by Freya Barker
And already I’m fucking up. I should have been at the office an hour ago, yet I’m standing here not wanting to let go of her. I’m about to tell her I have to go, when she steps back and I reluctantly let go, but she hangs onto my hand. “I’m going to have a shower,” she says again, slipping her fingers between mine. “Join me?”
My feet are already moving, picking up speed. Her soft giggle follows behind me as any thoughts about the office, about the case—about anything not related to getting my hands on a wet, naked Kerry—are washed out by the deafening, Hell yes! in my head. I don’t slow down until I pull her into the small bathroom, close the door, and have the water running. Only then do I release her hand and turn to face her.
The first thing I notice is the hint of panic in her eyes. Fuck me, if she changes her mind now, it’s going to kill me. Still, I have to ask. “Not too late to call a halt.” In the harsh light of the bathroom, the bruises and red swelling around her stitches stand out in stark contrast. Knowing what she narrowly walked away from two nights ago, I wouldn’t be surprised to find more of the same on different parts of her body. She drops her head down, and I reach over to lift her chin. “Hey, I mean it. You want me out of here, I’m walking.” I try to ignore my raging hard-on pressing against the fly of my jeans. “I might be walking funny for a while, but I—” My words are cut short when I suddenly see her shoulders start shaking, and when she lifts her eyes, they’re dancing with humor. With a firm, steady hand, she cups my painfully hard package, drawing a sharp hiss from me. “Christ, woman.”
“Thought about it,” she teases. “But only for a minute. It’s been a while...I thought...” She shakes her head. “Never mind. The truth is, I want it. I want this. Even if I may have forgotten what to do with it.” The small, self-deprecating smile on her mouth gets to me.
“Gypsy,” I assure her, my voice coarse with need. “From where I’m standing, your memory is right on the money.”
She chuckles at that, and with her mouth still smiling, I tag her behind the neck and pull those luscious lips to mine. My tongue slips between to taste her deep, and my hands find their way to the edge of her top. She groans when I pull back to whip the ratty old thing off her before slamming my mouth back on hers. In seconds, I have her divested of the matching ugly pajama pants and slide my hands over all that glorious skin I now have full access to.
My eyes catch our reflection over her shoulder, in the bathroom mirror, and my breath hitches in my throat. The curve of her back to the spectacular swell of her ass is beautiful. With skin much paler than mine and the soft padding all over, she is the epitome of femininity.
Gently, I push her back by the shoulders. “Let me see all of you,” I mumble against her lips. She opens her eyes and despite a slight hesitation, there is determination in the way she looks at me. Slowly, she takes a single step back and rests her hands behind her on the counter. The pose both highly seductive and oddly innocent.
I take in all of her: her long neck and strong shoulders, her chest with prominent collarbones, and a light sprinkling of freckles, my fingers tracing the path my eyes take. My hands curve the weight of her full, sloping breasts, richly veined, and my thumbs brush over nipples colored a pale pink. The soft, round curve of her belly feels like silk under my touch, and the silvery stretch marks seem to lead down to the patch of tight, dark blonde curls at the apex of her thighs.
I can hear her shallow breaths and smell her arousal as my fingers play in those damp curls.
“Damn, Kerry. Just...damn,” I moan, suddenly ravenous. Moving both hands to her waist, I lift her on the edge of the sink and immediately drop to my knees, hoisting her legs up over my shoulders.
The first taste of her sears itself into my brain permanently.
Groaning deeply, I close my mouth over her core, trying to still the instant craving. She whimpers and clenches the muscles in her thighs against my head. With long strokes of my tongue and deep suction of my lips, I feed my hunger for her, digesting every quiver of her muscles and sound she expels. Somewhere along the line, her hands have found their way to my head, tangling and tugging at the strands. I glance up to see her eyes staring down at me, her mouth slack and her nostrils flaring. Holding her gaze, I graze my teeth lightly over her clit, and with a low, shuddering keen, she finds her climax, holding me trapped between her legs. Jesus, she’s magnificent.
