Hinekiri

A shriek, loud enough to wake the sleeping citizens of Sloan, echoed through his bedroom.

Richard let out a shout of his own, leaping upright to clutch at the bed sheets, his heart pounding with alarm. What the hell?

Almost immediately, the thunder of running feet sounded in the passage. The bedroom light flicked on, dazzling with its brightness. Richard blinked. He blinked again, his eyes widening in shock. Yep, he was definitely in bed with a woman.

A naked woman, if her bare shoulders were any indication. He hadn’t been asleep yet so he wasn’t dreaming. This was real all right.

A naked woman.

Richard shook his head in bemusement.

“Dad. What are you doing here?”

Richard glanced at his son Luke who was standing in the doorway. “I live here.” It was his house. He didn’t need to make excuses. “More to the point, what are you doing?” His gaze went from Luke to the half-naked woman his son clutched before he turned to check out the woman sitting in bed with him. One of her eyes closed in a wink.

Suggestive.

Saucy.

His cock rose to even greater prominence and he swallowed, glad of the covers over his lap. The woman had beautiful eyes. They were violet and glowed with humor. The tiny fan of lines at the corners of her eyes confirmed she was a person who laughed a lot and enjoyed life. Blonde curls tumbled down her back. Her shoulders were on the scrawny side, but her bubbly personality shined through. Here was a woman who embraced life with all the curves involved. He liked that. The tenseness he’d felt in his gut and chest ever since he’d left the South Island lifted a fraction.

Richard turned his gaze to his son and the younger woman. Luke had the woman in his arms and there was a lot of intense whispering going on. Curiosity followed quickly on the heels of astonishment. He glanced across at Violet Eyes sitting beside him.

“Well hello, sailor.” The older woman clutched the pale blue sheet to her chest and batted her eyelashes at him, seemingly unperturbed by her nakedness.

“Poke your hands in your ears,” the younger woman snapped, pointing a glittering silver weapon directly at him. It wasn’t like any gun he’d seen before.

Richard’s breath caught halfway up his throat. His police-issue gun was locked away in the cupboard just as safety regulations required. Fat lot of use it was going to do him there.

“Janaya,” the woman sitting beside him said in a sharp voice.

Luke did some more heavy-duty whispering and the woman lowered the weapon. Thankfully. It looked as though it could inflict a bit of damage. His son drew the young woman close to his naked body then propelled her down the passage without looking back. Richard watched the whole procedure with interest since his son had left his door open. He had a great view from his bed if he leaned forward just a fraction. Luke’s bedroom door opened, closed and opened again. A small white dog with black spots trotted out, growling under its breath. The door slammed shut again and the dog let out a sharp yap.

Richard shook his head. Again. Life sure had become interesting around here. He turned back to check out the woman sitting in bed with him.

“Do you have a name, sailor?” The woman’s voice was low and husky and held the same humor as her eyes.

“Yeah.”

“You going to tell me what it is?” The smile turned toothy, and one eye closed in another of her flirtatious winks.

Richard found himself grinning, entirely comfortable with the current arrangement. “Richard. Richard Morgan.” In bed with a gorgeous stranger. Who’d have thought?

The woman stretched out her right hand. “Hinekiri.Jones. Pleased to meet you.”

“Hinekiri.” Richard gripped her slender fingers lightly. Smooth skin. Short nails. Competent hands. Like a sudden unexpected flash of blue lightning, it came to him that he’d like to do more than touch her hand. The thought made his breath stall and his cock did a whole flagpole routine-mostly up-to his chagrin. He tossed the idea round his mind and didn’t reject it out of hand. She was definitely an original and not a whit like Felicity. “The woman with Luke.?”

“My niece Janaya.” Hinekiri’s brows arched, a small smile playing around her pink lips. “I think they like each other. Your son is good for her.”

Richard stared at her lips, the sensuous curves and the beautiful natural pink color before a sharp bark jolted him to common sense. He was still holding her hand while his mind was galloping light years ahead. Richard shook his head sharply in an attempt to shake his good sense loose. With regret, he let go of her hand.

The dog trotted into the room, continuing with its incessant growling and a bark now and then for punctuation. Richard wondered if it would ever shut up and was about to protest but the woman beat him to it.

“Killer, be quiet. Go to sleep,” she ordered in a stern voice. She made a shooing motion with her hands.

The dog growled at the back of its throat and leapt onto the bed between them. It rubbed its glossy head against Hinekiri’s arm.

Hinekiri frowned. “No you’re not having any food. You’ll be sick.”

The dog sent a hopeful look in Richard’s direction and he could have sworn if it could speak, the dog would have asked him for food.

“Killer,” Hinekiri said in clear warning.

Sighing loudly, the dog jumped off the bed and trotted out of sight.

“Well,” Hinekiri said. “Alone at last.”

Richard gulped. That had sounded a little predatory. Her gaze held interest as it crawled across his chest. Hell, she licked her lips as though she wanted to bite. “I.um.yeah.” Dammit, he was stuttering. The last time he’d stuttered was when he’d asked Felicity to marry him. The thought gave him pause and made him consider Hinekiri a little more closely. Strange. Most women he knew wouldn’t have stopped with the first scream. They would have kept screaming. In fact, he was still sitting in the same bed. Yep, his head would still be ringing if he found himself in bed with any of the women he knew.

“I guess I’d better go and sleep in the other bedroom,” he said, starting to slide out of his bed even as he said the words.

The woman nodded. “I suppose that would be best.” A mischievous expression flitted across her face. “It wouldn’t do to kiss on the first date.”

Kiss. Richard halted halfway from the bed. He clamped his lips together and stared at her twinkling eyes in shock. Kissing. His gaze drifted to her pink mouth and he imagined kissing her, tasting her lips. Man, he hadn’t kissed a woman for a while. It would be like high school all over again. Sweaty hands. Bumping noses. Unruly erections.

He shuddered and stood abruptly, his breath easing out with a hiss.

“Oh nice camouflage, sailor.”

Holy shit. He was standing in front of her wearing his camouflage-patterned boxers and black socks. And he had a bloody hard-on.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Hinekiri chirped. “If it would make you feel better I could show you mine.”

“Ah, no. It’s okay.” But his gaze shot to the spot where her fingers clutched at the pale blue sheet. He couldn’t see a thing. Not a hint of cleavage or anything remotely feminine or interesting. But that didn’t stop him wondering. He had a good imagination.

“Too bad. Maybe later?” And Hinekiri winked at him. Again.

No way was he going to reply to that one. The woman had a quick tongue. It made Richard speculate exactly what else she could do with that tongue and smart-ass mouth of

hers. He shuddered, sensing he wasn’t going to win a war of quips with Hinekiri and it was best he leave with his masculine pride intact.

“Good night,” he murmured, beating a quick retreat before she could comment on his camouflage again or anything else it failed to cover.