She did so, stroking him slowly and getting incredibly turned on by the feel of his hard, smooth cock. She felt his hand tangle in her hair.

“I want to f**k you. Now,” he said in a guttural voice.

Liquid heat curled low in her stomach as he settled between her legs and grabbed the condom. He rolled it on, then grabbed her wrists and pinned them against the bed with one hand.

Their eyes met and held as he slowly thrust into her, inch by exquisite inch.

She moaned, overwhelmed by the fullness of him.

He clenched his jaw. “Christ, you feel so damn good.”

He let her get used to him with several long, smooth, strokes, then he began to thrust faster. His eyes seared into hers as he pounded into her, taking her hard. Their bodies slapped together, their moans tangled in the air, and in those moments there was no checklist, no biological clock, no cheating ex-fiancé. Instead, there was only the delicious wave of pleasure building up in her as she let go and let Vaughn take her over the edge again. She cried out, digging her nails into his back and squeezing her legs tighter around his hips. He thrust hard, and again, and then groaned as he shuddered and buried his face in her neck, slowing down and finally collapsing on top of her.

A few moments later, he got up to dispose of the condom in the bathroom. When he strode naked back into the bedroom, Sidney tucked one arm under her head, watching him appreciatively. “Mmm-hmm.”

He climbed back into bed and slid one arm around her waist as she curled onto her side, facing him. “Look at you, all satiated and de-snarked for once.”

She poked him in the chest.

He swatted her ass in return.

And then together, they drifted off to sleep.

Seventeen

AT SEVEN THIRTY A.M., the ring of Vaughn’s telephone yanked him out of a deep sleep. His head jerked up off the pillow and he blinked, quickly getting his bearings.

Sidney’s bed.

Gun on the nightstand.

Sexy redhead curled up against his chest, who rolled off him with a grumpy mutter and covered her head with a pillow. A few waves of red hair escaped, cascading over her bare shoulders and back.

Apparently, somebody wasn’t much of morning person.

In fairness, on this particular occasion, Vaughn wasn’t much of a morning person, either. Normally, he had no problem getting up at seven thirty A.M., but, as demonstrated by the nakedness of the sexy redhead next to him, he’d had a long night.

He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and saw that it was Cade calling. Given the early hour, he mentally scrolled through the list of cases he and Cade were working on, assuming there had to be some kind of emergency.

“Yeah,” Vaughn answered, his voice gritty with sleep.

His friend’s tone sounded distinctly sly. “So, Huxley and I are standing outside your place, wondering where you are.”

“That sounds a little stalker-ish.” Vaughn’s attention was immediately diverted when Sidney shifted next to him, pushing the sheet down to expose the top curves of her very cute ass.

Hmm.

His best friend’s voice in his ear interrupted that line of thought. “If by ‘stalker-ish’ you mean picking up your absentee ass for the workout we’d scheduled, then sure. Huxley and I are stalking you.”

Workout.

Shit.

Vaughn got out of bed, realizing he’d forgotten that he, Cade, and Huxley had bumped up their regular Sunday training session because Cade had plans to go to the beach with his girlfriend later that morning. “Sorry, man—I completely forgot about the time change. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He hung up as Sidney rolled over and gave him a lazy Sunday morning smile.

On second thought . . .

Vaughn pushed the errant thought from his head. He had plans, his friends were waiting for him, and besides—he didn’t do lazy Sunday mornings after a hookup. That was too couple-ish.

“Some sort of FBI emergency?” she asked, tucking her hand under the pillow as he yanked his clothes on.

He shook his head. “I forgot I’m supposed to meet my friends. We’re doing an hourlong swim and a thirty-minute run today.”

“Have fun with that. I, on the other hand, will be tackling an hourlong nap this morning, possibly followed by a thirty-minute bath.” She smiled contentedly, and then froze, as if thinking of something. “Wait—Simon’s car is still out front, right? I wasn’t thinking about that last night. If he picked the car up early, he would’ve seen yours out front and realized that you’re still here.”

Vaughn had a feeling that, in those circumstances, he would’ve received a call from his younger brother—Hey bro, I’m outside Sidney’s house and you’re apparently inside. Something you want to tell me?—but strode down the hallway to the guest bedroom to check, anyway.

He looked out the front windows and saw Simon’s car still parked out front.

All clear.

Vaughn headed back to bedroom, where Sidney was sitting up, with the sheet wrapped around her. “His car is still out front. We’re safe.”

She exhaled. “Whew. I wouldn’t have wanted to explain, you know . . . this.” She gestured between them.

“I hate to break it to you, but I think your sister and my brother probably already realize that you and I do ‘this.’”

“Not together.” She watched as he grabbed his gun, holster, and badge off the nightstand and put them on.

“I notice that you check out my gun a lot,” he said teasingly.