* * *

“I think I’m hungry,” I told him after.

“Again?” he asked. “By my count, you came twice.”

Grr.

He would be counting.

I did come twice, well, maybe three times or the second was just really long.

We were all tangled up so I detangled and I slid away from him and searched under the pillow. I found that Judy had not only cleaned but ironed the Night Stalker tee (who irons t-shirts?) and I tugged it on.

“For food,” I turned and looked at him. “Do you want food?”

“What did you make?”

“I was going to make steaks, green beans and au gratin potatoes. I only finished the potatoes.”

His eyes softened when he heard the menu and he said, “I could eat.”

I guess I scored a hit with the meal, even if I hadn’t been able to cook it for him.

I padded into the kitchen and went straight to the wine. I was struggling with the cork when he followed me in, wearing only his jeans. He took the wine from me and effortlessly uncorked it. I grabbed the glasses, set them on the counter and he poured.

I slopped a mess of potatoes in a bowl and nuked them. To satisfy my own hunger, I decided I would skip the potatoes and go straight to the pie. I sipped my wine and watched the microwave, feeling weird. We’d taken another step towards togetherness, the best step by far, but it still freaked me out.

“How was your day?” I asked, trying to cover my discomfort.

Boy, that sounded lame.

“Progress is better on my other cases,” he said behind my back.

The dinger went, I pulled the potatoes out, set the hot bowl on a folded towel and handed it to him with a fork. He leaned a hip on the counter and ate standing up.

I sucked down more wine and headed to the fridge.

“I’ve decided to work the Rosie case again. I’m gonna recruit Tex. He has good skills.”

By this, I meant he wasn’t scared of anything, including breaking the law. Not to mention, he thought I was a fun date.

I opened the fridge and slid out the pie.

Lee was watching me. “You didn’t say anything about pie.”

“Chocolate cream.”

He stared at me, fork frozen halfway to his mouth. Something was working behind his eyes. Whatever it was, he processed it and I could tell it pleased him but he didn’t share it with me. I let it slide, he’d tell me if he wanted me to know but it didn’t take a brain surgeon to realize he liked the idea that I made his favorite pie.

“Why are you goin’ after Rosie?” he asked.

“Because he got me into this and I’m sick of dead bodies and bullets flying. Everyone I love is scared for me and Rosie’s the key. I’m gonna root him out, kick his ass and then things will get back to normal.”

I walked to the other side of the kitchen, slid the pie on the counter and grabbed a fork.

“What you mean is, you’re gonna get Tex to kick his ass,” Lee said.

I considered cutting a piece but decided against it. It was just Lee and me, no reason standing on ceremony. I dipped my finger into the cream and turned to Lee.

“I could take Rosie. No problem.” Then I stuck my finger in my mouth.

His eyes dropped to my mouth as I sucked my finger. I cocked my head and grinned at him. He one-upped me by gifting me with The Smile. The problem was, The Smile was not only amped up with a good deal of warmth and intimacy, it was mega-watt with the knowledge of the great sex that had gone before and the promise of what was to come.

My legs got a little weak.

“Last time you saw Rosie, he was waving a gun at you,” Lee pointed out.

“Tex has a gun.”

“Tex has a shotgun. Civilians with guns are a little scary. Civilians with guns they don’t know how to use are very scary. Toting around a shotgun is just nuts.”

I shrugged, jumped up, planted my ass on the counter, crossed my legs and took another sip of wine. Then I picked up the whole pie, took a moment to decide where to start and decided to start with the best part. I grabbed the fork and I dug straight into the middle.

After about four bites, I lifted my eyes to Lee. He was holding his wine and watching me, his bowl in the sink.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you upset about me bein’ late? You went out of your way with dinner.”

“Nope,” I replied.

“You lie as easy as you breathe, be honest.”

I stared at him.

“Why would I be upset? Do I seem upset? You said you’d call when you were on your way home. I know you’re busy and you have a lot on your plate. I planned dinner accordingly. Nothing’s going to spoil. Jeez, Lee. I may fib every once in awhile but only when it isn’t important. It’s just dinner, not missing a Led Zeppelin reunion.”

He took a sip of wine and kept watching me.

I scooped out a huge wodge of pie and turned the fork toward him.

“Want some?”

His face changed and he set the wine aside.

“Yeah,” he said, coming toward me.

Holy shit.

I was thinking he wasn’t talking about pie.

I wasn’t wrong.

He took the fork and tossed it into the pie. Then he took the pie and set it aside.

“I wasn’t done with that,” I said to him.

“You can go back to it later.”

He pressed open my legs. I hadn’t put any panties on and I felt immediately exposed. He came between them, sliding my ass across the counter and the feeling went away as I felt his warmth against me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what he was doing.

“Dessert,” he said and he kissed me.

He tasted like wine, I was sure I tasted like pie.

I wasn’t lying, I wanted more pie but after he started kissing me, I didn’t miss it much.

One of his hands was steady at my hip, the other hand was working between us, he was undoing his fly.

“Brace your hands on the counter edge,” he told me.

“What?”

In answer, he jerked me forward, tipping my hips. I grabbed the edge of the counter quickly and all of a sudden, he slid inside me.

Now, I’m no prude and I’m no saint but I can’t say I’d had an adventurous sex life. At least, I’d never had sex on a kitchen counter.

