Shadoe gasped, then arched against him, meeting his thrust with a desperate need to feel him buried deeper. He cupped one hand underneath her and lifted her, driving her cl*tagainst his shaft, splintering her as he rode her with relentless power.

He sought to dominate, to control. She’d never been one to give up power in the bedroom. With Spence, though, it didn’t matter. He mastered her and she didn’t question it. She needed it, craved it.

She gave up everything but the sensations, the way he moved inside her, dragging his c**k against her most sensitive spots, knowing exactly where to touch her, to kiss her, to bring out the most pleasure from her body. He’d pull out halfway, then slide back in, hitting her G-spot at the same time his shaft rubbed her clit.

No man knew her body this well, how she’d react, where the areas were to drive her crazy. Spence did. She looked at him, watched the way he seemed to concentrate on the points that drove her to the brink. He focused on her, on what she needed.

Astounding.

It didn’t take her long at all to find a cl**ax again, shattering like fragile glass, her body pulsing like the hard beat at a night-club. But Spence wouldn’t let her come down from that high, instead continuing to f**k her, this time harder, faster. He picked up his own rhythm and took her there again, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of her buttocks as he pushed himself deep.

“Spence.”

“Yeah, baby, I know.”

He did know. He kissed her with depth, tightened his hold, and ground against her. She felt him everywhere and came again, cried out his name as she fell and this time took him along for the ride.

She felt like she was on a softly floating cloud, barely registering anything in the realm of reality. Spence pulled out and left the bed only for a moment, then gathered her against him and wrapped his arm around her, kissed the back of her neck, his warm breath against her hair.

She couldn’t remember ever feeling so content as she drifted off to sleep.

TWELVE

SPENCE SAT IN A CHAIR AND NURSED A CUP OF COFFEE, watching Shadoe sleep. Her hair had fallen over her eyes. The sheet covered only the lower half of her body, giving him a great view of her na**d back. Her arms were raised so he had a nice peek at the side of one breast.

He leaned back in the chair and wished he were a painter or a great photographer. He’d like to have that picture preserved forever.

Christ, now he was waxing poetic. Hardly his style, but this was what she’d reduced him to—watching her sleep and musing about her face and body. If the guys could see him now, they’d laugh.

He’d known Shadoe only a few days, and in that time something had happened to him. Something kind of profound.

He felt something for her. She was his match sexually—wild and untamed and game for anything, with no reservations. Her passions were boundless. He liked that in a woman. She had no ulterior motives, wasn’t clingy, just seemed to enjoy ha**g s*x with him. What man wouldn’t love that about a woman?

But she’d made no claims on him, hadn’t asked him what was going to happen between them in the future. Last night after they’d had sex, she curled up next to him and passed right out, hadn’t needed words or anything between them.

She was just like a man, except she was all woman.

He was starting to think he’d miss her when this case was over, and he didn’t like thinking that way. He liked going separate ways with a woman after the fun and games had ended. He didn’t want to think about “after,” and what that meant. He didn’t do relationships.

Relationships led to ties, ties led to marriage, and marriage led to bringing kids into the world. Having kids meant responsibility, taking care of someone other than yourself. His parents had failed miserably at that. Spence had done a good job at being a free spirit his entire life. He intended to keep it that way, not run the risk of f**king up some kids’ lives like his parents had done.

“You look deep in thought, and how long have you been staring at me?”

He hadn’t even realized Shadoe was awake. “A while.”

“It’s creepy. Or maybe really nice.” She pushed her hair out of her face and sat up, mindless of her br**sts out for his view as she shoved a pillow against the headboard to lean on. She inhaled. “And is that coffee?”

“Yeah. I got one for you. It’s probably still hot.” He passed her one of the containers.

“You satisfy all my cravings. Thank you.”

He smiled at that, and watched her take a deep drink of the dark liquid, then lick her bottom lip. His c**k twitched, and he resisted the groan. It seemed everything she did—even the simple act of drinking coffee—made his dick hard.

“How long have you been up?”

“An hour or so.”

She looked over at the clock on the nightstand. “Oh, God, it’s almost eleven already.”

“You keep late hours as a stripper.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. This whole gig is going to throw off my schedule. I’m an early riser. I jog before dawn every day.”

“Not while you’re on this case.”

She lifted her shoulders and rolled her head from side to side. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Last night you wanted me to remind you to tell me something.”

“Oh, yeah. That bouncer who stood by you talking while I was sitting at the table?”

“Yeah?”

“That was the guy I saw on the docks yesterday.”

“Lance?”

“I guess so.”

“Interesting. He’s also married to Cheri, who he said is the lead dancer there.”

Shadoe wrinkled her nose. “She’s a bitch and a half.”

He laughed. “Some of them are.”

“I don’t think she was very happy that I came in to steal her thunder.”

“I saw her dance. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Well, thanks for that. But tell me about Lance.”

“He wanted to distract me, I think, so one of the customers could put the moves on you.”

“Yeah, I had a couple like that. I took care of them before they got out of hand or before you had to step in to break their arm.”

“Too bad. I might have enjoyed that.” He didn’t like anyone touching her. Dammit, he didn’t like that it bothered him, either.

“Next time I’ll give you a heads-up, then.”

“I think we should keep our eyes on Lance.”

She laid the coffee cup on the nightstand. “You think he might be involved somehow in the drug dealings?”

“I don’t know. Something about Lance bugged me.”

