“I’m cold, Brandon,” she whispered. “I can’t get warm. I can’t get the feeling of that moment out of my mind, when I realized someone was here. He planned to ki—”
Lips pressed over hers, muffling the rest of her confession. Words scattered as the heat of his breath mingled with hers pressed back the cold. Brandon’s hand curved around to support the back of her neck as he continued to kiss her. She tilted her head up, still leaning into the warmth of his palm.
This wasn’t a quick, startling action. There and then gone. No. This time Brandon kissed her with intent, and he knew exactly what he was doing. Unhurried, deliberate, he sucked at her lower lip and coaxed her to open for him.
When she did, his tongue swept inside to taste her, tease her. Her trembling fear washed away in the heat of the hunger Brandon awoke in her. He smelled of clean cotton and tea tree. He tasted of coffee and something more.
Her thoughts scattered, even the concept of words, and all she wanted to do was savor this connection between them. She clutched at his shirt, pulling him as close as possible. His kiss sent her drowning in years of wanting, finally tasting like reality, and she wanted to savor it.
A hundred daydreams featuring Brandon flickered through her mind. Her nipples tightened and her lower body clenched as she tried to pull together her thoughts long enough to figure out how to follow this through to the next step.
Because she wanted to, very much.
But Brandon drew back until she opened her eyes. His gaze caught hers and held it. “Sophie, come home with me.”
Chapter Ten
Rojas, Cruz, we’ve got a thing.” Forte strode toward the kennel area where the other two trainers were standing with their client, Raul Sa. “Excuse me.”
Sa nodded. “No worries. We were just finishing up here. I can head back to the guest house.”
“Actually, would you mind waiting?” Forte had a wild idea, and all the status updates from Rojas indicated Sa was good people. “We’ve got a situation that might be outside our scope of current resources.”
Sa’s posture changed minutely. The man didn’t turn closer toward Forte, but he was listening attentively. He’d offered, after all.
Forte filled them in on the break-in at Sophie’s apartment.
“Shit. You brought her back here, right?” Cruz was working to rein in his temper, and the question came out harshly.
Forte nodded. “Left her in Rojas’s living room with Lyn and Elisa. They’re trying to make sure Sophie’s got everything she needs packed in a go bag.”
It was one of the things they’d managed to talk all the ladies into having: a duffel bag packed with all the necessities for a few days. Clothes, undergarments, first aid supplies, and even limited nonperishable food like protein bars were in each of the go bags. Even Boom had one.
“How long are you disappearing?” Rojas pulled out his smartphone and pulled up a calendar app.
Forte shook his head. “Ky is leading the police investigation. With forensics involved, it could take some time. He has to wait for results to come back.”
Rojas sighed. “Elisa texted and wants to know if this is going to be for two days or ‘unknown,’ because a girl can only pack so much underwear.”
There was a hesitation, then Sa said, “If she needs more, she can just buy some at Wal—”
“No.” Cruz, Rojas, and Forte said it at the same time.
Sa fell silent.
Cruz and Rojas shook their heads to emphasize the point.
“Shirts, pants, socks, they’ll make do.” Rojas cut the air with the flat of his hand to define each type of clothing. “But underwear is a thing.”
“I have no answer,” Forte admitted.
They all stared at Rojas’s phone.
Forte imagined Sophie’s underwear, then tried to erase the images from his mind. In high school, Sophie had loved to wear cute panties with a cartoon animal printed across the behind. She had also loved to wear skirts. Add in her tendency to trip and he was very glad he’d been around to catch a glimpse when her skirt flipped up. It’d happened only a couple of times before she started wearing shorts under her skirts.
Still, it was enough to make a memory, and damn if he hadn’t found those panties insanely tempting. Sophie’s ass was tight, prettily curved, and led him to thinking about her shapely thighs. He even thought her calves were sexy as hell. Her feet were downright tiny next to his, and these days, the biggest tease was when she was wearing work clothes and heels. Especially when he could see the arch of her foot in the shoe.
“Earth to Forte, come in.” Cruz’s voice cut into Forte’s thoughts.
“Shit. It’s been a long couple of days.” Forte grinned in apology and tried not to adjust his pants.
Rojas studied him. “Uh-huh. You’ve been sleeping in your SUV for the last couple of nights. Are you good to travel right now?”
It was a fair question. Forte would be watching over Sophie alone when they headed out, and he needed to be alert. “I’ll catch ninety minutes of sleep before we head out.”