Long, Lean and Lethal Read online

“What’s that mean?” Rain glanced down at her hand and then twisted the simple narrow gold band around her ring finger with her thumb. She didn’t hear Noah moving in the bathroom. Her heart picked up a beat when she wondered if he was listening.

  “You’ve got to know how hot you are,” Jimmy said instead of explaining his comment.

  “You’re not bad yourself,” she offered, returning the compliment but instantly finding herself comparing Jimmy to Noah. There was no comparison. Where Noah was dark, mysterious, and brooding, Jimmy was easy, always grinning, and playful. Hands down, though, Noah was much better looking.

  Jimmy chuckled, drinking in the compliment. “You’re intelligent and easy to talk to. Any man would die to have you at his side, Rain,” he added, suddenly sounding serious.

  Rain didn’t like where this conversation was going. The bathroom door opened and she straightened, feeling the urge to jump off the bed.

  “Honestly, I would push this relationship to the next level if it weren’t for your job,” Jimmy said as Noah appeared in the doorway.

  The look on Noah’s face showed he’d been listening to the conversation. “We’ve all got to work,” she said, and realized she still played with the ring on her finger.

  “True,” Jimmy offered. “Your job is a bit more intense than most. If a man weren’t incredibly comfortable with himself, what you do might appear to be a threat to him.”

  “I wouldn’t be attracted to a weak man anyway,” Rain said, aching to end the conversation now. “I’m not sure when things will settle down,” she added, hoping that would encourage Jimmy to let her go and agree to contact her later.

  “Let me know when they do.”

  “Sure,” she said, drinking in a deep breath while acutely aware of Noah leaning in the doorway, making no qualms of listening to her conversation. “Talk to you soon,” she offered, needing to get off the phone. Noah’s intense stare had chills rushing over her flesh.

  “Sure thing, sweetheart. Call me as soon as you can.”

  “Okay. Bye-bye.” Rain hung up the phone and dropped it on the bed next to her.

  “I guess it makes sense you would have a lover,” Noah said, his expression neutral as he studied her.

  “He isn’t a lover.” Rain slid off the bed, already regretting taking the call.

  “You’ve never fucked him?” Noah tilted his head, a challenge in his voice.

  “Does it matter?” She moved over to the computer. His gaze followed her. She swore wherever he looked on her body it burned deep into her flesh, creating a swelling need that started throbbing deep inside her. “I’m sure you have a history, too,” she added, praying that would end this conversation.

  Noah had an uncanny ability to move in on her without making a sound. She barely registered him in her peripheral view before his strong arms wrapped around her waist and he pressed his half-nude body against her backside. Rain stilled, unable to breathe or fathom a thought when his mouth lowered to her nape.

  “There’s nothing wrong with history,” he growled, raking his teeth over her flesh. “Yes, I have history. And it’s nothing I wish to discuss. It’s current events that matter. I’m not going to make love to a woman who is in love with another man.”

  “I’m not in love with him,” she uttered, but then immediately realized that sounded like permission for Noah to fuck her.

  When she tried walking out of his grip, Noah spun her around, damn near knocking her off her feet before he slid his fingers around her neck, tilting her head back slightly with his thumb under her chin.

  “That’s a very good thing,” he rumbled, and then captured her mouth with his.

  FIVE

  Noah flipped over on the couch and then growled out loud. It was still dark outside. But if he lay there another minute, or even tried falling asleep, he’d wake up even stiffer than he was now.

  And Miss Hot and Elusive Cop Lady rested peacefully in that large bed down the hall. Noah stood, letting the blanket that was wrapped around him fall to the floor, and stretched. Then scratching his bare chest, he stared through the gap where the front curtains didn’t meet and into the darkness outside.

  Somewhere out there, someone lived knowing they’d murdered at least four people. They knew they were being hunted. Were they sleeping right now?

  It was the psychological part of a case that got him off sometimes more than researching and narrowing down the list. Why was each one of those people killed? And what kind of person possessed the confidence to keep killing?

