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  Moving her beneath him, his hands joined with hers above her head, Brennan skimmed his lips along her throat, her face, her temples until he could no longer hold himself back. She had been moving so urgently beneath him, it was all he could do to restrain himself.

  When he felt her raise her hips to his, the last of his resolve shattered.

  Sealing his mouth to hers, he entered her.

  But a heartbeat after Brennan began, he stopped, stunned.

  Confused.

  He began to draw his head back in order to look at her, but she took his edge away by pushing her hips up higher against his, not allowing him to pull back. Not allowing him to stop.

  Brennan tasted her deep moan against his mouth and then felt her urgency return, taking him prisoner. They moved steadily together, going faster and faster until the pinnacle that he was familiar with and she so desperately desired to experience was finally reached.

  It was worth it.

  Worth the indecision, worth the pain and most of all, worth the risk of throwing all caution to the wind to feel something so indescribably wondrous that she had no words to frame what she had experienced.

  The soft, comforting euphoria that wrapped itself around her held on tightly, and for one timeless moment, Tiana wished it would last forever. But the next moment, she was floating back to earth.

  As her breathing grew less labored and returned to a more normal, steady cadence, she became aware of Brennan beside her.

  Brennan holding her to him and looking at her.

  The expression on his face was one of discomfort, for lack of a better term.

  After a moment, Tiana put her own interpretation to his expression. She’d been expecting it.

  And dreading it.

  “You’re disappointed,” she concluded, wanting to look away but forcing herself to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t everything you hoped for.”

  “Disappointed?” he repeated. That wasn’t the first word that came to his mind, but it would do, he supposed. “Yes, I’m disappointed. Disappointed you didn’t tell me.” Anger flared up in his chest. Anger at her—and mainly, anger at himself. It wasn’t something he should have suspected, but once he’d become aware of it, he should have forced himself to stop, not wanted her so much that he continued what he’d been about. “Damn it, why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.

  Tiana stared at the ceiling, willing herself not to cry. Tears gathered in her eyes, anyway. She struggled to keep them from falling.

  “Couldn’t find a way to work it into the conversation, I guess,” she told him, her throat feeling raw, constricted as she spoke. “Maybe I should have had cards printed up. Tiana Drummond, career virgin.” She took in a long breath and then let it out. “Except now I guess I’m not.”

  Brennan raised himself up on his elbow to look at her face. “It’s not a joke.”

  “What do you want from me?” she cried, wishing she could just vanish. All the lovely sensations that had just been generated disappeared like so many soap bubbles scooped up by a strong wind. “You want me to apologize? Okay, I apologize.”

  “No, I don’t want you to apologize,” he shouted, not at her so much as at himself. “I’m the one who should be apologizing!”

  Her mouth all but fell open as she stared at him, his words echoing back in her head. “For what?” she demanded in utter confusion. “Unless I missed something, you didn’t force yourself on me.”

  He drew a breath in, trying to calm himself. Shouting wasn’t going to change anything, wasn’t going to excuse his actions.

  “No, but I might as well have. A woman’s first time isn’t supposed to be like this.”

  She continued to stare at him, at a complete loss. Could that actually be it? Could Brennan be apologizing because he hadn’t wined and dined her, or whatever he thought the appropriate route to a first-time lovemaking encounter was supposed to be?

  “I’m not complaining,” Tiana said. Taking a breath, she raised herself up and at the same time, pushed him down onto the bed, pressing his back against the tangle of sheets. “Look, take this for whatever you think it’s worth. Yes, this was my first time and it was everything, everything I could have hoped for. And more,” she emphasized. “You were kind, gentle and you rocked my world. And if I, in some small way, returned the favor—or at least didn’t bitterly disappoint you—then I think we can both walk away from what happened here without regrets. I know I have none.”

  Brennan still looked as if he wasn’t convinced. “I didn’t hurt you?”

  Well, yes, there had been pain, but she’d been prepared for that. The rest of it had been a wondrous surprise—and well worth any pain that had been temporarily involved.

  “Aren’t you listening?” she asked him. As she talked, she spread her hand out on his chest, gliding her fingertips slowly along the muscular ridges. “I have no regrets. And don’t worry,” she assured him in case he thought that in her mind, this meant that they were forever linked and she was looking to wear him down until he proposed. “I don’t plan to follow you to the ends of the earth and bake you cookies—”

  “No cookies?” he asked, sounding intentionally disappointed. “I like cookies.”

  His expression and tone made her laugh, evaporating the serious moment. “You are insane.”

  Brennan raised one eyebrow, as if questioning the fact that she even had to state the obvious. “Have you noticed my line of work?”

  “Good point.” Tiana leaned in and kissed him.

  It was her intention to get up right after that, but Brennan cupped the back of her head and pulled her to him ever so slightly as he deepened the kiss that was supposed to be fleeting. She really did have every intention of getting up, but thirty seconds into the kiss and all desire to become vertical completely vanished.

