He nodded. “In other words, you have no regrets.”
Ghost laughed. “Oh, I’ve got regrets. Plenty. But none of them have to do with my wife and the two amazing children she blessed me with.” The first notes of Oh Canada came from the admiral’s phone and he swiped his finger across the face then chuckled. “Well, looks like I’m needed at the realtor’s office.”
“Buying the house across from Marg Cobbs?”
He shrugged. “Was there any doubt?” He tapped a response on the phone, then shoved it back into his work dress pocket. “Kayla and I are here for ten days. If you need my help, don’t hesitate, Commander. I would have never caught the Shark on my own. I had Alpha Squad backing me. Mace, Tinman, and Fox will be at the housewarming party, along with the rest of Alpha Squad, and probably some other SEALs as well. We’ll talk then.”
Josh reached his hand out the window and the admiral shook it. “Thanks, Admiral. I appreciate your help, but right now it’s just about the notes. It’s not like he’s the Shark.”
“You’re sure about that?” the admiral asked, his brow creased.
That came out of left field. “Yes. I mean, that’s what Dixie told me.”
The admiral nodded but the crease of concern remained.
“Sir, if you’ve got something to say, then I’m listening.”
“Twelve years is a long time to stalk someone, Commander. From those notes I saw, they’re all sexual or express an intimacy. I don’t want to put a wedge between you and Miss Hammond, but she’s not telling you everything. Something is keeping this guy connected to her. You need to find out what that is.”
Ghost uttered the same concerns Josh already had. “I’ll keep that in mind, Admiral. See you at the party.”
Chapter Seven
Josh parked his truck on the street less than half a block from the Erotic Bean. The warm Thursday afternoon had brought tourists and locals to the popular area of Orange Avenue. He kept his eye on anyone holding a position, looking for the guy they’d seen on the video.
He waited at the door, propping it open for a couple in their sixties exiting Dixie’s shop with cardboard cups. The Erotic Bean had plenty of customers. Some hung out at the coffeehouse and others took their java to go. Josh inhaled the rich aroma as he stepped inside, a sure sign he wasn’t deployed, because the tasteless crap in MREs couldn’t compete.
With a visual sweep, he confirmed none of the customers matched the build of the dirtbag on the video.
“Hi, Commander,” Sabrina greeted when he approached the order counter.
“Hey, Sabrina. Where’s your boss?”
“In the back office.”
“See anyone unusual today?”
She laughed. “Plenty. We serve the public. I kept my eye on the book aisles after he left the note this morning.”
“Were you the one who found the note?”
She nodded. “Yup.”
“What did it say?” He surmised Dixie hesitated telling him because it would rouse his temper.
Sabrina swept a silky strand of red hair from her brow. With whiskey-colored eyes, she was a nice looking woman in her forties with a friendly smile.
“Explicit. Like the one he left yesterday.”
Had to be bad if Sabrina was hedging too. “And it said?”
She gnawed on her thumbnail for a second and her cheeks reddened. Sabrina leaned closer and whispered, “Um, it said, ‘I’m going to pinch your tits while I come in your hot pussy.’”
His pulse quickened and he tapped the counter with his knuckles. Yup, Dix had been right to withhold that. “She okay?”
Sabrina shrugged. “Today is better. Yesterday, I thought she was going to close the Erotic Bean and walk away from the business.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I think she feels safer when you’re around. I’m not trying to play matchmaker or anything. It’s just the truth.”
His pulse kicked up another notch. No way in hell Dixie would give him another chance. He’d burned that bridge. “I’m going to take your boss to the police department. Can anyone else close the shop besides her?”
“Sure, I can close.”
“Come on, man, stop shooting the breeze.”
Josh turned and squared a look behind him. Four men wearing NWUs, also known as Navy Working Uniforms, waited. He recognized one from NAB, his nametag and rank identified him as Ensign Taylor.
