by Paige Tyler
He was so focused on their combined orgasms that he didn’t hear the sound outside the apartment until the keys rattled in the door.
Lacey gasped again, but this time, it was in surprise as he pulled her away from the wall of the hallway and carried her three quick strides into her bedroom.
“Your sister’s home,” he rasped.
He caught the edge of the door with an elbow, twisting his body to slam it closed. In the same movement, he shoved her against the wall, plunging himself as deep as he could go. The force of his thrust thumped her ass against the drywall so hard, it shook the wall, but he didn’t care. He was too close to care.
Lacey tightened her legs around him, throwing her head back against the wall and biting her lower lip as her climax began to crest.
“Lacey, is that you?” Kelsey’s voice came hesitantly from just outside the bedroom door. “I thought I heard something. Are you okay?”
When the hell had Lacey’s sister moved down the hall? Alex hadn’t really been paying attention, but how had he missed that?
Lacey’s eyes met his, panic showing clearly in their blue depths as he felt her orgasm start to slip away. “Yeah, it’s me,” she managed. “I’m just getting dressed for dinner.”
Alex was impressed by her ability to string words together. Because he was thrusting into her the entire time she spoke, albeit slower and less forcefully, determined not to make any noise but refusing to let her climax slip away.
She moaned as he squeezed her ass and shoved his cock in as far as it would go, then held it there.
“Do you need help?” Kelsey’s concerned voice came again as the doorknob started to turn. “You sound like you’re having trouble in there.”
Lacey’s eyes widened. “No!” she said, a little too loudly. “I mean… No, I’m good. I’m just putting on my shoes, and the strap was too tight. I’ll be out in a minute.”
Her eyes went from panicked to unfocused as he began to thrust again. She was close. Alex dropped his head and nibbled. He knew from last night that the move would push her over the edge. Lacey clearly had a thing for the feel of his teeth on her neck.
Outside, Kelsey started to walk away. But then Alex heard her stop. “Why are your clothes on the floor in the hallway?”
Lacey didn’t answer. Alex lifted his head to see her head resting against the wall, her eyes practically rolling back into her head. She was right on the edge. There was no way in hell she could answer.
Alex had no idea what to say, but he opened his mouth anyway. It was better to let Kelsey know he was in here than to have her walk in and confirm the fact in an even worse way. But before he could get the words out, Lacey’s hands gripped his shoulders through his suit jacket, and her eyes refocused.
“They must have fallen out of the laundry basket,” she called. “I’ll get them later.”
That seemed to satisfy Kelsey, because Alex heard her footsteps receding from the door. That was all the info he needed. He buried his face in Lacey’s neck again and thrust hard into her one more time.
Lacey started moaning as she came, but before the sound could bring her sister running again, she dropped her head and bit down on Alex’s neck right above the collar of his shirt. Then she started to shake and spasm, squeezing him so tightly he could barely move.
But he didn’t need to move, not now. He pulled her harder against him and exploded with her.
He’d never made love to a woman up against the wall like this, especially with her completely naked, wrapped around his fully clothed body. He’d also never had a woman bite him so hard on the neck that it was likely to leave a mark. With Lacey, it all worked—and it was amazing. He thrust over and over as they came together, sure Kelsey would hear but unable to care. This was simply too perfect to hold back.
When he finally came back down to earth, he found Lacey staring at him with a twinkle in her satiated eyes. “That was different.”
Alex smiled, pulsing inside her. He was still hard. He could go again if she wanted to. “Different good or different bad?”
Her breath hitched at the movement, and she reached out to gently caress his face. “Different very good.”
He started to move again, but she gave him a stern look. “Don’t even think about it. I need to get ready for dinner, and you need to get out there and somehow convince my sister you were in here helping me get dressed.”
“Do you think she’s really going to believe that?” he asked as he slowly lowered her to the floor.
“She’d better,” Lacey said. “Or I’m never going to be able to look at her again without blushing.”
* * *
“So, how did you end up getting us reservations for the fanciest French restaurant in the city?” Lacey asked as they drove. “Same-day reservations at that.”
Not that she really cared how Alex had gotten them into the swanky place. She’d wanted to go there since she was old enough to know what French cuisine was. If he’d had to mug someone for the seats, she could probably live with that.
Alex checked the rearview mirror and changed lanes before answering. “Gage got the head chef’s kid out of trouble with a gang situation a few years ago, and now there’s a table available any time he asks. Gage doesn’t go all that often, so he lets the rest of us use the table every now and then.”
Lacey shook her head. Another case of people doing favors for the SWAT team. She should have known. But again, she wasn’t going to complain. About pretty much anything.
She was still humming from that amazing sex they’d had less than an hour ago. She’d never done anything that remotely crazy before. Having sex up against a wall was completely insane, like something a couple of teenagers would do. But truthfully, she’d loved it. It was the most outrageous and spontaneous thing she’d ever done, and it had felt incredible. In fact, she was already thinking of what they could do for an encore once they got back to her place.
If Alex was willing to come back to her place.
“What’s the plan after dinner?” she asked hesitantly.
