Page 57 of Fast Justice

Another grin, and it was all she could do not to climb up onto the table and grab his face between her hands so she could kiss that delectable mouth. “Then you’ve got nothing to worry about, sweetness.”

Sweetness. She loved that so much. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it.

Releasing his hand, she reached for her wine because her throat was suddenly dry. “So. How long until I can get out of here, do you think?”

“No idea. But however long it is, it’s too long for my liking.”

Hers, too.

They spent the rest of the leisurely meal enjoying each other’s company, talking about various things, laughing at each other’s jokes. But there was so much that they didn’t say. Things that would have to wait until they were alone.

He helped her clear the table and tidy the kitchen afterward. When he shut the dishwasher door they stood facing each other a few feet apart in the kitchen, pent up sexual tension crackling between them, and no way to relieve it. “Well,” he said softly, hands braced behind him on the countertop, the pose emphasizing the powerful muscles in his shoulders and chest. “I should get going. I bet you’ve got a ton of work to catch up on.”

Ugh. Work. She sighed. “Yeah.” She had to talk to Val about the Ruiz counteroffer, then review the evidence they’d gathered so far and get it ready with the victim impact statements they’d gathered. If Ruiz rejected the offer they’d made to drop a few charges in exchange for a reduced sentence, then they would be going to trial soon.

“Gimme one second,” he said, and headed to the next room. She picked up the low murmur of his voice as he spoke to her security detail, then he emerged a moment later. “Walk me to the door?” he asked, a gleam in his eye.

She followed, understanding why he’d asked that when she realized no one could see them at the door from the next room. At least they’d been given some measure of privacy to say goodbye. She’d take it, because it was better than nothing.

He stopped at the door, waiting for her. As soon as she got close, he grasped her hips in his big hands and turned them so that his back was to the room. Shielding her, even from the possibility of prying eyes.

“We’ve got two minutes until they come to follow protocol and lock me out,” he said. “So I’m not wasting a single second.” Sliding one hand up her back to plunge into her hair, he brought his mouth down on hers.

His dominant possession sizzled through her like a lightning bolt. He wasn’t like Carter at all, didn’t want to control her anywhere but in the bedroom, and that was more than fine with her. Desire streaked through her, so intense it made her dizzy. She grabbed hold of his shoulders for balance, flattening her body along his.

The hard ridge of his erection pressed into her belly, maddening her with the promise of what she couldn’t have. His tongue teased hers, a slow, sensual caress that revved her arousal even higher. Rowan squirmed to get closer, standing on tiptoe to rub the seam of her jeans against his erection.

The hand in her hair tightened, squeezing as his other reached down to cup her ass and lift her higher, aligning their bodies until she got what she was looking for. God, she remembered what he had felt like inside her, how thick and hard he’d been, the way he’d shifted his hips so that he stroked just the right spot inside her while his thumb on her clit made her mindless. The friction now was torture, yet she didn’t want it to end.

But of course it did.

All too soon he slowed the kiss, gentled his grip and lowered her back down until the soles of her feet were flat on the floor again. Rowan stroked her hands over the back of his head, feeling the slightly rough texture of his short hair. Down his neck to those gorgeous shoulders and across his back. Tracing the muscles, loathing the moment when she had to let him go and face an unknown length of separation from him.

Malcolm ran a soothing hand up her back, his fingers tracing the length of her spine as he kissed the corner of her mouth, paused to suck at her lower lip. Nip it.

“The next time I get you naked, I’m gonna take my time and kiss you everywhere,” he whispered against the corner of her mouth. “Especially here,” he added, rocking the hard ridge of his erection between her open thighs. “Until you melt all over my tongue.”

Rowan barely managed to stifle a whimper, her whole body clenching with need. She’d imagined it countless times; it was her favorite masturbation fantasy. But she had a feeling that reality was going to blow her mind. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

He raised his head, met her stare, his pupils all but swallowing the chocolate rim of his irises. “Good. I want you to hold my head between your thighs while I lick you until you scream and come on my tongue.”

A torrent of molten desire pooled low in her belly, between her legs, her clit throbbing at the thought of his mouth on her. Oh, Jesus, the things he said in that deep, wicked voice… “That was dirty,” she accused, aching and knowing she would have only herself to take the edge off with later.

“Oh, sweetness, that wasn’t even close to the way I do dirty, I promise you.”

A discreet clearing of a throat behind them made her want to growl at the man. Malcolm chuckled softly, pressed a kiss to her forehead and stepped back. “Good night. Sleep tight. I’ll be in touch.”

She nodded, forced herself to let go and behave like an in-control adult. But she was suddenly cold without his arms around her. She wrapped hers around her waist, watched as the marshal went through the ritual of taking him out, locking the door behind them.

Hand pressed against the closed door, the sting of tears in her throat told her he’d just taken her heart with him.

Chapter Twenty

Victoria Gomez walked out into the psychologist’s waiting room expecting to find one of the two U.S. Marshals assigned to her personal security detail there, but stopped short when she saw Supervisory Special Agent Brock Hamilton instead.

He rose from his chair, a smile on his chiseled, masculine face as he set aside the magazine he’d been reading. His brown hair was short and neat after a recent cut. “Hi.”

“Hi. This is a surprise.” Except for the few hours she’d spent with him at the shooting range, the only time she left the WITSEC orientation center was to meet with lawyers or investigators, or for her twice-weekly appointments here. She was the government’s key witness in the upcoming Ruiz trial, so they didn’t take any chances with her safety.

---