Waters Run Deep Read online

  He lowered his head. “What if I was?”

  She sucked her breath in. Her eyes dilated and he swore he could hear her pulse gallop. She licked her lips and whispered, “Was what?”

  “Jealous,” he said before lowering his mouth to hers. He caught her slight gasp with his lips before sliding a hand around her waist and pulling her to him in a kiss that curled his own toes.

  And then and there, he knew he’d borrowed trouble.

  * * *

  ANNIE KNEW NATE WOULD kiss her. She didn’t know when or where, but she knew it was inevitable.

  She didn’t, however, expect the absolute torrent of desire that swept through her belly, flooded her insides and enveloped her in liquid want.

  Nate tasted like yeasty Louisiana beer and turned-on man, so she opened her mouth to him, twined her arms around his strong neck and gave in to the wave of desire crashing over her. He tasted her, all the while sliding his big hands over her bottom, up her waist and then back down again. His hands awakened need so intense all deliberate thought flew from her mind. There was nothing but Nate, the moon and the need to get naked with him.

  “Mmm,” she moaned against his mouth, melting against him, hungry for the feel of hard male against soft female.

  “Mmm,” he returned, deepening the kiss, cupping her ass, amping her pulse to out-of-control.

  Like a firecracker igniting, she spun out into the darkness, alive and burning, seeking explosion.

  Annie tugged Nate’s shirttail from his pants, noting the heat of his naked skin. At the same time, his hands ran underneath her skirt, clasping her ass, lifting against his erection. He pulled her upward and she twined her arms around his neck just before she wrapped her legs around his waist.

  “Over there,” she murmured, ripping her mouth from his.

  “Hmm?” He slid his mouth down to the pulse in her neck. She couldn’t stop her head from falling back nor could she stop the squeal of pleasure as one of his hands slid beneath her panties and stroked her.

  “Sweet mother of—”

  “Don’t say Nate,” he said against her breastbone.

  She almost giggled but couldn’t manage it. His fingers had established a rhythm that took her breath away.

  Frenzied heat engulfed them.

  “Annie,” he groaned, nibbling his way down to where her breasts strained against the top.

  “Take me over there,” she ordered, pointing to a chaise longue by a shabby tiki bar. It stood in the shadows, and if they slid the chair behind the bar, no one would see them.

  Nate didn’t release her. Instead he held her hips as he strolled to the lounge chair and kicked it so it slid behind the bar. Ah, they thought alike.

  He lowered her to the plastic-strapped lounge and covered her with hot, hard body. It was absolutely forbidden and delicious, and Annie couldn’t have stopped her hand from reaching for Nate’s belt buckle if a storm had ripped through striking her with a bolt of lightning.

  Hell, that’s what it felt like anyway. A storm of absolute lust, and Annie played in the onslaught.

  Nate’s mouth reclaimed hers, and for a second go around, her thoughts flew away to be replaced only by the dark deliciousness of Nate Dufrene. By the way his lips moved over her stomach, up to her breasts. By the way his hands quickly divested her of the silk thong before expertly exploring her yielding and very much ready-for-him flesh.

  She heard the scrape of his belt buckle hit the ground and the sound of his breath panting against her skin.

  She felt like she was burning up.

  About to explode.

  She pulled his head up and then down, so his lips met hers. Their mouths hit hard and she tasted blood, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her legs about his waist and lifted her bottom. “Please.”

  Nate slid into her, like a man coming home, and the moment he sheathed himself fully within her, she came apart.

  “Ah,” she cried. He caught her scream with his mouth as his hips started moving. She wrapped her legs and arms around the man whose deep, hard thrusts kept her spinning, peaking over and over again. Annie held hard to Nate as he drove into her. The top half of the chaise longue dropped level with the pavement beneath them, but Nate didn’t stop. Annie felt the grass skirt of the tiki bar cover her forehead, but Nate didn’t stop.

