She grumbles something and sinks further into the chair, tucking her knees to one side until we’re almost touching. I swallow. It’s never been easy for me to keep my hands off of her, so I stop trying so hard. My hand skims along her knee and brushes her inner thigh through her jeans. I watch her bite her lip, and then her eyelids flutter open. Our eyes lock. Her nostrils flare. That familiar flush on her pale skin creeps up her shoulders and neck underneath her tank top. Her muscles tighten beneath my soft strokes. She doesn’t push me away so I don’t stop.
“I really didn’t want to involve you guys.”
“Yet, here I am, involved.”
“He won’t stop,” she whispers and I hear the faint hint of a whimper.
“Shhhhh. I’m here now. No one’s getting near you…well, no one but me right now.” I slide off the couch, on my knees as I twist my body, parting her legs so I can fit between her thighs. Her eyes flutter closed, forehead creasing, and when she smiles a little, I can’t keep myself from smiling back. The two of us together has always been damned combustible. I ease my fingers up her jeans, grip onto her hips and pull her forward into my chest. “You’re safe with me, all right?”
She nods.
“How about I help you relax a little? We’re all alone here. I say we take advantage of the time we have together. I’m sure you’ll feel better after playing your favorite little game. Shoplifter and police officer, was it? With a little frisking?”
Molly moans. I’m winning her over but she’s fighting it. She laughs nervously and rubs her forehead. “Yeah, really not the time, babe. Let’s spend some time figuring out this stalking problem first, okay?”
“What?” I pull back to look her in the eye. “You and I both know this is something right up my alley, but I get the feeling there’s a whole lot more you don’t want to tell me.”
“I just told you everything.”
“No, actually. You didn’t.”
“And how would you know? Are you a mind-reader now?”
“With you, I might as well be. First of all, you gave me that whole spiel about the guy and you didn’t tell me his name. You still won’t tell me. Second, you didn’t say a thing about that fact that he broke in through the side door of the house, which I had to figure out with my own damn eyes when I looked around. And third…” I lift up her left arm at the elbow and point to her wrist. “You didn’t tell me he grabbed you so hard that he left a mark, but that was before—” I set down her left arm and gently take her right hand, pointing at her red, sore-looking knuckles. “Before you gave him a right hook in the jaw to convince him to leave.”
Molly rears back, surprised. “How did you figure that out?”
“You really have to ask? Have you forgotten I have a sixth sense about things like this? And I know the difference between marks you get from our sexy play time and marks like these. This is a real bruise…definitely a defensive wound, and I can see it as clear as day.”
“I wonder what else you wouldn’t see if you’d just mind your own damn business.”
I glare at her with disapproval. She’s begging to be punished, to be bent over my knee and spanked. “The time for minding my own business is long gone. Not gonna happen, because now you are my business and you know that. Seriously, talk to me about this bruise. It happened last night, didn’t it? So, what you meant to tell me is he followed your Jeep all the way here, then he forcibly broke in through the side door, and he put his hands on you. And he didn’t leave until you punched him.”
She nods.
“Wait here.” I get to my feet and walk to her large custom kitchen for an ice pack, which I place on the back of her hand when I return to her side. “Where’s the first aid kit?”
“I’m fine.”
“Where is it?” I press.
“Powder room at the end of the hall.”
I leave again and scour the main floor bathroom cabinets, only to find a tiny travel-sized kit that barely covers half of my palm. The thing probably only has a few bandages and maybe a couple of sterile gauze pads. “Remind me to get you a real first aid kit for your birthday or something,” I tell her when I get back into the sitting room. “You need to get a clue about lifesaving shit like this.”