Barefoot in the Sun (Barefoot Bay)(59)

“ ’Fraid so.”

“Why is she talking to him?”

Before Oliver answered, the redhead handed a file to the agent, who nodded and walked away, getting into his dark FBI-mobile and driving off without seeing them.

“C’mon.” Oliver pulled into a reserved spot next to the building, his jaw set in determination. He walked so fast that Zoe had to practically jog to keep up.

As he pulled open the doors, they found Johanna at the desk, fishing in her bag. She jerked up with a surprised look when Oliver walked in.

The offices were dark, clearly deserted for the evening.

“What did you give him?” Oliver asked.

She didn’t reply but shifted her icy blue eyes to Zoe. “She’s involved in a crime. I hope you know that.”

“You’re unemployed. I hope you know that.” He held the door for her. “You can leave now, Johanna.”

She didn’t even flinch, but scooped up her bag and walked by them, giving Zoe a wide berth lest she pick up a criminal germ or two.

When the door closed behind her, Oliver snapped one lock and then another.

“Long overdue,” he murmured.

“You know what else is long overdue?” Zoe pushed him against the glass and pressed her body up against him. “This.” Up on her toes, she kissed him with everything she had, getting an equally passionate kiss back.

“You like that I fired her,” he whispered into the kiss.

“I love it. And…” She inched back to look into his eyes. “I love…”

He lifted a brow, waiting.

But the words wouldn’t come out.

“Aw, Zoe,” he whispered. “You really need to see a doctor about this problem.” He lowered his head and kissed her again, deep and slow.





Chapter Twenty-five



Oliver kissed Zoe right across the marble floor, tugging up her T-shirt with one hand as he opened the door to the offices with the other; the hallway was even darker than the waiting room.

“I can enter the sanctuary?” she asked. “I don’t have an appointment.”

Laughing, he eased her into the wall and pushed his whole body against hers. “This is an emergency. The doctor will definitely see you now.”

She smiled into his kiss, flattening her hands on his chest and bunching his shirt, pulling it from his trousers. “I’d like to see him, too.” She attacked his mouth with hers, like she was as starving for a taste as he was. “Every inch.”

He led her down the hall and into his office, locking the door behind him with a crisp and meaningful click even though he was certain everyone was gone by now.

She glanced around with a questioning look. “Couch? Wall? Desk? Or from that pretty chandelier?”

“Yes.”

Laughing, they came together, kissing while she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed back the sleeves and he made his way under her top to caress every bit of skin beneath. Planting his lips under her jaw, he sucked the salty sheen, then licked his way back to her mouth.

“You gotta pick your poison, doc,” she whispered. “Fall to the floor?”

“Not for what I have in mind.” He walked her across the office, knowing that what was on the other side would surprise her. “My favorite patients get special treatment.”

He opened a door to the tiny studio apartment he’d had finished when he’d first moved to Naples. It was dimly lit by shuttered windows that let the last whispers of dusk reveal a king-sized bed.

“Well, well, well.” Zoe checked it out as he ushered her straight to the bed. “Doc’s got a secret crib.”

“When I first moved here I lived in this room.”

She sighed. “Lonely.”

It was. And Zoe had no idea how many nights her memory had kept him company. “Convenient.”

“It is now,” she agreed. They stood together for a moment, suspended before the big fall, heat coiling between them.

“Here’s my problem, doc,” she whispered. “I can’t say three little words.”

“That’s a symptom, not the real problem.”

She closed her eyes in acknowledgment. “No wonder you’re in such demand. You’re so good at diagnosing.”

“Damn right. We know the problem,” he said. “Now we have to figure out…” He lowered his head and placed his lips on hers with an air-soft kiss, flicking his tongue over her lip. “Why.”

He added enough pressure to force her mouth open, then he slipped his tongue inside and curled it around hers. “So we need a very careful…” He eased her onto the bed. “Examination.”

As he stood over her, he rolled up his sleeves, like there was work to be done. Pulling him closer, she finished the last of his shirt buttons and slammed her hands onto his chest with an appreciative moan.

“When did this problem start?” He lifted her tank top, dragging it over her breasts and sliding it over her head.

“A long time ago.”

He reached around, unsnapped her bra, and slipped her out of it. “Be specific.”

“A very long time ago.”

Laughing, he took a few seconds to enjoy the sight of her breasts, pink and round and tipped by perfect nipples, before dipping his head to suckle her sweet, salty skin.

“Have you ever told anyone you loved them?” he asked.

“I tried. I wanted to.” She gripped his head and lifted it to look at him. “I almost did. …”

“But you couldn’t.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know why.”

Without answering, he kissed his way over her belly to her skirt, tonguing her belly button while he unsnapped, unzipped, and undressed her.

Once she was gloriously naked, he straddled her, his shirt hanging open and his pants tented with an erection. She reached for his belt buckle, but he seized her wrists and gripped her, shaking his head.

“I’m still asking questions. Do you think these words you can’t say?”

She nodded slowly.

“Do you whisper them to yourself?”

Biting her lip, she nodded again.

“When?”

She looked down at his trousers again, which made him harder. “When…I…when…you…”

“When you’re with Wild Bill the vibrator?”

Fighting a smile, she looked up at him. “Yeah.”

“So you can say you love me when I’m not there, but now you can’t?”

“Pretty screwed up, isn’t it?”

He grazed one pointed nipple, earning a shudder in response. “I can fix this.”

“Of course you can,” she said with a laugh, but quieted when he placed another hot kiss on her stomach and worked his way down, kissing her hipbones and stroking her skin with his tongue, suckling her enough to pull a groan of need from her chest.

He lifted his head and gave her a sly smile. “Part of the problem is down here.”

“What seems to be the problem?”

“It’s hot. And wet.”

“And right now, it aches like hell.”

“Definitely something I can fix.” With one slow stroke of his tongue over her swollen flesh, her legs instinctively widened. He licked again and again, lost in the sweet and unexpected flavors of Zoe, feeling her body vibrate under his hand and mouth, on the very edge of an orgasm that damn near dragged him to one himself.

Seconds before she lost it, he kissed his way back up her body, lingering over every precious inch.

“Now let me work on this…” He returned to her breasts and placed his mouth right over her heart. “Up here.”

He turned his head and pressed his ear to her chest. “This heart sounds perfect to me now.”

“Beating fast enough,” she agreed.

“Then our problem must be…” He crawled up her body and put his hands on her face again, tapping her temples with his index fingers. “Right here.”

Which was what they both knew anyway.

Closing her eyes, she pumped her hips once. “Can’t you just fix me with…” Another pump. “That.”

Not good enough. He wanted to hear the words, wanted to watch her mouth as she admitted what he had long ago realized. “Just say the words to me, Zoe. Say the words you think in your head and whisper when you’re alone. Tell me.”

“Oliver, why do three overused words matter so much to you?”

Didn’t she get it? “The words don’t matter, Zoe. I don’t want this to be…meaningless.” That’s what mattered to him. “For so long I’ve gone through the motions and felt nothing but a natural release. But with you, Zoe, I feel…everything. I want you to feel it, too.”

“I do.”