She was silent for a minute, looking downward, a smile creeping into her lips. She looked at him again.
“Tall, dark, handsome and extremely weird. I didn’t know how weird. I’m not at all sure that either of us is delightfully weird, so I’m going to go with usefully weird on that one. But as to the other...you’re beautiful. Perfect. Awesome.”
“Wow,” he said.
“Oh, please! You must get that often enough.”
He fell silent himself. He wondered if there was a way to make her understand. Relationships in his life didn’t last. The phone would ring and he would have to go; and far too often, he was distracted and even impatient. And, of course, there were the dead. Hard to explain to most others.
He didn’t live as a monk in any way, but he seldom really connected. You met someone, there was an attraction, you slept together and then you tried to talk, get to know one another and...
Usually it fell apart.
This time...
They talked. And oddly, in little time, they knew one another.
They’d reached her house. She hurried out of the car before he could get the door. Running up the steps, she opened the door, greeting the dog, who boisterously greeted her in return.
“Special Agent Tiger is going to be staying with us tonight, watching over us,” she told Titan. “You do a wonderful job of that, of course, but tonight...”
Her voice trailed. Axel was right behind her. He hunkered down to greet Titan, who seemed happy to see him.
He looked up at Raina. “Curious. What about you? Dating, I mean. Me, easy. Too much job. Too much weirdness in my life. But you dated handsome attorney Tate Fielding, right?”
“We just had different values,” she said. “The breakup was mutual.”
“Surely there were others.”
“Well, of course I’ve dated!”
“And?”
She winced. “Well a lot of the time I was reminded of why I like dogs more than people.”
“Hard to argue with that,” he teased, rising.
He loved dogs, too. But he was suddenly awkward with himself, Raina and Titan.
“Think he’s going to mind if we get close?” he asked Raina.
She smiled, walking closer. He pulled her into his arms. She was warm and vital, her skin soft, her wiry frame strong in his hold. He found her lips and they were as sweet as he had expected, her mouth parting to his kiss, a passion building with the plunge and play of their tongues as they locked in an embrace, holding tightly, hands moving and bodies melding ever closer, till it seemed they were one being, burning together.
He broke away, heart thundering, breath coming fast. There were things to do.
“Doors locked?” he asked.
“Front and back.”
“Window?”
“Hurricane code, all locked.”
“Well, then...”
“Titan, guard the hallway!” Raina said.
The dog barked, and hurried ahead of them, ready to be obedient to his master.
Raina caught Axel’s hand, drawing him down the hall and into her bedroom, leaning against the door to close it as they entered.
A night-light burned from the bathroom. It was enough. She was caught in a yellow-gold shadow, watching him as she slid from her shoes and started to disrobe. He watched as fabric fell from her body to the floor and felt his own body respond to the beauty of her form. He sprang to life, aware he wouldn’t feel the fire and lightning fully from her body if his own remained clad.
But there was the one thing he never forgot—his Glock and the small holster at his back. He ripped himself away to set those on the nightstand within easy reach, then tore off his jacket and shirt and found her in his arms again, her lips on his, her fingers at his belt. In a matter of minutes, his pants were gone, even as he used every resolve of equilibrium to maintain his contact with her while not tripping out of his socks and shoes.
It didn’t fully serve him. They fell together on her bed, laughing and pausing as she wound up on top, looking down at him, and then locking again in an embrace that brought them rolling and more fully into the center of the bed. It was more than his imagination had