by Lacey Thorn
She stepped into him so that he felt the brush of her pebbled nipples against his chest. Her hands slid up his arms until they wrapped around his neck and she tugged his head down to her.
“But why don’t we just get this out of the way,” she said just before she touched his bottom lip with her tongue.
It was like a stroke of electricity that seared straight to his dick and had it flexing against the suddenly snug fabric of his jeans. Her tongue glided over his bottom lip before she took it between her teeth and nipped. What turned him on even more was the way she kept her eyes open and locked on his. This was no tame woman. This was a wildcat.
He let one hand slip down to the small of her back, the other splayed loosely at her waist. Her breath whispered over his lips as she pressed them softly to his. Her tongue traced the seam of his lips and he opened them for her. She forged inside and wrapped her tongue around his, rubbing it wantonly before guiding his into her mouth and sucking gently on it. He felt that suction in his balls, wanted to feel it on his cock, and from the gleam in her still-open eyes he knew that was what she intended.
His hand moved lower to cup her ass and pull her up the few inches so that she could feel the hard length of his cock exactly where he wanted it to be. He held her there while he fed on her kiss, fighting for control and loving the way she refused to give it to him.
Slowly she eased back from him, letting her tongue flick against his lips before landing back on her feet. “I want you. You want me. But don’t think I won’t make you work for it.” With that she eased from his grasp, opened the door and stepped out.
Shep knew he wore a silly grin, could feel it on his lips. But what else could he do? He watched the sway of her ass, slid his gaze over the long length of her legs and imagined them wrapped around him. He had no problem working for it. He just wondered how long she would make them both wait.
Chapter Two
Stace sat in the passenger seat of Shep’s truck, having decided to leave her truck there for now and willed herself to gain control of her hormones. Obviously it had been way too long since she’d had sex. She let her gaze slip across the man beside her. But honestly it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d had sex twelve times just before meeting him. She would have wanted him no matter what. There was just something about him that made her want to throw him to the nearest flat surface and ride him until neither of them could move. Or let him ride her. Maybe take turns. God, she was so wet. It had been all she could do to keep her hands to herself while they were at his apartment. Luckily the man packed quick and now they were back on the road with Griff following behind them.
“So why use us?” Shep interrupted her thoughts.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“You ‘find people’,” he said. “So why come looking for us?”
“A friend of mine knew about Jack Madigan through Gil,” Stace said. “I guess they still keep in touch. He told me to be smart and ask for help.”
“You have a habit of not being smart?” he asked with a raised brow as if he didn’t believe that.
“I have a habit of going solo,” she replied. “So I was reminded that when you’re emotionally involved you can overlook things or not see the entire picture.”
“Sounds like a great friend,” Shep said.
“Yes,” Stace agreed.
“So no heat between you two?” he asked and she laughed.
“More like a brother,” she said. “Most of the guys from my Marine days are, at least those I’ve kept in contact with.”
“Not Gil, huh,” Shep said.
Stace shook her head. “No, Gil and I were never close. We worked well together, our unit was tight, but I wasn’t a permanent member. I replaced someone. So I think he never got over the fact that I was a reminder that they had lost one. I understood that.”
Shep nodded and she remembered that he had been an Army Ranger. “So how does a Ranger end up with a bunch of Marines?”
Shep grinned. “They got lucky.”
Stace laughed. “How have you managed to stay single?” she asked and he stayed quiet just a beat too long.
“Just never met the right woman, I guess,” he replied and threw another grin her way.
But there had been something in that beat of silence, a flash in his eyes that maybe a less trained person would have missed. He had met someone but for some reason they weren’t together. She had to admit, if only to herself, that it made her curious.
“Home first or bar?” Shep asked.
“Up to you,” she said. “You’ve already seen the file so you know as much as I do at this point. The trail is cold. If I had gotten back even two weeks ago this would be so much easier to track down.”
“We’ll find something,” Shep said. “No one disappears without a trace.”
She nodded her head. She could still hear Chloe’s giggle in her head, see her sister’s infectious smile. She had to find her and prayed that Chloe was okay. She’d seen some intense situations, most after she left the Marines for private work. She knew what happened to women who were taken, knew that some never recovered even after they were rescued. Some could never be rescued from the hell they’d been forced to live. Four weeks was a long time for a woman to be gone.
“Hey, why don’t you stop at the bar and see what you can find out,” Shep said and Stace looked over to see that he had pulled a cell phone out. “You’ve got the file, check to see if any of the staff from that night is on, feel them out. I’m going to take Stace on to the house and see what we can find in Chloe’s room, her computer, any of that stuff.” Shep grinned and let a laugh loose. “Yeah, you do that. Later.”
“Do what?” she asked as he slid his phone closed.
“Get lost for a bit,” he said and grinned over at her. He pulled into the lot at Tark’s Tavern and idled while Griff parked and got out.
She watched as Griff walked over toward Shep’s truck. He came to her side and she rolled the window down. He leaned in and smiled her way reaching a hand out and playing with her ponytail while he went over some information with them. She could see how women would be drawn to him. There was just something innately sensual about him.
