oodstuff: Seeks Man of Dishonor…

Lucy had let her guard down, and Quinn had snuck past. Her only excuse was that she was tired. Tired of being frightened and hurt. Too tired to fight her feelings for him anymore.

She gazed into Quinn’s eyes and the dark lust staring back at her, pulling her in with the promise of hot sin. Even if she couldn’t see it in his eyes, she could hear and feel it in the velvet timbre of his voice. It brushed across her skin, a warm and sensual caress that she hadn’t recognized until it was too late. It curled and warmed the pit of her stomach and heated her up from the inside out. “Good sex always starts with a man who knows what he’s doing. Who’s as interested in pleasing me as himself. Who knows the right spot to hit, and keeps hitting it all night long.” She pushed her hair behind her ears. “Now you have to answer one of my questions.”

“Shoot.”

Before things went any further, she had to know. “Was I just your job?”

“Sometimes.” She frowned in response, and his soft laughter filled the space between them. “I think if you knew how hard you made my job, you wouldn’t be frowning at me right now. The first night I met you in Starbucks, I thought you were beautiful and smart, and I kept forgetting that I wasn’t there just to wonder what it would be like to kiss you.”

“You’re kidding?” She hadn’t known that. Hadn’t even suspected.

“No. Then I did kiss you, and I wondered what it would be like to kiss you all over. Working my way from your forehead to the tips of your toes. Stopping at all the interesting bits and soft parts in between.”

Her stomach got squishy and her mouth got a little dry. “But you thought I might kill you.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, you’d think that might make a difference, but it didn’t. Even when we were pretty sure you were the killer, I still wanted you, Lucy. There came a point where I figured dying inside you just might be worth it.” His dark gaze burned her alive, yet he didn’t reach out. Instead he took a few steps back, away from her.

No man had ever thought she was worth risking death for. Beyond all rationale and reason, she loved him more than she could recall loving a man. Her insides got hotter and itchy, and she moved from the bed and walked toward him. She raised her hand to the side of his face, and he turned his head and kissed her palm, spreading those little tingles he always made her feel up her arm and across her chest.

He closed his eyes and took another step back. “I wanted you more than I can ever remember wanting anything in my life.” Her hand fell to her side, and he opened his eyes and looked at her. “I still do.”

She knew that feeling. “Then why are you moving away from me?”

“I told you that I wouldn’t touch you with any of my body parts. I spent last week lying to you, and you were hurt. That was my job. This is my life, and I want you to know that I can keep my word.”

Now? He was worried about that now? “That’s very honorable.” She bit the side of her lip to keep from smiling.

“Are you laughing at me?” he asked, sounding mildly amused.

She took a step toward him and slid her palm to the side of his neck. “I’m just wondering if I’m allowed to touchyour body parts.”

“Hell yes.”

“You won’t think I can’t keep my word?”

“No.” He shook his head, and his jaw brushed her thumb. “Touch any part you want. I have a few ideas of where you can start.”

She raised onto the balls of her bare feet and brushed her lips across his jaw. “I have a few places in mind already, but I’ll let you know if I need your suggestions.” The scent of him filled her head and heart, and she opened her mouth and kissed the side of his throat. She heard the harsh intake of his breath next to her ear. She ran her hand across his shoulder and down his chest to feel his heart. It pounded beneath her touch, and she raised her face to his and gave him a teasing kiss that left his mouth chasing hers until he could take no more and raised a hand to the back of her head to hold her against his mouth. Then he dove in and gave her a hot, wet kiss that made her insides tumble.

She pulled back. “Quinn. You’re touching me.”

“What?” He took a shuttering breath and pulled her toward him, wanting more.

“You’re not supposed to touch me,” she said against his mouth as she gathered his shirt in her hands. She yanked it from the waistband of his jeans and pushed it up his chest. “I wouldn’t want you to compromise your honor.”

“Sunshine, I lost that battle at sixteen.”

“That sounds like bragging.” Lucy pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it behind her on the floor.

“Just stating a fact.”

She lowered her heels to the ground and slid her hands over his chest, combing her fingers through the short fine hair, feeling his hard muscles beneath her palms. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-six.”

“So, you’ve had twenty years of practice.”

“More if you count the years I practiced alone.”

She laughed as she kissed his neck and lightly bit his shoulder. “I’m thirty-four.”

“I know how old you are,” he said just above a whisper. “I know all about you.” Beneath her hands he remained perfectly still, but his breathing was harsh, ragged with the effort.

She wanted to know all about him, too, and seeing him naked seemed like a good place to start. The night they’d ripped at each other’s clothes, she hadn’t gotten a good look at him. She looked now. She took a step back and started with his shoes. She raised her gaze to the long legs of his worn Levi’s; her attention got stuck on the serious bulge in his crotch, and she forced her gaze upward to the slight curve of his waist and the happy trail that rose from the button fly and circled his navel. His stomach was as flat as a washboard, and short, dark curls covered the hard, defined muscles of his chest. She looked up past his wide shoulders and the thick column of his neck to his face. His five o’clock shadow had arrived right on time, and dark stubble covered his jaw and outlined his mouth.

