Pulling free, Maddie rolled to her back to stare at the ceiling, ignoring the slight twinge of regret at the horror in his voice. No, they weren’t eloping. They weren’t even particularly getting along, unless it was in bed.

  Where they somehow managed to get along pretty damn fine.

  “I already promised to call you if we need you,” he said. “Now go take a flight or a breath or something.” He shut the phone.

  She could feel him looking at her, now on the far side of the bed.

  And looking.

  He wanted to talk. She did not. She lay there, very still, thinking if she only waited, he’d fall asleep again. Because hey, that’s what guys did after wild monkey sex—they slept.

  After a moment, she slowly turned her head in his direction, and damn, didn’t he look mighty fine all rumpled, sleepy-eyed, and naked.

  And very awake.

  The sheet had slipped, affording her a very nice view from his Adam’s apple to his belly, which she wanted to lick like a lollipop.

  And lower, too.

  Being with him had been every bit as good as she had imagined. Fast, searing…perfect. When she’d come, she’d released all that terrible pent up tension. Now maybe she could use any lingering energy for something else entirely…

  Like saving her sister’s ass.

  “You’re going to fall off the bed,” he noted.

  “I’m good.” She needed distance.

  Lots of distance.

  He was still just watching her with those mesmerizing eyes, scratching his jaw as if considering a particularly vexing puzzle, his fingers rasping against the growth of his unshaved jaw. Then he crooked a finger at her.

  Come here.

  No. No, no, no, that would be a bad idea.

  Very bad.

  But her brain apparently wasn’t in charge because her body obeyed, scooting close, and then his arms pulled her in, and then, oh, God, he pressed his face into her hair and inhaled deeply. “You smell good, Mad. You always smell good.”

  “Stop.” Her voice was shockingly weak. Fall back to sleep.

  He dipped his head down, pressing his mouth to her throat so that she could feel his lips move against her skin. “So damn good.”

  “Seriously.” Why wasn’t he sleeping? Maybe the bigger question was, why wasn’t she shoving him away? Instead, she arched her neck to give him better access, loving how big and hard and warm he felt. After arriving here, she’d been cold, icy cold, but that had vanished lying next to him.

  His hands swept down her body, urging her closer, then closer still so that she could feel that he was not sleepy, not even close. “We’re not doing it again.”

  “Okay.” One hand squeezed her bottom, then slipped between her legs, and she realized.

  They were doing it again. “Brody—”

  She’d have sworn she had nothing left in the tank, and yet when his fingers stroked her, she shivered in need and let her legs fall open. “I mean it. We’re not—”

  Another stroke, unerring and sure.

  The man had talented fingers, and after yet another stroke, she admitted the truth.

  She was going down with the ship. “Okay, maybe just one more time,” she whispered, breathless as he worked his magic. Her fingers dug into his biceps as she clung to him, her world spinning, the pinnacle centering between her legs. “But only once.”

  He scraped his teeth over her shoulder, and she shuddered as his dark head made its way toward a breast.

  “And it’s going to be my way this time,” she managed. “Fast.” She tried to tug him over her, where she would have pulled him deep inside and had a go at round two, but he resisted.

  “Not fast. We just did fast. We’re going to take our time.” He punctured every few words with a kiss as he began to move down her body. Her neck, her shoulder, the scar where the bullet had shattered her collarbone. He spent a long moment there, then just below, where the curve of her breast began…“I want to taste you, Maddie. Every single inch of you.”

  Oh, no. No way. If they weren’t going to jump each other’s bones and knock it out in a timely fashion, then—

  He sucked a nipple into his hot, wet mouth, and she nearly arched right off the bed. In spite of herself, her body was responding. Her nipples were pebbled tight, and she was getting wet. Again. “Damn it, Brody.”

  He let her nipple pop out of his mouth and went for her other one.

  “Brody Allen West.”

