Maliki (Guardian Defenders Book 2)

by Kris Michaels

  His head jerked up. "Why? I don't need any backup. We don't even know if we have a link. It could be a series of unfortunate events and a single murder case." He glanced at her and shrugged as if in apology for the comment. She drew a deep breath and sighed because the bottom line was he was right. "Well that makes sense. Why didn't you say that?" He laughed and shifted, standing instead of leaning on the counter.

  "Can you do that?" He lifted an eyebrow and listened. "No, we are starting with the most recent case and working backward, hoping memories will be sharper." He nodded. "I can do that. No, no, I agree. Uh huh. Yeah, sure, I've been there." He paused and cleared his throat. "Thanks. What was that? Oh? How are you going to do that?"

  He laughed and shook his head. "I have no doubt. Yeah, I'll keep my ass down. What? You and your chickens. Yeah, fuck you, Henrietta." His laughter rumbled around the kitchen as he hung up the phone.

  She grabbed her wine and his and handed it to him as she left the kitchen and made her way to the living room where she sat down on the couch. He took a seat next to her.

  "So?"

  "So, my contact is going to run it up the flagpole. He said not making waves might not be an option. If Guardian assumes responsibility for both of those cases and the forensic autopsies, the players, if any, are going to know we are onto them."

  "He thinks you need backup?" She ran her finger around the top of the wine glass, not sure if she was offended or not. She was his damn backup.

  "I'm not a cop. I've had some training in outlying areas that tend to align with law enforcement efforts, but I’m a doctor. If this case starts to link up, he wants someone in the area who can take charge of the investigation for Guardian. Until we uncover something, though, we are on our own."

  "Jim is going to know something is going on as soon as they take the bodies."

  Maliki nodded. "You tossed me a snowball. I got it rolling."

  "And a potential avalanche of shit is heading down the hill."

  "Or, we take the bodies, find nothing, and life goes back to normal." Maliki set his wine down on the table.

  "What else did he say?"

  "That he was going to contact the person in charge of Cyber and push the backgrounds up the queue."

  "Does he have that type of power?"

  He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "He has… connections. If anyone can get it done, it’s him."

  "I want to say I'm sorry for involving you, but I'm not. If this turns into be me being paranoid and stupid, I'll feel like an ass."

  He shrugged. "Gives me something to do."

  "I thought you were supposed to be visiting your parents."

  "I did that. My father isn't well. My mom is coping. I've promised my mother I'd try to clear the air with my old man." He closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch. "He's had a stroke and has dementia."

  Damn, if her dad was sick, all the horses in the world couldn't pull her away from his side. She wasn't sure what problems he and his father had, but she hoped they could work it out. "I'm so sorry." He looked so damn tired resting there with his eyes closed. "Are you sure you need to get involved in this investigation? I could do the interviews if you need to be with your parents."

  He opened one eye and then closed it. "According to my mother, my father is most lucid in the mornings. I'll spend mornings with them, and we can do the interviews in the afternoon. I'll need something to keep me out of my head."

  "There aren't that many people to talk to in any of the cases. It's almost like they were picked because there wasn't much connection to family." She sighed at the lack of information the interviews were going to provide.

  "That leaves Shauna out. She has parents in the area."

  "Shauna is the anomaly all the way around. As far as we know, she wasn't missing. She was shot, not found alone in her vehicle in the middle of the county."

  "Which are similarities the others share." Mal leaned forward. "What's the likelihood that three women would drive to isolated locations and die?"

  She leaned forward, too. "Exactly what I've been asking for the past year. See, the lack of connection doesn't take away from the way they died. They weren't suicides. No notes, no history of depression, they turned up in the county, in their cars, dead."

  "Cars."

  "Yep."

  "Why their cars? Were they processed for trace and fingerprints?"

  "Yep, well fingerprints. They were clean except for the owner's prints and there were very few of those."

