While the others continued to discuss the merits of open and polyamorous relationships, Baz’s thoughts drifted to his parents. He remembered a conversation he’d had with his father. He’d been fresh out of the academy, if he recalled correctly. His father had asked if he’d met anyone special or more than one person because, according to Wes, there was no shame in finding love more than once. Wesley Buchanan truly believed that humans hadn’t been meant to settle down with one person. He claimed that a person’s propensity for love outweighed their desire to be monogamous.
Baz could admit, his father had made a compelling argument, and he could’ve almost agreed with him at one point. Then he’d met JJ, and all that nonsense about needing variety to keep the flame burning seemed downright asinine. Baz couldn’t imagine a life with anyone other than Jessica James.
“Cindy did mention there was a time Toby talked about settlin’ down up here,” JJ was saying. “Said he’d even looked at various properties. When I asked her where they were, she didn’t know, but she did say he had a preference for solitude, so he’d been looking for houses in rural areas.”
“That explains why we’re chasin’ our asses lookin’ at these cabins he’s purchased over the years,” Brantley told her.
JJ nodded. “I figured I’d do a deeper search of properties up this way, see if he happens to have any that we haven’t uncovered yet.”
“Sounds like a long shot,” Brantley said.
“It is. But since we’ve got nothin’ to go on so far…” She shrugged.
Baz knew JJ had been disappointed that they hadn’t learned Toby’s whereabouts after spending hours with Cindy. Evidently, she’d hoped that one conversation would solve the case and they would move on to the next. Baz hadn’t been quite so optimistic, nor was he now. There was something about this entire thing that didn’t sit well with him. Everyone was going on the assumption that Tobias Land was innocent in all of this and had gotten pulled into a bad situation. Baz wasn’t so sure that was the case.
Maybe it was the hardened cop in him, but he found the idea of someone accidentally getting mixed up in Mob activity a little too loose of a theory for his brain to process.
An hour later, Baz was sitting on the hotel bed, staring at the wall while JJ finished getting ready for bed. His mind was still tossing around their conversation about polyamorous relationships. More accurately, he was thinking about his parents. He couldn’t help but wonder if they’d ever considered being in an open relationship rather than being apart. Then it had dawned on him that there was a good possibility they had, and that was what they’d been doing all this time.
“What’s on your mind, Detective?” JJ asked, coming out of the bathroom after flipping off the light.
He peered up, taking in the sight of her wearing one of his T-shirts, her legs bare. All thoughts of his parents and relationships with other people faded instantly.
“What’re you wearin’ underneath there?” he asked, his voice huskier than he’d expected.
She smiled, a sexy grin that made his cock twitch. It wouldn’t be too much longer before the damn thing would be throbbing eagerly for her attention.
“Under here?” she teased, lifting the T-shirt an inch or two, revealing more bare thigh.
He groaned, flipping the blankets back, a silent invitation for her to join him in the bed.
JJ crawled over to him, but rather than lie beside him, she kept going, forcing him to lie back as she straddled his hips. He rested his palms on her silky-smooth thighs as he stared up at her. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met in his life, from her long, dark hair and those intriguing green eyes to the pouty mouth that always made him think of wicked, dirty sex.
Gauging her mood, he slid his hands higher on her thighs, his fingertips reaching her hips. He cocked an eyebrow when he was met with more bare skin, which told him she was not wearing panties, and he suddenly wished he had shucked his boxers before he’d gotten into bed.
“Mmm,” she moaned softly. “Don’t stop doin’ that.”
He continued to caress her thighs, his thumbs gliding along the insides while his fingers curled over her leg, brushing the rounded globes of her ass. The higher he went, the more sounds she made, telling him she was feeling frisky tonight. He loved that about her. The fact that she didn’t hold back, didn’t try to hide her desire for him. She was an exquisite creature, secure in her sexuality, and she made no attempt to hide it.
“Take off the shirt, JJ.”
Her eyes met his, and he saw the glimmer of promise in the light green orbs. She began slowly lifting the shirt, revealing her belly, which was starting to round and swell with their baby inside her, then higher until her full breasts came into view. If he wasn’t mistaken, they were a little bigger, a little heavier than before she’d gotten pregnant.
When she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it aside, Baz’s hands began to wander higher, his eyes skimming over every delectable inch she’d revealed.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered in awe. His eyes lifted to hers. “You take my breath away, JJ.”
She smiled sweetly, staring down at him with so much love he could practically feel it. “You make me feel beautiful.”
“What do you want me to do to you tonight?” he asked, noticing her chest was rising and falling more rapidly as her arousal intensified, her soft, cool fingers grazing his lower abdomen, teasing beneath the waistband of his boxers.
“Is it like dinner?” she teased. “Do I have a selection to choose from?”
Baz laughed. “Just think of me as your all-you-can-eat buffet.”
Her lips parted on a sigh when he brushed his knuckles over her nipples.
“That,” she whispered. “You can keep doin’ that.”
