Banged Up by Jeanne St James Read Free Book Online

drew her tongue against his. Their tongues met, dueled and fought, twisting and pushing against each other. Her hands moved up his chest to around his neck, one moving up to hold his head in place, before pressing, pushing him even closer. She couldn’t get enough of him. He wasn’t close enough. Not nearly close enough.
    He tasted good. His minty freshness was combined with his own flavor. Very male.
    She couldn’t put a finger on what it was. But she was savoring it. She liked it.
    Very much.
    He slid his hands along her waist, one moving to her lower back, the other to her ass.
    He pulled her against him so she could feel his cock through the cotton towel. He was heavy with need and ready. She let out a small sound but it was lost in their kiss. He tilted his hips slightly, just enough so she could feel him hard against her lower belly.
    Mace slipped his left hand from the small of her back to grab her other ass cheek. He gave them a quick squeeze, and lifted her without breaking the kiss, pressing her against him.
    Panic started to set in, to cloud her mind, when Colby realized she wanted to rip the towel off him and throw him to the floor. This was wrong. Wrong. She had only known him for a couple days at best.
    They needed to slow down. Take a breath. This shouldn’t be happening.
    Colby released his hair she held in a tight grip. She broke the kiss and gasped for breath. He was automatically moving to nuzzle her behind her ear when she said, “Stop.”
    He did. Immediately.
    He released her ass, which allowed her to lower her heels to the carpet, so she was standing on her own. He shifted slightly but hadn’t backed away yet. He tried to look into her eyes but she turned her head away.
    “You didn’t enjoy that?”
    “No… Yes… Yes, it was fine. It was very nice.” She couldn’t look at him yet. Not yet. He was still too close. Too hot. Too tempting.
    “Nice?” He caught her chin with his thumb and tilted her head to face him. He wore a lopsided smile. He wasn’t being cocky; he actually seemed a little worried about her reaction. And his response alone made her relax.
    “Fishing for compliments?”
    “Always.” He shook his head. “But seriously, I’m sorry if I came on too strong.”
    She didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say. Even though she had enjoyed every second, just as he did, she shouldn’t have. She shouldn’t have. She didn’t do these things with strangers.
    “Colby—”
    The house phone rang, making Colby jump. “The phone.”
    “Yes, I recognize the sound. Ignore it.”
    “What if it’s Maxi?”
    “Unlikely, but if it is, she’ll call back.”
    On the fourth ring, she said, “It might be Martin.” She slipped past him and hurried into her room. She climbed across her bed to reach the phone which was on the far nightstand. “Hello?” For a moment there was dead silence on the other end. Absolutely nothing. Then she thought she heard breathing. “Hello? Anybody there?”
    Her question was answered by what she now knew to be breathing. The hair on her neck stood up and she gripped the phone harder. Her heart frantically pounding, she shouted into the phone, “Who is this?”
    Mace apparently followed her into her room, because he was suddenly there in front of her snatching the phone out of her hand. “Hello?” A second later he slammed it down on the receiver. He stared at the cordless phone for a long moment, a muscle jumping in his tight jaw, before turning to her. “Must have been a wrong number.”
    He was probably right. It had to be a wrong number. No one knew where she was except for work. Even so, she couldn’t stop the tremors.
    Without a thought, she leaned past Mace to open the nightstand’s drawer and check for her gun. She removed it and yanked back the slide to make sure a round was in the chamber.
    “What the hell? You had more clips?” Mace ripped the gun out of her hand and put it back in the drawer, giving it a good slam shut.