CHAPTER 26

RIO had no idea why she’d left the restaurant with Eddie. If he should be talking to anybody right now, Naomi was his girl. Still, here Rio was, sitting beside him in the limo. She tried to wrangle in the tears, but it did no good.

Eddie closed the privacy window between them and the driver and then brushed Rio’s tears away. He urged her with a simple request, “Don’t cry.”

“God...” She’d fallen for a man who wasn’t available. Those words were painful to admit, and she’d picked a hell of a time to let them erupt in her mind. Rio laughed at herself. There wasn’t much else she could do. She swiped at her tears. “I have no idea why I’m reacting this way. It’s not like I have a dog in this race.”

“If she’s pregnant—” he said in the calmest of tones, “—it’s not mine.”

That declaration was like a powerful magnet, forcing her to look at him. She searched his face. Her heart thumped against her chest. She wanted to believe what she was hearing. She needed to believe it, for her own sanity. But logic had its own ideas. “And you know this how?”

“Because, it’s been more than six months since she and I…” His voice faded. Clearly, he didn’t want to say it out loud.

Good. She didn’t want to hear it, either. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to respond. Maybe it was the prospect of Naomi carrying his child, or Rio’s realization that she’d fallen for Eddie—either way, she was speechless.

“If she were pregnant by me, provided I hadn’t been using protection with her,” he said as if he sensed Rio’s insecurity and uncertainty. “It’d be clearly visible by now.”

Rio believed his claim. Why, she didn’t know. But why would he lie? To think Naomi a liar made more sense. She had plenty of reasons to lie, and much more to lose.

“I have no idea what she hoped to accomplish with her outburst.” Eddie’s slow nod substantiated his words.

It was like someone had flicked on the light switch and illuminated Rio’s brain in bright-red neon. “Oh, I do.” She tried to rein in her agitation. “That display was not for you. It was for me. She wanted me to doubt you.” She laughed at herself, feeling the butt of a bad joke. “And she succeeded.”

“You’re here. With me.” He tilted his head and gave her a crooked smile. “Perhaps she didn’t succeed as much as you’re determined to believe.”

“No wonder she’s chasing you halfway across the country,” Rio said. “You’re very charming when the mood suits you.”

“Does that mean, if I leave here...?” he asked with a soft chuckle. “You’re going to come after me?”

“There you go again.” Rio tilted her head back and rolled her eyes. “Thinking you’re all that.”

“Come on, Laraquette.” He moved closer to her. “Why fight it?” He couldn’t resist her strawberry blonde ringlets, and tangled the soft tresses around his fingers. “You and me, we’re connected.” It was like his lips had a will of their own as they searched out hers. “At least we should be.”

Contact. The heat of her lips scorched his, melting them into each other.

He thought she uttered something close to, “uh uh.” But an instant later her hands were on his arms and traveling up and around his neck. Her contradictory actions didn’t collaborate her weak verbal protest. They said she wanted him. And who was he to deny her?

The sound of race cars echoed from his front pants’ pocket. A phone call now? Talk about bad timing. He thought about ignoring it, but in light of everything going on, that was probably a bad idea.

He backed off and reached for his phone. She didn’t stop kissing him. Instead, she continued to blaze a sensuous trail over his face and neck. Eddie retrieved his phone with one hand and left the other snarled in her hair. He used his chin to pry the phone open and propped it against the ear opposite Rio’s display of affection.

“LaCall.” He became quiet and listened to the update from James Laraquette’s private eye. As Eddie expected, Bradley and Rivera had escorted Naomi off the premises. “Great. Keep me posted.”

He closed the phone, disconnecting the call, and deposited it next to him on the seat.

“Who was that?” Rio asked, kissing her way back to his mouth.

“Who was who?” He buried his fingertips between her slacks and the steaming skin of her waist.

Devilish laughter echoed from Rio as she pulled away from him and began the slow, teasing process of unbuttoning her blouse.

He was caught, momentarily, off guard by the sight unfolding before him. The car maneuvered through traffic and merged onto the 15’s on-ramp and the driver accelerated, throwing them back against the seat.

Eddie gave the car a quick once-over and decided that no one, not even the driver, could see them through the black-tinted windows.

His carnal urges escalated as erotic visions invaded his mind. The thought of making love with her while the car cruised the streets of Vegas was such a turn-on.

She removed her blouse and his eyes got caught up in the sight of her. He didn’t want this to go by too quickly. He wanted to savor every minute of it and fumbled for the car’s intercom phone.

Upon hearing the driver’s voice, Eddie cleared his throat and worked at sounding ‘routine’. “Martin,” he said, in the calmest tone he could muster, not sure if he’d made the mark. “Don’t take us directly home. Cruise the city until we advise differently.”

After the driver’s verbal acknowledgment, Eddie replaced the phone and no longer felt the need to tamp down the growing desire that was now bulging in his Levi’s.

They shimmied out of their pants. Rio straddled his lap, dressed in nothing but a red silk bra and matching panties.

He tossed his T-shirt aside and drew Rio to him, enjoying the feel of her near-nakedness against his bare chest. Encasing her in his embrace, Eddie showered her with soft, sensuous kisses.

She shivered beneath his hands tracing over her arms and up to her shoulders. He followed the straps of her bra down to the mounds of her breasts and slipped a fingertip underneath the edge of her undergarment.

Rio tilted her head and arched backward, releasing a soft, satisfied sigh.

Eddie latched onto her buttocks and raised her up until her bosom was nearly level with his mouth. He played with the garment’s straps at her shoulders.

“You’re going to drive me crazy,” she said.

“I wouldn’t do that to you.” He dug a finger under one bra strap and skimmed it down her arm. “I aim to please,” he added, and then followed with the other strap. His gaze fell over her and then he peeled the garment’s fabric away from her breasts.

The way he looked at her was driving her nuts. She could tell by the hunger lighting his eyes, and his half-opened-mouth smile that he was enjoying the view.

His lips brushed over her aroused nipple and she pressed herself against him with urgency.

He trailed his hands over her shoulders, down her back and latched onto her bottom. “Slow down.”

“I don’t want to slow down.” She wriggled under his touch. “I want to go fast and furious.”

He moved her swiftly onto her back and gently laid her on the seat. He ripped her skimpy panties away and tossed them aside. His hand, skilled and gentle, left a teasing trail between her legs and spread them apart so he could work his magic.

Eddie seduced her into total submission, dipping his finger inside her and then dragging it back out. She rocked beneath his touch and, wanting to reciprocate the pleasure, she sought him out. He throbbed as she closed her hand around him. Rio stroked, gently at first, but quickly hastened into a frenzied pace, matching his speed.

“Now, Eddie...now,” she urged him. “I need to feel you inside me. Now.”

“As you wish.” He pushed his way inside.

Rio let out a delightful gasp and wrapped her legs around him, encouraging him to plunge deeper.

Eddie’s gaze fell over the wonder beneath him, the gorgeous body begging for climactic relief. He pumped faster, harder, wanting to satisfy her every desire and whim.

She tightened around him in rhythmic spasms and his shaft hardened like the strongest steel. He responded to her conclusive tremors, pouring himself into her.

He fell atop her, exhausted and satisfied.

But for all the pleasure they’d just brought one another, Naomi seemed determined to extinguish their fire long before it had a chance to ignite.

And then there was the stalker—who’d been amazingly quiet as of late. Perhaps Switzer had lost interest or realized that Rio was out of his league.