Sweet Seduction Shield (21 page)

"Do I...
what?"

"Taste
divine?"

Oh God. How
the hell did I answer that?

"Um..."

He chuckled,
the rumble coming from deep within.

"Yeah, I think
you'll taste divine," he declared. Then I lost all train of thought
as his lips finally met mine.

Firm, hard,
soft, gentle, purposeful. A nip, a stroke, hot breath, hotter
tongue. The world burst apart as his mouth devoured mine. Tingles
starting in my fingertips, ending up at my toes, and exploding
everywhere in between.

I groaned
before I realised the sound was coming out. He stoked the fire,
slanting his head, searching with his touch, tasting what I had to
offer.

And if I tasted half as good as he did, then he was
right;
divine
. Although I was aware
that the taste he'd referred to was not on my lips, in my mouth.
Which made me blush and wonder if he'd locked the door. And if he
had, did he intend to take advantage of our privacy and... taste
more?

Panting, I met
him stroke for stroke, touch for touch, taste for taste. Climbing
up his body, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around
his neck, hands up into hair, fisting. Chest to chest, groin to
groin. A blast of heat and fire and sparks of electricity arcing
between us, just as he promised.

"I want you,"
he rasped against my lips. They felt bruised, smoothed, plumped up
on his touch. "Tell me you want me too?"

God, yes! I
did and I was adult enough to admit it.

"Yes," I
breathed.

"Yes
what?"

"Yes I want
you too."

And then my
feet were on the floor, his hands were on my upper arms, steadying
me or holding me away from his body, I'm not sure. And his forehead
came down to rest on mine.

"I want you,"
he repeated. "But I want all of you. Including your beautiful
daughter."

He was
breathing rapidly, flushed, wild eyed. Sexy.

I sucked in
air while I tried to understand his words, his meaning. The intense
look in his eyes.

His thumb came
up and gently rubbed over the furrow in my brow. He smiled; a
small, sensual smile.

"Marie," he
murmured. The sound of my name, right then, on his lips was erotic.
"I want to be a part of your lives. Not just a satellite. Not just
a fading star. I want to be your sun. And I want you to be
mine."

I blinked up
at him, unable to form words. Unable to comprehend what he was
saying. But knowing in my heart he couldn't have said it
better.

"Now get
dressed," he ordered, making a startled and disappointed breath of
air escape me.

His thumb
found my open mouth and gently closed it with a press against my
lip and a finger grip on my chin. He could be so commanding
sometimes, in such a tender and intimate way.

"I need to
catch Dominic before he leaves. I've got an idea," he murmured a
little distractedly, then pulled me close again for a quick
kiss.

I missed the
electric one. I realised just then, that he was right. I wanted
more. I wanted it all. And I wasn't going to let him go either,
even though I hadn't had a taste yet.

Heat flushed
my cheeks and he let a sexy growl out. His lips giving me exactly
what I craved in the next instant.

When he pulled
back finally, it was with great effort, and a husked promise of,
"Later."

Then he was
out the door and gone, and I was left feeling shaken. But
conversely thrilled.

I stood for
several long moments in the middle of the room, my shirt from
earlier discarded on the floor. I hadn't even realised I'd dropped
it, when I'd climbed his body like a monkey and delved my fingers
through his hair. But there it was, on the floor taunting me. A
bubble of laughter sprang from my lips, a smile spreading them
wide. Despite what lay ahead, despite the unknown danger that
lurked, I was happy. A deep seated happiness from right inside my
heart.

How was that
even possible?

I shook my
head, dumbfounded, and reached down to pick the shirt up off the
floor. And before my mind could conjure up any more beautiful
recollections, I started to get changed, putting on dark jeans and
the dark shirt, and following it all up with a dark jacket. I'd
hidden the ledger in the most inappropriate place. A place Roan
McLaren would never dream of looking. But to get it, we'd have to
blend in, use the shadows and hope we didn't get seen.

I'd taken a
risk hiding the book where I did, but sometimes the most
ridiculously simple places are the most overlooked.

