Charades....
"I'll stand, thanks," Reese snapped.
He angled his head. "I'd rather you didn't." He gestured to the chair. "Please, make yourself comfortable. Can I get you some coffee?
Or perhaps you're a tea drinker?"
Reese crossed her arms. "No, I don't want any coffee or tea. I feel like I'm in the damn principal's office for crissakes."
Ethan smiled, this time showing a flash of very white teeth. "A place you are familiar with?"
She glowered at him beneath blond brows. "I've known my share."
He nodded, smiled again. "Well, I won't sit until you do, and I'd rather us both be comfortable while we chat."
Chat? Who the hell uses words like chat? Reese huffed out a sigh and dropped into the chair.
Ethan lowered himself in his leather wing armchair with a fluid movement, leaned back, steepled long fingers together, rested them
against his chin.
"I think we need to start over, Miss Adams. Reese." He studied her. The two other occasions he had seen her had been brief, and
not nearly as close up, and certainly not under what she seemed to interpret as bristly circumstances. Her boyish outfit, bomber jacket
over a green and gold plaid flannel shirt, jeans and hiking boots, were complete contradictions to her feminine features. Wide, brandy
colored eyes, thick, below-shoulder length blonde hair simply cut, and utterly sensuous lips. It was difficult to assess what her physique
might be under her loose clothing but, to his extreme surprise, his imagination engaged itself in possibilities.
* * * *
She was adorably mussed, too much so to resist. He grabbed her vicious fist before she could use it on him again and pulled her to
him. His mouth pressed against hers, lingered there, coaxed it open and tasted its sweetness. As the kiss intensified, hands suddenly
couldn't be held back from sliding into hair, caressing cheeks and wrapping around each other, pulling close. Ethan was stunned at
how desperately he wanted her, wanted the taste of her, the smell of every inch of her skin. He swiveled her in his arms, clearing her
of most of the quilt. He stroked her cheek and powder soft arch of her neck, slid down to the small, firm rise of her breasts. Craving her
bare skin, he freed the sweater from the waistband of her jeans and slid his hand underneath and discovered what wonderfully
sensual features her clothing had been hiding; a slight ribcage, firm stomach and tapered waist. Her breathing hitched and fingers dug
into his back before she broke off the kiss and shoved back. His hand went still, but didn't move from under her sweater.
"Ethan," her breath was quick, her face deep pink and eyes dark with pupil, "I don't know if I can do this. I don't think..."
His own breathing matched hers as he raised her to his mouth and kissed her lightly. "I won't hurt you, Reese. I couldn't." He nibbled
at her lower lip, dipped his tongue into the corners of her mouth. "I want you, ridiculously in fact, but we'll stop here if that's what you
want."
His tentative kiss and words rushed a second wave of heat through her, tossing aside her fears. She clutched at his shirt, dug a
hand into his hair and crushed her mouth to his in answer.
* * * *
Hopscotch...
She stopped him with her mouth firmly on his. A hand cupped the back of his neck, the other dove under his coat and raked up the
back of his shirt. His mind instantly clouded and heart sped as her mouth played against his and drew him into her warmth. Giving into
the heat that roared through him, he turned her in his arms and dropped back in his seat with her laid across his lap.
Hands quickly stoked fires and deep, languid kisses melted senses. The still air was filled with a rush of breath and aching moans.
"Christ, what you do to me," he muttered beneath her lips.
"Push the seat back," she mumbled, tearing his shirt out of his waistband to run her hand against hard muscle. She unclasped his
trousers and slid her hand lower.
"Reese, what are..."
"Push the damn seat back, Chamberlain. Now."
Not being in a position to argue, he fumbled with the ignition, clicked the key enough to turn on the electric controls and moved the
seat back as far and as low as it would go. Fingers ripped at shoes and clothes, stretched over bare skin. He hissed in a breath when
she scraped her teeth down his firm chest and then straddled him.
"I've waited for dessert long enough," she said.
* * * *
"The man who killed the student last week has done it before at other colleges and there are witnesses who think they've seen him
all over the country, in big cities and small ones. Dillon told me about him this afternoon, told me the names of some of the cities and
one of them was a town close to where I lived with my mother. Before I knew it I was sucked back there, memories were coming at me,
sounds and smells and...hands, I swear I could feel hands on my skin. I made it go away like I always have but it was like some huge
footprint was stamped on me. It's been hard shaking off going back there in my head and God, I can't tell you how much that pisses me
off."
She pulled in a slow breath and laid a hand on top of his. "And I'm sorry, Ethan," she whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt you, or make
you mad. I handled things really crappy and I didn't mean to take anything out on you." She raised her chin and gave him a shaky
smile.
He knew her history as a child in Arizona. How, up until she was six years old and became a ward of the state she had lived with her
mother in a trailer; a mother who let men use her daughter for their pleasure and for her own financial benefit without any concern
over what would become of the child because of it. Since he had learned of it Reese hadn't mentioned it again. Until now.
* * * *
Twister...
Reese hated stakeouts. Sitting for so long gave her butt cramps and a knot between the shoulder blades. This was only her fourth
day and third night on this case and she was tired, bored and hungry enough to eat whatever scraps were in crumpled fast food bags
that lay on the floor of her Jeep. Day old fries sounded really good to her right now. She was going to give it another hour tonight and
then wrap it up. The ninety five degree day had cooled down to a typical Denver night in July and she'd forgotten to bring a flannel
shirt to stay warm. Couldn't crank on the heat, it would attract too much attention, parked on the street with the engine on. The heater
had died in May anyway. She shifted, redistributed her seated weight and wrapped her arms around the thin cotton shirt she was
wearing, and blew out a big breath. She'd been working on her patience skills but had a long way to go before she could happily sit
night after night waiting for the bad guy to show so she could nail his ass.
* * * *
His mouth curved up as he stepped in and settled down next to her, hissing in a breath at the hot water temperature. Soaking in the
tub was not something he had done before her. When he'd had the house built the fixture had seemed like a good idea at the time but
he had always preferred the shower with its trio of shower heads rather than the whirlpool tub.
When he was alone, at least.
The blood that beat in his ears quickened when she pulled his hand to her mouth and teased his fingers with her tongue, her eyes
not leaving his.
"How was work?" She flicked her tongue over to another finger.
His eyes darkened and narrowed. "A typical frantic Friday." His free hand coasted up her smooth leg, and slipped between her
thighs. He pressed his palm there, dipped his fingers lower and stroked her until her eyes widened and glassed over.
Her head fell back. "I'm sorry to…ooh," she mumbled as she shuddered over a blissful peak.
He slid her onto his lap, passed his thumbs over her sensitive nipples.
"What I was saying, before I was so, uh, wonderfully interrupted was, I'm sorry to hear that." She tipped her head to the side to give
him better access to the area of her neck he was intent on.
"All over now," he mumbled. He wove his fingers through her heavy, wet hair, his lips above hers. "I missed you, Reese Adams. Do
you have any idea how much?"
"I'm an investigator, Chamberlain," she said shifting against him. "And you're giving me some great clues."
Hangman...in 2009
