Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) (11 page)

“Thanks for the ride home.” She assumed the
proper hostess role as she followed him to the front door.

He pulled the door open and stepped out onto
the porch. “I’m really glad we did this. Thank you for the chance
to talk.”

“Well, it was either that or let my brother
pound on you a little bit.” She smiled.

He let her think that would have actually
happened and smiled back. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“You don’t have my number.”

“I’m a cop, remember.” With that, he backed
away a couple steps before turning to jog over to his car.

CHAPTER

10

HANNAH

David stared at her as he backed away a few
steps and then he reluctantly turned away. She watched him jog the
last few steps to his car and that was when it hit her.

She wanted him.

This might be her only chance to be with him
before they found out she killed that guy and she went to prison.
All these years she spent longing for him to come to her and say
the things he just told her in the kitchen, she deserved at least
one night of happiness before things went to shit.

Bolting off the steps, she hurried across
the driveway. “David!”

He turned just in time to see Hannah running
toward him. With a look of surprise he opened his arms for her as
she jumped up, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. She
felt him immediately give in, kissing her back with equal
fervor.

Hannah didn’t hold anything back, she let
all those years of missing him come through in that kiss. His arms
tightened around her waist, pulling her firmly up against his body
so that she could feel every hard inch of him through his
clothes.

She moaned against his lips and then
whispered, “I want you to stay.”

He turned with her in his arms and stepped
forward so that she was pressed up against the cool metal of the
Chevelle’s door. “What about your issues?” he whispered.

“Fuck the issues. Take me inside.”

David pulled away from her lips with a
hungry groan and then lifted her into his arms.

Finally … finally after all these years,
they were going to be back together again. She looked up into the
depths of his icy blue eyes and saw that he felt the same. Unable
to help herself, she pulled his head down for more kissing.

Somehow, he managed to make it up the steps
and over the threshold of the open doorway without separating his
lips from hers. Once he made it into the house, he kicked the door
shut behind them and set her back down onto her feet.

“Hannah.” He took hold of her waist with
both hands, gently pulling her forward. “You’re sure about
this.”

She nodded. “Positive.”

“Because if this goes any further …”

“I want it to,” she cut him off and pulled
her hands from his and reached up, touching both his cheeks and
then brought him down for another kiss.

Indeed, she was sure about being with him,
what she wasn’t sure about was what was going to happen afterward.
Forget about it Hannah, live for now, she told herself. With that
thought in mind, she pushed everything else to the back of her mind
except him.

In a move bolder than she had ever been
before, she slipped his jacket off of his shoulders and pushed it
down off his arms. She wanted him naked, like right freaking now.
Her nerves tingled as she thought about how their bare skin would
feel against each other.

He helped her with the jacket by wiggling
out of it and dropping it to the floor. Then, he swept her up off
of her feet again, carrying her in both arms, and headed down the
little hallway to her bedroom.

She watched his gaze sweep the room and then
focus on the bed. Before she knew it, he tossed her down onto the
fluffy comforter and remained standing, staring down at her. She
ran her eyes down his body, wanting to rip that shirt off of him if
he didn’t take it off soon. But then, for a moment, her attention
settled on his gun. He had a holster on, which she hadn’t really
noticed, but the gun was just a reminder of what was going to
happen soon and most likely he was going to be the one who arrested
her.

Push it back Hannah.

He didn’t smile down at her, instead, the
look he wore as he reached up and took his holster off, was one of
longing and intensity. She wanted to help him, but after the
holster and gun dropped to the floor, she kicked off her shoes and
then wiggled out of her scrub pants, leaving her in only her lacey
white panties and white tank top.

She heard his quick intake of breath and
watched him finish unbuttoning his shirt, exposing the most
fabulous set of abs she had ever seen.

My God, they weren’t teenagers anymore. What
she was looking at was a man, not the young body he’d had when they
were together.

After his shirt dropped to the floor, he
reached for his belt buckle. She couldn’t resist any longer.
Sitting up on the edge of the bed, she reached for him, running her
hands over his stomach and then bringing her lips to the soft skin
and hard muscles.

“Oh, God … Hannah.” He released what sounded
like a low growl.

Unable to wait, she pushed his jeans down
the rest of the way, so all he had to do was step out of them. He
was more than ready for her. She moved her hand lower, gently
brushing over the hardness beneath his boxer briefs.

He pushed her back down onto the comforter
where she immediately ripped the tank top over her head, revealing
a modest white bra with no decoration whatsoever. Their gazes
locked with each other and she gave him a slight nod. “Stop
wondering,” she whispered.

“I’m not wondering, I’m thinking.” His eyes
left hers and drank in every inch of her exposed body. I’m probably
dreaming, but I was thinking about how long I’ve wanted this.” He
leaned over the top of her, bracing himself with his left hand and
brought his lips to hers.

Without separating their lips, he traced his
fingertip up her arm and then downward, finally cupping her breast
and grazing over the material with his thumb. Beneath the fabric,
he felt her nipple harden and she moaned against his lips.

Her skin was tingling with expectation as
his hand moved downward, continuing his exploration of her body.
Over her ribs, tickling her stomach and then she felt his fingertip
touch the edge of her panties.

Son of a bitch, she had never, ever in her
life wanted someone to just rip her underwear off and take
advantage of her. She didn’t want to go slow, they could do that
later. She wanted him now.

Right. Fucking. Now.

It was hard to believe only a few hours
earlier she had been pushing him away, telling him she didn’t want
to see him. Now, she didn’t want anything else. Suddenly, her hips
shot up when his fingers moved down and grazed between her
legs.

She sucked in her breath, forcing herself to
relax and let him do as he liked. She looked up and once again
their gazes locked. Reaching up, without separating from his stare,
she tugged the edges of his boxer briefs and slid them down. He
helped her get them off the rest of the way and then returned the
gesture by helping her with her own.

