by Sandra Owens
“I came back to the building one evening after I got off work and found him. He was barely alive, and all the kids had split, afraid of sticking around for the cops to come. Not one of them, the ones he considered his friends, cared enough to get help. Since I didn’t have a phone, I ran down the street until I found a cop, but it was too late. When we got back to the building, Reed was taking his last breaths and I held him while he died.” She swiped at the tears. Hadn’t she already cried an ocean of tears for the boy she’d loved and lost? How did she even have any left to shed for him?
“What happened to you?”
“I got sent back to Florida, back into the hands of Protective Services. Honestly, I didn’t care anymore what they did with me. But a funny thing happened. They finally got something right when they put me in Pat and John Haywood’s home. I wasn’t a fun kid to be around, but they turned out to be more stubborn than me. They were my salvation.”
Cody caught Riley’s hand and pulled her between his legs. She lifted the edges of the blanket and wrapped it around them, resting her face against his chest. Her story had just about ripped out his heart, and he was in awe of what she had made of herself considering what and where she’d come from. If she could recover from a life gone wrong, how could he do any less? From her, he took the determination to deal with what he faced.
“I’m sorry he died, darlin’.” He kissed the top of her head. “But I’ll say it again, he made the choice to take the road he did.”
“I can’t argue with that, but I’ll always live with knowing that if he’d never met me, he would be alive today and happy.”
“You can’t know that either. Maybe he would be, or maybe he would have found his way to drugs some other way.” When she shivered, he slid off the railing. “Don’t move.” He grabbed his guitar, putting it inside before locking his front door. “I think we’ve bared our souls enough for one night, don’t you?”
She nodded, and the tears glistening on her cheeks tore at his heart. No sixteen-year-old should have experienced what she had. Hell, no child should have to live a life like hers—in and out of foster homes, an abandoned, unwanted little girl. He didn’t think she had any idea just how strong and determined her character was. How beautiful she was.
Although he’d never understood his parents, or they him, he’d appreciated that they’d loved him, even if it was in their own way. They would never be different from who they were, would never understand the man he was, but that no longer mattered. He was blessed to have them.
Riley pulled the bottom of the blanket up around her waist, and they walked to her house, hand in hand. Not a man who had ever wanted a long-term relationship before, he now wanted one with her. Considering they’d yet to make love, his coming at this relationship with Riley from a friends-first angle was novel.
When they stepped inside her house, she dropped the blanket. Taking his hand, she led him to her bedroom. He kicked the door closed behind them to keep out nosy critters.
By unspoken agreement, they didn’t speak. Maybe they’d talked themselves out. He didn’t know, only knew that words weren’t needed between them to understand what this night meant.
He was all for a little rough sex when his partner was of a like mind, but this brave, beautiful woman standing in front of him with warmth in her eyes meant just for him had not had an easy life. On this night of confessions, he wanted to worship her, wanted her to know that the world was sometimes soft and tender, even though she’d never known such a thing. Maybe she had with her Reed in the beginning, but he’d ended up abusing the love she had for him.
Cody cradled her face with his hands, leaned down, and brushed his lips over hers. Her eyes slid closed, and he smiled against her mouth. Although they’d kissed before, tonight felt like a new beginning, a chance to touch something magical. He moved behind her and flattened his palms on her shoulders, then with the barest of touches, slid his hands down her arms, lacing their fingers together when he’d reached her hands. As he did that, he nibbled on her earlobe. Goosebumps rose on her skin, and he felt a shudder travel through her.
Letting go of her hands, he gathered her long hair and moved it over her shoulder to trail down the front of her. Her neck exposed, he swept his tongue over her skin, eliciting more shudders from her. She was responsive to his every touch, and he wanted to bury himself in her heat right then, but tonight was for her. To show her that she was special, because he didn’t think she knew that.
He reached for the hem of her top, and pulled it up. She lifted her arms, and he tossed the shirt onto a chair. There were still no words spoken between them, and he didn’t want any. The skin under his palms as he slid them down her back—tracing the curve of her spine—was silky smooth. Waves of shivers rippled through her when he danced his fingers up her ribs. She leaned against him, and he rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes.
Using his sense of touch, of smell as he inhaled the essence that was Riley, and of sound—listening to her little gasps of breaths—he knew nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing but her. When his thumbs scraped under the soft flesh of her breasts, she made a little humming sound that had him throbbing with desire. He pressed his erection against her bottom, letting her know how much he wanted her.
But not yet. There was more to learn about her. He shed his shirt, needing to feel her, skin to skin. With her back against his chest again, he cupped her breasts, and flicked his thumbs over her nipples.
“Oooh,” she murmured.
He would allow her that one word tonight. While he played with her breasts, he pressed his mouth to her neck and sucked, marking her as his. She lowered her hands, digging her fingers into his thighs when he gave her nipples a light pinch. Cody licked the red, irritated skin on her neck, soothing it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt the need to mark a woman, if he even ever had.
Still standing behind her, he slid one hand under the waistband of her silk pajama bottoms. He cupped her mound, and just held his hand there, feeling her heat. She tilted her head, looking up at him with eyes darkened by desire, and he covered her mouth with his. Keeping his hand cupped over her, he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips, urging her to open for him. When she let him in, their tongues sought out each other, tangling in a demanding dance.
