In Your Arms: A Small Town Love Story (Safe Haven Book 1) (17 page)

She nodded and backed it up with a smile.

“Lift your hips.” Compliance. At the same time, he worked her panties down her legs, he moved the bedcover completely off her. And paused. Sure he’d seen her legs before, but from this angle, looking all the way up, he could feel that delicious sense of anticipation. He slowed his breathing and waited and watched. Delay was a rush to be treasured, because once he started this journey, his knowledge of her would be altered forever.

He grasped a foot and drew it to his mouth, licking around her ankle, trailing tiny kisses along her instep, nipping with his teeth and encouraged by her sounds of pleasure. He ran his hands up the backs of her calves, squeezing, massaging until he reached behind her knees, and she groaned. The sound was loud and promising…and about to make him lose his mind.

“We’re a bit out of sync, here, Adam. Time you lost your pants, too.”

Yes!
“With pleasure.” He kicked off his boxers, all the time his eyes holding her steady.

Her smile broadened, her tongue flicking over her top lip, and the rise and fall of his chest intensified in response.

He weakened first as he drank in the sight of her lying before him, completely naked. A quick sweep of her body and he let his gaze lock back with hers as he sank to his knees between her legs. He grasped her hips while reaching for a pillow. “Here, lift up.” He slipped the pillow under her. “Are you comfortable?”

“Yes, and a little exposed.”

He laughed. “Now lie back and think of nothing. Just feel.”

His hands worked smoothly up her thighs, calmly parting them at the top, and she dropped her head back and surrendered. He stroked her silky hair, cupped her mound and held her firmly until he heard a small moan escape her. Parting her lips, he slipped a finger over her, back and forward, deliberately gentle, watching for her reaction to discover the bits that really worked for her.

He placed a finger at her entrance, teasing and pulling away when she tried to bear down. She held still after a couple of futile attempts. “Clever girl, now you lie back and let me do this,” he whispered as he slid one finger deep inside her, and slowly withdrew, repeating, loving how her muscles clenched as they tried to grasp him and hold his finger inside.

Then he removed his finger.

“Don’t stop!” she protested.

“Not stopping,” he smiled as he added a second finger. “So hot, so wet, so freakin’ tight,” he murmured, playing his fingers in and out of her. He ducked his head, reached down and carefully parted her lips, spreading her then leaning in to stroke her, once, with his tongue.

She was becoming more vocal, her hips rising beneath him. He placed one hand on the flat of her stomach, holding her still as he found her nub and teased it with the most delicate flicks, from the tip of his tongue.

“More,” she groaned.

He lifted his head. “More? Getting demanding now, Marlo?” She tried to push her hips toward him, and he kept her in place with the pressure of one hand on her smooth belly. “Uh-uh, stay still.”

“Please,” she begged.

“Please? I like please. That might work.” He parted her again and went back to slowly drawing his fingers within her folds, occasionally brushing her clit, enjoying how she jumped when he did so. “I wish we had a mirror here. You should see how beautiful you are, wet and swollen and ready for me.”

He lowered his head again and drew her nub into his mouth and started to suck, tease, and drive her right over the edge. His fingers curled inside her, pressing against the front wall until…
yes
…the spasm and gasp told him he’d found the right bundle of nerves that might blow her mind.

“Adam, please…”

She tried to sit up but kept his hand on her, keeping her in place.

“Adam!”

Her voice was more insistent and suddenly he remembered what he was dealing with. Whoa, slow down, you’ve scared her. Idiot
.
He lifted his head. “Sorry, hon, I got a bit carried away there. Are you okay?”

“Better than okay.”

“Better… oh, good.” He could scarcely catch his breath.

“It’s just…”

“It’s just, what?”

“I want you in me.”

There again, that coy smile was so unbearably sexy. He raised himself and lay across her body, pressed his aching cock between her thighs. “I want in you, too, but one problem. No condoms.” He saw her disappointment and laughed. “Let’s continue along the path we were traveling, which seemed to be going pretty well as I recall.”

She nodded.

He reached for her. “Kiss me, taste yourself.” Her mouth was tentative at first, and he held back, letting her explore. He pulled away. “Like that?”

She grinned and pulled his head back to her.

Good answer, babe. Perfect score.

He reached back between her legs, his fingers so slick now with her juices. “I think it’s time for you to come.” He lifted her legs over his shoulders and moved back in. This time she was without restraint when his tongue met her clit, and he thrust his fingers into her, finding her ‘just there’ spot and relentlessly guiding her toward an orgasm.

She was trembling—good, sexy trembling—and he played her, teased her, bringing her to the brink of coming then slowing her down, pulling back until she begged for release. When she could take no more of his teasing, she grasped a handful of his hair, holding him to her.

“Don’t you dare stop,” she groaned, and as her legs tightened and drew up, he sucked her into his mouth and added a finger to the turmoil until her undulations and cries told him she’d come. He continued to stroke her, drawing out the last tremors until her breath came slowly and the tension left her body.

