Stolen: A Novel of Romantic Suspense (32 page)

He stared at the back of her head, scowling. “Are you?”

“Yes.” She turned to look at him, a faint smile on her face. “Why do you sound so surprised by that?”

Elliot jerked a shoulder. “Doesn’t seem like I’m making things any easier.”

“This isn’t meant to be easy.” She slid her fingers through the dark, choppy strands of her hair before linking them in front of her neck. Lifting her gaze to the ceiling, she sighed. “My best friend has been missing for two years, Elliot. And I didn’t know. I’ve talked to somebody who sounds
just
like her. How is that possible? How did I not know?”

He studied her. “Is that rhetorical, or are you asking me for ideas?”

“I don’t know.” Lowering her hands, she met his gaze and said again, “I just don’t know. Hell, I don’t want to
think
about this for a while. I don’t want to think, I don’t want to dream. I’m tired but I know if I lie down, I’m going to have all of this in my head, and then what?”

Closing the distance between them, he rested his hands on her waist.

“Well, if you’re open to the idea, I’ve got a suggestion or two on something that might help both of us sleep,” he murmured.

A smile tugged at her lips, a little nervous. A little shy. But heat bloomed in her eyes. It was a deadly combination, Elliot thought. And yeah, this right here … this was what they needed to do. Forget about the craziness they were caught up in and get caught up in each other for a little while.

“Why don’t you tell me about these suggestions of
yours?” she murmured, laying her hands against his chest and stroking them down.

“I’ve got a better idea.” He caught her around the waist and boosted her up. “Why don’t I show you?”

She pressed her mouth to his and murmured, “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”

EIGHTEEN

S
HE
’
D ALMOST VISITED
L
ORNA THE NIGHT BEFORE
.

Almost.

But Darcy had stood outside and heard the phone ring, then listened to the conversation … courtesy of some of the toys she liked to play with.

Elliot.

She’d been talking to Elliot, and then she’d started to pack. While she was packing, she called her boyfriend.

Darcy knew about the boyfriend. He was a cop in that Podunk little town.
Shit
. Not what she needed just then. But she knew when to retreat. Smart women knew when to do that, after all.

Lorna could wait.

Since she knew Shay was most
definitely
not around and wouldn’t be coming back for a little while, Darcy was going to take care of other matters—like finding those fucking passwords.

Getting past Shay’s security system wasn’t the problem—she had the code. “She didn’t think to change
that
one,” Darcy muttered. She still couldn’t believe Shay had gone and locked her out of everything. After all the stuff they’d shared, after all the work she’d done for Shay. “How can she not trust me?”

No, getting past the security system wasn’t the issue;
it wasn’t even using the bump key. After all, Darcy had used that before, too. Using it in the dark complicated things a little, but she managed.

No, the
problem
was when she got inside and couldn’t find the damn passwords.

Shay made notes
everywhere
.

And as expected, Darcy found plenty of notes.

She found notes on stories.

Notes on all the sites she’d changed the passwords on. But not the passwords.

“Where the hell are they?” Darcy whispered. They had to be somewhere. Had to be.

Fury burned inside her. “Think.” She needed to think. Sitting down at the computer, she turned it on, keeping an eye on the driveway. Although Shay wasn’t in town, she couldn’t risk being seen. She’d parked her truck around the back and the snow was coming down steadily. In no time, nobody would be able to see the tracks left by her truck. As long as she was in and out, everything would be fine.

But she needed to get back in the damn site.

This was a new experience.

Shay woke up sprawled over more than half of the bed, twisted in the blankets, her legs tangled with Elliot’s and her head resting on his chest. He had his hand curved over the back of her neck and hers was low on his belly.

Very low.

She flexed her fingers and then bit her lip as she felt the head of his cock.

Heat burned inside her.
Damn
. All these years with her libido lying dormant and she was ready to go for a third round with him in less than twenty-four hours. She needed to get a grip.

Closing her eyes, she told herself to get out of bed. She
needed to shower. Get her game face on and all of that, because today was going to be sheer hell. They had to go to Ann Arbor and find Darcy’s family. Talk to her mom and see if she could find any answers.

No time for fun and games, right?

That was what she told herself.

Except she wasn’t listening.

Biting her lip, she slid her hand lower and closed her fingers around the warm, rigid flesh of his cock.

“You’re awake,” Elliot mumbled, his voice husky with sleep.

“No. I’m sleep-groping.”

He slid his hand down and closed it around hers, guiding her hand into a slow, steady rhythm. “Well, if that’s the case, let me help you out there …”

She laughed softly. “Worried I’ll wake up and stop?”

“Yes.” He arched his hips, moving into her palm. “Fuck, that feels good.”

Abruptly he let go of her hand and shifted, sitting up and urging her onto her back. He watched her, with that careful, intent stare that seemed to see straight through to her soul.

She eased back, smiling at him. “I thought you were enjoying the sleep-groping,” she teased.

“I think I want to do some groping of my own.” He settled between her thighs, lowering his head to nuzzle her through the shirt she’d tugged back on before falling asleep. “These tank tops you like ought to be illegal, I swear. Why do you even bother?”

“Huh?”

Instead of answering, he closed his mouth around one nipple, tugging on it with his teeth. He teased and toyed until he had her gasping, and then he shifted to the other one and repeated the treatment. “I can see right through them,” he muttered. “And it just makes me want to do things like this.”

With a shaky laugh, Shay said, “Well, if wearing a tank top is going to incite that kind of behavior, I’m going to buy even more of them.”

