Keep Me Closer (A Dangerous Tides Novel) Page 13

  “They’re cuter on Reese,” she said with a small, wry laugh. “She has the coloring for them. I don’t.”

  He’d come to a stop when little more than five feet separated them, but now he came even closer, until he stood only inches away. As she tilted her head back to hold his gaze, he gave her a deep, measuring look. “Brit?” he murmured, his husky voice pitched soft and low. “Are we okay?”

  “Of course we are.” She sounded breathless, his warm scent making her mouth water. “I’m . . . I’m glad that I came.”

  He looked as though he wanted to ask her about twenty different questions, but only said, “You feel like going out?”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “I thought maybe dinner and then we could hit the club they have here for some drinks.”

  “Drinks?” She tried not to frown, but God, she hoped she wasn’t driving him back to the bottle.

  Instead of getting pissed, he laughed at her expression. “It’s okay, Doc. I’ll stick to water. But that doesn’t mean you can’t indulge.”

  She could feel the heat rising in her face. “Alex, that would hardly be fair.”

  “You let me worry about what’s fair, okay?” A devilish glint entered his eyes, and there was something in his expression that she couldn’t recall ever seeing before. Something almost playful, and undeniably arousing, that made her bare toes curl into the carpet, her body responding so quickly to this man it made her pulse thrash in her ears.

  “After all,” he drawled, looking younger than she’d ever seen him, “I plan to thoroughly debauch you once you’re tipsy. So it’s a win/win situation, Doc.”

  She bit her lip as she tried hard not to smile, knowing damn well that he could read the lust in her. This sexy, easygoing Alex was even more dangerous to her equilibrium than his surly counterpart, but she was drawn to them both. And as much as she wanted to crawl into that massive bed and spend the weekend doing all that she could to get her fill of him, she was too curious about what dinner would be like not to say yes.

  Feeling as if she were in an alternate reality—one where she and Alex Hudson were a blossoming couple—she agreed to his plans for the night. There was every chance it could blow up in her face at any second, but she didn’t care. For this one stolen moment in time, she was going to be fearless and take what she wanted, to hell with the consequences.

  They took turns in the bathroom to get ready, and Brit was still tingling with anticipation an hour later, as the hostess showed them to their table. The reaction she’d gotten out of Alex when she’d stepped out of the bathroom dressed in the little black dress he’d purchased for her that afternoon had been priceless. The strapless dress was made of a soft, clingy chiffon that flirted with her curves and revealed a lot of leg, while still looking classy. She’d smoothed her hair into soft waves that spilled over one shoulder, and she loved how she kept catching him staring at her body. Not just her cleavage, but the tops of her shoulders and the hollow of her throat. Her arms and her collarbone. If he hadn’t already proven his attraction to her during the mind-blowing sex on his dining room table the night before, there would have been no denying it now. The feeling was incredibly heady, and she basked in the heat of his gaze, feeling like an innocent going up against the most intensely sexual male she’d ever come across.

  “So are you a born and raised Florida girl?” he asked, leaning back against his side of their booth as they waited for their entrees to arrive. The restaurant was gorgeous and incredibly busy, but they had a booth near the wall of windows that overlooked the sea, the high backs of the booth affording them more privacy than she’d expected.

  “Not at all,” she said in response to his question, loving the way he looked in his white dress shirt, the top button undone and his cuffs rolled up on his masculine forearms. She wanted to reach across the table and run her fingertips over the thick veins that pressed beneath his dark skin. Wanted to trace them across the hard lines of corded muscle, trailing them over the powerful shape of his wrists, but forced herself to stay focused on the question. “I lived in the suburbs of Atlanta until I graduated. Then I came south.”

  “What made you move to Moss Beach?”

  She laughed as she reached for the glass of white wine she’d ordered, after Alex had refused to let her have an iced tea. “I wasn’t chasing your brother, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  A smirk curved his sensual lips. “Then why?”

