Eve dropped her stack of papers on Mac’s kitchen table, turned on her laptop, then went in search of coffee. It was almost noon, which surprised her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so hard and so late. And it was all because of Mac. They might not have gotten physical but she’d felt completely safe in his strong embrace.
She had a voicemail from her boss telling her she better not come into work today and to keep her head down. He’d heard about the explosion and from the sound of it, he wasn’t happy she hadn’t called him about it. Apparently Sheriff Marcel had let him know a little about what was going on and made it clear she was supposed to be under lockdown. Fine with her. She might not be headed to work but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be following up on this story. At least she wouldn’t have Mac around as a distraction. He was a good distraction of course, but right now she needed to focus. With him around, all she wanted to focus on was his hot body.
He’d woken around dawn and had let her know he’d be heading out, but that he was available by cell and had two of his guys watching the house. If Mac trusted the men then she did too.
Before he’d left he’d looked like he wanted to say more but she’d been too tired to press him. The conversation she wanted to have with him wasn’t an early morning kind anyway. After that kiss and the gentle way he’d held her last night, she was even more confused and wasn’t sure what she should be feeling. The feel of his erection pressing against her back had been unmistakable and he hadn’t tried to hide it. Nope, he’d been content to hold her.
Shaking those thoughts free because they’d only distract her, she started a pot of coffee and went back to the table. First, she cross-referenced the numbers from Martin’s SIM card and the call log. The ones that weren’t on the call log, she disregarded for the moment. If he hadn’t called a number in the past three months, it could wait. Out of the almost two dozen numbers that he’d called with a decent amount of frequency, three were called with a surprising regularity and at odd hours. She highlighted the three numbers and the call times.
The one with the most calls was the number she called first. According to his SIM card, it belonged to a Beth Woods.
A woman answered on the first ring. “Hello?” She sounded out of breath and nervous.
“Beth Woods?” Eve asked.
“Yes. Who is this?”
Eve hadn’t used her personal cell phone, but a backup she used when working on stories. “My name is Eve Newman. I’m calling about Allen Martin and—”
“Is he hurt? Where is he? I need to see him.” Her voice was frantic and it was obvious her interest was personal.
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“A week ago…why are you asking me that? Wait,
Eve Newman
, I recognize your name. You work for the Hudson Creek Gazette don’t you?”
“Yes. I was wondering if—”
“Do you know something about Allen? He hasn’t called or stopped by in days and that’s not like him. We had plans last night and…” She broke off and started softly crying. “Something must have happened to him. I just know it.”
“You’re sleeping with him,” Eve said softly. Immediately she wished she could take the comment back. She hadn’t meant to come off as callous but it had slipped out. If Martin’s wife was correct, this was probably one of the women he’d been seeing. Considering the number of times he’d called this woman, it was definitely more than casual.
“It’s more than that. We love each other. Why are you calling me? Has something happened to him? Why aren’t the police involved?”
“I don’t know that anything has happened to Mr. Martin.” She swallowed the lie. This was her job and finding out the identity of Allen Martin’s murderer was important. “I’m simply following up on a lead for a story so if you have any information about him you think might be important—”
“I don’t know anything! If something has happened to him you should be calling the police, not me. Why aren’t you questioning his wife? He was leaving her for me. Maybe she did something to him.” Her voice rose with each word, nearing hysteria.
“Thank you for your time, Ms. Woods. I’m sorry to have bothered you.” She ended the call and sighed in a combination of irritation and guilt.
It was obvious Martin and Bunny were headed for divorce court, but why would Bunny kill him at the Underwood mansion? And who was the man she’d heard that night? Eve was usually a pretty good judge of character and his wife hadn’t seemed homicidal. No, she’d appeared almost relieved to be rid of him. And it was pretty obvious Beth didn’t know anything. While Eve felt bad she hadn’t been able to tell the woman her lover was dead, that was the least of her worries. Finding Martin’s killer and her would-be killer was the most important thing right now.
Next she called the other two numbers on the call log but they both went to an automated voicemail after a few rings. After tallying up the next batch of the most-called numbers she discovered one was his lawyer and the other his bank. She marked those off. The third was supposedly the DA’s house. When Betsy Underwood—the DA’s wife—answered, she immediately hung up. She’d only called to clarify it was the right number and now she knew for certain. Even if she wanted to talk to her, she had nothing to say. For a brief moment she thought about calling the sheriff but knew it wouldn’t do any good. She didn’t have proof of anything. Sure, she had proof he’d called the DA a lot. Which meant they were friends. Big deal.
