Low Sided by A.J. Downey (best detective novels of all time txt) 📕

“Just say yes, that’s all you have to do.”

I felt my mouth work, open and closed as I tried to force the word past the knot in my throat.

“Yes!” I finally cried and he let out an explosive breath, surging to his feet.

He practically tackled me in a hug, holding me tight, kissing me fiercely with the fire of a thousand suns.

I looked down as he slid the beautiful ring onto my finger and marveled that it was a perfect fit.

“Meant to fuckin’ be,” he whispered and after staring at it for several heartbeats longer, I looked up and he claimed my mouth in a kiss all over again.

It was surreal, being and feeling so incredibly loved by a man such as Mace, and it was a sensation that I would never get tired of.

“I can’t wait to make you Mrs. Mace,” he said with a grin and I grinned too.

“I can’t wait to get you back to the cabin,” I murmured and plucked at his vest.

“No time like the present,” he said. “You ready to head back?”

“Absolutely.”

We picked our way back across the beach slowly, choosing the best pieces of worn glass along the way.

Back at the cabin, Mace went to the tub and started it, drawing a bath.

“Come here, you,” he said crooking a finger at me, and I wandered over. He lifted a paper bag from the bath and book shop in Poulsbo and said, “Choose your poison.”

I picked through the bag and several bath bombs and handmade soaps and chose one of each that complimented each other.

“K, get naked and in the tub,” he said, and I grinned.

“You joining me?” I asked.

“Maybe later, I want to spoil you tonight – so let me.”

“Ooo la la, who am I to argue that?” I asked, and he grinned.

I stripped slowly, making a bit of a show of it and he held out a hand to help me over the high lip of the tub. I settled into the water with a contented sigh, and he dropped the bomb in. I was suddenly surrounded by fragrant foam as it whirled and twirled in the water, fizzing and bubbling away.

I sank into the soft, fragrant heat, my hair already twisted up and secured by a pair of hair sticks. Mace took off his shirt and watching him do it was a treat. It always was. I hummed in appreciation of the view and he gave me a lascivious smile.

He kneeled by the tub and dipped a hand in, trailing fingertips up my leg from the top of my foot, skimming along my shin and over my knee, stopping there. The way he looked at me, God and Goddess, I felt like the sexiest woman alive.

“You really want to marry me?” I asked softly, and the smile that touched his lips – so patient and so kind.

“All I want to do is marry you,” he murmured.

I had always dreamed of a love like this. That I could love and be so loved, and it really did feel as if it were a dream. A beautiful waking dream that I never wanted to end.

We kissed, and his hand crept up my leg further beneath the water.

“Mm,” I moaned into his mouth and he took it for the plea that it was, his fingers rubbing at the top of my sex, fingers delving between the folds, seeking out that knot of pleasure. He pressed firmly but gently and made a slow, lazy circle.

My hips rose unbidden from the bottom of the copper tub to press myself more firmly against his fingertips as his tongue delved between my lips, past my teeth, to stroke provocatively against my own.

I groaned into his mouth, my hands coming out of the water to clasp his face between them gently, holding his mouth to mine as we kissed passionately, and he worked me into a slow burn.

God, I wanted a deeper touch from him. He was working my clit so sweetly, and I was rising to a low simmer, but fuck I needed a deeper touch. I ached for it, and as though he read my mind, he gave it to me, sliding his fingers down between my thighs and his middle one up inside me, the pad of his thumb replacing his fingertips against my clit.

I sucked in a breath around our kiss, my hips jerking unbidden, and I ground my pelvis down on his hand. He chuckled darkly against my mouth and pressed his finger in deeper, moving it slightly against my walls to drive me fucking wild.

I moaned into his mouth, whimpering, begging my body as much as Mace to push me just that last little bit to the precipice. He worked me sweetly, roughly, expertly into a near frenzy and when I came, it was in an explosion of light behind my eyelids.

I came down slowly, panting, languid in the tub, muscles loose as he stroked my pussy lightly, eventually removing his hand from it when the tremors sliding through me lessened.

“You are the hottest little thing when you come for me like that,” he said, his voice pitched low and sexy, caressing my sense of hearing like sable soft fur.

“Kiss me again,” I murmured, and he bent low, over the edge of the tub, to press his lips to mine.

With love and laughter, and more than a bit of mischief, I pulled his ass in with me – jeans and all.

He collapsed half over me laughing and tore his mouth from mine, crying out, “Okay, okay! I’ll join you!”

I giggled lightly and let him get undressed and into the bath with me proper. It felt so fucking good lounging in the hot fragrant water wrapped in his arms.

He massaged my shoulders, he washed me from head to toe, and I swear it was like the stains of my past came clean out of my soul under his touch and I felt like a new woman – because