She pushed his shirt back off his shoulders. “You were about to say something?”
Maybe. If he could remember. Screw that! There was nothing he wanted to add because she had thrown her leg over him and fitted her lower body to his until the seat of her panties was pressed against his crotch.
She kissed a corner of his mouth. “This kind of thing must stop immediately.”
A husky little laugh escaped him. “Uh-huh. This is the worst. Oh yes, the very worst. Torture me some more.”
She kissed him again, long and sweet kisses with lots of tongue and stroking until they were both shivering and sweaty with desire. He could feel her melting into him, her full breasts dancing across his chest. He just needed to get her out of that little scrap of a cami and then …
It was over as suddenly as it began. Her sensual assault swiftly deserted his arms and his lips. He opened his eyes to find her moving away, back to her side of the truck.
He reached out and snagged her shoulder. “Whoa. Wait. You can’t just stop.”
She looked back at him, her eyes so smoked by desire they were almost black. “We have to live up to the trust Lattimore’s put in us.”
“Trust? Shit. This is about us.”
“No. That’s my point. There’s no possibility of us until Noel and Sam are out of the picture. This was Noel and Sam acting like young lovers in the first blush of love.”
“So? Clearly Noel and Sam are part of us. What’s wrong with that?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “It’s make-believe. I don’t want to wake up in two weeks, back in Montgomery County and you in D.C., and realize this was all a daydream.”
His fingers tightened on her shoulder. “It doesn’t have to be.”
She brushed her mussed hair back from her face, shaking her head at the same time. “You’re ready for a full-on relationship?”
He frowned at her, remembering that not only the task force, but X stood between him and his future. “I see what you mean. It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not. Because let me tell you what I want. I want a full-time man in my life. Eventually, I want a little house with a yard. For kids. I want children and a regular paycheck. And nights out. And evenings in. I want to grow a garden and maybe raise Bouviers. I want summer weekends at the shore and autumn weekends in the mountains. I want to come home to someone every day who thinks I’m the greatest thing ever. And I want to feel a smile in my chest when I catch sight of him across the room, before he even knows I’m watching him. I want to know when he looks at me he’s seeing home.”
She paused, all out of breath, and turned to stare straight ahead.
“That’s a lot,” Scott conceded after a few heartbeats.
She nodded, locking her seat belt into place. “So much it scares me to even say the words. But that’s my list. I don’t expect you to share it. But if you don’t, I don’t want you to spoil it for me.”
She looked at him. Her eyes were so wide it was as if he was looking straight into the most secret, intimate place inside her. “Because you could ruin me.”
The confession rocked him to his core.
He knew better than to answer her with some easy promise. Or even try to put her off. She’d given him an ultimatum, and issued a challenge. At the moment, he wasn’t in a position to respond.
When he didn’t say anything, just kept stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, she took a deep breath. “So, except in public, we’re going to live like brother and sister.”
He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts out of his pants. “I don’t think so. Not unless you lock your door and put Hugo on guard. And even then, well, I’ll think of something.”
She half smiled at him. “You could lock your door.”
“I’d have to Super Glue it shut.”
“And the windows.”
He sneaked a smile at her. “I was hoping you’d forget about the windows.”
She shimmied her skirt back down her thighs. “We’ve got issues.”
“Oh yeah.” He buttoned his shirt. “Lucky for us we’re professionals. We can handle the pressure.”
She reached out and touched his thigh. Light as it was, the touch wrung a groan from him. “Cole. You need to take your hands off me right now or I won’t be responsible. Shit. I can’t even believe those words came out of my mouth.”
“Sorry.” Cole removed her hand. She had pushed him really far, farther than she had any right to do. And she was paying the price, trembling with frustrated desire. She definitely felt singed. But she had been honest, stood up for herself. That felt good.
“One more thing.” He turned to her and slid across the seat until he had backed her against the passenger side door. He took her face in his hands, smoothing her frown away with his fingers. “I never meant to hurt you.” His gaze hung doggedly on to hers. “You believe that?”