Page 25 of Hawk and the Cougar

A quiver rocked her stomach. The husky note in his voice would do her in. “You were right,” she said.

“What?”

“I have lousy timing.” Not to mention, she had mush for a brain.

He laughed and pulled her close. “Yeah, but my timing’s great.”

Liz thought about his great timing that morning when he’d had his mouth between her legs, and her pulse skipped a beat, then faltered.

“Oh, my God.” She buried her head in his chest.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“They were watching us when you and I—” She groaned.

“They?” He chuckled, then gave her a reassuring hug. “It’s more likely Reid’s men came later.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Any more than you can know they were watching,” he said. “And, even if they were, the only thing they saw was us kissing.”

“And you on your knees when you—” Her cheeks heated, despite knowing he couldn’t see her face.

“When I what?”

His deep voice reverberated through her.

“You know what you did.” She winced at the squeak in her voice.

“I can’t wait to do it again.”

Liz jumped at the feel of lazy circles travelling along her arm.

“You want me to touch you that way again,” he said. “No woman reacts the way you did and doesn’t want to have that done to her again.” He brought his mouth close to her ear. “And again.”

Liz had thought that very thing, and her body ached painfully at the idea.

“How do you plan on dealing with Vance Reid?” she said

The lazy circles stopped. A long stretch of silence passed between them before he said, “I’ll have to make the police understand they have to step things up on their investigation.”

“I don’t think you’re being honest,” she said.

“No?”

“I think you intend to speak with him yourself.”

“I would like a face-to-face,” he admitted.

Liz settled her cheek more comfortably against his chest and stared through the window at the moon that rose against a darkening sky. “Do you believe he’ll blink first?”

He squeezed her arm. “I was wrong to play that game with you in the truck last night. My grandfather told me my temper would get the best of me one day.”

Warmth flowed like liquid silver up her arm from where he touched her.

“Reid isn’t chancing that we’ll beat him,” Hawk said. “And I do plan to beat him. Did plan to beat him.”

“Did?” Liz pushed up and met his gaze. “Now, wait a minute. You can’t make any changes on my account.”

He tweaked a lock of her hair. “Sweetheart, I wouldn’t be able to not make changes if I tried.”

“You are out of your mind. I don’t know how your generation does things—”

“My generation?” His rich laughter slid across her senses like black velvet. “You’re going to be able to get away with that line for about two seconds, then I’ll toss you on your back and make love to you until you forget your age, your name.…” His voice deepened. “But you sure as hell won’t forget my name.”