Page 33 of Winters Heat

“All right. Several people are trying to kill me. Bullets whizzed over my head earlier. I don’t want to be stuffed in a trunk again. Is that acceptable?”

“Nope.” His eyes danced, an eyebrow raised. He needed to back off. He was already ruining her post-coital moment.

“So what do you want me to say?” She rolled her eyes. Why was he pushing her? “You’ll do a better job protecting me than the cops could, and, I don’t have to explain how I came across a secret government document.”Besides, I’m too busy thinking of you naked.“Does that work for you?”

All her climatic residuals were gone, and she blamed the undressed detective running shop from the bathroom.

“You’ve got serious walls built around you, doll. You know that?”

Oh yeah, she knew. Years studying psychology had clued her in. But all the money spent on higher education didn’t matter. She’d known since grade school that parents screwed up kids, and that a bad home life was a serious detriment for normal emotional health.

Walls were a concession for never finding a magical cure. But that was okay. She’d done just fine with her closely guarded psyche.

Well, that was the truth until Colby kissed through all her barriers. She needed to build those up again. Fast.

“I’m a realist. A pragmatist. You’re a one-night-stand man. I can tell. And I got carried away with the moment.”

“You’ve got it all wrong, and you don’t even know it. It’s simple: You’re the deceptive one.” He hung his head back down, facing into the sink. “You look one way. You act another. You say one thing, but I see the wheels turning in that clever head of yours. What you say isn’t what you think. Hell, honey. I know the deceptive deal. But that’s cool if that’s how you want to play it.”

“I’m not even going to dignify your accusations.”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing.” His half-smile made her stomach rocket into her throat. The man dripped testosterone. It was the freakin’ grand rapid of pheromones in this room. Mia flushed, remembering their bedroom showdown. Her palms itched to run down his strong back.Still carried away in the moment, it seems.

“I saw it in your eyes. You’re just as triggered up as I am. You want the same thing I want. But you don’t know it.” He paused, studying her. “Nah. You know what you want. Don’t you? I admire that. It’s sexy as all hell.”

No way, not-uh. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of calling her out. Her stomach might knot, her jaw might lock, but no way would she admit anything.

She looked back at him. It had been so easy. He didn’t judge, only acted. She trusted him from the moment he carried her into the room, until the second he leaned over the bathroom sink. Then it all came to a screeching halt.

Except, wait. Did he just call her sexy? Whatever. She must ignore him. Turn the tables. Something. Anything. Because he wasn’t throwing on his clothes. And him, naked, was dangerous. Lord, so very dangerous.

“Now who’s psychoanalyzing who?” Why did she sound like that? Oh, no reason. Just because her body was betraying her. She needed it to stop reacting to him.

“Do you ever give honest answers?” He laughed into the towel as he dried off his face, then nailed her with a stare. “When it comes to you,to Mia, not your work or your clients, are you ever sincere about what you want?”

She was earlier in bed. That was about the most honest she’d been. Ever. But she kept that little secret to herself and rolled onto her back. There was no denying that she felt something. But it didn’t matter. Adrenaline. Chemicals. Hormones. They were all arousing. Andtheywere deceptive, not her.

She could psychoanalyze this…their behavior, their glances, and the oppressing emotion that tugged at the edge of her consciousness, but she didn’t want to.

He turned the shower on, and she expected he’d close the door on her any moment now. She earned a door slam. She was being a bitch. And there wasn’t a reason for it, other than to protect her hide.

A shower would be amazing. Hell, right now, it would feel light-years past unbelievable. Steaming hot water would wash away her bitterness and confusion. But for now, she’d wait until her wet noodle legs could carry her to the bathroom.

Mia held a leg inches off the bed, testing it. Limp. Loose. Lax.Yeah, it might be a while.

His hands clasped on her ankles. She jumped, but didn’t get far. He was as stealthy as he was silent. She didn’t have time to stay startled. With a fast tug, Colby slid her to the edge, dropping her feet to the floor. His eyes flared, dark and aroused, a hard line set to his jaw. That, she didn’t expect. Nor did she expect to see him hard for her again.

“Can’t get enough, huh?” And there was the bitch again. She needed to sew her mouth shut because clearly her brain had given up monitoring duty.

“Christ, woman. Major defensive walls. You’ve gotta work on that.”

“Says the big badass who leads a secret life.”

“At least I know what I want, and I’m not afraid of it.” Colby hooked his forearms under hers, dangling her above the carpet. “And I want you. Again.”

She felt weightless, as if her worries fell off when he lifted her up.

His hard-on rubbed against her stomach, instantly welling a heat in between her legs. He walked back into the bathroom, put her down, and stepped into the steaming water.

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