When I came
out to the kitchen everyone was once again sitting around the large
dining table, this time drinking cups of coffee and nibbling on
muffins Abi had obviously made.

"I can't
promise anything," Dominic was saying, as he stood up from his
chair. "This isn't a Police TV drama, you know. Real life
situations involving immunity are few and far between in New
Zealand law. But I'll do everything that I can."

"That's all we
can ask," Pierce said, shaking Dominic's hand and offering a
man-thump on his back.

"I'll be in
touch," Dom said, turning to look at Genevieve as she leaned
against the bench, mug in hand. "Walk me to the car,
sweetheart?"

A knowing
smile curved her lips and she hurriedly placed her cup on the
bench, and then followed her man out the door.

Pierce pulled
a chair out beside him and started to pour me a cup of coffee,
adding the milk and sugar without having to be asked. I saw the odd
look from the women around the room indicating they hadn't missed
the familiarity he showed.

"You'll eat
some dinner before you go?" Abi asked.

"That's the
plan," Pierce replied, nabbing a muffin and placing it on a plate
before me.

I tried to
hide my amused smile, but failed. Pierce just raised an eyebrow and
then sipped from his own drink.

"Any idea how
you want to play this?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Pierce
said. "We go in, we have a few beers, we look like we're there for
the atmosphere and Marie gets the book while the rest of us shield
her from view."

"Easy," Adam
remarked, but I think it might have been a little sarcastic.

"What if it's
not there?" Nick asked. "It's been a while since you checked on it,
Marie."

"The Birdcage
never changes," I replied, sipping my drink and receiving a "Here,
here!" from a couple of the guys at the table.

"Why on earth
did you choose a Police bar?" Ben asked, his arm draped over Abi,
as they leaned against the bench.

"It was either
that or Mt Eden Prison carpark, but the odds of one of McLaren's
men frequenting the prison for any reason, were greater than the
bar."

Ben grunted an
amused sound as he smirked into his mug.

"Why didn't
you just put it in a safe deposit box?" Adam asked.

"Because
McLaren could trace a registered box back to me given the right
circumstance."

Silence met
that statement, we were all aware of what kind of circumstance
would enable a thug like McLaren to get that sort of information
out of me. It wasn't a pretty picture, but for a moment we all let
the images have free rein. Sometimes reinforcing why we were here,
what was at stake, helped to put things in perspective.

McLaren was an
evil man, capable of evil things. That ledger was proof enough of
that.

"And once
you've got the ledger?" Nick asked, directing his question to
Pierce.

"That's where
Dominic comes in. I won't proceed if Dominic can't hold up his end
of the plan."

I wasn't sure how Dominic intended to persuade the Crown
Prosecutor that I could avoid
indictment.
How he could organise such a thing without letting them know
what information I held and about whom. But he obviously had an
idea of how to go about it, or he knew someone, another lawyer
perhaps, who did. Either way, it was my only hope of doing the
right thing and surviving the fallout afterwards.

Nerves were
still getting the better of me. Gut wrenching, soul destroying
nerves. I was walking a precarious tightrope between right and
wrong. The desire to stay on the side that didn't threaten to tear
me away from Daisy was unfathomable. But the need to finish what I
started over five years ago, make McLaren pay for the death of
Rick, and give Daisy a reason to respect her mother, was just as
great.

Unfortunately
I vacillated between the two. Right in this second the need to
protect my daughter and stay out of harm's way to do it was
winning.

The room began
to disperse once afternoon tea had been consumed, the ASI men all
heading off to prepare, the women all moving into the lounge to
pass the time with conversation. It was just Ryan, Daisy and me
left at the table, and although I was trying my best to hide from
Daisy the nerves that kept churning inside me, Pierce could see
right through my shields, like he'd been able to from the very
first day.

But rather
than call me on it, he turned his attention to my daughter and
started helping her finish her latest drawing. This time there were
no penguins in it, but a colourful stylised picture of three people
standing under a Cherry Tree, the pink blossoms brightening the
paper and even tumbling to the ground at their feet.

