Shiver

Defiantly she threw back her head to glare up at him even while she was acutely, pleasurably aware of how big and strong and masculine his hand felt as it continued its intimate exploration. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Copping a feel.”
    Looking at him had been a mistake. His mouth wasn’t that far from hers; its curve was—sexy. Just like the heat in his eyes as they met hers was sexy.
    “If I was copping a feel, I’d have my hand inside your pants.”
    That melted her bones. Her knees went wobbly, just like that. All because she could picture it—feel it—as vividly as if he really was delving inside her jeans and panties to caress her bare skin.
    Just thinking about it was enough to make her squirm.
    “So maybe you’re subtle like that.” But she said it without conviction. As much as she wanted to think copping a feel was what he was doing, the real answer was, it didn’t seem like something the Marco she knew would do. But then, selling out his fellow agents and joining forces with a drug cartel, and then selling them out in turn, didn’t seem like something the Marcoshe knew would do, either. So the conclusion she reached was, she actually didn’t know squat about him.
    “You really think that?” His voice was low, and a little husky.
    “That you’re subtle? Probably not. That you’re copping a feel? Sure feels like it to me.”
    “Guess again, baby doll.” He splayed his hand wide over her butt and pulled her closer still in a way that left her breathless. Her nipples reacted instantly to the sudden close contact with his chest. At the unexpected jolt of pleasure that resulted, her mouth went dry. She liked the strength in his grip, she realized, liked the sensation of being female to his male. The way he was holding her, she was practically being squashed into the cushiony layer of his robe. She could feel the bulky knot of the belt tied at his waist. Beneath the toweling, she could feel the firm muscles he had everywhere.
    “Let go of me!” She squirmed in a halfhearted attempt to get away. “Are you on those stupid pills again?”
    “Nope.”
    Whether his purpose was to cop a feel or not, that was definitely what he was doing. She could feel his hand palming first one cheek and then the other—and her body’s instantaneous reaction did not bode well for her determination to leave sex out of the equation where he was concerned. He caressed the rounded curves, slid his fingers along the indentation between them all the way down between her legs, and as she felt him touching her there she was rocked by a flash of desire so strongit shocked her. Her lips parted as her breathing went all uneven. She could feel her body softening. She could feel his hardening.
    “Then what the hell, Marco?” The objection probably would have been more effective if it hadn’t sounded so breathless—and if she had been trying harder to get away from him. She wasn’t even squirming in protest (or otherwise) any longer, not that the squirming she had done there for a minute really counted as an attempt to get him to stop. If he had been anyone else in the world, if she had meant business, she would have kneed him. Or, second option, grabbed his injured leg and squeezed. One thing she had learned over the years was how to take care of herself. If she had really wanted to get free, she could have made it happen like that.
    Instead she was going all buttery inside even as she let—and face the truth, let was the right word—him get all touchy-feely with her butt.
    “Did you really think I wasn’t going to notice the brand-new addition to your ass?” he asked on a note of grim triumph.
    That was so unexpected that Sam frowned. Then she realized: he hadn’t been feeling her up. He’d been patting her down. As he spoke, his fingers were digging down deep inside her back pocket, and he was pulling out her cash.
    “Way to prove you’re spending way too much time staring at it!” Indignation stiffened her spine. When his hand came into view holding the ninety dollars she had stashed away in her back pocket, then waggled the tightly folded square in front of her nose, she met his gaze belligerently.
    “Want to explain this?” His eyes would have been hard if it hadn’t been for the heat at their backs.
    He’s turned on, too. The realization made her want to start stripping off her clothes. Then she remembered that both of them had resolved to keep sex out of it—for very good reasons—and