He moved up alongside her to take her in his arms. He slicked her hair from her face and kissed her before drawing back. “Just can’t get enough of you, you beautiful creature. You taste like heaven; you are heaven.”

“That was amazing.”

“You were amazing.”

“It’s never been like that for me before,” she whispered.

“That’s a pity.”

“But what about you?”

“Me?” Adam grinned.

“You seem to still have a pressing problem. I can, ah, feel it. Can I help with that?”

“No, really, I’m fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Yeah, really so not fine, but he’d live.

“Liar.” Her hand reached for him.

Oh, yes, she saw right through that.

“Show me what you like,” she whispered, running her fingers from the base of his cock to the top, using her thumb to circle the slippery head.

He covered her hand with his. “Yup, this is going to work for me.”

D
uring summer
, the dawn chorus was Marlo’s wake-up call. They had both slept again after their lovemaking, and now she eased herself from Adam’s hold and went through her normal morning routine. She put Justice and Fala into the yard with their breakfast and took a shower. She leaned her head back and let the warm water run over her before soaping up her body. Her new, responsive body that tingled and came to life every time Adam touched her.

She still had her eyes closed when the shower door opened.

“Don’t mind me.” Adam leaned a forearm at the open door and watched her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m striking off something from my fantasy list. You have no idea how often I’ve imagined you wet in the shower with the suds running down your body.” He licked his lips. “And the real thing is even better than I’d hoped.”

She threw a sopping washcloth at him and without taking his eyes from her, he snatched it from the air with one hand. Water and suds flew in a fine arc, covering them both.

“Oh, dear.” He grinned. “Now it’s war.”

Marlo pressed herself against the wall as Adam stepped into the stream of water. “Not much room in here,” she gasped and was quickly silenced by a pulse-raising, early morning kiss.

He released her. “That is what you get for leaving the bed without saying goodbye.” He leaned back in. “And this is what you get—”

She put his hands against his chest, holding him away, grinning. “Remind me to do that more often. Now, at the risk of being called a killjoy, I am presuming we have a day from hell ahead of us. I need to prepare.”

He caught her as she stepped past him. His lips pressed up against her ear. “We’ll get through the day together and continue this tonight.”

Later in the kitchen Adam drained his coffee mug and stood. “Right, time to go and put out some fires.”

Marlo grimaced. “Am I in trouble?”

“I can’t see why.”

“But Justice is in trouble, isn’t he?”

Trouble? Well, that’s one way of putting it.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Justice. I don’t know how that sort of thing works over here. I’ve got first dibs on Butch this morning to talk this over, so you hold tight here, okay? Screen your calls until I can let you know what’s going to go down.”

He climbed into his rental car, put the key in the ignition and drummed out a rhythm on the steering wheel with his forefingers. “Someone got his tension temporarily relieved…until I reach the station.”

B
utch pointed
at a chair across from his desk. “Sit,” he ordered before stabbing at a button on his intercom. “Margaret, need two coffees, now.”

Margaret was Butch’s P.A., and the rumor was that she filled that role in private, too. Not that anyone was brave enough to ask the right questions to confirm it. She rolled in a few minutes later and placed two steaming hot mugs onto the police chief’s desk. “Next time, say ‘please’, or you’ll wear it.”

“Next time, wear a shorter skirt and show more cleavage, or I’ll send you home to get changed.”

Adam had been shocked when he’d first heard their banter, but it appeared they’d carried on like this for years. And God help anyone else who tried to take the same line with Margaret. She would kick the person’s ass, with Butch waiting in line to complete the job. Butch may have sounded Neanderthal, but the guy couldn’t have been softer or more protective when it came to women.

He leaned back in his chair, cradling his coffee. “So, Kiwi, what went down last night?”

“You talked to Barrett yet?”

“Yeah, briefly.”

Adam reached for his coffee. “Tell me the score.”

“Condensed version. Barrett says he went around to Marlo’s, as per his orders. Once he was in the house, he made some sort of remark that he supposed could have been
construed
to be offensive—you know what a jerk-off he is. She went nuts and set the dog on him.”

“I see the attack gave him amnesia.”

“Full-blown.”

Adam blew in his coffee, and tried a sip. Still blistering hot. He returned the mug to the desk and looked up at Butch. “What Barrett tried on Marlo…that was attempted rape. When I got there, he’d locked them in the house, the dog and Marlo were going nuts, Barrett was bleeding all over the place and mouthing off about shooting the dog, and Marlo was half-naked.”

Butch leaned back in his chair. “Barrett’s a fucking moron. He thinks getting a hard-on is personal growth. I’ll deal with him, but I need to talk to Marlo.”

“Turns out, he’s had dealings with Marlo before. You need to check him out in relation to an incident with one Officer Carl Hanson and Marlo, about nine years back.”

“It’ll be in his file. How is Marlo?”