  Walking barefoot down the hall, Noah glanced at the closed bedroom door. Rain slept in there. He could open it, climb onto that bed, and seduce her until she forgot to tell him no. He doubted it would be that hard to do. Rain wanted him possibly more than he wanted her. But her stubborn streak glowed in those pretty baby blues of hers as strongly as her craving for him did.

  Padding barefoot into the bathroom instead, he stared at his reflection in the darkness and then scrubbed his thick brown hair. He could stand for a haircut, but conforming to the standards of Bureau appearance didn’t appeal to him. Most of his work was undercover, and the less he looked like a cop the easier it was to move among civilians and not make anyone jumpy.

  He headed back to the living room and grabbed his cell to check the time, noted that it was almost 5:00 A.M., and decided that wasn’t too early to start his day. Again temptation riddled him as he stared at his phone. It was hard saying what would happen at that potluck tomorrow night. He wasn’t sure he wanted to watch Rain willingly allow someone else to fuck her, though, when she was repeatedly telling him no. Scratching his scalp some more, he glared at the closed bedroom door before stomping into the bathroom. If he closed the bathroom door loud enough to wake her, that was a damned fucking shame.

  The clock on the computer screen said it was after seven when the bedroom door across the hall opened and he glanced at Rain as she ignored him and headed to the bathroom. Noah returned his attention to the list in front of him that he’d worked on for the past hour or so.

  There was a sense of warped satisfaction when he picked up his coffee cup and sipped and waited for Rain to see that he’d finished off the pot of coffee and hadn’t made more. He frowned when he heard the refrigerator open and then Rain popped open her can of Diet Dr Pepper. She seemed to be able to gather her caffeine fix from her soda as easily as a cup of coffee. So much for his warped satisfaction.

  Rain appeared in the doorway a moment later, wearing her short, snug tank top that was damned near see-through and her loose-fitting shorts with a tie string that hung on her slender hips. Her being barefoot, with long, slender legs and perfectly shaped thighs, added to the sensual picture she presented. Noah glanced at her sleepy-looking face and her tousled dark hair that hung past her shoulders and down her back, ending with soft curls that rested against her waist. What he wouldn’t do to experience all that hair tickling his chest while she rode him until she came.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, and then sipped at her soda pop, watching him with sensual blue eyes.

  “Going over that list of names your chief faxed over.”

  “I worked on that yesterday. I just didn’t get it finished,” she added, keeping her gaze focused on his.

  “Now you don’t have to.” He pinned his attention to the screen when she entered the room, knowing as well as she did that if he’d continued with his seductions yesterday she wouldn’t have had time to start on the list, let alone make any headway with it.

  If he looked at her again he would touch her. Half the time his hands were on her before he even thought about it. Touching her just seemed so natural to do.

  “Noah,” she sighed, and then drank more of her pop.

  He ignored her frustrated sound. “Have you ever bowled?”

  “You want to go bowling?”

  “Sure. Unless you suck at it. Might not hurt to just hang out at the bowling alley and see what we can learn about two of our victims. It wouldn’t hurt to ch
eck out the racquet club, too.” He looked up and caught Rain scowling at the computer screen. She shifted her attention to him and he let his gaze fall to her hard nipples that pressed against the pale pink material that stretched over her full, round breasts. “We need to buy you an outfit for tomorrow night also.”

  “An outfit? It’s a potluck. What do you mean?”

  His cell rang and Noah stood, intentionally pushing into her space while reaching around her for his phone. Rain tried moving, but he shifted so that he pinned her between his body and the desk.

  “Move,” she whispered, but didn’t complain further when he answered his phone.

  After acknowledging Brenda’s secretary telling him that he now showed up as an employee of Computer Tech, Inc., he reached around Rain, jotting down the information on his new identity. If any of their new “friends” decided to get nosy and check him out, he would come up clean. Thanking the secretary and then hanging up the phone, he rested his arm on Rain’s shoulder as he placed the paper and pen on the desk. Then placing his phone on top of his notes, he moved his fingers until they tangled in her hair.

