All I've Ever Wanted - Adrianne Byrd [46]
The bed creaked again.
He groaned again. Will she go to sleep already? The torture of knowing her supple body lay enveloped in his clothes and in his bed was killing him.
Max sat up. His gaze darted around the living room and then toward the long hallway.
Another creak.
He swore under his breath and went to the kitchen. Within seconds, he had a cool bottle of water, which he pressed against his temple. Maybe it was a bad idea to keep her here. The woman was playing havoc with his self-control.
“Mind if I have one?”
He turned and saw the object of his desire illuminated by a sliver of moonlight. The pajama top exposed a bit of her shoulder and her hair looked like she had just awakened from a night of making passionate love.
“I hope you don’t mind me joining you, I couldn’t sleep.”
Max’s body tensed and he knew he needed to shut the refrigerator door, before the light revealed his growing erection.
“Sure.” He grabbed the last bottle and slammed the door.
Kennedy accepted the bottle he handed to her, but she didn’t move away. “How about you?”
He blinked, uncertain whether he had missed something.
“What about me?”
“Could you sleep?”
Her voice seemed lower, huskier than normal, and Max could feel that his erection was at full mast. “No.” He surprised himself by answering honestly.
She didn’t say anything else. In fact, Max sensed that she waited for him to say or ask her something. But his mind couldn’t stay out of the gutter long enough to think of any appropriate thing to say.
“I’m scared,” she finally said. “I’m scared of what will come with the sunrise.”
He knew she was referring to her son, and his heart immediately went out to her. “Where did you send Tommy?”
She turned away from the door.
Max concluded that he’d asked the wrong question.
Kennedy moved into the living room and stood by the window. “I can’t talk about that now.”
“All right.” He shrugged. “What do you want to talk about?”
When she didn’t say anything, he moved to stand behind her. “Unless you don’t want to talk.”
“I don’t.” She turned and lifted her face to kiss him.
Max abandoned reason as he dipped his head to receive her kiss. He had never experienced a kiss like this. The woman’s lips were as soft as rose petals and tasted sweeter than wine. He pulled her closer, believing he could develop an addiction to everything about her.
Kennedy thought she could happily remain in his arms forever. It had been so long since she had enjoyed the splendor of a man’s touch. She twined her arms around his neck and allowed herself to sink further into his embrace.
In one quick swoop, Max swept Kennedy up into his arms and carried her down the hallway toward the bedroom.
The next thing she knew, she felt the firm mattress beneath her while his strong body hovered above her. She drowned in the passion of their kiss, and she didn’t care. She couldn’t think about tomorrow and what it may bring. In this time, and in this space, Detective Maxwell Collier embodied all she ever wanted in a man, in life and in love.
Zone Five Precinct
Saturday, 8:00 a.m.
Lt. Kelly Scardino watched Capt. Stephen Vincent scratch his head as he reread the report in front of him. Judging by the deeply grooved lines creasing his face, she felt safe to say that he wasn’t happy.
When he finished, his steel-gray eyes stabbed hers. If she were able to get out of there with her butt intact, it would be nothing shy of a miracle.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Yes, sir. It’s my official report.”
“No. This is killing my ulcers. That’s what this is.” He tossed the report aside. “I can’t take that to my superiors or the press. I can’t tell them that yes, my men were involved in a public shoot-out where four civilians and one cop were wounded, but no arrests were made.”
“One gunman was killed, sir.”
His gaze narrowed. “I stand corrected.”
“It’s all I have, sir.”
“And I’m telling you it’s not enough. What are we doing to locate this Keenan Lawrence character?”
“We have an APB out on