“Sound good?” Griff asked and she realized she had zoned out a little longer than she’d meant to.
“Sure,” she said and Shep burst out laughing. Too late she wondered what she was agreeing too.
“Guess I’ll stay here for a while then, give you all the time you need,” Griff said with a grin before giving her hair a tug and moving away toward the side door to the bar. Shep was still laughing as he pulled the truck out of the lot and turned onto the same country road that Chloe had taken that night.
“Okay, so what the hell did I just agree to?” she asked.
“Apparently you and I are going back to the house to have wild sex,” Shep said with another laugh. “Griff asked if he should bring pizza and beer back in a couple hours for recovery food.”
She could feel her face flaming, which only made Shep chuckle more. Abruptly he pulled the truck to the side of the road and turned toward her. “He was just joking, Stace. No reason to get embarrassed.”
“I’m guessing that I’ll need to stay on my toes around you two,” she said shaking her head.
“I’d rather see you in several other positions,” he said and she loved the way his eyes darkened. “But we can go with up on your toes if that’s your preference.”
She just laughed.
“Now that I have you relaxed,” he said. “This is where the car was found. Don’t tense up,” he said as she started to do just that. “Keep loose. Open mind. Let’s walk through what we heard on that tape.”
“She pulled over because she knew that she had been drugged,” Stace said.
“Smart girl,” Shep said. “Pulled over and called for help.”
“They thought she was drunk at first,” Stace said. “I talked to the operator who took the call. She was very sorry. Said she thought Chloe was a drunk driver
at first.”
“It happens,” Shep said. “She’s fumbling for the phone, slurring her words as the drug starts really kicking into her system. What does she focus on?”
Stace closed her eyes and could hear every moment of that call in her head. Could hear the underlying fear in her sister’s voice as she struggled to tell what was going on. “She saw lights behind her. A vehicle pulled up.”
“Stop,” he said. “You’re going with what you know. I want you to focus on her. What did she do when she saw the lights?”
“She’s passing out,” she began angrily but he shook his head and reached over to put a finger to her lips.
“No emotions,” he said. “Think. Not what you heard her say or try to say. What did you hear?”
She took a deep breath and tried to relax her body. It was hard to try to shut her sister’s voice out but she did her best. “The lock clicked open. Two voices, masculine. One of them takes her. The other shuts the phone off.”
“Was the car still here when the police arrived?” Shep said.
She knew he had read the report but she played along anyway. “Yes.”
“Her purse, her school bag, her phone,” he said. “It was all still in the car.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“They knew she’d made a phone call because they took the time to shut the phone off,” he said. “But they left everything else in the car.”
“Yes,” she agreed finally seeing what he was getting at. “They wanted everything found. They wanted it known that she was taken. She would have never left her phone and purse in the car willingly. Everyone who knew her would agree to that. We don’t have a home phone, just our cells. She wouldn’t have left without it.”
“Where was it when the car was found?” Shep asked.
“In the driver’s seat,” Stace answered.
“And the doors were all locked when the police arrived,” Shep reminded her.
“They wanted to make sure that no one wandered along and messed with anything,” she agreed.
“So who was your sister involved in that would want to do this?” Shep asked. “Or who knew that you have a sister?”
Oh, shit! The thought screamed through her head. All the people who she had rescued. Was this payback from someone who hadn’t wanted to let their prey go? Was her sister’s disappearance all her fault? And why the hell hadn’t she considered that option? Because she made a strict policy of keeping her professional life separate from her personal one. Clients didn’t even know her name. Even worse if the people Stace had dealt with were behind her sister’s disappearance there was no guarantee that Chloe was okay. No guarantee at all.
“Stop,” Shep said again. “I’m not saying this has anything to do with you. If your security is good then chances are it doesn’t. But we need to look at all the possibilities.”
“My security is top notch, I have a handler who sets stuff up for me, or at least I did,” Stace said. “We both decided it was time to retire. This was our last client.”
“Your handler,” he said. “You trust him?”
“I trust my handler with my life,” she replied.
“Did your sister know what you did?” he asked.
“No,” Stace shook her head. “Chloe just thought I travelled for work as an interpreter.”
“You speak several languages?” he asked.
“I speak many, fluently,” she replied.
“So how good was your sister at keeping secrets?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean is it possible that there was stuff going on in her life that you didn’t know anything about?” Shep asked.
“I…” She stopped the automatic denial that she wanted to voice. “Yeah, I guess it is,” she conceded. “I was gone a lot. We’re not as close as I would like. She’s twelve years younger than I am,” Stace sighed wearily. “Sometimes it is more of a mothering relationship than older sister.”
“That’s understandable,” Shep said. “Just the two of you?”
“Now it is,” she said. “Our parents died in a car wreck while I was serving my last year in the Marines. I came home just long enough to set things in order and then I left her in the care of her best friend’s family while I finished out my year. Then I came home and we moved into the farmhouse.”
