Badge and a Saddle (Heroes in the Saddle Book 2) (10 page)

There was a piece
of his life missing now that she wasn’t in it. Was her public apology just to
clear her conscience, or was it more? Could he convince her he wasn’t a tight-assed
hothead who would shove her away every time she made a mistake?

He stalked across
the bullpen and into the captain’s office, knocking twice on the open door.
“Captain, I’d like to take you up on that offer of a couple days off.”

Mina pressed a
button on her computer that shifted to the last graphic, and projected it
behind her on the giant screen. She looked up at the dimly lit auditorium
seating where the fifteen graduate students had spaced themselves out among the
rows of seats. Not many made it this far in the program, but those who had were
like bright stars to her. She knew and mentored each of them, and saw amazing
potential for their futures.

“Here’s what
you’ve been waiting for. Your homework.” She stood from her chair behind the
desk as groans came from a few different directions. She smoothed her
knee-length skirt and tucked the back of her blouse into it. Wearing
traditional wardrobe during class seemed to give her more confidence, and that
translated into a better student response. “Any complaints, take it up with
NASA.”

A few people
laughed.

She pointed to the
screen. “Non-ideal fluids. Sussing their applications for use in problems of
astrophysical interest, such as steady and unsteady flows, instabilities, and turbulence.”
A movement caught her eye, way up in the back row. Had someone just come into
the room? She’d checked everyone who belonged here off her attendance list.

“This will lead us
to our next section, which is conducting fluid flows or magnetohydrodynamics.” That
fun word she’d put in a big red font. She waited a few seconds. “Great, no more
grumbling? Just for that, I’m letting you go five minutes early.”

Her students
thanked her as their books slapped shut and their papers crackled.

She pressed a
button on the panel on her desk and the lights in the room grew slowly
brighter.

The newcomer in
the back of the room wore a dark shirt and a…black cowboy hat? Her heart
skittered for a second. No, it couldn’t be him. But who was it? It couldn’t be
anyone who’d enrolled in any of her courses. One of the silly rules she added
to her syllabus was that no astronomy student should wear a hat to class, or after
sunset. There was too much to see in a dark sky at night, and too much info to
lose in her classroom if someone fell asleep under the brim of a hat.

Her students filed
up the steps and out the door and she walked across the floor, her high-heeled
black pumps silent on the carpet.  She stopped at the first step, looking up at
the man with his head tipped down. “Can I help you?”

A blast of
recognition hit her, even though she couldn’t see his face, and most of his
body was hidden. It was like the light from a far-away star reaching her.
“Rex?” She reached for the back of the chair next to her to steady her wobbling
knees.

He took off his
hat.

His dark hair was
short now, his gaze focused right on her, and his jaw worked. “It wasn’t your
fault. What happened on the ranch, I mean. Bennet saw that, and me bein’ a
rookie hadn’t caught it.”

She heard the
words, but they didn’t lessen any of the guilt she felt on a constant basis,
even in her dreams…nightmares. Was that why he was here? Yesterday’s press
conference? Or was there more? “How do you figure?”

He sat forward and
rested his forearms on his thighs. “If you’d told me his name and where he
worked, I would have brought him in for questioning, which would have tipped
off the cops. These people were desperate, so anything could have happened,
then.”

She’d gone over
her choices a million times, but hadn’t thought of that consequence. “I could
have told you, but then asked you not to act on it.”

He dropped his
head with a bitter laugh. “You asking me not to follow up on a solid lead would
be like…” He gestured to the blank screen at the front of the class. “Like asking
the magnet-hipro-dynamic to just stop…doing whatever it does out there in
space.”

A giggle, a very
nervous one, bubbled out of her throat. “Magnetohydrodynamics. It’s the
study of the magnetic properties of electrically conducting fluids.”
Why had she corrected him? And given him more information than he could ever
want?

He
stood and moved to the steps in the center of the seats, directly above her,
but so far away. Would he leave now? She’d make a complete fool of herself
chasing after him down the hallways, begging him to come back.

