29

It was a week since Big Mick Harrison had been arrested and thrown in jail. I stood at the front door of my house, a crutch digging into my armpit, my back resting against Ben’s six-pack stomach and saying goodbye to the family who’d adopted Stanley.

The endearing GAP greyhound trotted down the path toward the unfamiliar bright yellow family station wagon. Every now and again he’d cock his head to one side as though listening intently to something the ten-year-old boy on the other end of the lead said to him. Earlier the pair had been rough housing on my back lawn, yet the moment the boy’s eighteen month old sister toddled out to play, Stanley froze, then sauntered across, licked her face and when she plopped down on her rear end, lay beside her, head in her lap. That was the cincher. The Murphy family couldn’t get the dog’s collar and lead on quickly enough. They signed the GAP papers and paid the fee and now the exuberant greyhound with the heart of a marshmallow was off to his new home with his brand new adoptive family.

“Alone, at last,” Ben growled in my ear. A growl that caused goose bumps to spring up along my bare arms and other unmentionable places. “Now, how long did you say that sister of yours would be gone? Was it in two or three hours?” Ben bent to nibble on one of my earlobes while I forced my hand to continue waving at the yellow car now pulling out of the gateway.

When his soft nibbles became tiny fairy flicks of the tongue, my legs turned into lettuce leaves. And if I hadn’t leaned heavily against Ben’s chest, I’d have melted into a puddle at his feet.

“Liz and Jake are at the local hospital protesting about the new parking meters,” I murmured, repositioning my head to one side for easier ear access. “Could be gone for the rest of the day.”

“Hmm. That long, hey?” Ben slowly spun me around to face him, rescued my tumbling crutch at the last minute and propped it up against the door. “So…with all that time to kill—how about we do an in-depth study of positions one to twenty of the Kama Sutra?”

“Only one to twenty?” I grinned. “My Grandma McKinley always insists it’s practice that makes perfect.”

“Your grandma is a very wise woman, Katrina,” Ben purred as he bent forward to tease my lips with his oh-so-tantalizing tongue. A tongue that would have won any reality show’s Sexiest Tongue contest. Instead it was mine.

All mine.

Clinging to Ben for support, I groaned my surrender, softened my lips and sucked the heat of all that desire into my mouth. Ben aligned his body against mine, his tongue exploring every intimate crevice inside my mouth, his hands under my T-shirt, inside my bra, cupping my breast, thumb circling the engorged nipples.

There was a damp spot spreading between my legs. A damp spot that needed urgent, immediate attention.

Gasping, I pulled away, fitted the crutch under my armpit and slammed the front door. “Hang on, I’ll just give Tater and Lucky a handful of kibble each and shut them outside.”

“Gotcha.” There was a spot of drool in one corner of Ben’s lips and I swear the pupils in both eyes were dilated. “I’ll dig out a bottle of Chardonnay and fluff up the cushions on the sofa.”

I almost tripped in my hurry to reach the kitchen. Hell, this was the first time in the last week Ben and I had been alone. No way was I going to waste one precious minute. Between Liz staying with me until my ankle healed, DI Adams swooping in and out asking questions, Tanya popping in to fill me in on her love life—yeah, she and Paul Simmons, the cop, had actually been together for three whole weeks now—and Gina helping with my greyhounds while I recovered from my ankle sprain, there hadn’t been an opportunity for more than a few stolen kisses.

“Did you know they’ve caught up with Gina’s stepbrother, Garry?” I yelled from the kitchen. “He was hitch-hiking his way up North and got picked up by an off duty cop. Not what you’d call the luckiest guy on the planet.”

“Has Liz heard from Scott?”

“Yeah,” I said collecting the two dog dishes and a box of kibble from the cupboard. “He’s in the clear with the police. Should be out of hospital in a few days.”

“And—”

“He’s going home to recuperate at his parent’s house until he’s stronger. Seems the carbon monoxide affected his lungs.”

“Another charge against Big Mick and Garry.”

Dodging Tater, who was ordering me to hurry up with the grub, I called Lucky and let both dogs outside.

“Be good now,” I told them both, then poured kibble into their bowls and left them to their morning snack.

The moment I hopped back inside, Ben grabbed me. “Come here, wench,” he growled, kissing me firmly on the mouth, then, holding me by the shoulders he regarded me, his expression serious. “Kat, have you ever done it in the lotus position?”

“The what?” I laughed and shook my head. “Ben, I am not attempting anything resembling a lotus position on that narrow couch. One sprained ankle for the week is enough, thank you very much.”

Before I could take a breath, he’d nudged my wooden crutch away with his foot, scooped me into his arms and started for the stairs. “In that case, my gammy-legged wench, let’s proceed to the queen sized bed.”

A scattering of gravel outside indicated a car had pulled up out the front. Ben let out a groan and closed his eyes. I could hear Liz laughing and the sound of Jake talking as they approached the front door.

“How long did you say your sister was staying?” Ben asked through gritted teeth.

“As long as she wants,” I confessed.

I heard the front door crash against the wall as it was flung open. “Hey, Kat,” Liz called out. “Where are you? We’re back! Protest was called off. Stupid council backed down before Jake and I could even chain ourselves to the parking meters.”

Defeated, I let my head drop onto my chest.

“You know,” whispered Ben, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips as, still carrying me, he turned and tiptoed toward the back door. “My car is parked around the back”

“It is?”

“Yep. And what’s more, I have a top of the range queen sized bed in my caravan, at home.”

“You do?” I whispered, my arms tightening around his neck as I leant down, turned the knob to open the back door so the dogs could come in and we could sneak out.

“There’s even fresh sheets on the bed and a deadlock on the caravan door.”

“Mmm. Sounds perfect.”

“No, what I call perfect is the fact that I have a second copy of the Kama Sutra stashed in my sock drawer. Right next to the condoms.”

I let out a contented sigh and snuggled closer.

Now what could be more puuurfect than that?