“Perfect,” I whisper with my mouth pressed against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, as I allow her to come down gently from her high.
“Perfect,” she echoes, finally releasing her hold on me.
I get up from the floor, cup her flushed face in my hands, and lower my mouth to hers, letting her taste herself on me. Her hands start up where they left off earlier, picking at the buttons on my fly. Mine quickly reach down to cover hers. “Get in the shower, babe,” I instruct her, afraid that her ministrations so close to my cock will have me go off like a short-fused fireworks display on the Fourth of July.
I help her down from the counter and move aside the shower curtain so she can step in. I fish a condom from my wallet, drop my jeans and boxers, and quickly step in behind her, my dick happily snuggling in the crease of her butt as I set the foil packet on the little shelf. When she tries to turn in my arms, I stop her.
“Stay like this.”
“But you...” she starts, then I latch my lips onto a spot on her neck, just below her ear, and stop her protest. Arching her neck to give me better access, she moans as I slide one hand between her breasts and rest it at her throat. My other hand slips down to cup her between the legs.
“Can’t wait to sink into you,” I mutter against her skin. “I loved having you come in my mouth—I can only imagine what it’ll be like having you come on my cock.” My fingers test her folds, finding her soft and pliable and oh so ready for me. In a few swift moves, I have my dick sheathed and ready. With gentle pressure on her back, she leans forward, bracing her hands on the wall, and tilts her luscious ass up in invitation.
“Fuck me, Damian,” she says so softly, I can only just hear her.
With a sharp tug on her hips, I pull her back, line myself up, and slide forward, feeling the tight glove of her pussy taking in all of me. “Fu-uck...you feel so good,” I manage, desperately trying to control the urge to buck my hips against her ass. I won’t last long.
I slide a hand up over her slick skin to find that spot at her throat again, so I can feel her heartbeat under my touch, and with the other I keep her hips in place, as I slowly ease back out before I slam back home. Control becomes an illusion as my hips take on a frantic cadence, powering them as I continue to pound inside her, groaning in rhythm. As I feel my balls pull up at the ready, and a current spin up from the base of my spine, I find her swollen clit with the pads of my fingers and press down.
“Oh my God!” she screams, her body convulsing as she comes. With one more surge, I follow right behind her, grunting out my own release, with my face buried in her neck and my hips bucking wildly.
It’s when I’m catching my breath, Kerry caged in my arms in front of me, her head resting back against my shoulder, that I hear the buzzing coming from my jeans puddled on the bathroom floor. The call to duty. Before I even have a chance to make a grab for it, the sound stops.
“I’m guessing that’s the office wondering where I am,” I suggest carefully, feeling her back straightening against me. “But they can wait another few minutes. I’m not quite ready to take my hands off you yet.”
I use my time to familiarize myself with her body, carefully washing her hair, avoiding her injury as best I can, and using my hands to soap her skin from top to bottom. While she rinses off, I manage to accomplish the same for myself, in record time. All too soon, I step right behind her out of the tub, accepting the towel she holds out.
“Listen,” I say while I quickly rub myself dry. “I’ll probably have to go in, but I’d really like to have someone keep an eye on you while I’m gone.”
“I
’ll be fine,” she dismisses me, wrapping the towel around her body as she pads into her bedroom. “I feel a lot better, as I’m sure you can tell.”
I smile at the coy reference, but I wasn’t talking about her health. Walking up behind her, as she runs a brush through her hair in front of her closet mirror, I slip my hands around her waist, resting them lightly on her stomach. “Yes, I discovered as much,” I admit with a smile at her reflection in the mirror. “But I would feel a lot better about leaving you if I knew you were safe.”
The cold, harsh reality of what my words imply settle over her features.
“You’re not talking about my head, are you?”
CHAPTER 16
Damian
“Talk to me.” I sit down across from Keith, who’s waiting for me at CJ’s Diner.
