastened the hook on the front of her lacy white bra and slid it off her shoulders, filled his hands with her magnificent breasts, ached to put his mouth there. He bent his head to the task, his tongue running over the pebbled crest, laving and tasting, satisfying at least one part of his fantasy, would have enjoyed taking more time if his need hadn’t been so strong.
Kate pulled his T-shirt off and tossed it away, pressed her lips against his heated skin, trailed kisses over his chest and shoulders.
Jase groaned. Reaching between them, he unzipped his fly and freed himself, felt the dampness between her long legs. She was ready for him, and he was more than ready for her.
He managed to dig his wallet out of his back pocket and pull out a condom. Kate took it out of his hands, opened the foil packet and sheathed him. Jase kissed her as he lifted her, and she eased down on top of him with a soft, sexy purr. Cupping his face between her hands, she bent and settled her mouth over his.
Kate kissed him deep, kissed him hard, and desperate hunger burned through him. She was riding him now, slow and easy at first, then faster, deeper, harder. The lust he’d felt that night returned tenfold, and he clamped down hard to stay in control. Even those efforts didn’t last long.
Kate braced her hands on his shoulders, fitting their bodies together, moving in perfect rhythm. Her climax struck, her passage tightening around him, and Kate cried out his name. Gripping her hips to hold her in place, he drove into her again and again, drove into her until she came once more.
Need clawed through him, so powerful his jaw clenched, and release hit him hard, his muscles going rigid, pleasure burning through him, hot and fierce. All consuming.
“Kate...” he whispered, saying her name like a vow, a promise of things to come.
Because one thing Hawk Maddox now knew—having her once wasn’t going to be nearly enough to get over his obsession with Kate.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Kate awoke later than usual the following morning. As events of the night came rushing back, her gaze shot to the other side of the bed, but Jason wasn’t there.
Relief filtered through her, followed by uncertainty. She sat up in bed, feeling aches in places that had never ached before. Maddox had done that, driven her to heights she had never experienced. Doubt swelled. She wasn’t sure how she felt about what had happened, had no idea how it would affect the job she needed done.
Sunlight streamed through her bedroom curtains as she came to her feet, grabbed her robe and headed for the bathroom. Jason was already gone. She hadn’t heard him leave, wondered if he had left to avoid the always difficultmorning afterconversation.
Whatever the reason, she would never forget the night they had shared. Instead of lonely hours filled with grief and regret, he had swept her into a night of passion, a place where sadness didn’t exist, just heat and need and pleasure.
She had known he would be a demanding lover, hadn’t expected him to also be generous and attentive. His lovemaking had been unlike anything she had experienced before. It was impossible to regret what had happened. Or at least not so far.
On the other hand, she had no idea what Jase would expect from her now, or if he was the kind of guy who was mostly about the conquest, the kind who would be moving on after spending a night in her bed.
The smell of coffee reached her as she emerged from the bathroom, drawing her toward the kitchen. A white mug with a yellow daisy painted on the side sat next to a freshly brewed pot of coffee on the counter. A few words scribbled on a piece of paper sat beside it. She reached for the note. Pick you up at ten, it read. Nothing more than that, nothing personal. Part of her was disappointed, though she had no idea what she would have liked him to say. Far more important, he wasn’t going to ignore his pledge to help her, even if their relationship had taken a major turn.
Even if things were uncomfortable between them.
Kate poured the mug full of coffee. Whatever happened last night, Jase wasn’t to blame. Having sex had been her idea. He had simply done what she’d asked him. He’d just managed to do it far better than she ever could have imagined.
Kate took a sip of the thick dark brew, which had turned strong and bitter while she had been sleeping, and grimaced at the taste. Without time to brew another pot, she carried the mug into the bathroom to shower and get ready for Jase to pick her up.
As she turned on the water and waited for it to get warm, an odd mix of excitement and trepidation slid through her. She had no idea what to expect from him. On a personal level, they needed to go back to where they were before last night, to focus on solving Chrissy’s murder. They needed to talk to the people at the New Hope Rehab Center, to Elijah Zepeda, and also to Marco Bandini, the last of the three men arrested for assaulting a prostitute.
As she brushed her hair and applied her makeup, she tried not to think about last night. When that failed, she tried to convince herself she didn’t want it to happen again.
But when she walked into the living room a little before ten o’clock, she found herself in a pair of sexy skinny jeans, heeled sandals and a formfitting, cap-sleeved, scooped-neck blue top that showed some cleavage.
It wasn’t blatantly sexy, but it wasn’t a pillowcase, either.
Her stomach fluttered when the intercom buzzed and the front desk announced Jase’s arrival in the lobby. Kate slung her purse over her shoulder and headed for the elevator. When the doors slid open, he was waiting. In jeans, boots and a dark blue T-shirt that hugged his amazing chest and showed the tattoo on his biceps, the man was definitely eye candy. A sliver of heat curled low in her belly.
His gorgeous blue eyes ran over her. “You okay?” he asked.
Was she okay? She wasn’t exactly sure. She felt different, as if making love with him had changed her in some fundamental way.
“I’m ready to go to work on the case, if that’s what you’re asking.”
A corner of his mouth tilted up, and she knew what he was thinking. “Glad I could be of service.”
