Spinning her to face him, he took a step forward, pinning her between his rock- hard body and the car behind her.
“I guess this is where you say I told you so, right?” Becki forced a laugh. Her eyes glistened with tears that she refused to shed; at least until she was home… alone.
“I told you so?” Royce questioned in a deceptively mild-mannered voice.
“You told me at the beginning, right?” Becki sniffed. “You ‘couldn’t get involved’. You ‘had a job to do’.” Becki tried to push Royce away. “Hell, after today, I understand more than ever!”
Lifting her head to make eye contact she announced, “It’s ‘time to move on’; I believe was the phrase you used. No big deal, I understand. By all means, move on Roy--”
Royce stopped her mid-sentence by sealing his lips to hers. He smothered the words she so desperately wanted to throw back at him. Royce kissed her deeply. Taking advantage of her open mouth, he ravaged her with his lips and tongue as he pressed his body fully into her.
She stopped fighting, against her better judgment, and then began kissing him back. Meeting his tongue with hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave in to the pleasure of his kiss. Sliding his hands down her body, he lifted her against him and continued to rock her world with his passion. Becki’s automatically wrapped her legs around Royce’s waist trying to get closer still.
Royce’s phone rang, bringing an abrupt halt to their make out session. As Becki wrenched her lips from his, she dropped her head on his chest in defeat and sniffed as tears silently fell.
Royce walked around to the front of the car with Becki still wrapped around him like a blanket. As he placed her gently on the hood of the car he said, “It may be ‘no big deal’ to you,” he said looking into her tear-drenched eyes, “but it sure as hell is a big deal to me.”
Confusion flared in Becki’s eyes for a brief moment and anger quickly followed. “But you just said--”
Royce placed a finger across her lips, thinking that might be a wiser choice to stem the flow of her words at this point. “I know exactly what I said. You have to learn to trust me, Becki, trust us. And for the record, I’m getting damn sick and tired of you running away from me,” he said as he wrapped his arms more tightly about her.
Becki dropped her head on his chest and whispered, “I don’t want you to leave. I love you, Royce.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. I love you too, baby,” he said as he kissed her tears away. “I don’t know what comes next with the team, but I do know that I want to be with you. I want you at my side, whether I’m working at a desk or working in the field.”
“I love you so much, Royce, but I don’t know if I can handle fighting Vampires and Werewolves, and God knows what else,” Becki said fearfully.
Royce laughed. “Leave the creatures to me, babe. Do you really think I would let you anywhere near danger?”
Royce’s phone rang again. He pulled his phone from the front pocket of his jeans, which seemed to be tighter now than they were when he put them on. Sean’s phone number flashed across the screen, and Royce pushed ‘ignore’. Sean could wait.
With a quick kiss he suggested, “Why don’t you stay with the girls tonight?”
Becki flashed him a questioning glance.
“There is a lot of work to be done tonight. Kurt, Landon, and I need to try to pinpoint the exact location of the coin and plan the recovery. The Council is getting antsy. Unfortunately, there are too many people who know the coin is in the Charleston area and there are still at least five more coins out there somewhere. We need to find them and return them to the council as quickly as possible. Who knows what kind of havoc we could be looking at if the wrong person found one of them?”
“Ok,” Becki consented as she gave him one more hug. “You boys do your thing. The girls and I will put on mud masks and paint our nails while we watch chick-flicks. Kurt has to take them to the airport in the morning, but I think I’ll sleep in. Let me know when you get back in tomorrow. And Royce,” she said grabbing