for her.
He waited until he’d parked outside his condo complex and turned off the engine. The street was deserted. The windows around them had started to fog, reducing his world to just the two of them. “Angie…”
“Let me guess,” she said with her eyes still closed. “One of us is still sleeping on the couch.”
“It’s for the best.”
Now she opened her eyes and looked at him. “Why not?”
“Because…I just don’t.”
“Because you’re a big, bad, tough cop?”
“Partly because I’m a cop, yes.”
“Oh, Sam.” She shook his head. “What you do for a living doesn’t matter to me as long as it makes you happy.”
“Being a cop is who I am.” The leather seats crinkled beneath him when he shifted subtly away from her. “It defines me.”
“Yes, it does. So, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you say it’s fine now, but it won’t be for long.” Where had that come from? What was he saying? That if it wasn’t for his job, he’d want her in his life? He’d actually give them a shot? God, he must be losing it.
“Sam…” She leaned forward and cupped his face in her hands. “You’ve lost your faith in love, that’s all. You can get it back.”
“It’s not that. My job…not many understand it.”
“I understand. I always would.”
“That’s a promise I doubt you could keep.”
“Then you don’t know me very well.”
Her fingers, her cool fingers, skimmed over his face while her eyes gave him nothing but an earnest ness that made his throat burn. “How could you promise such a thing?” he demanded. “Not even my ex-wife could.”
Her eyes widened. “You…were married?”
“For all of six months.”
“That’s not very long.”
“Long enough for Kim to realize being married to a cop was everything my mother had told her it would be. Namely bad.”
Unable to stand the compassion in her eyes, her hands, he pulled back. He turned his head and looked out the window. “I don’t expect any woman to be able to handle this life of mine.”
“Yes, I can see you’re quite attached to that idea.”
He closed his eyes. “Look, I don’t know how we got into this. Let’s just get your bag and go inside.”
She put her hand on his back. Lightly ran it over his tense muscles. He remained still, perfectly still, because if he turned and looked into her gaze, he might give in to this need for her that had him shaking like a damn newborn baby.
“Not all woman are like your mother,” she said softly. “Or your ex. Some of us are far wiser.”
He said nothing, just absorbed her amazing touch and tried to figure out why he liked it so much.
“In fact, some of us are wise enough to know when some thing is such an elemental part of you that it can’t be separated out.
“Angie-”
“I do,” she said firmly. “I guess what I’m saying is…maybe someday you’ll consider risking your heart one more time.”
“Angie-”
“I know what I’m asking. I’m asking you to open up to all the hurt you promised yourself you’d never feel again, but Sam…life has to be lived.”
“I live fine.”
“Sam.”
She waited until he looked at her, waited until he could do nothing but see her, really see her, and ache with all the yearning he didn’t want to acknowledge. “I want a lot of things,” she said. “I want this new life. I want to enjoy it. And I want you.”
“Angie-”
“I would never turn away from you.” Her fingers stroked his jaw. “Never.”
He stared at her, and in complete ear nest ness, she held his gaze, never even blinking.
God. What would it take to believe? To just lean in and let her kiss away all his fears? He almost did exactly that.
She kept looking into his eyes, her own shining. “I could keep telling you all this, over and over, if that would help.”
“Don’t.”
She simply put her mouth to his.
Chapter 10
It was dark outside, darker yet in the truck, and still Angie felt a burst of light at the touch of her mouth to Sam’s. It felt good, it felt right…until he stopped.
He looked at her so miserably her heart melted. “It was just a simple kiss,” she said.
“It wasn’t just a damn simple kiss. Nothing with you is simple.”
A car drove by, briefly illuminating the grim lines of his face. Pride flared, and she slowly pulled back. “I see.”
“Angie…I just want you safe.”
“Yeah. You’ve said.” She turned away, and when he reached for her, she shrugged him off. “Okay, let’s try this. First, please stop acting so concerned when it comes to me.”
“What?”
“Because you’re confusing the hell out of me. I think it was the way you kissed me.”
“Oh, no. Wait a minute. You kissed me.”
“I know.” She covered her eyes. “And stop calling me, okay? Stop every damn thing when it comes to me, and then, maybe then, I’ll be able to get my head back together.” She reached for her backpack, thinking she would get out and walk home.
“Angie-”
“No. You don’t want to talk, you don’t want to think, you sure as hell don’t want to feel. I don’t know why I thought…oh, never mind.” More angry at herself than him, she tried to open the door but it was locked, and then he was reaching for her, blocking her way.
“I shouldn’t have come,” she said stiffly, not facing him, trying not to feel the big, strong hands holding her in. “I should never have gotten involved with you.”
“Damn right you shouldn’t, but you did.” He swore, then whipped her around to face him, no easy feat in the cab of his truck. “You did, and you’re here, and damn you, even if you weren’t I’d be thinking about you.”
“Sam-”
“Oh no, don’t shut me up now, I’m on a roll. You want me to talk? To think? To feel? I do all those things, for you. Only for you, Angie. I can’t seem to stop.” In the next breath, his mouth covered hers.
She tried to resist, honest to God, she tried, but he nibbled, coaxed, cajoled and finally ate at her resolve with such hungry, sexy bites she gave in with a small cry of surrender.
His hands urged her closer, over him, and with shocking ease, she straddled him right there on the bench seat of his truck. The kisses went on, hotter, deeper, wetter with each passing moment, punctuated by sighs and moans of pleasure as their hands got into the action, fighting for space.