The call that had come in that morning, while I was in the shower with Kerry, had been from Jasper. He needed to talk to me about how deep I wanted him to dig into Willoughs. He’d discovered the man rented a post office box in town. I gave him free rein, dig as deep and dirty as he wanted. To question the postmaster and get back to me with anything he finds out. Luna was keeping an eye on Kerry, and I used the rest of the day to follow up on some of my other cases.
Last night we ate a late dinner after I relieved Luna, and both of us fell asleep in front of the late-night news. I ended up carrying Kerry to bed and crawling in behind her.
This morning I had hopes of repeating yesterday’s shower activities, but the damn phone rang before I’d gotten out of bed.
This time it was Blackfoot. He said he had something important to discuss with me, which he insisted had to be face-to-face.
It was already closing on nine o’clock, a little later than planned, but I couldn’t leave Kerry without having a little taste. Besides, I had to wait for Luna to get there.
Keith waits until the waitress is gone before responding. “I have a bad feeling about this one,” he drops, and it takes me only a second to realize he’s talking about the trafficking investigation.
“How so?”
“I found a tracker on Kerry’s car. I would’ve missed it if my sleeve hadn’t got caught on the side mirror on the passenger side. Looked like someone tagged the back of it with a micro satellite transmitter, no bigger than a dime. This is not open-market stuff, Damian.” He leans back as the server slides mugs of coffee on the table in front of us.
I wait until she’s gone before I lean in. “Government-issue?” I keep my voice down.
“I suspect,” he confirms, taking a sip of his coffee. “The tech who was with me had a look at it. He couldn’t find any marking you’d normally see on open-market electronic equipment. He took it back to the lab.”
“Do you trust him?” I have to ask.
“Yeah. Browns is a good guy, a solid guy. I trust him. I’d like him to have a look at the bookstore and Kerry’s house, as well, check her phone. I’d be surprised if they weren’t bugged also.”
I sit back in my chair and try to digest the information. Aside from the confirmation that Kerry seems to be targeted, the use of such highly specialized monitoring equipment is very concerning. I’m glad I put Roosberg on Kerry. She’s a good agent.
“That’s why you want to keep the missing box under wraps. Shit. You think you can flush whoever it is out in the open,” I confirm with Keith. My mind is going a mile a minute as we spend the next twenty or so strategizing and discussing options, only interrupted when the waitress serves our food.
When we step outside, Keith holds me up with a hand on my arm. “If you need help covering her, let me know.”
“Right. Like that’s gonna happen,” I scoffingly reply.
“I’m serious,” he says earnestly. “Dammit, Damian, you know me better. I like to tease and poke, but when it gets down to it, you know you can trust me. I wouldn’t move on your girl, but I care enough not to want anything to happen to her, either.”
I stare him down, seeing nothing but honesty in his eyes. He’s right, I do know him. I know he’s a rogue with little regard for the rules, but he’s a man of honor. “I’ll call,” I simply say with a sharp nod. “I’ll get Jasper to do a quick scan of the store and her place. He finds anything, I’ll make sure he leaves it where it is until you get there with your guy.” We agreed that rather than having to explain to Kerry why the cops are going through her house and place of business, it would be an easier sell to have Jasper do it. That way we can blame it on my overprotective nature. I balked when Keith first suggested it but had to admit he made a good point.
“Fair enough. Later, Gomez,” he says as he turns to his car.
“Later, Blackfoot.”
KERRY
“I’ve got to get to the store!”
I try to push by Luna, who is blocking the door.