For all she knew, Alex might not want to go back to her place, not with Kelsey there. Lacey didn’t know much about guys, but she imagined that having a younger sister in the picture could complicate it for some of them.
Alex threw her a quick look before focusing on the road again. “I don’t have another surveillance shift until late tomorrow night, so I was thinking that we could head back to your place and hang out. Maybe sleep in tomorrow, if that’s okay with you?”
“You don’t mind that Kelsey’s around?” she asked carefully, studiously looking at the mile markers zipping past outside the truck.
“No,” he said. “I was going to ask you the same question. Do you think Kelsey will have a problem if she sees me there in the morning?”
Lacey felt the tension drain out of her. What the heck had she been thinking? This wasn’t some guy. This was Alex, the greatest man on the planet. Of course, his only concern had been how Kelsey would handle finding out about the two of them being together.
“Kelsey will be fine with it. In fact, she’ll probably be thrilled that I’m finally spending time with someone.”
Alex smiled. “Then it’s a plan. Dinner and back to your place for the night.”
Lacey definitely liked the sound of that. In fact, that was the type of plan she could see herself getting used to.
They were still fifteen minutes from the restaurant when Lacey’s phone rang. A part of her wished she could ignore it, but she couldn’t. It could be Kelsey. Or the vet clinic, Wendy’s ACS squad, or the dispatchers from Animal Services.
It turned out to be the latter. They usually called if they had a severely injured animal that had been picked up by one of their officers. If they were calling on a Saturday night, it probably wasn’t good.
“What’s up, Rachel?” she asked, pullin
g a pad and pen out of her purse.
If this wasn’t a call to ask her to come to the city’s main shelter, Rachel would be giving her an address to some other location. If so, it meant the animal was in bad shape, and Lacey wanted to be ready.
“Lacey, thank God! I hate to call you on the weekend like this, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
“What’s wrong?” Lacey asked.
She’d worked with Rachel Carr dozens of times before. As a dispatcher, Rachel dealt with a lot of bad stuff. If she was unsure about what to do, Lacey was really worried.
“We got a call about forty-five minutes ago,” Rachel explained. “The woman wouldn’t leave her name, but said she heard a bunch of dogs whimpering in pain somewhere behind the abandoned warehouse off Ridgecrest, about a block from where it intersects Park Lane.”
Lacey frowned. This wasn’t the information Rachel and the other dispatchers usually provided in a situation like this. “Are the Animal Service officers there now? Do you need me to meet them?”
“That’s the thing,” Rachel said. “They reported that they couldn’t find anything, but…”
The hair on the back of Lacey’s neck stood up. This was getting weird. “But what, Rachel?”
“The woman on the phone sounded really, really sure about what she heard, and the officers I dispatched called back really, really fast—if you know what I mean. I was hoping you could go over and take a look around?”
Lacey knew exactly what Rachel meant.
“I wouldn’t normally ask you to do something like this,” Rachel said urgently. “I tried to get someone to cover my shift so I could look myself, but I couldn’t find anyone. Can you go…please?”
If there was anyone who loved dogs as much as Lacey did, it was Rachel. If she thought there was something wrong, Lacey needed to check it out.
“What’s the full address, Rachel?”
Lacey wrote it down, then hung up. She hated to ask Alex to postpone the reservation, since he’d gone to so much trouble making it. But…
“I know that place,” Alex said, glancing at her. “It’s not surprising those Animal Services officers didn’t find anything—if they even got out of their vehicle. It’s not the kind of place you want to go at night without a really good reason—and a weapon.”
She blinked. “You heard all that?”
He nodded, swung the truck around, and started driving the other direction. Lacey could only shake her head as he called the restaurant to let them know they wouldn’t be able to make it for at least an hour. Was this guy a catch or what?
They arrived at the address Rachel had given her twenty minutes later. Lacey was definitely glad Alex was with her. This particular stretch of Ridgecrest was beyond scary. She wasn’t sure how anyone could have heard a dog whining out here. There was no one around that she could tell. There was nothing but abandoned and boarded-up buildings, lots of broken glass, and not a damn light anywhere.
Alex pulled into the parking lot of what looked like an old convenience store, then got out of the truck and walked around to her side. He pulled two flashlights out from behind the seat, handing one to her. She watched in amazement as he reached down and pulled a small handgun from a holster around his ankle. They’d just made love an hour ago, and she’d never even known he was wearing the thing. Then again, he’d been completely dressed at the time, so she supposed there was no way she would have known.
That said, the fact that he felt it necessary to pull it out now scared the crap out of her.
Lacey looked around, trying to imagine how they were going find anything out here. Not only was it pitch-black, but there were at least a dozen different old buildings an injured dog could have dragged himself off to—and that wasn’t counting the random piles of rubble that stuck up out of the darkness here and there. Lacey stood still and tried to listen for anything that might help, like a dog’s whimper or a growl, but there was nothing. If an injured dog was out here, she prayed he could make it until morning, because they weren’t going to find anything stumbling around in the dark.
Alex, however, headed toward one of the collection of buildings, not even swinging his flashlight around as he strode through piles of junk that took her much longer to get around. Lacey was about to ask if he’d heard anything when he slowed as he approached a big pile of bricks and concrete rubble.
