“I don’t think I’ve slept so deeply in my entire life.” Ree sat up and stretched her arms out with a yawn. The smell of fresh-brewed coffee wafted across the room, but there was no sign of Quint. “Hello?”
Panic settled over her for reasons she couldn’t explain. He should be here. She threw off the covers and shuffled into the kitchen. Quint was gone. The bathroom door was open when she walked by, so she already knew he wasn’t in there. She searched around for a note before locating her cell phone. There was no text or phone call.
Just as she was about to hit DEFCON 3, a key slipped inside the lock and the door handle jiggled. She moved to the door as it opened.
“Where did you go?” she asked, examining him for signs of injury. None were visible. He did, however, have a bagful of bagels from the café down the road. The fact that she’d overreacted caused her cheeks to flush.
“Bjorn arranged for a new truck to arrive overnight, so I inspected it. Looks almost as good as new,” he said with a look of surprise stamping his features. He held up the bag. “While I was out, I decided to pick up breakfast.”
Ree issued a sharp sigh.
“All good?” he asked with a raised eyebrow as he moved into the kitchen and set the bag on the counter.
“Yes. Sure. I guess.” She walked around to the stool on the other side of the counter and sat down. “I’m confused about why I just had a massive reaction to my partner being gone in the morning on a bagel run.” She put her head in her hands. “I slept so deeply and then woke in a panic when I realized you were gone.”
“I’m here,” he reassured her in that whiskey-over-ice voice of his. She reminded herself not to get too used to it. This case would end, and they would go back to their respective lives. There was no guarantee they would ever work together again.
“The odd thing is that we’re nowhere close to wrapping up this case. Why would I panic if you weren’t here?” If she couldn’t figure it out, there was no way he would.
“It’s probably just stress-related,” he said. “No big deal.”
“You’re probably right,” she said, hoping it was true.
“It’ll pass,” he said. “But I’m honored you would worry so much about my safety.”
“You’re important to me, Quint. Of course I’d be concerned about what happens to you,” she stated as he passed a cup of coffee over.
“This should help,” he said.
“You know what it is?” she asked after thanking him and taking the offering. “I have a bad feeling about you going to Galveston alone tonight.”
That had to be the problem. It was the only thing that made sense.
“I’ll be careful,” he reassured.
“I know,” she said. “Just take a few extra precautions if you don’t mind.”
Women’s intuition could be a powerful thing, and hers was issuing a warning. She figured it had to do with Quint.
“Should we let Shelly know about your trip tonight?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m only going to gather intel,” he stated. “There’s nothing to report yet.”
She nodded, taking a sip of fresh brew, desperately needing the caffeine boost.
“You asked if I wanted to share a puppy last night,” he said, handing over a plate of bagels and cream cheese.
“Oh, really?” she asked. “Was I awake?”
“You sounded out of it,” he said. “How’d you sleep?”
“Great. Better than ever actually,” she admitted. The feeling came back, but she ignored it. Quint was probably right. It was probably stress-related. She’d gone from one case to the next without enough time off in between, and then there was her grandfather. He was probably fine, too. She was on edge, blowing this whole morning out of proportion. “Normally, after a night of sleep like the one I just had, I’m refreshed in the morning.”
“Maybe you need a few more nights of sleep to fully recover,” he said.
“I guess so,” she said. “It’s odd.”
“We’re all off our game every once in a while,” he said, holding a bagel plate of his own along with a fresh cup of coffee. “Should we log on and see if there are any updates this morning?”
“Why not?” she asked on a sigh, resigned to her strange mood. This wasn’t good. Ree was never off her game while on a case. “I don’t have to be at work for hours anyway.”
Before Quint logged on, he retrieved her personal phone from the tackle box and held it out. “You’ll feel a whole lot better if you check on your grandfather.”
Ree took the offering with a smile.
“Thank you,” she said before texting her brother Shane.
The response came back almost immediately.
He’s good. Tired. But good.
Relief washed over her as she showed the screen to Quint.
“Looks like I was worried for nothing,” she said.
“It shows how much you care and that’s never for nothing,” he countered before returning her cell to the tackle box, locking up and sitting next to her.
“Oh, look at this. We have an update from the other team.” He clicked on a folder in the joint case file after logging on.
“Anything good in there?” she asked.
He skimmed the contents.
“Nothing we don’t already know,” he stated.
“Let me guess, Wonder Boy gave the update,” she said.
“Looks like it,” he confirmed.
“Well then, it has no chance of actually being useful,” she said.
Quint laughed.
“You’re in a mood this morning,” he noted.
“Yes. Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she admitted.
“Take it easy today, then,” he said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and this case won’t live or die based on whether or not you take the morning off.”
She polished off her bagel.
“I’m climbing back in bed, then,” she said after brushing her teeth. She retrieved her coffee mug. “You can join me if you want.” She quickly added, “To drink coffee and possibly go back to sleep.”
“Shame,” he said, low and under his breath, as he brought his laptop over. When he spoke again, he turned up the volume. “We can check the footage together.”
“Or we could talk about something besides work for a change,” she said, then realized how that sounded. “I mean, get to know each other a little better. We are supposed to be married, and although we did already work a case together, I think it was solved in record time.”
“You want to talk?” he asked, but it was a rhetorical question. “We’ll talk. Fair warning, though. I’m not all that good with words.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said with a smile. She was still puzzled by her reaction this morning and wanted nothing more than to put that behind her and start the day all over again.
On the bed with a topped-off cup of coffee, she positioned her pillows as a backrest. Quint moved beside her, sitting on top of the covers.
