Claimed by Jaymie Holland Page A

then pushed
aside the vibrator and it fell to the floor as he pressed his groin
tight to hers.
    Her body was still pulsating as he rolled
over and brought her into his arms and kissed her. She gave a happy
sigh and snuggled into his arms and let herself slip away into a
deep and wonderful sleep.
     
     

Chapter 11
     
     
    Leslie covered a yawn as she walked through
the house toward Rick’s kitchen. She could smell the coffee he’d
made a mile away. She was dressed in what she’d worn last night.
She would have loved to roll around in bed all day but she had to
get home and take care of a few things.
    She smiled as she thought of last night. She
had almost told him how she felt but she didn’t know how to say it.
She’d never told a man that she was in love with him except
Michael.
    Because she had never been in love before
except for him.
    In lust, yes. Infatuated, yes. But real love,
never.
    Even if she felt comfortable, how was the
best way to tell Rick? Did she just blurt it out over coffee? Did
she wait until a romantic evening out? Or did she tell him in bed
when it was just the two of them snuggling together? It was
probably best not to say anything. Why did she have to be like
this?
    She mentally shook her head. “I won’t think
about it for now.”
    When she reached the kitchen she saw a clean
mug sitting by the coffeepot like he’d told her there would be, and
next to that was a jar with sugar and a small carton of
half-and-half. She put liberal amounts of both into the coffee that
she poured and then walked out of the kitchen, looking for
Rick.
    She thought she heard his voice and her heels
sank into the carpet as she walked to the opposite side of the
house where he had shown her his office. She reached the office
door. Rick was on his cell and was listening to someone on the
other end of the line.
    She started to knock softly on the doorframe
to let him know she was there, but then she stopped.
    Rick pushed his hand through his hair as he
spoke into the phone. “I thought I had more time to wrap things up
in Annapolis.”
    Leslie tilted her head, wondering what he
meant.
    Rick paused to listen. “Yes, sir.” He
frowned. “I’ll get out there immediately.”
    Another pause. “Thank you, sir,” Rick said
after a moment then ended the call.
    He looked up and saw that Leslie was in the
room. “Hi, honey.”
    “You’re going on a trip?” she asked.
    “Not exactly.” He sighed.
    A slow chill began to creep up her spine.
Something was wrong.
    He dragged his hand down his face. “Orders
came through yesterday. I’m being transferred to San Diego.”
    She felt like all of the color had drained
out of her. Rick was leaving and he hadn’t said a single word to
her. He had just let her fall in love with him like she meant
nothing to him. Nothing at all.
    Her hand shook and a little coffee sloshed
onto her wrist. “When were you going to tell me that you’re
leaving?”
    “Tonight,” he said. “I just got my orders a
few days ago and that’s where I’m headed. It was supposed to be
another position at Annapolis and not San Diego. It was also going
to be a month, but now it is immediate. The guy I’m replacing just
went into the hospital. They want me there as soon as
possible.”
    She found her whole body was shaking with
anger and pain. She stepped forward and smacked her coffee cup on
his desktop before she could drop it and coffee splattered onto
some of his papers. “How can you act like it’s nothing?” She
clenched her fists at her sides. “So you screw around with me and
then you just leave without giving a damn about how I feel?”
    “Like I said, I just found out,” he said.
“I’ve been trying to figure out this whole thing.”
    She took another step back then straightened
her spine. “Goodbye, Rick. Have a nice life.”
    “Wait.” He went after her and caught her by
her shoulder. “We need to talk.”
    She swung around and jerked away from him. “I
don’t want to hear