He could no longer keep his hand still, and he slipped a finger into her slick heat. She was so damn wet for him. There was something hot about both of them bare from the waist up, but clothed from the waist down. Half their bodies touched skin to skin, while the friction of the material separating their lower halves created a kind of pleasurable pain.
Finding her sweet spot, he toyed with her until her breaths were coming fast. When she came, it was as if her legs gave out, and he held her close until he was sure she would remain upright. He moved to stand in front of her, and when she opened her mouth, he put a finger over her lips, shaking his head. All that existed in her bedroom this night was the two of them. They didn’t need words.
Understanding entered her eyes, and she lifted on her toes and kissed him. He didn’t know why he wanted it this way, had never cared before how much a woman talked, but the quiet between Riley and him seemed . . . spiritual. Yes, that was the right word. She brought her hands up, cradling his face as she kissed him, and he covered her hands with his. The kiss started as gentle, but quickly became intense. He wanted to devour her, wanted her to climb into his skin and live there.
Was that love? He didn’t know. All he did know was that she calmed him, that he desired her like no other, and that he couldn’t imagine ever tiring of her. With her, he felt complete. Because of her, he was determined to conquer his demons. She didn’t know it yet, but he was hers for as long as she would have him.
She lowered her hands to the button on his jeans, and he inched away, giving her room for her task. He’d gone commando after his shower, and decided he’d best take over the job of unzipping the jeans, considering he was already about to pop out of them. The tho
ught of getting caught in the zipper made him want to squeeze his legs closed. He took out the condoms he’d put in his pocket, then pushed his pants over his hips, chuckling when Riley’s eyes widened at the sight of him.
She had mentioned that she hadn’t been with anyone since starting her clinic. He knew she’d been with the boy she’d loved, and he assumed there had been college boyfriends. But those were boys, and he would be her first man. He liked that.
After kicking his jeans to the side, he lifted Riley in his arms and carried her to the bed, dropping the condom packs on the bedside table. The lamp was on its brightest setting, and he dimmed it. Her gaze roamed over him when he knelt beside her, and he hoped she liked what she saw. She reached up and traced the Trident tat—an eagle clutching a U.S. Navy anchor, a trident, and a flintlock pistol—on his upper arm. He’d been proud when he’d made it through BUD/S, the SEAL training school. Only two hundred or so sailors out of a thousand made it through the rigorous course each year, and the first thing he’d done when he had was to get the tattoo.
Her eyes lifted to his when he pulled her pajama bottoms down. Every time she looked at him with those soft, desire-darkened eyes, he felt caught up in something he’d never known before, something magical, and he couldn’t tear his gaze away.
The yellow glow of the lamp fell on her hair, spread out over the pillow, making the red and gold highlights shimmer. He wondered what she’d think if he told her that her hair reminded him of a German shepherd’s coat. Coming from him, that was a high compliment, but he thought it wise to save that piece of info for some other time. It amused him, though, and a smile slipped out. To keep her from wondering what he was thinking, he kissed her. He’d been wanting to do that, anyway.
It was almost scary how attuned they were to each other without words between them. He hadn’t been searching for the one, and maybe there was something in the water at K2. He no longer cared why Riley had walked into his life at a time when he’d thought he least needed that to happen, only that she had.
Without breaking the kiss, he stretched out alongside her, and because his fingers were itching to touch her, he allowed them free rein to roam. She sighed into his mouth when his hands slid over her skin, and she arched into his palm when he cupped a breast. It had been much too long since he’d been with a woman, and this one, Christ, this one brought him to the edge of losing control.
There were so many things he wanted to do with her, and he would, but if he wasn’t inside her in the next minute, he was going to embarrass himself. He reached for a condom, tore it open, and rose to his knees. It was a turn-on watching her watch him put it on, and although it seemed an impossible feat, he grew even harder.
Moving between her legs, he put his hands on the insides of her thighs, caressing his thumbs over her flesh, a little surprised at how firm her legs were. But she was a runner, so she would be fit, another thing he liked about her. He pushed her knees farther apart, and took himself in hand, rubbing the tip over her, teasing her. She moaned, and he could take no more. In teasing her, he was torturing himself. He slid into her, pausing to let her get used to him, moaning at how hot and wet she was.
The discipline he’d learned as a SEAL was the only thing keeping him from going caveman and pounding into her with the insatiable lust of a beast. He had the feeling she could take that side of him, and they’d get around to crazy monkey sex soon enough. Tonight, though, he wanted gentle and tender, not only for her, but for himself. That was a first. He didn’t do tender. Not until Riley, anyway.
When her eyes slid closed and she pressed her head back into the pillow, he covered her mouth with his, swallowing the little noises she made. She hooked her ankles behind him and dug her heels into his ass. Her hands were all over him, as if she wanted to touch and know each part of him. His SEAL discipline failed him. He grunted, giving into his need for her.
