StrongArmsoftheLaw (5 page)

“No. Gone, like yours. My mother, too. They were swell
people. You would have liked them and vice versa.” He hugged her. “I’ve had a
good life. I figure it’s my duty to help others have a good one, too, free of
worry.”

“You do a fine job of it, too,” she praised him, then went
for more info. “So who taught you how to make love to a woman so well?”

He drew away, one hand under her chin as he murmured, “You
did.”

She gave a little cry at his tenderness and put her lips to
his cheek. “How did you get to be so sweet, Ranger Martinez?”

“I credit my mother, ma’am.”

Tears came to her eyes. “She did a superb job.”

“My father taught me other things. How to ride. Rope. Shoot.
Told me to find a good woman and hang on to her.”

She dared to hope she was that one woman. For now. She
couldn’t bet on longer than that. She’d be foolish, presumptuous to hope for
more than that until this trial was over. But this interlude with Rex was too
dear, too stunning, too rare and new to let slip through her fingers
unappreciated. Unfulfilled. His care of her had soothed her. His fierce
take-charge attitude had strengthened her. His easygoing manner had lured her
to him as a companion—and now a lover. But the remembrance of the Gonzaga men
beating up those women in a bar and hauling them out to their car had Skye
trembling. Fear of the gang who vowed to kidnap her and kill her made her
burrow into Rex. “Don’t let the Gonzagas get me.”

“No man,” he vowed. “No man will ever take you away. I
promise.”

As if to show her how impossible that was, he crushed her
body to him as if he would absorb her. His kisses teased and probed,
intoxicating and fragile. Mindless, she drifted into a sensual haze thick with
Rex’s murmurs of how he cared for her and wouldn’t ever let her go. His hands
molded her, smoothed her. His lips savored and sucked. His tongue defined and
lingered over her nipples, now so sensitive with their love play that she cried
out, delighted. Drifting over her body, he briefly kissed her seam, sank a
finger inside her pussy and primed her, then rolled her over. Massaging her
shoulders, he turned her face and kissed her, hungry and demanding. Outlining
her rib cage, he caressed her waist and sank down to spread her cheeks and
stroke her pussy from behind.

She mewled and melted. He slid an arm under her hips and
pulled her up to sink down to kiss her asshole. Playing with her flesh, he
rimmed the edge with a finger, then titillated her with his tongue. Tapping her
rosy hole, he toyed with the entrance and put his thumb inside. Arching, she gasped.
He gave a sound of male satisfaction. “No one there, ever, either.”

“No,” she whispered as he flipped her over.

“Just mine,” he murmured.

Boneless, she lay on the bed watching him roll on the
condom. Done, he loomed over her. “You are the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.
The smartest.”

The warm and fuzzy endearments made her nuts with need. “If
you don’t fuck me fast, Ranger, I’ll be the long-gonest woman you’ve ever
seen.”

He put the head of his shaft at the entrance to her greedy,
eager pussy and said, “Tell me how you want to stay, Miz Chamberlain, ma’am.”
He drove all the way up inside her to make her gasp and clutch. “Tell me now.”

But she was speechless. Her mouth open, her hands straining
to bring him closer, her legs straddling him as he rode her fast at first,
hard, sweetly and then relentlessly. He was sure and swift, taking all of her
for himself and straining to give all of himself in return. He drove so hard,
so long into her, she came once in a low, wide ripple and a second time in crashing
waves that had her pussy clenching him, draining him, making her scream and him
cry out as she milked him.

And when they lay twined together, gasping and spent, she
ran her fingers through his hair and said, “Honey, you better tear up that
customer survey.”

“No good?”

“Irrelevant.”

Chapter Five

“Why do you think Sanchez hasn’t called yet?” she asked Rex
for the third time that afternoon, her fingers drumming on her laptop as she
sat on the sofa. “He’s more than an hour late.”

Jose Sanchez was the Ranger who worked this Gonzaga case
with Rex. For the past two months, Jose had been prompt and helpful, running
errands. Now, suddenly on the day they needed to have him buy something special
for them, he was missing in action. Frustrated, Skye jumped up from her chair,
plunked her tiny computer on the coffee table and marched to the window. Her
breasts jiggled, her areolas aching, hard and bare beneath her t-shirt. Buck
naked, just like Rex wanted her. She wanted to massage them, pluck them, she
was so primed to hop in the sack with him again.