“As long as you only wear them for me.” He moved lower, shoving the blankets out of his way.

But when he went to press his mouth to her sex, Shay tangled her hands in his hair. “Elliot—”

He pressed his lips to her hip bone, gently. “Shh …”

He eased back to her belly, rubbing his lips along her skin. She jumped as he stroked one hand up her knee, catching her behind her thigh and spreading her open. Blood rushed to her face and she squirmed.

She reached for him, but all he did was meet her hand and twine their fingers. “You’re so fucking pretty, Shay,” he muttered against the skin of her hip. “So damn pretty. Fuck, just let me …”

She flinched as he went lower. Bucked as she felt his breath stir the curls between her thighs. “Hush, baby,” he whispered.

“Elliot—”

The strangled cry bounced off the walls and she bit her lip to keep from making another noise, painfully aware of how late it was, of the fact that other people were sleeping on either side of the walls.

Then she forgot all about them—all about
everything
as he stroked her with his tongue.

Blood rushed to her face.
Too much, too much—

She tangled her hands in his hair and went to jerk him away, but then he groaned against her, sliding one hand under her butt to arch her closer as he muttered, “Let me, Shay, I’ve dreamed of this …”

The naked, raw need in his voice gutted her. And she closed her eyes. Tried to forget just
what
he was doing and just let herself feel …

That was all it took.

Shocked, desperate pleasure slammed into her as he
swirled his tongue around her and then pushed it inside. She clutched him closer and drove her heels against the bed, arching to meet him as something hot and wickedly sweet unfurled inside her.

Closer—closer—

But right before she went screaming into it, he stopped.

“With you, damn it,” he growled, crawling up the length of her body and settling between her thighs.

Gasping for air, she stared at him as he hooked his arms under her shoulders and caught her head between his hands.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he rasped.

Shaken, Shay did just that and then cried out as she felt the head of his cock nudging at her gate. His gaze sought hers out, glittering and hot, all-consuming. Slowly, he pushed inside one slow inch at a time as she stretched around him and arched against him. She sucked in a desperate breath just before his mouth took hers.

“Hold on to me,” he said against her lips.

She reached for him, clutching at him with a desperate grip.

As he drove himself home, she choked out his name, barely able to find the breath for even that.

He pulled out and surged back inside. Slowly at first, and then faster, and she arched to meet him. She clawed at his shoulders, straining to get closer. It wasn’t enough, not nearly.

She could get lost inside him and it would never be enough.

One burning, hungry kiss after another stole her breath away. Overwhelmed, she was lost in him … lost
to
him, but it was wonderful. It was everything.

That burning, sweet oblivion raced closer but stayed tauntingly out of reach. Tearing her mouth away from Elliot’s, she cried out in frustration.

He raked her neck with his teeth and pulled away.

Shay swore, but then he eased her over. Startled, a little nervous, she shot him a wary look over her shoulder. “Trust me,” he whispered, nudging her onto her hands and knees.

Because it was him, because she could, she held still and then had to bite her lip to keep from screaming as he drove inside her again. Deeper, harder, fuller. One hand came around and she stiffened as he teased the hardened peak of her clitoris.

“That’s it,” he muttered, twisting his hips and surging deep. “Damn it, you’re so fucking soft … do that again—”

She whimpered and clenched her inner muscles again, shuddering as he rewarded her with another teasing stroke against her clit.

“That’s it … aw,
fuck
 …”

He tightened his grip on her hip, leaned into her, and moved harder. Faster—

With a gasp, Shay went flying. Spinning out of herself.

It might have been terrifying. But she felt his arms come around her.

And even as she shattered into a thousand pieces, he was there to hold her together.

“You should have worn that skirt.”

“What skirt?” she asked absently as she stared at the emails that had amassed in her inbox. She had a headache, just thinking about dealing with them.

“That long denim one you like so much,” he said, glancing in the rearview mirror before cutting over into the other lane.

Frowning, she looked over at him. “Why should I have worn it?”

“Because if you had …” He laid a hand on her thigh, then slid it up until he was cupping her in his hand.

She gasped, sagging back in the seat. Her lids drifted down low and she muttered, “Oh …”

“Would have made the drive a lot more interesting,” he teased.

Swallowing, she let her chin drop down to her chest as he rubbed the heel of his hand against her. Yes … yes, it would definitely have done that. “Well, it’s definitely a better option than going through email.”

He teased her for another few seconds and then pulled away. “Yeah. Too bad you didn’t wear the skirt.”

Shooting him a dark look, she shifted in the seat. A hollow ache throbbed down low in her belly and she ended up crossing her legs just to ease it a little. “That was mean,” she muttered.

“Then why are you smiling?”

Absently, she touched her lips before looking back at her phone. “I’m plotting my revenge.”

“I can’t wait.” He glanced at the phone. “What has you glaring at the phone so hard?”

“Email,” she muttered glumly. “Lots of it.”

They lapsed into silence, him playing navigator while she dealt with all those messages.

After about ten of those, she hit a spate of reader emails and breathed a little easier. It was much easier to respond to those. Up until she hit one that wasn’t an email.

It was a picture.

Just looking at it—

Elliot just happened to glance over at her in that second. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have seen the way she suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth or the odd, greenish-white tinge to her skin.

He cut across two lanes of traffic and she barely got out of the car in time. He heard the wail of sirens approaching, but ignored them as he ran around the car. Shay was on her hands and knees. As he knelt beside her, she tried to wave him off. He ignored her, stroking her hair back from her face.