“How old was your sister?” Shep asked.
“I was twenty-six,” Stace said. “Chloe was fourteen.”
“Her parents had just been killed and her sister came home only long enough to pawn her off on someone else,” Shep said.
“Nah.” Stace shook her head and smiled. “Chloe had a mad case of hero worship on me back then. Thought it was the bomb that I was in the Marines, bragged about it to all her friends. She was a good kid, smart. She was the one who approached me with the idea of living with Nicole and her family while I finished out my time.”
“You weren’t going to?” Shep asked.
“I didn’t want to leave her,” Stace said. “She told me I had to.”
“Smart girl,” he said.
“Incredible,” Stace agreed. “And, yeah, she probably could have easily kept secrets from me.”
“Is Nicole still around?” Shep asked.
“Yeah, they still hang out all the time,” Stace said. “They’re both in school together.”
“Have you talked to her since you got back?” Shep asked.
“Yeah, but not in detail,” she said.
“Then I think maybe after we do a thorough look through of your sister’s stuff, we should set up a time to talk to Nicole about what was going on with Chloe,” Shep said.
Stace nodded her head. Her mind was buzzing with different thoughts. “Another thing to consider is that they didn’t care if her stuff was found, didn’t care who she called,” she said. “They were either confident that it wouldn’t matter.” She paused unable to voice the other possibility.
“Or they didn’t plan on keeping her that long,” Shep said. “Meaning they either killed her or sold her.” He reached a hand out to take Stace’s and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t mean to upset you or sound cold. I’m just trying to say that we need to think about every possibility. At this point we know nothing, so we can’t omit anything.”
She nodded. Chloe’s death was a possibility she had to face. Her sister had been missing for a month.
Shep turned back to the wheel and put the truck in gear, pulling back onto the road. Neither of them talked while he headed toward the farmhouse.
“Here,” she said pointing to the winding drive that would lead to her house.
She jumped out as soon as the truck came to a stop reaching into the back for her bag before turning toward the house. She felt Shep on the steps behind her as she unlocked the door and opened it. Pushing inside she dropped her bag and turned to face him. He stepped in and shut the door behind him placing his bag beside hers.
“It’s hard to be here without her,” Stace admitted. The house was too quiet, too empty. It seemed to settle on her shoulders like a mantle of guilt for all the times she hadn’t been around. Everywhere she looked she saw signs of her sister. This was more Chloe’s house than it ever would be Stace’s.
“I can’t imagine,” Shep said reaching out to take her hand and give it a squeeze. The man really was gorgeous with all that shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. What she could see of his body let her know that he took care of himself. She wanted to get him naked. Soon.
His eyes flared as if he could read her thoughts and in moments she found herself trapped between him and the wall. He leaned in and kissed her, stroking his tongue inside and exploring every crevice of her mouth. She batted his tongue with hers and he scraped his teeth over it before sucking it. She could feel her pussy flooding and contracting, eager to feel any part of him there.
He leaned in and rubbed her body with his. She felt the hard bulge of his cock and rubbed her hard, tight nipples against his chest. Her arms reached for him eag
er to grab, hold and touch. But Shep eased back from her putting distance between them.
“I want you,” he said softly. “You want me.” There was a wicked twinkle in his eyes now. “But don’t think I won’t make you work for it.”
She laughed, just burst out and laughed. He’d managed to break the tension that held her in place just inside the entryway. For the first time since entering the house she could really breathe.
“Why don’t you show me where to put my bag for now and then we’ll take a look at Chloe’s stuff,” Shep said.
“Follow me,” Stace said and wondered if he would really protest if she led him to her bedroom.
Chapter Three
Shep tossed his bag on the bed in the room that he was shown to. He took note that her bedroom was directly across the hall. Hell, he’d wanted nothing more than to strip her and lift her against that wall earlier. He could imagine how she would slide onto his cock as he eased her down his length. His cock was as hard as granite. And his thoughts weren’t doing anything to ease him. He needed to focus on why he was here more, and less on whom he was here with.
Stace stepped into the doorway. Her long dark hair now hung loose over her shoulders and down her back. It looked so long and silky and he wanted to feel it brushing over his skin, his chest, his stomach. Her tongue darted out to lick over her plump bottom lip and he craved that tongue, wanted to feel it glide over his shaft, lick across the head of his cock.
“Penny for your thoughts,” she murmured and he gave a chuckle.
“Sure about that?” he queried.
Stace smiled and, damn, she was beautiful. “How about we resume this conversation later?”
“Sounds good,” she agreed turning back toward the hall and leading him out of the room and down the hall. “Chloe’s room is this way. I put her book bag and purse in her room when I picked them up from the police.”
They entered the room and Shep noticed the change in Stace’s breathing as she looked at her sister’s things, saw the touch of sadness and worry that couldn’t be missed in her eyes. He wanted to pull her close and comfort her but now wasn’t the time. Now was the time to work on finding Chloe and ending Stace’s worry.
