Page 11 of Poison Evidence

She didn’t know this man. She shouldn’t feel this way.

But it had been solongsince she’d felt this way.

The fear that had been with her from the moment she saw the armed men entering the garden washed down the drain along with the grime of the mangroves. She felt safe with Jack Keaton.

And warm…and wonderfully alive.

She’d been struck and choked. Those men might have succeeded in abducting her, if not for the man who was now running his lips down her spine.

He’d defeated the men inside the ballroom. Then he’d raced back to the garden to find her, scaring her abductors off.

She turned to face him. The spray filled her open bodice and the narrow straps slid down her shoulders. She swept the ruined silk down her arms and stepped out of the dress, standing before him in a satin strapless bra and panties.

She pressed her nearly nude body to his wet, clothed one, and slid her hands around his neck, threading her fingers through his short hair as she pulled his head down for a very real kiss. Her tongue slid between his lips. Just one kiss. That was all she would take.

He hesitated.

For the space of a heartbeat, his body was stiff against hers and his mouth unresponsive. Then his hands slid across her wet skin, pulling her tight against his chest, as his tongue delved deeply into her mouth, stroking with a slow sensuousness that was as hot as the water that steamed up the tiny bathroom.

The kiss went on for a perfect eternity, a long exploration of mouths and nothing more. His erection grew in scale with her arousal, but he made no move to touch her beyond where his hands rested at her lower back.

She ended the kiss and pressed her forehead to his shoulder, taking a deep breath.

She should let it end there. It would be simple to push him out of the shower and wash her hair. But she didn’t want it to end. Didn’t want to be alone.

But she had her security clearance to consider. Sex with random strangers was…frowned upon, to say the least.

But he wasn’t arandomstranger. He’d saved a room full of politicians. Mara knew she’d bolted with Jack Keaton, and that Jack would hide her and CAM from the terrorists who’d escaped from the mangrove swamp. Curt was probably running a background check on him even now.

Her body ached with arousal. She’d forgotten this part. How it was possible to want sex so desperately, she could make excuses for anything. But then, sex in the last months of her marriage had been perfunctorily procreative, even before Patrick’s cutting words destroyed her confidence in herself. She knew exactlywhyher libido had died. What she didn’t understand was how Jack Keaton had managed to resurrect it.

Andthatwas what she wanted to explore now. This feeling of being alive and desirable.

But still, her rational side held the reins, and she reached for the shampoo. Jack’s hand covered hers, and he filled his palm with the mint-scented gel. He massaged the lather into her long hair, and she let out a soft groan at the feel of his fingers on her scalp.

He used the shower wand to rinse the suds away, then started over with conditioner. His gentle touch was her undoing.

She’d needed this for so long…and she’d had no idea. She’d forgotten how it felt to be cared for. To be desired.

Hair rinsed, she turned and pulled his mouth to hers again, sinking into the pleasure of his touch, his kiss, his attention.

She was reclaiming a piece of herself she hadn’t realized she’d lost. Her sensual side that she’d buried under pain and humiliation.

His kiss was deep, sweet, and hot, but his hands never strayed from where they’d settled on her hips. He didn’t touch her breasts, which ached for attention. Nor did he leave her mouth to explore her neck or any other part of her awakened body.

She needed his lips on her neck like an addict craves a hit. Musical notes without progression to melody was like hovering on the edge of a sneeze for eternity. Sensual, with ever-ratcheting tension, but hollow. Endless waiting.

He was letting her know with his hot, stroking, magnificent tongue that he wanted her, but this would go no further if she didn’t want it to.

She released his neck and began opening the buttons on his shirt. She ended the kiss and pressed her lips to his skin as she exposed him to the hot spray.

Jack let out a low groan when she stroked the wet slacks that covered his erection. In one smooth movement, he scooped her up, pulled her legs around his hips, and pinned her to the wall beneath the showerhead, grinding his erection against her center.

Yes. Oh yes.

Her libido was back, riding into town on a rush of faded adrenaline. It brought tears to her eyes to feel this intense desire again after being dormant for so long.

She purred as he kissed her. God, she wanted this. Him. Everything. She wanted him hard and fast and wild.

---