Even if he didn’t touch her, his eyes told her how much he wanted her. His gaze burned with his need, touching her all over. She lifted a hand to the front of her blouse, and her eyes locked with his. Slowly she unbuttoned it and let it slide from her shoulders and fall to the floor. His gaze followed her hands to the snap of her jeans. She popped the snap, then lowered the zipper tooth by tooth. Quinn’s gaze turned so hot, she was surprised her pants didn’t catch fire as she slid them down her legs. Her panties slipped down on one side, and she pulled them up as she kicked her pants aside.

His hands curled into fists. “You’re killing me.”

The frustration in his eyes told her just how much he was fighting the urge to grab her and toss her on the bed. “Don’t die yet.” She lifted her hands to the center of her bra and unhooked it. “We haven’t even gotten to the good stuff,” she said as she held the cups in place with her palms.

“I don’t know if I’ll make it to the good stuff.”

She smiled and dropped her hands. She pushed the white straps down her shoulders and arms, and the bra joined her shirt on the floor.

He made a sound in the back of his throat. “You have great breasts. I could look at you all day. Every day and never get tired of the view.” He reached for her. “Come here, Lucy.”

She shook her head. “You promised to keep your hands to yourself.”

He looked at her through all that lust smoldering in his eyes and returned his hand to his side. “For now.”

She moved around behind him and pressed herself against the smooth planes and hard muscles of his back. The soft fabric of his jeans brushed against her belly, while his skin warmed her naked breasts and tightened her nipples. She lay her cheek against the back of his shoulder and slid her hands around his smooth sides to his abdomen and the hair that grew in the very center. She slipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his jeans and kissed the back of his neck. He shuddered as she slipped her hand between his jeans and boxer shorts. “What’s this?” she asked as she caressed his erection.

He tried to speak, but all he managed was a deep groan.

She moved around to his front and pulled on the five buttons of his Levi’s. With the fly open, she took him from his pants and slid her hand up and down the long, hot length of his shaft. With her thumb, she spread the clear moisture she found within the deep cleft across the engorged head of his penis. She lifted her face and kissed him until he pulled back far enough to say against her mouth, “Be careful. That’s loaded.”

“Is that cop humor?”

“No. It’s a warning. I might go off in your hand.”

“We can’t have things going off in my hand,” she said and slid to her knee before him. She looked up at him as she parted her lips and took him into her mouth.

He gasped. “Lucy.” He brushed her hair lightly from her face, then tilted his head back.

She stroked him with her tongue and sucked him to the back of her throat. He moaned, and she pushed his jeans and boxers down his buttocks and thighs. She grabbed his firm behind in her hands and gave him pleasure.

One second she was on her knees, and in the next she was hauled up before him. “I don’t want to get off in your mouth. Not this time,” he said, then he kissed her with all the passion he’d been holding back. He crushed her against his bare chest and ate at her mouth even as he fed her kisses that made her want to climb up him. The hair on his chest rasped her nipples, and his engorged penis pressed hard into her belly.

He pulled back, breathing hard as he kicked off his pants and shoes. He yanked off his socks, then bent to take his wallet from the back pocket of his pants. He tossed it on one of the pillows, then he picked her up and tossed her there too.

“What are you doing?” she laughed as she raised onto her elbows. “I thought you were going to keep your hands to yourself.”

“Fuck that.” He climbed on top of her with his knees on the outsides of her thighs and planted his hands on the pillow by her head. “It’s my turn.”

“What are you planning?”

He yanked at her panties and pulled them down her legs. He tossed them away and slid his hand between her thighs. “I’m going to make you scream like a porn star.”

She might have laughed if he hadn’t placed his hot, wet mouth over hers as he stroked between her legs with his fingers. He touched and teased until she felt she would die if he stopped. But she didn’t want to orgasm without him. Not again.

“Stop,” she said, and he rose to his knees and reached for his wallet. He pulled out a Trojan, then tossed the wallet behind him. She pushed his hands aside and took the condom from him.

“I’ll do that.” She pulled it from the wrapper, placed it on the head of his penis, and rolled it down to the base of his thick shaft.

He rested his weight on one forearm as he positioned himself. Then he slid into her, and she gasped at the pleasure that spread though her body. “This,” she said as she sucked air into her lungs, “is the good stuff.”

He withdrew, then with two strong thrusts of his powerful hips, he buried himself deep. “Lucy,” he groaned next to her ear. “You feel so damn good.” He pulled out, then thrust harder. “Hot. I can feel you through the condom. So good.”

