Fatal Exposure - By Gail Barrett Page 0,44

the sink.

“This is still a bad idea,” she whispered, the raw hunger in her voice thickening his blood.

“I know.” His voice came out low and rough. “But damned if I can make myself care.” He skimmed his hands down her arms and hips to the base of her slender spine. Then he moved in close, his blood rocketing through his veins.

Her breasts grazed his chest. The heady scent of her filled his lungs. Her lips parted in invitation, and everything male inside him took charge.

“Parker,” she said, but whether it was a protest or a plea, he couldn’t tell.

He lifted his hand and bracketed her jaw. The memory of her taste flooded through him, deleting his thoughts. He traced the contour of her lips with his thumb, the seductive curve of her pale throat. Damn, but he wanted her. He wanted to feel her naked skin, to plunder her tempting mouth, to delve so deeply inside her that they both lost the capacity to think.

Unable to resist, he dipped his head. He waited one last heartbeat, giving her time to come to her senses and move away. But her eyes fluttered closed. Her hands clutched his arms. And instead of acting sanely, she pulled him closer still.

His lips met hers, the sweet, downy feel of her inciting a riot of need in his blood. Her mouth was warm, tender, soft. Endlessly intriguing. A mouth he could spend forever exploring. He shivered hard, his body and soul blazing to life.

And it wasn’t nearly enough. He took the kiss even deeper, giving rein to his burgeoning need. He rocked his hips against her, desperate to feel her softness cradle his rigid length. She gasped against his mouth.

Knowing he was moving too quickly, that he was teetering on the edge of losing control, he broke the kiss with effort, then pulled her head to his neck. His breath came in uneven rasps. His body tightened and throbbed.

But beyond the hunger was something more—tenderness, protectiveness, the need to keep her safe. This thing between them had gone beyond wanting to find Tommy’s killer, beyond wanting to find the truth. It had changed into something far more complicated, feelings he didn’t understand.

Making a final grasp at sanity, he reminded himself that this wasn’t wise. He had no proof that she was a victim, no proof that Tommy had died the way she’d said. For all he knew, she’d fed him a pack of lies.

And he hadn’t been forthright with her. When she found out he worked for her stepfather, she would detest him. If he had any sense of decency, he’d tell her the truth right now.

Lowering his hands to her hips, he eased away, giving them some badly needed room. “Listen, Brynn...”

She lifted her gaze to his. And the sudden wariness filling her eyes—as if she expected him to reject her—stopped him cold.

He couldn’t tell her. He couldn’t put that hurt and disillusionment back into her eyes. Instead, he wanted to prove that he wouldn’t betray her, that he was a man she could depend on, that he deserved her loyalty.

“I want you so damned much,” he said instead—because it was true.

Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Then she dragged his head down to hers. He had one final thought, that maybe this was how his father had begun his downward slide, one mistake compounding another until he’d reached his doom.

But for once in his life, he didn’t care.

* * *

Brynn sank into the kiss, the glorious feel of Parker’s mouth on hers making it impossible to think. His kiss was hot, insistent, arousing, his stark urgency igniting hers, eroding any vestiges of her self-control.

She knew she should resist him. He’s a cop. The warning flitted through her mind, then disappeared like dust in a swirling wind. The hard feel of him thrilled her. His rough, whiskered jaw, his iron muscles flexing under her hands, the magic of his mouth on hers made everything inside her go wild.

She ran her hands through his thick, short hair, over the tendons bunching his neck. He growled deep in his throat, the feral sound torching something primitive inside her, making her want to climb right into his skin.

She’d never expected this frantic hunger. This overwhelming desire to breathe him in. The longing to take refuge in his strong arms, to let him battle the world on her behalf. To trust.

He slid his hand under her shirt and up her back, the warm, calloused feel