The Heat Is On

Austin turned to Bella. “Take care of the idiot, will you?”

“Plan on it.”

And now the “idiot” was smiling at her as she drove him home, making her heart catch in her throat.

Her life had turned into a Law & Order episode, and he was smiling at her.

God. She could hardly bear to think about what had happened to him, or how much worse it could have been.

Ethan and most of the P.D. were on this case, she told herself. They would find the shooter, Ethan had promised. They would take care of it.

She knew it, she believed it.

She just hoped they’d do so before anyone else got hurt.

At Jacob’s house, she guided him to the couch, removed his shoes and sank back on her heels to look up at him.

“You stopping at the shoes?” he asked, and wriggled his toes.

“Yes. Why?”

“I’m not comfortable. I want to be in sweats.”

She dutifully pulled off his socks.

“And?” he asked with a sweet grin that was so amiable and easygoing-unlike his usual stoic, tough, badass self-she laughed. “You are feeling no pain today, Detective.” But she obliged him by unbuttoning his shirt and carefully easing it off his shoulders, working around the splint and sling his left shoulder was immobilized with. At the sight of all the thick bandages, her mirth faded.

He hadn’t required surgery-a miracle. Nothing vital had been hit. Another miracle.

He was a walking miracle…

“And?” he murmured again, arching a brow.

She looked at his jeans. Levi’s, button fly. She ran her finger over his corrugated abs, which contracted beneath her touch. She popped the top button and felt him harden beneath the denim, and then it was her turn to arch a brow.

“He’s excited to see you,” Jacob explained.

“You say that like it’s been so long,” she murmured, crawling between his long legs and leaning in so that she could rest her head on his stomach. “It’s only been a day and a half.”

“He’s greedy when it comes to you.”

With a soft laugh, she turned her face and nuzzled his belly button. His skin was silky smooth, with the ripple of hard sinew just beneath. “I think this is my favorite spot on you.”

He was lying back against the couch, his eyes at half mast, his long, thick lashes shielding his thoughts. He brought his good hand up to her hair. “I was hoping your favorite spot was down a little.”

She stroked the spot he was talking about, and he let out a sigh, which turned into a ragged groan when she dragged her tongue south to the Levi’s waistband, snaking it just beneath.

“Christ, Bella.” His hand tightened in her hair. He kept his head back, his eyes now closed, throat exposed. She watched his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.

“You have no idea what you do to me,” he murmured.

She eyed the growing bulge behind the button fly. “Oh, I think I do… You know, you might be right about my favorite body part. Let me take a look.” She popped open the rest of his buttons, and he sprang free. In the same way she’d nuzzled his belly, she leaned in and pressed her face against him, then gave him a kiss.

His breathing had accelerated, but other than that, the rest of his long body was stone still, clearly waiting for her next move.

“You do realize,” she whispered, her lips brushing him with each word, “this isn’t doctor recommended.”

“He said I should go with what feels good. Trust me, Bella. You feel good.”

“Well, stop me if anything causes you any pain.” She let her tongue dart out and run the hard length of him.

“You’re not hurting me.” His voice was raw. “You’re killing me. But, Christ, please don’t stop.”

In less than three minutes, she had him quivering, alternating between swearing and begging. In two more, he was panting, boneless and completely sated.

“You okay?” she whispered, sitting back on her heels.

“If I was any more okay, I’d float out of here and into bed.”

She smiled. “I’ll help you.” She got him down the hall and onto the mattress, and he lay there, eyes closed, color a bit ashen. She’d never rebuttoned his jeans, and she already knew he was commando beneath them, but she still couldn’t help but stare as he one-armed them down his legs and kicked them away.

She’d had her mouth on every single inch of that glorious, gorgeous body and still, she wanted him. She was afraid she always would. “You hungry? Thirsty? Need anything?”

He made an almost inaudible negative sound.

She covered him with a blanket and moved to leave the room, but, eyes still closed, he reached out and unerringly snagged her wrist.

Seemed he was down for the count but still in complete control of his instincts. “You okay?” she asked. “It’s late.”

“Yes. So?”

“So…” He tugged, and with a gasp, she sank down beside him on his good side. “Jacob, careful-”

“Don’t drive home this late, don’t go be by yourself.”

“I won’t be alone. There’s still a man on the shop.”

“Just stay.”

“But you need to rest. You’re not up for-”

“I won’t be able to rest if I’m worried about you, and if you go back there, I’ll worry.”

She went still for a long moment, her eyes closed, chest aching, wishing he’d say, “Stay with me because I want you to.”

She’d told herself she didn’t need to hear that from him but she did.

God, she did. She needed to hear it from someone in her life, someone who wasn’t family, who didn’t have to say it.

“You should know,” she finally whispered to him in the dark, her hand caught in his. “I’m…afraid. Of you. Of me. I don’t do things like this, Jacob. I don’t let guys in. I like to keep my options open, I like to be free to up and leave whenever. And I’m due to leave.” She paused, then decided what the hell. She’d already anted up, might as well play out the round. “But even with an entire lifetime of experience of keeping my emotions in check, with you I let go. I let go and let myself feel, all in a matter of days, which is where the terror comes in.” She let out a low laugh, and dropping to her knees beside the bed, she hugged his hand to her chest, pressing her face into his good shoulder. “Fact is,” she murmured, “I think I’m beginning to maybe, a little bit, fall for you.”

He said nothing.

Lifting her head, she looked into his face.

His eyes were closed, his face relaxed. “Jacob?”

Nothing. The happy pills had done their job and knocked him out.

13

JACOB WOKE UP SLOWLY, groggy and disoriented. He blinked at the ceiling. It was his ceiling. He was in his own bed.

That was good.

He closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he remembered last.

He’d been shot.

Yeah, he remembered that really well. He remembered Bella holding his head on her lap and crying softly over him.