While she felt slight elation at Martin and the DA’s connection, it was tiny and short lived. All she knew was that they talked on the phone at odd hours. She didn’t know why Martin was dead or what he’d been involved in to get him killed. She was back to square one. Hell, she’d never really left it.
After she organized her notes, she pulled up another article on her laptop that she’d started on the upcoming parade next month. Not exactly riveting stuff but she had to do something. If not, she’d go stir crazy stuck in Mac’s house. She couldn’t go to work and she couldn’t go anywhere else unless she wanted to worry about someone trying to kill her.
As she finished the first draft of her article, her cell phone rang. She glanced at the number and frowned. It was Tara Underwood. The DA’s daughter. Eve’s heart rate quickened as she answered it. “Hey, Tara.”
“Hey! How have you been? I heard some craziness about you almost getting yourself blown up. Is it true?” She sounded way too excited and intrigued. Which meant whatever Eve said would be spread like wildfire moments after they got off the phone.
Word traveled too fast in this town. Not that she’d expect anything less from the kind of event yesterday. “Where’d you hear that?”
“
Everyone
is talking about it. My father is in a tizzy trying to get the sheriff to talk to him about it. He wants charges pressed against whoever did this and…” She continued droning on, but Eve frowned.
Yeah, she bet Tara’s father really cared about who’d tried to blow her and Mac up. She hadn’t talked to Tara in a while so it wasn’t weird that the other woman was calling to check on her, but Eve couldn’t help and wonder if Tara’s father had put the idea in her head to contact Eve.
“… And I hear you and sexy Mac Quinn are a hot item now. Every time I see that man in town I want to jump him, lucky girl. Are you bringing him to the fundraiser tomorrow night?”
Crap.
She’d forgotten her boss had given the staff tickets weeks ago for the
Find a Cure for Lymphoma
fundraiser. “I’ll be there,” she said before she could stop herself. The sheriff might have made her promise not to harass the DA, but he couldn’t stop her from attending a public event. The sheriff and Mac were going to be pissed she was going to the fundraiser but she didn’t care. She wanted to see the DA’s reaction to her and if she got to talk to him, maybe he’d slip up. She wasn’t worried about her safety, especially since she’d be dragging Mac along with her. He wouldn’t like it but she knew how to convince him otherwise.
Eventually she managed to get off the phone with Tara and when Eve saw how late it was getting, she cleaned up the table and headed back to the guest room. Mac had let her know his cook would be coming in around dusk to prepare the evening meal for the men and she didn’t want to get in the way. Smiling to herself, she stripped and jumped in the shower. She might be a little sore from the accident, but things were definitely going to change between her and Mac tonight. She’d had strong feelings for him for over a decade and they obviously weren’t going away. If anything they’d only gotten stronger the last couple days.
What she’d been forcefully keeping at bay for so long had bubbled to the surface and she could no longer deny she had completely fallen for Mac. Now that she knew he felt something for her, she wasn’t waiting any longer. Even if things ended between them, she couldn’t risk not taking a chance.
* * * * *
Mac was tired, cranky and horny. The cold shower jets pummeling his body weren’t doing a damn thing to ease his discomfort. Eve hadn’t joined him and his men for dinner—not that he’d exactly expected her—but he hadn’t seen her once since he’d gotten home. All day he’d felt anticipation humming through him. At first he’d chalked it up to being worried about the unknown and who was after Eve. But he knew better. He’d been excited to see her. All day he’d been distracted to the point that Grant had noticed and given him shit for it. Not that he cared about that.
He wanted Eve so bad he ached for it with alarming need. For a moment he wrapped his callused hand around his hard cock and began to stroke. The feel of his rough palm made him wince. He didn’t want his hand. He wanted what only Eve could give him.
Sighing, he turned the shower off and stepped out onto the bath mat. After drying off, he didn’t bother with clothes. Pulling boxers over his hard cock would only agitate him more.
When he opened the bathroom door and stepped into his bedroom, he froze. Eve was stretched out on his bed, blonde hair framed around her face in seductive waves.
And she was completely naked.
“Hi.” She sounded nervous and her cheeks were as pink as her nipples.
He couldn’t find his voice. Could only stare. His gaze tracked from her full, lush breasts down the flat planes of her stomach to the juncture between her thighs. Fine, blonde hair covered her mound in a neatly trimmed strip.
His abdomen clenched as he stared. What he wouldn’t give to bury his face and cock there. He didn’t remember moving but suddenly he was kneeling at the end of the bed. Eve sat up but didn’t make a move to cover herself. Her hands were at her side, tightly clutching the covers beneath her.
