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“Uh, Chief? I’ve got to go check on something,” he delivered in what he hoped was an innocent voice.
Mason threw back his head and laughed. “You don’t for a second think I didn’t hear that noise your phone made and didn’t know immediately what it was, did you?”
“Busted,” Mike answered with a smile. “You don’t mind if I…” He hitched a thumb toward the trail.
“Go,” Mason told him. “We’re done here.”
“Cool.” Mike wasted no time hoofing it to the well-worn path where he then picked up speed and ran. Not fast enough to make him sweat, but not so slow that Joe would doubt he was going to show up.
His phone kept up its pulsation in his pocket, and he found himself grinning from ear to ear. His amusement didn’t abate when he turned the final corner and saw Joe standing in the bed of his truck, jumping up and down.
“Hey Mike. Your shocks need replacing,” she told him as she continued her gambit.
“Are you sure?” he replied, cruising in easily to drape his arms casually over the bedrails. “We might have to give them a more rigorous test.”
“What did you have in mind?” she sent back saucily.
Without giving an answer, Mike vaulted up into the bed of his vehicle where he hooked one arm around her waist, then without a second’s hesitation, he tumbled them both downward onto the pile of excess bouldering mats he’d brought in case the team needed more. He twisted so he landed on his back with Joe on top of him.
He liked this position. A lot.
“What happened to tailing your perp?” he asked huskily once they’d settled, staring up into her animated green eyes.
“False alarm,” she answered, sounding breathless atop him. “It looks like he was just moving the semi around in his driveway.”
“That’s a shame,” Mike gruffed. “But I’ve got a semi for you, right here.”
Joe squirmed atop him. “Hah. Nothing semi about that,” she countered.
Mike wanting to fuse his mouth to hers, but waited for her next move. He already knew her well enough to know, even though she’d already bent her rules for him, that she liked to dictate how things went.
That was fine with Mike. Until she fully trusted him, he’d let his dominant tendencies slide.
“Are you going to kiss me?” she baited.
Mike smiled up at the vision of loveliness. “Letting you take the lead, sweetheart.”
She scowled, which wasn’t the reaction he’d been looking for. Maybe she didn’t like the endearment. Or he’d read her?—
“Why do you have to be so freaking perfect?” she huffed. “If you were an overbearing ash-scroll, I could walk away and not think twice that I might be missing something. But every time you do that thing where you practically read my mind… Cross-crammit, you make me crazy.”
“Glad to oblige.” Mike’s answer was like tumbling gravel as he waited, not so patiently, to see what she’d do next.
With her supposed dissatisfaction out of the way, Joe slowly lowered her mouth toward his, keeping her eyes glued to him as she descended. When their lips met, gently, Mike groaned, knowing it was a test. She was seeing if he’d continue to let her dictate the rules, and as tough as it was to lay compliant, he somehow managed to keep himself under control.
All except his cock.
There was nothing he could do to discourage his pants-demon from thinking sinful thoughts.
Mike’s mouth remained closed, his tongue firmly inside his mouth as Joe nibbled and teased her way from one side to the other. When she pulled back and ran her finger along the wetness she’d created, Mike couldn’t hold back another second. He sucked her digit in and lathed it with his tongue, silently daring her to make another move.
“You’re pretty good with your mouth,” she moaned, popping her finger out.
“You have no idea,” he responded roughly. And damn. Certain parts of his body were about to spontaneously combust, thinking about getting his lips on the sweetness of her pussy.
“I’m adept with mine, as well,” she taunted back.
And didn’t that make the bastard down below twitch like hell, imagining her warm lips wrapped around his girth.