He set down the bottle and stepped close, lifting both hands to caress my beard. “I love yer body so whatever yer doin’, keep it up.”
I started to roll my eyes which made him grip my cheeks harder as he stared deeply into my eyes. “Look at me, Wes. I’m not kiddin’. I’ve always loved men with meat on their bones.” He glanced down at my soft belly. When he ran a hand over it, I shivered. I knew I wasn’t fat, but I didn’t have a hard, gym toned physique either. He glanced up at me under thick lashes. “I mean it. I love yer body.” He blushed and lifted a hand, rubbing the side of his neck. “And I like that yer bigger than me.” He stared at me almost shyly as he shrugged. “It makes me feel sexy.”
I felt my skin heat and lifted one corner of my mouth. “Ditto.” He sent me a slow nod and stepped back out of my personal space. I took his cue and grabbed our plates, carrying them to the table while he followed with the steak sauce and a homemade, buttermilk salad dressing that he’d pointed out when I’d inquired about it this morning.
“You make your own salad dressing?” I’d asked.
“Rex made it. I think I was telling ya he’s the best cook on our team and when he brought this to a team picnic over the summer, everyone asked for the recipe. It’s low in fat because he makes it with homemade buttermilk and yogurt.”
We sat at the table and dug into our salads. The dressing was just as good as Patsy promised. “You’re right. This is delicious,” I said, pointing my fork at the salad dressing, sitting on the table in a cruet. “I need the recipe.”
He smiled. “I’ll give it to ya.”
Surprisingly, I was able to eat everything on my plate. The pizza and salad I’d eaten late in the day had sat like a rock in the pit of my stomach, probably because I’d been a bundle of nerves. I hadn’t been able to decide whether it was from coming close to being shot, or the greasy pizza. I watched Patsy finish the steak and sit back. “I’m chock-a-block,” he said, patting his belly.
I raised my eyebrow with a slight smile. I could listen to him talk all day.
“Stuffed to the gills for ya Americans.”
I grinned. “That was the best steak, Patsy. I’ll get started on the dishes.”
Patsy shook his head. “Ya don’t have to clean up all the time, Wes.”
I smiled as I reached for his plate. “I told you, cleaning relaxes me.”
“We’ll do it together.”
“You really are stubborn.” We both pushed away from the table at the same time, taking our dishes as we walked to the kitchen. After setting them down, he cornered me, pushing me back against the counter. I leaned down and kissed him, feeling myself growing hard by the time he finally stepped back a halfminute later. “Fine then,” I said, “but I’m only letting you help because I can’t wait to get you back into that bed.”
I watched as his neck colored as he reached down to adjust the bulge in his sleep shorts. “Feck me, Wes,” he groaned.
“I can do that.”
He laughed as the color crept up to his face.
I held up a bottle of dish soap. “You want me to show you how much fun soapy water can be?”
His giggles warmed my soul.
Chapter Fourteen
PATSY
I stopped at Cassidy and Mike’s police precinct at seven the following morning to meet with their sketch artist. I did my best to describe what the men who’d chased Wes looked like. Just as I was finishing up, Napoleon walked in and broke out into a wide grin when he saw me.
“Are you waiting to start or are you finished?”
I reached up and patted his cheek affectionately. “Just finished. If you’d like, I’ll wait around for ya.”
He looked dubiously at Cassidy and Mike who sat at desks facing each other. They were talking to the lovely, young woman whom, I had to admit, was very talented with her pencil and paper. She’d come up with three great sketches, seeming to effortlessly draw the men in my head. That kind of thing probably took a lot of practice. Napoleon asked, “How long did it take?”
“The better part of an hour. I don’t mind waitin’.”
He grinned. “Thanks, Pats.”
He walked away and I sat, drinking the last dregs of the Starbucks tea I’d stopped off to buy before coming in. A little over an hour passed in the blink of an eye and when he was finished, we headed for our office together, anxious to get in a workout before our shift.
I walked into the FBI gym a little after nine-thirty with a spring in my step that hadn’t been there for a long time. I felt likeI was floating on air. Waking up to find another man in my bed had been jarring at first, but memories of last night had filled my brain with the sexiest recollection and I’d relaxed when I realized who it was. I’d snuggled back against his large, sleeping form, and fallen asleep again, almost missing my alarm when it went off. He’d wrapped me up in his arms and kissed me for several minutes before I’d pulled away from him with a gasp and an apology for having to get up and go to work. When I found my team in the large gym, they greeted me with cat calls and whistles.
