Page 2 of Protected By West (San Antonio S.W.A.T. #1)

Now, he had her talking and her sharp wit went along with her looks, lush and stunning.

Picking up the stem of her cherry, she traced the inside of her glass with the sweetened fruit. The picture she presented was just as sweet and he wanted to know what her lips tasted like, but he knew he’d have to urn that taste.

“If I was just here for fun?” He could see her think over the question and wondered if she was removing items from a long list or finding just the right answer.

“I guess I’d be here, at the bar, relaxing and pretending that I have a life.

Surprised when a handsome man sits down beside me and strikes up a conversation that I don’t end up making a total fool of myself.

” She lifted her glass to her lips and he watched with rapt attention as she took a long slow sip of her drink.

“And when the bartender makes a not-so-subtle pass at him, he doesn’t bite. ”

West nodded and smiled. “What if the man makes a not-so-subtle pass and asks you to have dinner with him? Would you take him up on his offer?”

She sat up in her chair and brushed her hair back behind her shoulders.

The movement gave him a maddening look at the column of her throat and highlighted the gentle swell of her breasts. The soft light in the bar might as well have been in a bedroom for the thoughts that it inspired in him.

He hoped like hell she agreed to dinner because he didn’t want to let her walk away just yet.

She gave him a sly, sideways look.

“Dinner, hmm? Do you have someplace in mind?”

He flagged down the manager and the well dressed gentleman came right over to the bar. “I’d like to take this amazing woman to dinner here in Fredericksburg. Where should I take her?”

The answer rolled off of the manager’s tongue. “The Cabernet Grill, sir. Excellent food for a night with excellent company.” The manager looked at Tracy and then back at Weston. “May I call you a car, sir?”

Weston smiled at him and gave him a nod. “Please.”

He reached into his pocket for his wallet and pulled out a couple of bills and set them on the bar top. The bartender came by and gave him a curious look.

“Will this take care of the bill?”

She snatched up the money and tucked it into her apron. “Plenty. And when you come to your senses,” she gave him a wink, “come on back. I’m on until midnight, but for you, I’ll wait.”

Weston moved closer to Tracy’s chair and offered her his arm. “Ready?”

He saw the hint of a smile on her lips as she tucked her arm in the crook of his.

“Yes, I am.”

Weston looked back at the bartender. “Don’t wait on my account.”

He walked Tracy out of the bar and down toward the portico of the hotel. “If you change your mind at any time,” he looked over at her and lifted his free hand across his middle to touch the back of her hand with his fingertips, “just let me know and I’ll get you a car back from the restaurant.”

She shook her head and gave him a bright smile. “I don’t think that will be a problem. I’m finally looking forward to the rest of the night.”

Their meal at The Cabernet Grill was probably the best dinner he’d had in a long time that wasn’t with his family.

Any reticence that he’d felt from Tracy at the bar melted away in the presence of good food.

From the fresh beets in the arugula salad to the light-hearted jokes about the dish aptly named ‘Magic Mushrooms’ where they seared Lion’s Mane mushrooms and flavored them with garlic, lemon, and Gorgonzola cheese.

The starters had fed their conversation and by the time they’d finished their entrees it was closing time for the restaurant and late enough that they said goodbye at the lobby elevators with longing looks and lingering touches hand to hand.

And it didn’t hurt that they’d had a few glasses of wine together.

By the time they stepped onto the elevator, Tracy touched the eighth-floor button and he touched the twelfth.

The doors started to close, and he saw her smile in the mirrored surface of the elevator’s walls and he felt the pulse in his neck kick up. The same pulse that fed blood to other parts of his body.

He knew before his next exhale that this wasn’t a moment to walk away from.

This was a moment to reach out for.

To take hold of.

He’d always been someone to play things close to his vest and as a Texas Ranger in Special Operations SWAT? That vest was made of Kevlar and came with long and often unpredictable hours.

West turned to look at her, looking for any sign that she was feeling the same way, or hell, even close.

Tracy’s shoulders lifted as she turned, her foot stepping back as she looked up at him.

