THE BRIDGE

by Carol Ericson

  She slid her hands beneath his T-shirt and caressed the muscles of his back. Goose bumps raced across his smooth skin in response to her touch.

  He nibbled her collarbone, sweeping the hair from her neck. His lips followed along its curve while he hooked a finger beneath her bra strap and top to bare her shoulder. “Your skin is so soft, like the petal of a rose.”

  She’d imagined making love to Sean many times in the past few days, but she never expected poetry from him.

  Her head dropped to the side, and her legs trembled. A very soft sigh escaped from her lips.

  He growled in her ear. “I’m not going to take you here among the asparagus.”

  He was going to take her? Before she could process that thought, he swept her off her feet. “Allow me to show you the rest of the house, or at least the most important room.”

  “You mean the kitchen isn’t the most important room in the house?” She dug her fingers into his thick dark hair.

  “Only for asparagus.”

  She buried her face in his warm neck as he carried her to the back of the house. He bumped open a door and she balanced her chin on his shoulder to take in the view. The large bed, low to the floor, dominated the room with black lacquer pieces lining the walls.

  He put her down on the throw rug by the side of the bed, and she placed one foot on the mattress. “At least you don’t have to worry about falling out of this thing.”

  “It’s a Japanese-style bed frame. Do you want to analyze my furniture or finish what we started?”

  She curled her fingers in the belt loops of his jeans and tugged him toward her. “I have an idea. Let’s analyze the furniture first, starting with the bed.”

  Encircling his hands around her waist, he bent his knees and brought her down with him until they were kneeling face-to-face, the low mattress behind her. He dropped his hands and cupped her derriere beneath her thin skirt.

  His kiss cut off her breath and sent her heart racing. Everything about him had seemed so hard, but his lips felt soft and supple. His tongue traced the seam of her mouth and she opened it to the demanding pressure.

  One hand had bunched up her skirt and she gasped when his rough hand brushed across the silky material of her panties, catching the soft material on the pads of his fingers.

  He nudged her down on the bed, and the mattress conformed to her weight and then his as he stretched out beside her. He lifted her blouse, pulling it over her head. He followed the edge of her lacy bra with the tip of his tongue.

  Thank goodness she’d donned some good underwear this morning before she’d left for school—about twelve hours ago. Before she’d been chasing kindergartners on the playground and finger-painting with them. Before some stranger died in her lap.

  “Wait.” She struggled up, propping herself up on her elbows.

  His eyes popped open. “You’re not going to run, are you?”

  She rolled off the bed. “I’d like to take a shower, if that’s okay.”

  “That’s fine.” With a deft touch, he reached behind her and unzipped her skirt. “But don’t think I’m letting you go in there alone.”

  “Of course not.” She gulped, and when she got up from the bed, she left her skirt behind her.

  Sean peeled off his shirt and tossed it over his shoulder. When he stood up, he touched a finger to her nose. “You have the best ideas.”

  She drank in what he’d been hiding under his button-up shirts and tailored jackets. His tattoo snaked up his arm, curling around his biceps. Slabs of hard muscle shifted across his broad chest as he reached down to unbutton his fly.

  She swallowed and held her breath. Her friends in Montana had warned her that all she’d find in San Francisco was citified metrosexuals. If they could see her now—or rather see Sean.

  Not wanting to appear greedy, her gaze returned to his face as he peeled his jeans from his hips. A quick glance downward confirmed he’d shed his briefs along with his jeans.

  He reached out and pulled her against his naked body. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

  “Why are you still wearing so many clothes?” His fingers fumbled with her bra, and in a matter of seconds they were skin to skin, their bodies meeting along every line.

  “That’s better.” He kissed her mouth and then left her lips throbbing and wanting as he pressed kisses along her throat. Every spot he touched seemed to alight in fire.

  She choked out, “Shower.”

  Taking her hand, he led her to the attached bathroom and cranked on the water in the tiled shower. Water streamed from two showerheads.

  She stepped into the warm spray and he joined her. He squirted some liquid soap in the palm of his hand and rubbed his hands together. “Now, what is it that needs washing so much that you had to interrupt my flow in the bedroom?”

  She dragged her gaze away from the water sluicing over the planes of his body. “Everywhere.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” He flashed her a grin that had her groping for the shower wall for support.

  His warm hands, slick with soap, started at her shoulders and quickly descended to her breasts, where he circled her nipples, teasing and provoking them.

  His palms rubbed her belly, and she couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips.

  “Turn around.” His hands cinched her waist and he spun her around toward the bench that extended from the shower wall.

  He shifted his attention from her stomach to her inner thighs, and she parted her legs as the spray of water hit her shoulder.

  He nudged her from behind, urging her to bend over, his erection spearing her lower back.

  She placed her palms flat on the bench beaded with water.

  Sean cupped one hand between her legs, and her hips automatically swiveled. She panted. “I thought this was supposed to be a shower.”

  “And I’m very thorough in my cleaning. Don’t want to miss one little spot.” His soapy fingers caressed her flesh, and her arms began to shake.

