Clay: Armed and Dangerous (15 page)

Murmurs of agreement came from around the table, and Clay took the opportunity to
ask what everyone thought about the Cardinals’ chances of making the play-offs that
year.

“Cardinals?” Rylie scoffed, her brown eyes meeting his. “Have you had a look at the
way their defense has been playing lately?”

“The 49ers are going to put the Cardinals away in the next game,” Montano agreed.

While the banter continued, Clay studied Rylie, who passionately participated in the
debate. He hadn’t even realized that she was a football fan. How much more of a perfect
woman could he have asked for?

He just hoped to God that Rylie wasn’t going to hate him if he ended up having to
arrest her brother.

When a decadent chocolate mousse was served for dessert, Rylie found her opportunity.
Or rather, she made it.

“Ow,” she said, just loud enough to be heard over the appreciative murmurs around
the table. “Something’s in my eye.”

“Can I do something for you?” Montano asked as Rylie held her hand over her eye.

“Just point me to the bathroom, and I’ll take care of it.” She started to push back
her chair, but Clay was already standing and pulling it out for her.

“Do you mind helping me?” she asked him, keeping the one eye squeezed shut.

“Of course.” His expression was concerned, yet the flare in his green eyes told her
he knew she was up to something. Clay pressed his hand to the small of her back as
he guided her across the massive house and into the opulent rose-scented bathroom.

The moment they were inside, she locked the door and wrapped her arms around his neck
and grinned. “We had a bargain, lawman.”

He groaned, but his big hands gripped her hips, the heat burning through her thin
dress like a pair of branding irons. “You’re such a little minx.”

“Enough talk.” Her hands moved to his belt, and a small thrill charged through her
at the feel of his already huge length beneath his dress slacks. She was so turned-on
she couldn’t wait to get him inside her. “Just get on with it, big guy.”

Clay yanked up her dress and rubbed her bare ass with his palms as she freed his length
and pushed his slacks down around his hips. A sigh of sheer lust escaped her as she
slid her fingers up and down his erection.

He grasped her ass and raised her up onto the marble counter- top, and she jerked
her attention to his face. His eyes burned a deep, passionate brown as he pushed her
thighs apart and pressed himself against her.

“Damn, you drive me crazy, woman.” He brushed himself against her swollen folds, then
stroked her, easing toward her wet depths. “What I’d do for you.”

“Then do it now.” Rylie moaned and braced her hands on the countertop, the marble
cold and erotic beneath her bare ass.

In one smooth motion, Clay drilled her. She gasped at the incredible sensation of
having him fill her again. Damn, but she’d missed him inside her this week.

“Oh, God, that feels good. So, so good.” She watched him moving in and out, loving
every second. “More. I need more.”

He grasped his hands beneath her knees, drawing her up and widening her to take more
of him. Harder and harder he thrust inside her, their breathing coming in harsh gasps.

“Yes, that’s it.” She wished she could get her hands on his hard muscled body. Wished
she could rake her nails down his back.

“I’m going to come, honey.” His voice was low and hoarse. “Come with me.”

“I’m ready.” Rylie’s breathing was labored as she felt her muscles begin to clench.
“Now, Clay.”

Just as she felt a scream rise in her throat, Clay placed his mouth over hers. His
kiss was strong and fierce, swallowing her cries and feeding her his own as their
bodies jerked and throbbed against one another. For a moment, they remained in that
intimate embrace, the smell of passion rising like heady fog around them.

Clay’s eyes locked with hers, their chests rising and falling with equally labored
breaths. And then he smiled, the look in his eyes purely male sexual satisfaction.
Rylie couldn’t help but return his smile.

“Damn, that was fun,” she said, with an intense desire to giggle.

He grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Talk about an understatement.”

When they both had caught their breath, they cleaned up. Rylie rubbed her eye to make
it look red, like she’d really had something in her eye.

Clay shook his head as he checked his own appearance in the mirror and then looked
down like he was making sure there was no wet spot on his fly. “I can’t believe we
just did that in the mayor’s house.”

“A deal’s a deal,” she murmured as she reached up and kissed him.

