Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,57
and Louisiana.”
“I know.” She leaned over his shoulder to look at the computer screen and he caught the soft scent of her perfume. The ache in his side was replaced by an ache farther down.
He’d always had a strong sexual appetite. Over the years, he’d been with dozens of women. He wasn’t interested in carving notches into his bedpost; he just never wanted to get in as deep as he had with Laura. He never wanted to feel the anger, hurt and pain he’d felt when he’d been stupid enough to fall in love. He didn’t want to risk that kind of emotional disaster again.
At least he hadn’t. Since that night in Phoenix, even with the chance of getting in too deep, the only woman he wanted in his bed was Claire.
Maybe he just hadn’t gotten a big enough taste of her.
Though she damned well seemed to have gotten her fill of him.
“Have you found anything?” she asked, pulling his thoughts back where they belonged.
“It doesn’t look like the fist and the 33/6 symbol on the brothers’ T-shirts pertain to any particular supremacist group. Wearing it just signifies a certain belief system.”
“Like a pink heart for breast cancer or a blue circle for diabetes.”
His mouth edged up. “Not exactly, but you get the idea.”
“So we can’t track the brothers by their T-shirts.”
“No.”
“How many white-supremacist groups are there in Louisiana?”
He thought of the article he’d read. “The Aryan Nations just set up its new world headquarters in Converse. That’s a small town south of Shreveport. Neo-Nazis, Klan, CSA and a group that calls itself The Order. They’re all part of the Nations.”
“CSA?”
“The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord. They go all the way back to the seventies.”
Her dark brown eyebrows went up. “Quite a name.”
“They’re white supremacists, anti-Semitics and polygamists.”
“Great. I guess they don’t like much of anyone.”
“Except their many wives.”
Her lips curved. She was so pretty when she smiled. Desire filtered through him and heat slid into his groin. Until the past few days, he’d been able to keep his mind off sex, but with Claire in the house, it was getting harder and harder to do. No pun intended.
“I hear you told the doctors you were my wife,” he said, just to get a reaction.
Her cheeks colored prettily and her chin went up. “They assumed it and I didn’t correct them. It got me in to see you. At the time it seemed like a good idea.”
“Take it easy. You did the smart thing.” He let his gaze wander over her, thinking he wouldn’t mind doing a little pretend husband-and-wife housekeeping right now. “You know that deal we made in Arizona?”
Her eyes widened. “No. I don’t remember anything about any deal in Arizona.”
He chuckled. The woman kept him entertained. “The deal where we had one night of hot, mind-blowing sex and promised never to talk about it again?”
“All I remember is the never-talking-about-it part. The part where we promised to forget it ever happened. You might try recalling that.”
He came up out of his chair and began to stalk her, Claire backing up a step for every step he took toward her. When she came up against the wall, he pulled her into his arms.
“I don’t want to forget. I couldn’t, even if I tried.”
She gasped as he bent his head and kissed her, settling his mouth firmly over hers, testing the fullness of her lips under his. For a moment, she pressed her hands against his chest as if she meant to push him away. Then those sweet lips softened and parted, and Claire kissed him back, her slender body melting into his.
He’d begun to wonder if she still wanted him, if her wild response in Arizona had been mostly his imagination. But the little mewling sounds coming from her throat and the diamond-hard points of her breasts said his desire for her was returned.
Ben nibbled and coaxed, deepened the kiss. God, she tasted like strawberry jam and sexy female. When she slid her tongue into his mouth, his breath hitched and so did hers. He cupped her breast through the T-shirt, ran his thumb over the sharp little bud at the crest, heard her moan.
He wanted to pick her up and carry her down the hall to his bed, but he didn’t think his side could handle it. He bit down on an earlobe, kissed the side of her neck.
“Let’s go to bed,” he whispered. “I’ll make it good for you, Claire.” He kissed