Hero for Hire Read online

  Sensation after sensation pelted her. His hot tongue rasping her nipple. The thrust of his knee high between her legs. His work-roughened hand dancing over her belly, then lower, slipping into the heat of her. The glide of his fingers as he stroked the tender, swollen flesh between her thighs. The growl in his throat as he found her moist enough to sink into.

  She nearly jerked right off the bed.

  “You’re going to come this time,” he promised.

  She sucked in a breath. “Yes.” Her body arched, her legs opened wider, letting him have his way. She flexed her hands over his back, and he trembled beneath her touch.

  With wonder she blinked up at him. “You are shaking.”

  “I want you, Nina.”

  He wanted her. He had passion and need and hunger for her, and the knowledge lit a fire unbridled until now, a fire that wouldn’t go out. Not this night.

  His fingers were working magic on her, something simple really, just a steady, soft stroking, but it made her wild. “Please, please,” she breathed against his neck. “I need—”

  He knew what she needed, and gave it to her before she had to put it to words, pressing just a little harder, a little deeper, and within seconds, she was writhing beneath him, crying his name, pulsing around his fingers.

  “Another,” he commanded. Lying between her thighs, holding her open to him, he gave her exactly that, made her come again.

  And then again with his mouth.

  Catching her breath, she stared at him in dazed wonder as he climbed up her body, towering over her.

  She was still shaking.

  Never in her life had she felt so...so desired, so needed, and she opened her arms, drawing him down to her.

  Holding her gaze, he reached down, guiding himself to her opening, easing himself inside her a fraction, just enough to rip a groan from his throat and a welcome cry from hers.

  He pushed himself deeper, and then deeper still. The fit was tight, the friction ecstasy as he slowly pulled out, only to thrust in again.

  Her mouth opened, she could hardly breathe. “Rick—” She arched her hips up to meet his. “This is good for me.”

  He let out a laughing groan. “It’s good for me, too.”

  “I mean this is good for me. With you.”

  He went still, looked into her face. “I know.”

  Their rhythm was as old as time. Perfect. And in an unexpectedly tender gesture, he cupped her face, whispering her name in a voice of hushed awe. She whispered his back, just as awed. Impossibly, he grew even harder, and quickened his thrusts.

  Wrapping her arms around him, she held on, meeting him stroke for stroke until it all exploded again, together this time, bigger and brighter, all the more intense with him buried so deep within her, and just as lost in the impossible pleasure.

  Eventually she came back to earth and found herself plastered against Rick’s side. Her body still occasionally shuddered from the incredible love-making, her heart soft and melting with so much emotion she could hardly stand it.

  She didn’t dare put it into words.

  His body was slick and hard and warm. His hand had curled around her almost possessively, making her feel...safe. Closing her eyes, she pretended they could stay this way forever.

  Forever.

  She liked that, and along with feeling languid and incredibly sated, she realized she was sleepy... so very...sleepy.

  “Nina.”

  “Hmm.” Maybe he was going to tell her now. Maybe he’d say the three little words she’d never heard from anyone, but would be so welcome from him.

  She needed to wake up for this, but she couldn’t, she felt so...relaxed. The events of the past few days had just caught up with her, that’s all. Her eyes wouldn’t stay open, and actually, she wasn’t sure if that was really exhaustion, or from having her first orgasm.

  Orgasms.

  Either way, she really wanted to hear him. Couldn’t wait to hear him, because with this out of the way, they could do anything.

  Together they would face this mess and survive.

  Together.

  Oh yes, she liked the sound of that, and for the first time in her life, her heart opened up. Her soul stirred.

  And she yawned widely, her brain drifting off without permission.

  “Nina, it’s about Terry.”

  She opened her eyes again, though it was a huge effort. She found his gaze on her, no longer dark with passion, but with an intensity she found unnerving. “Terry?” she asked, her voice thick, her tongue unruly.

  “I told you I came here to find her.”

  What did this have to do with what they’d just shared? “Yes.” She sighed, smiling, yawning again, her brain fuzzy. “You came to find Terry.”

  “For Mitch,” Rick added. “Nina?”

  “Yes...because he loves my sister. Very sweet.”

  Something flickered in his eyes. Regret? Guilt? Whatever it was, it vanished in a flash, replaced by a disturbing emptiness. “Yes,” he whispered, dragging her close. “I think he loves her.”

  Her eyes were heavy, so heavy, and she tried to stay awake, but it was an uphill battle.

  “Nina?”

  Sleep had claimed her.

  * * *

  DAWN CHASED the night away, and after having watched Nina sleep for hours, Rick sank his fingers into her thick hair, stroking until she stirred. “I have to tell you the rest,” he whispered.

  Eyes still closed, she stretched like a cat and smiled. “There’s more? Why do you not just show me?” Reaching out, she ran her finger down his chest, down, down—

  He grabbed them. “Not...that.” His heart was in his throat, but he couldn’t hold the words back any longer. “Wake up, okay? Last night I should have... Aw, hell. I need to tell you everything I didn’t before. Nina, Mitch has Terry’s baby. Their baby.”

  Her eyes flew open. “Mitch has...what?”

  “Someone left a baby at the apartment building where he’s staying in San Antonio.” He was nervous, he’d never been so nervous. “A paternity test proved it was Mitch’s. Doing the math, he figured the mother had to be Terry. There—there was no one else during that time for him.”

  Nina sat up and tugged the sheet over her body. Her hair was wild, her eyes right on his, wide with confusion. “Terry had a...baby?”

  “Yes.” He reached for her arm, but she pulled away.

  “I do not understand, Rick.”

  “From what you’ve told me,” he said more quickly now, realizing he wasn’t going about this right, “your sister’s on the run, possibly from real gem smugglers. Fearing for the baby’s life, she left it with Mitch.”

  “She left a baby—her baby—with Mitch?”

  “Yes. It—”

  “You keep saying it.” She got out of bed, keeping the sheet around her so that Rick could no longer see the body that had taken him to heaven and back during the night. “A baby is not an it.”

  “She. Hope. Nina—”

  “You knew this, these past few days? That Terry had a baby? You knew this and kept it from me, even after last night?”

  “Yes. I...” He frowned when Nina walked into the bathroom, and he leaped up, but not fast enough.

  She shut the door in his face.

  “Hope,” he heard her whisper softly, sounding devastated. Destroyed.

  “That’s the name Mitch gave her.” He stood there with his palms on the door, bare-ass naked. “Nina.” God, how had this happened? “Let me in.”

  “You should have told me, Rick.”

  Yes, he should have. Playing with the handle that didn’t budge, he said, “Open up.”

  “I do not think so. No.” Her voice cracked, killing him.

  “Nina—”

  “Why did she not bring Hope to me? I would have died to protect that baby!”

  Rick’s blood ran cold at the thought. “Which is exactly why she didn’t. She was protecting both of you. Nina, open up.”

  “Why? So you can handcuff