  “Oh, yes, that’s it. That’s—” Nate whispered into her ear before biting her neck. His murmured encouragements weren’t needed. Annie pushed against his shoulders, and he allowed himself to be maneuvered to the side. He sat up to prevent himself from smacking the pavement, pulling her with him. His back hit the curve of the bar, so they were totally ensconced in the cradle of dried grass and empty beer bottles. Annie vaguely registered the smell of mildew, but even that didn’t faze her. She had one mission. Absolute completion. She rose above Nate, shoved him back and took over, moving fast and hard above him.

  He tilted his head forward and tugged her shirt so he could cradle both her breasts in his big hands, nipping them, sucking her nipples into his mouth.

  “Nate!” she screeched as she tumbled yet again over the edge of sanity. This time he joined her, his groan of release stifled by her breasts pressed against his mouth.

  For a moment, they simply held each other, their ragged breaths the only sound in the night air. That and the pool filter.

  Then Annie opened her eyes.

  Nate did, too.

  “Oh, shit,” he said, his head snapping back. He pulled her shirt down.

  Reality slammed her.

  “Oh, my God.” She pulled herself off him, sitting down hard and drawing her legs together. She covered her face with both hands. “What have we done?”

  She pulled her hands away and looked at Nate who tried to tug his pants up. His wadded-up boxer shorts prevented him from zipping his pants, but at least he was covered. She glanced around and saw her panties hanging drunkenly on the arm of the broken chaise longue.

  Nate shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never done something like this before.”

  “Shit, shit, shit. We didn’t use a condom. Oh, my—” Annie covered her mouth with her hand. She felt vomit perch at the back of her mouth. How could she one minute be leaping into the sun, her body thrumming with more pleasure than she’d ever experienced, and the next minute be ready to toss up her Cosmopolitan?

  Nate bolted upright. “No condom. Oh, shit.”

  Annie looked up at him. He looked as horrified as she felt. “Yeah. That seems to be the word to describe it.”

  Silence fell between them. Annie closed her eyes and tried to pretend what had happened had been a dream. A delusion of epic proportions. She opened her eyes. Nope. She was still sitting bare-assed on the concrete surrounding a second-rate hotel swimming pool with the Cajun detective she’d had unprotected sex with. Advertisements about STD prevention and unplanned pregnancy flitted through her mind. How had she done what she just did? “What do we do? I’ve never had unprotected sex before.”

  “Me, neither. I mean, I don’t have diseases or anything like that.” Nate buttoned his pants then ran a hand through his hair.

  “Yeah, but the other.”

  He glanced up with a panicked look. “Okay. Where are you on your cycle?”

  Annie stiffened. “That’s kind of personal.”

  “Not after what we just did.”

  “Um, let’s see. Let me think.” Annie couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice. She not only felt sick, but she thought she might cry. She’d never lost her head like that before, and she couldn’t even blame the liquor. She’d had only one martini. Okay, one and a half, but she wasn’t even close to drunk. “I had my period last week. Um, it ended about six days ago.”

  Nate lowered his head. “You’re ovulating. Great. Just great.”

  Annie felt tears press the back of her eyes. She never cried. But then again, she never mistakenly made a baby either. Not that she had. Just because she was ovulating didn’t mean Nate had pollinated her. No, not the ri
ght term, but something like that. And how did he know about ovulation anyway? He was a man. “How do you know about ovulation?”

  “I went to med school. Didn’t finish because I had to come home when Dad died, but I studied anatomy.”

  Annie blinked. Of course he had. Why not? The man seemed to know everything. Have it all together. Except he’d screwed up, too. “Well, why didn’t you stop us?”

  His head jerked up. “What?”

  “Why didn’t you stop? You’re the cop.”

  “Detective.”

  “Whatever. Where’s your control?”

  His laughter was bitter. “You’re blaming me?”

  Annie shook her head and then dropped her chin to her chest. “No. Sorry.”

  Nate took her hand. “Hey. It’ll be okay. It’s likely nothing will happen. Okay?”

  She shook her head, but didn’t look up. “Not with my luck.”

