Free Inescapable (Men of Mercy Novel, A) by Joss Wood Page A

time for her to slide out of his bed and out of his life.
    Just five more minutes . . .
    Flick stroked her hand across Kai’s chest, twisting her fingers in his light smattering of chest hair. She yawned and re-settled her head on his shoulder, mentally begging him not to move. She’d barely finished the thought when she felt his reluctant tap of his fingers against her backside and she pulled her head back to look at him.
    To his credit, he looked regretful. “You need to go, Flick. Sawyer usually drops in on his way home and it would be”—he hesitated—“awkward to have to explain this.”
    “It really would.” Flick sat up as he shoved the covers away and swung his legs around to sit on the edge of the bed. “So, I take it that we’re keeping this between us?”
    “There’s nobody else in the room is there? Nobody else needs to know.” Kai lifted his shoulders in frustration. “There are lots of things I hate about Mercy but one of the major ones is that I feel like I’m living in fish tank whenever I’m here. So I’d prefer that the good residents of the town didn’t find out that I’ve just had sex with their favorite daughter.”
    “I’m not their favorite daughter,” Flick protested, even though she knew that she and Pippa were, sort of.
    “You hate Mercy?” Flick demanded, picking up on his earlier statement. “What’s wrong with Mercy?”
    “What’s right with it? No fast food, no decent coffee—”
    “Hey!”
    “Okay, I’ve yet to try it but I’m sure your coffee is decent,” Kai admitted. He looked at a spot on the opposite wall before shrugging. “It’s just pretty and wholesome and I find that weird, that’s all.”
    “How can you find pretty and wholesome weird?” Flick asked, genuinely perplexed.
    Kai just shrugged again and didn’t reply and Flick soon realized that the subject was closed. Okay, then. “Well, then, it’s a good thing that you’re leaving soon.”
    “Yep, tomorrow.” Kai tossed her a cynical smile. “So we’ll have lots of time to practice our pretend-we-didn’t-screw-each-other-sideways faces before we meet again.” He surprised her by reaching over and running his hand down her hair. “But I had a great time and I needed that. Thanks.”
    Flick placed her hand on his shoulder and turned her intended caress into a quick pat. Dragging up her most insouciant voice, she spoke quickly. “Me too. I thought we’d spontaneously combust the first time.”
    His deep, sexy chuckle danced across her still-bare skin. She looked around but couldn’t see her clothes. “We shouldn’t have started kissing in the hallway. We gave Rufus quite an eyeful,” Kai commented.
    “My poor dog. He’ll probably be scarred for life.” Flick winced as she remembered Kai on his knees in front of her, her legs spread and her body completely naked. God, he’d been fabulous; that thing he did with his tongue and fingers was mind-blowing.
    “I have no clothes. I think they’re still downstairs.”
    Kai stood up and pulled on his boxers before walking across the room and picking up a pile of clothes on a chair in the far corner. They’d been folded so neatly that she didn’t recognize them at first. “I got them earlier, while you dozed.”
    Flick took them from his hands. “Thanks.”
    Placing his hands on his hips, he looked down at her, his mouth twisted into a wry smile. It was as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, because his eyes deepened and started smoking again. Then they filled with regret, and not a little frustration. “Can’t. No time and, even more important, I’m out of condoms.”
    And wasn’t that the mental equivalent of having a large bucket of ice water tipped over her libido? The last thing she needed was a baby as a lifelong reminder of the best sex of her life.
    Kai walked into the en-suite bathroom and Flick shook out her clothes, quickly pulling on her bra and panties, shirt, and faded jeans. She stood up and caught a