He transferred his hands to her hips. That slow, easy glide was designed to drive him insane and it was working.
"What's wrong, leopard boy?" she taunted. "Too much for you? Can't take it?"
"You're goin' to get yourself into trouble," he cautioned, his fingers digging deeper into her hips. If she did one more slow spiral, those tight muscles dragging over him with such hot friction, he might just lose his mind for real.
"I think I've proven I can take whatever you dish out," she replied, rising over him and starting another slow spin down.
"I want you to remember that the next time we have a lot of time and a location where no one can hear you when I make you beg," he warned, gritting his teeth as the muscles moved as if alive, a velvet fist so hot and tight strangling him in a fierce grip.
She rose again, a small, teasing smile on her face. He waited until she began that slow spiral down and he moved his finger into her, finding her sweet spot and making those same slow teasing circles before tugging and teasing.
Bijou cried out softly and rewarded him with a fresh flood of her hot honey, coating both his cock and fingers. He licked that lavender cream from his fingers and then when she started down again, he thrust upward hard while he dragged her down over him. Her cry was louder as he swelled more, forcing her body to accept him.
He rolled fast with her and came up on his knees, pushing her legs up and back over her shoulders so he could thrust as deep as possible. Sometimes he wanted to crawl inside of her, and share her skin and bones. He needed those soft little cries building to a crescendo. He needed her body gripping his in a stranglehold. He had to know she needed him the same way.
Bijou gave him everything he demanded of her, generously, unafraid, and made few demands of her own. She might have started out inexperienced, but she made up for it with her determination to please him--to give herself to him in any way he needed or demanded. He closed his eyes and let the rush just take him, hurtling through him like rockets going off.
Her body shuddered and rippled around his as he took her with him. She lay quiet beneath him, her breath ragged, her eyes a little glazed and her hair a wild mass of silk across the bed. Remy collapsed over her, blanketing her completely, pressing his body into hers, as if that could stamp him onto her skin.
Her arms went around his neck, hands sliding over his shoulders to his back. She held him tightly to her. He felt every heartbeat as his own, every rise and fall of her breasts as she took in air and let it out. He felt her in his mind, bathing every dark memory with light.
Remy kissed her several times before pulling back, afraid of his weight hurting her. Reluctantly, he slipped out of her. Still, he kept her pinned, one thigh over hers, looking down into her eyes. He framed her face with both hands. "Do you have any idea how I feel about you?"
"Maybe. A little. You don' talk much about it," Bijou pointed out.
"I've never told a woman I love her. Never. Not once. But you, Blue." He shook his head.
"You don' have to . . ."
He laid a finger across her lip, that amazing, fantasy lower lip he couldn't resist. "Let me say this to you. I need to. Even if it's just this once. You deserve to know."
Bijou nodded, her tongue curling around his finger and drawing it into the warmth of her mouth. His cock jerked in response.
"Everything you do is so fuckin' sensual, Blue. Everything. I tried to make this about our leopards. And then about sex. But I ran out of places to hide. I had no idea what love was. I'd never felt it before you came along. I needed time to sort it all out. I didn't honestly think it would happen for me. You came along, and you were just too damn good to be true. I had no idea the emotion would be like this. All encompassing. So intense. I feel a little like a deer caught in the headlights."
He used his finger to tease her mouth before bending his head to hers and kissing her. "What I'm tryin' to say in my own clumsy way is, I'm very much in love with you."
Bijou's long, feathery lashes swept down and up several times. For a moment he thought tears swam in her eyes, but after she'd blinked a few times, her eyes were clear, sparkling and looking at him with everything he could have wanted.
"Say it. Tell me," he urged.
"I don' have near the confidence in myself you think I do. When I'm singing, Remy, that's someone else. When I'm me, I have no real idea of even how to be in a relationship, let alone how to love someone properly. You're taking a big risk."
He smoothed back her hair. "I told you right from the start to trust me. I'll get you through it. We'll find our own way, Blue. But you'd better tell me before I do something rash."
She laughed softly. "You're so crazy." She traced the smile on his face. "Of course I love you. I came back to New Orleans just for you. It's always been you."