  “You’re middle naming me?” Sounding amused but undeterred, he began kissing his way down her belly, his mouth hot and wet, not moving fast at all, nothing so easy as that.

  She fisted her hands in the sheets at her sides. “Yes, and I’ll do it again if you’re going to drag this out.”

  Lifting his head, he smiled, pure wickedness in his gaze and voice. “My way,” he repeated firmly.

  Her stomach quivered at all the wicked, naughty promise in his eyes. But she couldn’t go there emotionally. Couldn’t. She was tapped out. Fast was all she had, so she pushed him aside and then climbed on top.

  From flat on his back, he grinned up in pleasure at her and cupped her breasts.

  She lifted up her hips to draw his most impressive erection inside her, but he pulled back and shook his head. “I’m not ready yet.”

  Arching a brow, she looked down at what was currently filling both hands. Impressive and quite ready.

  “Yeah, that’s because with you, I’m always hard as a damn rock.” Then, just as she had, he rolled her beneath him and held her there.

  “Okay, listen.” She tried a smile. “Maybe we should just go to sleep. I’m going to need to get a few hours before I stop Leena—”

  “From what exactly?” He slid a finger into her, groaned at the heat and slickness he found, and licked her nipple. “That meeting, yes. But what’s on Stone Cay?”

  “The compound—” Her impending orgasm, the one barreling down on her like a freight train without brakes, was currently curling her toes and evidently, also loosening her damn tongue.

  Not that Brody seemed to notice. He simply worked his unhurried way to her other breast, his fingers still driving her directly to bliss without passing Go.

  “Compound?” he murmured against her skin, making his way south, leaving a hot, wet trail over her torso with his tongue. “Like a family compound?”

  “Yes. Sort of. Brody—”

  “So this Rick is…”

  God, his fingers. He was in charge, controlling her like a puppet, and desperate to gain some of that control back, she gave as good as she got, stroking him, eliciting a rough, husky breath from him. In the interest of speeding this along, she did it again.

  “Rick,” he managed with what sounded like some difficulty. “He’s…”

  “Our uncle.”

  “A real asshole?”

  “A real asshole,” she agreed, arching up into his touch. His mouth was gentle, so damn gentle, as he ran it over her body.

  “Did he ever hurt you?”

  “No, he never dirties his hands himself.”

  He kissed a rib, and then another. “What does that mean?”

  “He has his men do everything for him.”

  “I have to tell you, Mad. I don’t think I’m going to like your family.”

  That tore a laugh out of her. “No. You won’t. Now are you taking this somewhere or what?”

  “Or what.” He kissed her belly, then lifted his head and looked at her a long moment, his gaze softening. “Why would Rick threaten your safety?”

  “It’s complicated. Brody, we’re in the middle of something here. In case you’ve forgotten.”

  “I haven’t.” His fingers proved that by dragging another soft gasp from her. “So what’s your plan for after you get Leena?”

  “Brody—”

  “I know. I’m multitasking. Humor me.” He settled a big, warm hand on her inner thigh and nudged it over as if she wasn’t opened enough to him already. “God, look at you,” he murmured. “So pretty.”

  She closed her eyes. “Stop with the sweet talk; you’ve got me. Now do me.”

  His thumb slid over her heated flesh, spreading her just a little. “You’re all pink and glistening. And wet.”

  Words failed her as he played in all that wetness.

  “Is it for me, Maddie? Are you this excited for me?”

  His voice was low and thick and not just a little heavy with male satisfaction, which was both sexy and irritating. “Well, who else?” she asked.

  “Maybe I want to hear you say it.”

  “Are you kidding me? I just said you’ve got me.”

  “Maybe a guy likes to know when a woman is hot for him.”

  She came up on her elbows to see him. He was all tousled and rumpled and damn it, sexy as hell. “Maybe a guy should just get on with it before she changes her mind!”

  “Come on.” He had the balls to smile. “You’re not going to change your mind.” With that, he leaned in and put his mouth where his fingers had been.

