Rescue Me

as they pulled into Lovett. “Sounds like my kind of job. I’m a pretty good shot.”
    He looked at her out of the corners of his eyes. “For a girl you’re all right.”
    “I can outshoot most men. If we have a rematch, I can probably outshoot you, too.”
    “That would never happen.”
    True. She’d seen his deadly accuracy, courtesy of his government training. “What else do you miss about the military?”
    “I miss finning up and hitting the waves.”
    “Lake Meredith is about sixty miles west of Lovett.” She took a crunchy bite and added, “My uncle Frasier has a pool a few blocks from here, but it’s past cocktail hour and Uncle Frasier is probably swimming around drunk and naked by now. I could ask though.”
    “For the past sixteen years I’ve lived near the ocean. I prefer it to a pool.” He turned onto Desert Canyon Street, then hooked a left on Butte. “Especially a pool with a drunk guy floating around in it like a naked cork.”
    Which pretty much described Uncle Frasier.

Chapter Sixteen
    T he Casa Bella Apartment Complex was new and was made of terracotta-colored stucco and Spanish tile roof. There looked to be around twenty units, and Vince pulled the truck beneath a covered parking spot. He led her to an apartment on the second story. It was a basic eight-hundred-square-foot, two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath unit. The carpet was clean and it smelled of new paint, perfect for a guy who didn’t know how long he’d be living in the small town. “If I’d known,” she said as she moved into the kitchen and looked around at the mid-priced appliances, “I’d have brought you a housewarming plant.” She opened the refrigerator and set her Diet Coke next to a case of Lone Star and a six-pack of bottled water.
    “I don’t want a plant.” He grabbed her hat and tossed it on top of a box sitting on the counter. Then he slid his hands to her waist. He pulled her back against his chest and kissed the side of her neck. “I didn’t work much at the Gas and Go today. So I shouldn’t stink.”
    She smiled and tilted her head to one side to give him better access. “Does that line work for you?”
    “Does it work for you?”
    “Apparently.”
    He unzipped the back of her dress and slipped it from her shoulders. “Your bra’s black.”
    “It matches my panties.”
    “I noticed.” The crepe dress fell to the floor, and he said against her bare shoulder, “I wanta fuck you with your boots on.” His fingers moved to the back of her bra. “Does that work for you?”
    Oh yeah. She turned, and her bra joined her dress. “Yes, Vince.” She pulled his shirt over his head and ran her hands up and down his hard muscles. She kissed the side of his throat and her hand dived down the front of his pants. “You work for me,” she said, and wrapped her hand around his thick, corded erection. “You’re on time, on target, and never quit.” He sucked in a breath and she smiled against the warm skin of his neck. “I believe you called it your ‘full-circle readiness.’ I like a guy who is fully ready with a really nice, big, hard”—she slid her hand up and down his shaft and over the plump head—“body.” She bit the lobe of his ear and whispered, “Fuck me with my boots on, Vince.”
    And he did. Right there against the refrigerator with her legs wrapped around his waist. It was fast and furious and so hot their skin slid and stuck and she felt burned up from the inside out.
    “You’re good. So good,” he groaned as internal combustion raged through her and she gasped, unable to catch her breath. Her heart pounded and her whole world blew apart. When it was over, when every cell in her body reassembled, she felt different. Not in love different. More like not so alone different. She’d been surrounded by a crowd of people all day. Hardly alone, but with Vince she felt alive.
    “Are you okay?” he asked against the side of her throat, his warm breath tickling her still sensitive skin.
    “I am. Are you? You did all the work.”
    “I like this kind of work.” He sucked in a breath and let it out. “Especially with you.”
    For how much longer? she wondered for the first time since that first night he’d come to her house. She’d known he would fill her nights. She just hadn’t counted on him to fill up her life so completely. And it was scary as hell. And letting her mind wander down that scary path meant she cared. Caring wasn’t necessarily bad, but caring too much