Page 45 of Guarded Secrets
Sawyer’s grin flashed. “Yeah, and the ladies love me.” He dropped the smile. “Our girl’s been the target of an attack twice now. I want your take on what’s going on.”
“Someone wanted her purse. That’s what the kid wanted Sunday. That’s what the woman who attacked her got last night.”
“I read the report.” Sawyer scratched his chin. “Shit isn’t adding up.”
“Agreed. Keeley didn’t call the credit card company until after we got back from the clinic. That means the assailant had her card for a good two hours.” He nailed Sawyer with a look. “There wasn’t a single charge.”
“Which could mean there was something else in her purse they were after,” Sawyer concluded.
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
The sliding door to the patio opened and Keeley stepped out, a mug of coffee in her hand. She’d pulled a hoodie over her pajama top and wore shearling boots on her feet. She sat at the table and curled her legs under her, her eyes closed as she gripped her mug with both hands and sipped slowly.
Sawyer peered at her forehead. “Jesus, Keels, that looks painful. You gonna be okay?”
Keeley nodded with her eyes still closed. She took another sip of coffee.
“Give her five minutes for the caffeine to hit her system before talking to her,” Owen muttered.
Keeley raised her eyelids. Owen could think of about a dozen things he’d rather be doing with her while she still had that sleepy look in her eyes. And not one of them involved the cop sitting at the patio table with a knowing smirk on his face.
“You want an egg sandwich for breakfast?” The offer was out of his mouth before he could block it.
Then Keeley gave him a sweet smile that made him feel like he’d offered to slay dragons for her. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”
Sawyer shook his head when offered breakfast and Owen headed inside. At least busying himself in the kitchen gave him a chance to lock down his control.
This was the second time he’d been around when she’d woken in the morning, and it made his desires—not only the sexual ones, but the desire to have a life with someone he wanted to share quiet mornings with—harder to resist.
Sawyer seemed to have stripped away the bullshit Owen’d been telling himself, and seeing Keeley looking so goddamn appealing was weakening the chains he’d put on his own wants and desires. If he was going to withstand her appeal, he needed time to get himself under control again.
He buttered the toasted bread, added cheese and egg, gave it a quick zap in the microwave, and when he turned around she was right there.
He shoved the plate at her. “Here.”
“Thanks.” She set the plate next to her mug on the counter, then turned back to him. Grabbing ahold of his shirt, she went up on tiptoes and kissed him.
Not the little pecks they’d shared before. No, this was a warm laying of her lips on his with an added little hum of pleasure that vibrated through him all the way to his dick.
A snap echoed in his head as the self-imposed restraints disintegrated, obliterated by the intoxicating feel of her lips moving on his.
Her lips parted as he took control of the kiss, swiping his tongue to taste the warm lushness of coffee and an additional element that was quintessentially Keeley: sunshine, which, he discovered, tasted a lot like honey.
He moved his hands under her clothing and stroked the warm skin of her back. No way could she miss his erection jutting insistently through his pants.
She moaned against his mouth, a sexy sound that made his head spin. Hands cupped under her ass, lifted her, then set her on the counter, shoving aside the tub of butter and pushing a knife into the sink with a clatter.
Then he was between her spread thighs, rubbing against the heat pulsing through the flannel she wore.
Damn. He was ready to go off in his pants like a randy teenager.
His hand grazed the skin of her rib cage, his thumb brushing the side of her breast. He groaned. She wasn’t wearing a bra.
With his thumb he brushed the tip of her nipple and had her moaning again, a throaty sound that by itself could get him off. He broke the kiss as reality snuck up on him. “Fuck.”
“Yes please,” she responded. “But lock the door, m’kay?” Her eyes were soft and slumberous, and when she licked her lips, he was ready to scoop her up in his arms and dive back into bed.
Holy shit. He withdrew his hands from her skin and raised them up, taking a careful step back like she was a bomb primed to detonate with the slightest of vibrations.