Taylor’s gaze slid to the ribbon rack on Josh’s chest and the SEAL insignia, then upward to Josh’s O-5 rank pinned to his collar. The ensign cleared his throat. “Sorry, sir.”
His other buddies quickly glanced away.
Josh returned his attention to Dixie’s second in command. “Sabrina, early this morning a guy with a black ball cap and blue cotton shirt ordered a regular coffee. You offered him change and he waved you off. Can you remember what he looked like?”
Sabrina scratched her cheek. “Blue shirt and ball cap.” Her eyes rounded. “You think that was Dixie’s stalker?”
“When he left the counter with his coffee, he headed into the book area then departed shortly afterward.”
She clutched the bib of her apron with the Erotic Bean logo on the front. He liked the creative logo Dixie had created for the store. A bean in the shape of a curvy female body laying across an open book and a steaming cup of coffee next to the right page.
“I have a bad habit of not remembering faces.” She closed her eyes. “But I think I remember who you’re talking about. There was a lull before eight this morning.”
He nodded. “Yes, he was the only one waiting.”
Sabrina dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. “Wait a second. Yeah, I do remember, because he was…oh, God, this turns my stomach. He was kinda good looking. Okay, really good looking. He had dark eyes and um,” she rubbed her cheek. “Scruff.” She squinted. “Which is normally kinda hot.”
“Think you remember him well enough to relay that to a sketch artist?”
“Oh, gosh, I don’t know. I can try.” She stood on her tiptoes. “I’ll be with you in a second,” she said to the guys behind Josh.
“Thanks, Sabrina. If you remember anything else, let me know.” He tossed a ten dollar bill on the counter. “Their coffee’s on me.”
He strolled down the hallway to Dixie’s office and tapped on the door before entering. “You ready to go, Miss Hammond?”
Dixie sat at her desk and swiped her brunette locks behind her right ear. “In a second. What happened at NCIS?”
He sat himself in her guest chair. “Admiral Austen rode shotgun. He’s been in my boots before.”
“You know him?”
“He was my predecessor at NAB. He also caught a serial killer here in San Diego. During that time, he worked with an NCIS agent named Lt. Manchester. That’s the man we saw today. Manchester gave me a contact at the PD. His name is Detective Dean. You have the note the guy left this morning?”
She glanced down at her desk and Josh spied the paper sitting in a clear bag. “I can bring the others too. I have a few more folders.”
“This is the most recent. If he wants more, we can deliver them later.” He paused. “You okay?”
“Sure,” she said. “I’ve just been deliberating the pros and cons.”
“Dix, the only con will be him, once I catch this guy and he’s tossed behind bars.”
She shook her head. “Doubt that’s going to happen. Even if we catch him red-handed, the cops have to see a credible threat.”
He pointed at the note. “That is a threat.”
“Because they come from him,” she added. Her gaze darted toward Josh. “Coming from a lover, they’d be perceived as a promise of pleasure and erotic touch. This guy could lie and say we were involved at some point.”
A dart of desire pierced his chest, along with a memory.
When he and Dix were young, they’d experimented. Their sexual play had evolved naturally. Josh remembered how hard she’d come the first time he’d tied her hands above her head and took h
is time on a southward journey to between her thighs.
His eyes had never tired of feasting on her soft skin and incredible curves. Whenever he’d appreciate her raw beauty with a heated gaze, Dixie’s nipples puckered in response. Running his tongue along her bundle of nerves had roused moans of pure pleasure from the girl he’d loved, and drove him crazy.
When he’d squeeze her nipples, the hotter and wetter she’d get. The more he turned her on, the better it was for him. Dix had loved it when he took charge of their lust. Their hunger for each other had been insatiable. The pretty girl next door owned his heart. Josh could tell himself a hundred times it was just sex and overactive hormones, but that hadn’t been the truth at all.
Dix blinked and shifted her gaze to the note. “You’re thinking about when we made out, aren’t you?”
He cleared his throat. Josh had lied to her once before and she’d known right away he was full of shit. No point testing the water again. “Maybe,” he said gruffly, then shrugged. “Fond memories.”
