05 Desperate Match Read online

  Hastily she obeyed, while his hand lowered to her front and found her swollen clitoris. He plucked, and she screamed. He stroked, and she moaned. They rocked together, thumping against the door, with the sensation of the hard wood against her nipples adding a titillation and newness to the sex.

  They stayed in this position, with him fucking her from behind, holding her captive. She had to think of it as fucking. Yesterday they’d made love, each of them giving to the other. This was fucking. He gave, she took.

  Her orgasm was building, and she tried to hold it back, but his knowing fingers between her legs, played her with expertise, eliciting sobs and please and “oh Gods.”

  “I dare you to come. Now,” Rowan said.

  Her orgasm exploded around them, forcing his, until she could no longer hold up her body, and sank down, trusting Rowan to hold them up. He remained deep inside her, holding her back tight to his front. Sweat beaded in her cleavage, bonding her to the door, and there was a wet sound when they finally managed to pull away. They stumbled to the bed where they burrowed under the covers, wrapped around each other likes snakes on the caduceus.

  They lay in a haze until Rowan whispered, “Truth or Dare, Jill?”

  “Truth.”

  “Do you love me?”

  “Yes.” Easy answer. “Truth or Dare, Rowan?”

  “Dare.”

  She smiled. “I dare you to stay with me forever and be the father of our children.”

  A short silence, then, “Yeah. I’ll take that dare.”

  Epilogue

  The insistent ring of the hotel room phone woke them up from a deep slumber. They’d finally crashed into sleep well after midnight.

  “Someone better be dead, Adam,” Rowan growled into the phone.

  Jill reclosed her eyes and burrowed into his side. This was her day off and she wanted to hide from the real world a little longer. When Rowan jerked up to sitting with his body tensing, she followed.

  “What is it?” she mouthed at him. He was staring at her, eyes wide, listening to whatever his brother was telling him over the phone at—she squinted at the clock on the nightstand—7:24 in the morning.

  Rowan didn’t respond but kept listening. Finally he hung up and took a breath before speaking. “Someone is dead. It’s Jack.”

  There was silence in the hotel room as confused thoughts slammed into Jill’s sleep–addled brain, including a moment when she wondered who the heck Jack was. “Jack, as in my husband Jack, is dead?”

  Rowan nodded.

  “How? What? How?”

  Rowan grabbed her onto his lap and started speaking. “The details are still fuzzy, but the general Program number got a call this morning. They were looking for you, and thanks to your TV interview, they knew where you were.”

  “Who was looking for me? Why?” They both were doing a crappy job at communicating thanks to the early hour and their lack of sleep.

  “The police. You’re Jack’s next of kin, so they needed to let you know he died in their custody this morning.”

  “How?” She felt like crying, but it was stupid. She should be celebrating. Ding dong, the Jackass is dead.

  “They’re going to claim it was natural causes, but Adam called in a favor and got the word that it wasn’t. They suspect poison.”

  “Poison?” she repeated both numbly and dumbly.

  He nodded. “Dropped dead right after breakfast. The whole thing is a little crazy. He hadn’t made bail yet so he was still in the county correctional facility. The other men with him claim they saw nothing suspicious. Just that he got up and ate breakfast.”

  “And then he died?”

  Another nod. “Adam thinks it was poison. Someone wanted Jack dead.”

  “Who would want Jack dead? Other than me?”

  “Well, me,” Rowan said, “but I didn’t do it. It could bring some suspicion onto The Program, but we didn’t do it, so they’ll never be able to prove anything. It was actually a lucky thing we spent the night here. It’ll be our alibi. ”

  She was silent for a while trying to process it. Jack was dead. She was a widow.

  “You know what this means, Jill?” Rowan finally asked softly. “You’re free. No divorce, no waiting period.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “But I can’t be happy it happened this way. It’s crazy. I wished him dead so many times. Every time he drove out to work, I’d pray he’d be in a car accident so I’d be free. But now that it’s happened, I feel guilty. I’m a horrible person to have wished for his death.”

  Rowan tightened his grip on her. “No. A horrible person commits the murder. You were a victim, Jill. No guilt. Just freedom now.”

  “Freedom,” she whispered. Until this second, she hadn’t realized how much pressure Jack had been exerting over her current life. While she was no longer under daily physical threat, he’d been the guillotine blade hanging over her and the life she was trying to build with Rowan. Now it was gone. Jack was dead. “I wonder who did kill him,” she said.

  Rowan shrugged. “Shep is putting me and Adam on it, because he thinks whoever killed Jack is going to be someone we want to know about.” He looked grim; then finally he grinned. “Well, I can’t ever claim my life with The Program is boring. Looks like the next adventure.” He lowered his head to warm her lips with his and, as always, passion ignited. She knew it always would, and that for her, the most exciting adventure was right next to her holding her close.

  About the Author

  By day, Lynne Silver lives the suburban soccer mom life: volunteering with the PTA, doing laundry and working. By night she enters the sensuous world of alpha males and passionate heroines.

  She calls the nation’s capital home and lives in an old fixer–upper with her husband and their two sons. When not writing romance, she reads it. Lots of it. Over and over and over again, preferably with a bag of M&Ms in hand.

  Connect with Lynne:

  On her website.

  On Twitter.

  On Facebook.

  Have you read ALL the books in the Coded for Love series? No? Well what are you waiting for?

  Heated Match

  Conquered Match

  False Match

  Desire Unmatched

  Remember to tell your friends, and the best way to do that is by writing a review.

  Want to know when Lynne Silver’s next book is coming out? Join her newsletter.

  Acknowledgements

  Much like a movie, a book is a production by a cast of many. Thank you to Laurel Wanrow and Karen Corkran for first reading book one in the series and telling me (nicely) how badly it sucked and how to make it rock. To Grace Bradley for believing in the series. Thank you to my agent, Jessica Alvarez, for all her hard work on my behalf.

  To Elizabeth Babski, graphic artist extraordinaire, who always makes me look good. To Kerri and Carlene, I don’t know what I’d do without our lunches. Go more Kray–Kray, probably. To the Washington Romance Writers for being an amazing support network.

  To my readers— especially Ledondee G — who love the whole Program crew possibly more than I do, THANK YOU!

  Thank you to my number one reader, my mom, and thank you to my father for keeping his promise to never read my books, but is still the best Lynne Silver salesman.

  And as always, much love to Team Silver, the home crew who inspire me and support me every step of the way. Love you.