“Well, I know Cheri bugged me, but it could be just her personality. I can work on the girls, try and get to know them better, see what I can find out. The dancers usually know exactly what’s going on inside a club.”

“Okay. Brandon asked me about you last night, too.”

“He did? What did he say?”

“He asked about you and me, about our relationship. I think he wanted to know how tight we were, if there might be room for him.”

She arched a brow. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Some guys aren’t so possessive of their ladies.”

“That’s . . . interesting.” She couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t share what’s mine.”

She tilted her head to the side and studied him. “Good to know. Since I’m not interested in being shared. It’s really an incestuous group in that industry, isn’t it?”

“It can be. Some are very loyal. Most aren’t. It might make our jobs easier if they all have loose lips.”

“Would it make our jobs easier if we weren’t so tight?”

He took a long swallow of coffee. “What do you mean?”

“What if we weren’t so close to each other, but . . . branched out a bit. Do you think that would allow us to gather information more easily?”

“You mean act as if we’re open to the idea of seeing other people.”

“Yes.”

He had to force himself to remember this was a case. They weren’t really a couple. He had no claim on Shadoe. She could f**k every guy at the Wild Rose if she wanted to in order to gain information, even if the thought of it made his gut twist.

“What do you think we’ll gain by doing that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It was just a suggestion.”

“I’ll consider it.” When hell freezes over.

“Okay.”

He stood. “I’m going to take a shower. Then we can get something to eat.”

Shadoe watched Spence close the bathroom door. She picked up the coffee and took a few sips, pondering their conversation, which had both confused and enlightened her.

Waking up and finding Spence sitting beside the bed staring at her had made her feel warm, cared for. Actually, it had turned her on. He’d been studying her. She’d opened her eyes and peeked at him through the veil of her hair covering her face. He’d been lost in thought, his gaze focused on her face.

He could have thought anywhere. On the balcony, at the desk, even downstairs in the lounge. Instead, he’d sat beside the bed to look at her. A woman would have to be crazy not to be flattered by that. Her first thought had been to drag him back into bed with her for a repeat of last night.

Until he’d launched right into mission mode. Too bad. But she’d gone there with him, and then she’d made the suggestion about pulling off the act of being available to others, and she’d noticed the storm flare up in his eyes.

Spence was jealous. She allowed a small smile of triumph over that. She couldn’t recall ever having a guy jealous over her. This was a first and she’d decided to revel in it for a few minutes. Oh, he’d done a fine job of trying to cover it up, but she was a woman and a woman could read a jealousy signal from miles away. He didn’t turn down the idea because he thought it was a bad one—he’d turned it down because he didn’t like the thought of her playing with another guy.

Maybe they were only together for the duration of this mission, but while they were together, he wanted it to be just the two of them. And that meant no touching by other guys.

Her smile widened. She couldn’t help it—it felt good to be desired. And protected, even though she didn’t need to be. She was a trained field agent and could take care of herself, but this wasn’t at all like he was trying to keep her safe. He was trying to keep her to himself, which was something entirely different.

Something she liked. Something that made her stomach tumble and gave her a warm feeling all over.

She wasn’t sure she knew what to do with these growing feelings for a man who obviously didn’t know what to do with them either. He was clearly in denial over how he felt about her. She honestly wasn’t sure how she felt, either.

The sex, of course, was phenomenal. She wouldn’t mind continuing that. But she also knew herself. She wasn’t indiscriminate about sexual relationships. She wasn’t a party girl who went out and had sex with random guys without getting involved.

Involved being the operative word. And that’s what scared her. The same thing probably scared Spence, too.

Though it shouldn’t, since they couldn’t really get involved. When this assignment was over, she was going back to D.C. to resume her career, to get her next assignment, which would take her heaven only knew where in the world. And Spence? He would go back to Dallas, to Wild Riders’ headquarters, and get his next assignment from General Lee, which would lead him somewhere around the country, too.

They’d never see each other again. They worked for two different branches of the government, and lived in two different states when they weren’t working. Neither one of them had careers that were set up for relationships, so even though they’d enjoyed their time together, Shadoe knew they both realized this was nothing more than an affair—something finite. It would end.

The problem was, she didn’t know how to have an affair. Maybe Spence was better at it than she was, knew how to handle it without getting involved. She’d dated a bit here and there in college, had a few sexual flings over the years, but nothing that would qualify as a relationship. She’d had goals and ambitions, and falling in love would have gotten in the way.

Spence didn’t seem the falling-in-love type.

What a pair they made. Maybe that’s why they got along so well together. It would be easy enough for her to stop dreaming about a happily-ever-after with Spence when she knew up-front there wasn’t going to be one.

Not that she’d been thinking along those lines, of course.

She took her shower after Spence came out, passing him without a word. She pondered that while she showered, musing that in the light of day they seemed so . . . separate. Like actual partners on this mission, while at night they were more like lovers.

No wonder she was confused as hell. After her shower she did her hair and makeup and got dressed and went in search of Spence, who was sitting outside on the balcony. She took a seat next to him, blowing out a breath at the wicked heat and humidity that already made her feel like she needed another shower. The sun burned bright and hot overhead, not a cloud in the sky and no breeze to provide any cooling relief. Today was going to be blistering.

“Agenda?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

“Nothing, really. Not until we hit the club tonight. Maybe we’ll go in early and mingle with the bouncers and the dancers, see what we can dig out of them.”

She nodded. “Time for me to get friendly.”