Get a Clue

Ah, hell, he was a goner. All he could do was hold on and meet her thrust for thrust, closing his eyes to savor her clutching heat, quivering as he fought the orgasm building like a bus barreling down the highway. But he couldn't keep his eyes closed; he wanted to see her. Her head had fallen back, her skin gleaming. 'Breanne.'

Lifting her head, she opened her eyes, too, adding an unexpected intimacy Cooper hadn't expected. It hit him like a one-two punch. Her gaze was clear and open, allowing him to see more of her than she'd ever allowed him. Trusting.

His throat tightened. 'Bree-God. I'm going to-'

'I know-' Her voice was tight. Strangled. 'Me, too-' That was all she managed to get out as she exploded in a series of shudders that milked his own climax out of him. Vaguely he heard her cry out his name, and thought… love the sound of that, before the roaring of his own blood in his ears overtook all rational brain activity.

When it was over, they slumped together, breathing like misused racehorses. Breanne stirred, lifted her head from his shoulder. Her hair had rioted, sticking to her damp face, but her victorious smile said it all. 'That was very… nice,' she said mischievously, using the word he'd objected to. 'Yes, nice just about covers it.'

In answer, he lightly slapped her on the bare ass, making her laugh and hug him so tight he could hardly breathe.

But breathing was overrated, anyway, and he hugged her back. 'Let's get the hell out of here and back into that suite so I can start all over again and do it right.'

'No can do.' She stood on wobbly legs. 'We have to dig out.'

Oh, yeah. They were getting out today. Going their separate ways, which she wanted.

He wanted that, too.

He just couldn't remember why.

Chapter 23

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be misquoted and used against you.

– Breanne Mooreland's Journal Entry

Breanne stood up in the theater closet, and, much to Cooper's consternation, began to look around for her clothes. 'I really didn't write that note just so we could… Well.' She laughed a little as she bent over at the waist to snap her teddy back into place.

Cooper's body twitched. Down, boy.

She shrugged the straps of her teddy back on her shoulders, then reached for the sweater. 'You sidetracked me.'

Watching her toss back her hair, he thought about sidetracking her again. And again. 'Who sidetracked who?'

She smiled but it didn't quite meet her eyes, and then she turned away entirely to work on her jeans.

Uh-oh. Taking her arm, he pulled her back around to face him. 'What's wrong?'

She shimmied her jeans up her hips. 'You mean besides my life being a shambles? Besides being stranded here, hearing mysterious humming that no one else does, and oh, yeah… finding a dead body?'

'Yeah.' He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears. 'Besides all that.'

She stared at him for a long moment, her eyes dark and unreadable. 'Nothing.'

He nodded, started to let it, and her, go, because really, what did it matter? But it did matter. At least to him, he was discovering, and he pulled her around again. 'Did you know you wrinkle your nose when you lie?'

'Do not.'

He touched the tip of her wrinkling nose. 'Do so.'

She clapped her hand over her nose and made a disparaging sound. 'You can't know that about me-you don't know me.'

Contemplating her, he pulled up his own jeans. 'I might not know every little thing yet, but I'm getting a pretty good start.'

'No,' she said with a denying shake of her head, her eyes unhappy. 'You aren't. You can't be. Don't be.'

'Too late. Want to hear what I know already?'

'No-'

'You tend to jump into things heart first-'

'I'm changing that.'

'You're sweet when you're tipsy-'

'I wasn't that tipsy that first night-'

'I know that you hate the dark and spiders, that you have a thing for incredibly sexy lingerie-'

'Circumstantial.'

He curled his hand around the back of her neck, stroking his thumb over the soft, sweet spot of her nape. 'I know that you're intelligent, funny, and incredibly passionate. You care about others, sometimes too much, and you care about me. None of that is circumstantial.'

'It's too early to care.'

'Yeah? Then why did you come to me last night?'

'I was scared.'

'I didn't see you crawling into bed with Dante, Patrick, Lariana, or Shelly.'

In a telltale gesture, she looked away. 'So I care too early. Another fault.'

'I think you also trust me, at least a little.'

'Trust is a bad word, Cooper.'

'Doesn't have to be.'

'Maybe you missed some of my background,' she said 'Three failed engagements, remember?'

'I can't help but remember. You wield them around like a shield.'

'Three engagements,' she repeated. 'That's a helluva lot of wielding. A lot of failures.'

Which was what was getting to her, he guessed. 'You didn't have your heart in at least two of those engagements, Bree. I think you wanted to, you meant to, but you didn't, not really.' He kept his hands on her hips when she would have turned away. 'I know that first one messed with your head, but not every serious relationship ends in pain. I promise you.'

She let out a soft breath. 'I don't know.'

'But I do. Getting engaged was a way to make a great showing. You could hide behind it, holding back all you