Raintree: Haunted (Raintree 2)

He finally closed the drapes and returned to the bed, crawling in beside Hope. Her warmth and softness called him closer, and he answered that call. All along he’d known that if he slept with her, she would have to request a transfer, but that didn’t have anything to do with the way he wanted her.

There was a double bed in the spare bedroom on the third floor, and that was it as far as alternate sleeping arrangements were concerned. The room was used for storage, mostly, but Echo stayed here infrequently, and Mercy had visited with Eve on rare occasions, so he did keep it ready for guests. Only a glutton for punishment would fill a beach house with a selection of comfortable and welcoming guest rooms, and since Gideon preferred solitude, his lack of accommodations made perfect sense.

The single guest bed was without sheets at the moment since Echo had stripped the bed Monday before leaving for Charlotte, and it was also piled high with the files he’d brought home about the unsolved murders. He didn’t feel like taking the time to clean off the bed in the name of being gentlemanly. His own bed was warm and soft, and he was drawn to Hope the way a man is drawn to his woman.

His woman. Hope was many things, but she was most definitely not his. And still he draped his arm across her waist and pulled her close before he fell asleep.

She’d slept so deeply that she didn’t remember so much as a sliver of a dream. Hope burrowed into the soft mattress, trying to escape the chill. The air conditioner must be turned up high. Unusual, since her mother was usually such a stickler about conserving electricity.

The air was chilly, but she felt oddly and comfortably warm. The alarm hadn’t gone off yet, which meant she could sleep a little while longer. A few more precious minutes.

Then, with a suddenness that made her twitch, she remembered where she was. Raintree’s house. She’d fallen asleep on the couch, but this was no couch. It was Raintree’s bed. She very carefully rolled over to face the man she’d been sleeping with. The reason she was so warm was that Gideon’s mostly bare body was all but pressed against hers.

Still half asleep, she remained as still as possible while she studied him. They were close, closer than she’d ever thought to be with this man she had initially suspected of possible criminal misconduct. Now she knew he wasn?

?t a dirty cop. He was just different. Very, very different.

He looked fine in the morning, none the worse for wear after being wounded and drugged last night. In sleep he was a little rough around the edges, unguarded, and beautiful in the special way only a handsome man could be. But if Gideon knew he was beautiful, he didn’t act that way, not like some men she knew. He just was.

Moving cautiously so as not to wake him, she lifted the sheet that covered them both and peeked beneath. His thigh was almost healed. Last night it had been sliced deep, and now all that remained was a nasty-looking scratch. She shouldn’t be surprised. Nothing connected with this man should ever surprise her again.

“Don’t worry,” a gruff voice rumbled. “Nothing happened.”

Hope lifted her head slightly to see that Gideon’s eyes were trained unerringly on her. They were sleepy still, hooded and sexy and electric.

“I was checking your wound,” she said primly.

“I thought you were checking to see if I had my drawers on.”

She slapped the sheet down, and started to roll away and leave the bed, mainly so Gideon wouldn’t see how she was blushing. Her cheeks actually grew hot, and it was such a girlie reaction.

Before she could roll away, Gideon snagged her with one strong arm and pulled her back against his chest. “Don’t go anywhere just yet,” he said, his voice still sleepy and gruff and sexy as hell. Hope knew she could escape easily, with a gentle shove and a roll. Gideon’s grasp on her wasn’t binding; it was simply persuasive. Heavy and warm and comfortable. She didn’t shove or roll. Instead, she laid her head on the pillow and stared away from Raintree while he held her close.

Jody hadn’t often slept over at her apartment. Twice, maybe. And even then, it had been a mistake on his part. He’d fallen asleep and awakened early in the morning to make his escape. But she remembered liking this part. She very much enjoyed being held, flesh to flesh, the connection sexual and yet also much more. This was what she missed by living alone, by dedicating herself to her career and always looking at every man who so much as smiled at her as if he might turn into an ogre and bite her in the next instant.

She didn’t think Gideon would bite her, but that was a potentially dangerous supposition on her part. He was a man like any other, a fact that was quickly becoming evident as he held her close.

Now was the time to leave the bed, if she was going to make her escape. If she stayed here, in his bed, if she didn’t leave right now, she knew darn well what was going to happen. She was a fully grown woman of sound mind, twenty-nine years old and unattached. And at this moment, with her world still spinning out of control thanks to all she’d learned last night, she wanted to be held. Not just by any man, but by this one. Gideon Raintree, who talked to ghosts and inhaled lightning and occasionally glowed in the dark.

He shifted her hair aside and laid his mouth on her neck. A decided shiver worked its way through her body. Was it electricity or just him that made her tingle? Something paranormal or something extraordinarily normal? She couldn’t make herself care, at the moment. This felt so good….

“I want you,” he said softly.

Hope licked her lips. I know. I want you, too. The words danced in her head, but nothing came out.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, but there you have it.” His hand slipped beneath her blouse to caress her bare skin, and she closed her eyes and melted. Her brain told her this was a very bad idea. But her body disagreed. Her body wanted the same thing Gideon wanted, though her wanting wasn’t as obvious as his. Physically, at least.

Could he feel her shiver? She hadn’t let a man touch her this way in a very long time, so long that this felt new and exciting and powerful.

Eyes closed and body trembling, she drank in Gideon’s warmth and imagined what might be yet to come, if she allowed it. If she wanted it. She didn’t have to say a word. She just had to turn in his arms, lay her mouth on his and kiss him. That was all the answer he needed, and all she was capable of giving.

His hand raked down her belly and came to rest over the soft flesh beneath her belly button, just as it had in her mother’s shop when he’d pressed her against the counter and taken her by surprise. Knowing what he was about to do, she grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand slightly away.

Hope felt the disappointment in him, felt his resignation. She turned slowly so that she was facing him, his wrist still grasped in her hand. “No cheating this time,” she whispered. And then she kissed him.

She should have known that he would be a great kisser. One touch, one sway of his lips over hers, and she lost the last of her doubts. She threaded her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer as her lips parted wider and she flicked her tongue against his. There were a hundred reasons why they shouldn’t be here. She barely knew him; he was her partner; she’d distrusted him from day one; he was who he was.

But none of that mattered. She wanted him to kiss her, longer and more completely and with the abandon she felt unraveling inside her.