It was fantastic, slightly naughty, slightly illicit and you knew in the back of your head you’d remember it when you were making coffee.

“Now who’s going fast?” I asked, wrapping my legs around his hips.

He ground his hips into me and it felt so fucking good, I bit my lip.

“Have anything more to say?” he asked.

I shook my head, then I said, “Wait a second, I do. Do that again.” His body went still and his eyebrows went up.

I put my mouth against his and said, “Please.”

Then I got another version of The Smile, the sexiest, the best and the most dangerous, the warm and intimate smile you get when Lee’s moving inside you.

* * *

After, we had pie.

Then, we had a shower.

What with wet, soapy, naked bodies, especially with one of them being Lee’s, things got out of hand and we tumbled out of the shower onto the bath mat.

After that, I said a silent thank you to the unknown Judy as the bathroom was sparkling clean and the bath mat smelled of fragrant drier sheets.

Later, we were in bed and I was pressed up against his side, his arm around my waist, my arm curled around his abs. I’d thrown a leg over his thigh and I had my head on his shoulder.

I was comfy, warm and very sleepy.

I felt good and if I allowed myself to think about it (which I did but only a little), I was happy.

“About you lookin’ for Rosie with Tex, I’m gonna have to ask you not to do it,” Lee said.

I didn’t want to have this conversation now. I was tired, very relaxed, maybe even happy, I didn’t want a conversation that might get heated.

So I ignored him.

He shook me a bit.

“Indy.”

“Mm?”I said into his shoulder.

“Did you hear me?”

“I heard you.”

He sighed.

“You’re thinking of cuffing me to the bed again, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I tilted my head to look at him without moving my cheek from his shoulder.

“Why don’t you want me looking for Rosie?”

“How many reasons do you want?”

“Two.” I was still relaxed but beginning to feel snippy.

“You don’t know what you’re doin’ and Tex is a fucking crazy man.”

“Both good points.”

Holy shit.

Did I say that out loud?

What was it with me? I was blurting out my honest thoughts willy nilly.

He rolled into me, his thigh came between my legs, forcing one of mine to hook around his hip and his hand went to my ass and pressed me to him. His other hand tucked my head in his neck.

I realized he thought I agreed with him and this was my reward.

It was a good reward, being held by Lee like that, really good.

He didn’t have to know that even though I agreed with him, I was still going to do whatever the hell I wanted to do.

* * *

I woke up when the bed depressed with Lee’s weight.

I opened my eyes and blinked at him.

“Coffee,” he said and I saw the steam rising from a mug he was holding.

I scooted up, arranged the pillows, pulled the sheet up over my chest and took the coffee.

I took a sip, it was strong.

“My hero,” I breathed into the joe.

“What are your plans for the day?” he asked.

Automatically, I lied, “I’m not caffeinated enough to have plans.”

He stared at me.

He knew I had plans.

He stood, he was wearing a pair of seriously faded, once-navy-blue sweats that rode low on his hips, bringing the tops of his hip bones out in sexy relief. The sweats had been cut off and the ragged edge hit mid-thigh. His hair was messy, not only with sleep but because I’d made it that way. With the sweats and the hair, I was beginning to feel mildly turned on.

He walked across the room and came back.

I took another sip and absently heard a clink of metal but was still not awake enough to process the noise.

The mug was swept away, my wrist was seized and halfway up to the bed stand when I realized he had cuffs.

Too late, he slapped it on my wrist and I heard the ratchet of the bracelet. I twisted but I heard the second ratchet and I was stuck.

I twisted back to him, pissed off.

“You’re kidding,” I snapped.

He slid in bed alongside me, pulling the sheet down.

“Nope.”

His hands were on me and his mouth came to my neck.

“Un-unh. No way.” I pushed at him with my free hand. “You aren’t gonna cuff me to the bed and have your wicked way with me.”

He grabbed my free hand by the wrist and twisted it behind me.

“Wanna bet?”

His other hand pushed the sheet over my hip and I was fully exposed.

“Are you gonna leave me here all day?”

“After… yeah,” he said into my ear.

Grr.

“Uncuff me!”

“No.”

“Lee, this is not funny. And anyway, morning sex isn’t working for us. You start this and someone is gonna buzz the door and tell you that The Alamo has been attacked and you’re gonna take off.”

His hand had wandered to my ass, his mouth came to mine.

“You’ll survive.”

“No I won’t!”

His mouth slid passed mine to my ear.

“You’ve done it before.”

“That was before I knew what I was missing!”

His head came up and he grinned at me.

Fucking Lee.

“I’ll uncuff you if you promise me you won’t go off looking for Rosie with Tex.” I opened my mouth but before I could say anything he said, “Promise me and mean it.”

I closed my mouth.

If I could have crossed my arms on my chest, I would have. Instead, I explained.

“Stevie’s mad at me because Tod was in the line of fire. Ally’s chasing down bad guys, totaling her Mustang. My life’s completely out of control and taking others with it. I can’t sit around and wait, I have to do something. I’m tired of being scared.”

I was trying to twist away. He threw a thigh over mine and pinned me, let go of my wrist, got up on an elbow and traced the line of my jaw with his finger, looking in my eyes.

He was deciding something.

“Then you work with me.”

My body stilled. Was he serious? Work with the Mysterious Badass Liam Nightingale?

“What?” I asked.

“We’ll look for Rosie together.”