Page 78 of Once a Killer

“I didn’t realize you were that shallow,” she managed to say as he stroked her.

“Shallow?” He leaned back so he could look into her eyes. “Hell, no, I won’t be shallow. I’ll be so deep inside you that I’ll feel everything. Every little twitch. Every tiny contraction. I want to know everything about you, Bree.”

She stared at him a moment, frozen. As if he’d scared her away. But then she relaxed. Cupped her hands around his face. “I like the sound of that, Jameson. I want to know everything about you, too,” she said. “We were so frantic with pent-up need in New York that it was a blur of pleasure and ecstasy. Now I want to know the little noises you make when I touch you. The way you hold me when you’re deep inside me. How you sound when you come.”

“I want to know the same things about you, Bree.” He wanted far more than that. He wanted long term with Bree. But he wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear that, and he wasn’t even sure if it was possible.

He trailed kisses down her chest, pausing at her breasts to pay attention to her taut, hard nipples. When she was making tiny, needy sounds, he moved farther down. Put his mouth at the juncture of her thighs. Laved her clit, then sucked on it. She clutched his hair and screamed his name as she came.

Finally she drew him close. Reached for the condom he’d placed on the night table, opened it and slid it on him. Then she curled her arms around him and welcomed him inside her.

She felt like heaven. Like every present he’d ever received, multiplied by ten. She was made for him. Perfectly matched to him. And when she tightened around him as she came again with a cry of pleasure, he let himself go with a roar.

When he regained the ability to move, he rolled so Bree was lying on top of him. She pressed her open mouth against his neck and sucked gently. Ran her fingers down his sides. Rubbed her nose against his cheek.

Jameson tightened his arms around her, holding her smooth curves and firm muscles against his body. Bree was unlike any other woman he’d ever met. She fit him perfectly, in all possible ways. But he was afraid to tell her that, because she had thick walls around her heart. He didn’t want to trigger those prickly defenses of hers and scare her off. So instead, he ran his hands up and down her back. Let her short, wavy hair feather over his hands as he combed his fingers through it.

Let his hands drift down her back again so he could cup her ass in both hands. God, he wanted her again.

He felt her smile against his neck. “Really, Jameson? Already?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Already.” He leaned back to kiss her, his tongue dancing with hers, drawing tiny gasps from her. “You inspire me,” he said. “Make me want…”

He clamped his mouth shut before he could say ‘everything’. He didn’t want to frighten Bree. Scare her off. He was thrilled to have this moment -- her in his bed. Exploring each other’s bodies. Pouring pleasure over each other, thick as honey, clinging to skin, making everything sweeter.

“What do you want, Jameson?” she whispered. “Let me give it to you.”

Forever,he wanted to say. But it was too soon. He had a lot of baggage, and Bree was a complicated woman with baggage of her own. They needed time to unpack all the ghosts. Bury all the old memories beneath the happiness they could create together.

He settled for, “I want you, Bree. Right here with me. Close enough that when I wake up at night, I can reach for you and curl into you. Hold you as I fall asleep again.”

“I want the same thing, Jameson.” She drew a finger down his side, making him shiver. Making him want. “I’ve had sex with a few men, but I never slept with any of them. Never wanted to. But I love sleeping in the same bed as you.”

His heart fluttered and he wanted to hold tight to her. But he held himself still. If that was all she could give him right now, he’d take it.

Rolling her to the side, he pulled her close and kissed her deeply. “I love it, too,” he said, taking her mouth with his. She might not be ready to hear the words, but he intended to show her in every possible way how much he wanted her.

Chapter 27

They arrived at the lab early Monday morning, before any of the other engineers were there. That had been Bree’s plan. She wanted to see how the crew would react when they walked in and saw Jameson already back in the office. The engineers had probably all assumed they’d be gone for another few days -- until the end of the conference.

Bree would be watching closely for flashes of discomfort. Guilt. Uneasiness. Anything that conveyed more than the typical ‘it’s Monday morning and we’re back at work. How was your weekend’?

Since they knew his office was bugged, she and Jameson kept their conversation to a minimum. Strictly the kinds of things a reporter and her subject would talk about. Questions about his work that he could answer with some bland bit of nothingness. Trivialities. Follow-up questions. Nothing that could give the listener any clues about his program or their efforts to figure out who was trying to steal it.

But when their eyes met, Bree could see his nerves. His anxiety at the thought that one of his engineers was working against him. She could read him so well now -- she could practically see the names flipping through his mind like a Rolodex, debating which of his lab-mates was trying to steal from him.

Hayley was the first one into the lab, and she stuck her head into Jameson’s office. “Hey, Jamie. You’re back early. How was the conference?”

“It was a good conference,” he said. “You’ve been to that one before, right?”

“Yeah, a few times. Good workshops and lots of networking opportunities.” She smiled. “That’s where I heard you were looking for another engineer for your lab.”

“Yeah, I remember you said that,” he said.

Bree was watching, so she saw the way his jaw ticked. Was Jameson wondering if Hayley’d been playing the long game the whole time she’d been working for him? Planning on stealing his program?

Bree was pretty sure Hayley wouldn’t have noticed Jameson’s reaction. Hayley was all about Hayley.

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