She blew out a breath, not at all happy about the amount of relief she was experiencing. “Couldn’t manage to rip it off the wall.”
With effort, he raised himself up into a sitting position. The room spun a little as he fiercely tried to pin it in place.
“You don’t carry a mirror with you?”
“Don’t need one.” Taking off her shoulder strap, Rayne threw her purse onto the chair. She shook her head. “I know what I look like.” She shrugged. “For the most part, anyway.”
He watched as she emptied the paper sack she’d picked up at the hotel pharmacy on the bed. A box of butterfly Band-Aids, a small bottle of peroxide and a bag of cotton balls came tumbling out.
“How about that, a woman who’s not vain. That’s something of a rarity.”
She went over to the sink to wash her hands. “You’ve been hanging around the wrong women.”
“No, that’s Eric’s dilemma.” He raised his voice a little to be heard above the running water. It echoed wildly in his head, and he lowered it again. “I haven’t been hanging around women at all. At least, not single ones.”
Opening up the bag of cotton balls, she doused one with peroxide, then dabbed it against his forehead and watched as he winced.
“Married women?”
Was he like his father, after all? She’d heard rumors about the senior Garrison’s lifestyle. It was one of those secrets everyone knew about. Lyle Garrison liked variety.
Wasn’t peroxide not supposed to sting? Cole found he had to struggle not to make a sound. He wouldn’t have put it past her to have slipped some alcohol into the bottle just to get even with him because he’d wanted her to drop her part in the investigation. But that had been strictly for her own safety. He didn’t want to be responsible for anything happening to her.
“It’s not what you think.” His eyes fluttered shut for a second as he felt her working over him, her cool fingers brushing against his forehead. “The women are married, but they’re part of the families who move into the houses my company refurbishes.”
“‘Homes for the homeless,’ isn’t that your slogan?”
The project encompassed far more than that. “Except that we lump anyone who’s never had a home into that.” The idea had taken seed several years ago, while watching a commercial regarding mortgages of all things. The first-time buyer looked elated to be moving from a crammed apartment to a place that had its own yard, however small. Cole realized he wanted to see that expression on someone’s face firsthand.
“Everyone should be able to own their own home.”
Taking a Band-Aid out of the box, she carefully opened the sterile wrapping. “Very noble.”
The slight pressure made his head spin more. It was hard to keep in focus. “I don’t know if it’s noble, but it’s practical.”
The man was modest. Who would have thought a Garrison was capable of being modest? she thought. “It’s ‘more practical’ dealing in expensive mansions and making a ton of money.”
He raised a shoulder carelessly, then winced as pain shot through it as he dropped it again. Maybe he should soak in a hot tub. “I don’t need a ton of money. And despite what my parents believe, not every success is measured in dollars and cents.”
“Like I said, very noble.” Finished, she stood back and looked at her handiwork. Not bad.
She still would have rather that Cole had listened to her and gone to the hospital, but she understood why he didn’t. She probably would have been just as stubborn in his place.
Setting the Band-Aid box aside, she took his chin in her hand and examined his eye. More than a little hint of color was setting in. The bruising just made him look that much more rakish. “You’re going to have a shiner, but there’s nothing I can do about that.”
When she took her hand away, he found himself wishing that she hadn’t. “You could order a steak.”
She put the medical supplies in the bathroom. Her voice floated back out to him. “I don’t know if room service would send up a raw steak.”
“I was thinking of medium rare.” She came out of the bathroom to look at him. “Big enough for two. You haven’t eaten, either,” he reminded her.
She was tempted. But if she remained any longer, it wouldn’t be to partake of a steak and she knew it.
They both knew it.
“No, I’d better get going.” She picked up her purse and slipped the strap over her shoulder. “I did a little more nosing around at the precinct and there are a couple of things I want to check out.”
“Such as?” He began to rise to his feet.
Very gently she pushed him back down on the bed. “I used the singular, not the plural. ‘I’ not ‘we.’ You get some rest.”
“It’s my brother,” he protested. And head injury or not, they were running out of time. And maybe stumbling onto something. Why else would someone have tampered with his car?
She banked down her impatience. He had to listen to reason. “But we’re doing things my way, remember? That means I get to make the rules and you get to listen to them. Tonight’s rule says you stay here, get some rest, and we’ll hook up in the morning.”
