She smiled, knowing she’d won. ‘Poor baby. Little me, such a threat to big strong you. Should I make it up to you?’
He actually pouted. ‘We don’t have time. We have to get to Bethesda by five thirty.’
Pushing him onto his back, she rolled on top of him and slid down his body until she straddled his hips, her palms flat on his hard abs. She shivered as she rocked back and felt his very hard cock nudging her flesh. His hands gripped her waist, his eyes meeting hers, and her heart actually hurt with all she saw there. Desire, of course, but so much more. How could she have missed it for so many years?
‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
His brows crunched a little. ‘For what?’
‘For waiting for me.’
‘You’re worth it,’ he whispered fiercely, the second time he’d said the words. She had no doubt that he believed it with every fiber of his existence. Someday she might believe it too.
Until then, she’d show him what he was worth. Everything. He’s everything. And he always has been. She leaned in and kissed him slowly, luxuriously. ‘You are so beautiful,’ she murmured against his mouth. She licked his lip and his hands slid down her back to her butt. ‘I can’t believe you’re here. In my bed.’ And suddenly she found herself hoping that she really had been worth the wait.
He pressed his head back into the pillow so that he could see her face. ‘What?’
She scraped her teeth over her bottom lip, already a little swollen from their kisses. ‘Nothing,’ she said when the question in her heart wouldn’t form into actual words.
‘No.’ He brought his hands to cup her face so tenderly her eyes began to sting. ‘It’s not nothing. Tell me.’
‘I guess . . .’ She looked away, hoping the tears in her eyes would drain back to wherever they had come from. ‘I guess I just hope it was worth it. That I was worth it.’
He tugged her chin until she was looking at him again. ‘I just said you were worth it.’ His lips curved. ‘Weren’t you listening?’
‘Yes.’ She tried to pull away, to slide down his body and make him forget the question entirely, but he held her in place easily, one hand on her ass, the other gripping her chin.
‘Gwyn.’ Just her name, but said so sweetly that she blinked, sending the tears down her face. He wiped them away with gentle fingers. ‘Talk to me, love.’
Love. God. ‘I just . . . You waited a long time. For me. And I know you’ve . . .’ her cheeks burned and he swept his thumb across her heated skin, ‘experienced a lot of . . .’ She closed her eyes, too embarrassed to speak. ‘I need to get ready for my appointment.’
‘No. Talk to me. And look at me. Please.’
She forced her eyes to open and the words to leave her mouth. ‘I don’t want to disappoint you.’
He frowned. ‘You couldn’t.’ Then his eyes widened. ‘You mean in bed? You’re asking if I enjoyed it? Seriously?’
She wished she’d never brought it up. ‘I know you enjoyed it,’ she muttered.
‘Twice,’ he said smugly, and she laughed, which made him smile. ‘What’s this about?’ He squeezed the ass cheek he still held firmly. ‘If you can’t talk to me, who can you talk to? Come on.’
‘You waited for me for a long time. I just want it to be worth it.’
His smile became rueful. ‘If it had been any more worth it, I’d be sharing a room with Phil in the cardiac unit.’ He threaded his fingers through her hair, gently working through the tangles. Always gently. Even when he’d been angry with her, he’d been gentle. ‘Gwyneth Bronwynne Weaver, it was worth it. If I had to wait ten years more, it would have been worth it.’ He gave her hair a tiny tug. ‘Having said that, I’m glad I didn’t have to wait ten years more. I might have exploded.’
Her chuckle was watery. ‘You say the sweetest things.’
He pulled her down for another kiss that left her wanting more. She ran her lips over his jaw, down his throat, until his voice rumbled deep in his chest. ‘I hate to say this, but we really do need to be going soon if we’re going to make it to Bethesda.’
Her hand wandered down his chest to his groin, closing around him. He was still so hard. She squeezed and he groaned.
‘Dammit, Gwyn. Don’t be a tease. That’s not fair.’
She glanced at the bedside clock and did the math in her head. ‘I don’t have to do my hair. That’ll save at least fifteen minutes. If I put my makeup on in the car, that’ll save another fifteen.’ She grinned down at him. ‘I can do a lot with half an hour.’
Her only answer was another groan as she disappeared under the sheet and took him into her mouth.
Bethesda, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 5.15 P.M.
The traffic gods had smiled on them, Thorne thought as he pulled into the salon’s parking lot fifteen minutes early for Gwyn’s appointment with Angie Ospina. The lot was filled with Mercedes, BMWs, a few Bentleys, and even a Maserati. Fire-engine red, of course.
‘Swanky,’ Gwyn murmured. ‘No wonder she took out loans. The rent in this neighborhood is astronomical, and she actually owns her place. I bet her mortgage alone is more than she’s been bringing in on average.’
News of Angie’s loans had come via Alec Vaughn just minutes before. Gwyn had been on the phone with him almost the entire time that Thorne had been driving them from Baltimore to Bethesda. Alec really was an IT whizz-kid. Clay was lucky to have him as part of his company and Thorne was grateful that he was sharing the young man’s remarkable hacking skills.
‘What exactly did Alec say?’ he asked.
‘That Angie took the first loan from Linden Senior ten years ago. Although a payoff seems far more likely than a loan. She took out a second mortgage with a local bank four years ago, then someone made her a private loan in the amount of . . .’ Her voice trailed off. ‘Holy shit, Thorne. Four hundred thousand dollars. That’s on top of the second mortgage.’
Thorne’s eyes popped wide. ‘That’s a lot of money to privately loan someone. She must be hemorrhaging money to need that kind of cash infusion.’
She frowned. ‘But that’s the weird thing. She’s not losing money. She’s making payroll and still putting away what looks like a small profit.’
‘Then why would she need a loan? Who made the loan?’ he added because the ‘why’ wasn’t a question either of them could answer at this point.
‘Alec can’t trace it yet. But the timing is interesting.’ She lifted her brows at Thorne. ‘The four hundred grand was deposited into her bank account a month ago.’
‘Tavilla could have been poking around a month ago, although it probably wouldn’t have been him personally. He generally doesn’t get his hands dirty. Always uses his right-hand men to do the blatantly illegal stuff. Definitely worth checking into.’
‘I don’t know if it was Tavilla or not.’ She was frowning at her phone. ‘But the loans – including the second mortgage – were all deposited at the same time of year. Actually in the same month, within a three-day window.’
That was interesting. ‘The anniversary of something?’
‘Makes sense to me.’ Gwyn checked the time on her phone. ‘I should be going in soon. You can come in with me, but it’s risky. Your photo is all over the news.’
He released his seat belt. ‘I don’t like you going in there alone.’
She didn’t really either. It was just a beauty salon, but if Angie was guilty of something and felt cornered, it could get dicey. Gwyn had a .38 in her girdle holster beneath her blouse and a knife in the thigh holster that was covered by her knee-length skirt. Watching her dress had been a conflicting experience for Thorne – both arousing and terrifying. He hadn’t come this far to lose her.