  She managed some inarticulate response and gripped the sheets beneath her, her hips arching right up into his mouth in shocked pleasure. Slipping his hands beneath her, he cupped her butt and in less than two minutes, had whipped her blood back into a frenzy. She was panting, gasping, an inch from meltdown when he pulled back. “You never answered my question.”

  Her heart was drumming so loudly she could hardly hear him. “I don’t remember your question.”

  That earned her a cocky grin. “What does Rick have on Leena?”

  He hadn’t asked that one, she knew that much, but she wanted him to finish! “She works for him.”

  “Ah.” Another slow, sure stroke of his tongue. “What does she do?”

  “She’s a jewelry designer for his gem company. Damn it, Brody!”

  A soft huff of laughter brushed over her sensitized flesh. “Love the sound of my name on your lips. All hot and bothered and frustrated.” Still between her legs, he kissed one inner thigh, then the other. “You should know, slow is really my thing.”

  “Your window of opportunity is closing down, big guy. I need my beauty sleep.”

  “Are you telling me you could actually go to sleep right now?”

  “Like a baby.”

  “Really.” His thumb lazily stroked over her, ripping a gasp of pleasure from her. His gaze met hers. “Tell you what, Mad. You go to sleep.” And with a soft kiss to her hip, he went to roll away.

  “Oh, no.” Pulling him back, she let out a low laugh. “Finish what you started.”

  “Luckily for you, I always finish what I start.” He gave another pass of his thumb. “Including in a few hours when we go find your sister.”

  “There’s no we.”

  “Face it, babe.” Bending his dark head, he went back to work, making her gasp again. “There’s a we.”

  Damn the man. He could take her outside of herself like no one else ever had. “Brody, I need—”

  “Me. You need me.”

  He was so damn sure of himself. And so damn right. “I’m going to—”

  “Come,” he whispered thrillingly, sucking her into his mouth. “You’re going to come.”

  Yeah. Always right. With little to no effort, she burst, and then he was inside her once again, and she was pulling him down so that she could feel his heat, his strength, feel him nuzzling at her neck as she changed his slow, lazy pace to supersonic so that this time they both lost it together.

  Lost…

  Even as together, they were found.

  Chapter 16

  A few moments later, or it might have been a year, Brody let out a long, satisfied sigh. “Okay, so your way works, too.”

  He had his face against Maddie’s throat, which smelled so good he took a lick. He hadn’t found any more piercings or tattoos, which he had to admit surprised him. Unwrapped from the tough girl packaging, his badass Maddie was all warm and sweet on the inside.

  “That wasn’t fast,” she said. “If I hadn’t speeded things up, we’d still be at it.”

  He lifted his head, feeling pretty damn satisfied with his world, even more so when he saw the look on Maddie’s face.

  Her eyes were closed, but she was smiling. Her gorgeous, silky hair rioted all around them on the pillow, her skin dewy and flushed, and honest to God, just looking at her, his heart skipped a beat. “That wasn’t fast enough? How is that possible? I’ve set new records for you.”

  Unimpressed, she lifted a shoulder. “Could have been faster.”

  He had to laugh. “How about I’ll try harder next time.”

  At that, her eyes flickered open, and a set of sharp baby blues landed on his. “Next time?”

  “You’re telling me we’re not doing that again?”

  She didn’t say anything to that.

  How could she not want to do that again? She was still flushed and damp and glowing. She’d enjoyed herself. She’d come. What wasn’t there to repeat? “How could something so good be bad?”

  She slanted him a look. “You’re going to be a guy about this, aren’t you?”

  “Apparently, yeah.”

  With a sigh, she sat up, tugged the sheet from beneath him, and wrapped herself in it, covering up that bod he could happily have draped around him forever. “I’m sorry I lost it earlier in the shower. But that helped a lot.” She paused. “Thanks.”

  Thanks?

  “It’s been a long time for me. Which is why I…”

  Okay, he liked that he’d been the guy she’d let break her dry spell. He liked that a lot. “Why you what?”