She had never been so needy of a man. His laughter. His
caress. His attention.

“He’ll call, honey.” Rex sat in the chair across from her, a
forensics book in his lap. One, she noted with a wry smile, he had not read
much of this morning. “We’re not the only item on his list, you know.”

But we’ve used up the last condom in a sweet, long mating
worthy of a porn movie. And heaven help me, but I’m horny as hell once more.
She whirled to face him, an idea in mind to cure their problem. “I’m healthy.”

Rex’s dark slashing brows rose by tiny increments. His blue
eyes bored into hers. “Darlin’, that’s not the only—”

“Totally healthy,” she emphasized, going for broke here. “I
had a test—over two years ago. I haven’t been with a man since before that.”
Tell
me about you and then maybe we can—

“I am, too. Had a test four months ago.”

Her turn to raise her brows.

“I get the test every six months.”

Her brows arched higher.

He cursed, got to his feet and came toward her. “I did—
do
sleep with women occasionally. And every time I do, I go afterward to make
certain I’m good.”

“Well then.”
Four months since you last had a woman makes
me wildly, ridiculously, illogically happy.
A man like you needs good
loving more frequently than that because you can give it often. Very often.
Like twice within minutes.
“We can—”

He lifted her chin. “No, we can’t. I won’t take the chance.”

“No chances.”

“Yeah?” He gave her his Lone Ranger dark and disbelieving
look. “I noted you didn’t tell me you’re on the Pill.”

She pursed her lips.

“Truth here between us,” he pressed her.

“I’m not. No need to be.”

Sighing, he pulled her into his arms and cradled her against
him. Just the feel of those sculpted muscles had her shivering and dying to
strip him naked. “I’m gonna make love to you a thousand times. You’ll be sick
of me.”

She snorted, wrapping her arms around his waist, rubbing her
aching nipples against his chest. “I can’t wait any longer.”

“There’s only so much a man can stand.” He put her from him.

She crossed her arms, reached down and pulled her t-shirt
over her head. At the abrasion, her nipples blossomed higher and harder.

Rex’s blue eyes flamed, his gaze locked on her breasts.
“You’re beautiful and a temptation. But I will not do this to you. To us.”

“You could pull out before climax,” she urged on a voice
that was damn near a purr. Then she cupped her tender breasts and thumbed her
nipples.

He guffawed, took a step backward. “Oh, no. That’s not a
guarantee you won’t get pregnant. Besides, I don’t know that I’d have presence
of mind to withdraw.” His voice mellowed, his gaze adored her features. “You’re
so different for me, baby.”

Her heart lurched. “For me, too. You mean so much to me. Not
just the sex. That’s icing.”

His tongue slid across his lower lip. “Damn sweet icing,
darlin’.”

“So let’s—”

“Skye, hear me. If we’re going to have each other after
this, I want it to be because we want to be together. Not because we have to.”

“Rex.” Tears sprang to her eyes. When had she last met a man
who wanted to do all the right things by a woman? She only wrote about men like
that, created them as her private detectives in her crime novels. She followed
him, step by slow step to the wall. “Honey, I can’t wait.”

He wrapped his big hands around her wrists. “I won’t do this
without protection. Not with you. Not when we get so damn lost in each other.”

“You’re controlled,” she followed him, step by slow step to
the wall.

“You’re nuts.”

“For you.” She melted against him.

“That way is messy.” He was shaking his head.

And his cell phone rang.

He closed his eyes.

She shut her own.

Pushing her firmly from him, he walked to the kitchen and
picked up his phone. “Hey, man.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, we’re good here.
How are you?”

She took in a big gulp of air.
Okay. An hour, maybe less,
until we’ve had good old Jose Sanchez buy up the local drug store’s complete
stock of rubbers.
She shifted, straining her thighs together, her cunt
swollen, wet and throbbing.
You can wait. Can’t you?

“Yeah, we need the usual,” Rex said, opening kitchen
cabinets and the refrigerator. “Milk, cold cuts. Couple of steaks. Oatmeal.
Granola for the lady. And ah, one more thing.”

There was a pause. A long pause.