Maybe it was for the best. He wasn’t much good to anyone in his present condition. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“In what? Your car’s been totaled, remember? I’ll pick you up,” she told him. “Want to do something useful tonight, call the rental company and see if you can get a car for yourself.”
He supposed that was something. “And you’re going home?”
“I’m going home.” She was eager to get her hands on a computer and hack into the department’s database to find out exactly who was at the precinct during the time that Cole was there. Not that anyone couldn’t have come in from the outside and sabotaged his car, but it was more likely someone from within the department had done it. Which both upset her and made her blood run cold. “Don’t look so concerned.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“Well, you’re going to have to.” She patted his cheek. The contact seeped into her consciousness. She dropped her hand. “Besides, this time, I’m telling the truth. Now get some rest. You look terrible.”
He got to his feet. “You do know how to turn a guy’s head, don’t you?”
She felt a little overwhelmed by his presence. All the excitement was taking its toll, using up whatever spare air existed in the room. “You wouldn’t need too much head turning. You look dizzy.”
“I guess I am, a little.” And it was getting worse, not better, but not for the reason he knew she thought. Cole slipped his fingers into her hair, his palm brushing against her cheek. “Seeing as how I’m already dizzy, I don’t figure I’ve got anything to lose anyway—”
“What?” The single word got stuck in her throat, lodged there by her breath. Neither was going anywhere.
“Nothing.” He wasn’t making any sense. Nothing was making any sense. Except that he wanted to kiss her.
Chapter 11
Y
es!
No!
The protest echoed in her head, coming with lightning speed on the heels of the affirmation.
She shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t be doing this. They were trying to prove his brother innocent, they needed clear heads, not hot bodies. This only muddied the waters, blurred the borders of their relationship and what they were trying to accomplish. She was after the truth and if she made love with him, that put her in danger of making her prejudice in his favor.
Hell, she’d always been prejudiced in his favor.
It had nothing to do with the murder, or his brother, or anything beyond one spirit finally finding the other. Kindred spirits, that’s what he’d called the two of them, and deep down, some part of her had always felt that they were.
Air, she needed air.
Brain functions ceased when there was no air and she clearly wasn’t thinking. Not with her head, anyway.
With effort, Rayne put her hands on his chest, hands that could so easily wrap themselves around his neck instead, and pushed, managing to create a small wedge between them.
He looked at her, his eyes slightly dazed. Because of the accident? Or because she’d pushed him away? “I’m sorry,” he finally said.
The words stung. They shouldn’t have. She’d been the one to stop this. It took her a second to get her tongue in working order. “Are you?”
His eyes studied her, looking for answers, for clues. “I am if you are.”
So that was it, he was trying not to offend her. They’d gone way past that, into a region where there were no offenses, no insults, only needs. And she was having trouble finding her way back.
She took a breath to steady herself. It didn’t really help. “I’m not, but this isn’t exactly the prescribed method of treatment after a car accident.”
Cole blinked. “What car accident?” He saw the concern that immediately leaped into her eyes and instantly felt guilty. “I’m kidding.” His arms tightened around her just a shade, but he refrained from lowering his mouth back down to hers. This was going to be mutual or it wasn’t going to be at all. “If this isn’t the prescribed treatment, it should be.” But she could have other reasons, legitimate reasons, for not wanting him to do this. Cole held himself in check even when everything screamed for him to continue. “Am I invading your space?”
“No, but I’m hopeful.” Damn it, it wasn’t the right thing to say, the right thing to do, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted him. Wanted him badly. And there was no way she could make herself withdraw.
Talk about mixed signals. Cole tried to read hers, tried to separate what she wanted from what he wanted. Was he reading things into this, things he wanted to see? “I don’t want to compromise you—”
Enough. She could only be so noble, so righteous. Every nerve ending in her body had gone on the alert, waiting. Wanting.
The hell with everything, she thought. At this moment, this felt right.
She ran her tongue along her lips. They remained dry. Thirsting for him. Her heart pounded within her chest as she began to unbutton his shirt.
“Right now, truth be told, I’d like nothing more than to be compromised.” And then she grinned that funny little half smile of hers that shot itself straight to his gut. “I guess that’s a little too honest, isn’t it?”
His eyes on hers, looking for some signal that told him to stop, Cole began to move her jacket off her shoulders, down her arms. “Honest is good. I always liked honest. It’s games I never cared for.”