“Wait there,” he said.
She waited—for about two seconds. Then she took off after him, wanting to see what was on the far side of the heap of rubble.
Lacey almost wished she hadn’t. There, in the beam of both their flashlights, was a group of dogs piled on top of each other in a mound that could have been mistaken for garbage if it wasn’t for all the fur and blood.
Heedless of the rough terrain and the high heels she wore, she ran forward with a cry and reached for the first dog—a pit bull without a doubt. Lacey knew the animal was dead the moment she touched it, if not from the stiffness in the dog’s legs, then from the gaping wound in its throat.
She moved the dog gently aside, then reached for the next. Alex put away his gun and joined her. Together, they went through the pile one by one, looking to see if any of them were still alive. There were pit bulls, Rottweilers, and bulldogs along with smaller animals most likely used as bait to drive the fighting dogs into a frenzy. All of the animals were chewed up, though some seemed to have had their throats cut as well.
There were a lot of dogs, and it took a while to get to the bottom. By the time they did, tears were pouring down Lacey’s face. None of the animals were alive. One or two of them must have been when the anonymous caller had heard whimpering, but they were all gone now.
“This is what happens to animals that don’t win in the fighting pits,” she shouted. She knew she was losing it. Her anger wasn’t directed at Alex, but since he was the only one there, he would have to do. “Or the ones too injured to fight again. They just throw them away like garbage. I could kill people who do this!”
Lacey wasn’t sure how long she ranted like that, screaming at the assholes who would do something like this to poor defenseless animals, but when she finally looked up, she realized that Alex wasn’t paying attention to her. He was staring off into the darkness with an unfocused expression on his face. She was about to ask if something was wrong, but he was already walking away, farther into the darkness toward the nearest crumbling building. Lacy jumped up and followed.
“Is it another dog?” she whispered as Alex came to a stop in front of a shadow-shrouded mound on the ground.
His flashlight wasn’t even on. She didn’t know how he’d seen anything.
“No,” he said simply.
Lacey swung her own flashlight down toward the shape—and almost got sick as she realized it was the body of a woman. She was half hidden under a piece of cardboard, so it was hard to tell in the dark, but she looked like she had curly red hair.
Without a word, Alex dropped to one knee beside the woman, then moved the cardboard aside and checked for a pulse. Lacey already knew he wouldn’t find one. The woman had been mutilated beyond belief.
She wasn’t too proud to take Alex’s hand as he led her back to his truck and helped her into the passenger seat. If he hadn’t, she probably would have fallen down. As a vet, she’d seen a lot of stuff people shouldn’t have to see, but she’d never seen anything like that.
“What happened to that girl?” she asked softly as he pulled out his cell. “Did the dogs get her?”
Alex shook his head. “No, those weren’t bite wounds. She was definitely dumped at the same time as the dogs, though. Maybe she stumbled over the dogfighting ring and it got her killed.”
Lacey didn’t say anything as he punched some buttons on his phone and called the police, then gave his badge number to whoever answered. The memory of Pendergraff coming after her in Bensen’s junkyard the other night filled he
r head, his disturbing eyes sweeping back and forth as he searched for her. If Pendergraff had found her, would she be lying over there behind that rubble, all torn and bloody?
A part of her felt a surge of fear at that thought. But the larger part was consumed with rage. She knew there was no reason to think this had anything to do with Bensen and Pendergraff, but her instincts were screaming that their filthy hands were all over this and it infuriated her. She was even more enraged that no one seemed able to do a damn thing about it.
Well, she was going to do something.
Chapter 10
“So, is Corporal Brooks seeing anyone seriously?” Vaughn asked casually.
Well, as casually as a woman could ask a loaded question like that, Alex thought. He and Remy had been in the surveillance van with the narcotics officer for the past three hours, staring at the bank of monitors that lined the interior wall.
Remy threw Alex a quick glance and a smile. Alex immediately knew that glint in his teammate’s eyes meant Remy was planning to tease the narcotics cop about something. Damn, that guy simply couldn’t stop himself, could he?
“Unfortunately, Corporal Brooks doesn’t have a lot of time for women,” Remy said grimly. “Not with the two young children he’s raising on his own.”
Vaughn’s eyes widened in shock, not to mention what looked a hell of a lot like panic.
“Remy’s messing with you,” Alex said, figuring he’d better step in before this got too out of hand. “Brooks doesn’t have any kids, and he isn’t seeing anyone at the moment.”
Vaughn relaxed in her chair. “Thank God. I slipped the shift scheduler twenty bucks to put me on late-night surveillance with him later in the week—alone. I’d hate to think I wasted a Jackson for nothing.”
Alex chuckled. They’d figured Brooks would need a woman who was bold and outgoing. That description seemed to fit Vaughn to a T. He only hoped his pack mate was able to handle her.
Remy looked like he was ready to complain about Alex putting a stop to his antics, but then he leaned forward and adjusted the controls on one of the monitors. “Pendergraff just showed up at the front gate. Maybe that means something interesting will happen tonight.”
