Chapter 13

As soon as Joelle was out of sight, Mike felt…empty. The woman was so much larger than life. She filled the space around him with all kinds of fun, and joy, and sexual tension. He wasn't sure if he'd done the right thing, letting her go.

"Mase? What do you think? Should I tail her?" he asked his boss.

Mason gave him a mocking grin. "If you want to get your ass handed to you, then go for it," he cautioned. "That woman is a force to be reckoned with, and has been taking care of herself for a long time, my friend. The best thing you can do if you're really interested—and none of us doubt that because we can all see your tongue hanging out like a dog—is to give her space. If she needs you, she'll call."

Mike grumbled under his breath. He wished he could be sure of that. Joe wore her independence like a cloak, hiding all her doubts and insecurities under bluster and bravado. The glimpses she'd given him of the woman beneath the swagger when she'd talked about not having a team, showed him a highly capable operative who would welcome support if offered in the right way. Mike wanted to be that support, in or out of the field. But he had to be careful not to overstep.

Joe's actual balls-to-the-wall frankness? He already craved it. He'd come to prize the people in his life who didn't mince words, probably because he'd been fed so much bullshit by his ex. Joe took honesty a step further than anyone, though. Mike knew, instinctively, she would always be a straight shooter.

It didn't bother him at all anymore that she'd hidden her real first name from him for a short period of time, nor that she had yet to reveal her true surname. It was her job, after all, to move under the radar.

On that same front, he wondered if he'd ever find out what agency she worked for. Funny, pondering it, that omission also didn't seem to rattle him. Because it might not be her reality too much longer. Once Joe wrapped up her current case, if her dissatisfaction with her current job was any indication, she might be pondering a different vocation. In the same kind of arena of expertise, he was sure, because Mike couldn't see her as anything but a kick-ass operative. Just with a more tolerant boss.

Maybe Mason could find something?—

The motion sensor alert on Mike's truck vibrated in his pocket.

What the fuck? He waited for it to stop, but grinned when it didn't. It seemed that someone was purposely rocking his vehicle, and he knew exactly who that scamp was.

"Uh, Chief? I've got to go check on something," he delivered in what he hoped was an innocent voice.

Mason threw back his head and laughed. "You don't for a second think I didn't hear that noise your phone made and didn't know immediately what it was, did you?"

"Busted," Mike answered with a smile. "You don't mind if I…" He hitched a thumb toward the trail.

"Go," Mason told him. "We're done here."

"Cool." Mike wasted no time hoofing it to the well-worn path where he then picked up speed and ran. Not fast enough to make him sweat, but not so slow that Joe would doubt he was going to show up.

His phone kept up its pulsation in his pocket, and he found himself grinning from ear to ear. His amusement didn't abate when he turned the final corner and saw Joe standing in the bed of his truck, jumping up and down.

"Hey Mike. Your shocks need replacing," she told him as she continued her gambit.

"Are you sure?" he replied, cruising in easily to drape his arms casually over the bedrails. "We might have to give them a more rigorous test."

"What did you have in mind?" she sent back saucily.

Without giving an answer, Mike vaulted up into the bed of his vehicle where he hooked one arm around her waist, then without a second's hesitation, he tumbled them both downward onto the pile of excess bouldering mats he'd brought in case the team needed more. He twisted so he landed on his back with Joe on top of him.

He liked this position. A lot.

"What happened to tailing your perp?" he asked huskily once they'd settled, staring up into her animated green eyes.

"False alarm," she answered, sounding breathless atop him. "It looks like he was just moving the semi around in his driveway."

"That's a shame," Mike gruffed. "But I've got a semi for you, right here."

Joe squirmed atop him. "Hah. Nothing semi about that," she countered.

Mike wanting to fuse his mouth to hers, but waited for her next move. He already knew her well enough to know, even though she'd already bent her rules for him, that she liked to dictate how things went.

That was fine with Mike. Until she fully trusted him, he'd let his dominant tendencies slide.

"Are you going to kiss me?" she baited.

Mike smiled up at the vision of loveliness. "Letting you take the lead, sweetheart."

