have to be really quiet,” she said with a naughty smile.
Bo gave in, bracing one hand against the wall as she littered kisses over his throat, stroking him in a hard, fast way that she knew he liked.
Someone’s voice got louder in the entryway, and they both stilled, but there were no footsteps on the stairs, so she continued. Taking his other hand, she placed it over her breast as she kissed him, and felt him shudder.
His groan was low and deep, and he collapsed against the wall with a resounding thump as he climaxed, his breathing harsh, though he made no other sound.
“Hey, everything okay up there?”
Pete must have heard the noise, and Erin smiled as Bo caught his breath.
“Yeah, Bo just dropped a can of paint, but it had the lid on, thank goodness. I’ll be back down in a second,” she responded.
Bo’s chest was still heaving, his eyes hot as he pulled her in for one more kiss.
“You always did like the chance of being caught,” he said before he released her, separating so that they could fix themselves up.
She shrugged. “It’s fun. The excitement of almost being caught adds a little something.”
“Have you ever thought what?”
Erin shook her head. “I don’t know. Some adventure, I guess. I do remember the time we had sex under the stands at that concert. That was crazy, with people all over the place, but it was also really, really hot.”
Dressed again, he put the lid on the paint can he was finished with.
“That it was,” he agreed with a chuckle.
“I guess it’s my little bit of kink. You don’t have any—or any that I remember?”
Standing, he looked at her speculatively, as if unsure if he wanted to answer. That intrigued her, and she dared him with her smile.
“C’mon, Myers. Confess your naughty secrets to me.”
“Nope, not me. I’m kink-free. Straight as an arrow,” he said, fighting a smile.
“So you’re not going to tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell, Erin.”
She took that in, but his tone suggested there was something he wasn’t telling her. Why?
“With you, I always thought the sex-in-public thing was maybe because you wanted someone to catch us,” he mused, deflecting the topic back to her. “That since we were a secret, it was like tempting fate. Do you think that’s what it is now, too?”
“I haven’t really given it that much thought, to be honest. It’s just a fun thing to do. Does it have to have any deeper meaning?”
“I guess you’re right.”
What had been a fun bit of sex was suddenly heavy and uncomfortable. Erin didn’t want to psychoanalyze her sex life or his, and if she did, she’d see a shrink.
“For what it’s worth, if there’s anything you want to do that you haven’t told me, I’d be willing to try.”
She wanted to change the mood between them, and erase the distance that had somehow grown between them.
“That’s good to know.”
Frustrated and starting to get irritated, she walked to the door, shoving her hands into her pockets.
“Okay, well...I’d better get going before there’s a revolt.”
She was out the door and down the stairs before he could reply, still annoyed. Whether she wanted to think about it or not, now her mind wouldn’t let go of what he’d said.
Was there any merit to Bo’s thoughts that she had wanted them to get caught? Why? To make their relationship public or to make it impossible? If they had been caught, would that have pushed them closer or made their breakup even more imminent?
Or was it simply a fun way to have sex that she found particularly exciting?
She headed to the kitchen to grab her purse when another surprise assailed her. Erin couldn’t be sure, but as she went into the kitchen, she could have sworn she saw Hank remove his hand from her sister’s bottom.
Blinking, she was sure she must be seeing things.
“Erin!” Kit exclaimed, turning pink, though Erin supposed it could have been the exertion of the work she was doing up on the stepladder.
Erin looked at Hank, who was studying the wall he was painting very closely, and she shook her head. Maybe Hank had been steadying Kit on the ladder?
That made more sense. Knowing what she knew about her sister, no way would Kit ever have interest in a firefighter. Though Kit seemed tense lately, too, and worried. Erin had made a few attempts at getting her to talk, but Kit wasn’t sharing.
“I’m going for dinner. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“If you can pick up some cupcakes at Harrison’s, that’s all I ask,” Kit said.
Erin laughed. “I can do that. I love how this is looking,” she said, taking in the bright kitchen and white trim. “I’ll probably have to have this floor replaced, too. Not right away, though.”
“Hardwood is always good,” Kit said, and both sisters swung their gazes to Hank as he suddenly was caught by an attack of coughing.
“Sorry, swallowed my soda the wrong way,” he said, clearing his throat and turning back to his work.
“Okay, well, I’ll return shortly. Thanks for all the help, you guys. This doesn’t even look like the same house. Next we’ll have to do the outside,” she added as she left the kitchen, smiling at their groans of objection.
But as lighthearted as she came off, Bo’s comments and her promise to perhaps experiment with him resurfaced as she drove. They were supposed to be reenacting her past, not trying new things, right? But then again, if it was something he really wanted—something she had denied him before—it was related to their past. So why wouldn’t he tell her? Maybe he was telling the truth, and there wasn’t anything. Maybe she was imagining that he wasn’t sharing what he really wanted.
Or maybe he’d done that, and she was unreceptive? Or maybe it took a level of trust that they didn’t share.
She might never know. Time was getting shorter, and if her memory didn’t come back—what then? Bo would be gone, and she would be right where she started, except that now she’d know what a good thing she’d let go.
* * *
BO LOOKED UP as Erin appeared in his office door the next day. He wanted to give her a kiss hello, not worry about anyone finding out about them—what did it matter now? He’d accepted the task-force job, and he was out of here in under a month.
But instead, he said hello and gestured