She yanked the shirttails out of his waistband. He unbuckled her holster. Her grin widened even as desire tightened its hold on her. “Amazing how much we have in common.”
Very carefully, holding on to the hilt of her revolver, he removed her gun and holster from her. Instead of tossing it the way she did his shirt, he handed the weapon to her. “Amazing.”
Her breath shortened the instant she placed the weapon down on the table by the bed. Cole began to unbutton her blouse, an urgency moving through his fingers, increasing his speed. His fingers brushed against her skin as they moved, enticing her.
Rayne felt as if she were engaged in a session of strip poker, except that no cards were involved, no hands won and lost. There were no losers right now, only winners, because she could sense that he wanted this as much as she did.
And she wanted it very, very much.
Rayne sucked in her breath as he unbuttoned her slacks. Her body warmed as she did the same for him. As if in unison, they each guided the material away, sending clothing falling to the floor as flames were fanned, growing ever higher.
She felt him step out of his shoes. She stayed in hers a second longer. There was nothing else between them but heat.
Cole sealed his mouth to hers, hardly knowing what he was doing. He’d reverted to automatic pilot, allowing his body to take the lead. Because his mind was utterly mesmerized.
It wasn’t the accident that caused his head to spin so badly, to create that wild rushing noise in his ears. It was the fact that his blood had heated to an almost astronomical degree and would continue heating until he had this woman, had her utterly and completely in the most physical sense of the word.
It was as if a sudden, undeniable craving had hit him and only she would sate it.
With the last of her clothing peeled away, his hands warmed her skin, heating him even more as he committed the outline of her body to tactile memory. She felt small, delicate, something he knew was a complete fallacy.
Lorrayne Cavanaugh was the strongest woman he had ever met in his life.
The contradiction excited him.
She excited him.
It occurred to him, even as he lost himself in the warmth of her, that he hadn’t felt like this in a very long time. Somewhere along the journey of his life, he’d become convinced that he’d lost the ability to feel anything at all.
He’d been wrong.
The daily business of living had somehow pushed these kinds of emotions out of his realm of existence. And he was all right with that. But he was far better with this. With the soft, supple feel of skin against skin, with the imprisoning feel of heat emanating from her loins, seeking him out. Bringing him to his knees.
He couldn’t get enough of her.
He wanted to try.
His lips raced over her face, her throat, her shoulders, her breasts. Each place he touched seemed to ignite. Rayne felt herself falling into a frenzy of feelings.
She had no idea how they wound up on his bed, had no idea where she was, or even who. All that had fled from her head.
All she knew was that there was a flame inside of her and it had to be fed, had to continue. She wanted to bathe in it forever.
Urges slammed through her, begging for release. She felt dangerously close to exploding. Bodies wrapped together, she cleaved to his, trying to absorb every sensation as it passed over her.
His hands were as skillful as his lips, bringing her up to dizzying heights of delicious sensations so effortlessly, so quickly, it stole her breath away. As if she ever had it.
The first explosion came when desire rushed up and over a peak Rayne hadn’t even realized was looming in front of her.
She cried out, the sound rumbling into his mouth as he kissed her. She felt him pause, as if in wonder, and then resume the fine rhythm of his body brushing up against hers.
Just skin to skin, no union. But that was coming. Her body was pleading for it.
Damn, but it was hard keeping himself in check when all he wanted was to push himself into her, to lose himself inside of her. To have that release that every fiber of his body was begging for.
But the pleasure of having her so completely his both excited and humbled him and it was worth the bittersweet sacrifice of waiting.
Every kiss, every touch, while building to the final climax, seemed to have a life of its own and wrapped him up in it. His pulse raced so fast he was surprised it hadn’t burst out of his body.
Cole feasted on what she had to offer him, becoming intimately familiar with every part of her, from her toes on up and then back down again, anointing all of her. Bringing her up to the very pinnacle of a climax time and again. Reveling in the way she twisted and turned against him, savoring the tastes that met his tongue.
He felt as if he had never made love before. At least, not this completely.
Her body slick with desire, she shivered as he made his path down past her belly. Promising another sharp jolt through her body. But she wanted him there with her, wanted him to feel that same wild ride that she did. She wanted that final union.
Rayne tangled her fingers in his hair, exhausted. With strength that came from somewhere beyond her understanding, she dragged Cole back up along her body, her core throbbing violently, from the feel of his mouth, from anticipation of what was to come.
