Page 17 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

Crispin woke up on Abril, his head hanging over her shoulder, his forehead in the water up to his eyebrows. Lifting his head

at once, he glanced in a panic at Abril’s face. Much to his relief, he had managed to get her far enough up the stairs that

while her head was lying in the water on the top step, it only covered her to her ears. Her face was above its surface.

Thank God for that, he thought, and then moved them both up the last two steps to rest on the concrete surrounding the pool

so that only their legs from the knees down still hung over the lip into the water. Crispin then shifted to lie next to her

and raised her to rest on top of him so that her head was tucked under his chin. He was quite sure that must be more comfortable

than the cold, hard steps had been.

He was just letting his eyes drift closed again when Abril made him aware that she’d woken up by asking, “You aren’t married,

are you?”

Crispin froze, then lifted his head to look down at her, but her head was still lying sideways on his chest, her face turned away from him.

It was how he’d settled her on his chest, but now he regretted that and reached out to put a finger under her chin to tilt her head upward.

Once their gazes met, he said solemnly, “No. I would not kiss and touch you the way I have if I were married.”

When Abril nodded, not hiding her relief before relaxing and closing her eyes again, he asked, “Are you?”

He assumed that Roberts would’ve told him if she was married, since the other man could read her mind, but still, it was best

to know for sure and hear it from her own lips.

Much to his relief, she met his gaze with the same solemn expression he’d given her a moment ago, and assured him, “No. I

too would not kiss and touch and allow you to kiss and touch me as we have been doing were I married.”

Crispin nodded, and then let his head rest back on the cold concrete again, only to lift it once more when she asked, “What

do I call you?”

He stared at her with confusion for a moment, before saying, “I do not understand. You can call me what you wish. You can

use my name, or an endearment... sweetheart,” he ended with a grin, using an endearment himself.

Abril smiled at his teasing, but said, “I don’t know your name to use it.”

“Of course, you do,” Crispin said with a half laugh. “Officer Peters introduced us when we arrived today.”

“Oh. Right,” Abril said lightly. “So, your first name is Detective?”

Crispin blinked and then groaned to himself as he recalled that Peters had introduced them as Detectives Roberts and Delacort without including their first names.

In truth, it was entirely possible that the man didn’t even know their first names since he didn’t ever recall giving them to the officer.

He and Roberts tended to just use last names with each other as well as the other officers they worked with.

A lot of members of the police force did.

“I apologize,” he said finally with true regret. “My name is Crispinus Delacort.”

Abril blinked. He’d pronounced his name as krees-pee-noos, sounding very Italian all of a sudden, which was why she asked,

“Are you Italian?”

Crispin hesitated, and then said vaguely, “I lived there for a while.”

Before she could respond, he’d lunged to his feet, taking her with him to stand at the side of the pool. Then he clasped her

face in both hands, met her gaze, and said, “You may call me Crispin. Most of my family and friends do.”

He followed that up by kissing her on the forehead before releasing her so abruptly you would have thought the brief caress

had burned him. Actually, Abril could understand that reaction. While there was usually nothing sexual about a kiss on the

forehead, it had still whipped up some excitement in her. Which was just damned weird, she decided as she followed him to

the couch where she’d left her towel.

Shaking her head at herself, Abril commented, “We need to put your pants in the dryer.”

The words had Crispin stopping to peer down at his slacks. They were soaking wet with water running off of the heavy material in rivulets.

“There are no men’s clothes here,” she added. “So, unless you have a gym bag or something in the trunk of your car with clothes

in it, you’ll have to make do with a pair of my joggers. Or a towel around your waist. It’s up to you,” she said, and then

smiled naughtily and tagged on, “Although, I’d prefer the towel myself. I think it would look good on you.”

Crispin’s eyes widened slightly and then he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the sliding doors to the rest of the house.

Abril almost protested when they stepped onto the carpet, knowing they were both dripping all over it. Before she could, Crispin

slammed the sliding door closed even as he whirled to press her up against the wall and planted his mouth on hers.

As it had been in the pool, his kiss was incredibly passionate, and her body immediately roared with excitement in response.

