“It didn’t.”
He wasn’t understanding. She’d been going through the motions for so many months. Thirty-six, to be exact. Pretending to live while her body was encased in ice.
She didn’t want to pretend anymore. Valentine was back. This time he might come after her. She didn’t want to die knowing only fear and pain.
Katherine wanted life.
She wanted Dane.
Her breath seemed to burn in her lungs as she forced herself to move closer to him. “You’re staying here all night?”
He nodded. His gaze was hooded, and she didn’t want him to look at her that way. She wanted to stare into his blue eyes and see need, lust, staring back at her.
She reached out and touched his chest. Her fingers were trembling, but maybe he wouldn’t notice that.
“What are you doing?” Dane asked carefully.
If he had to ask, then she must be doing this wrong. She was rusty. Katherine swallowed and grabbed onto her courage as tightly as she could. “I was going to kiss you.”
“Why?”
She didn’t back down. “Because I want to.” Then, since she wanted to be honest with him, Katherine confessed. “Because I don’t want to die regretting that I didn’t live.”
“You aren’t dying.”
Amy Evans sure hadn’t woken up that day thinking she’d die either.
“Will we break rules by kissing?” She offered him a smile that felt far too forced. “Fraternizing with a suspect? Is that against PD rules?”
“No.” A stark pause as his gaze swept over her. “You’re not a suspect.”
Good to know.
“But you need to realize…” His voice had deepened. His fingers pressed a bit harder into her shoulders. “I might not stop with just a kiss.”
She wanted to forget control and care and death and just live for a while. His chest was rock-hard beneath her touch. “And I might not want you to stop.”
“Katherine…” Her name was a growl of lust. That same lust was in his gaze because he’d finally dropped his mask. Yes. That was what she needed to see. She needed to be wanted. Desired.
Just a man and a woman. That was what she wanted. In the next instant, his hands were on her. His mouth was on hers. Not a gentle, seeking kiss. Hot. Demanding.
At the first touch of his lips on hers, a dam seemed to explode within her. All of the needs she’d bottled up came crashing through her control. Her lips parted for him, and his tongue thrust inside her mouth.
She moaned, a soft, hungry sound. His hands slid down to hold her hips. Warm, strong hands, and his mouth…
The detective knew how to kiss.
She stood on her toes as she leaned into him. Her hands had curled around his shoulders and she was holding him tight. Her br**sts were aching, the ni**les tightening to hard peaks. She couldn’t get close enough to him. Katherine knew she needed so much more than just a kiss.
Then he was lifting her up. Their mouths broke apart and she sucked in a sharp gasp of air. He sat her on the countertop and slid between her legs. His mouth was on her neck. Licking. Sucking the skin. Lightly biting the flesh.
A sensual current of energy seemed to pulse through her body. Her nails dug into his shirt. I want the shirt gone.
Her hands fumbled and slid under the material. Then she was touching his skin. Feeling the faint curl of hair on his chest. Feeling all of those sexy muscles. Hot flesh.
She tossed his shirt to the floor.
His fingers were on her thighs. They seemed to brand her through her jeans. Far hotter than the coffee, his touch singed her.
It hadn’t been like this for her before. She hadn’t wanted—
Katherine stiffened.
Don’t think about before.
“Stay with me,” Dane ordered her as his head lifted. His blue gaze was so intense, heated with desire. “Stay with me.” Softer now. His lips took hers again. His tongue pushed into her mouth. His hand slid between her legs, to the juncture of her thighs. He stroked her lightly through the jeans.
Just think of Dane. Only Dane. Nothing else. No one else.
She didn’t want nightmares to take this pleasure away.
Dane. She kissed him back. Slid her tongue against his. Nibbled on his lip. Sucked the small wound she’d made. Her legs rose and curled around his hips.
He kept stroking her through the fabric of her jeans, his touch growing harder. She wanted to arch against him, to push and demand more, but she didn’t want the moment to end. This was the closest she’d come to actually feeling normal in—
She stopped the thought immediately.
Only Dane.
His lips lifted from hers. “Let’s make the nightmares go away.”
Yes, please. She was ready to shove those nightmares in a dark closet and padlock the door.
Dane eased back. “I want you naked.”
She wanted him the same way.
“I’m not a gentle lover.”
He seemed to be.
“I like sex wild and hot.”
Sounded good to her.
“And you…you need more.”
But Katherine shook her head. Didn’t he get it? “What I need right now is you.”
“Then baby, you’ve got me.”
At first, she thought they might make love right there. But he pulled her off the counter. Led her through the kitchen.
Then it was her turn to lead. Up the stairs. To the room on the right. Katherine made sure to turn off the lights when she slipped into her room. She didn’t want him to see her eyes…or her scars.
Not yet. For now, she wanted this to be only about desire. A man and a woman.
Nothing more.
She kicked off her shoes. Undressed with hurried, so-not-sexy moves. But in the dark, he couldn’t see her clumsiness. He wouldn’t see her stumbling around or notice her shaking hands.
He’d just see her shadow. The way that Katherine could see his shadow. A big, solid form filling the doorway.
Then he was heading toward her. Slow steps. She climbed onto the bed, pulling the covers back. “Um, do you want—”
“Just you.” He kissed her again. “Just. You.”
He was naked. Warm and solid and surrounding her. Part of her wanted to pull away, because, suddenly, this was too much. He was too much.
The whispers of the past tried to come for her once more.
“Tell me what you like.”
His voice quieted the whispers.
“You.” Her instant response. And it was true. There was something about him that got to her. An instinctive response.
He laughed lightly, and Katherine had the feeling that she’d caught him by surprise. She also liked his laugh. It sounded warm. A little husky.