"Who's this?"
Ryan asked, pointing to what was obviously a little girl.

"Me," Daisy
replied, cheerfully, taking extra care to paint a smiling face on
the little girl.

"And this?"
Ryan asked, although I was sure, like me, he knew exactly who Daisy
was drawing.

"That's
Mummy," Daisy announced, colouring in my light brown hair, but
unfortunately making me look a little frazzled when she was
done.

"Very pretty,"
Ryan said, his eyes on me and no longer on what Daisy was doing. I
returned his smile, I couldn't help it.

"She is, isn't
she?" Daisy remarked and then purposely started colouring in the
third person's beard.

"And who's
that handsome fellow?" Ryan asked, returning his attention to the
drawing and pointing at the last figure. It was taller than the
other two, larger, and more colourful. And most definitely a man;
long legs clad in blue for jeans, short hair and the all important
goatee beard.

"You," Daisy
whispered, suddenly sounding nervous that her creation wouldn't
meet his approval.

"Really?"
Pierce asked, adding a hint of shock to his voice. "But he's way
too good looking to be me."

I huffed out
an amused sound and rolled my eyes. Ryan chuckled.

"What are we
doing, Princess Daisy?" he asked, eyes back on my child.

"We're having
a picnic," she announced. "Every Sunday in the park. You come with
us and Mummy makes us a pie to eat, and then you push me on the
swing."

And there it
was, the little swing from Abi and Ben's backyard, hidden behind
the three smiling figures.

"That sounds
like a wonderful life," Ryan said softly. "I think I'd like
that."

"You will,"
Daisy declared imperiously, living up to her Princess tag.

"So would I,"
I whispered, holding Pierce's gaze.

Neither of us
realised that Daisy had stopped finessing her drawing, and was
instead flicking glances between our faces. Until she announced,
"I'm going to show Abi. Leave you two alone."

I closed my
eyes and gently shook my head, as I heard Pierce laugh out loud.
Then the scrape of Daisy's chair brought me back to the room, and I
watched my matchmaking daughter slip out the door, heading towards
the lounge.

"Well," Pierce
said, breaking the silence left in Daisy's wake, "I can see a lot
of you in her."

"Really?" I
asked, imitating his tone from earlier.

"Yes," he
replied, with a small nod of his head. "That determination when you
set your mind to something. That confidence when you're trying to
hide how important that something is. I saw it in you that very
first day," he whispered, shifting his chair closer to mine, so the
length of his thigh ran down the length of mine. "When you stayed
under your desk, determined to sort those cables out, even when you
knew a man was watching your every move like a horny teenager."

"You mean
watching my butt," I pointed out, just as his warm palm landed on
my thigh and started to sensually stroke.

"Yes," he
agreed, bringing himself even closer, a hot breath away from my
cheek. "I openly admit I was ogling your arse, but it was what you
were doing, not how you were doing it, that intrigued."

"What do you
mean?" I said, a little breathlessly. Every puff of hot air out he
made sent tingles through my body. The urge to lean closer was too
great. Before he had a chance to answer, I'd manoeuvred my cheek
within touching distance of his lips, forcing a sweet peck.

A rumbled
laugh followed the kiss.

"Your focus on
the task despite distractions," he murmured, interspersing his
words with more pecks of his lips against my skin. "But this is
where I stray from the similarities between you and your very
astute daughter," he added. "Because even when you came out from
your hiding spot and saw me, no doubt already putting two and two
together to figure out why I was there, you never crumbled, you
remained focused, confident, entirely untouchable." A nuzzle of his
nose in amongst my hair. "So untouchable I wanted to do just that,
so very much."

"Ryan," I
said, as his hand swept up my spine, sending shockwaves of
electricity through my frame, and then his fingers entwined in my
hair holding me captive.

"Say that
again," he husked, lips nibbling my jaw, my ear, the corner of my
mouth.

"Say what?" I
said, sinking into the moment, uncaring if anyone were to walk in
on us right then. Ryan could do so much with so little. A simple -
or not so simple - kiss, stole all reason, completely.