Lord, he was talking. How could she get there if she had to concentrate on what he said instead of…That was her last coherent thought before he tilted her hips up and thrust deeper. “Oh my God!” she moaned.

He pulled out and stroked her spot with the plump head of his penis. “Does that feel good?”

She wrapped one leg around his waist. “More,” she panted, giving over to the feelings rushing through her. “Right there.”

“There?”

“Yes.”

He stroked again. “Yes?”

“Don’t stop.”

He chuckled next to her ear. “Stopping at this point isn’t going to happen.”

He placed his hands on the sides of her face and moved within her, rocking against her with a slow, steady rhythm, pacing himself. With his face just above hers, he stared into her eyes as he moved in and out. She got the feeling he was trying to be gentle or controlled or something. But that wasn’t what she wanted.

“Faster,” she managed and moved with him. Matching each thrust of his hips. He picked up the pace, thrusting faster and harder, pushing her closer and closer with each powerful stab. It didn’t take long before he was as mindless as she, both racing toward completion. She got there first, and as intense waves of orgasm rushed across her flesh, she moaned his name. The walls of her body convulsed around his rock-hard erection as he drove into her again and again, taking her with him until he too felt the euphoric tug and overwhelming rush. He swore and groaned deep in his chest. He thrust one last time, then collapsed on top of her. For several long moments he didn’t move. “Quinn?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Okay?” A deep, raspy laugh rumbled his chest against hers. “That,” he said, catching his breath, “was the best good stuff I think I’ve ever had.”

She removed her leg from around his waist and slid her hands across his shoulders before her arms fell to her sides. She smiled because she couldn’t help it. He was right. It had been the best good stuff.

Quinn raised his weight onto his elbow, and she lowered her gaze, fearing that what she felt in her heart could be seen through her eyes. He kissed her pleased lips and withdrew from her body. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

He left to use the bathroom in his bedroom, and Lucy rose from the bed. She grabbed her blouse and a new pair of panties out of her suitcase and took the opportunity to use the bathroom a few doors down the hall. When she was finished, she buttoned the blouse over her bare breasts and stepped into her pink silky panties. She looked at her refection in the mirror above the sink. The same mirror she’d gazed into the last time she’d been in his house. She saw a woman who looked like she’d just had sex, but beyond the obvious flushed cheeks and messed hair, she saw what she feared would be reflected there. A woman in love. Madly. Totally. Completely in love. She wondered if he’d seen it and she hoped not. The last thing she wanted was for him to know her feelings. He didn’t love her, and she didn’t want to scare him away.

She pushed her hair from her face and lifted her chin to study the red patch of skin on her chin where his stubble had scratched her. He wanted her. She hadn’t been wrong about that. She’d never been wrong about that, but it wasn’t love.

He didn’t love her and that hurt. It hurt like a red-hot clinker next to her heart. He wanted to be with her. He made her laugh and made her dizzy with his touch. He made her forget about the reason she was staying with him, and for today, that was enough. She would worry about tomorrow…well, tomorrow.

When she opened the bathroom door, he was waiting for her, leaning his back against the wall. His chest was bare and he wore his Levi’s low enough on his hips that it was obvious he wasn’t wearing his boxers. An Irish setter sat at his feet, and he held the dog’s collar in one hand.

“This is Millie,” he said.

She was a beautiful dog, with rich auburn hair and bright brown eyes. Her tongue hung out one side of her mouth as she looked up at Lucy. “So you’re the infamous Millie.” Lucy bent at the waist and scratched the top of the dog’s head. “At least Quinn didn’t lie about the color of your hair.”

“I’m afraid if I let her go, she’s going to try and sniff you.” Lucy held her hand in front of the dog’s nose. “That’s not the part she wants to sniff.”

She looked up into Quinn’s face. “Which is the reason I have a cat.”

“Cats don’t fetch sticks or jump in ponds to retrieve birds.”

“Which tells you how smart they are.”

He shook his head. “Come and watch this.” She followed him down the hall, watching the shadows slide over the smooth skin of his back. In the kitchen, he took a dog biscuit out of the cupboard. “Sit, Millie,” he commanded. Once the dog obeyed, he set the biscuit on the end of her nose. “Stay.” Poor Millie stared at the treat, her eyes crossed, until Quinn said, “Okay.” Then she flipped it up into the air and caught it with her mouth.

“A cat can’t do that.”

“If Snookie wanted to, he could.”

He gave her a skeptical look and scratched his dog’s ear. “Your cat probably can’t move that fast.”

He was probably right. “Are you disparaging Mr. Snookums?”

“He’s fat.”

“Husky.”

“Same thing.” Millie stood and walked a tight circle around Lucy, then sniffed her knee. “No. Sit Millie,” Quinn ordered, and the dog instantly obeyed.