  Brit noticed a group of women at one of the other tables eyeing Alex with appreciative gazes and whispering about him behind their martini glasses, and knew it was the kind of attention he most likely drew wherever he went. His dark good looks and potent masculinity were that intoxicating, making a woman long to be the one who captured him, body and heart and soul, and she had to take a moment to remind herself that this weekend was only about the now, and not forever, before she could answer his question.

  “I, um, didn’t live in Miami,” she murmured, after taking a drink of her wine. “Just north of it. But after what happened with Jason, I wanted a fresh start. I was still trying to decide where to go, when Ben invited me over for a weekend after his move, and I ended up falling completely in love with Moss Beach. It just . . . it felt as if that was where I was meant to be. So I looked around at jobs, then landed the one with McNamara.” Setting her glass down, she asked, “What about you?”

  * * *

  WITH A SHRUG, ALEX REACHED FOR HIS SODA. “AFTER ORLANDO, I needed a place that was mellow, without being in the middle of fucking nowhere. Mike was close by, Ben wasn’t too far away, and our cousin Gary is there. I guess it just made sense.”

  He watched the way the soft glow of light from the overhead lamp played over the auburn strands of her hair as she looked down, her fingers fiddling with the edge of her napkin, and knew she was thinking something through. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she said too quickly, a small smile on her lips as she lifted her head and locked that stunning gaze back on his.

  “Bullshit.” His voice was quiet. “You’re wondering about my divorce, aren’t you?”

  She immediately winced. “I am. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”

  “I’m actually surprised you don’t already know all the sordid details. I would have thought you had the whole story from Ben.”

  “Just that it was rough,” she offered softly. “But he’s loyal, Alex. He doesn’t gossip. I just know that he was really worried about you.”

  “Yeah, well, when I self-destruct, I do it right.” The moment the bitter words left his mouth, he shook his head, wondering what the hell he was doing. Was he really going to talk with her about this? And why did it feel so . . . right, as if she was the one person in the world he actually wanted to share this story with, instead of grudgingly coughing it up?

  Shaking off the silent, confusing thoughts, he took a drink of his soda, set the glass down, and got the hell on with it. “I came home early one day from work and found my wife in our bed with one of the other homicide detectives I worked with. They were going at it so hard, they didn’t even realize I was there until I pulled him off her and threw him through the bedroom window.” A low, humorless laugh burst from his chest. “Good thing the master bedroom was on the ground floor of our house, or it probably would have killed him. As it was, he spent two days in hospital.”

  Her eyes were wide, brimming with questions, but she didn’t say anything. She simply waited to see if he would share the rest of the story with her, and he heard himself saying, “After that, I learned that he wasn’t the first detective she’d fucked. I lost my shit and confronted one of them at the precinct. We fought until he begged me off. I got control and walked away, but still lost my job. Can’t really say that I lost my wife, since I was the one who told her to get her ass out.” He exhaled a hard, deep breath, then said, “The rest you know.”

&n
bsp; He could tell by her gentle expression that she thought he’d turned to alcohol after his divorce because he’d been heartbroken. But that wasn’t the reason why. He’d turned to drowning himself in liquor because of himself. Because of how fucking disappointed he’d been in how he’d handled the entire situation. Staying when things between him and Judith had started getting bad and he should have left. For not seeing things for what they were, then self-destructing when he’d let his anger get the better of him, going after the men his wife had fucked and beating the hell out of them. Losing his career because of it.

  He’d been in a fog for a long time after he’d left Orlando, not really understanding anything, simply lost in his rage. But once he’d finally made the realization that he was angry at his own choices, and not with Judith, he’d been able to look at a bottle of Scotch without wanting to drown himself in it. That had been one of the best damn feelings in the world, and he’d started to get his life back on track, though he knew there’d been a part of him that he kept locked down because it was safer that way. It was the same part that shuddered with awareness every time he set eyes on the woman sitting across from him, and he knew the odds were strong that it wouldn’t lead to anything good. But right now, he just didn’t fucking care.

