Daddy Undercover (Crescent Cove 9)

As was the pain from my sudden move. Ouch.

“God, you’re gorgeous when you come.” His voice was a rasp. “Bee, look at me.”

I did, ignoring the fussy baby and the throbbing in my knee and the wild flutters between my legs. His face was so close, those intent eyes I loved focused entirely on me. His shaking fingers brushed over my lower lip before he took my mouth, kissing me fiercely, offering me my own taste mixed with his.

When I finally needed to breathe, I wrenched my head away, my gaze bouncing around, unfocused.

Until it landed on the car pulling up behind us with the telltale lights on top.

“Jared,” I whispered just as he lifted his head and noticed too.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m gonna kill him.” He tried to move back into his seat and bumped the dashboard and jabbed his elbow into the gearshift with a stream of curses not unlike mine from earlier. Ending with “motherfucker!” at top volume.

The baby screamed.

I glanced between her and my top—in place, more or less—and my skirt—yank, yank—and tried to look inconspicuous.

The knock on the window had Jared swearing again. He grabbed his jacket from between us and tossed it at me, nailing me square in the head. “Hide.”

Hide?

Then he turned on the Jeep and opened the window. Naturally, it was Christian. Because why not?

Saying nothing, he peered at Jared with a look of dismay even the darkness couldn’t conceal.

“What?” Jared demanded, as if he didn’t know exactly what.

I didn’t blame him for wanting to cling to denial, but I was still trying to process hiding in plain sight while recovering from almost back to back orgasms.

Did he not want Christian to know about us? Granted, this was not the ideal way to announce it, but I didn’t want to duck my head under his jacket either.

So, I didn’t.

Christian cleared his throat. “Sheriff, I wasn’t sure it was you.”

“Come off it.”

“No, I wasn’t certain, I swear.” Christian even sounded as if he was flushing. To his credit, he made no attempt to look into the vehicle—well, beyond a quizzical glance into the backseat where Samantha was now making woeful noises. At least her screaming had stopped. “I thought this resembled your Jeep, but considering the, ah, location of said vehicle, I assumed my assumption must be false. Did you have car trouble?”

Jared stared ahead. Already every bit of the tension he’d begun to lose—minus the orgasm he hadn’t had yet, whoops—had filtered back into him. His shoulders were stiff, his posture ramrod straight. “You know I didn’t.”

Of course he wouldn’t lie. He’d done a lot of things in the past year I hadn’t expected, including tonight, but he wouldn’t abandon his code of ethics.

He was far too upstanding for that.

“It’s a really dark night. And it’s the holiday and all. Defenses are, uh, lower. Could be you made a wrong turn.” Christian took off his hat, flipped it between his hands, and put it back on. “Maybe you got…turned around.”

“I didn’t. I came here for a very specific reason.”

I slunk a little lower in the passenger seat. But I still wasn’t hiding, more like using his jacket as a shield. And possibly sniffing it discreetly now and then.

It smelled like the lake and the woods around his cabin. Like Jared. I couldn’t help it. When a guy gives you two amazing Os on the first go-round without even attempting to get some for himself, it was hard not to be starstruck.

Then again, he’d asked me to cover my head afterward. So, yeah, it was definitely still Brooks.

When Christian coughed into his fist, Jared blew out a breath. “Christian, let’s not take all night. Are you going to write me a citation? If so, get it over with.”

“Jared,” I murmured, shocked he’d ask for one.