One-Night Alibi

He needed no further urging. In one second he was on top, the conquering hero. She opened her legs and welcomed him.

She’d thought he’d just thrust inside her, but he took his time, letting her get used to the feel of him filling her up, stretching her in a way that wasn’t painful, yet she was very aware of his size and power. If he ever wanted to hurt her, he certainly could. And she knew he could be violent.

No. She wouldn’t think about that now. The man she was getting to know wouldn’t hurt someone smaller and weaker than him just because he could. Some cops were off on a power trip, but she was sure he wasn’t that kind of cop no matter what the newspaper had said.

“You okay?”

“Never better.”

“You went far away there for just a minute.”

“I’m right here.”

“You’d tell me if it was too much, right?” Even as he said this, he started to move. Every nerve ending in her vagina screamed with the pleasure of it, and it was all Elizabeth could do not to scream. Incredible.

She wanted to draw out the pleasure, but she found she had no self-control. She let the ecstasy overwhelm her, and she held nothing back, nearly weeping with the intensity.

“Oh, man.” Hudson was obviously trying to hold back, but he couldn’t, either. “Oh, yeah. Here it comes.”

Still in the throes of her own climax, she watched his face as he came. His pleasure was a beautiful thing to behold. He gave himself over to it totally. She couldn’t imagine him looking any happier if he really had won the lottery.

It was over quickly, yet Elizabeth couldn’t imagine sex being any more perfect. As he lay on top of her, breathing hard, his skin slightly damp with perspiration, a glow of contentment settled on her.

“I usually can last longer,” he assured her when he could talk.

She laughed. “Men and their egos. I wasn’t timing you.”

“I just wanted it to be good for you.”

“It was, trust me.”

“Give me a few minutes to recover. I think with you I could have a go every half hour all night long.”

“You’re quite the optimist.”

“It’s just that you’re so pretty and sexy.”

“I...well, I probably should be going.” She didn’t want to go, and since tomorrow was Sunday, she had nowhere to be and no one would miss her. Still, she didn’t want to overstay her welcome.

“What? No way. I mean, of course I’ll take you home if you really want to go, but I’m not one of those guys who makes a conquest, then can’t get rid of her fast enough. I want you to spend the night, to get to know you better...and not just in bed.” He shifted, separating their bodies. She missed him already. “I make killer banana pancakes.”

“I have to work tomorrow.” It was a lie. But she did have to make the break clean and decisive. This could not be the start of something, much as she wanted it to be.

When he found out who she was—and he would—he was going to be one pissed-off dude.

“Still, you don’t have to run off. It’s early yet.”

He was right about that. It wasn’t yet ten o’clock. Though the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to leave, she couldn’t make herself get out of bed and put her clothes on.

“I’ll stay awhile.”

She snuggled up against him, still feeling the effects of her sexual haze. How sweet it would be if she could fall asleep here with her head on his shoulder, lulled by the rhythm of his deep breathing. Not that she could. Not with what she was keeping from him.

He, on the other hand, fell asleep almost instantly, which made her smile. Men were so predictable. She knew it was a physiological reaction, but it was amusing how he could be revved up in a frenzy one minute and a minute later sawing logs.

After a short while, she surprised herself by falling asleep, too.

When she woke sometime later, she was slightly disoriented. Hudson had an old-fashioned clock radio on his nightstand. Once she got her eyes to focus, she discovered it was almost 2:00 a.m.

She couldn’t stay until morning. There was no way she could hide her identity from him—it was getting harder and harder to be deceitful.

She was hunting around in the dark for her dress when she heard a strange noise outside. That was what had awakened her, she realized.

The wind? An animal, perhaps a raccoon? There were a lot of trees around, and critters liked to hang out near lakes.

She listened. There it was again. Footsteps. Someone was on the balcony. And it sounded as if they were trying to jimmy a window somewhere else in the house.

She sat up and shook Hudson. “Hudson!” she hissed. “Wake up. Someone is trying to break in.”

CHAPTER THREE

HUDSON WOKE INSTANTLY, sat up and listened. He heard it immediately—the sound of a window rattling from the other bedroom. And it wasn’t the wind.

He leaped out of bed and grabbed his pants, jumping into them commando style. His gun was in the safe in the closet, damn it. He’d seen no need to take it with him to a wedding, and he would never leave it where a burglar could steal it. Too many stolen guns were on the street.

“Go into the bathroom,” he said in the take-charge voice he used when he intended to be obeyed. “Take your cell phone and lock the door in case you have to call for help.” He slid open the door of his closet and quickly worked the combination, then grabbed his backup weapon, a sturdy Glock.

He noiselessly opened the sliding glass door that led out to the balcony, which completely encircled the house. As he stepped out onto the wooden decking in his bare feet, he realized Liz was right behind him. And damned if she didn’t have his Louisville Slugger gripped in both her hands. She’d obviously thrown on the first item of clothing she’d found, which happened to be his dress shirt. She’d buttoned only one button.

Some other time that would be really charming.

He wasn’t going to waste time and breath trying to get her to obey orders. She obviously wasn’t the hide-in-the-bathroom type of woman.

“Just stay behind me,” he whispered. He walked to the corner of the house and peered around it.

Sure enough, a guy in a ski mask was halfway through his window.

The ski mask told him a lot. This wasn’t a simple burglary. The intruder knew the house was occupied, and he didn’t want to be identified. The other thing that told him a lot was the gun in the guy’s hand.

Hudson raised his weapon. “Police! Freeze!”

The guy didn’t follow orders. He pulled himself out of the window, pointed his gun straight at Hudson and squeezed off a shot.

Liz screamed.

Fortunately, Hudson pulled back around the corner, and the shot wasn’t too well aimed to begin with. He heard the bullet whiz past his head and sail off into the trees behind the house.

Hudson would have been well within his rights to shoot the guy, but he didn’t return fire. Maybe it was because he was already in so much trouble; if he added deadly force to the mix, even justified, his career was over. Or maybe it was simply because he didn’t want to take the life of some scrawny drug addict.