  He moved rhythmically against her, his hard, tight erection probing between her open legs. His magic fingers continued their exploration of her throbbing folds. When he entered her with first one finger and then a second, she closed around him.

  He cupped her breast, pinching her nipple, and then his teeth nipped the back of her neck. The contrasting sensations overwhelmed her senses and she exploded.

  As she rode the wave of her release, he plunged into her from behind. He was delivering all the intensity that had been simmering beneath the surface. She’d wondered what it would be like unleashed, and now she knew. Overwhelming.

  Every time he entered her, he took her to some new height, some realm inhabited by just the two of them. When he pulled out, she felt moments of pure desolation.

  He reached between her legs again, and his touch was so electrifying she screamed. Within seconds her muscles tensed and she clenched her jaw. She was almost afraid of the power that gathered within her.

  The gentleness of his touch contrasted with the force of his thrusts inside her, and once again she broke. The pleasure that flooded her body melted her and she sobbed, pressing her wet face against her arm.

  He whispered her name over and over and it echoed in the shower, surrounding her as he surrounded her. He pounded against her, skin on skin, and when his climax came, it engulfed both of them in its ferocity.

  No moaning, groaning or grunting for Sean. He howled. And the sound of his passion, of his possession of her, sent a thrill to her core.

  When he spent himself inside her, he covered her with his body. His legs twined around hers, his arms wrapped around her torso, his chest and belly were sealed against her back to the juncture where their bodies remained connected in the most intimate way.

  The lukewarm water beat against their en
twined forms as they gasped for breath. Slowly, he peeled away from her and slipped out of her. She felt the loss of him in the pit of her stomach, so she straightened and turned in one movement and clung to his chest.

  He smoothed the damp hair from her face. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you? I couldn’t...couldn’t help myself.”

  Then she realized tears, not just water, were coursing down her cheeks.

  She nuzzled against his chest, the sprinkling of dark hair ticking her nose. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You just took me somewhere, someplace—” she dug her fingernails in his firm buttocks “—I don’t know.”

  He chuckled and wedged a knuckle beneath her chin, tilting her head back. “Would it be too cliché to say ‘paradise’?”

  “You felt it, too?” She rubbed the water from her eyes.

  “You’re kidding, right?” He cupped her face in his hands. “Do you think it’s every day I howl at the moon during sex?”

  The happiness that welled in her chest overcame her, and tears sprang to her eyes again.

  He kissed one of her eyelids. “If you keep crying, I’m going to think I’m a brute.”

  She slapped his chest with her hand. “Are you kidding? Do you think it’s every day I break down and cry during sex?”

  The smile dropped from his face, and his dark eyes kindled. “It was special, wasn’t it? I don’t generally go in for the mushy stuff, but you make me feel...mushy.”

  Her fingers traced the ridges of his pecs. “You don’t feel mushy at all.”

  “You just ruined my mushy moment.” He smacked her backside. “Let’s get out of here before we both look like prunes.”

  Sean tucked a towel around his waist and padded out of the bathroom, returning with a fresh towel for her.

  He held it out for her as she stepped from the shower. “You do realize that if I towel you off, it’s going to ignite that fire down below all over again.”

  She fluttered her lashes. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

  He wrapped the towel around her body. “You do have school tomorrow, right? You don’t want to come in with a sex hangover.”

  “I don’t know.” She dropped the towel. “Is that the kind of hangover that can be cured with the hair of the dog?”

  Sean made a move but stopped when his cell phone rang in the bedroom. “Oops, that’s my work phone. I’d better pick that up, but hold that thought.”

  She gathered her towel from the floor and followed him into the bedroom. He was right. She had to get it together and return to Courtney’s to get ready for school. They’d have another chance to be together. Wouldn’t they?

  Despite being half-naked, Sean had already morphed back into the dedicated cop with the phone call. He sat on the edge of the bed, the cell pressed to his ear, his face creased into lines of worry. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Do you think I asked him to contact me? Do you think I want it?”

  A sick feeling twisted her gut, and she edged out of the bedroom, tucking a corner of the towel in the edge at her chest. She couldn’t take any more, not after what they’d just shared. She wasn’t ready to crash to earth just yet.

  She wandered into the kitchen and collected the plates from the table while Sean’s voice rumbled from the other room. As she ran water over the dishes, someone pounded on Sean’s front door.

  She dropped the silverware in the sink with a clatter and grabbed a dish towel, twisting it in front of her on the way to the door.

  Sean stalked out of the bedroom, clutching his phone in his fist. “Who the hell is that?”

  Elise reached the door before he did and peered through the peephole. Her heart galloped in her chest as she fumbled with the dead bolt.

  “Wait, Elise. What are you doing?”

  “It’s Ty.” She yanked at the door. “And he’s hurt.”

  “What?”

  She got the door open and Ty stumbled into the room, his face battered and pale, a white T-shirt, seeping blood, wrapped thickly around one hand.

  She caught him in midstagger and he almost took her down. “Ty, what is it? What happened to you?”

