always had dirty work. Defense contracting was populated with a bunch of good olâ boys whose middle names all seemed to be Greed. He didnât have an assignment at the moment, but Decker knew it wouldnât be long. Since Xander and Javier had started sharing that lush blonde they now called wife, they seemed far more intent on enjoying the honeymoon part of their marriage. Or were they on a babymoon now? After all, they would be daddies by next May. The trio seemed disgustingly happy.
Decker tried not to, but he wondered why heâd never found someone he wanted to spend more than a few hours with. Rachel had eventually moved on from Owen, but at least sheâd believed herself in love enough once to roll the dice. Heâd never felt much beyond his dick twitch.
Shoving aside the thought, he climbed the fence and hopped onto the little walkway outside her kitchen window. Not two minutes later, he pulled up in front of her house again. In normal circumstances, heâd bring her a bottle of wine or at least flavored condoms, but he didnât dare leave her alone long enough to retrieve them, just in case.
After a little warning roar, he parked his bike out front and stowed his helmet. He grabbed a few necessities from his saddlebags and headed to her front door, then rang the bell. A long minute passed before she flipped on the porch light and opened the door.
Light from the foyer table off to her right spilled around her dark hair. Her skin looked smooth and ivory, untouched by the sun and devoid of makeup. Her brown eyes were wide and a bit wary, framed by thick black lashes. Sheâd slicked a little gloss over her plump lips, and he couldnât wait to get them under his again.
Rachel stepped back to admit him. âHi. You were quick.â
âI was motivated.â He stepped in, then shut and locked the door behind him with a smile.
She wore a short, silky robe in white with tiny pink flowers on it. Decker didnât know much about womenâs clothes, but he was pretty sure she couldnât have on much under that. Her pert nipples beaded the front. If he did this right, he could have her naked and flat on her back in five minutes.
With a nervous smile, she backed across the foyer. âCoffee?â
âI didnât come here for anything you could whip up in the kitchen, beautiful. But if you need a minute to take a deep breath and get your head together, Iâll be patient.â
She let out a shaky breath. âSorry. Iâve never done this, invited a man I barely know over to . . .â
âDo naughty things designed to make your heart race and your throat raw from screaming?â
The sweetest little blush crept up her cheeks. âThatâs one way of putting it. But itâs . . . um, never been like that for me.â
Decker frowned. The last thing he really wanted to do now was talk about her bedroom gymnastics with the ex, especially when he felt sure there was a whole naked wonderland under that robe waiting just for him. Sadly, sheâd given him an opening, and this might be the only time to gracefully dig information out of her about Owen. He had to nail down a better motive . . . or see if he could take the douche off his suspect list. It
was
possible that someone else had it in for her, though he couldnât fathom why given how sweet she was. And she wasnât going to relax until she felt more comfortable with him. Her lack of experience, while weirdly endearing, was a hindrance.
He grabbed her hand and led her from the foyer, through the kitchen, then down a couple of steps into a sunken living room area that he could finally take the time to observe since he wasnât focused on finding clues. Easing back into the beige velvet sofa, he glanced over the patterned rugs and mirrored accents that gave the room with the yellow-cream walls a light feel. Built-in shelves overflowed with books of all kinds,