Rex
didn’t turn to go, though. “I’m here to ease your conscience, but also to ask
you for a favor.” He took a step down. “Will you meet me halfway?” His whole
body went still, as if her answer to that question was about far more than just
the stairs.

She
put her foot up onto the first step and levered herself up, her chest working
too fast, hope and longing making her a little dizzy. “What’s the favor?”

He
came down another step. “Will you teach me what that means?” He looked at the
screen. “That magneto thing?”

Her
eyes closed as moisture burned behind them, and emotion choked her. Was he
saying he wanted to be with her? She took another step up. “Is this just for
educational purposes, or do you have an ulterior motive?”

Rex
trotted down three steps and stopped. “Ulterior, without question.” He rubbed
his palms on the denim at his hips, then quickly dropped them. “I want to
apologize for letting you go alone from the ranch in the sheriff’s car. I
should have been there to support you, hold your hand.”

She
jogged upward three levels. They were just ten steps away from each other. “You
were right to let me go. I had to face what I’d done, and having you there with
me would have made it more difficult to concentrate. You needed to distance
yourself from me for professional reasons, too.”

He
nodded. “That’s all true, but I still hate that I let you go on your own.”

She
shrugged and took another step up. “If it’ll ease your conscience, the fact is,
Bennet needed you more than I did.”

Walking
down three steps, he held out his hand to her. “Will you forgive me? Will you
give me a chance?”

Now
she couldn’t hold back the tears. She ran up the last steps and landed in his
arms. “I will. Always. Forever. Until
magnetohydrodynamics no longer
include
plasmas, liquid metals, and electrolytes.”

He
laughed, big and bold, the sound echoing off the high ceiling. He hugged her tight
to his chest. “That’s a really long time, right? Like, forever?” He leaned back
and set his palms on her neck, his thumbs under her chin and tipped her head
up. His dark eyes smiled, small crinkles at the outsides, his face so handsome
with his white teeth and full lips, she wanted a picture of this moment to keep
with her forever.

“Forever
is a possibility.” She went up on tiptoes and he leaned down and kissed her,
his lips soft on hers, his breath coming fast and minty. “How did you get in
here?” She returned his kiss, her tongue tickling the corner of his mouth.

“Had
to use my badge a few times.” He met her tongue with the tip of his and circled
it, coaxing it into his mouth.

She
gave him a kiss to remember, desperate and loving, sweet then wild. “You wanna
get out of here? I’m done for the day.”

“Aw,
Doc, I don’t know if I can wait until we get to your apartment.” He moved his
hands to her bottom and pulled her belly tight against his hard erection, his
mouth still on hers, his tongue tracing her front teeth like he was memorizing
them.

Her
apartment was a mess. An idea popped into her head. “Don’t have to. I have an
office down the hall.” She rotated her hips, pushing him into her belly,
sending heat and contractions down low in hers.

“Yeah.
Office.” He stepped back, breathing fast.

“Wait,
did you bring your wallet this time?” She held his hand and walked down one step.

He
slapped his back pocket. “Got my wallet, and it’s fully-stocked.”

“C’mon,
Detective.” They raced down the steps and through a back door that led to a
private hallway for professors. She unlocked the back door of her two-room
office and they stepped inside. Leaving Rex in the back room, she made sure the
front door was locked, and her
Out of Office
note was displayed.

When
she stepped back into her private space, he stood next to her big, wide couch.
In a basket beside it, her pillow, blankets, and sheets sat in a jumbled mess.
“You live here?” He grinned.

“Almost.
Being an astronomer, I sometimes have to work nights.” She smiled as she walked
toward him, unbuttoning her blouse.

“Doc.”
He reached out and captured her hands. “Let me do that. Please.” The hunger in
his tone sent shivers down her spine.

“Yes.”
She reached for the buttons of his shirt and together they undid one at a time,
the need to rip fabric making her breasts swell and tighten.

He
eased the soft material from her shoulders, revealing the satiny camisole she’d
chosen instead of a bra.