  A second wave of desire, higher, wider and more urgent than the first, washed over her. She forgot all about getting dressed, all about the hurt that had been generated when she thought he was disappointed that she was so inexperienced.

  All she wanted was a second ride on the wild roller coaster that Brennan had wound up so artfully creating just for her.

  This time the lovemaking started more languidly, more patiently, with a gentleness that almost brought tears to her eyes. But even so, the passion began to build until it was all but sending shock waves through her body, urging her to even greater heights, heights that, as inconceivable as it seemed to her, hadn’t been attained last time.

  What it showed her was that no matter how wondrous and awesome her initial experience had been, better was possible. And he was the best.

  The climax, such an unexpected surprise the first time, now vibrated through Tiana not once, not twice, but a total of several times. They were all different, yet all equally earth-shaking in magnitude.

  Tiana was a very willing student and she learned exceptionally fast.

  It wasn’t long before she surprised him, and at times during their second time around, Brennan found their roles reversed. Instinctive reactions had her being the teacher, turning him into the eager student.

  She brought out things within him he hadn’t thought were there. In addition, he felt a sense of bonding with her that heretofore had eluded him during his adult life.

  This wasn’t a woman of the moment, Brennan realized. Tiana was a woman he seriously wanted to return to at the end of the day.

  Return to time and again.

  Was this what a desire for commitment actually felt like?

  Brennan didn’t know. He had always assumed that a wife and kids—a family—were in his future. But that was for “someday” when he had done everything else he wanted to do. Maybe when he found another passion to dedicate himself to outside of law enforcement.

  But now he wasn’t so sure.

&
nbsp; Now he began to think, as he gathered Tiana closer just to feel her heart beating against his, that maybe “someday” was a great deal closer than he had initially thought.

  Maybe “someday” was actually here.

  Chapter 15

  Living strictly within the moment and effectively managing to exclude any dark, outside thoughts that would only undermine the way he felt right now, Brennan lightly brushed his lips against the top of her head. The scent of Tiana’s hair made him think of an endless spring morning.

  He savored the peaceful image, willing it to linger for a while.

  “You know,” he told her, “I rarely take second helpings and I’ve never gone for thirds.”

  Today was a day for firsts, he thought. And that included the way he responded to everything about this woman.

  Tiana raised her head ever so slightly, her hair seductively slipping along his bare skin, enticing a man who was more than halfway there to begin with. She looked at him a little uncertainly.

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Tiana asked in amazement.

  He played with a wisp of her hair at the nape of her neck, wrapping the red strand around his index finger. “I am,” he told her.

  She didn’t frown so much as look a tad puzzled. “I know this makes me sound really naive, but...” She hesitated for a second before asking, “Is that normal?”

  He grinned, amused. Her innocence warmed him. “For me or in general?”

  Her shoulders moved in a puzzled shrug. “Whichever you feel most comfortable answering.”

  He did what he could to attempt to look serious. He succeeded only marginally. “No—and possibly.”

  Her mind did a double take. “What?”

  He laughed, elaborating. “For me, no, I’m not generally—for lack of a better term—a repeater. Or at least I wasn’t,” he amended in light of what had just transpired today. “And I’ve never taken a poll among my friends, but I figure there’ve gotta be guys who don’t get their fill, who’re more or less insatiable. Those I think fall into the addict category. How interested are you in what’s behind door number two?” he asked, referring to the second category.

  “Not at all,” she told him, shifting her body so that her upper torso was lying across his. “Door number one gets my vote all the way.”

  “Good to know,” he murmured.

  She lowered her mouth to his.

  But just as they began to immerse themselves in each other again, giving lie to his statement about his limited repeat performance, Brennan’s cell phone rang insistently.

  Instantly alert, they shifted gears immediately, leaving their private personas behind and morphing back into police detectives, first and foremost.

  “Cavanaugh,” Brennan said the second he put the cell phone to his ear.

  “I know your last name, bro.”

  Duncan was on the other end, just as he had assumed. He’d said his name automatically—and on the outside chance that it was someone else calling with information.

  Brennan’s body remained alert, ready. “What have you got?”

  “You mean other than a numb butt?” his brother cracked. “Our boy just got a message that his presence is requested within the hour. I’m taking that to mean he might be meeting with someone who had the authority to order him around. In any case,” Duncan pointed out, “that means he’s going to be mobile.”

  As he listened to Duncan, Brennan looked around for his clothes. Spotting them on the floor, he pulled his pants over. He had no idea where his underwear was. For now, he’d skip getting a pair. He needed to be ready to go within seconds if his quarry was going to be on the move soon.

  “If he leaves early, follow him,” Brennan instructed, tucking the cell phone against his ear with his shoulder as he pulled on his trousers. “And have Valri call me with updates until you get to wherever it is that Roland is supposed to be going.”

  “You do realize that Valri and I are both off duty, right?” Duncan asked.

  “Think of it as doing a good deed,” Brennan told him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tiana looking at him, obviously dying to ask questions but not wanting to interrupt in the event something crucial was being relayed. “If we can bring down this pervert’s network, a lot of girls will be sleeping in their own beds soon. And a lot more will never know the utter terror of being abducted.”