  “It’s hard to get pregnant. Think about the people who try all the time but don’t. Tons. Thousands. Probably millions.”

  Annie nodded, but his voice hadn’t been convincing. Both she and the most responsible guy she’d ever met had just effed up on a monstrous level. Only morons had unprotected sex. That and teenagers. And even most teens were smart enough to pull out. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Don’t cry.” He tugged her to him, wrapping an arm around her.

  “I don’t cry,” she said against his shirt, trying like hell to clamp down on the raw emotion choking her. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t. But a few tears escaped anyway. “I’m a screwup.”

  “No, you aren’t.”

  “You don’t know what it’s been like for me. I messed up a perfectly good career. My last relationship was a disaster. I suck at being a nanny. And to top it all off, I just had unprotected sex with a virtual stranger and possibly created a new life. One I’ll be responsible for and as before mentioned, I suck at being a nanny so being a mother ought to work out real well for me. And you should know I’m Catholic.”

  Nate laughed.

  “Don’t laugh. This isn’t a laughing matter.”

  “I didn’t want to. Trust me. But we can’t undo what’s been done. Everyone has regrets, Annie.”

  “Yeah, but we may have to feed and diaper ours.”

  That sobered him.

  “Besides I have more regrets than most,” she said, swiping her arm across her nose. “It shouldn’t be this way. I’m a deliberate person. I make lists, Nate. Pro-and-con lists to make sure I’m making the right decision.”

  He had to understand she wasn’t stupid. When she took risks, they were calculated risks. She thought things out, thoroughly, carefully. “But nothing ever works out. It’s as if I should do the opposite of what it seems like I should do. All my decisions backfire on me.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “And this time, there was no thinking, Nate. None at all. And I still effed up. Don’t you see? I’m destined to live a crappy life full of dead ends, wrong turns and flat tires.”

  He sighed and drew her back for another hug. He dropped a kiss on her temple. “Take a deep breath.”

  “No.”

  “Ann, this will be a wait-and-see thing. If it ends with you being pregnant, we’ll deal with it then. Let’s not borrow trouble. Okay?”

  “I won’t marry you.”

  His chuckle was dry. “I didn’t ask you to.”

  Annie felt her cheeks heat. Of course, this had nothing to do with marriage. They were just two people who liked each other enough to let horniness take hold and put them in a tight spot. She struggled to her feet and Nate followed suit, snagging her panties and handing them to her.

  “Thanks,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ears. She had dropped her purse with the gun inside on another chair when Nate had kissed her. She saw it glittering in the moonlight, snatched it up and shoved her panties inside. She needed to find a bathroom and then she’d go back to Beau Soleil. To hell with picking Mick’s brain or listening in on other people’s conversations. To hell with telling Nate she was undercover and not a suspect in this stupid threat case. To hell with everything.

  Her thoughts bounced around hysterically.

  It was the clothes she’d borrowed. Tawny had trussed her up like a goose and made her look easy, giving Nate the wrong impression. Allowing her to fulfill the flirty promises she’d made to him several days ago in the library. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her, had embraced it and reveled in the power. She’d been headtripping and had allowed her herself give in.

  God, why was she here in the first place?

  She should have stayed with the Bureau. Should have stayed the same old Anna—driven, pragmatic and…lonely. But wasn’t lonely better than standing here now, sans panties, working as a nanny, trying to solve a dead-bird case?

  She was an incredibly stupid, weak woman. Raw disgust throbbed in her belly.

  “Go home, take a bath and we’ll start over tomorrow,” Nate said, brushing her arm in what should have been a soothing caress.

  She jerked away. “Tomorrow?”

  “We’re going down to Galliano.”

  “You think that’s a good idea? After what we did a few minutes ago?”

  Nate shoved his shirttail into his jeans and shrugged. “It won’t happen again. I’m working a case. Nothing about that has changed.”

  “You’re thinking about your case? Really?”

  He studied her. “Nothing has changed.”

  “Bullshit,” she said, pulling her eyes from him and studying a lone floatie bobbing in the deep end of the pool.