Dix grinned as she twirled a pen between her fingers. “Aside from being completely embarrassed that Dad may have heard me crying out your name…” She spit out a laugh. “Yeah, they’re good memories. Hard to forget.”
Josh couldn’t agree more. “I never hurt you, did I?”
Dix smiled warmly. “When we made out? Never.”
A pregnant pause bloomed in the small office as they gazed at one another.
Releasing a slow but silent exhale, he was relieved by her answer, their explosive reaction to each other easy to remember. Call him an asshole, but he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to revisit those moments of pure bliss.
Dix’s teeth scraped over her bottom lip. “I’m sure what we did pales in comparison to what you’ve experienced.”
His pulse thumped as his gaze locked onto the note, then her. Was that a flicker of insecurity in her eyes? He smiled. Yeah, he might have played with a few other women, but it wasn’t the same. “Honestly—not really.” He needed to keep his answers vague and focus on her stalker.
She cleared her throat. “Yeah, me either.”
Josh rubbed his jaw. Time to change the subject because with Dix one thing could definitely lead to another. “Once I’ve got this guy cornered, he’ll never bother you again.”
“Wish that were true. He’ll either be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony. A misdemeanor gets him one year in a county jail. A felony means five years in a state prison. And maybe he’ll end up with a lifetime registry as a sex offender, but he’ll be back on the streets.”
“Listen to me, Dix. That note tells me he’s unraveling. Lt. Manchester has seen this before. It’s progressive. If we don’t catch him now, it will get worse.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“The admiral had an idea. And I think it’s a good one.”
She tilted her head and her silky hair rolled over her right shoulder. “Tell me.”
“We’re going to become a lot closer in public. If he’s a sexual predator as we suspect, he won’t be able to resist and he’ll lash out. In his mind, you belong to him. When I step in between, he’s gonna lose control.”
Dix sat up straight. “And then what? No!” She pointed the pen at him. “You want him angry at you. Forget it.” She swiped both hands back and forth in the air as if clearing a table. “He killed the neighbor’s cat last night, Josh. I’ll consider myself lucky if I go home and find he hasn’t burned my house down.”
Josh wasn’t going to argue. This was going down, and it was going down with a controlled plan of his making. “Get your purse, we’re leaving.” He stood up, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Dixie, let’s go. Bring your keys for the shop. Sabrina’s closing for you.”
“Now wait a minute!” She vaulted to her feet. “This is my business. And my life. You don’t get to come in here like a Navy SEAL shoutin’ orders.”
A rush of pleasure streaked through his veins. Even angry, she turned him on. “I am a SEAL, and I’m not shouting. Until this fucking guy is behind bars,” he leaned across her desk until they were nearly nose to nose, “you’re going to do exactly what I say.”
Dixie’s eyes narrowed. “Since when did you become a professional in sexual predators?”
“This is a simple op, sweetheart. Don’t give this guy more credit than he deserves. Which is none. I’ve brought down bad guys on missions that make your stalker look like the jolly fat bastard who lives in the North Pole. So get your purse and your ass moving.” He swiped up the clear bag with the note off the desk top.
“And what does getting closer in public mean?”
“Leave that to me.”
Dix turned and bent over to retrieve her purse. The tight, navy blue mini she wore defined her very sweet ass. With her purse hung over her forearm, Dixie glared at him as she rounded the desk and headed for the door.
While Dix relayed her closing duties to Sabrina, Josh toured the coffee shop, checking behind the potted palms used to separate the seating areas. No one hid behind a book or slouched in a corner. He walked a loop around the water fountain located in the middle of the shop. No psychopaths. Least, nobody wearing a t-shirt with I’m crazy stamped on the front.
After he and Dix left the shop, he stopped on the sidewalk. “You know, you’re the only woman who’s ever gotten under my skin, and I just realized that now.”
She tipped her head back and gave him a cocky smirk.
Time to get this show on the road.