The moment her lips parted he knew he wasn’t about to let this moment go.

When the tip of her tongue traced the inside curve of her lip, he wasn’t going to wait a second longer.

“I wonder how much trouble we can get into in seven more floors.”

Her lips parted further as if she was about to answer him, but she didn’t have time.

West wrapped his arm around her as he stepped in.

His lips covered hers a moment before he had her against the wall.

He braced them with his free hand, wrapped protectively around the back of her head.

She tipped her head back, opening under him and he wanted to reach for the emergency stop button on the elevator. But nothing killed a mood like a blaring alert siren and he didn’t want to take his hands off of her.

There wasn’t enough time.

He felt her shift against him and her arms wrap around him. The moment her hands touched his back, she was pressed tight against him.

There was something special about this woman’s body. The way she fitted against him was magic. In the cool interior of the elevator, she was warm against him.

West knew there wasn’t a lot of time and he had to leave a… lasting impression.

His fingers had been cradling the back of her head and he shifted them, grasping the hair just about the nape of her neck.

He’d just meant to get a better angle to tangle with her, but the soft, breathy noise that came from the back of her throat?

It took what was left of his thinning control and better sense and snapped it in half.

The hand he had around her back dropped down, smoothing over her waist and over the curve of her lower back.

His goal, filling his palm with the gorgeous ass he’d been stealing glances off throughout the night, but before he had to even consider how to move her forward, away from the wall, she wrapped herself tighter around him.

It gave him just enough room to slide his hand between the wall and the most amazing ass he'd ever gotten his hands on.

Tracy clung to him, her legs naturally parting around his as he rocked forward against her.

A soft ping from the control panel told him that they were coming close to stopping.

The trick was, he didn't know what to do when they did.

The eighth floor was where Tracy had her room.

She turned her head slightly to the side and met his lips again for another kiss, her fingertips digging into his back.

The doors to the elevator slid open and they broke apart.

West looked down into her face, managing to focus through the roar of blood coursing in his ears. His lungs were starving for air and all he wanted to do was kiss her again.

To lose himself in this woman.

She smiled at him, her face flushed with color. "Wow. That was..."

He grinned. "Yeah. It was-"

West was interrupted when the pocket doors of the elevator started to close.

He reluctantly removed his hand from her and stretched out his arm to keep the doors from closing.

"Tracy, I-"

"As much as I'd love to invite you back to my room, Weston, I don't think that's a good idea."

He didn't know what to say to that, but she wasn't finished.

"I'm afraid I'm getting way too... swept up in," she gestured between the two of them with a hand, "this. And that kiss-"

"Kisses," he felt the need to point that out.

She smiled at him and he felt a deep ache in the center of his chest.

"Kisses," she agreed, "were pretty... amazing."

Weston smiled, finding no reason to argue with the truth there.

"But this seems," she looked at him and he could see the hesitation in her eyes, "really fast and I'm... I'm not someone who dates... a lot... or at all. I'm busy with my job and you're..."

"Busy with my job, too." He couldn't help but feel the weight of his own words.

By her own words, she didn't date. And really, he didn't either.

At least successfully.

Then again, he'd never met someone who made him want to try.

"And I've got to get up early for the conference."

The heat that had been between them was cooling, but the attraction?

There was nothing dimming that.

The elevator dinged and he felt one side of his mouth quirk up in a smile. "Okay, Tracy Fagan. I'm going to take the hint... for now."

She lifted a brow at that, but she smiled a little, too. "All right, Weston Cooper. I'll... I'll see you tomorrow?"

They both chuckled a little when her last few words were a little thinner and higher than the others.

West lifted his free hand and trailed the backs of his fingers along her cheek until he felt the silken touch of her hair against his fingertips. "Get some sleep, Tracy. I'll... see you in the morning."

She took a couple of steps, stopping just outside the elevator, standing on the solid red section of carpet just shy of the floral pattern that went both ways down the long hallway. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He didn't have to look down at his watch to know that it was well past midnight. "It's already morning. I'll see you in a few hours." He took a step back and winked just before the doors closed.