Even so, when he tore his mouth from hers to begin kissing a trail down her neck, she gasped, “The carpet. Our clothes are

wet.”

“Right,” he growled. “We should take them off.”

“Oh, yes,” Abril groaned as his hands closed over her breasts. He squeezed briefly through the cloth there, before removing

one hand to tug the strap of her swimsuit down her shoulder, baring one breast. But then his words registered, her eyes blinked

open in panic, and she dragged the strap back up, covering herself as she squeaked, “Cameras.”

“I know. The cameras in the pool room are why I brought you inside,” Crispin said soothingly. And ran his tongue down her chest and along the curve of the top of her swimsuit to dip between her breasts.

“Yes, but—” Abril’s words ended on a groan as he tugged her swimsuit aside to close his mouth over the nipple he’d again bared.

Forgetting what she’d been trying to tell him, Abril slid her hands into his hair to urge him on as he suckled on the suddenly

aching nub.

“She is trying to tell you that there are cameras in the living room too, detective,” Roberts’s voice had them both jumping

guiltily apart.

Feeling like a teenager caught indulging in some heavy petting by her parents, Abril moved away from Crispin and glanced wildly

about, trying to find the other man.

“I am talking to you through the camera,” Roberts said with amusement. “I apologize if I embarrassed you, Abril. But Crispin

wasn’t really giving you a chance to speak, and I thought I had best stop him before he got too far and embarrassed all of

us.”

Abril was about to say thank you, when Crispin stepped up beside her and quickly tugged the top of her swimsuit back into

place, covering the breast that had been on display all this time. Definitely feeling that embarrassment Roberts had been

trying to avoid, she muttered, “Towels are in that bathroom down that hall, Crispin.”

She then rushed the half dozen steps to her bedroom and closed the door behind her with a snap.

Leaning back against it, Abril closed her eyes and relived the past several moments with Crispin.

From the pool to the living room, it had been hot, hot, hot.

Some part of her brain did try to make her feel bad for once again letting the man do what he had.

But then another part of her brain said, Hey!

At least this time you learned his name.

Rolling her eyes at herself, Abril pushed away from the door and made her way across the bedroom to the attached bathroom.

She needed to shower off the chlorine from the pool. It would be a cold shower, she decided firmly. Good lord! A couple of

kisses and caresses from Crispin had more effect than an hour of the best foreplay she’d ever had in the past. She was aching

with need and really just wanted to run back out, track down Crispin, and throw herself at him. The only thing keeping her

from doing that was the fact that Roberts would no doubt see her chase after him on the cameras.

She’d embarrassed herself enough for one day, Abril decided, and closed the bathroom door firmly behind herself.

Half an hour later she was showered, dressed, and feeling much less frazzled. At least she was until she stepped out of her

room and a sudden scratching sound from her right had her glancing that way. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she

saw Lilith through the sliding glass doors to the pool room. They’d left the poor dog out there all this time!

Guilt assailing her at once, Abril rushed to the door and opened it to let the Labrador in. Cooing apologetically, she took

the time to close the door and lock it again, then dropped to her knees to cuddle and pet the poor creature for abandoning

her like that.

“We did not leave her in the pool room, did we?”

Abril glanced up to see Crispin approaching with nothing but a towel around his waist. She could actually feel her blood heating and racing madly through her body to several points that included her face as she took him in.

But when she felt a different liquid pooling low in her belly and running downward, she forced herself to tear her eyes off Crispin and look to Lilith instead.

She nodded, cleared her throat and said, “I’m afraid so. She’s okay, though. Aren’t you girl?”

Abril was very deliberately concentrating completely on Lilith to avoid gaping at Crispin. She had just been teasing when

she’d mentioned the towel, but since she hadn’t taken him any joggers, she supposed he hadn’t had a choice.

Come to think of it, Abril thought as her eyes slid sideways for another quick peek at him, her joggers probably wouldn’t

have fit him anyway. They would’ve been like a second skin, emphasizing every lump and bump, and would’ve been about as decent

as if she’d painted his naked flesh.

Distracted from her thoughts by Lilith constantly pawing at her arm, Abril peered at her in question. “What is it?”