“Try me anyway.”
“We have to capture the diamond killer alive. His confession could clear my name.”
Grady snorted. “Oh, good. I thought it was going to be something difficult. I’m glad to hear it’s merely capturing an extremely violent serial killer by hand. Maybe we can use licorice ropes to string him up.”
She stared at his lined profile for several beats before giggling. “Licorice ropes, really?”
His gaze shifted to her, one eyebrow raised. “Would you rather I use homemade dandelion-stem handcuffs?”
She giggled harder. He watched her, his face relaxing into a smile. He reached out and caught her hand, resting it on his chest.
When she quieted, his expression sobered, too.
“I’m fucked, Grady,” she whispered.
“We are fucked, Veronica, but together we stand a better chance than you alone.”
She slid her fingers inside the buttons on his shirt, making contact with his warm skin. “I don’t want to drag you down with me.”
“Wherever you go, baby, I’m following. Get used to that idea.”
“With your lights flashing?”
“Whatever it takes.” He hit her with a hard look. “But you have to stop hiding shit from me.”
She sighed, thinking of her many secrets, some awkward, others full-on humiliating. “But your career is—”
“My career isn’t who I am.” His palm covered hers, stilling her fingers. “Being a sheriff is only a role.”
“Yeah, but it’s an important role. People need you.”
“Still, it’s just a role. I have other roles, too.”
“Like what?”
He shrugged. “Muscle car aficionado.”
Grady and Butch and Mac made a tight trio on that one. “What else?”
“Nephew of the leader of an old-lady library gang.”
She grinned about Aunt Millie, Ronnie’s spunky partner in crime. “What else?”
“World’s best lover.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
She wiggled her eyebrows back. “Best? I’m not sure about that last one. You might have to prove it to me.”
His eyelids lowered, his focus dipping to her mouth. “Climb over here, sassy woman.”
“This cab is a little tight for us. Wouldn’t you rather go home to your bed?”
“We’ll manage. Besides, you parked in my future master bedroom. We’ll have to improvise without the walls and mattress.”
Ronnie shut off the engine. She scrambled over the gearshift, hitting her shoulder on the passenger-side window before kneeling astride him.
He grabbed her hips, pulling her even closer. “There. That’s better.”
She unbuttoned her flannel jacket. “Now what?”
His hands moved northward. “Your bra is in the way.”
“So are my pants.” She moved over him, her knee bumping the door panel. “And yours.”
“We’ll get to those in a bit.” He pulled her down, kissing her while he popped the clasp on her bra. “I’ve been thinking,” he whispered against her cheek as his palms explored her chest.
She shifted her hips a little, her boot heel getting caught on the Jeep’s dashboard handle for a second. “About what?”
“Licking the beer off your skin.” He hauled her along his body so he could do just that.
She shivered at the heat of his mouth on her cool flesh. “I like your tongue, but … ohh God, Grady. Yes.” She pressed against him, banging her elbow on the doorjamb.
“But what?” he said and then did that thing where he flicked, circled, and sucked until she moaned.
The toe of her boot got lodged somehow under the dash. She shifted to maneuver it free. “But this cab is too small for us.”
He reached down and unbuttoned her jeans. “I thought you Morgan girls liked to be daring and adventurous.”
“We do, but …” She paused as he slid his hand down inside of her pants, her breath fluttery at his touch. “But it’s Claire’s Jeep. She’ll be pissed if we have sex in here.”
“I don’t care about your sister’s feelings at the moment.” He growled at the thin barrier her underwear posed. “Why are you wearing underwear tonight?”
Ha! If only he knew how much that subject was the talk of the town these days. She frowned. Wait, maybe it was better he didn’t know.
She tried to lift up to make more room for his hand and hit her head on the roof. “Hold on. Just let me … there.”
He groaned in her ear as his fingers hit pay dirt.
Her left hip started to cramp, but she breathed through the slight pain, not wanting him to stop. She bent down and slid her teeth over his earlobe.
“Veronica?” He turned his head to give her better access as she nibbled her way down his neck.
Her toes tingled from lack of blood flow. “What?”
“Say it.” His fingers worked their magic.
Say what? It was hard to think in this damned sardine can. “I want you inside of me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
There was no time for chatter right now, damn it. Her hip cramp was growing into a full-on charley horse. She shifted, trying to ease it back down to an ache. “Uhhh, you’re the world’s best lover.”
He chuckled. “Nice try, but no. And next time try to pretend you’re not reading your lines.”
Easy for him to say. All he had to do was lie back while she contorted over him.
He drew her mouth down for a kiss, lacing his fingers through her hair as he caressed her tongue with his. He tasted a little like beer and a lot like Grady, savory as hell with a heart-pounding dollop of virile. She moaned into his mouth, her body humming faster and faster under his touch. Oh, sweet mother of pearl, she was so close to …
Pain zapped hot and sharp from her hip down to her knee. Stupid charley horse! She tried to adjust to relieve the cramp but her knee got jammed between the seat and door.
She pulled away from his mouth with a yowl, tugged his hand out of her pants, and shoved open the Jeep door, stumbling outside into the cold.
“Son of a billy goat troll!” she yelled at the wind and walked in a circle, stretching her hip while massaging away the pain. “That Jeep is too damned tight for us to screw around in,” she told Grady when he joined her wearing a