Satisfaction went deep. He kissed her again. "Come on, honey, I can smell coffee and breakfast." He slipped off the bed and pulled her up beside him.
They took a long slow shower, Bijou washing him carefully and thoroughly, which required another, much quicker assault on her body. Remy felt relaxed and ready for work by the time they went down to breakfast. He wasn't in the least surprised to see Gage waiting for him, looking as grim and upset as Remy had been before Bijou had worked her miracle on him.
"You need a woman, Gage," he greeted and poured himself a cup of Saria's excellent coffee. "You spend too much time with murder these days." He was only half teasing. Gage did look older. He'd always been a bit of a prankster, but there was little left of the boy. He didn't care to see his brother take the same path he had, but clearly, it was too late.
"We all need the right woman," Gage said. He smiled at Bijou. "Good mornin'. How long do I have to wait to have you as my sister? It will boost my status with the voters as well as my men."
Bijou laughed. "Glad I can be of some help to you." She took the coffee he offered and sank into a chair, clearly savoring the aroma of the fresh-baked beignets. "I know this morning must be awful for you, Gage. I'm so sorry."
"Have you heard anything more?" Remy asked. "Have the Rousseau brothers been located?"
"Not so far, but Judge Thomasson was found this morning with a self-inflicted bullet hole in his head."
Remy's head came up sharply. "Are you certain it was suicide?"
Gage nodded. "He left a note, said he couldn't stop the voices whisperin' in his head, telling him to kill himself. He knew he was possessed. He had to free the Rousseau brothers, because he knew if he didn't they would send their demons to him to rob him of his soul. They wanted the charges dropped, which he couldn't do, so they sent their demons anyway."
"Voodoo," Remy said softly. "He was a believer."
"Go into the dinin' room and eat," Saria said. "Both of you. And you too, Bijou."
Remy followed Gage into the dining room and sat down at the ornate dining table. Of course Saria had made a big breakfast for them. She always made certain the men in her house had food, a leftover habit from taking care of her father, or maybe it was more likely she enjoyed cooking and feeding her family.
"Yes, he had faith, but he should have gone to Eulalie and to us. We found a recorder in his vents, motion-activated. Voices whisperin' to him to kill himself," Gage said. "The Rousseau brothers took out a little insurance to make certain their legend grew in the eyes of the voodoo community." He sat across from Remy and reached immediately for the trout.
"I would say that means they're still around. We have to figure out where they are before they get out of town and become someone else's nightmare," Remy suggested. He scooped up trout and added poached eggs and hollandaise sauce from the silver warmers set in the middle of the table.
"Fresh-squeezed orange juice," Saria announced, putting two wineglasses filled with the juice in front of her brothers. "Drink it. Neither one of you is gettin' any sleep, and if you're going to catch all the criminals lurking around the bayou, you'd better be in shape."
"Yes, ma'am," Gage said, and dutifully downed the orang
e juice in one long gulp. "Where's our esteemed leader?"
Saria pressed her lips together and looked away.
"Saria?" Remy dropped his voice to that one note no one ever disobeyed.
She took a deep breath and poured herself a glass of orange juice, clearly stalling. "When Gage called this mornin' and said the Rousseau brothers were gone, he went into the swamp in the hope of tracking them," she admitted, carefully not looking at either brother.
"And he didn't think it was necessary for him to have backup?" Remy demanded, his fork halting inches from his mouth.
"Of course he had backup. He said forensics hasn't come out yet with the theory of animal fur and leopard paw prints, so if they were careful, they might be able to have somethin' for you within an hour or so."
Remy lifted an eyebrow. "Lojos and Mahieu, I presume?"
Saria nodded. "He said you and Gage were workin' on a couple of hours of sleep and the lair needed to help out. He called the others and told them to be watchful, but not to actively hunt."
"And Dash. What is he doin'?" Remy asked shrewdly. "Bijou, don' just drink coffee. Eat breakfast," he added, and scooped trout and eggs onto a warm plate.
Bijou, curled up on her chair sipping at her coffee, looked startled. "I'm not hungry."
"Be hungry," he said. "Saria? What the hell does Drake have Dash doin'?"
"He's on guard duty," she said. "Bijou, you have bites all over your neck."