  “You know. Went off so fast.”

  “Wait a minute.” He thought maybe he’d just been insulted, but his brain hadn’t quite gotten back on track, so he wasn’t sure. “Are you saying any guy could have gotten you off that fast?”

  Rolling her lips inward, she just looked at him.

  “Hell, no.” He shook his head. “You are not going to tell me that.”

  “It’s not personal, Brody.”

  Hell, yeah, it was. “What just happened in this bed was not something that happens all the time.” He was sure of it.

  “My vibrator works its magic in six minutes.” She lifted a shoulder when he stared at her. “Just saying.”

  “I was way better than a vibrator.”

  She laughed and went to get out of the bed, but her laugh backed up in her throat when he snagged the sheet at the small of her back. “Hey.”

  But he didn’t let go, hell, no, leaving her two choices—get out of the bed naked or stay in it.

  She stayed.

  Craning her neck, she sent him the famous Maddie glare that had sent many people scurrying for cover. Never him, though. A sick part of him liked that look. It made him want to tug the sheet off and see what she would do about it.

  So he did.

  She squeaked and then rolled, executing a rather impressive dive off the bed to the floor, where she grabbed the forgotten towel, wrapping it around her.

  And then, nose in the air, she strutted into the bathroom.

  He lay back on the bed, tucked his hands behind his head, and waited. Vibrator, his ass. He was way better than a damn vibrator.

  When she came out a few minutes later, wearing some sort of silky-looking pants and top that were shaped like sweats but skimmed and clung to her body in a way that suggested lingerie, her nose was still in the air.

  “Going to get a nosebleed,” he noted.

  She put her hands on her hips and tossed back her hair. He wondered if she knew her nipples were hard and pressing against the silky fabric. Wondered if she knew that at just the sight, his mouth watered like Pavlov’s damn dog. “You can reign superior all over the place,” he told her. “But admit this at least—you’re not hurting nearly as bad as you let me think.”

  “I took a bullet.”

  “Yes.” His hands tightened reflexively into fists. He still couldn’t even think about it without rage exploding through his body. “But you’re recovering more than you let on.”

  “You wanted me to be weak.”

  “I wanted you to be honest.”

  “Honesty is not always the best policy. Especially in this case.”

  He stared at her, then shook his head. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree there, babe. Now back to the important stuff.”

  “I’m done discussing my vibrator.”

  “The other important stuff. What exactly does Rick want Leena for so badly that he’s willing to threaten you to get it?”

  “You’re like a bulldog. Anyone ever tell you that?”

  “All the time. So…?”

  “Rick’s my father’s brother.”

  “And your father is…”

  “Dead. Rick runs the fancy import-export gem company, bringing mostly unrefined jewels into the States. He needs Leena. Leena designs jewelry for those gems. Now if you could go to your room, I could get some sleep.”

  “What? No cuddling?”

  She crossed her arms and shot him a get-real look, so he decided not to admit that holding her for the rest of the night wouldn’t have been a hardship. “What else does Rick do?”

  “Depends on who’s asking. If you’re Uncle Sam or the IRS, then that’s it. If you’re a company who buys unrefined gems to turn into jewelry designed and created on spec, then sometimes there’s other things.”

  Ah. Now they were getting somewhere. “Such as?”

  “Such as the occasional imitation gem that looks as good as the real thing but is worth a fraction of the promised item.”

  “There’s probably good money in the swindle scam business, huh?”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  “So Leena knew she was working the wrong side of the law?”

  She sighed. “Aren’t you tired?”

  “Not in the least. But if you’d rather take those pjs off and show me the six-minute vibrator trick…”

  The look she shot him threatened his family jewels. “Tell me this, at least. What does all of this have to do with you?”

  “Nothing, really. I left Stone Cay when I was sixteen. But Leena recently decided to leave, too, and Rick…objected.”

  “Objected how?”