Free Taken by the Con by C.J. Miller Page B

distance.
    “My life is filled with them.”
    Sympathy pricked at her. He lived with someone else’s rules. She had once lived like that and had hated it. “I’ll call Benjamin and tell him you’re staying on my couch so you don’t have to sleep at the Hideaway again.”
    “You don’t owe me anything,” he said.
    She did. “I guess I put more worth on my life than a few gallons of hot water and a few hours on the couch.”
    “After the places I’ve been, both were heavenly. Didn’t have to wear flip-flops in the shower stall or worry about being jumped while I slept.”
    She shuddered. “That’s a charming picture.”
    “I could tell you stories that would blow your mind,” Cash said.
    Her mind was already blown from that kiss. “I’m an FBI agent. I have heard horror stories. I don’t want to hear more.”
    Her work took most of her time and until she was in this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she wanted something else in her life. She found herself confronting a strange new desire for romance and companionship.
    “Then I could tell you some good stories that would make you laugh.”
    “You have a way with words,” she said. But he already knew that.
    “Aren’t you afraid if I stay here something will happen?” Cash asked.
    She was almost sure something would happen if she let it. But she also trusted Cash not to do anything she didn’t want. “I’m in control of myself,” Lucia said, not confident in her words.
    “If you can handle it, so can I,” Cash said. “I won’t pass up a night in a clean, safe place.”
    * * *
    When her alarm went off at seven, Lucia didn’t feel groggy despite her sleep being erratic over the last several days. Her body felt primed and tingled in the places where the Cash in her dreams had touched her. Would it be as good in real life? Based on the preview he’d given her, she guessed it would be better.
    Her all-too-vivid dreams replayed through her mind. She had forgotten how it felt to be in a man’s arms and touching Cash had triggered an avalanche of sensations. Her skin acutely remembered the feel of his hard, lean body pressed to hers and wanted more.
    The man’s words turned her on. His voice—the low, smooth timbre. The caress of his hand. The graze of his lips. It was as if everything he did was part of the seduction, a days-long foreplay that had her body on the edge of completion. Even when she knew this couldn’t lead anywhere good, those thoughts didn’t cool her down.
    Freefalling into a relationship with him would be an even worse mess than she’d made in previous relationships. Sex, no matter how good, would not make it any easier to explain to Benjamin why she was sleeping with a teammate.
    The longer she was awake, the more the dream faded, leaving a dull ache where her body was unsatisfied with the mental foreplay and no action, and her brain took over, putting her back into her unsexy state of mind.
    It took her longer than usual to dress as she was careful how she moved her leg. Though she was tempted to make an excuse and skip it, brunch with her family and then attending church service was a priority. Proving to her family she was fine and recovered was top on her list.
    She opened the door to her bedroom and jolted when she came face-to-face with Cash. Had she been talking aloud? Had she called out his name? Moaned in her sleep? She was loud during sex. Was she loud during sex dreams?
    He held out a cup of coffee. “I heard you were up and I thought you could use this.”
    She accepted the coffee and took a sip. “You don’t have to serve me.” Though it was thoughtful that he had.
    “Like it?” he asked.
    The scent of the coffee woke her body and the scent of Cash woke her senses. “It’s good. Thank you. Did you sleep okay?” she asked, glancing at the couch. He’d folded the blanket and laid it on the pillow like the perfect houseguest.
    “Very well. What about you?”
    The glimmer in his eye had her nervous