“So you’re on a job? You’re gonna kill this person?”

“Whatever it takes.” He smiles at my revulsion. “I’m kidding, Harper. Shit, have some faith in me. I’m capable of getting everything I need without violence. Look at you,” he says as he wraps his hands around my waist. “I talked you into being mine. Not a shot was fired.”

I smile at him. But inside my mind is spinning. Did someone find the files? Jesus, I hope not. We’re well and truly screwed if we don’t have those files.

“Come on,” he says as he leads me over to the bed. “Come sleep with me.”

I can’t say no to that. Not even if I wanted to. I slip off my shoes and climb onto the bed. The covers are all disheveled from our earlier tryst, but they are soft and easy to appreciate. This Merc guy might be a cold-hearted killer according to Sasha, but I am in love with his house. I could totally picture myself living in a cozy place like this. The adobe walls keep the place cool, but it’s warm in all the ways that count. How bad could a guy be if he owns a place like this?

James scoots in next to me, his shoes gone, but not his jeans.

“Aren’t you gonna get undressed?”

“Aren’t you?” he asks, teasingly.

I slip my shorts down my legs and kick them until they fall off the bed. He leans in and kisses me. “I’m gonna get some shut-eye. Is it OK if I ravish you in the AM?”

What? Oh my God, I think that was a rejection. “Um… you’re not in the mood?” I have no reference point for this. He’s been dripping sex since we met.

He puts his arm around me and pulls me close to his chest until I position myself with my shoulder in the crook of his arm and my cheek over his heart. I listen to it beat for a few moments. Steady. Calm. Strong.

I think I love that sound.

“Not true at all,” he says, kissing my hand. “I’m just…”

“Just what?” I’m anxious for a moment. Because something is wrong and he’s on the verge of telling me what’s bothering him.

“Stressed, I guess.”

“About me?” I ask, lifting my head up off his chest so I can look him in the eye.

“No, this job and stuff. That’s all. Not you, Harp. You’re the only good thing in my life right now.”

“You just need to think?”

“Yeah, baby,” he says in a whisper that tells me he wants this conversation to be over.

“Nick used to get like that. All withdrawn and moody. Need to plan shit, Harp, he’d say. Sometimes I’d play music for him when he was like that. He’d sit in in the saloon and pretend to read, and I’d play the harp or the piano.”

This makes James chuckle in a very sexy way. It rumbles up through his chest and caresses my face. “You do not play the harp.”

I smile. “I can play the hell out of a harp.”

“One of these days I need to hear that. I’d like nothing more than to think all my worries away to the sound of you strumming a harp.”

God, that makes me so warm inside and I am wishing so hard for a harp right now to ease his mind. “I can give you a massage if you want.” I don’t wait for an answer, just sit up. “Turn over. This will make you feel better.”

For a second I’m afraid he’ll reject me this way too, but after a slight hesitation he turns over onto his stomach and props his hands under his forehead. This makes the muscles of his upper arms look delicious enough to lick. I’m about to lean over and do it too.

“I think there’s some little lotion samples in the bathroom. Go get them.”

Ah, my bossy man is back. I like him better this way. I jump up and make my way to the bathroom in the dark.

“Leave the light off in there, I don’t want any lights on tonight. Just in case.”

“Just in case?”

“I think they’re under the sink.”

I drop it because I’m not interested in talking about bad shit right now. I find the little travel-sized bottles of lotion and grab three. I go back over to the bed, put two on the bedside table, and then twist off the cap. “Mmmm. This one smells like flowers.”

I straddle his thighs and my pu**y is instantly throbbing as the rough denim of his jeans presses against the sensitive area. Jesus, I’m going to regret this if he’s really not in the mood to f**k me tonight. I lean over his back and drip the lotion all over him. He sucks in some air through his teeth and mumbles something about it being cold. But then my hands take over and his mumbling ceases. I knead the muscles in his lower back first, moving my thumbs in an outward pattern. I’ve never given a man a massage before, but I’ve had lots of spa days at various resorts. So I know what feels good.

I work on that for a few minutes, then ease my way up his spine, being gentle in this area because that’s how I like it. When I get to his shoulders I have to reposition myself because I can’t reach. I straddle his waist this time, and he and I moan at the same time.

“Take your panties off, Harper,” he says in a whisper.

I roll off him and have those panties off so fast he barely notices. I straddle him again and this time he growls.

“You’re wet.”

“I am,” I say as I squirt some more lotion on his upper back this time. I begin working on his shoulders, gripping his muscles tight enough to make him moan and then easing up as I move down his arms. Each time I do that, I rock forward a little, rubbing myself on him. I’m not sure what that feels like on his end, but I’m in heaven and my desire is building.

“Do you like that, Harper? Do you want to get yourself off on me?’

I bite my lip. “Um, that’s not really what I was thinking…”

“I want you to. Rub your pu**y on me. I want to make my whole back wet with your come.”

My mouth is making a little o-shape as this request echoes in my brain.

“Do it,” he says again. “Now. And don’t stop rubbing my shoulders. That feels f**king fantastic.”

I gulp a little air and resume his massage as I begin my own. I lean forward, gripping his shoulders as my pu**y glides against the dip in his lower back, and then when I move backwards, I slide my hands down his arms.

“Harder,” he whispers.

I’m not sure if he wants me to grind on him harder, or for me to massage him harder. So I do both. My hips begin to rotate back and forth, pushing on him, slipping back to the firm muscles of his ass, all the while I massage his shoulders. I have to lean way over in order to reach and this makes my br**sts lightly brush against his shoulder blades.