  “So you became a private investigator,” she said in a low voice, finally breaking the heated silence that’d settled between them. “Was that something you’d been interested in before?”

  “When I was younger. But my dad had other ideas, and so I joined the force.”

  “I’ve heard that it’s really difficult for a cop to pass the PI test,” she said, just as the waiter arrived with their food. They talked about the test and its difficulties while they ate, the conversation easily flowing from one topic to another, and before he knew it they were done with their meal and he was signing the bill.

  Impatience to get her upstairs and alone with him burned through his veins, but he’d promised her a fun, relaxing weekend away, and felt compelled to live up to his words. So instead of tossing her gorgeous body over his shoulder and getting back to their room as quickly as possible, Alex heard himself saying, “You like to dance?”

  She blinked at him, looking curious about where he was going with this. “Do you?”

  “Oh, I’m full of surprises, Doc.” A warm flush spread across her cheeks as he moved to his feet and reached down to take her hand. The startled look in her beautiful eyes made it clear that this was the last thing she would have ever expected of him, and he was glad that he’d decided to do it. He had a feeling there weren’t many things in this world that caught a woman as sharp as her by surprise, and he liked that he was one of them.

  Heads turned their way as they walked from the restaurant, across the hotel’s lavish, palm-tree-filled lobby, and into the upscale club that opened out onto the main pool area, the night sky lit by burning torches, their orange flames reflected in the still surface of the water. The band was good, playing a sultry song with lots of sax, and Alex led her onto the crowded dance floor, then pulled her into his arms, flush against his body. When they started to move, it came as natural as breathing, and his body responded with a will of its own, the way she fit against him more perfect than anything he’d ever known. It was so good it was goddamn unreal.

  She looked up at him as she pressed closer, rubbing against his denim-covered erection in a way that should have been fucking illegal. “Alex,” she panted, her low voice only just audible over the music, “what are we doing?”

  “We can’t keep our hands off each other, so we’re going to enjoy it. In the middle of all this bullshit that’s happening, we’re going to take something good from it.”

  She caught her plush lower lip in her teeth for a moment, then asked, “Do you think it’s smart?”

  Something hot and thick was firing through his veins, his hands flexing as he dug his fingers into her hips. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Brit.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  He studied her through his lashes, and quietly asked, “Then do you care?”

  The muscles in her pale throat shifted as she swallowed. “I should.”

  Pulling her even closer, Alex put his face right above hers as she tilted her head back. “Just enjoy it, Doc.”

  “For as long as we can?”

  He lowered his mouth to her ear, flicking his tongue against the tender lobe. “That’s right,” he rasped, breathing in her mouthwatering scent. “Starting now.”

  She shivered in his arms, her soft voice husky with emotion. “All right.”

  Satisfaction poured through his veins like a drug, and he spread his hands low on her hips, loving the feel of her beneath the gauzy dress. He was imagining how she was going to look when he got her upstairs, the black dress pooling on the floor at her feet as he went down on his knees and buried his face in her slick, succulent cunt, when a loud male voice said, “Hey, buddy, can I cut in?”

  Alex immediately stilled. Then he turned his head and scowled at the good-looking thirty-something standing beside them. “Who the fuck are you?”

  “Alex, this is Tom,” Brit replied, speaking in a nervous rush, her grip tight on his arms, as if she wanted to keep him from facing off against the guy. “We met today when I was at the pool.”

  “Great.” His voice was little more than a guttural snarl. “Now tell him to get lost.”

  “Alex!” she gasped, sounding shocked by his rudeness.

  “Asshole,” the guy muttered, before turning and heading over to the bar.

  When he shifted his focus back to Brit, Alex found her gaping up at him. “What on earth was that about?” she demanded, her face red with embarrassment. “All he did was ask me to dance!”