Sounds of sex filled the air, and he didn’t want it to end, wanted to listen all night to their bodies slapping against each other and the mix of their harsh breaths. She squeezed her core muscles around him as her climax hit, and he hissed when the pressure that had built up in his lower back and groin gave way. As he sucked in air, he wondered if his entire insides were pouring out.
“Riley,” he rasped. He fell over her, catching himself on his elbows, and stared down at her. What was it about this woman that had him thinking of forevers?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Riley pressed a hand over her stomach in an attempt to calm the butterflies taking flight. She looked out the window of Cody’s truck, watching as the houses became grander the nearer to the beach they got. Although she’d met his K2 friends, other than Maria, she didn’t know any of their wives or girlfriends. In her entire adult life, she’d never attended a party with a group of grown-up couples.
As if making a good impression on his friends wasn’t enough to worry about, she wished she hadn’t let Cody talk her into wearing jeans. Wouldn’t a blouse paired with a skirt or slacks be more appropriate for a dinner party at a rich man’s house? She hoped Cody was right when he swore everyone would dress casual. She’d decided on a pair of black skinny jeans with a deep green turtleneck sweater, and black, flat-heeled boots. She’d left her hair down at Cody’s request, and her only jewelry was large hoop earrings.
At least he’d been impressed, if his wolf whistle when he’d come to her door to collect her was any indication. Did it matter what anyone else thought? He looked pretty darn hot himself wearing a pair of blue jeans that hugged his hips and a black turtleneck sweater.
“Did you find anything unusual this morning when you went through the files?”
Jerked away from her thoughts on how sexy her boyfriend looked—had they reached boyfriend-girlfriend status?—she glanced at Cody. Unable to help herself, she reached over and ran her palm over his stubble, her stomach fluttering when he leaned his face into her hand. “I love that day-old beard look on you. Makes you appear dangerous.”
He smiled, showing his sexy dimple. “But never to you, darlin’.”
No, he never would be to her. They’d made love last night, dozed off, made love again, slept some, and made love again. He’d stayed in her bed, waking up next to her this morning. But she’d had to beg him to not move to the couch, and she knew he hadn’t allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep. Her hope was that when he stayed over, she could eventually prove to him that even if he had a nightmare, he would never hurt her, even subconsciously.
“To answer your question, no, nothing struck me. I went through all the files from the first day I opened the clinic. Yes, I’ve had pets that I couldn’t save for one reason or another, but I just can’t see any of those owners gunning for me.”
“Damn, I was hoping we’d get some kind of lead. There was nothing unusual at all?”
She shrugged. “There was one thing, but the owner doesn’t fit the profile we got.” He raised a brow, and she laughed. “You do that so well.”
“What’s that?”
“That brow-raising thing men do.”
“Ah, that. We’re born with the talent.” He took her hand and put it on his thigh. “So what’s the unusual thing?”
“We accidently sent the wrong dog to be cremated.” Both of Cody’s brows rose, making her giggle. He grinned and waggled them. As each day passed that she spent with him, he seemed to grow happier, lighter in heart. She liked to think she had something to do with that.
“I felt so awful about it. It was Brooke’s first day, and we had two dogs die, one from old age, and the other from liver cancer. I had to euthanize both. The owner of the dog that was old wanted him cremated. The other owner wanted to take his dog home to bury him. He also accused me of not doing enough to cure the animal. Anyway, Brooke got the dogs mixed up. The man who wanted to take his dog home was furious about the mistake.”
“Let me guess. You took the blame, didn’t tell him it was Brooke who screwed up?”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to throw
her to the wolves. It was an honest mistake, and believe me, she learned from it.”
“Was he married, the man who was mad?”
“I have no idea. He never had a woman with him, and we only get contact information from the owners. All our records are about the animals. I did check, but he didn’t list anyone else as a contact.”
“I agree he doesn’t fit the profile, but tomorrow, let’s go to the clinic and get the phone number. Call it, see who answers.”
She should have thought of doing that today. “We don’t have to. I can access the clinic files from my home computer. The profile could also be wrong, couldn’t it?”
“There’s always that possibility, but Kincaid said the profiler had never been wrong, that he knew of.”
“I just want to find Pelli. It’s killing me wondering if he’s okay.” She blinked against the burning in her eyes. She wanted her baby.
He covered her hand where it rested on his leg with his. “I know, and we’ll find him.”
And he sounded so sure that she believed him. Otherwise she’d fall apart. He turned onto a long cobblestone driveway where other cars were already parked along the sides, and her mouth fell open at seeing the huge two-story house.
“Wow,” she muttered.
“Yeah, kind of amazing, isn’t it? I’ve only been here once, but I can tell you that you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
The house was about twelve feet off the ground, built like that because of hurricanes, with a four-car garage under it. A wide set of stairs with what looked like polished, dark mahogany rails led up to a double front door. It had a beautiful, weathered copper roof, and ocean-blue shutters framed the oversized windows. The yard was covered in pale rose gravel, and the plants were palm trees, beach grasses, and succulents.
“Wow,” she said again, not being able to think of another word good enough for what she was seeing. Cody laughed and bumped against her arm. She grinned up at him. “If my mouth falls open when I get inside, kick me.”