“Once you see what went down with Hanson, you’ll get a good idea for where she’s at.” His phone vibrated in his pocket. “That’s her now. Can you give me a minute here?”

He walked out into the corridor as he answered. Her news sent a chill to the pit of his stomach and after making her promise to stay right where she was, barged back into Butch’s office.

Butch raised his eyebrows.

“They took Justice. The Animal Control guys turned up and got all heavy with Marlo and took him away. Christ, I feel like I’m living in Camp What-the-Fuckery. Did you know about this?”

Butch shook his head.

“Shit, Butch, I’ve got Marlo out there going off her head and under so much freakin’ stress, she’s about to blow an artery. Justice is gone. Do you know how important that dog is?”

Butch nodded.

“Who would take the dog? Is Animal Control your department? Would they come and seize him?”

Butch returned an ‘I don’t know’ shrug.

“For fuck’s sake, have you been struck dumb?”

“I’m waiting for your rant to finish. Are you done, or do you have another sack of words you’d like to shout at me?”

Adam dropped back into the chair and thrust his hands through his hair. “Crap, crap, crap, crap, there, I’m done. Your turn.”

Butch punched the intercom again and asked Margaret to get him the details on the seizure of Justice.

Her voice came back, telling him to get in line. Adam nearly laughed as Butch blew a kiss to the intercom before facing him.

“I don’t want you blowing a fuse when we get this information together.”

The pounding in his chest told him the fuse was already short-circuiting. “Tell me what you know.”

“I don’t know anything yet. You ever heard about that virtue called patience? It’s sophisticated, give it a try.”

Adam flipped him the bird. “CRAR will want Justice back. Surely the dog has some sort of protection, seeing as he’s evidence in the dog fight case.” He had to keep Justice safe for Marlo. That was nonnegotiable.

“I would think so, except…shit. I’ll call Animal Control, and you call CRAR. We need a safe house for Justice before some dickwad gets all gun-happy and puts him into permanent sleep.”

Adam left the office to make the call to CRAR, but his phone beeped before he had the chance. He checked the call display. Mae. Damn, he should have called her earlier
.
She was justifiably annoyed as Adam went through the events of the previous day, leaving out the more intimate details. By the end of the call, he’d secured her silence and a safe house for Justice.

He returned to his seat as Butch replaced the phone. “It would seem Barrett’s ego continues to roam unchecked. He put in the order for Justice to be seized and destroyed and filed a complaint about the attack. I’ll interview him tomorrow. Let him stew for a bit.”

“Barrett’s ego should be neutered. Can we spring Justice? CRAR will take him and make him disappear until after the court case.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged. But Adam?”

Here it comes
…“
Yes, Butch?”

“Do you think they can keep him hidden this time?”

“Ha, ha, very funny. Actually I need to talk to you about that. So far we’ve got some organization out there with people prepared to break in and steal stuff, with a goal to discredit CRAR or pit bulls or whatever. The dogmen, we presume, still want to snatch back Justice. Both these groups are a threat to Marlo…whether that’s perceived or real. Another thing, we seem to have a leak at Dog Haven. Too much information has come out for it not to be direct from there.”

Butch leaned over his desk, resting on his forearms. “If Marlo feels threatened, you need to take care of her first. I doubt she realizes it, but she’s a lot safer with Justice out of Dog Haven.”

“It’s okay. I wouldn’t let Justice go back to Marlo right now. In fact, it might pull a giant bug from our ass if we allow certain people to presume Justice was euthanized for biting a cop.”

“Easy. We can issue a news release today that can cover that. We’ll say the dog has been seized for an attack on a policeman and that the usual procedure is for euthanasia. You know how lazy the media are these days. I doubt anyone will have the energy to make the call and ask the right questions.”

“Good. What a pity the cop in question can’t be euthanized.”

Butch nodded. “We can take the heat off Justice by letting anyone who’s after him think he’s been destroyed. The thing is, are you going to ask Marlo to believe that?”

“No, no way. I can’t go out there and lie to her about that.”

“What if they go after Marlo again in an attempt to get Justice?”

“Shit, Butch, we’re talking about a dog here, not Shergar.”

“Shergar?”

“An Irish racehorse who was kidnapped…oh, never mind.”

“A horse was kidnapped? Were you involved in that, too?”

“That was on the other side of the world and a bit before my time.”

Butch shook his head. “You attract trouble, Kiwi. Did I ever tell you that?”

“Yeah, daily.”

“So, what are you going to say to Marlo?”

“The most I can do is let her think that Justice is being kept by Animal Control and that she can’t see him. If she’s put under pressure as to the dog’s whereabouts, she can direct them to your guys.”

“Well, I’m happy if you are. Now, what are we going to do about protection for her?”

“I’ll take care of that.”

“You sly devil.”

Adam shook his head. “No, really, you’ve got to read about what went down with Marlo, Barrett, and some asshole by the name of Hanson. The more we can keep uniform away from the Sanctuary, the better.”