Bayou Dreaming (Butterfly Bayou 3)

She wrapped her arms around him, wound her legs around his waist, and let him take control.

He kissed her, turning what was innately carnal into something sweet. He kissed her forehead and her cheeks, her lips and her chin.

“You feel so good,” he whispered. “You feel so right.”

Being with him felt right. Too right. She had to try to distance from him, but it was impossible in the moment. It was impossible when she felt like they’d torn down all the barriers between them and had managed to find this third thing. There was Roxanne. There was Zep. But in that moment she felt like she’d become something different, the Roxanne she could be exclusively with him. The part she could show only to him.

Her whole body tensed and then released as the orgasm hit her, stronger this time because he was with her. His arms were tight around her, his body merging with hers until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.

He held her for a moment more as she started to come down.

“You have no idea how much I needed that, baby,” he whispered before kissing her cheek.

She took a deep breath as he eased her to her feet. Her whole body felt languid, but her heart was racing. “Me, too. I figured as long as you’re here, we should take advantage of the stress relief possibilities.”

She meant it as a joke, something to break this horrible vulnerability she suddenly felt. She wasn’t good at talking out her problems, and she certainly wasn’t going to start with him. Zep liked kidding around. Joking and sarcasm were pretty much the languages he spoke.

He stopped and stared down at her. “Stress relief? That was stress relief for you?”

Somehow even though the water was still hot, she’d gone cold. “What was it supposed to be?”

He turned and stalked out of the shower, leaving her alone.

What had she done? What should she do? Should she apologize? All the warmth of the moment was gone and she was left exactly where she’d been before.

Alone.chapter sixStress relief.

Those two words had been pounding through his head ever since the moment they’d come out of her mouth.

Stress relief.

Zep stopped at the stop sign, but only briefly because it was damn near midnight and no one was on the roads. He’d gotten the call shortly after exiting the shower that should have ended in . . . well, it should have ended in a shower. It should have ended with him running the soap all over her body and having her do the same to him. He would have washed her hair, running his fingers over her scalp and getting her to purr for him. And then they would have gotten dirty all over again.

But no. It had ended the minute she’d said those two words.

Stress relief.

He didn’t feel relieved now. He felt like a fool. His brother had been right about everything. Roxie didn’t take him seriously. She viewed him as some kind of sex toy.

“That was a stop sign, you know,” she pointed out from the passenger seat.

And despite the fact that she viewed him as a warm, living blow-up doll, she didn’t trust him enough to do his job. Or maybe that was exactly the problem. “If you wanted to drive, you should have taken your own car. And this is an emergency.”

He’d gotten the call as she’d walked into the bedroom from the shower. His cell had trilled, and for a moment his heart had stopped because it had been so late, he’d worried something had gone terribly wrong.

Then he’d realized it was the police department. Major Blanchard was apparently on nights this week and he’d taken the call about another animal problem, this one out at Dixie’s place. Since Roxie had walked out with that “we should talk” look on her face, he’d figured he’d been saved by the bell because talking would likely lead to fighting, and fighting would get his butt kicked to the curb.

He didn’t want that. He needed more time. He needed to figure out how to deal with this turn of events. He’d misread her, but that didn’t mean they had to break up.

The fact that he would consider it a breakup when she obviously didn’t even think they were dating proved that Remy had been right all along.

“It’s not an emergency,” she said. When she’d offered to drive him to the site, he’d refused and told her to go to bed since he was the one being called out, not her. Naturally she’d been sitting in his truck by the time he’d gotten ready. She’d simply put her damp hair up in a bun, tossed on some clothes, and been ready to go. “Major said everyone is fine, but he wants you to take a look around the area and see if you can figure out what Dixie saw.”