Page 54 of Countdown to Murder
I looked at our costumes, hanging on the laundry-room door, and smiled. The theme this year was television and movie characters, leaning towards sit-coms, and the best pairing of the night was going to be Josef and Ronnie, who were going as Lucifer and Chloe. The devil and the detective. It was perfect.
Nathan, Mordecai, and Kirsten were going as book characters. As of the previous day, Nathan and Mordecai still hadn’t resolved who would be Morelli and who would be Ranger.
My love and I had considered going as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, because if it’s ever us against the world, then itdoesn’t look good for the rest of the planet, but then Mira had told me she wanted to be Scully, and I didn’t really mind being Mulder. I could shave my beard and wear a suit, and Mira can rock a blond wig.
I heard the sound of the water change and was pretty sure she was rinsing the conditioner from her hair. I went to the dryer to pull the three towels out I’d put in.
* * * *
Mira
My crazy lion was standing outside the shower with warm towels when I turned the water off. I let him wrap me in the biggest, and I leaned over and put my hair into the other. Wrapped in heavenly warmth, I let him dry my arms and shoulders, then my feet and legs, and finally my torso.
“Why did we put in for eight days off?” I asked.
He hadn’t told me before, but since today was our first official vacation day, maybe he would now.
Instead, he lifted me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, walked me to the bed, flipped me onto it, and was between my legs in seconds, and there was no room in my brain for thoughts. Those skilled fingers and heated, magical tongue.Fuck.
The sides of his tongue are soft and warm and heavenly, the top is like sandpaper, and he uses everyavailable texture to take me to the heights of ecstasy. Stroke after stroke. Layers of pleasure and bliss. My back arched, lightning shot through my veins, and I surrendered everything to him. All of me.
And then he rose over me, and I pressed my hands to his chest, wanting to look at this beautiful sexy man who was all mine.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” I told him, “and I love you more than I know how to say.”
He lifted my legs, pressed my knees beside my ears, and teased my entrance with his cock.
“No one but you thinks I’m beautiful, Darlin’.”
“Then they’re all fucking blind.”
His gaze was molten heat, and I squeezed myself closed and then open, hoping he’d stop teasing.
“Want you. Need you.”
“I know what you need.”
And he did. He always knew what I needed.
Three hours later, we settled in for a nap, my head on his shoulder, one arm and one leg flung over his body.
“Did you set an alarm?”
“Yeah. Three o’clock.
Because I loved him so much, I wouldn’t tell him I’d overheard a conversation and knew he’d had a custom ring made for me, or that I’d made such good friends with the slayers in New Hampshire that three of them had called to let me know he’d rented the beach house for a weekbeginning November first. Ruth, of course, had more information than anyone else. The two of us had grown quite close over the past year, and I was looking forward to seeing her again.
The ring had me wondering. Was it an anniversary gift, or was he going to ask me to marry him? I told myself I’d be okay either way, but in my heart, I hoped it was the latter.
I felt sleep taking me under, piling on top of pleasure and bliss, and once again thought that home was in my Panda’s arms.