Was Rex not going to ask for them?

She pivoted for the kitchen. He stood, his arm up across the
refrigerator door, the cold air blasting out.

“No, no. I get it. Sure. Sure. No, we have enough until
later. Yeah. Call me when you can meet.” He shut the refrigerator door. Turned.
Closed his cell phone. His gaze dropping from her eyes to her bare breasts and
remaining there as he told her, “An emergency down in Marathon. Robbery.
Shooting. He’s got to go. The suspects took off, headed for Lajitas and the
border. The Rio is so shallow there, it’s usually a trickle in August. Jose’s
pursuing them now. Best to get to them before they cross into Mexico.”

Her mind understood. The rest of her objected like a
love-crazed teenager. Her pussy gushed fresh cream. Her nipples turned to
diamonds, stiff, cold and needy of his mouth. She was certain she sounded like
a rotten kid when she managed to ask, “And if he doesn’t catch them soon?
Today? What do you want to do?”

His gaze didn’t stray from her breasts. But his hands
flexed. And beneath his fly, his cock swelled so big, so fast, she moaned.

“Get your t-shirt.”

Her heart gave a silly cha-cha beat of joy as she watched
him grab his truck keys from the kitchen counter, strap on his holster and slip
his gun inside. “You’re going to buy supplies?”

“
We
are going to the store.”

Quick as a bunny, she whirled. Did as she was told. And
followed him out the back door. In the front seat of the pickup truck he’d been
given for this assignment, she settled in and scooted next to him.

“Over on your side, Miz Chamberlain, ma’am. Belt on.” He
revved the engine and gunned the 4X4 around the side of their house to the
street.

He hardly ever let her come with him. Was he planning to
have her in the truck?
Ouuuie.
She pressed her ass to the seat,
grinning. “What kind are you going to buy?”

“Whatever they have,” he said between clenched teeth.

“You know, I’d really like to try the ribbed ones.”

He shot her a look. “Ribbed.”

“Are they any good?” she asked, beaming.

“How the hell do I know?”

“I thought maybe one of your partners might have—”

“No one ever said. No one ever requested them, either.”

“Didn’t think they needed more than you, huh?” she teased,
giddy as a lottery winner.

“Hell, I dunno.” He was scowling now.

And she saw the reason why, too. “Shall I open your fly,
honey, and make it all better for you?”

“What?” he yelped as she put a hand to his thigh. “Stop
that!”

She retreated. “You’re a bear, aren’t you, when you’re hard
like that and—”

“You are impossible,” he muttered. “Now be a good girl, keep
your hands to yourself and no talking.”

“Not even if I need a chocolate shake from the Dairy Queen?”

“We are going to the nearest drug store. Period.”

“Well, if you buy me one of those flavored condoms, too, we
won’t have to stop for my chocolate fix.”

“I’ll fix you, lady.”

She crossed her arms and her legs to stop the thrills going
up her spine. “Oh, I know you will, Ranger Martinez, sir. And I,” she whispered
as she wiggled her brows at him, “am going to reward you for it. Big time.”

He stepped on the gas. “Woman. You’ll kill me yet.”

Not at all what I had in mind.
She tossed him a saucy
smile.

“Talk to me about something besides getting you in the
sack,” he said as he put his hand down between her thighs.

“Ummmmm. Well, let’s see,” she began as the heat from his
palm infused her flesh with flaming new desire.

“How about how you decided to write crime novels?” he asked
as he took his hand away to shift gears, then dropped it back between her damp
legs.

“Being an ER nurse I saw a lot of gunshot victims.” He
squeezed her thigh muscles and she squirmed. “Honey, if you want this story you
better not be teasing me or I will open that fly and suck you ’til you roar.”

Throwing her a cockeyed grin, he took his hand away.
“Better?”

“Yes and no. But yes is the operative word. So…”

“So. Tell me, Nurse Chamberlain.”

As the scenery rushed past their windows, she recalled her
first years in a hospital. “I did the women’s ward, saw a lot of abused wives
and girlfriends who had no idea how to get out of their circumstances. That was
about the time the medical profession began to pay attention to injuries that didn’t
seem natural and we began to offer counseling for those we suspected were
victims. Their stories were heartbreaking.”