She hasn’t said much since she walked in earlier, once again with her laptop under her arm. Like yesterday, she just sat down at the kitchen counter, politely accepted the coffee I offered, and focused on her computer. I felt pretty good today; my head hardly hurt at all, and I felt more stable on my feet then yesterday, so I’d started on some housework that had been left for too long. I put a few loads in the laundry, tidied the kitchen, and gave the bathtub a good cleaning, letting my thoughts wander to the naked make-out session this morning. At least Damian had been naked, I had on panties...not that that stopped him from giving me an orgasm with his fingers. I was just wiping the bathroom mirror, a smile firmly plastered on my face, when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Kerry. It’s Bella. Listen, I was out this morning running a few errands, and I decided to stop by your store to pick up something to read. I’m bored out of my brain at Damian’s and needed something to keep me occupied while I’m waiting to start my job. I was thinking of trying that series you told me about? The one with the motorcycle club that was really a cover for a covert group of law enforcement agents? I can’t remember the name now, All Out or something? Anyway,” Bella gabbed on and part of me tuned out. But then she said something that jerked me from my thoughts.
“What did you say?” I interrupted her.
“The door. It was closed. Well, not just closed but locked. Lights off and everything. I was surprised because you mentioned the other day you had someone looking after it, so when—”
I cut her off mid-ramble. “Honey, I’ve gotta go,” I explained urgently. “Thanks so much for letting me know, but I have to give Marya a call and find out what happened. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Of course—of course.”
I barely allowed Bella to finish before I hit end and dialed Marya’s number.
“Hello. You’ve reached—”
I cut off the call without listening to the whole message and proceeded to try the store, hoping she got delayed for some reason and had just been late. I hung up when my own voice sounded back to me.
Something is not right.
“Kerry,” Luna tries to calm me down. “Before you go racing out of here half-cocked, we should call the boss, let him know what’s going on.”
“It’s just that she’s been acting a little off lately, and her kids are away on a trip with her mom. If something happened to her...” I let the thought drift off. I know I’m panicking, but I can’t seem to stop it. My life’s been spinning out of control, and I don’t know what to expect anymore.
“I’ll call him,” Luna says, already dialing. After she explains the situation to him, she hands the phone to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Damian?”
“Babe, I need you sit tight there with Luna. I’ll go check out the store, make sure everything is okay there. Does Bill Franklin have a spare key?” he asks.
“No. Not to the new locks.”
“Doesn’t matter. One of us will pick yours up. It’ll be either Jasper or me.”
“Isn’t it easier if we meet you there?” I suggest.
“Easier, yes—safer, no. Give us a chance to check it o
ut first. I just left Blackfoot, but I’ll get in touch with him and ask him to drive by Marya’s place. Do you have an address for her?”
“Hang on,” I tell him and fish my new phone from my pocket. With shaking fingers, I try to navigate the contact list I thankfully managed to salvage from the cloud. “I have it,” I finally tell him.
“Good. Send it as a text. I’ll make sure Keith gets it. And stay put.”
I open my mouth to tell him I will, but he’s already gone. I give Luna her phone back and quickly send Marya’s info to Damian from mine.
With that done, I take a deep breath and take a firm hold of my jitters. It’ll be fine. Maybe she slept in or forgot about an appointment and didn’t want to bother me. Not that I really buy into that, but just the process of thinking up possible scenarios seems good enough to give me back some semblance of control.
Five minutes later, Jasper is at the door to pick up the key. I watch his car disappear down the driveway through the front window and stay standing there long after he’s gone from my view. As soon as I know Marya’s okay, I’m going to crawl into bed and hide there until this all goes away.
DAMIAN
“Do you have your kit?”
He lifts the bag in his hand in response and tosses me the keys. We’re by the back door, trying to avoid drawing attention. Just as I push open the door and let Jasper pass inside, Kerry’s neighbor, Bill Franklin, steps out with a garbage bag in his hand.
“Everything all right?” he asks, dropping his trash bag in the dumpster and walking my way.
Not knowing what’s inside, I hold up my hand. “I’ll come talk to you after,” I just say and step inside, closing the door behind me. The door did not look forced, and the front was still locked tight when we checked it in passing. Nevertheless, we have no idea what, if anything, is going on inside. Jasper is checking the small bathroom and Kerry’s office, so I slip past him into the store.
