Page 67 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“Then kiss me.” When he didn’t, she began peppering his closed mouth with kisses, urging him to give in. She knew the exact moment that he did.

A low groan came from his throat, and he dragged her the rest of the way over the seat and on top of him so she was straddling his thighs.

The abrupt movement woke Smoke, who rose to his feet and tried sticking his head through the kennel opening.

“Sorry, buddy.” Kade closed the solid divider between the passenger compartment and the kennel. A sharp whine came from the other side of the divider.

He slid his hands along her thighs beneath her dress, then tugged aside her panties and plunged two fingers between her wet folds.

“Oh, yesss.” She rocked her hips forward and back in tandem with the thrust of his fingers. Her muscles were wound so tight, she forced herself to relax.

“That’s it. Relax,” Kade said against her open mouth just before pushing his tongue inside.

The taste of him—hot, minty, and all man—made her body throb with more need than she thought possible. She reached between them to unbuckle his belt and pull down the zipper of his shorts. Beneath the soft cotton of his undershorts, he was hard and pulsing as she cupped him, reveling in the steely strength of his erection.

Hooking the waistband of his underwear with her fingers, she freed him, stroking his hard length and rubbing her thumb over the tip. He cupped her ass, lifting her, then slowly lowering her onto him.

Her inner walls, though still sore from the intensity of what they’d done on the beach and again in the ocean, quickly moistened, taking all of him in a deep, slick, sensual slide. She moaned as he lifted her again. Slowly. Too slowly.

“Faster,” she whispered. Already, waves of sensation were building in her core.

Kade tugged down the straps of her dress, baring her breasts. He sucked one nipple into her mouth, holding her at the waist now as he surged upward inside her.

He released her nipple. “Look at me,” he commanded, his face harsh in the dim light. He was close. She could feel him holding back, waiting for her to come.

Her body trembled, then she grabbed his shoulders as the powerful orgasm ripped through her. “Kade!”

He pressed his face to the hollow of her neck as he came on a loud groan.

Still breathing hard, Laia smiled against the top of Kade’s head. She’d wanted a reaffirmation of life, and she’d gotten it.

The route to get here had been long and difficult, fraught with so much pain and anguish she’d never expected. The light at the end of her tunnel was now warm and bright, filled with possibilities.

It had taken a lifetime to get here. There was no doubt in her mind now.

She’d fallen hard for Kade Sampson.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Manny,” Kade said, keeping an eye on the front doors of the Regional Bank & Trust as he put the call on speaker. “Laia Velez is with me. We found the ledger.”

Beside him, she squeezed his thigh, the first time she’d touched him since they’d returned to the shack after finding the ledger. Laia had insisted they maintain separate bedrooms. For Rosa’s sake, she’d said.

“No shit,” came Manny’s excited response. “Where was it?”

“You remember that old pink and purple dinghy?”

“Yeah?”

“It was hidden inside the hull.”

Manny’s curse was mingled with laughter. “It was right under our noses this whole time.”

“We’ll bring it to the office in about an hour.” A bank employee unlocked the glass doors to the bank, then several other people exited their cars and went inside. “We also found something else.” Wanting to get to the box ASAP, he quickly recapped what they knew about the key and the safe deposit box in Laia’s name. “We’re heading inside now. I’ll let you know what we find.”

“Ten-four,” Manny said. “I love it when a case starts coming together.”

“You and me both.” But for entirely different reasons. He could give a rat’s ass about the investigation as long as it got Laia and Rosa off Fernando Colon’s radar. Kade ended the call. “Let’s go in.”