Northern Rebel Daring in the Dark - By Jennifer Labrecque Page 0,111
but at least he could hold on to the window frame and screen of Tawny’s next-door neighbor.
He glanced down at the cat. The cat looked up at Simon. Or, more specifically, parts of him. Peaches eyed Simon’s willy dangling in the wind with a wicked gleam in his kitty eyes, as if he’d just discovered a newfangled cat toy.
“Don’t even think about it.” Simon cupped a protective hand over Mr. Winky.
Suddenly an older woman appeared in the window.
“Pervert!” she yelled.
She yanked her window shade down, in his face.
Startled, Simon teetered. He dug his fingers into the window frame. Whoa!
Steady. Steady.
Only in New York.
He recentered and lifted his left foot over the cat. Whew! He unhanded the family jewels. Now for the really scary part—as if he hadn’t been scared witless up to this point.
“I’m going to pick you up in this towel. Here’s the tricky part. I need for you to be really still or I’m going to lose my balance and we’re both going to splat—not a good ending.”
He shifted the towel from his shoulder to his hands.
“Easy, there. Just remember, you get a new name. Something cool. Something macho. Something badass to go with your image.” While he talked, he leaned down and oh-so-carefully wrapped the cat in the towel. “Stay cool. We’re just a minute away from you having a new lease on life and me still having a life.”
Amazingly Peaches offered no resistence and didn’t squirm when he tucked him beneath his arm football-style. Simon had no idea how long it took—it felt like hours—but he continued to talk trash and edge toward Tawny’s window. Finally he handed the cat through the window. Tawny snatched The Cat Who’d Earned a New Name and clutched him to her. Simon used his free hand to grip the edge of the open window.
“Do you need help getting in?” Tawny asked.
“Just give me some room.” Simon climbed in feetfirst.
With solid flooring beneath him and the windowsill behind him, his knees began to shake. Being confined by four walls had never felt so good! He turned around, slammed the window closed and locked it. They’d roast like swine in hell before he opened that window again.
He turned around just as Peaches...er, Him...lost his patience for being held, leaped out of Tawny’s arms and shot into the other room.
He still hadn’t recovered his breath when Tawny rounded on him, her eyes flashing, her hair sticking out at odd angles, as if she’d been in a brawl and it’d been nearly pulled out.
“That was the most stupid, idiotic thing I’ve ever seen,” she yelled.
Huh? “What the hell? How about a thank-you?”
“Thank you? Thank you?” Her voice escalated with each thank you, which he really hadn’t thought was possible. “I should thank you when you could’ve died out there, you idiot?” She flew at him and pummeled him on the chest. “You could’ve fallen. I was so scared. And you were naked. And you could’ve died.”
God, she was nearly hysterical over him. He caught her wrists and tried not to hurt her. “Shh. Shh. It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m fine. You’re fine. We’re fine.”
We? Where had that come from?
She leaned her head against his chest. He ran his hand soothingly over her hair. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him tighter, harder against her, as if she couldn’t get close enough. “Never do anything like that again. I’ve never been so scared in my life. If you’d fallen...”
Her mouth latched on to his and she kissed him with all the passion aroused by fear and anger. She ground her mouth against his, unleashing his own post-window-ledge adrenaline surge. She waged war with her tongue. He kissed her back as if he was devouring her.
Dammit. He could’ve died out there. He hadn’t been sure that he wouldn’t until he’d slammed the window closed behind him. But he hadn’t died and she was in his arms. And she cared, tremendously it would seem, that he’d risked his life.
They stumbled the few feet to the bed, both of them trying to eat the other alive. They fell to the mattress. This time Simon fished in the drawer for a condom, his hand shaking. He’d wanted her before, burned for her, dreamed of her, made love to her, but he’d never known anything like this—the overwhelming consuming need to bury himself so far and hard within her, to celebrate having come in off that ledge, to claim her.