  “I haven’t been able to figure you out yet, Annie Perez.”

  She frowned. “Well, those were some nice investigative skills you used under the tiki bar.”

  He jerked his head toward the tiki bar and collapsed chair. “That had nothing to do with Spencer or this case or the fact you’re not what you seem. That over there was two people forgetting about the world and finding pleasure in being a man and a woman.”

  Oddly, his words soothed her. He made their ripping each other’s clothes off in the back of a roadside motel in plain sight sound not so sordid. “Fine. We’ll talk tomorrow. I can’t go back on my word to Spencer anyhow. Not without war breaking out.”

  Nate nodded, took four steps and kissed her. “Thanks.”

  And then he disappeared like some phantom lover, leaving her with a handbag holding a gun, extra lip gloss and her panties.

  And perhaps a child.

  Her stomach burned at the thought. Annie lifted her face to the full moon and whispered a fervent prayer that she hadn’t screwed up her life even more.

  She hoped the man in the moon was listening. Hoped He still knew she prayed to Him. Hoped He’d throw her a bone on this one.

  But the moon just stared back blankly at her.

  * * *

  NATE PUSHED THROUGH THE rusting gate onto the smoker’s porch and took a deep breath. Which was a bad decision. More people had convened outside while he had practiced bad behavior under the tiki bar, so the breath he took had been in a cloud of smoke.

  After nearly coughing up a lung and drawing viperous looks from the smokers, he went back inside Gerry’s and headed for the men’s room. He was pretty sure he’d zipped his boxers in his fly, and he needed to stop and think about what had transpired moments ago. About the total disregard for discipline he’d spent his life creating.

  Talk about screwing the pooch.

  He entered the men’s room, which was thankfully empty, and avoided his own eyes in the mirror while he tucked his boxers and shirt into his jeans and washed his hands. When he looked up for something to dry his hands on, he caught sight of himself.

  Shit.

  His hair stuck up and pink shimmery lipstick smeared his neck. He looked like a man who’d been well laid.

  Which he had.

  But that was the problem, wasn’t it?

  The passion between him and Annie had risen up and grabbed him
by the throat, giving him little choice in following through. It was as if he’d been under a spell, one that rendered him senseless and stupid.

  He scrubbed the lipstick off his neck, smoothed his hair, braced both hands on the sink and sighed. What if he’d gotten Annie pregnant? Bile scalded his stomach and he swallowed, tasting the smoke again.

  A kid.

  He drew in anther deep breath. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want kids, it’s that he’d never thought much about it. And to bring one into the world that way…the result of two people being wholly irresponsible under the light of a full moon. Wasn’t ideal. Wasn’t good.

  God, he hoped she wasn’t pregnant. He would never live that down with his coworkers, his friends…his mother. Everyone knew him to be dependable, steadfast and intelligent, but the combustible sex he’d had with Annie out at the pool had been nothing close to those things. It had been the most intense and fulfilling sex he’d had. Ever.

  The bathroom door opened and a drunk kid tumbled in, falling into Nate without an apology.

  Nate felt on the verge of losing control, this time in a whole new way—plowing his fist into the rude-ass drunk unzipping his fly. For whatever reason, Nate itched for a fight, for some way to deal with the disappointment he felt at himself. Some way to beat down the fear thumping in his chest. Fear over a sperm finding its way to an egg and multiplying over and over until a child was formed. His child.

  But he wouldn’t beat the hell out of a random stranger. Because he was Nate Dufrene. A man who didn’t stoop to infantile levels of behavior merely because he messed up. No, Nate was a man who accepted his failures and mistakes, swallowing them, allowing them to become a fire in his belly. A fire that kept him searching for justice.

  Nate moved back, shaking water from his hands, regretting so much about tonight. If only he’d found the same strength of character earlier.

  With that thought, he left, refusing to look back. Something was wrong with him and he didn’t know whether it was because the next day would dredge up old hurts and hopes or because the feelings he had for Annie were murky as the Louisiana swamp. But it was something.