smelled her own fruit scented hand soap on his hands. Rosehip Raspberry.
“I'm wiped out,” she whispered. “I can't move.”
“You need food,” he said.
She grimaced. “Wilted apples with mustard? Ick.”
“Not I ordered out,” he announced, his voice triumphant. “There's bread, potato salad, turkey, pastrami, roast beef, ham. Sliced cheddar and Swiss. Some of that bottled fruit tea stuff. And brownies.”
She actually managed to lift her head at that. “Brownies?”
He slid his hands beneath her shoulders and knees, and scooped her easily into his arms, looking pleased with himself. “Yeah. Two kinds. Double fudge walnut and chocolate cheesecake swirl.” He carried her to the bed and laid her down. “I'm going to make you a sandwich. Then we'll try to get some sleep.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don't remember inviting you to spend the night in my bed,” she said without real force.
“Official boyfriends get to spend the night,” he said, tucking the duvet carefully around her. “It's one of the perks of the job. Part of the standard contract. It’s also covered under the rules of civilized society. It's very bad form to throw a man out the door after he's made you come ... was it three times? Or four?”
Raine betrayed herself by giggling. “I really should throw you out Just to teach you a lesson.”
“Yeah. You and what ten big guys with Uzis and duct tape?”
She giggled again, and he followed up his advantage with a kiss that bloomed swiftly into something hot and sweet and sinuous. He drew back with difficulty, his breathing uneven. “Besides, who would feed you sandwiches and brownies if you threw me out?”
“You're terrible” she told him. “You really are an opportunist.”
“You're learning, babe. You're learning.” His grin slowly faded as he gazed into her eyes. “If you really wanted me to go, I'd feel it. I'd go. I don't stay where I'm not wanted. But you want me to stay. Just like you wanted me to take you on the floor just now. Like a wild animal.”
She sat up, stung, and the duvet slipped down to her waist “Don't you dare tell me what I want, Seth Mackey.”
He reached up, touching her bared breast, and she smacked his hand away. He shrugged, aggrieved. “I just followed your cues, that's all I meant I didn't mean any offense.”
She pulled the duvet up over her chest and slanted him a narrow look. “I thought you did that to punish me. For calling you an animal.”
His eyes widened, horrified. “Punish you? Fuck, no!”
“That's how it felt,” she murmured. “At least at first”
“You call screaming multiple orgasms punishment?”
She almost laughed at the bewilderment on his face. “The orgasms are beside the point.”
“The hell they are! If that’s your idea of punishment, then I'd by God like to know what constitutes a reward!”
“Seth—”
“It would probably kill me,” he went on, his voice incredulous. “My head would explode. And I didn't know being called an animal was an insult, either. On the contrary, I kind of liked it. It turned me on.”
She grabbed a pillow and swatted him with it. “Oh, please. Everything turns you on,” she snapped.
He jerked the pillow out of her hands and climbed onto the bed. He pushed her onto her back, straddled her and seized her chin, forcing her to look straight into his eyes. “Look, sweetheart. If Fm too weird, or too rough, or too over the top for you in bed, I'll tone it down. The sex doesn't have to be wild and crazy all the time. If you want it sweet and soft by candlelight, that's fine. I'll give it to you sweet and soft.”
“You will?”
“Sure. Sweet and soft is fine with me. I like it all ways. Anything you can dream of, that's my fantasy. Got that?”
She nodded. He stood up, looking relieved. t(Now relax while I go fix you some food.” He grabbed his jeans and tugged them on. “What do you want on your sandwich? Spell it out for me, babe. Don't make me guess. I don't want to lose any more points with you. Before I know it I'll be thrown out the door for pissing on the rug.”
“Oh, stop it,” she snapped.
“Little of everything? Mustard, mayonnaise, or both?”
“Both are fine.”
“Lemonade or peach tea?”
“Lemonade, please.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but stopped himself. He picked up the pillow, tucked it tenderly beneath her head and smoothed her hair over it. “I won't be long.”
The door closed after him, and she slid down beneath the duvet, shivering in the cool sheets. She stared up at the ceiling fan, and struggled to comprehend what was happening to her.
And if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Chapter 13
Boyfriend. He was Raine Cameron's official boyfriend. He rolled the word around in his mouth, trying it out Sure, it was just a cover, but what a kick-ass cover it was. What better cover for a bodyguard than the role of jealous, possessive new boyfriend? No one would think twice about him hanging all over her. They'd take one look at Raine's gorgeous tits, her soft pink lips, her glowing eyes, and assume that he was madly in love with her. Who could blame him?
He felt giddy and wired as he padded barefoot through her house. He pulled the small bag of equipment out of the top shelf of the coat closet where he had stashed it, stopped and listened carefully for sounds of movement from upstairs. Nothing.
He opened up his kit, sorting through Colbit beacons of various sizes and ranges. One slid unobtrusively into an unused pocket of her wallet. Another screwed into her pen. He ripped open the seam of the lining of her purse with his penknife and slipped one into the hole. He took out the sewing kit in his case, sewed the hole deftly shut and stitched another one into the hem of her raincoat.
That was enough for now, along with the cell phone. He could get more creative and ambitious later on, when he had the time and the privacy. He winced as he caught sight of himself in the mirror in the foyer. He sure didn't look like an official boyfriend. Wild hair, beard shadow, bare chest. Smelling of sweat and sex. One of his ex- lovers had once told him that he would be really handsome if he could manage to be a little less scary looking. When he demanded to know what the hell she meant by that, she'd hedged and stammered, regretting the thoughtless statement. Finally she said she thought it was his eyes.
The relationship hadn't lasted much longer. In fact, now that he thought about it, that might have been the very last night He stared at his eyes in the mirror. They looked pretty much like they always did, if a little more bloodshot and shadowed man usual. Raise hadn't complained about them yet, thank God.
He padded into the kitchen and proceeded to build four massive sandwiches with the same methodical attention to detail that had made him such an excellent thief, spy and techno nerd.
Hot damn. Official boyfriend. He had never voluntarily sought the title from anyone in his life. He'd always been brutally honest with his lovers about his preference in keeping things light. He liked sex just fine, but he could rarely be bothered with the rest of it Jesse had teased him about that Teased him hard, like he thought it was a real problem, though they usually ended up laughing about it. Jesse had thought that Seth's difficulty with trust and bonding with women was because of his relationship with his mother, blah blah, snore, zzzzz. Jesse had been heavy into psychobabble for a while. College had that effect on some guys who had more brains than were good for them. Usually Seth had managed to tune him out.
He braced himself for the burning stab that came along with thinking about Jesse. It didn't happen. Or rather, the feeling was there, but different. More like a hand pressing down hard on his heart. A hot, hard ache. Almost...