  He wanted a hell of a lot more than that. In his mind, he already had you spread and fucked,” he bit out, struggling to hold on to his temper. “If that’s what you want, then go after him. But there’s one thing you should know before we go any further.” Shoving his hands in his pockets, he worked his jaw, trying his best not to sound like a caveman. But from the look on her face, that ship had already fucking sailed. All he could do now was say what he needed to say, and wait for her to make her choice.

  Sucking in a sharp breath, Alex ran his tongue over his teeth, then forced three hard, gritty words past his lips: “I. Don’t. Share.”

  9

  BRIT STARED BACK AT ALEX IN A DAZE, UNABLE TO BELIEVE HE WAS reacting this way. She wanted to shout at him that he couldn’t talk to her like that, and yet, she knew this had more to do with what had happened to him with his ex-wife than it did with him not trusting her. Using every bit of patience she possessed, she said, “I don’t want him, Alex. Of course I don’t.”

  “You’re just too damn beautiful for your own good,” he muttered, gripping her hip with one hand, while the other fisted in her hair, pulling her head back.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered, as he put his face over hers again, so close their noses were nearly touching. His heavy gaze smoldered, burning with dark emotion while the music pulsed around them, sultry and rhythmic, and she shivered, unable to believe this was happening in the middle of a crowded dance floor.

  After hearing the story about his cheating ex-wife, she wasn’t surprised that he had jealousy issues. She just hadn’t realized that kind of possessiveness would apply to her. Maybe she should have, after his reaction to McNamara on Friday morning, but she’d seen that as two alpha males posturing for rank. Though McNamara’s power came across as pathetically weak when compared to Alex’s. One was superficial, and the other ran so deep it struck a primordial nerve. A kind of raw strength that was ancient, feral, and animalistic, belonging to a predatory male in his prime.

  He flicked a quick look over her head, and his gaze narrowed. “Ol’ Tom is watching you, Doc. He can’t take his eyes off you.”

  “I don’t care abou
t Tom. He’s no one.”

  “Good,” he muttered. “Then let him look.”

  She moaned, her knees shaking, as the hand on her hip drifted lower. His fingers spread, his thumb sweeping across the gauzy fabric of her dress, stroking the crease between her thigh and groin. “Alex? What are you—”

  Her words broke off in a breathless gasp, her nails digging into his muscular shoulders as he quickly swept his thumb between her legs, where she was already melting for him. The thin material left little to his imagination, and he groaned low in his throat as he put his mouth close to her ear. “Fuck, that’s sweet, Doc. You’re always so wet for me. So ready.”

  She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he’d covered her lips with his. And, ahh . . . God, she’d been waiting for this. Despite everything they’d done together, he hadn’t kissed her since Thursday morning in his kitchen, and she’d missed it. Missed his incredible taste and his almost savage intensity. This wasn’t some tepid sliding of tongues to pass the time until they could do other things. This was a claiming. A carnal, explicit act of possession that said he owned her mouth in that moment, and it made her knees weak. The way his tongue stroked across hers, so deliberate and aggressive, while his hand curled around the back of her neck, holding her in place, created an ache between her legs that was going to have her melting into the middle of the dance floor any second now if she didn’t put an end to it.

  “Alex, y-you can’t do this here,” she stammered, turning her head to the side as she struggled to catch her breath. “Please, take me up to the room now. I need . . . I need to be alone with you.”

  He didn’t say anything, his jaw tight as he grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him through the crowd. When they reached the elevator, he pressed the button for their floor, keeping her hand gripped in his. A few other couples joined them before the doors closed, and Alex moved them both into the far corner, pulling her back against him as he buried his face in the curve of her shoulder, his legs on either side of hers. He was fiercely erect, the broad shaft nestled between the globes of her ass. She couldn’t help but wiggle a little, the corner of her mouth curling when she caught the choked sound of his quiet curse near her ear. She was almost feeling like she had the upper hand, until the other couples stepped off on the fifth floor. Before the doors had even closed again, he started running his hand up the inside of her thigh.