  “Are you having fun?” she snapped, bringing her can to her lips and glaring at him over it.

  “I could be.” He could prove to her how much fun both of them could have, and the more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded. Taking her can away from her quickly enough that she couldn’t stop him, he placed it behind her, too, forcing her to lean backward or have his body pressed against hers. “Tomorrow night might be a potluck, but it’s a swingers’ party, too. The ladies are going to be dressed for the occasion.”

  “And the men?” she challenged him.

  Noah shrugged and reached for a thick strand of her dark hair and watched it wrap into an adorable curl around his finger. “We mostly wear jeans, casual attire, that sort of thing.”

  “You’re kidding.” Rain put her hands on her hips, still standing with her back to the desk and him a few inches in front of her, and straightened so that her face was almost level to his. A challenge glowed in her eyes almost as strong as the desire he swore he saw there, too. “So let me get this right,” she growled. “Swingers have their women strutting around in God only knows what. But the men do nothing to make themselves attractive.”

  Noah’s initial thought that he would need to do some molding with Rain to prepare her for the party tomorrow night proved to be good thinking. His opinion of swingers needed to be buried. If she got even a whiff of the fact that he despised the thought of sharing what was his with others just so he could have a taste of what they had, they would never pull this off. At this rate, Rain would attack any man who tried touching her and chastise the women for flirting with all of the men. Noah didn’t want to change her in that area. Again he reminded himself this was a case. Rain wasn’t a woman he could ever consider dating. They were undercover and all that mattered was that she play her part and be believable.

  He untangled his fingers from her hair and placed his hands on her shoulders. Rain moved quickly. Slicing her hands up between them, she damn near karate chopped his hands off of her shoulders, slapping his forearms with the backs of her hands. Her expression hardened, anticipating, while she held her hands at her sides, waiting for his next move.

  “Is that how you’re going to act toward any men at the potluck if they try touching you?” he demanded.

  “Nope. I know how to flirt with the best of them.” Her eyes flashed a radiant blue as she bestowed him with the sweetest smile he’d ever seen on her face. It damn near stole his breath. “It’s just how I’m going to treat you,” she added in a softer, sultrier tone.

  Damn her. Noah moved quickly, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her in the air, then turning and moving fast until her back hit the wall hard enough to make it shake. He pressed one of his legs between hers and pinned her with his own body as he grabbed her wrists when she tried striking out.

  He knew his kiss was punishing. And as he parted her lips with his tongue and dove deep into her sweltering, moist heat, a small part of his brain argued that he wasn’t being fair to her.

  When he tasted her, and heard first her grunt when she hit the wall and then a soft sigh when he impaled her mouth, there wasn’t any stopping. Noah held on to her wrists firmly, pushing her hands against the wall, and deepened the kiss, taking all she offered and craving more.

  “Noah!” she cried out when he released her mouth and nipped at her lower lip.

  One long bare leg wrapped around his thigh. It was smooth, warm, and strong considering she wasn’t ripped with muscle. The more she pressed against the confines of his hands wrapped around her wrists, the harder he got. When he leaned into her soft abdomen, his cock grew painfully, swelling and throbbing between them while the warmth from her body added to the torture he already endured.

  As many thoughts attacked his brain, all arguing the pros and cons of his actions, one reality prevailed. If he backed down now, Rain would attack. And because he’d already seen how fighting turned her on, he wouldn’t back down but would press her harder.

  Noah let go of Rain’s wrists.

  “Why do you do this?” she cried, her frustration heavy as she yelled and balled her fists over her head.

  Noah wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her. He moved the few feet to the queen-size bed, set in the middle of the room against the wall. When he dropped her onto the bed, she looked beyond enticing, with blankets and sheets twisted around one other underneath her and several pillows scattered against the headboard above her head.

  “Do what?” he asked, coming down on top of her quickly.

