LITMIR.BIZ

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Her breathing became audible and then she cried, aching sobs that seemed torn from her soul.

      Rocking gently from side to side, he tightened his grip as her tears soaked into his shirt. Pressing his mouth to her temple in a gesture of comfort, he stroked one hand over the corn-silk strands of her hair. He’d been denying his attraction to her, knowing it wasn’t to be. But for the first time, he saw the vulnerable woman beneath her tough exterior, and it touched his heart in a way he couldn’t allow.

      Stevie’s breath hitched and her crying subsided almost as quickly as it had begun. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to ignore the feel of her lean, athletic body against his. He wouldn’t think about the way her soft, full breasts flattened against his chest or her long legs pressed between his thighs.

      It would be a huge mistake to kiss her. But it had been so long since he’d allowed any contact with a woman that his body responded instinctively. Shameless desire filled him, lengthened and thickened him. Before the possibility fully formed in his mind, Stevie tilted her head back and brushed her mouth over the tender bruise on his chin. His heart thudded in his chest and a searing urgency rushed though him. Then she turned her face until their lips met.

      He leaned forward, trying not to think about what a mistake this was. It was easier than he expected because his mind focused on discovering that her sexy pout tasted as delicious as he’d imagined. The kiss was soft, gentle and slow, but an underlying expectancy was building between them.

      Stevie’s mouth relaxed and parted beneath his, both inviting and daring him to deepen the kiss. Her skirt made a swishing sound as her hips swayed across his arousal. Her hands fisted in the material of his shirt, urging him closer. He wanted her, but he wouldn’t compound what was already a serious lack of judgment. No man with any honor would take advantage of a woman in an emotionally fragile state.

      Emelio reluctantly broke the kiss. He had a responsibility, a duty to keep her safe from Braga. Getting involved with Stevie would only increase the danger to them both. He gently placed one hand on her shoulder and took a step back, putting some distance between them.

      Stevie’s full lips looked even more lush when thoroughly kissed and damned if he didn’t want to do it again. Her cheeks bloomed with color and her eyes had taken on a somnolent expression. He kept his gaze from straying to the rapid rise and fall of her chest and the hard peaks of her nipples visible under her sweater.

      “We’d better get going. Pack whatever’s essential and we’ll buy anything else when we get there.”

      He saw the flash of confusion in her eyes at his brusque manner, then she crossed her arms over her waist and nodded. “It’ll only take me a minute.” She raised one hand to gesture at his face. “I’m sorry about that.”

      Emelio thought about his parents, about the closeness and caring they all took for granted. “I’m sorry that your family let you down.”

      Stevie’s blue eyes turned clear and cold. “The people you trust to protect you always hurt you the most.”

      Her words sliced into him like a razor as she turned to go inside the apartment. The guilt that bled out of his heart made him even more determined to keep her safe at all costs.

      He thought about his dead informant. He wasn’t going to make the same mistakes with Stevie. He had to concentrate on hunting down Braga before he found them. It was the only way to protect her.

      Emelio went back inside the apartment and closed the French doors behind him. Looking around at the destruction strengthened his resolve. Gracias a Dios, she hadn’t been home. She might have ended up in the same condition. He looked at his watch and called out.

      “Get it in gear, Stevie.”

      “I’m coming.”

      He heard a drawer bang in the bedroom and sighed. If she was anything like his sisters, Stevie’s idea of essential differed greatly from his. While he waited, his eyes catalogued her belongings, storing the information of her likes and preferences. The corners of his mouth twitched in amusement when he noticed she had the complete collection of James Bond videos.

      A gleam of white caught his eye and he saw something partly hidden beneath the cane-back chair. His gaze narrowed to a sharp focus when he noticed a dark shadow along the top. There was something familiar about that pattern….

      As Emelio turned the chair over, he saw that the object wasn’t white but pearl gray. He could only stare at the box of stationery with a black-lace design embossed on the edge. He reached for the envelope in his back pocket, comparing them to be certain.

      Stevie? Stevie was the mystery woman who’d been mailing him erotic notes for almost four months?

      At the office, she was friendly but professional. She was straightforward and hardworking and…sexy as hell. He suddenly remembered the flirtatious sparkle in her eyes when she sat on the edge of his desk earlier. She must have seen black-lace letter number nine in the stack of mail.

      Stevie was his secret seductress.

      Words that she’d written in the second letter flashed across his mind.

      I straddle my thighs over your lap, my mouth open to your hot, wet kisses as I unbutton your shirt. Your hands glide under my skirt, pulling me closer to the hard bulge of your jeans….

      Not only did he remember every sentence from every letter, but he also realized that they were going to be roommates for an indefinite amount of time. Emelio groaned out loud. He’d been fighting his attraction to her before. How the hell was he going to keep his hands off of her now?

      3

      “ALLIGATOR… ALLIGATOR… Oh, look…more alligators.”

      Emelio changed his grip on the steering wheel and glanced over at Stevie. Her short blond hair was tousled from the wind blowing into Alex’s Jeep as they headed due west along U.S. 41 towards Naples, Florida. One elbow was propped on the open window, her chin resting on her palm. She stared out at the large reptiles sunning themselves beside the canal that ran next to the road.

      He chuckled at her petulant tone. “Come on, it’s not all ’gators. I saw a couple of herons and a deer.”

      “Too bad the ’gators didn’t eat the deer. It would have broken up the monotony.” Stevie let out a long-suffering and exaggerated sigh.

      “You could use a little boredom today.” He reached over to turn the radio on low.

      She sighed again, squirming a little in her seat. Her movements caused the short blue-and-white skirt to ride up, exposing more of her long, shapely legs. His fingers itched to reach out and stroke the smooth, tanned skin, feel the lean muscle just below the surface.

      The next song on the radio was a slow sexy ballad. I’ll make love to you, baby, all through the night—

      He flicked a button to change the radio station. That song was not what he needed to hear right now. Instead, he focused on the flat, tree-lined road ahead, stretching out as endless and hot as Stevie’s legs…. He had to stop daydreaming and pay attention to the highway.

      This section of U.S. 41 had no emergency shoulder, just a crumbling edge immediately bordering the wetlands. It wouldn’t take much for the Jeep to end up among the palmettos and waist-high saw grass. Every time he made this trip from Miami, he got the feeling that if he stopped for too long, the fecund greenery would sprout up and make him an unwilling part of the Everglades.

      Stevie dropped her arm off the window ledge and into her lap with another irritated sigh. Hiding an amused smirk, he braced for her next harangue.

      “If you’d let me drive—”

      “Forget it, Jayne Bond.”

      “—I would have gone up to Route I-75. The interstate is a lot faster.”

      He adjusted his sunglasses against the glare of the midday sun. “Maybe. But it would have been harder to keep track of the vehicles around

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