“Yeah.” Briar’s gaze caught Royce’s heated glance, then drifted down his body again. The man was gorgeous, and she wanted him inside her. While she lay with her arms stretched above her head, arching her back while Royce used his big hands to spread Briar’s legs further apart, her stomach—and other parts—clenched in anticipation. A growl escaped her lips. She was about to feel all of him.
Royce rolled the condom onto his hard, leaking cock and then, with a heated groan, positioned himself at her entrance and began to nudge his way inside her body.
Damn, it felt perfect.
Briar released a moan and bent her knees so she could lift her hips slightly and help him along. She couldn’t help but run her hands from his shoulders along his muscled back to the top of his ass, digging her fingers into the muscled flesh as she moved in tandem with him.
“I’ve wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you,” he panted, those silver eyes blazing with need. Need for her.
And yeah, she’d wanted him too.
She was tight and his cock scraped inside her in the best way. It had been a while since she’d had sex, but that first orgasm had loosened her up.
The second orgasm rolled up her spine, a slow-moving lightning storm. Briar’s eyes slid shut against her will as it crashed and washed over her. Royce grunted and slammed into her core, and she felt him pulse and then the warmth of his come through the condom. She let her body go slack, enjoying Royce’s weight pressing her into the mattress. Why was gravity always stronger after a damn good orgasm?
“That was incredible,” Royce murmured, his voice raspy and sleepy.
“Mm-hmm,” was all Briar could manage. After two orgasms, she was a puddle. Frankly, she was surprised she could still move her lips at all.
The next time Briar opened her eyes, it was early morning, the gray light of dawn just peeking in through the curtains. She was tucked into Royce, his arm wrapped around her waist as he spooned against her back. For a millisecond, she panicked, thinking she shouldn’t have stayed in his bed—but hell. that ship had already sailed, and he obviously was happy to have her here. And she’d had her best night’s sleep in ages.
She shifted to try to get out of bed without waking him, but his arm tightened around and she chuckled.
“I need to pee, and I need coffee.”
His grip relaxed. “Coffee. Why didn’t you say so?”
They were sitting at the kitchen table sipping at their coffee when Royce’s phone buzzed.
“Christ, it’s not even seven,” he groused before answering.
Briar listened to Royce’s half of the conversation, only able to tell that it was the mysterious Marnie on the other end of the line. Royce was still not used to being the sheriff yet, but she knew he was going to be taking calls at all times whether he liked it or not.
“Okay, fine, I’ll be right there.” He clicked off. “I’ve got to go check a report of a break-in at Margo’s.”
“Who’s Margo?”
Nope, that was not a stab of jealousy she felt, just professional curiosity. Margo was probably an eighty-year-old woman with purple hair.
“Margo Harcourt, she owns and runs the only hair place in town. She’s a townie, younger than us, but stuck around to make a go of it here.”
So, not an eighty-year-old woman.
Royce caught her gaze and, with a small grin, stepped close enough that she could smell his woodsy aftershave. “Margo can’t shoot, can’t run—doesn’t hold a candle to you. She just has a sharp pair of scissors.” Cupping her face in his hands, he leaned in and kissed her hard and possessively.
Briar ended up dropping Royce off behind the sheriff’s station so he could take the cruiser and she could have the 4Runner if she needed to go somewhere. Which she did. There was still her father’s last wishes to sort out, and the idea that she might be stranded without a car did not sit well.
“I’m going to stop by Raine’s, see if she’s remembered anything else that might help us find Tia,” Briar told Royce before driving away.
Briar snickered. The expression on Royce’s face as she’d left him in the Sheriff’s Office parking lot had been priceless. In her heart, Briar knew Royce was dedicated to protecting the innocent and upholding the law, but he wasn’t thrilled about the sheriff gig.
He’d get used to it.
Briar liked Raine King, she was just the kind of person Tia needed on her side, but they needed to find the young teen soon. Something told Briar time was of the essence. And maybe now, if whoever—Briar was certain it was the Spiders MC, even if they had no hard proof yet—thought Christian Jakes was dead and not of any use to them any longer, they’d ship Tia off to parts unknown. If that happened, the likelihood of Tia being rescued was slim to none. That couldn’t happen.
It was early by some people’s standards, still before eight, but Briar figured Raine would be awake—and if not, she’d apologize. She jogged up the house’s front steps and stopped in front of the door, tapping it lightly with the back of her hand, not wanting to scare any inhabitants. However, there was no answer to Briar’s knock.
Glancing around, Briar only saw Royce’s loaner car in the drive, but maybe Raine parked her car in the garage behind the house. Briar was just about to walk around to the back and check the garage when she heard a muffled thump from inside the house.