  "Someone could have sanitized the vehicle?"

  "Absolutely."

  "And the sheriff didn't think that was unusual?"

  "Not when the ME ruled the first to be an overdose and the second to be natural causes."

  He tapped his fingertips together. "What is our first move?"

  She stared at him for a moment. She had her chance. "I'll get Shauna's phone tomorrow after we do some interviews. We'll start with victim number three, the alcohol poisoning. I can take the afternoon off as long as I'm on call tomorrow night. I can tell them I have an appointment."

  He nodded. "It's a start. Now for the hard questions."

  She angled her head. "Fire away."

  "Am I staying or leaving?"

  She chuckled and set her wine glass down. "I don't know about you, Doctor, but I'll admit I'm exhausted. You wore me out last night. How about we grab our service weapons, hit the mattress, grab some shut-eye and maybe experiment with morning sex."

  She watched as he stood and stretched. God, he was perfection. He extended his hand for her. "Or we could exhaust ourselves further, sleep well and then experiment with morning sex."

  She took his hand and teased, "Insatiable."

  "Not true. I want to enjoy the woman I'm with, for the time I'm with her." He cradled her against his chest and lowered his lips to hers.

  She whispered, "Nothing wrong with that."

  Chapter 10

  The tickle of Maliki's beard on her shoulder and the springy feel of his chest hair at her back woke Poet from a deep, relaxed sleep. She pushed back into him and felt his chest rumble as his lips nipped the top of her shoulder. She gasped as his hand slid down her waist over her stomach and split her sex. She rocked her hips slowly between his hardening shaft and those fingers that knew exactly how to massage her sex to crank her up to maximum bliss in minimum time.

  "Lift your leg." His words caressed her skin as he continued his onslaught of feather light kisses and teasing nips.

  She moved her top leg, tucking her knee up toward her chest. She felt his heat move away from her back for a moment. The sound of foil crinkling made her smile. He was back moments later and reignited her with those sensuous little kisses. His beard trailed against her sensitive skin. A shiver of desire reverberated through her nerve endings as he centered under her and slid in.

  Maliki's hips moved in a steady, slow tempo. She sank into the sensations of the man behind and inside of her. The fast pace of last night's frenzied sex was nowhere to be found. She rocked her hips back and forward, matching his unhurried pace that built a low, hot need deep inside her. She moaned and reached behind her to urge him to go faster.

  "Wait, be patient." His whispered command frustrated and enticed her in the same measure. His rhythm didn't deviate even though her need grew. She dug her fingernails into his skin, which only earned her a low rumble of laughter and a patient, "Not yet."

  She pushed back into him. "Now." She wasn't afraid to ask for what she needed.

  "Not now. Soon." He applied a bit more pressure against her sex with his fingers, but the easy back and forth of his hips as he entered and withdrew never deviated.

  "Ahhh... stop teasing." She turned her head, and he lifted long enough to kiss her. In the awkward position the kiss was hot, messy, and indescribably sensual. She lifted her hand from his hip and grabbed the back of his neck, holding him close when he would have moved. She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Now. Now, please."

  Hi
s hips crashed forward and his fingers were firm against that tight nub. She held him, and their stares collided. The smoldering need in his eyes had to be echoed in hers. He was arresting, riveting and entrancing her, compelling her with a desire she couldn't deny. The need his body had built between them was every bit as real as the air they shared. The swell of sensation tightened deep inside her and formed a ridge, one she crested moments before he did.

  She closed her eyes and relaxed back against him, their ragged breathing the only sounds in the small bedroom. Her eyes flicked open, and she glanced at the clock. 5:00 a.m. Damn, time to get up and get ready for work. Soon. Instead, she sighed, "That was a very good way to wake up."

  He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Very good."

  "I should shower and get ready for work." But she didn't move. Not a muscle.

  "I should leave before the building starts to wake up." She made some kind of noncommittal noise and closed her eyes.