Rylie woke the following morning with Clay’s arms wrapped tight around her, one hand
cupping her breast. He had a leg hooked over hers, and his face was buried in the
crook of her neck, his warm breath brushing over her skin. It felt so good waking
up with him...

Wait.
What the hell was she doing? Twice now she’d broken her no-spending-the-night rule.
Twice with the same man, no less.

When he’d asked her to spend the night after they’d left the mayor’s house, she caved,
plain as could be. Maybe she should have seen him during the week, ’cause she would
have gotten him a little more out of her system. As it was, she couldn’t seem to satisfy
her craving for his taste, his smell, or the feel of him deep inside her.

Yeah, that was it. The sex. When she’d had enough of him she’d break it off like she
always did.

A contented sigh eased through her as she allowed herself to relax in his arms. Her
muscles felt the good ache of a long, passionate night, and the smell of their sex
surrounded her, filling her senses.

Clay stirred, rubbing himself all along her backside, and desire flared all over again.
More than desire. More than want. Need curled through her belly. Damn, but she had
to get through this quick before she fell in lo—

No. Not going there. Ever. I’m not an idiot like either of my parents were.

His lips and tongue began a moist trail down the curve of her neck. “Good morning,
beautiful.”

“Hi, Sheriff.” Rylie shivered and closed her eyes, trying to fight off the deeper
feelings of intimacy surging through her. Feelings that she didn’t believe in, that
she couldn’t allow herself to acknowledge.

“I think I like waking up with you in my arms,” Clay’s husky voice murmured, and she
had to bite her tongue not to agree. He squeezed and flexed the sweetly tender flesh
of her breast, and her nipple sprang to life beneath his touch.

“Well, don’t get used to it,” Rylie replied instead, but her voice wavered as her
arousal grew.

“Don’t count on that, honey.” He rubbed the inside of his thigh along her hip while
rubbing his erection along her backside. A moan escaped and she arched into his hand.

Before she had a chance to catch her breath, Clay rolled her over and slid between
her thighs. He propped his arms to either side of her, his brown hair tousled and
his morning beard making him appear dark and dangerous. He just looked down at her
with sleepy morning arousal in his green eyes, and that sexy smile that took her breath
away.

And something more that she definitely did not want to see.

Rylie squirmed, wrapping her legs around his hips, and tried to reach for him. “Just
get busy already.”

“Uh-uh.” In a quick movement he grabbed both her wrists and pinned them over her head.
“Let’s take this slow and easy.”

His mouth captured her protest and turned it into a moan that burned through her soul.
His kiss was gentle but demanding, encouraging and insistent all at once.

Rylie couldn’t think any longer, she could only feel... his lips, soft yet firm against
hers, the rough scrape of his stubble against her cheeks and her mouth, the taste
and smell of him that flooded her senses.

She whimpered, clamping her legs tighter around his hips, pressing his erection to
her belly. But he ignored her body’s pleas, torturing her with the kiss, filling her
mouth with his tongue and his taste.

When he finally raised his head, she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. He studied
her with heavy-lidded eyes, one hand still pinning both her wrists above her head,
the other stroking her hair from her face.

“You are so beautiful, honey.” His voice was a sensual purr that shimmered through
her body in waves, a sensation she’d never felt before.

“Please.” She swallowed, not knowing what she was begging him for. To touch her and
chase all her thoughts away? To stop making her feel like she could fall in...

No. She just wanted him to take her good and hard.

Clay smiled as though he’d heard the thoughts she wouldn’t allow herself to finish.
“You’re mine, Rylie Thorn.” His expression turned positively possessive, even predatory.
“Don’t think for one moment you aren’t.”

She shook her head, but he only smiled again and stilled her with another soul-searing,
spine-tingling, world-ending kiss. Everything melted around her and she was only aware
of his lips and tongue against her skin as he moved his mouth to her ear, dipping
inside and then nipping her lope with his teeth.

“Clay.” Rylie could hardly catch her breath, and forget about being able to form a
single thought. “Please.”

“Tell me what you want.” His mouth, tongue, and teeth continued down her neck to her
shoulder. “What do you need?”

