Page 50 of Crossing Lines

I did indulge in all things peanuts when we were out of town on cases and there was no chance of something happening. Mainly M&M’s, cause seriously, those are the best ones.

“Stella. Jesus. Why didn’t you answer me?”

One eye popped open as I swallowed down my last bite of bread. I made an exaggerated show of brushing my hands ofcrumbs. Watching Trace told me what I needed to know. His eyes twitched in aggravation at my non-answer to his question.

I had to fight back a grin.

“Because you’ve worn my damn name out. I will no longer answer to any version of it for the next twenty-eleven hours.”

“Twenty-eleven is not a real number.” He chuckled.

“Ah, but you see, old man, it is.”

His eyes darkened as he walked over to the bed. I laughed as he pushed me back, his large, muscled body hovering over mine. His mouth was on mine before I could protest. Not that the protest would have done me any good. Here I was, pressed to the bed, my feet hanging toward the floor, totally helpless to push him back. And the jerk knew I never would.

“How ‘bout I give that mouth something else to do?”

It was my turn to groan. I wantedthat. I wantedhim, but with my leg and the pain having sexy times caused, I’d have to be persuaded. To be fair, he knew just how to do that, too. No one could say I was easy. I made his ass work for it. Every. Single. Time!

I chewed on my bottom lip for a minute and shook my head. I had to get ready to go. I’d have to pass—for right now, anyway. Fuck, maybe later would come sooner...

Why did he always do this to me?It was like he knew I was ready to kill him, and his way of getting free of that was sex. Such good sex, though.

“Fucker!” I ground out and pushed at his chest. He didn’t budge.

“Problem—” he kissed along my neck, “baby?” He had the nerve to rake his teeth along that spot—you know the one. The spot that was guaranteed to make you Jello in a man’s hands and needy as fuck.

“I hate you right now.”

He chuckled, then pressed his arms into the bed to push himself up. His heated gaze met mine. “You love me; I know you do.”

“I love you, but I hate you too.”

He grunted before pressing himself harder against me. I was slowly losing the battle I had waged.What in the hell was wrong with me? Why could I not hold onto my shit and push him away?

“I’m so glad you said you were marrying me. I might worry if you hadn’t.”

“Keep this up?—”

“Stop dry humping each other. We gotta roll,” Kris said from the bedroom doorway.

I growled in frustration.

Trace laughed, shaking his head as he pushed up from the bed. His hand came out, and he helped me up. I was moving slowly, but I was up. Kris grinned as she picked up Ethan. He was wide-eyed and all grins. Gah. So stinking cute.

“I can keep him today,” Trace said, smiling at me.

“I don’t doubt your daddy skills, but there is an ugly troll coming to get you to take you out somewhere. He mentioned an appointment y’all had. Robert and Gabe are coming to get Daddy to do the same. They’ll have to bodily remove him from that shop out there, but that’s their project.”

“What about Carter?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the door. I could already hear them all down the hall. “Derek and Lana have come to take him out too. No one is staying home today. So enjoy it.”

“...she wasn’t happy with my joke. She didn’t hit me for no reason. Come on, give her a chance! Please, you’ll see she’s really sweet, and a bit of a firecracker.”

“I’m not convinced yet.”

“Aw, come on, baby. You’re going to enjoy this. Just us. You can interrogate her if you want,” Derek cajoled.

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