“It’s not arrogance,” she insisted, miffed. “It’s my job.”
“You taunted him, assuming he’d come after you.” Because the thought of that still twisted in his gut like hissing snakes, Roarke tightened his grip on her face. “Now you’re insulted, annoyed that he didn’t follow your rules.”
“That’s a hideous thing to say. Goddamn you, I don’t—” She broke off, sucked in her breath. “You’re pissing me off so I’ll stop feeling sorry for myself.”
“It seems to have worked.”
“All right.” She let her eyes close again. “All right. I’m not going to think about it anymore right now. Maybe by tomorrow I’ll have a better shot at sorting it out. You’re pretty good, Roarke,” she said with a ghost of a smile.
“Thousands concur,” he murmured and caught her nipple lightly between his thumb and forefinger.
The ripple effect made it all the way down to her toes. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s what I meant.” He tugged gently, listened to her breath catch.
“Maybe if I can manage to crawl out of here, I can take you up on your interesting offer.”
“Just relax.” Watching her face, he slid his hand between her legs, cupped her. “Let me.” He managed to catch her glass as it slipped from her hand, and he set it aside. “Let me have you, Eve.”
Before she could answer, he shot her to a fast, wracking orgasm. Her hips arched up, pumped against his busy hand, then went lax.
She wouldn’t think now, he knew. She would be wrapped in layered sensations. She never seemed to expect it. And her surprise, her sweet and naive response was, as always, murderously arousing. He could have pleasured her endlessly, for the simple delight of watching her absorb every touch, every jolt.
So he indulged himself, exploring that long, lean body, suckling the small, hot breasts, wet with perfumed water, gulping in the rapid breath that gasped from her lips.
She felt drugged, helpless, her mind and body burdened with pleasure. Part of her was shocked, or tried to be. Not so much at what she let him do, but at the fact that she allowed him complete and total control of her. She couldn’t have stopped him, wouldn’t have, even when he held her near to screaming on the edge before shoving her over into another shuddering climax.
“Again.” Greedy, he dragged her head back by the hair and stabbed his fingers inside her, worked her ruthlessly until her hands splashed bonelessly in the water. “I’m all there is tonight. We’re all there is.” He savaged her throat on the way to her mouth, and his eyes were like fierce blue suns. “Tell me you love me. Say it.”
“I do. I do love you.” A moan ripped from her throat when he plunged himself into her, jerked her hips high, and plunged deeper.
“Tell me again.” He felt her muscles squeeze him like a fist and gritted his teeth to keep from exploding. “Tell me again.”
“I love you.” Trembling from it, she wrapped her legs around him and let him batter her past delirium.
She did have to crawl out of the pool. Her head was spinning, her body limp. “I don’t have any bones left.”
Roarke chuckled and gave her a friendly slap on the butt. “I’m not carrying you this time, darling. We’d both end up on our faces.”
“Maybe I’ll just lie down right here.” It was a struggle to remain on her hands and knees on the smooth tiles.
“You’ll get cold.” With an effort, he summoned the strength to drag her to her feet where they rocked together like drunks.
She began to snicker, teetering. “What the hell did you do to me? I feel like I’ve downed a couple of Freebirds.”
He managed to grip her waist. “Since when did you play with illegals?”
“Standard police training.” She bit experimentally at her bottom lip and found that it was, indeed, numb. “We have to take a course in illegals at the academy. I palmed most of mine and flushed them. Is your head spinning?”
“I’ll let you know when I regain feeling above the waist.” He tipped her head back and kissed her lightly. “Why don’t we see if we can make it inside. We can . . .” He trailed off, eyes narrowing over her shoulder.
She might have been impaired, but she was still a cop. Instinctively, she whirled and braced, unconsciously shielding his body with hers. “What? What is it?”
“Nothing.” He cleared his throat, patted her shoulder. “Nothing,” he repeated. “Go on in, I’ll be right along.”
“What?” She stood her ground, scanning for trouble.
“It’s nothing, really. I just . . . I neglected to disengage the security camera. It’s, ah, activated by motion or voice.” Naked, he strode over toward a low stone wall, flicked a switch and palmed a disc.