God, she loved his smile. She always had. He was freer with it now than he had been, which was good for him, and bad for her control. She'd always been a sucker for a man who could make her laugh. She slammed the brakes on that alarming and dangerous line of thought.
Jericho's breath caught. She shot a sharp glance at him in time to see him jerk his chin aside to stare at a tree as they passed another couple. She arched her eyebrows, but immediately recognized the chief of police and his wife, Aubrey. She smiled and nodded as they walked by, but the two were absorbed in each other and barely spared her a glance before they disappeared around a bend in the path.
«Your most recent conquest. Nicely done, by the way.» Her eyebrows lifted higher. «You're in a different disguise, Jericho. They won't recognize you.»
He grunted. «It's the eyes. No matter how many faces I wear, I've never gotten the eyes to change color.»
«And it's a distinctive color. That is a problem.»
«Not usually.» He shrugged. «I move around with my assignments, so I'm not in one place long enough for anyone to notice.»
True enough. Travel was the name of their game. «But you finished up with them, and there was a local project that fell in your lap.»
«Something like that.» Suddenly his eyes narrowed, flattening to a cold pewter. «You knew I was in town and you avoided me.»
Damn. Caught. She hurried her steps, heaving a sigh of intense relief as the inn came into view. She kept her voice light, her tone dismissive. «I gave you a hand. Not that the chief needed any urging, but when he asked about Aubrey's dating habits, I filled him in, encouraged him a little. I am the town gossip, you know. Information sharing is what I do. I also used the dachshund I was dog sitting for a friend to trip her up and get her carried into his house for their first date. You're welcome.»
«You avoided me.» The words shot from his mouth like bullets, and she felt his muscular body tense. He dragged her to a stop in front of the B&B.
«I had my own assignment to deal with. There was no need to interact with you, no need to draw attention to ourselves.» She set her jaw at a stubborn angle, daring him to refute her. His gaze heated with the challenge, and she almost groaned. Challenging Jericho was a mistake and she knew it. That was how she'd ended up flat on her back the night they'd met.
«Yes, there's no need to draw attention to ourselves. We shouldn't make a scene.» His hand lifted, and he stroked a single fingertip across her cheekbone, trailed it to her jaw, and down her throat, where she knew he could feel her pulse pounding. His movements were slow, giving her the chance to pull away. She didn't. God, she craved him. She always had, and it stabbed at her heart to realize she always would.
She swayed toward him, her brain short-circuiting as an image of them in the privacy of her bedroom, in her bed, formed and refused to leave.
«It's not working, acting as if this is about our job. I want you too much to pretend I haven't been hard since the moment you walked into the restaurant tonight. You're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.» His voice dropped to a low, silken purr that stroked over her nerves, exciting her, soothing her.
Her eyes closed as his words washed over her, undermining all of her righteous bitterness. Whether she liked it or not, she reacted to this man. No one could make her angrier, faster. No one could make her hornier, faster. This many months of celibacy only made it that much harder to resist the magnetic pull he had on her by just standing there and breathing. When he said things like that to her, used that tone of voice, it made fire flood her.
Swallowing, she glanced away and squeezed her thighs together to quell the ache between them. It was a wasted effort. «We're in public, Jericho. Don't forget when people look at us, they see an old lady and a gay man.»
«Then let's go somewhere private because within the next five minutes you're going to be under me, whether we're in public or not.» That stroking finger moved over her lips before curving under her chin and forcing her to meet his gaze, the steely, relentless determination that shone there. «I want you stripped and spread for me. I want my tongue in your mouth while you scream and sigh and moan. I want your nails digging into my back when I slide into that tight, wet little pussy of yours. I want to fuck you until neither of us can stand. And then I'm really going to get started on you.»
She wanted that. All of that. So much that every other thought fled, her hormones rioted, her body overruling her mind.
They made it to the small guesthouse behind the inn that she used for her home before he had his hands all over her, but it was a close call. The door hadn't even swung shut before his mouth covered hers and his tongue thrust between her lips.
A moan ripped from her throat. He tasted the same-like honey and hot, wicked man. Like heaven on earth. Like Jericho. She twisted her fingers in his silky hair, holding him in place while she tangled her tongue with his. Her body burned, ached with emptiness, wetness flooding her core until she thought she might cry if he didn't fill her soon. She rocked herself against him in shameless abandon, her nails digging into his scalp as she sought to communicate her need. He groaned, but didn't slow down.
His palms slid over her back, one dipping down to cup her backside and lift her body into his. The rigid length of his cock rubbed against the juncture of her thighs. A low, choking cry issued from her throat, and she rose on tiptoe, wrapped one leg around his hip, and tried to ride his erection through both their pants. God, she craved him as much as she ever had. More. She ground herself against him in a desperate search for orgasm.
He made a rough, guttural noise, both hands on her ass, lifting her off her feet so she could twine her legs around his lean waist. Stumbling forward, he pressed her back to the wall and rolled his hips against hers, rubbing his cock right where she needed it. Stars burst behind her closed eyelids, pleasure swamping her in a rush. They still had all their clothes on and she was a heartbeat away from shattering.
She arched helplessly in his arms, her mouth ripping free of his as she writhed against him. «I'm so close, Jericho.»
«Not yet, Tori. Not yet.» He tugged at her legs, disentangling himself from her grip. She moaned a protest, her nails digging into his shoulders. His voice was a deep rasp in her ear, his accent thickening with his lust. «I want to be inside you when you come for me, darlin'. I want to feel it.»
A sob ripped from her throat, and she clutched at him, her head rolling on the wall. Lust slammed into her in waves that threatened to drown her. «Hurry.»
His hands were busy on the fly of her slacks, wrenching open the zipper and shoving them and her panties down her legs. He lifted her out of her loafers and braced her against the wall again. Her legs automatically wrapped around his hips as she tried to keep her balance, but there was no balance to be had with Jericho. There never had been.
«I can't wait.» His words were little more than a breath of air against her lips before he claimed her mouth again. The smooth, hot head of his cock nudged against her slick folds. She had no idea when he'd unfastened his own pants, but she didn't have time to wonder as he slammed deep with one hard thrust. Her back bowed in reflex to the sudden invasion, the thickness of him painful after so many months of celibacy. But even the pain became a slicing, white-hot blade of pleasure. She screamed for him then, just as he'd wanted, the sound high, thin and wild, smothered by his mouth.
He pounded into her, his movements fast and rough and so damn exciting she knew she'd come in minutes, seconds. A sob caught in her throat at losing this connection so soon, emotion she didn't want to feel ripping at her control. His fingers bit into her ass as he hitched her higher against the wall, changed the angle of his penetration, made it even better for her. He hit her G-spot with every thrust, and his tongue still moved boldly in her mouth, his honeyed flavor assaulting her, his masculine scent filling her tortured lungs with every gasping breath.