  “You always did fight dirty,” Duncan responded with a sigh.

  Brennan laughed at his brother’s complaint. “There’s another way?”

  “I guess you’ve got a point there, bro,” Duncan relented.

  “One more thing. If you do wind up having to follow him, remember to stay off his radar,” Brennan warned. Neither Duncan nor Valri had been on the job as long as he had and neither one of them had ever needed to go undercover. He tended to be overprotective of his younger siblings.

  “And here I was, all set to ram him at the first red light we come to,” Duncan lamented. His voice grew serious as he reassured his brother, “Not my first rodeo, big brother.”

  “If this was about busting broncos, I wouldn’t be half this concerned about the two of you,” Brennan told him.

  “Nice to know you care,” Duncan replied dryly. “Mom would have been proud that her lectures to you actually took.”

  “Call me,” Brennan ordered, not wanting to go in the direction his brother was heading. Duncan had a way of going on extended tangents. “And stay safe. Both of you,” he added.

  “Does this mean I can’t push Valri in front of a truck? Ow!”

  Brennan guessed that the unexpected exclamation of pain meant that Valri had punched Duncan’s arm in retaliation for the crack. “Not today.”

  “Got it,” Duncan replied dutifully.

  The call was terminated on both ends.

  Turning around, Brennan saw that Tiana was already dressed and ready to go. “Guess you filled in the blanks,” he speculated, reaching for his shirt.

  “You forgot your underwear,” she pointed out, indicating the item that was on the floor on the far end of room.

  Well, he wasn’t about to stop to put them on now. That would entail getting undressed again.

  “Gives me a head start on next time,” Brennan told her with a wink.

  “Next time?” she repeated. From the sound of it, they had a long afternoon and evening ahead of them. Was he actually thinking beyond the day?

  Brennan nodded as he crossed to where his gun and holster were. “You know, like the time after ‘this’ time,” he prompted. Checking to see that there was a bullet in each chamber of his weapon, he glanced in her direction. “Is that all right with you?”

  Tiana grinned at him. She knew it wasn’t very sophisticated or worldly of her, but she really didn’t care. Once they accomplished this mission, she intended to enjoy the hell out of being with this man for as long as it lasted. She had no illusions about the situation, but she wasn’t about to allow that to dampen a single iota of the relationship while it was in full swing.

  “That’s terrific with me,” she assured him.

  “Good.” Doing a mental inventory of all the points he needed to cover to make sure he hadn’t neglected something or left it to chance—mistakes cost lives—he was satisfied he hadn’t forgotten anything or overlooked it. “Okay, let’s go, then.”

  “Exactly where are we going?” she asked as she fell into step beside him.

  “Back to where we left my car if Duncan doesn’t call,” he told her. “Wherever he tells us to go if it turns out that he’s on the move.”

  Tiana was already on her way to the elevator. “Sounds good to me.”

  * * *

  Duncan still hadn’t called by the time Brennan and Tiana arrived in the general vicinity where he’d left his veh
icle parked with his siblings in it.

  Parking farther down the street than they’d initially been—thanks to an increase in traffic—they got out of the car quickly and made their way toward his sedan.

  The moment they arrived, Duncan and Valri all but jumped out of the car.

  “God, I’ve forgotten how boring everyone always said stakeouts were,” Valri confided to her older brother and the woman who had apparently been in Brennan’s company the whole time. Valri was dying to ask the latter a few questions, but now wasn’t the time and she knew Brennan wouldn’t appreciate her being so inquisitive—or nosy as he called it.

  “He still holed up in the suite?” Brennan asked, nodding in the hotel’s direction.

  “According to the monitor, he hasn’t moved a muscle. You ask me, I think he’s pulling this ‘slow’ act because he’s trying to get back at whoever’s in charge for some reason.”

  “Get back at him for what?” Tiana asked. That sounded awfully petty to her, considering what was at stake here.

  “Over some imagined slight or put-down he probably thought he’d received. This Roland character’s pretty thin-skinned, if you ask me,” Duncan told her.

  “You got all that in the last hour?” Brennan asked rather skeptically. Maybe Duncan was evolving into a really decent detective after all, he mused, a feeling of pride slipping through him.

  “More like two hours, and why so surprised?” Duncan asked. “You think you’re the only clever one in the family who can make deductions?”

  “The thought did cross my mind,” Brennan deadpanned. “Okay, we’ll take it from here,” he told his brother and sister.

  “It’s all yours, bro,” Duncan said, gesturing toward the monitor in the car. “See you this Sunday?”

  From his tone, Duncan sounded as if asking was a mere formality. Since his brother had saved Andrew’s life, Sunday dinners had become more or less a staple within their family—just as it had been and continued to be for the main branch of the family.

  However, Brennan wasn’t about to be hemmed in by tradition. “Not sure if I can make it. We might still be sitting here.”