Before she knew what was happening, he slung his arm around her waist, tugged her to his chest and came down on her mouth with a punishing kiss.
But it backfired.
Big time.
At the touch of her soft lips, his temper receded and his blood heated. His heart raced when Dixie’s hands slid around his hips and gripped his ass exactly like she used to when they were butt-naked and ready to devour each other. A sequence of eruptions turned the moment into a firestorm. He’d meant for the kiss to be brief, but it kept getting deeper, wetter and hotter.
Slowly, very slowly, he retreated, but not by much. No woman had ever kissed him like Dixie. That hadn’t changed. For an instant, Josh glimpsed the white-hot heat simmering in her eyes, then shock followed. And if he wasn’t mistaken, embarrassment.
Dixie quickly stepped out of his grasp and straightened her shoulders.
In typical Miss Hammond fashion, she said, “Unless you want to do me up against the front window of my business, point the way to your truck.”
“I don’t carry sleeping bags around with me anymore, but we can make do.” He received another fierce glare and chuckled, then swept his arm around her shoulders. “This way, Miss Hammond.”
****
Dixie and Josh waited for Det. Dean in a small room at the Coronado Police Department. A large monitor, probably used for debriefs, was mounted in the middle of the front wall. The sizeable conference table left little room to walk.
She’d been in twelve different police stations to report her stalker and each one looked similar.
The door opened and a man in his fifties, wearing a beige suit and red necktie, swept into the room with a file folder gripped in his right hand.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting, folks.”
She and Josh both stood and shook his hand.
“Commander Josh Hunter and Dixie Hammond,” the detective said, confirming their identities.
“Yes, and you’re Detective Dean,” Josh answered while sitting down.
The detective’s bald head shone under the tube lighting fixed to the T-bar ceiling. Dix noticed his face wasn’t carved with deep creases police work often caused.
She took a seat beside Josh. “Thank you for seeing us.”
Det. Dean retrieved a ballpoint pen from his pocket. From the folder, he slid a pad of blank, lined paper onto the tabletop. Dixie assumed the other sheets in the file came from NCIS.
The detective dropped the pen and leaned back
in his chair. “I spoke with Lt. Manchester of NCIS earlier this afternoon. Since then, I did some background work.” His light-colored brows arched. “Twelve states in twelve years, and you’ve lodged a report in each one.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
Dean’s attention strayed to Josh. “And you’re here for moral support.”
Josh’s aura took up a lot of space in a room, but it was his uniform that affected Dixie. With his broad shoulders and extremely handsome features, she had to admit he was hot as hell. In fact, far sexier now than at eighteen. It was either the uniform or the smouldering kiss he’d planted on her lips a while ago that awakened her to the fact that she’d been dead inside for fifteen years.
“Dixie has been running for far too long. It stops now.” Josh slid the latest note across the table. “This is today’s delivery. She has four folders filled with notes. One of us is going to catch him. I can tell you now, if it’s me, he won’t be arriving at the police station in one piece.”
The detective’s expression looked a little apprehensive for a second and then he nodded. “I worked here when NCIS and the admiral from NAB caught the Blood Shark. I assume you know Manchester and Thane Austen.”
Josh nodded.
“I’m going to give you the police party line and that is, let us handle this. But since we’re looking at over a decade of stalking, I doubt you put much faith in law enforcement at this point. We’ll advise the department that’s responsible for Old Town district where Miss Hammond lives as well.”
“The more the merrier,” Josh stated, but his tone was all business.
“Miss Hammond, I have a lot of questions to ask. You’ve heard them before, but all it takes is a new lead or one mistake by the stalker to identify him.” He leaned forward and picked up the pen. “I can assure you, we will investigate this.” He slid the bag across the table and glanced at the note. “Lt. Manchester said there is a definite shift in the tone of the notes since you’ve come to San Diego.”
Dixie sat comfortably in the faux leather office chair with her hands forked and resting on the table. Dean seemed like a reasonable cop to her. “Yes, but only recently.”
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