“Are you comfortable?” she asked.
He nodded and mumbled that he was as he opened the laptop. “How about you?”
“How about me what?” she asked, feeling the moment the air in the room shifted, charging with electricity.
“Comfortable?” he asked, and his voice had a sexy, husky quality to it.
“Yes” was all she could manage in response. The word came out as more of a croak than anything else. As it was, her throat dried up and her tongue felt like she’d licked a glue stick. She swallowed to ease the dryness, to no avail. She coughed to clear her throat. “Anything on the footage?”
He was pulling it up as she asked. “We’ll know in a few minutes.”
As he scrolled, she felt the warmth of his body against hers and the desire that flowered inside her. The kisses they’d shared suddenly took center stage in her thoughts as warmth flooded her. She couldn’t help but wonder if Quint felt any of these same sensations, because she was suddenly the Fourth of July inside.
He shifted positions and studied the screen like it was a bomb about to detonate and the only way to stop it was with eye contact.
“Ree,” he finally said.
“Yes,” she answered.
“I’d very much like to kiss you right now,” he said.
“What’s stopping you?” she asked as a dozen butterflies released in her chest. Her stomach free-fell at the prospect of their mouths fusing again.
“This time, it would have nothing to do with work,” he said. “And it’s a line that probably shouldn’t be crossed.”
“You’re right about the first part,” she said. “The second thing you said is debatable.”
“Are you saying you want me to kiss you as Quint, not your ‘husband’?” he asked.
Rather than answer with words, Ree turned toward him and pressed her lips to his. The heat in her body sparked, and a flame burned low in her belly as she parted her lips for him, and he drove his tongue inside her mouth.
Her heart raced and her breath quickened as she bit down on his lower lip. The taste of dark roast coffee was so much better on Quint.
QUINT REPOSITIONED THE laptop onto the nightstand next to the bed, breaking apart from kissing Ree for a few seconds. In those moments, he hoped logic would kick in and tell them not to ruin what had the potential to be a great professional partnership. It didn’t. In fact, logic seemed to have walked right out the door and left the building. Kissing Ree again was an all-consuming need.
Matters weren’t helped when she climbed on his lap after he reclaimed his spot on the bed. In the heat of the moment, all he could concentrate on was the feel of her soft lips against his and the sexy little moan of pleasure he swallowed that jacked his pulse up a few more notches. He was consumed by her incredibly silky skin and how it would feel underneath his hands, a ridiculously thin piece of cotton the only thing separating her body from skin-to-skin contact.
“I’d like permission to touch you,” he said, his mouth moving against her lips.
She took one of his hands in hers and repositioned it to her full breast. Her nipple beaded with contact, and all blood flew south. Ree brought her hands up to his chest, her fingernails digging into his shoulders as the kisses deepened, and she started rocking back and forth. He dropped his hands to her sweet, round hips as they sped up, and desire flooded him.
In the next moment, she shrugged out of her pajama shirt and tossed it onto the floor. He cupped her incredibly perfect bare breasts in his hands as she released another one of those sexy moans. His T-shirt came off next before he chucked it on top of the pile.
When her gaze met his and locked on, something stirred deep in his chest. There was a second of hesitation on his part because he realized in that moment if this went further there’d be more than a professional partnership on the line. The only question remaining was whether or not his heart could take it. Because making love to Ree would be a game changer. One he wasn’t certain he could come back from and just be friends again.
“Are we good?” she asked, her emerald eyes sparkling with need.
Consequences be damned, he said, “Never better.”
And then he shifted his weight to remove his jeans and boxers to free his straining erection. In the next couple of seconds, Ree slipped off her pajama bottoms and straddled him. She started to lower her body, but he stopped her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. I just want to slow down and look at you,” he said.
A red blush crawled up her milky skin, concentrating on her cheeks. Blushing made her even more beautiful, if that was possible.
“You are gorgeous,” he said, and he could hear the huskiness in his own voice. Being here in this moment with Ree felt like the most natural thing in the world. He had every intention of enjoying each inch of her incredible body.
“I’m not,” she said in almost a whisper.
“Then you don’t see what I do,” he said, smoothing his hands along her hips, moving up and over her stomach until reaching her breasts. Her breaths came in bursts as he touched her, really touched her.
Her back arched as she moaned with pleasure when he dropped his hand to the apex of her thighs. Using the pad of his thumb, he massaged and teased until her eyes were wild with need and he could sense her body ached as much as his.
“Now,” she managed to say. “I need you inside me now, Quint.”
The sound of his name rolling off her tongue spurred him on. “Hold on a sec.”
He retrieved a condom, ripped the package open using his teeth, and then she helped him sheath his stiff length. Once again, she climbed on top of him, straddling him, her sweet heat within inches of absolute ecstasy.
Both hands on her hips, he eased her body down until he was able to dip his tip inside her.
“Quint,” she whispered, “more.”
He didn’t respond. Couldn’t respond. All he could do was slow down as much as possible so this whole thing wasn’t over before it began. It had been a long time since he’d been with someone who sparked this level of need in him...maybe never. He was both fascinated by it and concerned.
To hell with concern. Right here, right now, he wanted to bury himself inside Ree. She slowly rocked her hips as he kissed her, letting her take the lead. His hands roamed her warm, silky skin.
Game changer all right.
That was the last rational thought he had before giving in to the need scorching his skin and threatening to consume him like a raging wildfire. He surrendered to the feeling, to Ree, and hoped like hell the fire didn’t devour them both.