“Let’s give them a few more minutes before chancing it.”
“Chance sneaking out?”
“Chance searching the house before they return with the warrant.”
“Oh. Then what?”
“Then we chance sneaking out.”
“Will we be able to?”
“That’s the hope. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
When she gave a small nod, her hair brushed against his cheek. He thought strands of it got caught in his scruff.
“I was afraid my stomach was going to growl,” she said.
“You should have eaten your doughnut.”
“It was a matter of principle not to touch it.”
“Because I’d given it to you?”
“Exactly.”
“Next time, you’ll know better than to let pride get in your way.”
“Next time.” With those words, she drooped, as though the prospect of what they still faced sapped her strength. “I’m scared, Drex.”
“Fear is healthy.”
“It’s draining. Exhausting. I’m so tired.”
“Lean against me.”
She did.
God, he was going to die. “Just a few more minutes, then you can stretch.”
“No, I meant I’m so tired of living the way I have been.”
“How’s that?”
She took time to choose her word. “Watchfully. For a while now, I’ve treaded very carefully around Jasper.”
He thought on that. “I want to hear about it. Everything. Later. When we’re out of here. All right?”
Again she nodded. Again he thought strands of her hair were caught in his whiskers, and the thought of that alone, in addition to their proximity, sent heat rushing to his center.
He tried to stay focused. “Say it out loud. ‘All right.’”
“All right. I’ll explain later. For now, I’ll just say thank you.”
“What did I do? Other than cram you into a closet.”
“You forced me to acknowledge what I had intuited about Jasper but refused to accept. I feel unburdened, liberated from my own denial, by your browbeating. I realize you were only doing your job, but you have my gratitude anyway.”
“Talia.” He bent his head lower and nuzzled her just below her ear. “This isn’t only doing my job.” He caught the lobe of her ear between his teeth.
She stirred and whimpered his name. He followed the soft expulsion of breath to its source, her parted lips, and covered them with his. Her mouth was hot and wet and receptive when he pressed his tongue inside.
Unlike when he’d kissed her before, this time she didn’t turn her head aside and angle away. Instead she leaned into the kiss, not just with her mouth but with her body.
They shifted instinctually, matching up parts that had been created to complement each other. Still, it was a tease to what it could be. He had believed there wasn’t room enough to reposition themselves, but he discovered there was, as he curved his arm around her waist.
In doing so, his elbow knocked against the wall. The giveaway sound would have alarmed him earlier, but now he disregarded it and focused only on splaying his hand over Talia’s ass and pulling her closer, up, onto him. She responded by arching up even higher until—God!—the fit stole their breath. Until then they hadn’t broken the mad kiss, but they did now, gasping in unison.
A heartbeat later, their mouths fused, and, again they were governed by carnal instinct. His palm followed her shape from her waist to the top of her thigh, caressing bare skin that felt like warm silk against his hand, although he didn’t even remember sliding it inside her pajama bottoms.
He couldn’t say when she had raised her hand to his head, yet her fingers were imbedded in his hair, urgently tugging on it to pull him closer.
Beneath his circling thumb, her nipple was hard, but how had he found it beneath her pajama top? He didn’t know, but he loved the feel of it, of her, of her excitement, and knowing he had kindled it.
He hadn’t thought to thrust against the welcoming V between her thighs, but he was, and it was killing him not to be inside her.
These incredible sensations coalesced in an instant of clarity, and he realized that if he didn’t stop now, there would be no stopping.
He lifted his mouth away from her hungry kiss and clasped her head between his hands. “Talia, Talia.” With his forehead pressed to hers, he kept repeating her name on gusts of breath until she stilled against him. “God knows I want to,” he groaned. “But I can’t. Not under his roof.”
He let go of her, fumbled behind his back for that son of a bitching handle, and flipped it up. The wall popped open behind him. He ducked his head and stumbled backward out of the enclosure