“Damn it,” she cried hoarsely as she looked up into the face that loomed over her, “I’m going to arrest you if you don’t—”
“Can’t have that—” He laughed softly, though the words had entered his mouth through something that was beyond the scope of his power.
The time had come. He couldn’t hold back another moment, even if the fate of the world depended on it. It wasn’t physically possible.
His face over hers, he took the open invitation her raised hips gave and slipped inside of her.
The small noise that escaped her lips almost drove him wild.
The rhythm was not slow. It was almost mach speed from the very beginning, increasing ever faster with each frantic beat of their hearts that were pressed against one another. And then his arms tightened around her, as if he meant to pull her into him.
Amid the turbulence, something fell into place inside of her. She felt whole.
The explosion came, taking them both into its center. Catapulting them both to a grassy plane where an incredible sense of peace and euphoria found them, if only for a moment. A moment was still longer than either one of them had anticipated.
She was never going to get her breath back again, Rayne thought. There wasn’t enough air available to accomplish that.
Her head was spinning badly as she tried to get her bearings. They kept slipping away from her, rolling just out of reach. She felt like someone trying to fight off the effects of anesthesia. Not altogether sure she wanted to. Waking up had consequences that she wasn’t sure she wanted to face.
Still fighting for air, Rayne ran her tongue along her lips. They were parched, dry. But she could still taste him.
A thrill ran over her; she tried vainly to hold it at bay without much luck. Slowly, reality came drifting back. She’d just made love with a man who could just as easily been killed less than an hour ago. She should be taking him to a hospital in her car, not trying to put him into one via gymnastics. Guilt raised its hoary head, shooting pointy quills at her.
She turned her head just a fraction to look at him. “You all right?”
Very slowly, Cole rolled off her, then gathered her into the crook of his arm. She was rewarded with a smile. “I dunno. I might never be the same again.”
She wasn’t fishing for a compliment, just an answer. “I mean, what we just did, that didn’t mess up your condition?”
Damn it, her tongue felt fat, unwieldy. She couldn’t find the right words.
“Oh, I wouldn’t put it that way.” Had he really given this any thought, he knew he would have found it unsettling. But for now, he decided just to enjoy it. “I think I’m very badly messed up.”
Concern leaped into her veins. What had she been thinking, letting her needs get the better of her? For all she knew, the man could have a concussion, internal bleeding, or even worse. “Should I take you to the hospital?”
He let his eyes travel over as much as he was about to take in at this vantage point. The police detective had one killer of a body.
“And make all the doctors jealous?” Turning his body into hers, he let his fingers strum along her skin. “What good would that do?”
A compliment, he was giving her a compliment. Rayne had no idea something so simple could touch her that much. She found herself smiling even as she tried to be serious. “I mean, you were in an accident. Maybe what we just did, what I just did,” she corrected, annoyed with her own lack of restraint, “put you in some kind of jeopardy.”
Yes, there was jeopardy, but it wasn’t the kind she was thinking of. He tried not to think about it. Instead, he grinned and winked at her, making the pit of her stomach flutter in response. “What a way to go.”
She struggled to remember that what they’d just done could have major repercussions and not that she wanted to do it all again. Rayne blew out a breath in a heated huff. “Cole, I’m not kidding.”
Watching her chest rise and fall, Cole felt the hunger beginning anew. As incredible as it was, he wanted her again, even though he thought that there was no way he could. At least, he’d never wanted a woman he’d just had before. Once, a good once, was usually his limit.
Usually.
But not tonight.
He reached for her, bringing her back to his level again, nestling her against him. Surprising himself at the incredible feeling of well-being that was seeping over him, a feeling he was hard-pressed to remember ever having experienced before.
“Shh,” he coaxed. “Just relax.”
Relax was the last thing she could do. All her nerves were on alert again, standing at attention, ready to dive into action.
Ready to be set on fire again.
She wanted to pull him down on her, to merge their bodies again and to hold on to the fire with her bare hands. “Easy for you to say, you’re not lying next to a naked man.”
This time the grin threatened to split his face in two. “No,” he conceded, “I’m not. But there is this amazing naked woman beside me and I’m having a very hard time…”
Her eyes slid down along his belly, dipping lower. The smile that took her lips was sly, and very, very pleased.
Her arms entwined themselves around his neck. “Are you, now?”
He laughed, his arm tightening around her as he brought her ever closer. So close that she was almost a part of him.