Page 22 of Her Last Hope
He shivered again. His brain worked to squelch his crazy thoughts while his heart tried to keep from accepting the rush of those emotions that would surely be the death of him.
Long moments passed as their breathing slowly returned to normal.
But there was nothing normal about this encounter, and Nick found himself in a situation where he wanted to push her away. He could easily say something so insensitive that she’d never want to look at him again.He’d learned from his little brother, Ramey, how to hurt a woman with a single sentence.
Ten of those sentences filled his mind.
But he couldn’t use them. Or wouldn’t use them. It didn’t matter because he was her first fuck after the death of her dearest husband, and Nick, of all people, knew what that meant.
He should be grateful that she’d thank him for the good time and be on her way.
The click of a lock ripped him from his thoughts. Her jerked his head up.
“You heard that, too,” she whispered.
“I did.” Propping himself up, he reached over the bed, lifting the curtain a tad. “Fuck.”
“What?” She gripped his shoulders, staring at him with those damn, intoxicating eyes.
“My brother is here.” He kissed her lips, letting his tongue glide over them.
“Nick? Where the hell are you?” his brother, Logan, yelled.
Nick had no desire to get up. He enjoyed being on top of Leandra and in her, a fact his body was all too well aware of.
The doorknob to the bedroom rattled. “You in here? Where’s the PI?”
“We’ll be right out.”
Leandra tucked her head into his chest. “Did you have to say we?” she whispered.
“I’ll come in,” Logan said.
“Open that fucking door and I’ll tell Mom you were the one who broke her antique vase.”
“We were barely teenagers then. I’m sure Mom is over it,” Logan said.
The door shook.
Nick grabbed some plastic decorative thing shaped like a sailor off the nightstand. Turning his body, making sure not to cause Leandra any pain, he hurled the object at the door. “I said I’d be out in a minute, asshole.”
The decorative statue hit the door with a resounding thud, then dropped to the floor.
“Well, hurry up. We’ve got a human trafficking ring to take down and a young girl to find,” Logan yelled.
Nick cupped Leandra’s shocked, stricken face. “I’m sorry. All my brothers are assholes.”
“This is so embarrassing.”
It wasn’t the first time Nick had gotten caught with his pants down. Seemed it was a tradition with the Sarich boys.
“Not to mention unprofessional,” she said, her hands massaging his shoulders, easing any tension that had seeped into his muscles. “We’re in the middle of a case.”
He nodded, though he didn’t agree with the unprofessional part. He’d done his job by finding her and letting her father know she was safe. Going after Ramos, he was doing on his own time, though he had the full backing of the Aegis Network, using resources not currently in the field, along with calling in a fewfavors. “We needed our rest during what little downtime we’re going to have once this plan is in motion.”
She laughed. “You call what we did rest?”
“You are very relaxed, aren’t you?”