Lucy placed her hands on her hips. “Snookie has an eating disorder. It’s not his fault.”

Quinn chuckled, threaded his arms around her waist, and pulled her up against his chest. “You’re cute when you get all worked up over that fat bag of fur.”

“Hey—” She might have defended Mr. Snookums’s honor if she hadn’t felt a wet nose on the inside of her thigh. “Wow.” She jumped a little and rose onto her tiptoes. “Your dog just goosed me.”

“I knew it was too good to last.” He dropped his hands and moved to the back door. “Out,” he said.

Millie walked slowly toward Quinn, then gave Lucy one last accusing look over her shoulder. “Won’t she get cold?”

“No.” Quinn shut the door behind his dog. “She has a house in the garage, and there’s a dog door leading into the backyard. She’ll be okay.” The overhead kitchen light poured down his bare shoulders and back as he walked to the refrigerator. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Depends on the offer.” She didn’t think she was up for another carb overload.

He opened the freezer. “I got raspberry sherbet.”

“I could always eat sherbet.”

He pulled a carton from the freezer, then shut the door. “There isn’t much here, so we’ll share.” He grabbed a bowl and a spoon and began to scoop.

There were things Lucy was dying to know about Quinn, beyond his job and how he planned to catch a psycho who was killing men and writing letters to Lucy. Important things like, “Tell me about Amanda.”

He glanced up from the carton. “Why?”

“Just making conversation.” She moved to the kitchen table and leaned her behind into it. “You know, I tell you stuff and you tell me stuff.”

“Amanda was short and had dark hair. Green eyes and big tits…ah, breasts.”

“Naturally,” Lucy said dryly.

He laughed and dumped the last of the sherbet into the bowl. “She had an annoying habit of leaving her long hair all over the place.” He moved toward Lucy and fed her a big bite.

It was cold and kind of tangy and felt good sliding down her throat. “How does a person leave her hair all over the place?”

“Beats the hell out of me.” He took a bite and pulled the spoon from his mouth. “She had this massive amount of hair, and it just fell out all over the damn house.”

A woman with big breasts and massive hair. Lucy hated her on principle. “Have you had a girlfriend since Amanda?”

“No.”

“Hookups?”

“I don’t remember.”

Great. He knew about her past relationships, but he didn’t seem all that willing to talk about his. “Are you going to remember me once I’m gone?” she asked.

He fed her another bite and pulled the spoon from her mouth. “You’re not going anywhere.” He brushed the back of the spoon against her right nipple. It puckered beneath the cold metal.

She looked down. “What are you doing?”

“Getting your nipples to poke the front of your shirt. That’s really sexy.”

She tried not to roll her eyes. “How long have you been thinking about that?” She raised her gaze, but his attention was on the front of her shirt.

“Since you walked out of the bathroom.”

“That’s pervy. This whole time when we were talking about your dog and my cat and your former fiancée?”

“Yeah, it’s called multitasking.” He looked up and shrugged one bare shoulder. “I can talk to you about one thing but be thinking about something totally different.”

“Must be a detective thing.”

He chuckled and stuck his spoon in the middle of the sherbet. “More like a guy thing. We talk about shit you want to talk about, but we’re really just trying to get you in bed. Again.”

“You don’t care about past relationships?”

He pulled out the spoon and set the bowl behind her on the table. “I only care about you.” He slid the pink-covered spoon across the tip of her left breast. “And me. And how I’m going to get you out of those panties.”

She gasped. “You got sherbet on my shirt.”

A purely carnal smile curved his lips. “Isn’t that a shame? I guess I’ll have to clean it off.” He dipped his head and sucked her through her shirt. The mix of cold sherbet and hot mouth scattered tingles across her chest and down her abdomen. She arched her back and ran her fingers through the side of his dark hair as he licked her shirt clean. When he was through, he popped a few buttons and pushed the material aside to suck her bared breast. Without lifting his mouth, he placed his hands on her hips, lifted, and sat her down. Right on the bowl of ice cream. It tipped sideways and raspberry sherbet slipped between her thighs.

“Crap!” She grabbed the bowl and scooped up the sherbet. “That’s cold!”

“Looks like I made another mess. This time on your panties.” He took the bowl from her hands and placed it on the table by her hip. He hooked the leg of a chair with his foot and pulled it forward.

“Put your feet on my shoulders while I clean you up,” he said as he sat and scooted the chair even closer.

She didn’t have to be told twice.

“Umm.” He licked a spot on the inside of her thigh with his wet tongue. “You taste good. Like raspberries and warm skin.” He kissed a path to the edge of her panties. “When I’m finished tasting you right here, I’m going to hit that spot of yours again.”

She leaned back and rested her weight on her hands behind her. “You said something about making me scream like a porn star.”

He smiled and dipped his head. Being a man who could multitask, he managed both.