As promised, today we have a hot little bonus excerpt from Then You Hide, the fifth book in Roxanne St. Claire’s Bullet Catchers Series (Pocket Star, 24 June 2008). You can find the first excerpt here, the second here, and the third here.

When Bullet Catcher Wade Cordell is offered a cushy assignment to track down a woman on vacation in the Caribbean and persuade her to meet her birth mother, the secret ops sharpshooter decides it’s the perfect antidote to his stressful job. Except spirited and sassy Vanessa Porter isn’t on vacation, she’s on a hunt for a friend who has disappeared. Wade’s news doesn’t faze a woman who swims with the sharks on Wall Street — Vanessa knows she’s adopted and has no intention of meeting or helping the woman who gave her up in a black market scheme. But as it becomes clear that her missing friend is deep in hiding and deeper in trouble, Vanessa strikes a shaky bargain with the sexy bodyguard who’s an expert at finding people who don’t want to be found. How high a price will she have to pay the Bullet Catcher willing to put his life on the line for her? Will she sacrifice her pride . . . her heart . . . even her life?

BONUS: For Your Ears Only

She was soft, sweet, sexy and he knew she’d be smart enough not to question the kiss.

But was she good enough to pull this off, or would Wade have to elicit genuine moans of ecstasy from her? He hadn’t taken the time to examine the listening device planted in the shelves, but it looked professional, and even a cheapo from a spy gear shop could pick up a whimper, whisper, or a gasp of pure delight from three hundred feet away.

Which was exactly what he wanted their audience to hear.

He opened his mouth and added the tip of his tongue to the kiss. She responded with plenty of enthusiasm, still no sound.
How far would he have to take her to get some noise?

He cupped the backside that he’d been admiring a few minutes ago, the curves as firm and smooth as he’d imagined. That earned him the first little moan from her throat. He delved his tongue deeper, taking one second to appreciate the taste of her, the fullness of her lips, and the sharp, slick line of her teeth as he took a swipe over them.

He pulled away for some silent eye-to-eye communication.

But hers were closed. And her lips parted with a shudder. He leaned back to steal a glimpse at the slope of her breasts, her skin pink with heat and the nipples peaking wickedly. Her hips rocked in an instinctive sway, and inches away from her crotch, the pressure of a hard-on strained his briefs with that very same instinct.
Nobody was acting.

He kissed her again, sliding his palms up her bare back, aware that she’d unclasped her hands from his neck and was working her grip over his shoulders and biceps.
Finally, he got the kind of moan he needed: low, long and rich with a non-verbal approval of his physique, and, best of all, loud enough to reach the mike.

She stopped the mouth-to-mouth this time, but only to nibble and kiss the shoulder she kneaded, tilting her head to give him access to her neck again. He suckled and smelled the skin, kissed her collarbone and the translucent flesh below it. She tasted like paradise. Like salt and sun and palm trees she’d driven under all day, all mixed with the scent of excitement and woman.

“That’s nice,” he murmured, turning his face toward the mike a few feet away.

She responded with a breathy “Yes,” but without enough volume. He pointed in the direction of the mike, and mouthed, “Louder.”

She nodded, her eyes glinting with the shared secret, her body quivering under his hands. “Yes,” she repeated, leaning toward the shelves, her voice was still little more than air, but not the least bit fake-sounding. “That’s nice.”

“How ’bout this?” He stroked her back as if it were as alluring and sexy as her front, urging her into the moment for the benefit of their act. He kept the touch innocent enough, his thumbs at the sides of her breasts, definitely not crossing the line. “You like that, baby?”

Her skin was creamy and warm and tight over defined but feminine muscles, shooting a sexual shockwave through him.

“I do,” she said, giving it a note of believable desperation with an audible catch in her voice. “She leaned into his touch, inviting more. “I really like that.”

They shared a quick look, his brow angled with a question that was answered by a nod, another groan, and a little come on hand motion that said, “Keep it going.”

He stepped closer into the space between her legs, making contact. She shivered, rocked forward, and let out a whimper of surprise and pleasure.
A very genuine whimper.

“And that?” he asked.

“Oooh, yes. That.” She added a sexy laugh and lifted her hips to ride the length of him with the flimsy little of patch of nothing she wore as underwear. “Definitely that.”

The line between real and fake was disappearing as fast as his control, blood draining from his brain, where he needed it and down to his cock, making him achy and stiff. She arched toward him, her hair falling over her face and down to her breasts, grazing her nipples the way he wanted to.
His mouth watered. His chest tightened. His entire lower half constricted into a full-blown erection.

He put his lips against her ear. “More?” If that question got picked up by a supersensitive device, it wouldn’t sound out of place, but he had to know how far he could take this cover.

She drew back, gave him a blistering gaze, and touched his lower lip with her fingertips.

“Oh, yeah. More,” she said, her voice just forced enough for him to know it had to be for effect. “I want this.” She dipped her fingertip into his mouth and curled around his tongue. “And this.” She trailed the wet tip over his chin, down his throat and over his chest, traveling over one ab muscle after another, a sneaky smile pulling at her lips as her finger take its joyride.

She stopped less than an inch from the tip of the hard-on bursting through the waistband of his boxer briefs.

She wet her lips. “And, oh, honey, I really want this.”

He clenched his jaw and braced for the mind-blowing impact of one slender female finger, but she didn’t touch him. Instinctively, he tightened his hold on her ribs, squeezing enough for soft flesh of her breasts to plaster against his wrists.

It hurt so bad not to touch her, he gave a loud groan of frustration.

“Good one,” she mouthed.

Did she really think he was faking? She closed her eyes and released a long, sensuous sigh, her breath warming his lips and drawing him closer until her breasts were fully pressed against his chest.

She sucked in a deep, noisy breath.

Heat and arousal hammered through him, kicking his pulse into double time, stealing another bona fide rumble of desire from his chest.

She released another sex-kitten moan, totally and maddeningly in control. He’d been worried she couldn’t fake it? She was giving an Oscar-worthy performance and he…was fighting for every last ounce of command over his hormones.

He channeled the burn into a long, wet kiss, slamming his hands on the counter to add credence to the sound track and give him something safe to grab.

She opened her mouth and vacuumed up his lower lip, sucking with enough force to punch a sound needle to the red, along with every yearning cell in his body.

Sweat stung his skin, and heat rolled over him as his balls tightened and throbbed.

“Vanessa.” He yanked her into him, shocking them both with a roll of his hips. “You’re killin’ me, honey.”

She tensed her legs around his thighs. “That’s the idea, isn’t it?”

With a sultry laugh, she flattened her hands on his stomach, stroking his skin and caressing his muscles. Her fingers dipped low again, the tip of her thumbs so close to his engorged head, he could swear he felt her nails graze the moist droplet there.

He leaned back, hoping she could read his warning look.

“Don’t stop now,” she replied, far too loud for it to be anything but an act as she pulled him right back for a searing, brutal kiss.

“You go one more inch…” he growled into her mouth, only half caring if he chose the perfect words to get his point across and fool anybody listening. “And I’m not responsible for what happens next.”

“Oh, yeah?” Under his lips, he could feel her smile just as her fingers stroked his slickened head, punching the breath out of him. “So what happens next?”

“We move to…” A safer place. He lifted her from the vanity, forcing her to wrap her legs and arms around him to hang on. “Bed.”