  His chest rumbled under her, "Neither of us is moving."

  She stretched and rolled over to face him. She ran her fingers through his beard. "I'm usually not a lazy person. Give me a kiss to hold me until tonight." She couldn't resist tugging on his facial hair until he lowered her lips to his. They shared a sweet kiss, lips pressed together.

  "Do we have a date tonight?" His smile was brilliant, and his eyes flashed.

  "Standing date for every night you are in the local area." She kissed him again and sat up. He moved his hand under her hair and rubbed her back. "Damn… that feels good."

  "Every night? Not going to get my money's worth from that hotel room, am I?"

  She swiveled and looked at him. "Meh… plausible deniability. I have a special fund if you need help with the bills."

  He barked a surprised laugh. "Ah, that would be a no. I have one of those special funds, too, and Guardian pays very well." He sat up beside her and yawned. "Where do you want to meet and when?"

  She blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Ummm..." She racked her brain for a place she could leave the SUV that wouldn't compromise her story at work. "I need coffee."

  "Your wish is my command." He laughed and stood up.

  Her eyes followed him as he grabbed his jeans. "Really? Where have you been the last five years of my life?" She watched his muscles flex and move as he stepped into the denim.

  He zipped his jeans but didn't button them. He lazily scratched his chest hair and yawned, "That's classified."

  She snorted and tossed a pillow at him. He caught it and tossed it back down on the bed. "Damn woman, no violence before six in the morning. It's in the manual." He sauntered down the hall.

  She leaned forward to look as far down the hallway as she could. "What manual?"

  "The great sex with an almost stranger manual." His words floated back from somewhere down the hall.

  She flopped back in the bed and blinked at the ceiling. Well, fuck. That put the last forty-eight hours or so into perspective.

  Maliki stepped from his SUV and glared hard at the sheriff's patrol vehicle parked in front of his parents’ house. The bastard. The maid met him at the door. "Dr. Blue. Your father is in his quarters. Your mother is in a meeting in the sunroom."

  He nodded to the woman and headed to the back of the house and the sunroom.

  He heard his mother's voice, sharp and filled with an authority he'd never heard before. "I find your suggestions offensive, Sheriff. My son is––" she caught sight of him as he entered the sunroom, the sheriff's back to him "—here. Maliki, do you know Sheriff Watson?"

  Watson spun, his eyes widened and then narrowed.

  "Mother. I've made the sheriff's acquaintance. I believe we have a common friend, Virginia's Attorney General." He sauntered in the door, unbuttoned his long sleeved shirt back behind his new badge, and showed the butt end of his .45.

  "Do you have a permit to carry a concealed weapon?" James Watson lowered his hand to his weapon.

  "The authority and proper permits." He slowly reached into his pocket and extracted the laminated card and extended it to the sheriff.

  "I thought Guardian didn't have business in the area. Why are you armed?" Watson reached for the permit.

  Mal snorted. "I believe it's obvious."

  The sheriff jabbed the permit back at him. "Spell it out for me."

  "You, Sheriff Watson. Your hostility and paranoia have put this county on Guardian's radar."

  "Paranoia. I'll second that." His mother sat down in a rattan, wing-backed, chair and crossed her legs. "Sheriff Watson had the utter gall to suggest you were forcing your presence on us. I explained you were here at our request."

  "I'd still like to talk to your husband."

  "As I told you, my husband is ill and not to be disturbed."

  "Ma'am, I feel it’s necessary to check on him, for his own safety." The sheriff raked his hateful gaze up and down Maliki as he spoke.

  "Sheriff, if you have any further questions or concerns, you can contact my lawyers. My husband is not receiving any visitors other than family."

  "I could come back with a warrant."

  "You could, and I can contact every one of my neighbors and explain how you harassed us. The Boswell name still holds weight in this county.” She smiled sweetly. "If you have any future business with us, conduct it through my lawyers. Lucinda will give you their card on your way out." She nodded to the woman who'd let him in moments ago. The woman curtsied and spun on her heel, probably to gather the card before the sheriff hit the front door.

