It wasn’t a real kiss, but a necessary caution. Still, his mouth was nice and firm, sweet and gentle. She had a feeling that when Boone really kissed a woman, he did it right.

He took his mouth from hers, a warning gleam in his eyes.

“But, BooBoo,” she said when she could speak again, hopefully covering her mistake. “I still haven’t done the dishes.”

“Marty!” Boone yelled. “Do the damned dishes.”

BooBoo! Oh, this was bad. “BooBoo?” he asked, hands on hips as he glared down at Jayne, who sat on the side of the bed looking composed, calm, perfectly in control. One foot rocked, drawing his eye to her shapely ankle.

“It’s no worse than sugar.”

“Yes,” he insisted with a nod of his head, “it is.”

He didn’t let on that his heart was still hammering. He had thought about shooting the television and then trying to pass it off as a rash moment of rage, but Jayne’s seemingly impulsive shove had worked much better. But for how long? They would meet with Gurza in four days. Four days, after three months of undercover work! And one wrong word could blow it in a heartbeat.

“I shouldn’t have told you my name,” he said in a low voice.

Her face softened. “I know but…I’m glad you did,” she whispered. “It makes me feel so much safer.”

She wasn’t safe, not at all, but he didn’t bother to tell her so.

Boone moved to the head of the bed and grasped the post in his hand.

Jayne sighed. “Not again. This is so embarrassing.”

Boone ignored her and began to shake the bed. The springs squeaked. Jayne covered her face in her hands.

“Come on, sugar,” Boone said softly. “Help me out here.”

For a moment she did nothing. Then she dropped her hands from her face, looked him in the eye and gave a little hop that made the bed squeak even more. “Why Becker?” she asked as she gave another little bounce. “Is that like a middle name? A family name?”

Boone leaned down, placing his face close to hers. “Rhymes with my favorite body part,” he whispered.

She screwed up her nose. “Becker? Becker doesn’t rhyme with…” Suddenly her face turned red. “That’s disgusting!” she said, her voice rising slightly.

He grinned. “Say that a little bit louder.”

“I will not,” she said primly.

He began to bang the headboard against the wall, faster and faster, harder and harder. “Moan,” he whispered.

“I do not moan,” she said, her Southern accent deepening as she protested.

“You poor thing. I guess I’ll just have to pinch you again to make you squeal.”

“That won’t be necessary.” She looked away from him, squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. And then she made some kind of noise. It wasn’t a moan or a squeal. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was.

“If I can barely hear it, they can’t hear it at all.”

She snapped her head around and glared at him. “You know, I’m sure there are women out there who make love silently.”

“I’ve never met one.”

“You’re vile.”

“You’re a prude.”

It was the wrong, or perhaps the right thing to say. Prude was an insult Jayne took personally, and her response was apparently going to be to prove him wrong. She closed her eyes, tossed back her head and moaned. The sound was low, long and real enough to make Boone’s insides tighten. Her soft voice was the kind that might creep under a man’s skin if he went for her type. Which he didn’t.

Jayne took a deep breath and moaned again, louder this time. Boone tried to convince himself that Jayne Barrington was not his type at all. He liked his women with long dark hair, long legs and plenty up top. Not gentle, delicate curves, but prodigious breasts that made a man’s eyes pop out of his head when the woman walked into a room. He shook the bed harder, faster, his eyes on Jayne.

Head back, throat bared, mouth slightly parted, she was a fascinating sight, with her creamy skin and reddish-gold hair and soft lips. Her throat was nice and long, he noticed. Shapely and delicate, like the rest of her. His body began to respond. Enough was enough.

“Scream,” he whispered.

She laid those green eyes on him and glared. “Maybe I’m not ready,” she mouthed.

He grinned and reached for her with his free hand.

“Okay,” she said softly, scooting away from him. She closed her eyes again, took a deep breath and screamed. Loud and long. Boone banged the headboard a couple more times, for good measure and then stopped. Thank God. He really couldn’t take much more of this.

“Not bad,” he said as he sat beside Jayne on the side of the bed. He took a deep calming breath. “Who were you thinking of when you let loose?”

She looked him in the eye. “Not who, what. Snakes.”

His eyebrows lifted slightly. “Snakes?”

“I’m terrified of snakes,” she said with a shake of her head and a shudder that seemed to rack her from head to toe. “And I don’t care if they’re poisonous or not. I hate all snakes equally.”

“Why?”

Her eyes met his. “I don’t have to have a specific reason,” she said. “A lot of people hate snakes.”

Boone waited a couple of minutes before leaving Jayne, shaking his head as he stood. It had been a pretty damn good scream.

He wasn’t terribly surprised to find a scowling Darryl waiting at the doorway between the hallway and the television-less living room. Marty and Doug were nowhere to be seen, but as he glared at Darryl, Boone heard laughter from the kitchen and then a splash of water. The boys were doing the dishes.

“I don’t get it,” Darryl muttered, his hard eyes on Boone and his arms crossed over his massive chest. “It doesn’t make any sense. You hauled that woman here last night because you wanted her in your bed. She was none too happy about the idea at the time, as I remember. And then this morning she’s calling you BooBoo and screaming her head off. Something stinks.”

Boone grinned. “What can I say? I’m good.”

Darryl was not impressed.

Boone’s grin faded. “She’s a society sweetheart who’s been handled with kid gloves all her life. Nobody’s ever touched her right, nobody’s ever made her scream. Since she’s never had one before, she thinks an orgasm means she’s in love. Three or four and we’re soul mates. Don’t worry about Jayne. I can handle her.”

“What are you going to do with her when we’re through here? I can’t have her coming to her senses and talking about what happened last night.”

“She won’t.”

“You can’t be sure…”

As far as Darryl knew, Richard Becker was a badass drug dealer from Atlanta, looking to move up a notch in the world. An association with Joaquin Gurza would make that happen. Thanks to big brother Dean—who was a deputy U.S. marshal and had all the right connections—and Detective Luther Malone, Boone had the background to make this cover tight. Airtight. Boone would protect Jayne Barrington with his life. Richard Becker wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in his way.

“When I’m finished with Jayne,” Boone said tightly, “I’ll take care of her. She’s the one with the illusions, not me. You have nothing to worry about.”

Darryl nodded, slightly mollified. “Glad to hear it.”

Boone headed past Darryl, intent on the coffeepot on the kitchen counter. He had to keep Darryl and the boys away from the news for the next four days. Could he do it? If Darryl found out that the man he’d shot was alive and that Jayne was a senator’s daughter, he’d panic and insist on doing away with her immediately. And since Boone had told them all that Jayne’s friend Jim was dead, Jayne would likely not die alone.

If they got that far, how was he going to get Jayne, the kid and himself out of here alive?

His life and his mission had just become very complicated.

Jayne lay back in the bed and stared up at the ceiling. A shower had helped her to feel a little better, but still she wished for a change of clothes—her own clothes—as well as underwear, a soft nightgown, her hair dryer, and an entire package of chocolate-chip cookies. The soft ones.