Page 24 of S.O.S. Billboard

Well, he asked…

“Just imagining what I could do to your body if you’d give me the green light,” she sent back with a bit of attitude.

Billboard gave a strangled laugh. “Uh, uh. You’ll just have to be happy that I’m contemplating moving from full-stop-red to easing-into-things-yellow,” he told her, then became serious. “In the days after Peggy declared whatever we were doing, dead-in-the-water…hell, even well before that when the writing was on the wall, I made up my mind not to get involved with anyone again.”

He looked like he meant it.

“That’s just sad,” O’Shea told him, “and not very forward-thinking of you. Where’s your adventurous spirit?” she probed. “I’ve had duds, too, you know, but that doesn’t mean I stopped looking.”

“You’ve had… Huh. Am I a rebound?” he asked sharply.

O’Shea instantly shut the illogical train on his brain’s dead-end tracks, down. “No,” she assured him. “You are not an act of desperation. I haven’t had a true boyfriend in a couple years if you must know. Not that I haven’t tried. You remember Billy, don’t you?” she questioned pointedly.

Billboard grunted. “I do. He was Brigid’s partner back on the OPD.” A scowl crossed his face. “Wait. Don’t tell me you and he…?”

O’Shea laughed. Billboard sounded jealous, and she felt a surge of joy. Nobody had come that close to claiming her in a very long time. “No. We didn’t. But itwasa near miss. We kissed a few times, but after a palm to the boob and a squeeze of hisjunk, we couldn’t bring ourselves to go any further. Truthfully, it was like fondling a relative, and skeeved us both out.”

Billboard took a big breath. “Okay then. So, you brought him up, why?”

She rolled her eyes. “To let you know you aren’t a fill-in for a broken heart I left behind in Louisiana.” She turned her whole body toward his as far as the seatbelt would allow. “You, Billboard, are one of a kind, and I’m being dead honest with you that I’ve never been this interested in getting to knowanyguy before, ever.”

His whole demeanor lightened, but some of his skepticism clearly remained. “Why me, O’Shea? You’re…smart, dedicated, gorgeous. You could have anybody you want at the crook of your finger.”

O’Shea wrinkled her nose and shrugged. She wasn’t vain, but she’d been told enough times that she was decent in the looks department.Thathad a lot to do with catching a man’s eye, but had provided very little in regards tomaintaininga relationship.Right. Arelationship. None of her hook-ups in the past could be categorized as such, and her chest fluttered, wondering if Billboard might fill the bill.

She cleared her throat, pushing down her sudden yearning. “Who knows why anyone wants who they want?” she sent back. “I mentioned your pheromones before, and yes, to me you smell awesome. Someone else might not even blink at your scent, but it makes me salivate.”

She let that settle in for a moment before she continued. “I’m also thrilled with you, as a human being; how passionate you are about your work and your team. I’ve seen you in action, and you give your missions everything you’ve got. That’s an ethic I can get behind.”

It was now time to stroke his ego even more. “Then, of course, there’s how stunningly handsome you are.” Sheexaggerated batting her eyes at him coquettishly. “I’d have to be dead not to notice your chiseled face, your expressive glare, and your killer lips.”

She saw him purse those bows, inadvertently, and wasn’t that cute?

“And if we really want to get down to the nitty-gritty, your body is to die for. Your shoulders are as big as the doorway in my little apartment back home. Your abs are so tight, they might just have hospital corners, and…have I mentioned your ass?” she added impishly. O’Shea hummed approvingly. “Oh, I think I have.”

Billboard didn’t say a word after her long-winded list, but O’Shea wasn’t surprised. He was a man who needed time to digest, and she’d give that to him.

He turned into a parking garage, took his ticket, and drove up a few flights before parking.

By the time he killed the engine, O’Shea was chewing on the inside of her cheek in anticipation.

“Well?” she finally asked. Screw waiting any longer.

“Well,” he repeated, “you’re convincing, I’ll say that for you. Because…” He swallowed and his Adam’s Apple bobbed. “You’ve got me moving up my agenda. I’m going to go against everything I said earlier, and kiss the hell out of you. If that’s okay,” he added as an afterthought.

“O…okay?” she stuttered excitedly. “Yikes! It’s more than okay, Billboard. It’s fucking imperative now.” O’Shea bounced in her seat, not sure how long she could contain herself while she waited for him to make a move.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long.

He unfastened his seatbelt, then reached across and clicked hers off.

With no effort at all, he lifted her out of her seat, and positioned her on his lap, her legs draped across the shifter.

When he swept her dark curtain of hair behind her ear, and leaned down to sniff her neck, she shivered and thought she might pass out. It was the single most innocent, yet erotic experience of her life; the way he took his time, inhaling her scent and scratching her neck with his facial scruff, spending a good few minutes with his nose bumping into her sensitive ear whorls.

Her panties grew damp, and just when she thought she might orgasm from his simple but indecently powerful touch, he kissed along her jaw and claimed her lips.

Lips…

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