“You... I need you inside me.” She arched her back and cried out as he captured her
nipple between his teeth and gently bit. “Stop making me wait.”

“That’s not what you need.” His tongue laved her nipple, first hard, then gentle.
“Tell me what you really need.”

“What... what the hell are you talking about?” Damn, but she couldn’t even think,
she had to have him so badly.

He moved to her other nipple, giving it the same attention he’d showered on the first.
Laving it, sucking it, nipping at it. “This isn’t just about sex anymore, honey.”

She barely realized he had released her hands as he moved his mouth down her flat
belly, over her shaved mound and to her leg. “Yes.” Rylie gasped as Clay’s tongue
flicked along the inside of her thigh. “I mean, yes, it is just about sex.”

“Uh-uh.” He continued swirling his tongue close to her swollen lower lips, but not
pressing inside like she wanted him to. “You can deny it all you want, but this is
a hell of a lot more.”

“Damn you, Clay Wayland.” Emotion and sensation whirled through Rylie as he tortured
her with his words and tongue. “I told you I’ve never believed in commitment, or anything
that goes along with it.”

He raised himself up on his elbows and his mouth quirked into a grin, his expression
confident. “But that was before you met me.” He trailed a finger down her shaved skin
and touched her hot spot, and she nearly came off the bed with the intense sensations
shooting through her.

Before she could tell him what an arrogant bastard he was, he lowered his head and
lapped at her, and she cried out from the excruciating pleasure. Oh, God, did his
tongue ever feel good as he licked and sucked, bringing her close to orgasm, and then
backing off and starting the whole thing over again. She slid her hands in his thick
hair, welcoming the distraction from their conversation, not wanting to examine the
feelings growing inside her.

“Clay, please.” Her hands clenched tighter in his hair, her thighs trembling from
the orgasm that was almost about to overtake her. “Please let me finish.”

A growl rumbled from his chest as he slid both palms under her ass and buried his
face hard against her.

Rylie screamed, her body jerking hard with every aftershock of her release. It seemed
as if her climax would never end. Her eyesight blurred, and she couldn’t see or hear,
only feel. He continued on, sucking and licking until a second orgasm sent her reeling
beyond the first.

For a moment, she could only stay there, perched on a precipice of sensations, unable
to move. Gradually, she came back down, her breathing harsh, heart pounding and blood
rushing in her ears. Her vision cleared and her awareness of the world around her
returned just as Clay eased up her body and propped himself above her. He watched
her, an almost serious expression on his handsome face.

Lowering his weight so that he was pressed against her, he reached up and stroked
her hair out of her face. “My little wildcat.”

“No.” She shook her head, not wanting him to voice the emotion she saw in his eyes.
“Don’t go there.”

Clay smiled. “Whether you want to hear it or not, I’m going to tell you exactly where
we’re headed.” He trailed his thumb along her lips, a slow and sensuous movement that
caused her to catch her breath. “I’m in love with you, Rylie Thorn.”

“You haven’t known me long enough to say that.” Her lower lip trembled. “It’s just
the sex. We’re good in bed.”

“Listen to me.” Clay put his hand over her mouth, his calloused fingers warm against
her lips. “I knew from the moment you walked into my office. You’re my woman.”

Rylie widened her eyes and tried to speak, but he only pressed his thumb tighter to
her mouth.

“I know you need time, and I’ll give it to you.” His smile was gentle, yet determined.
“But you’re not going to keep pushing me away, and you’re not going to keep pretending
this is all about sex.” She tried to shake her head, but he moved his hands and caught
her face between his palms. “You’d better get used to it, honey, ’cause you’re my
woman, and I’m your man.”

His kiss was hard and possessive, melting away her automatic denial. She gave in to
the sensations, and somewhere deep in her heart, she reveled in the knowledge that
this man had declared his love to her. That out of any woman he could have chosen,
he loved her.

God.
She was losing her mind. And the next thing she knew, she’d be losing her heart,
too.

“This isn’t just sex, Rylie.” He positioned himself at the entrance to her core, his
eyes locked with hers. “I’m making love to you.”