The Shaughnessey Accord by Alison Kent Page B

leaped tall buildings."
    "Have you ever seen a blueprint? If that's not a web . . ."
    "An engineer wouldn't think so."
    "Hmm. Busted."
    "Exactly." She waited, one second, two seconds, hoping he'd say more. When he didn't, she came right out and asked, "What do you do that requires you carry a gun? Are you FBI? CIA? DEA? Some Secret Squirrel government agent?"
    "I'm pretty squirrelly, yeah."
    Evasive, but cute. "You can't tell me, can you?"
    "It wouldn't be a good thing for you to have to admit to your mother."
    "My mother?"
    "Sure." He scooted forward in the tub, grabbed her by the knees and tugged her between his spread legs. "When you take me home to meet the folks."
    "And when am I going to be doing that?" she asked, so close she could see every fleck of color in his eyes.
    "I'd say as soon as they start asking questions about the smile on your face."
    "My smile?" God, she felt like a mynah bird.
    "Yeah. The one your new boyfriend puts there."
    She couldn't breathe, her heart was pounding so hard. "I have a new boyfriend?"
    "You do now," he said, and covered her mouth with his.
    The kiss was long and soft and sweet. He pulled her into the cradle of his body and wrapped her up in his legs. She closed hers behind his hips, felt his penis stir to life against the lips of her sex.
    His hands roamed her back with the same testing pressure with which his tongue roamed her mouth. Nothing existed but the here and now for either of them. Nothing but the summer-sweet scent of the room, the warm water lapping like another tongue, the sounds of labored breathing as arousal crept in to blossom and grow .
    He was hard between her legs, and she felt herself open with wanting to take him inside. He was in no hurry, however, seeming content to do no more than kiss her, make love to her with his teeth and his tongue, soft thrusts, then bolder, until he released her mouth and went to work along the line of her jaw, her neck, the curve of her ear.
    She shuddered and pulled away. "You're making me crazy here, Shaughnessey ."
    "That's the point, sweetheart." He pulled back, looked into her eyes. "I want you on the verge of crawling out of your skin. And crawling into mine."

Thirteen

    "Do you know how long I've wanted you here like this?"
    Tripp stared into Glory's eyes, his throat having tightened at her softly spoken question.
    They lay naked in her bed, facing each other, playing footsies while their knees touched, both resting up before they tackled cleaning the bathroom.
    They'd left one hell of a wet mess on the floor.
    "How long?" he finally asked, because it was a safe enough question without first admitting how long he'd wanted to be here.
    "Since I'm being honest about my inner slut"—he tickled her low on her belly until she giggled—"I was mentally undressing you the first time you stood there ordering your sprouts."
    "Is that so?" This time he tickled her a bit lower, until he felt her moisture seep from between her folds onto the tips of his teasing fingers.
    She quivered, nodded in answer to his question, her lower lip caught between her teeth as if she were holding back a whimper or moan she didn't want him to hear.
    "And here I thought all that intensity was about trying to get my order right."
    "It was. I wanted to make sure you came back."
    This time when he tested her wetness, he shifted his hips forward and guided the head of his cock down the seam of her pussy.
    This time, he was the one who shuddered. "Then you did your job well," he said once he'd found his voice. "I couldn't stay away."
    "Because of the sandwiches?"
    "No, Glory. Because of you."
    "Why me?" she whispered as she wrapped exploring fingers around his shaft.
    He throbbed into the vise of her hold. "Because you looked at me like you wanted me naked."
    "I did not," she denied with a growl, sliding her hand the length of his cock and circling the flat of her palm over the capped head. "I purposefully looked at you like you weren't worth the time of day."