One Night Standoff - By Delores Fossen Page 0,40

and kissed her.

With the rage burning him, he forced himself to stay gentle. Not just with his mouth, but with his embrace. He tried to hold her as if she were fine glass that might shatter under too much pressure. Still, despite his holding back and the battering of emotions, he felt something else.

The sheer pleasure of her taste.

It soothed him. The sweet coil of heat that rippled through his body. The way she felt in his arms. Her scent. And that little purr that she made deep within her throat. All of it helped.

Then hurt.

Because the need twisted, and while he could feel the anger softening and melting away, the rest of him was far from soft. Obviously a certain part of him thought he was about to get lucky, but that couldn’t happen.

At least he was pretty sure it couldn’t.

Clayton turned, and without breaking the hold they had on each other, he shut the door and pressed Lenora against the back of it. If he was going to be stupid, he didn’t want someone walking in on them.

The kiss got hotter and deeper, and they couldn’t seem to get close enough to each other. Was this how it’d been the night they had sex? This overwhelming urge to do whatever it took to ease the pressure building inside them?

And this was a them situation. Because Lenora darn sure wasn’t a passive participant.

She worked her hands down his back, pulling him closer and closer. The new angle gave him perfect access to her neck, so Clayton lowered his head and dropped some kisses there.

Lenora made another of those sounds.

That revved his body into full gear, and he caught onto the back of her leg, adjusting the angle again so that her sex was against his.

Clayton nearly dragged her to the floor.

Man, he couldn’t take her like this. Okay, he could. But it might not be safe. He’d never had sex with a pregnant woman, and while that only seemed to add to this furnace of heat he was battling, he didn’t want to take any risks and hurt her.

Using every bit of willpower that he could muster, he caught on to her shoulders and moved her back just a little. Just enough so that the intimate contact was gone.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to say. “I shouldn’t have taken my bad mood out on you.”

“Give me a second to catch my breath and cool off.” She looked up at him, blinked. “That was a bad-mood reaction? Remind me to get you in a bad mood more often.” She gave a nervous laugh and waved him off. “Forget I said that.”

He’d have an easier time forgetting that he had an erection.

Part of him was pleased that she could make light of this. The other part of him wasn’t. He needed a big reason to stay away from her, and just telling himself that she was off-limits wasn’t doing the job.

With her chest still pumping for air, she reached out and ran her hand down his arm. It wasn’t foreplay. Probably meant to comfort him. And much to Clayton’s surprise, it did.

“I don’t blame you for not remembering my birth father,” he said right off the bat. “I don’t think for one minute you intentionally withheld that info.”

And maybe that made him stupid. Because while Lenora and he were in danger together, that didn’t mean they were together.

“For what it’s worth, I didn’t deal directly with Melvin.” She paused. “I take it he’s a crook or he wouldn’t have had an association with Quentin.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s a crook, all right. Never committed a federal offense—not one that I could find, anyway. If I had, I would have gone after him.”

Another pause. Another touch on his arm. “Would Melvin really want you dead?” she asked.

“If the price was right, he would. And I figure Riggs would pay a great deal of money to get us out of the picture.”

Lenora made a sound of agreement and slid her hand over her stomach. “And he wouldn’t give a second thought to the baby.” She huffed. Groaned. Moved away from him. “I thought if I left that it would be safer for you. I made plans to leave,” she added, snagging his gaze.

“You what?”

She didn’t exactly look pleased about having to tell him this. Good. Because Clayton wasn’t pleased to hear it.

“I made some calls last night on the burner cell so they couldn’t be traced,” she explained. “I managed to make arrangements for a place