He swept her into his arms, but instead of carrying her over to the bed, he moved to the Lazy-Boy chair and sat down with her in his lap. Pressing a side button, he putthe chair into a reclining position, then, cuddling her in his arms, he held her.
Her scent drove him crazy. It had been firing up his libido during most of their time in the car today. Now, after her shower, his nostrils took delight in the clean, rich scent of this woman.
“Roland?”
“Hmm?” He wondered if she’d noticed that in places, they were skin to skin, since he was only wearing boxers and she was wearing shorts.
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” she said softly.
“I know.”
“Those people were awful. They were monsters.” Then in a quieter voice, she whispered, “They were assholes.”
Roland fought back a smile and tightened his arms around her. “Yes, they were.”
“I won’t mourn their deaths.”
“Neither will I.”
He continued to hold her, not closing his eyes until he’d heard the soft, easy sound of her breathing.
• • •
Greg Clearwater awoke to the shrill ringing of his phone, followed by the sound of loud screaming in his ear. It was Meadows. What was he yelling about? They had just talked a few days ago. Surely Meadows didn’t expect him to have located Dr. Roswell already.
He pulled himself up in bed, then caught something the man said. “What did you say about the girls?”
“Dammit, didn’t you hear a word I said? A shipment of twelve girls were ready for pickup and delivery. The FBI busted it. What am I going to tell my buyers? Those girls have been paid for. I need you to contact your source with the FBI. They are saying it was a sting operation. How the hell did we not know about it? We have people on the inside to keep us informed about shit like this. And they’re paid a lot of money to do it.”
Clearwater rubbed a hand down his face. “You assigned me to find Dr. Roswell. Mac Townsend was the guy handling the delivery of those girls,” he reminded Meadows, in case he was too mad to remember.
“Dammit, don’t you think I know that! That’s why I’m calling. Townsend is dead.”
Clearwater nearly dropped the phone. “Dead?”
“Yes. I put a hit on him--execution style. I don’t accept failure.”
Fear swept through Clearwater. He had no doubt Meadows would do the same to him if he didn’t deliver Dr. Roswell. “What do you need from me?”
“Call your people. I want names. Specifically, the identities of the undercover agents who worked that sting operation. Their actions cost me millions and I want to know who they are.”
“What about Dr. Roswell? Do you still want me to find her?”
“Damn it, Clearwater, can’t you walk and chew gum at the same time? Take care of both. I’ll assign more men to help you. But I want you to find those FBI agents, first and foremost. They will pay for what they did!”
Then Meadows hung up the phone.
WHEN SUNLIGHT FLITTED ACROSSher eyes, Lennox slowly opened them, squinting at first. The first thing she noticed was the hard masculine lap she was sitting in. Tilting her head up, her eyes met penetrating dark ones.
She swallowed tightly, barely able to breathe, so close to Roland. And the way he was looking at her stole what little breath she had left. Although her mind was a little fuzzy, she recalled coming to his room last night because she hadn’t wanted to be alone. He had swept her into his arms and carried her to this chair, where he’d held her…all night long, from the looks of it.
“Good morning, Lennox.”
His voice had a huskiness to it that stirred her insides. And the dark heat, the desire in his gaze, was nipping away at her senses.
“Good morning, Roland,” she said, finally finding her voice to respond. It wasn’t easy--she was sitting in his lap and could feel every hard inch of him pressing against herbottom. Was that what a man referred to as early-morning wood?
As a scientist, she knew it wasn’t unusual for a man to wake up with an erection. A male’s testosterone level was at its highest in the morning. But the woman in her wanted to believe his arousal was due to something else.