  As Watson strode to the door, Maliki caught his arm and whispered, "A word of advice, Sheriff. Stay away from me, stay away from my family, and stay away from anyone I have contact with. If you don't, I will call down the full focus of Guardian on this county. I'll find those secrets you're trying so desperately to hide. Don't ruin my vacation. I don’t consider you worth the manpower my organization will expend to tear this county into shreds, but believe me, if you push one more time, I'll call them in."

  A tick near Watson's eyes jumped and his jaw locked shut. Oh, the bastard was pissed. He and his mother had backed him into a corner. He had Guardian on his side, and she had a brick wall of impressive legal minds on hers.

  Watson jerked his arm from his grip and stomped away.

  "Well, that was particularly unpleasant." His mother sighed and dropped back further into her chair.

  "How long was he here before I arrived?"

  "Not long. I offered coffee, and we made small talk before he started those horrible innuendos."

  Maliki took a seat across from her. "About?"

  His mother waved her hand. "Utter nonsense. He suggested your father assumed the responsibility of that incident because he was protecting you. I disabused him of that notion immediately."

  "What else?"

  "He intimated you could have been the one to kill Clarissa."

  "Excuse me?" His mouth dropped open. What the ever-loving fuck?

  She nodded. "That man is insane."

  "Mom, when did Clarissa die?"

  "Oh, dear, that was in July or August of the year you left."

  He shook his head. "I can account for every day from June 3rd of that year and for two years after. I was in technical training in the Air Force."

  She leaned forward; a line of concern formed on her brow. "You do not have to justify yourself to me, but if that… dullard is going to make accusations, I wanted you to be aware. I'll also contact my lawyers. That man needs to behave."

  "Did he actually say he suspected me of being involved?"

  "No, he said it was curious how you disappeared, leaving your fiancée so suddenly, and then she was dead. The unadulterated gall of the man."

  "Clarissa left me, as everyone is well aware. Her rather public display when she hurled my ring back at me was witnessed by more than one person. I'm not worried about my reputation, but I'll let my employers know what he's doing now. I'm sure they'll handle anything that comes my way." The sheriff had just boosted his ass
from paranoid hick to deranged and suspicious. What the hell? He tapped his boot against the beautifully crafted marquetry floors. A wave of dread hit him. "Mother, exactly what type of security do you have on the estate?"

  "Oh, well at night, we employ a service. They do periodic checks. The night nurse watches your father. During the day, we have Martin. He maintains the gate, signs for deliveries and checks the fencing."

  "Would it be all right with you if I were to upgrade your security, at least until we know what the hell is going on?"

  She snapped her head back and brought her hand to her chest. "Do you think your father and I are in danger?"

  "No, but it would allow me to rest easier if we manned the front gate and perhaps put cameras on the perimeter of the estate. I happen to know some of the best security contractors in the world. All it would take is one phone call."

  His mother stared at him for a while before she nodded. "I believe it would allow me to rest easier, too. Your father isn't mobile anymore, and we have a host of people entering and exiting the grounds. Yes. Yes, indeed. Thank you so much for taking this on for me, for us."

  He leaned forward and took her hand. "I don't know what prompted that scene, but I do know I would never let anything happen to you or… him, if I could prevent it. I don't want you to be afraid in your own home, but with the wealth and opulence in this house, having the extra security isn't a bad thing."

  "Opulence?" His mother blinked in surprise. "Dear, this house is minimalistic compared to the others in the area."

  Maliki chuckled. "It's all about perspective, isn't it? Is he having a good day?"

  She smiled. "He is, although it was a bit too windy this morning, so we didn't venture outside. He's in his rooms. Will you see him?"

  Maliki stood and took a deep breath. "That's why I'm here. I'm trying."