Bound by Moonlight Read Online Free PDF

something deeper, something almost frighteningly intense.
    “Everything all right?” he asked softly.
    She nodded as if the quick squaring of her shoulders could erase the shimmer of dampness on her cheeks. “Just wanted some time alone to think through a new case.”
    A not-so-subtle suggestion that he get lost. But she’d have to be a lot more direct to get rid him.
    “Bad?”
    “They’re all bad,” she shot back, as if he didn’t understand exactly what she went through every time she leaned over the shell of a life not lived to the fullest. He could feel her anger and frustration welling up inside her like a scream pushing to get out.
    “Tell me.”
    “This has nothing to do with you, Savoie.” Prickly, provoking, insultingly so. “Not everything in the criminal universe revolves around your place in my life. I can’t do my job with you whining for my attention every second. I probably should have just gone home.”
    Gone home? This was her home.
Their
home.
    She was deliberately jabbing his buttons, goading him to argue so she could push him away. That’s when he realized how scared she was that he’d see beyond her bluster to the pain she was trying to hide.
    Silly female. She knew him better than that.
    “Just forget I’m here, then.”
    With that cool drawl, he crossed to where she huddled behind her thorny hedge of wariness. Objectionand resentment glittered in her glare as he sat on the couch.
    She exhaled. “Whatever.” With that terse statement, she turned to stare at the window—at his reflection. “Suit yourself.”
    “I usually do.” Then a bit stiffer. “I never whine.”
    An aggravated sigh. “Yes, you do.”
    “When?”
    He sounded so offended, she couldn’t restrain a faint smile. “When you want sex.”
    “Well, I’m not whining now. And I’ve wanted to hump you like a horny dog since you drew my attention to those shoes several hours ago.”
    Her lips quivered, then firmed. “Stop it, Max.”
    “Stop what?”
    “Making me laugh. You’re so damned irritating.”
    She rubbed her fingertips along his jaw, the gesture tender if distracted. “You can’t help me with this, Max. My worries, my job, my problem.”
    “I won’t get in your way, Detective.”
    She regarded him suspiciously, not reassured by his bland face. “Just sit here with me.”
    “I can do that.”
    Cee Cee closed her eyes, trying to focus on the case without raising the tearing memories. Usually it was enough to remind herself this was why she did the job—because it
was
personal. But this girl’s suffering duplicated her own too chillingly. When would she get beyond that ancient history?
    Max’s thumb soothingly rode the ridge of her toes, his heat warming her flesh. His other hand cupped her heel and lifted her foot into his lap, where he beganto undo the strap about her ankle. Then he eased off her shoe and started to massage her foot with both hands. She eyed him cautiously, but he appeared totally absorbed. The stern set of her features softened as the moment became less about her. She nudged his hip with the toe of her other shoe.
    “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
    “Too late to apologize. You’ve already wounded me beyond my ability to recover.”
    “It’s not like
you’re
never disagreeable.”
    “If I snapped at
you,
Detective, you’d be missing a limb.”
    She could hear the smirk in his tone, so she pushed him. “You promised there’d be toe sucking.”
    “So I did. I live to serve.”
    He pulled her other foot into his lap and removed her shoe in a delicate striptease while she kneaded his shirt with her bared toes. She could feel his heart pound beneath them.
    When he lifted his head, his eyes glowed, golden.
    He lifted her foot to his face, rubbing his cheek against its high arch. His eyes closed and her breath caught as he pressed a kiss to the sensitive curve, then shivered at the slow stroke of his tongue. His hands were rubbing her calf. With her knees bent, her