Page 105 of The Rescuer

Moments later, the porch lights flicked on, and he was back inside the truck. “Everything looks normal. The light switch was off. So was the switch for the back door.”

“I guess I’m a little jumpy.” As she exited the truck, she filled him in on what she’d seen at the rec center earlier. “Do you think I’m being paranoid?”

“No, I think whoever has been targeting the clinic has you spooked, and that’s completely natural. Youshouldbe on alert. Youshouldbe hyperaware of anything that’s out of the norm. And if Pearl barks her pittie head off, take her seriously.”

Neve smiled to herself. “That’s going to take a bomb going off.” Pearl was the mellowest pit bull Neve had ever met.

“Even more reason to pay attention if she raises an alarm.” Reece’s voice took on a determined edge. “Another thing: Tomorrow I’m putting up cameras at the clinic and here.” When she began to protest, he placed his fingers against her lips and shook his head. “No argument.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into his hard planes as they trundled up to the front door, their gaits mismatched, so they swayed together like a pair of drunken Miners Tavern patrons. Before she stepped inside, she couldn’t stop herself from glancing over both shoulders, expectation high that she’d spy something moving in the shadows. She saw nothing. The air shimmered with an icy calm.

But she couldn’t shake a feeling of dread, like frosty fingers feathering over her neck, yanking up each fine hair to stand at attention.

Chapter 28

Dishing Dirt

The following evening, theywere blissfully alone. They cuddled together on the couch watching an old holiday movie—Christmas in Connecticut—their awkward dinner at the Hunnicutt holiday gathering and shadowy figures dressed like ninjas pushed to the back burner for now. Reece relaxed his frame into the couch, his bare heels resting on the coffee table, while Neve half-sprawled against him on her side, her torso a comfortable weight, legs bent on the couch and tucked under a blanket with Mr. Whiskers making himself at home on her hip. A tranquil, domestic scene his soul readily sank into.

Neve pointed at the TV. “That could be us.”

Reece idly sifted his fingers through her hair, one of his new favorite things to do. “How do you figure?”

“Well, she’s a career woman pretending to bemarried—”

“Big difference: Youaremarried. Like irrevocably, solidly married.”You’re mine.“And you’re not falling for a soldier.”

She rotated her head and blinked her denim blues at him. “What are you saying?”

His thoughts went one way while his mouth went another.Let’s not get a divorcesounded in his head, but doubt and common sense kept him from saying it aloud. Instead, he gave her what he hoped was a seductive eye waggle—hopedbecause he was new at this relationship stuff and didn’t have a bank of experience to draw from or measure against. “I think it’s time I drag you off to bed and lick my way up your body.”

Her eyes widened, and no wonder. He wasn’t the kind of man who said shit like that on the regular. Then again, he hadn’t been the type of guy to lay around and play with a woman’s hair for hours withI love yousrolling around in his head. This was a level of intimacy he’d never indulged in. Only with Neve did this side of him come out.

And he liked it.

Judging by the flare of lust in her eyes, Neve liked the new guy too. At least she was excited by him, a fact reinforced by how her nipples tightened under her tight-fitting, silky long-john top. To confirm what his eyes reported, he circled his thumb pad over a peak—which made his mouth water like a Pavlov dog. The sight also fired up the man in his pants. So did his imagination when it shifted to how her body was a supple, pliant, welcoming thing he couldn’t get enough of. And fuck, was she responsive! His cock thickened even more merely thinking about it.

He’d never been with anyone who reacted to even his smallest touch the way she did. Or were his touches simply different with her? He didn’t know, didn’t care. He just knew helovedmaking love to her. Sex was no longer a means to a physical end. With her, it had become something greater than both of them; it had also become an addiction. A way to show her how he felt about her. A way to let her know what his words couldn’t: that he was falling for her, just like Dennis Morgan was falling for Barbara Stanwyck on the screen.

But fuck the movie.

Real life snapped into place when Neve rolled fully onto her back, inviting him to touch more. Meanwhile, Mr. Whiskers adjusted his position so he lay across the lower part of her pelvis.

Reece snaked his hand under the top, inching it up to expose her sweet skin as he went. Yeah, he’d deal with the conundrum that was their relationship later. Right now he had his gorgeous, vibrant woman to take care of, and he couldn’t wait to climb inside her.

As he leaned over her parted mouth, ready to lick into it, he gave Mr. Whiskers a gentle shove. The cat complained loud enough that Neve sat up and lowered her brows at Reece. “What did you do to him?” Mr. W gave him a one-eyed glare from the other side of the couch.

Reece widened his eyes as innocently as possible while his fingers continued caressing Neve’s silky stomach. If he played his cards right, she’d settle back down and forget all about the damn cat. “Nothing. I have plans for that part of your body, and he was making an obstacle of himself. Better I move him now than later. Now lie back down so I can show youexactlywhat I have in mind.”

His phone chose that moment to chime with a tone he reserved for his parents.

Neve scrambled from the couch as if they were teens and his parents had physically walked in on them. “You better get that.” She snatched the phone from the table and handed it to him.

Reece grumbled about interfering parents and scanned the message from his mother. He read it aloud for Neve. “Jill Carlisle has time tomorrow at two for a phone conference, and Dad wants to know if he should book the time.”

“The attorney? She works on Saturdays?”

“Apparently. So do you. Does that timing work with your schedule?”

---