She scowled, which wasn't the reaction he'd been looking for. Maybe she didn't like the endearment. Or he'd read her?—

"Why do you have to be so freaking perfect?" she huffed. "If you were an overbearing ash-scroll, I could walk away and not think twice that I might be missing something. But every time you do that thing where you practically read my mind… Cross-crammit, you make me crazy."

"Glad to oblige." Mike's answer was like tumbling gravel as he waited, not so patiently, to see what she'd do next.

With her supposed dissatisfaction out of the way, Joe slowly lowered her mouth toward his, keeping her eyes glued to him as she descended. When their lips met, gently, Mike groaned, knowing it was a test. She was seeing if he'd continue to let her dictate the rules, and as tough as it was to lay compliant, he somehow managed to keep himself under control.

All except his cock.

There was nothing he could do to discourage his pants-demon from thinking sinful thoughts.

Mike's mouth remained closed, his tongue firmly inside his mouth as Joe nibbled and teased her way from one side to the other. When she pulled back and ran her finger along the wetness she'd created, Mike couldn't hold back another second. He sucked her digit in and lathed it with his tongue, silently daring her to make another move.

"You're pretty good with your mouth," she moaned, popping her finger out.

"You have no idea," he responded roughly. And damn. Certain parts of his body were about to spontaneously combust, thinking about getting his lips on the sweetness of her pussy.

"I'm adept with mine, as well," she taunted back.

And didn't that make the bastard down below twitch like hell, imagining her warm lips wrapped around his girth.

"Mmm." Joe ground down on him, clearly aware of his pulsing rigor. "Looks like that got a reaction," she responded breathlessly.

"Because you, Joelle, last-name-unknown, are a cock tease."

"Then let's stop joking around and get down to business." She dropped her head to his and this time attacked his mouth, fusing their lips together like they were molten steel. Mike's entire world became her taste and her smell as her taut muscles and soft chest crushed against his.

Still, he needed more. Harder.

But…

He pulled back, reluctantly. "Your chin," he managed, remembering at the last minute that she wasn't one hundred percent.

Sparks of desire lit up her eyes. "Two stitches," she scoffed impatiently. "I've had so much worse. And seriously? I can't even feel it now, so stop making excuses."

That was all Mike needed to hear.

He flipped them so he was on top and her pliant body was beneath him, waiting to see if she'd accept the move. She lowered her lids, lifted up to take his lips again, then moaned into his mouth as she wrapped her legs around his hips, crushing their pelvises together.

Yes.

He had his answer.

Game on.

Mike had never felt anything so hot or right in his entire life, and this time when Joe reached a hand between them and began to unfasten his pants, he didn't stop her.

"Perfect," she hissed against his lips; emitting the word of thanks for letting her play.

Mike growled in response.

He was savagely onboard with her touching him, and just the thought of her warm hand wrapped around his cock was enough to make it weep, copiously. He wondered how long he'd be able to stave off an eruption when contact finally occurred, but it was his last coherent thought because she'd not only, aggressively palmed his flesh, she'd begun caressing him slowly up and down, using his dick-tears as lubrication.

Mike moaned deep in his chest, and Joe pulled back from their deep, wet kiss, momentarily. "You like that," she stated throatily.

"Hell, yes," he responded gutturally. "But I'd rather be inside you."

"So what's stopping you?" She gave him a solid thumb-swipe right under the head of his cock and he thought his heart would explode.

Permission was all he needed, and since the green light had been given, Mike welded their lips together again while Joe continued stroking. Holding himself above her with one arm, he reached for the button on her pants, practically ripping it off in his haste to get to what he knew would be nirvana.

Zipper. History.

Sliding his palm over Joe's smooth, muscled abdomen, Mike paused long enough to relish the sinewy strength of her core before sending his hand questing downward where he…

Ahhh.

…encountered a soft brush of hair against his fingertips. He gave the curls lying there a delicate tug, and Joe keened her approval into his mouth.

Damn.He'd barely touched her, and she was already on fire. Amazing.

His hand slid lower, sifting across her soft pelt. He located the small button he'd been seeking and ran a single finger around it, slowly, again and again.

Joe bit his tongue. "Stop teasing, and get to it," she demanded breathlessly.

Mike chuckled, which was another first during a sexual encounter. With his ex, it had been all business. Now he knew what he'd been missing for all those years. A partner who was equally as inflamed as he was; who understood that sex could be everything. Not just a meeting of strategic body parts, but a full engagement of intellect, humor, and carnality. It was almost enough to derail his mind, that realization, but Joelle was still squirming beneath him, reminding him they had things to do.

