As she watched, he undid the button fly on his jeans in what seemed like one all-too-smooth move. He stripped down to his boxers and tossed his jeans over the arm of a wing-backed chair, then drew low-slung sweatpants up over his lean hips. He turned and watched her, those heated eyes never leaving hers, as he pulled his shirt over his head and replaced it with a T-shirt. He watched her as he reached back in the dresser and pulled out another pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and crossed the room to where she stood, frozen, her heart pounding.
He didn’t say a word as he placed the clothes in her hands, then pushed her toward the door of the bathroom and shut it behind her.
Well, that answers that question.
Apparently, tonight they were only going to sleep together – literally. And, it seemed that he was okay with that.
PJ frowned. He’d been easily convinced. Too easily and she wasn’t sure she was okay with that, though that was what she’d asked for only moments before. No, not asked for. She’d demanded.
She quickly changed into the clothes he’d given her, laughing as she rolled the sweatpants up several times around the waistband. Nope. They still swam on her and slipped down when she moved. She took off the sweatpants and checked the length of his T-shirt. The hem fell to her thighs, and covered up more than he’d already seen when she’d been out by the pool in her bathing suit earlier in the day. It would do.
He’d laid out a new toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter and wondered when he’d done that. Exactly when had he come up with this plan for her to move into his room, she wondered as she opened the package and then brushed.
PJ took a deep breath before exiting the bathroom, but still wasn’t prepared for the sight of Gabe in his bed. He lay on his back, covers draped loosely over his lap, arms crossed behind his head. But, as his eyes met hers, she saw he was anything but relaxed. His whole body seemed coiled and tense, and his eyes were heated, seeming to burn through her as he took in her bare legs.
“You’re supposed to be wearing sweatpants,” he all but growled as his arms came down from behind his head.
“They were too big,” she squeaked when he sat up in the bed.
“Christ, woman,” he swore as he threw back the covers. He pulled her toward the bed. “Under,” he ordered and waited as she climbed under the covers.
Gabe drew the covers up to her chin, then lay down next to her, his body on top of the covers, drawing a laugh from her.
“It’s not funny,” he said, his grumbling making her laugh harder.
He rolled her toward him, covered her with his body and took her mouth, his own hot and hard and utterly unyielding on hers. PJ let out a moan as her body responded instantly, despite the layers of covers and clothes between their bodies.
She was suddenly needy and wet, and completely unable to focus on anything other than finding a way through the covers and clothes that divided their bodies.
And, then Gabe was rolling her over again, spooning her, one arm draped over her body, the evidence of his arousal evident, even through the covers.
“There,” he said, triumph dripping from his voice. “You try to sleep now.”
PJ didn’t laugh this time.
Chapter 15
Gabe would have preferred to spend the morning in bed with PJ, but with the way things were heading, he knew that wouldn’t happen. Zach’s light knock on his door had woken him early, and he’d come out to find Chad was already at the house.
Yeah, the whole lying-in-bed-with-PJ-for-hours thing wasn’t going to happen.
“Give me a minute, guys,” he said as Chad and Zach fought over who got first dibs on the espresso machine.
Gabe grabbed PJ’s overnight bag from her guest room and crossed back to his room so she’d have something to put on when she woke up. She was still out cold when he put the bag at the foot of the bed so she’d see it when she woke. Man, he’d give anything to crawl back in bed with her.
After they got this under control and took care of whoever was making her so stressed right now, he’d take her away for a while. Maybe they’d find an island without phones or faxes or fans or crazed blackmailing stalkers and hole up there for a month. Or six.
Assuming she’d go with him, he thought, as he shut the door behind him and went to join the other men in the kitchen. He still wasn’t entirely sure where he stood with Pru. What if she only wanted friendship after this was over? Could he still give her that if that was all she wanted?
“What’ve you got, guys?” he asked as he took a sip from the espresso Zach had just set down on the counter. He swallowed with a wince. “Jeez. I’ll make my own,” he said and handed the cup back to Zach.
“We’ll need to have PJ talk to her people on a conference call in the next hour or so,” Chad said. “My people are in place and are going to begin searching. The plan is to bring everyone on her team and in her band into one suite and let them know they can either submit to a search or lose their jobs. We’ll pitch it that we believe the perp may be hiding things among them, bugging the tour bus and luggage and things. We’ll ask for their cooperation first, but if we have to, we’ll make it clear their jobs are on the line, and refusing will give the police reason to look into them further if we bring the police into this.”
“Christ,” Gabe swore. “PJ’s gonna freak. I don’t know if she’ll be able to repair the damage that will be done, conference call or not.”
“What am I gonna freak over?” came Pru’s worried voice behind them.
Gabe turned to find she’d kept his T-shirt on but had slipped jeans under them. The effect of her ruffled hair, the oversized tee and her bare feet had him taking a step closer to the kitchen counter to hide his painfully obvious erection. The men in the room with him might be happily involved with women they loved, but he found himself wanting to toss them out so they couldn’t see his Pru like this.