Page 85 of Ace of Spades
“The key word there ishusband. You’re not one, so you’re not the boss of me.” She moaned as he massaged her scalp. “God, that feels good.”
No, he wasn’t one and he never would be, but the thought put a weird tug in his chest that he didn’t understand. His brothers were outrageously happy in their marriages. Had either one ever worried they’d be like their father? It wasn’t something they’d ever talked about, but now he wondered if that had been an obstacle they’d had to overcome.
“Lean your head back so I can rinse the shampoo out.” Maybe he’d ask them if that had ever been a concern. First, though, he had to finish what he’d started, find out what had happened to their mother. Then he might or might not sit down with his brothers and dredge up their past and whether they had any reservations about getting married.
He eyed the bottles on the shelf. “Conditioner?”
“Yes, please.”
When he uncapped the conditioner, the aroma he always associated with her wafted up. Curious, he read the label. Lemon verbena. He brought the bottle to his nose and sniffed. “I like this scent,” he said.
“Thanks.”
So far, he’d done well ignoring that she was naked, but once he was finished with her hair, it was time to move on to her body, and that was going to be impossible to ignore.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, hoping if they talked, he would be able to rein in his desire. She’d been unusually quiet, and he was starting to worry.
“I miss my girls.”
Interestingly, so did he. More than he ever would have expected. He poured a generous amount of body wash into his palm, then rubbed his hands together.Listen up, dude. When you touch her, remember that tonight’s all about her. No play time’s on the agenda.
“We’ll call them in the morning, tell them to come home.” He gritted his teeth as he soaped her body, but when she turned and looked up at him with those blue eyes filled with desire, he came within a hair’s breadth of losing control.
“I don’t understand you,” Taylor said. Not since her mother had anyone bathed her, and it was hard to keep her walls up when he was being so considerate and gentle with her. She wanted to sink her tired body into him, but he was keeping a foot’s distance between them.
“What don’t you understand?”
“Why you’re here. I thought we agreed that we didn’t have a relationship.”
“I didn’t agree to anything of the sort.” He stepped in front of her and made a quick job of washing himself. After he rinsed off, he turned and faced her. “I told you we have to talk, but not tonight.”
Their shower done, he grabbed the towel and dried her off, then himself. A few minutes later, she was tucked up against him in bed.
“I forgot to feed Henry Too.”
“Already did. Go to sleep.”
He caressed the sensitive spot under her ear with his thumb, making her want to purr.What a weird nightwas her last thought before drifting off.
“He won’t talk to anyone but you,” Rothmire told her as she stood with him and Nate, watching Tompkins through the one-way mirror. The man stared straight into the glass, letting them know he was aware they were there.
Again, she was struck by how next-door-neighborly he appeared. Killers should look deranged. Even better if they had a bigXon their foreheads. But Wayne Tompkins was a nice-enough-looking guy,although there was nothing outstanding about him. He wasn’t a man you’d remember an hour after passing him on the street.
“Well, let’s get this over with,” she said.
Nate frowned as he studied the man. “Want me to come in with you?”
“No, he’ll just refuse to talk until you leave.” Nate grunted his displeasure, but remained where he was as she headed for the interrogation room. With her back to him, she smiled. He’d been so gentle and caring as he’d taken care of her last night. And when she’d thought there was no way she’d be able to sleep with everything that was on her mind, she’d slept like a baby in his arms.
This wasn’t a time to be thinking about Nate, though. She needed her wits about her when she sat across from Wayne Tompkins. Pausing for a moment, she cleared her mind, then walked into the room.
“I hear you’ve been asking for me.” She pulled out the chair, sat, and then looked him in the eyes.
“Hello, Taylor. I trust you slept well since we last met?”
“Like a baby.” She rested her arms on the table and leaned forward. “Not the answer you wanted to hear, is it, Wayne?” He was trying to toy with her, but they were going to play this game by her rules.
His lips thinned for a second, then he lifted his arms as far as the chains wrapped around his wrists and then his waist would allow. “If you take these off, I’ll answer any question you ask.”