  Rain pulled her legs up, trying to block him, but he grabbed them and spread them open. Her loose-fitting shorts didn’t hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing underwear. He almost missed the blow she aimed for the side of his head when he realized that Rain shaved—everywhere.

  “Quit torturing me,” she yelled, and aimed her fist for his head.

  Noah had thrown off some hardened criminals in his time. On more than one occasion he’d taken down a man twice his size. Not that he was small by any means, and he wasn’t slow. But Rain got damned close to knocking his ass out.

  “Then quit telling me no,” he hissed, emphasizing each word as he grabbed her wrist and held it firmly in the air between them.

  Rain stared up at him, her dark hair spread out around her head and her lips parted as she panted. Her legs were bent and spread open as he knelt over her. Slowly she brought her lips together and licked them.

  He saw her expression strain as she worked to relax her fist in his hand. “This isn’t about you and me,” she said, her voice ragged.

  “You don’t want to fuck me.” If he backed away from her now, he’d have to back all the way out. They could find their murderer, but it would be a hell of a lot harder pretending they were sexually active, and married, if they weren’t having sex. “Because this ends now—one way or the other. You aren’t the only one being tortured.”

  “Fuck you, Noah!” Rain yanked her fist from his hand and hit him in the chest—hard. “I don’t want your goddamned ultimatums.”

  She pushed back from him, trying to do a backward crab walk. But with her legs spread and her shorts somewhat twisted on her now, the view was even more incredible.

  Noah crawled over her, grabbing her tank top and twisting it in his fist. “But you want me.”

  It was like fire sparked in her blue eyes, turning them more intense than bright and pure rare sapphires. “I swear to God, I’ll kick your fucking ass.”

  “Do it, princess. Fighting turns you on.”

  He wasn’t ready for the fierce intensity that ripped through her. Rain came up hard with her legs and at the same time swung hard with one fist toward the side of his head and aimed at his neck with her other fist.

  Noah held the advantage in his corner. Not only did he hold twice her weight in muscle, but he was easily twice as strong and he was already on top of her. No
netheless, as much as he wouldn’t let her put some unexplainable bruises on him, he wasn’t going to hurt her, either.

  Rain would spar and get off on it. He’d seen that quality in her since the first few minutes that he knew her. But this wasn’t sparring. Rain went ballistic on him.

  He grabbed her, holding her shirt when she sprang off the bed and tried knocking him backward. As he grabbed her he heard material rip while dark hair flew in front of his face.

  “Don’t you ever, ever fucking call me princess again!” She still tried struggling against him when he finally got her wrapped in his arms tightly enough that she couldn’t move. “Why the hell won’t you listen?”

  “Damn, Rain,” he whispered, tightening his grip until he hugged her and buried his face in her hair. Pressing his lips to her neck, he felt the fierce beat of her heart against his lips. “It’s like the word triggers something inside you into attack mode. Trust me, I’m not insulting you.”

  “I know,” she whispered, going incredibly lax in his arms, as if not only did all fight leave her, but all energy she possessed drained right out of her, too.

  When he relaxed his grip and laid her back on the bed, her body was relaxed, as if she were hurt. And for a moment he thought she was. He slid his arms out from behind her back and left her lying underneath him while he continued kneeling over her.

  Rain’s eyes looked moist when she slowly lifted her lashes. He felt her gaze burn over him as it traveled lazily up his chest, over his shoulders, to his neck and then finally his face.

  Her tank top was twisted sideways and torn by one of the straps that hung off of her shoulder. The material flapped over one of her breasts, offering him one hell of a view that went way beyond sexier than hell. When she didn’t say anything but simply watched him, not looking like she was waiting for any comment or action from him but simply taking a moment to stare at him, he watched something shift in her eyes. Maybe she needed this final moment to decide which way their undercover relationship would go, which was fine. The view lying underneath him tightened his chest, making it hard to breathe. And he wouldn’t trade where he was for anything in the world.