Once they were off, he slid his hand behind
her back and unclasped her bra with one snap. The material fell
away, exposing her average breasts to the man she once loved. He
finally broke eye contact with her so that he could get a good look
at her entire body.

Still not speaking, Hannah wrapped her
fingers around the length of him. Holy shit, he was so fucking
hard. Moving her hand up and down, she stroked him softly until a
groan escaped his lips and let his weight fall down on top of
her.

“Holy shit, if you keep doing that things
will go a lot faster than you want,” he told her.

“Who said I wanted it slow?” She wrapped her
legs around his waist and rolled her hips a little.

“Oh really? No savoring the moment for you,
eh?”

She shook her head. “We can do that later,
right now, I need you as close to me as possible.”

He grasped one of her hands in each of his
and moved them above her head, holding them in place. Then he held
them with only one hand, reaching down with the other.

He moved one of her legs aside and the next
thing she knew he had found the sweet spot, gently massaging until
she was practically dripping on the bed. “David, please…” she
begged, moving her hips upward.

He smiled down at her, then lowered his head
to give her a kiss. As their lips met, he slid his fingers inside
of her and all of her senses erupted. “I need you now.” She was
astounded at the huskiness of her own voice. “Right now!”

With no further invitation needed, he
withdrew his fingers, moved himself between her legs and then slid
into her.

She stared into his eyes the entire time. He
kept hold on her hands and murmured something that sounded like
“Thank you, God,” as he thrust into her.

She raised her legs and wrapped them around
his waist, allowing him to go deeper. He let go of her hands and
moved down to kiss her, moving his thumb across her nipple at the
same time. Warmth spread throughout every inch of her body as she
felt her orgasm building.

David raised himself up again, bracing an
arm on either side of her so that he could stare into her eyes. She
saw his love swimming within those deep blue irises.

She came hard. Her back arched and her
fingernails dug into his back as she cried out with pleasure. David
watched her with a smile, obviously pleased. She felt him grow even
harder within her and he pumped his hips a bit faster. Letting out
a soft moan, he threw his head back and she felt his release.

He fell down on top of her, still inside
her, and his lips found hers again. She kissed back, enjoying the
taste of him, unwilling to let him go quite yet.

They lay there for several moments,
breathing hard and finally savoring the feel of their bodies
against each other. After a while, Hannah placed her hands on his
chest. “I’m having a hard time breathing,” she whispered with a
laugh.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry.” David rolled off of
her and lay on his back.

Hannah turned onto her side and stared at
him. “I’m sorry about everything. Like … everything, all the way
back to the night you told me you were leaving.” She really was
sorry too. Sometime in between the bar and the sex, she realized
that it was in the past. She had hurt for so long, and built up the
walls so high, that she had been incapable of forgiving him.

However, if she had to spend the rest of her
life in prison, she would not do it while holding such a
grudge.

He put his arm out and she moved her head
onto it, using him for a pillow. “You have nothing to be sorry for.
Let’s let it go and just start new.”

She closed her eyes so that she didn’t have
to look at him while she said it. “David, we can’t get back
together, not yet.”

“Fine,” he agreed. “I will just have to take
you on dates and try to woo you into loving me again.”

She opened her eyes and saw that he was
smiling. “I already love you. I always have,” she told him.

He leaned over and kissed her. “Can I stay
with you tonight?”

“Of course,” she laughed. “Did you think I
was going to kick you out after that?”

“I thought it might be possible,” he
joked.

Hannah slapped at his shoulder and then
pulled the comforter back so that they could slip underneath.

“Hannah?” he asked in a more serious
tone.

“Don’t,” she answered and then yawned. “We
can talk tomorrow. I just want to lay here and feel your arms
around me while I fall asleep.”

And she did.

CHAPTER

11

DAVID

He woke to the sound of the shower running
and the strong scent of coffee wafting through the air.

Nope, he hadn’t been dreaming. The spot
beside him was empty, so obviously she was in the shower, but he
wished that she was lying beside him so he could press his body up
against hers one more time.

A glance at the clock told him it was just
after eight in the morning. Shit, he was supposed to check in at
the office before heading back into town to investigate the murder
some more. He wanted to go up to the labs at the hospital and make
sure there wasn’t a mistake on the report.

He could probably question Hannah about it,
since she had performed the autopsy, but he didn’t want to bring up
work with her just yet. They had better things to talk about.

With a yawn, he rolled over then sat up on
the side of the bed. He smiled as he saw that there was still a
pile of clothes on the floor, including his gun and holster.
Pushing away the comforter, he leaned over to pluck his jeans from
the pile.

Just as he grabbed hold of his pants, he
spotted Hannah’s shoes. One shoe was flipped upside down so that
the bottom of it was exposed. He bent and picked up the shoe,
hoping that he wasn’t seeing what he was seeing.

There, lodged into the tread of Hannah’s
nursing shoe, was a tiny pebble. “Oh no. No, no, no.” He mumbled
and then glanced back at the bathroom door. The shower was still
going, so he grabbed his jeans and sifted through the pocket for
his cell phone. Quickly, he swiped the lock and then pulled up his
camera so that he could find the picture of the marred
footprint.

Holding it up beside the shoe he tried to
compare. Dammit, it was too hard to tell on his phone. Clicking out
of the gallery and back to the actual camera, he held up the shoe
and snapped a couple of pictures.

The shower shut off.

The last thing he wanted was Hannah catching
him taking a picture of the bottom of her shoe, so he dropped it on
the floor and put his cell phone away. With a little more looking,
he found his underwear and slid them on, along with his jeans and
tee shirt.