Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(78)

Her chin lifted. “Have I asked you for a list of ex-lovers? Huh?”

“My lovers might not be involved in murders. Murders.”

“Pete isn’t involved. He’s the cop investigating the case, for God’s sake. Not some—”

“The guy investigating,” he repeated, and she could hear the banked fury in the words. “The guy who happens to know about every single piece of evidence we’ve got. You think cops don’t go bad?”

Pete wasn’t just a cop, though. He was her friend.

“Did you sleep with him before Carter?” He fired the question at her. “Or after?”

She swallowed. What did this matter? “After.” Three months after. The three-month anniversary. They’d just had one night.

“Who else?”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Someone you work with? You—”

She shoved him back and used enough force that he staggered. “Watch it, GQ.”

His hands snaked out. He grabbed her and pulled her close. “Am I just another in a line for you? Never good enough, because I’m not him?”

The question blasted between them, and she sucked in a breath. Then…

Silence.

His eyes squeezed shut. “Christ, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You’re damn right you shouldn’t have.”

Kenton’s eyelids lifted, and he stared at her. “I can’t think when it comes to you. I’m not like this. I—” He took a breath. “From the beginning, I was lost when it came to you.”

Her own breath rasped out. “And you think I wasn’t?” Was the man blind? “I wasn’t ready for you. Hell, I still don’t think I am, but when we’re together… lost, yeah, that pretty much sums up the way I feel.”

“Lora.” No man had ever said her name like that. Like it was breath. Life.

“You’re not a standin for anyone.” That first night… “I wanted to forget. I tried with Pete.” She’d be brutally honest because he deserved that. “It didn’t work. The next day, I just felt…” Dirty. Ashamed. “Empty. Then I met you. From that first moment…” Jeez, she’d punched him. The heat had surrounded them, and she’d struggled to get him out of that fire. “You got to me.”

His gaze seemed to bore into her, and there was so much heat and intensity in his eyes.

“The more I’m with you…” This was what she’d needed to tell him. “The more I want you, Kent.” Stark truth. “I’m not using you to forget anyone or anything, because when I’m with you, I can’t remember anything else.” And that was her shame. That was why she’d gone to the cemetery.

To say good-bye.

“This isn’t me. I’m not the jealous type, not possessive, not—” His head lowered toward her. “I can’t even think of the case. Just you.” His lips skated over hers. “Just you, and when I think of you with someone else…” His breath blew over her cheek. “This isn’t me.”

Maybe it was just him without all the fancy trappings.

“Carter was my best friend for seven years. I worked with him, day in and day out. He saved my ass. I saved his.” As she spoke, Kenton watched her. “Then we became lovers, and I loved him.”

His body was so still.

“Everything with him was so simple. Dating, becoming involved.” No fear. No uncertainty. Not with easygoing Carter. She’d always known how he felt and always known that he was there for her.

Then he’d been gone.

“You’re not easy,” she told him and meant it. “You drive me crazy. You make me want you so much that I want to scream.” Her fingers wrapped around his shoulders. “But it’s not easy. It’s scary and wild, and I don’t know what to expect next.”

He caught her hips and lifted her up. Kenton set her down on the edge of that long table. “You’re the kind of woman who can make a man beg.”

“I don’t want you to beg.” She held his gaze. “I just want you.”

His fingers tunneled under her hair. He tipped her head back, and he kissed her. His tongue thrust into her mouth, and it was what she wanted.

He was what she wanted.

Kenton pushed between her legs. She pressed closer and tightened her mouth on him. The kiss took. Claimed.

Hers. Because she was the possessive type, and Kenton was most definitely hers. She knew it, deep inside. Her sex moistened for him. Her nipples ached, and she wanted him. It didn’t matter where they were or who waited down the hallway.

Dark need. Hot passion. Wild with him, always wild.

He might say she tempted him and pushed him past his careful reserve, but he drove her right to the edge.

And made her want more.

So much more.

She grabbed his hips and arched closer against him. Lora opened her mouth wider, and her tongue slid against his.

His left hand smoothed down her body and paused over her racing heart. His fingers feathered over her breasts, and his touch made the flesh ache even more.

“I want you naked.” His words, but they could have been hers. “I want you alone,” he whispered as his lips hovered just above her mouth. “I want you spread out on the bed. And I want to make a f*cking feast of you.”