“Mmmm.”
He slid the delicate satin garment down to her elbows and held it there,
imprisoning her in a wonderful captivity. He bent and pressed his lips to where
her nipples showed, hard and longing for him. He mouthed one, then the other,
the touch spreading flashes of hot light in her head, and sending rays of
desire to her core, her pussy.

Letting
her free, he unbuttoned her skirt on the side, unzipped, then let it fall to
the floor, revealing the pair of tap shorts that matched her cami.

She
dropped her blouse to join her skirt, then tugged his shirt from his big
shoulders and powerful arms. Running her hands over the manly body she hadn’t
had enough time to explore, she followed his rippled abs down low, trailing
along the light furring that disappeared into his jeans.

She
unhooked his belt buckle, undid his jeans, and wiggled them until they dropped
to the floor.

In
his blue boxer briefs, his erection pointed out, big and firm, a spot on the
cotton fabric showing her she’d aroused him perfectly.

Mina
rubbed her palm along his length as he stared down at where she touched him.

With
a shudder, he grasped her wrist. “Save some for later.”

She
smiled and leaned in, kissing the spot on his chest just at his heart. “We’ll
have lots of time for saving. Let’s go a little crazy right now, shall we?”

“Doc.”
He pulled her arms up in the air. “Hold there.” Easing her camisole up, he
spent a few seconds teasing the hem against her nipples.

She
felt the pleasure down deep in her core, heating and becoming slick for him.

He
pulled the cami off then went down on one knee in front of her. Slowly he
pulled her shorts down, revealing her belly, the top of her mound, then all of
her, as the satiny fabric fell to the floor. With a groan, he leaned forward
and kissed her, his tongue slipping into the top of her cleft, finding her
little bud, and teasing it with amazing results.

“Rex.”
She grabbed his hair, but it slipped through her fingers. Too short. “Save some
of
me
for later.”

He
chuckled and slowed his teasing. “Yes, ma’am.” Rex grabbed a condom from his
wallet as Mina laid a sheet over the cushions of her couch.

He
stood and she reached for his underwear, slowly pulling it over his turgid
length, letting the elastic trace the underside of his cock, then brush gently
over his balls.

“You
snap that, Doc, and I’m gonna be crying, here.” He watched her face, a slight
curve to his lips.

“I
don’t want you crying, Detective. I want you howling at the moon with
pleasure.” She gestured to a big poster of the solar system on the wall.

He
smiled then. “I’ll do it quietly, though, so your neighbors don’t think you
brought a wolf to class.”

“Wolf.”
She peeled his shorts down to his feet and quickly took the big knob of his
cock into her mouth.

“Wooo.”
He howled quietly, then grasped her shoulders and eased her from him. He held
out the condom. “You wanna shield me for duty?”

“Oh
no, now we’ve switched from astronomy to naughty detective sayings?” She took
it from him, opened it, and rolled it on.

“You’ve
got your astronomical terms, I got my cop lingo.” He swooped down and picked
her up into his arms. “We make a good team.”

She
slid her hand over his cheek. “We do. We really, really do.” She wanted to go
for it with him, all the way, but she wouldn’t scare him with that
pronouncement right now.

He
set her on the couch, using his hands under her knees to spread her legs, then
knelt between her thighs. “I want you to know, Doctor, that I’ve been dreaming
of this moment for a week now, so if I’m too rough, just box my ears, and if I
go off too fast, you’ll have to forgive me and give me another chance to prove
I’m not a hair-trigger.”

She
smiled. “I’ve been thinking of this moment, too. But if you’re not deep inside me
in two seconds, I’m going to have to start marking your grade down a few
points.”

He
gritted his teeth. “Mina.” Lifting her bottom up off the couch, he braced a
hand on the padded arm by her head. “Put me where you want me, professor.”

Tingles
roared through her whole body and she reached for his cock, guided it to her
opening, and tipped her hips just enough to push him slightly into her
quivering slit.

“Aw,
sweet.” He pushed his hips forward, sliding in slowly, filling her, expanding
and heating her, the lovely ache in her core expanding to sparkle through her
whole being, in every secret place inside her.