Free Where Their Hearts Collide: Wardham Book #2 by Zoe York

know. Be reasonable. Have boundaries.”
    “Okay. But we’re not done here.”
    “We’re not?” Oh thank god.
    “Don’t you want to come? I know I do. I want to come all over you.”
    Yes, please.
    “Can you get yourself off with your fingers?”
    She nodded dumbly before remembering he couldn’t see her. “Yeah. Yes, I can.” Another first for discussion. Another moment lacking embarrassment.
    “Then do it. You wanted me on top of you, darlin’, remember? That’s where I am. I crawled onto the bed with you, and now I’m between your legs, your fingers on your clit, dipping lower when you need a bit more to keep it smooth and easy, and my hand is right next to yours. I’m fisting my cock against your hip, and our knuckles bump as we get faster and faster.”
    A helpless moan escaped her lips as she picked up speed, matching his fantasy. “Why aren’t you inside me? I want you to…”
    “Want me to what? Say it, Karen.”
    “I want you to fuck me.”
    “I will, but not today. The first time I’m inside you, it’s going to be for real. Nothing is going to be left to fantasy. You’ll see all of me and I’ll see all of you, and this will pale in comparison. When we fuck, and that’s a when, Karen, not an if, because I need you. When we fuck, it’s going. To. Be. Real.”
    His strained staccato words tipped her over the top, her fingers a blur as she gasped a final breath before pure pleasure wracked through her body, leaving her boneless and twitching on the bed. The echo of his voice rang in her ears, his heavy breathing proof that they’d done him in as well. “Oh my god.”
    “Yeah.” A long pause pulsed between them. “You okay?”
    “I think so. ” She twisted to her side, tugging the blanket with her, cocooning her naked body. “Yes. I’m okay.”
    “I have to go to work soon. What are you doing tomorrow? Can we have breakfast before I go to sleep?”
    If she thought too hard about any of what just happened, or what was to come in the future, she’d lose the warm muzzy feeling she was currently luxuriating in, so she let her heart answer instead of her head. “I’d like that. I’ll be up early, come by when your shift is over.”

Chapter Seven
     
    Seven a.m. arrived not a minute too soon. He’d responded to a domestic violence call shortly after midnight that turned into an all-nighter at Emergency in Essex, waiting for a rape kit to be processed so he could take it back to the station. He was still an unknown quantity t o the local medical departments and victim support services, which didn’t help given that the victim involved was mightily pissed off at him. Her ex-husband was claiming she’d hit him with a heavy bookend, which constituted a weapon, and was claiming she struck first. None of it was good, some of it was truly awful, and because he had to explore all of it, he probably hadn’t done enough to acknowledge the awful.
    He didn’t shy away from complicated, and he knew his role—collect evidence and information to build a file, and possibly a case or cases, as warranted. At the end of the day, or night in this case, as long as he acted appropriately, it didn’t matter if anyone liked him. But it was a long, quiet night of harsh looks as people came and went from the exam room. The woman had made it clear she didn’t want him there, she wanted someone else to transport the rape kit, but there wasn’t anyone else available.
    In the end, she’d listened to a nurse practitioner who found the right words to explain the importance of chain of custody, and shortly before dawn Paul headed back to Wardham with a sealed cardboard box.
    Waiting in the antiseptic corridor on a vinyl padded chair had given him plenty of time to replay the unexpected encounter with Karen from the previous day. He’d done a lot of fantasizing about what sex with her might be like, but the real thing, albeit across a driveway and through a phone line, was hotter than he imagined. But that