Mike locked their mouths together again, then dipped his fingers into the wetness that flowed from between her sweet lips. It was warm, it was slick, and he couldn't wait to see how completely it would coat his cock. But for now, one slippery digit moved back to her clit, and this time he didn't mess around. He attacked it head-on, pressing firmly down on the small protrusion of flesh.

Joe responded wildly.

One hand's worth of her nails dug into the back of Mike's neck, leaving, he was sure, half-moon impressions he'd get shit for, later, from his team. But he didn't give a fuck. He'd wear them like badges. The single ones amongst his teammates could envy him all they wanted, and the married ones would nod, knowingly.

Mike, for all that he'd had a wife once, had never had this before, and he wasn't going to miss a single bit of the new form of intimacy.

When Joelle removed her hands from their glorious positions, pushing him up and away a few inches, Mike immediately wondered what he'd done wrong. Had he been too far inside his own head and missed something?

"I—"

"Suck my nipples," she interrupted him, entreating with a groan. Using both her free hands to reach for the hem of her shirt, she ripped it up over her head.

Well, hello. Joe didn't need to ask twice.

"My pleasure," Mike rasped, all in again as he stepped up his assault on her clit while using his teeth to pull down her bra for the second time. Once the stretchy material was caught under her abundance, he attacked her nipples with the same fervor as his finger between her legs. They were diamond hard, all her erogenous buds, and each time he bit down on her nipple, more moisture slipped from her pussy.

Joe wasn't quiet.

Hell no. She howled his name. "Mike! I'm… I'm…"

Yes.He knew what she was trying to say. She was almost there. He could tell by way she arched her back, leaning into the last of it before…

She screamed.

Fuck yes!

Her orgasm was a heavenly anthem he wanted to hear play over and over again for his deprived ears. He felt the pulsations in her pussy, and… He swallowed down a sudden doubt. Was Joe like his ex? Wanting his touch gone as soon as she'd reached her pinnacle? Mike didn't know what to do and was momentarily paralyzed, watching the woman beneath him for signs.

While Joe panted her way back to reality, she confidently threaded one hand down between them to press his palm harder into her crotch, extracting every bit of goodness from their contact.

Mike had his answer. Joe liked to prolong the connection, and he was all for that. He'd stay put for as long as she wanted him. He?—

"Your winkie. Now," she demanded.

Mike, caught off guard by her words, laughed above her. "Winkie?" he couldn't help but chortle. Here she was being assertive, but used a kids' word for his dick. It was damned cute.

"I can't say it," she whined, but her diffidence was downright musical. It made her neediness part of the greater symphony. "Just…do it."

Mike wasn't going to argue with that. His dick was singing the same song.

He shucked down his pants, and they were somewhere around his knees when it suddenly hit him.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, stopping dead, pissed beyond belief.

Joelle opened one eye.

"What?" she questioned.

"No condoms."

Her body went from welcoming to taut beneath him in a split second. "Well, crap," she agreed.

"I don't suppose you're on the pill?"

She gave a self-deprecating laugh. "For what? I haven't found anybody willing to take me on in a long flocking time, so I've been giving the artificial hormones a nice, extended nap."

Mike grunted, hit Joe's mouth with a fast, apologetic kiss, then rolled off her while still keeping a proprietary hand on the breast nearest to him. "That just sucks," he managed.

"It does. But…I can, too, you know. Suck," she clarified from under slightly lowered lashes. She glanced down at his still exuberant dick which hadn't gotten the shit-out-of-luck message.

"Nope. Not going there," he said, patting her stomach with his free hand before slowly zipping her up. "The first time I come with you, I want to be buried deep in your sweet snatch."

It blew chunks, having to deny himself, but he wasn't kidding. A blow job was awesome, but rocking into Joe's fine body would be far better, and something he could seriously wait for.

"You're sure?" she asked, licking her lips while still gazing at Mr. Happy.

"I am. But believe me, we will have a date in the not far future."

"Did you know I'm off from the bar for the next two nights?" she questioned with a grin.

Mike beamed. "Then we have two dates."