Rocky remained silent.
Layne went on. “I was in surgery, then unconscious. Tell me, Roc, what were Tripp and Jasper like when you saw them at the hospital?”
She spoke then. She whispered, “Shut up, Layne.”
“You recognize the look in their eyes?”
“Shut up.”
“See that somewhere? The mirror, maybe?”
“Go to hell!” she shouted and whirled, her hair flying out behind her, she stomped to the door, unlocked it and yanked it open. Standing there holding it, she turned back to him. “Get out.”
He walked right up to her, wrenched the door out of her hand and slammed it. Then he moved into her, she retreated and he backed her up until she was against the wall and he kept going until their bodies touched. Then he caged her in, one hand flat against the wall at her waist, the other one at her shoulder.
She put her hands on his chest and then she put pressure there.
“Step back!” she demanded.
“All that worth it to you? You think your Mom would be proud?”
She stared in his eyes and she did this awhile.
Then she answered softly, “Yes.”
He felt his brows shoot up. “Yes?”
“Where’s Daddy going?” she asked in a high-pitched, fake little girl voice. Then she went on to answer her own question in her normal voice. “Out to get the bad guys, baby. Your Daddy wears the white hat, makes the world safe for all the mommies’ precious babies…” her hand slid up his chest, his neck, to rest curled around his jaw, “just like you.”
Jesus. Cecilia said that to her, touched her like that.
Jesus.
“Roc,” he whispered.
“She was proud of him.”
“Rocky.”
“She was proud of what he did.”
“Roc –”
“He goes to work, every day, sits down by Colt, Mike, Sully, Sean… Merry. He sits down and puts on the white hat and pretends he’s a good guy. Those boys, they face danger every day. They get to wear the white hats. He doesn’t get to do that, Layne.”
“He’ll go down,” Layne assured her. “Give Merry and me time to regroup.”
“You’re exposed.”
“Give us time to regroup.”
“There isn’t time.”
“There is.”
“This spreads,” she told him the truth. “One goes down, others will follow. If they don’t, a dirty cop taints the whole team. Word gets out –”
“Let Merry and I get our bearings.”
“No.”
“Fuck, Rocky!” he exploded, pounding his palm against the wall by her shoulder. “You have no fuckin’ clue what you’re doin’. Merry’s already swung his ass out on this one and you know what happened to me. We need to cool it. You’re putting the entire operation in jeopardy.”
She again fell silent and did it apparently forgetting she still had her hands on him.
He didn’t forget, both of them burned right into his skin.
He didn’t say a word.
They went into stare down and he realized he’d forgotten this. When she left him, he’d glorified every memory of her. He’d forgotten she could be unbelievably fucking stubborn and he’d forgotten just how incredibly annoying that was.
Back in the day, he had several outs to a stare down with Rocky. The one he used most frequently was to tickle her. His second top runner was to kiss her. Once, he’d been so pissed, he’d caught her up in his arms, walked to the couch, turned her over his knee and spanked her. The first two he enjoyed and, if he stuck with it, which he always did, she eventually did too. The last served to piss her off to such an extreme, she attacked him, which eventually ended with them doing something a whole lot different than fighting, something they also both enjoyed. It had been the best sex they’d ever had. To the point where it gave him option four, when they were in stare down, to break it, he’d ask if she needed a spanking. The memory cut through the stubborn, her breath would start getting heavy just thinking about it and she’d end up kissing him.
He didn’t have any of those options open to him now, she wasn’t backing down and he had to get her hands off him or he’d put his on her.
“Merry’s out on a date, Roc, I think it’s safe you use his bed,” Layne remarked, pushed away from the wall, walked to the door and tugged it open, turning to her to see she was still pressed against the wall where he left her. “Lock this after me,” he ordered then he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Chapter Four
Robin Hood
“Layne,” she begged.
Layne sucked her nipple sharply into his mouth.
“Layne,” she repeated on a moan.
He lifted his head and looked toward hers. It was pressed back into the pillows, her neck arched.
“You promised,” he murmured.
Her head came up and her eyes came to him, unfocused. Christ, she was turned on. It was written all over her face.
He felt his rock hard cock start aching.
Then he put his mouth to her, trailing his lips down her belly. He stopped and kissed her right above the dark triangle of hair between her legs.
She lifted her knees and dropped them to the sides, offering herself to him.
Fuck, but he loved her.
He settled between her legs and slid his finger lightly through her wetness.
Her hips bucked then her body moved with agitation.
“Layne,” she said again.
He looked up at her and she was staring at him, need stark on her face. Her hands were clenching the slats in the headboard, what she’d promised. Layne got to touch, to taste, to lick, to suck and she held onto the headboard – no matter what.
“You promised, baby,” he reminded her again, using his finger to retrace its path.
A low sound came from her throat and her head fell back.
Layne grinned.
Then he looked down at her, opened her with his fingers and used his tongue to do the same thing he’d done with his finger.
Her hips surged up, his mouth closed over her, he pulled deep and then growled with satisfaction against her when he heard and felt her come.
Layne’s eyes opened.
He was on his stomach and his cock was hard. Again. And aching. Again.
He rolled to his back, muttering, “Christ.”
He stared at the ceiling. It felt like he’d been asleep for two minutes which was about as long as he actually had been asleep since he’d spent most of his night thinking about Rocky, some of it arguing with her and the rest of it pissed at her.
Even so, he still had a dream. All of them were different, some hotter than others, but only by shades and degrees.
This one, however, was the best so far.
He put the dream out of his head when he heard the boys’ shower going. He turned and looked at the clock. Six twenty-seven and they were up on their own, or at least one of them was. A miracle.
He gave himself a minute to get his body under control then he got up, went to the bathroom, did his thing, went to his dresser, grabbed a tee, tugged it on and left his room. He checked Tripp’s room first. Light on, bed unmade, clothes and shit everywhere, Tripp not there. The shower was still on so he walked down the hall to Jasper’s room and found it the same as Tripp’s. Light on, room a mess, Jasper not there.
He walked down the stairs and halfway down saw Blondie outside, panting against the glass, body swinging side to side, tail whipping around. He walked directly to the sliding glass door but turned to see Tripp was emptying the dishwasher. Another miracle.
“Hey Pal,” Layne greeted.
Tripp looked at him and smiled. “Hey Dad.”