“Do you want this?” He barely recognized his raspy voice.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Are you nervous?”
She nodded again. “A little.”
Hell, he was nervous too. But he wouldn’t let anything stop this from happening tonight. She obviously didn’t care about talking since she’d come to his room like this. He wasn’t a big talker, especially in the bedroom, but at least he could alleviate some of her nerves. All he needed to do was touch her sweet body and show her what she meant to him.
He wanted to take his time but right now his cock throbbed with the demand to be inside Eve. Grasping one of her ankles, he placed a soft kiss to her inner calf. She shuddered lightly and opened her legs farther. It was almost imperceptible but the action wasn’t lost on him. She was opening herself up to him.
As he moved his way up her legs, the subtle scent of her desire surrounded him. She smelled like a fresh spring rain. When he reached her inner thighs, he slowly kissed and teased above her mound, but never directly stroking her pussy. Her fingers threaded through his hair and she gripped him hard.
It was hard to believe what they were about to do, but there wasn’t anywhere else Eve would rather be at that moment. The feel of Mac’s lips on her body had turned her into a raging inferno of heat and longing.
Her fingers tightened on his head in a silent plea. She didn’t want him to tease her anymore. She wanted to feel that thick length inside her. When he’d walked out of the bathroom with that gorgeous rock hard cock, her inner walls had tightened with the desire to feel him inside her. She appreciated foreplay as much as the next woman but she’d wanted him for too long.
She was tired of being patient.
When he flicked his tongue over her clit, her hips rolled against his face. Such a slight touch and she was ready to combust. He chuckled lightly against the sensitive area, which only enflamed her more.
As he teased and stroked her with his tongue, tingles skittered across her entire body. She’d only fantasized about this and now that he was actually doing the things she’d imagined, the real thing was definitely better.
A moan escaped her when he delved his tongue inside her. The graze of his tongue had her legs clenching tighter around his head and her panting harder and harder for relief.
He suddenly pulled back and she froze. Was he going to stop?
“I need to be inside you,” he growled softly. His dark eyes were filled with promises she hoped he fulfilled.
Before she could react he grabbed a condom from the nightstand table and quickly ripped it open and sheathed himself. As he rolled it over his cock, her eyes grew heavy-lidded watching him. Next time she planned to do that herself.
Unable to stop herself, she reached out and grasped him. When her fingers closed around his hardness, he made a throaty, almost animalistic sound.
He settled between her spread thighs but placed a hand between their bodies. Covering her mound, he slid a finger inside her. She automatically clamped around him.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured.
“Please tell me you’re going to do something about it.” Her voice was playful but she wasn’t joking.
The slight trace of humor on his face melted away as he withdrew his hand. Without pause, he thrust inside her.
He filled her completely. Her inner walls molded around him, but before she’d fully adjusted to his size, he pulled out and slammed into her again.
She rolled her hips, meeting him stroke for stroke until their bodies found a sensual, rhythmic dance that had her clawing at his back for release.
When he nipped her earlobe with his teeth, her orgasm slammed into her hard and fast. It was almost unexpected. She knew her body and had thought she was still building to her climax.
Pleasure raced throughout her, sending tingles to all her nerve endings as she rode that high and finally crested into a numb freefall. As her orgasm slowly subsided, Mac’s slammed into him with unbridled force.
He groaned loudly in her ear while his once steady thrusts became harder and uncontrolled. Reaching lower, she grabbed on to his butt and dug her nails in. That set him off. Another, more primal sound tore from him until his thrusts slowed and he relaxed and settled on top of her.
Thankfully he used his arms to prop himself up as he stared down at her. His dark eyes glinted possessively. She wasn’t sure what the right thing to say was after something like this. Instead of sticking her foot in her mouth like she often did, she reached up and clasped her fingers around his neck.
As she did, he met her mouth and kissed her softly. The tenderness of his tongue stroking over hers was in direct contrast to the hard, fast coupling they’d just had. She sighed in contentment as their tongues continued the sweet, gentle kisses.
Now that she’d been with Mac like this, the fantasies she’d had in the past seemed dull and lifeless. Since she wasn’t sure what their future held or even if they had one, she was afraid that if he walked away from her she’d never be able to settle for anything less than him in her bed. He was pretty closed mouth about what he wanted from her and she didn’t want to broach the subject. The thought of being that vulnerable to him was too scary.
No, she decided to enjoy what they had without worrying about the future or asking questions she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to. When Mac threaded his fingers through her hair and she felt him begin to lengthen inside her again, she knew she’d made the right decision.
Talking and questions could wait until later.