“Here.” She handed it to him, sulking.
“Thank you.”
“It’s only because your knee looks swollen this morning. Don’t get used to it.”
It was right then that Derek realized that he cared about Reese way too much.
Reese wanted to stay aloof, she wanted to be tough and in control, distant from him. Yet she cared. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she cared about him and he wanted her to stay.
Which he knew wasn’t going to happen, and he was grateful for that. He needed her to go home to New York, to put distance between them so he didn’t get any stupid ideas that maybe this could work out long-term and that maybe Reese wouldn’t mind getting married and settling down in the suburbs with an SUV.
He pictured Reese packing leftover chicken wings in school lunches for the kids.
Not a very plausible sight.
It was time to think with his brain, and not other body parts.
Later.
After a long sip of coffee, he took her hand and pulled her down onto his lap. She came willingly, but still frowning.
“Thank you.” He nestled into her neck, kissing along the warm skin that led down to the tops of her breasts.
Stretching the neck of his sweatshirt, he sucked the curvy swell of her chest. “Thanks for the name of the hotel. That’s a big help to me.”
She squeezed his shoulders, arching back so her breasts met his mouth more easily. “See? I knew I could help you.”
“You were right and I’m big enough to admit it. Markson probably won’t know the hotel for a couple of days still.”
“Working together isn’t so bad, is it? We can both get what we want.”
Derek knew what he wanted. He wanted to lay her across his kitchen table and have Reese for breakfast, but a blond head suddenly popped up from the couch.
“Morning,” Claire said, then frowned as Derek removed his head from Reese’s sweatshirt.
“Oh, geez. You two have a bedroom, you know. Use it and spare me first thing in the morning, please.”
Reese reached around him for her coffee mug. Actually, his coffee mug, but then Reese wasn’t known for being overly concerned with distinctions like that.
“Sorry, Claire. I’ll be more sensitive to your virgin eyes from now on.”
“Very funny.” Claire yawned and sat up. “But you’re about six years too late on that one.”
Derek shifted, rocking Reese’s behind on his thigh a little as he grew alarmed at the turn in the conversation. He had been joking. Now his stomach began to churn at the thought of his baby sister having sex. He had a whole new appreciation for Reese’s brothers and their high-handed methods.
Claire went on before he could find a sock to stuff in her mouth. “Remember Justin, that guy from your training class at Quantico?”
“What about him?” She could not mean that Justin, a friend he trusted, who had spent a weekend with him and Dawn about five years ago, had slept with her.
He was sure Justin valued his balls way too much to risk Derek ripping them off and shoving them down his throat.
“He took my virginity.”
Oh, hell. Derek felt his blood pressure go through the ceiling into Mrs. Frajapagne’s apartment above him. “Justin? He’s ten years older than you! You have fucking got to be kidding me!”
Claire laughed. “I am.”
“What?” he asked in confusion, trying to remember when he had last heard from Justin. He’d do a database search at work today, track the guy down, and murder him.