“No, no, you tight little virgin. I’m not going to let you off so easily. We’ve barely gotten started.”

Holding her body still against him, Derek dipped his head and took one of her ni**les in his mouth and drew on it greedily. Hot pleasure shot through Ginger, spreading through her belly and lower. She desperately needed to move, to rediscover her rhythm, but Derek wouldn’t allow it. After licking and sucking her nipple to a peak, he moved to her other breast and gave it the same torturous yet reverent treatment. Ginger moved restlessly against the hard surface of the door, needing him to stop. Needing him to never stop.

Derek raised his head, his heated eyes landing on her lips and staying there, pupils dilating. His breathing escalated with each passing second.

“Give me your mouth. I want your mouth.”

She pressed her forehead against his. “Then what are you waiting for?”

His lips fell on hers with a growl, biting, soothing, and licking. Their tongues met and tangled furiously. He forced her mouth open over and over again, demanding to be let inside. Head slanting right, then left, Ginger let the kiss consume her, never once thinking to come up for air. As he dominated her mouth, any lingering pain disappeared, replaced with single-minded need. He felt hot and thick inside her, and her body relaxed to accommodate his size.

At some point during the kiss, Derek braced one arm against the door, wrapped the other around her waist, and began moving Ginger up and down his rigid length, slowly torturing her slick, sensitive flesh. The pace grew faster and more determined until she bounced up and down on his erection. Derek’s mouth never left hers, absorbing her cries with his tongue and lips.

Without warning, the pressure building inside Ginger burst and an immense wave of pleasure washed over her. She broke the kiss and screamed, dimly aware that Derek was watching her come apart in his arms as she rode out her orgasm with the use of his still-thrusting body.

When she finished, Derek buried his face in her neck with a groan. “I’m ruined. You’ve ruined me, Ginger.”

With one final thrust of his hips, Derek found his release. He tried to muffle his shouts against her damp skin, but they couldn’t be contained, and Ginger was too slack with pleasure to mind the expletives he chanted against her ear.

When they finally got their breathing under control, Derek shifted her body around so that he could loop his arms under her knees. He gathered her against his chest, carried her into the bedroom, and lay her down on the bed. Body limp, she watched as he returned to the bathroom and came back carrying a damp washcloth.

Derek kneeled in front of her and pressed the warm cloth between her legs. The heat soothed the remaining sting, leaving a sense of contentment in its wake. She watched through half-closed eyes as he ran the cloth along her inner thighs and back up.

When he’d finished his task, Derek tossed the cloth on his bedside table and began trailing kisses down Ginger’s stomach.

Her eyes flew open as the intense sensations she’d just experienced rushed back to the surface. “Derek?”

His warm breath drifted over her most intimate place. “Quiet, baby. Just let me kiss it better.”

Then he gently licked her to a second orgasm.

Chapter Fourteen

Ginger had been sipping a mug of coffee in Derek’s kitchen and staring off into space for close to an hour when Willa startled her by coming out of the spare bedroom. Ginger glanced at her sister, then quickly averted her eyes, positive everything that transpired the night before showed on her face. And even if she tried to hide the myriad emotions fighting their way out of her chest, she’d never been able to hide a damn thing from Willa.

He’d left without a word.

As she’d lain there awake wondering what kind of awkward morning-after speech Derek had prepared, he’d left his bedroom—to take a shower, she’d assumed—and never returned. Waltzed right out the front door, leaving her wearing nothing but her birthday suit in his bed. She’d sat up like a shot at the realization that he’d left, surprised to find she would have preferred the awkward speech in exchange for how she now felt. Empty, exposed.

A little used.

She resented being made to feel that way. He wasn’t required to tell her she was special or cook her an omelet, but anything would have been preferable to silence. Silence could be interpreted to mean too many things. Maybe now that he’d gotten what he wanted from her, leaving without saying good-bye had been his way of gently nudging her toward the door.

Well, she’d be more than happy to oblige him.

Ginger grabbed her mug and went to rinse it out in the sink, giving her an excuse to turn her back. She felt the hot sting of tears behind her eyes, but blinked them away and focused on what needed to be done.

“Good news, sis,” she called over her shoulder. “I called Lenny and since it’s going to take a while to repair our place, he’s letting us move into a vacant unit upstairs. I was thinking of browsing the local swap meet for pieces today, but I think I’d rather get a jump start on moving out of here and into the other place.”

She didn’t need to turn around to see Willa’s confusion. It made no sense, swapping one temporary home for another. All she knew for certain? She needed to get out now. This moment. She didn’t know how to explain that to Willa, though. Or herself for that matter.

“Why the rush? Why don’t we just stay here instead of moving twice?”

“No reason,” she said quickly. “Just want our own space.”

The long pause that followed made Ginger’s shoulder blades itch. “Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with last night?”

Ginger tensed, then began cleaning the coffee mug for the third time. “What do you mean?”

“You and the lieutenant weren’t exactly quiet about it,” Willa said jokingly. “But hey, if you want to hit him and quit him, that’s fine by me. We’ll leave today.”

Ginger’s stomach plummeted to the floor. No, please, no. She’d been careful, hadn’t she? They’d been in the farthest room in the house. Had she been so caught up in the moment that she’d actually woken her little sister? Just like… She couldn’t let the thought fully form or she would be ill.

Slowly, she turned from the sink to face her sister. “Oh God, Willa.”

Her sister’s smile disappeared and she came toward her with hands outstretched. “Ginger, come on. I was just kidding. Your side of the bed hasn’t been slept in and you’re sitting there stewing, so I took a wild guess. But I didn’t hear anything. Honestly.”

Ignoring Willa’s attempts at denial, she breezed past her toward the bedroom.

“I’m going to pack. We’ll be out of here today. I promise.”

…

“I’d appreciate any information you can pass on.” Derek lowered his voice as he strode down the hallway toward his apartment with a bag of groceries under his arm Monday evening. Adjusting the cell phone against his ear, he repeated the information. “Haywood Devon. Owns a few strip clubs in Nashville, among his other enterprises. I’m specifically interested in any connection he has with a Valerie Peet. Thanks.”

Derek walked through his door and came to a stop. Staring down at the spare set of apartment keys resting on his kitchen counter, an uncomfortable feeling spread through his chest. He’d given Ginger the set when she and Willa moved into the spare bedroom Saturday night. Obviously at some point between Sunday morning and now, they’d left. Without giving him a courtesy call or leaving a simple note.