Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(58)

They needed to get started. Right now would be a very good time.

His hand clamped across hers where it gripped his thigh. He dragged it up, placing it on the bulge of his erection.

Their eyes locked. He offered her his body, silently asked for hers.

She didn’t know under what terms. She no longer cared. He could do anything he wanted. Right here in the parking lot, with a hooting, jeering audience. She wanted to rip his clothes open, let the broad club of his penis fall out into her hand, hot and hard, the skin suede soft, so sensitive. She wanted to lick the thick, gnarled purple veins. To suck on him. To climb on top of him and ride. Bend over and have him fill her from behind, bracing herself against the storm of pounding violence. She needed it bad. She needed it now. She reached for his belt buckle.

“I see you’ve wasted no time.” The low voice was faintly amused.

Sean jumped, so violently that he bumped his forehead against hers. “Shit,” he hissed, rubbing her head. “Sorry, babe.”

A young man stood outside the Jeep, with somber dark eyes, a memorable nose and long, shiny black hair that blew loose over his face. He gazed at her with intense curiosity. She blushed hot crimson.





Chapter 12



“J esus, Miles.” Sean struggled up from his slumped position, rubbing his forehead. “You practically gave me a heart attack.” “You told me to meet you here,” Miles said. “You begged me, bullied me, guilt-tripped me. Told me it was a matter of life and death.”

Sean rubbed the bump on his forehead, willed the blood in his groin to redirect itself into his brain. Just enough for minimal, baseline function. “Still is,” he growled. “It’s just your timing that sucks.”

Miles’s grin came and went swiftly. “The next time I bust my ass at five AM to do you an incredibly difficult and inconvenient favor, I’ll try not to interrupt the sex.” He peered in, and gave Liv a shy smile. “Hi.” He shot Sean an uncertain glance. “So, uh, that’s her?”

“That’s her,” Sean said. “She was abducted this morning. I followed a beacon in her shoe, up to Orem Lake. Got there just in time.”

“I’m real glad that the trauma didn’t put any dents in your libido.”

Sean made an impatient growling sound. “Shut up, Miles. It’s not about that. I was just creating a pretext for her to be half-naked.”

“Convincing,” Miles commented dryly. “Did you waste the guy?”

Sean winced. “He got away. Or we’re the ones who got away. I’m not sure who racked up more points this round. Hey, Miles. Be a real man. Give the lady your shirt. Do I have to tell you everything?”

Miles looked down at his flapping, oversized gray shirt. “Oh. Uh, sure.” He unbuttoned it quickly, revealing a tight black T-shirt beneath, and passed it through the window to Liv. “It stinks like smoke,” he said apologetically. “I was doing sound for an acid punk band. Those degenerates were sucking on blunts all night long between sets. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Thanks so much.” Liv wrapped it around herself.

Miles held up a big pink plastic paddle with a key dangling from it. “You guys want to see your room?”

“God, yes,” Sean said. He scanned the parking lot. Big Belly and his pal had climbed into their rigs and taken off, and the parking lot was empty and clear. He jumped out of the Wrangler and leaned into the backseat, shoving T-Rex’s Beretta into his kit bag, and loading up everything that could conceivably be useful while on the run.

He and Liv followed Miles to the room at the end of the long, low building. Miles opened the door, and gestured them in with a flourish.

The room was small and stale, smelling of dust and damp and old cigarettes. He had a pang of regret that he hadn’t thought of someplace nicer. He suppressed the niggling doubt, closed the hotel room door, locked it, threw the bolt. This was just a hole to huddle in, to lick their wounds. And maybe some other sweet tender bits, if he got lucky.

Miles pulled a set of car keys, and flung them to him. “Here you go. Your reasoning being that nobody on earth would ever believe Sean McCloud would drive such a * car?”

“Something like that,” Sean said. “And you’re not telling anybody. I threw my beacon away. I’m off the grid. Get it?”

Miles’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t ask me to lie to Con or Seth or Davy. Those bastards are mind readers.”

“I’ll contact them soon,” Sean assured Miles.

“The trick will be thinking of something to tell my parents,” Miles said glumly. “They just gave me the damn car ten hours ago.”

“Say you lent it to a cute girl,” Sean suggested. “It’s pathetic, but credible. And literally true.” He glanced at Liv. “I’m doing this for her.”

Miles rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. The desire to get laid is the fuel that powers the universe. The Sean McCloud credo.”

A crack like that usually slid right off his back, but today it stung.

Sean shot Liv a nervous glance. She was carefully not looking at him, perched on the bed, her body virtually tied in a knot, her hair draped like a curtain around her face. Her mouth tight. Not good.

“Don’t bust my balls,” he growled. “It’s been a shitty morning.”