Page 82 of Wicked Suspicion

He nodded and inclined his head toward a different spoke off the main circle of the sidewalk. Nyx fell into step with him and linked their fingers again.

Case watched Nyx lock the messenger bag in their hotel room safe and tried to keep his expression blank. She was anxious and had donned her brave face. As much as he hated seeing it, this time it amused him. She didn’t have any reason to worry. He’d go as slowly as she needed him to go, and if she changed her mind, they’d stop. Simple.

She began pacing the room, looking for something to do. “You could always close your eyes and think of England,” he suggested, voice bland.

Nyx stopped, stared at him, and then smiled. “Sorry. I’m…” her voice trailed off, and she waved a hand.

“You’re nervous. I can tell. Relax, Fireball. I’m not going to throw you on the bed and fall on top of you. Remember one thing. You call the shots on this one hundred percent. You tell me to slow down, I slow down. You tell me you need a minute, we take a time out. You tell me you don’t want to do it after all, I stop. No arguing. Got it?”

She crossed the room to where he stood. “I trust you, Case. If I didn’t, I never would have asked you to be my first.”

Be her only. But Nyx wasn’t ready for that discussion yet.

She was pacing again. “Okay, let’s go,” Case said.

“Go where?”

“Anywhere. Just out of this room so you can relax.” He started herding her toward the door, but Nyx dug in her heels.

“If we leave, we’ll have to go through all those evasive maneuvers again to return to the hotel. I don’t want to take another scenic tour of Trujillo today.”

“So what do you want to do, Fireball? Watch TV? We could rent a movie.”

“Rent a movie?”

She sounded confused and Case took her shoulders in his hands, wanting to impress upon her he meant what he said. “I want you to relax. You’re wearing your brave face, and you don’t need it. Not with me. If you want to watch a movie and fall asleep in my arms, I’m good with that. Just because you mentioned making love, doesn’t mean we have to do it.”

Nyx put her hands on his forearms. “I have an alternate suggestion. Let’s rip off the bandage.”

He needed her to spell it out without ambiguity. “What I’m hearing is you want to make love now. Do I have that right?”

“You have it right. I want you, Case. I haven’t changed my mind.”

Going up on her toes, Nyx pressed her lips to his.

Chapter 33

Nyx tried to relax. She knew Case was uptight about her nervousness, but, well she was an overachiever and she liked to do everything well. It was difficult to be good at something she’d never done before.

Case kept their kiss slow and easy, not trying to deepen it. His hands remained chastely on her back. She appreciated his care—really, she did—it signified that she meant something to him. Since she’d fallen in love with him, she needed to know he felt something beyond lust for her.

Everything he said, everything he did since they got to their hotel room showed her that he did have feelings for her.

She ran her hands over his chest and hit his holster. “Case? Lose the pistol, okay?”

“Good idea.” He stepped away from her to remove it and carefully placed it on one of the nightstands. It told her he would be the one sleeping closest to the door.

As he returned to her, Nyx admired the way he moved. Case had an athletic grace that she never got tired of watching, and as sexy as he was in camo gear, he was a hundred times sexier in jeans and a T-shirt.

He stopped in front of her, not taking her into his arms. “Are we still good?”

Honestly, if he wasn’t so sweet, and she didn’t love him so much, she’d scream. “Absolutely still good.” She closed the gap he’d left, wound her arms around his neck, and pressed her breasts into his chest. “I need you to go faster, let the arousal take me over. You’re giving me too much time to overthink.”

“I want you to have time to think. I want you to have time to be sure.”

“Have you ever known me to not speak my mind with you?” She waited until he shook his head. “Then trust me to be assertive now. If you do something I don’t like or if I change my mind, I will let you know it even if I have to pinch your ass to get your attention. Until that happens, overwhelm me. Let me feel how much you want me.”

“Oh, I want you, Nyx. More than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life.” His hands went to her hips, and he tugged her tightly against him. Case hesitated. “I don’t want to scare you.”

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