Hide & Seek - Nicole Edwards Page 0,91

I’ll take you to bed and ravish you all night long.”

He liked that there was a hint of pink that flooded her cheeks.

“And if I’m not?”

“Then we’ll bypass everything but the ravishing.”

“I can probably be persuaded,” she said, rising up to meet his lips again. “But the ravishing doesn’t have to wait until after dinner.”

“No?”

She shook her head. “And it doesn’t have to happen in the bedroom.”

“Where would you prefer it happen?”

JJ peered around him briefly, looked back up at his face. “The couch looks like a damn fine place to start.”

Baz learned shortly thereafter that she was right.

Damn fine place to start.

Chapter Twenty-One

For whatever reason, Brantley couldn’t sleep. He’d spent most of the night lying in bed, listening to Reese breathe. Every now and then, Reese would mumble something incoherent, his body moving more than usual.

It had him wondering if Reese had nightmares. Odd that they’d slept beside one another for this long and he hadn’t noticed. Which he took to mean, if he did have them, they weren’t as regular as Brantley’s were. Had the events of the past few days gotten to him? He still remembered the look on Reese’s face after John Collins took his own life. Completely blank, as though it had no impact on him whatsoever.

Thing was, Brantley knew how he felt. While he had tried to talk the detective down, it was because that was what he was trained to do. Along with hand-to-hand combat, sniper skills, and myriad other special training, he’d also been trained to negotiate. He’d failed this time, but he wouldn’t dwell on it. The mental illness had taken its toll on the detective. Anyone could’ve seen it. Those closest to him should’ve seen the signs, even if it was only his co-workers.

But that was behind them now. Brantley refused to look back, to worry he hadn’t done enough. He’d done exactly what he could, nothing more, nothing less. And now three of those women were back with their families.

No, his failure was not with Detective Collins; it had been Shelly Masters he hadn’t come through for. And that he would regret, tucking it away with all the others he’d failed in his life. But he would move on. He would continue to do what was necessary. And while he’d been skeptical about this new assignment, leading the governor’s task force in finding missing persons, Brantley knew it was exactly where he belonged.

Reese jerked in his sleep, a strangled cry escaping him. It was enough to have Brantley turning, sliding one hand over Reese’s chest.

“It’s a dream,” he said softly. “Reese. Wake up for me. It’s just a dream.”

Reese went completely still. His body no longer moved. His chest was barely rising and falling. His eyes opened slowly as though he needed to take stock of his surroundings before he gave himself away in case the enemy was nearby. Brantley knew that feeling all too well.

“Hey.” He leaned down, pressed his lips to Reese’s shoulder.

“What time is it?”

“Four thirty.”

“Early for you, isn’t it?”

“Haven’t slept much,” he admitted, sliding his arm under Reese’s head and pulling him closer.

Reese came without complaint, but rather than curl up beside him, Reese apparently had other ideas as he moved over him, his weight familiar and welcome.

A distraction. That was what this was. Whether it was because Reese needed to feel something other than what plagued him in his dreams or because he didn’t want Brantley asking questions he wasn’t ready to answer, it was a distraction, nonetheless.

Brantley urged him to move atop him completely, their naked bodies aligning. Reese’s lips trailed up his neck, along his jaw, back down again. The sensations had his body hardening, his cock throbbing as it brushed against Reese’s.

Putting his hands on Reese’s hips, he held him in place, ensuring he didn’t go too far.

This was what he needed, to be close to Reese, to soothe away the strains of recent events and replace those mental images with something that would get him through the days and nights ahead of them.

“Give me your mouth,” he whispered, tilting his head so he could meet Reese’s lips with his own.

Their tongues began a leisurely dance that quickly grew more urgent. Brantley kept him close, grinding his hips so the friction of his body glided along his sensitive shaft. He remembered the first time they’d done this. On an airplane, back when Reese was confused about what he wanted. These days, there was no holding back but there had been something