  He raised the hand swaddled in the bloody T-shirt and aimed it at Sean. “He happened to me. His henchman attacked me, and then the SOB chopped off my finger. He took my finger.”

  Ty collapsed face-first on the floor.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Elise’s face took on a shade of green as she swayed over Ty collapsed at her feet.

  Sean didn’t need two unconscious people on his floor. He took Elise’s arm and led her to a chair. “Sit.”

  Crouching over Ty, he punched in 9-1-1 on the phone still clutched in his hand. He unwound the stained T-shirt from Ty’s hand and swore at the bloody mess. He’d been telling the truth about one thing—someone had hacked off his left ring finger.

  Why had the idiot come here instead of calling 9-1-1 or driving himself to an emergency room?

  “I-is he okay?”

  “Passed out from a loss of blood.”

  “His finger?”

  “Gone.”

  “Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” Elise bounded from the chair, but Sean held out his hand.

  “Sit down, Elise. There’s nothing you can do for him. The ambulance is on its way.”

  She plopped back down on the chair, knotting her fingers. “Why? What happened? Who did this?”

  Given Ty’s missing finger, Sean had a clue but Elise didn’t need to hear it right now. “If you want to help, bring me a clean dish towel from the kitchen...and my pants.”

  She looked down at her own towel slipping from her body and jumped up once again. She headed into the kitchen first and returned to the living room, tossing a terry-cloth towel at him. While he loosened the T-shirt from Ty’s hand and replaced it with the towel, binding it tightly around the gaping wound, Elise disappeared down the hallway.

  Back in her skirt and sweater, she dropped his jeans beside him. He looked up. “If you’re feeling up to it, can you hold this towel in place for a few seconds?”

  Nodding, she curled her legs beneath her and sat next to Ty.

  Sean placed her hands around the towel. “Squeeze as hard as you can.”

  He yanked on his jeans and tossed the bath towel aside. He squatted next to her and nudged her hands away from the makeshift bandage staunching the flow of Ty’s blood.

  She slumped back, her hands falling in her lap. “Why did this happen, Sean? This can’t be a coincidence.”

  “I don’t think it is.” She’d realize just how unlikely a coincidence if she found out about Katie Duncan’s finger.

  Sirens wailed down the street. “Can you go outside and meet them? I phoned it in, but tell them he lost a finger and a lot of blood.”

  Elise scrambled outside, and minutes later the EMTs bustled through the front door with a gurney. They peppered Sean with questions as they loaded up Ty.

  As they wheeled Ty to the ambulance, one of the EMTs called over his shoulder, “Do you know where the finger is?”

  “Nope. Like I said, it didn’t happen here.” But if Sean could guess, it might be arriving in a package for him soon.

  Officer Ashford, the cop who had been quietly talking to Elise, emerged onto the porch. “Can I ask you a few questions, Detective Brody?”

  “Of course. Here? Back inside?”

  “Here is fine.” He jerked his pencil over his shoulder. “Ms. Duran said the victim blamed you for his attack, said you hired someone to assault him.”

  “Yeah, he did say that. I don’t know why he believes that. He passed out before we could question him.”

  “What do you know about Ty Russell?”

  “He’s Elise’s former fiancé, and he’s here to convince her to go back to Montana with him. That’s about it.”
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  “And you and Elise are...friendly.” Ashford’s eyes flicked across Sean’s bare chest.

  His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

  Ashford tapped his pencil and licked his lips. “Elise Duran is the first victim of the Alphabet Killer. The case you just got pulled from.”

  “Yep.” Sean folded his arms. If this pip-squeak patrolman thought he could intimidate him with his leading questions, he needed to go back to the academy.

  “You haven’t been too busy to know he struck again, have you?”

  Elise gasped behind him. “Sean?”

  “Captain Williams notified me just before Russell showed up on my doorstep.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Elise creeping closer to him until he could feel the warmth of her presence on his skin.

  The cop’s face fell a little. Then he puffed out his chest again. “The two victims have last names beginning with C.”

  “Well, then I guess he’s working backward through the alphabet, isn’t he?”

  “Those victims were also missing their fingers.”

  Elise sobbed behind him, and Sean lunged for the cop, grabbing the shirt of his uniform. He breathed heavily in Ashford’s startled face. “You need to go back to school, son. That’s privileged information about this case. We’re not revealing that to the public.”

  Ashford wriggled out of Sean’s grasp and stumbled backward off the porch. His face reddened and he blustered, “I’m reporting you, Brody. I may even have you arrested for assaulting a police officer. You detectives think you’re something special. You’re special, all right. You’re neck deep with the Alphabet Killer. Hell, you may even be him. A killer—just like your old man.”

  Sean’s eye twitched and his muscles coiled. He felt Elise’s warm hand pressed against the small of his back.

  He tilted his head back and forth to crack his neck, and then he said, “Whatever.”

  Turning his back on Ashford, his mouth still gaping, Sean took Elise’s arm and pulled her into the house.

  “Don’t listen to him, Sean.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, and his house never felt like such a home before.