by Tatum, Clare
She poured herself a cup and turned to him. “Yeah, but he was at the SWAT standoff at the house yesterday long before any other reporters.”
Something about this guy was eating at her.
“What is it, Lainey?”
She shrugged, looking vacantly at the cabinets. “I don’t know. Just the last couple of weeks something about him has been bugging me.”
He waited.
“He says the most offensively callous things about some shooting victims, like he’s glad they got it. Like they deserve it.” Her mouth twisted with distaste.
But a lot of people felt that way, even if they wouldn’t say it out loud.
Drug dealers getting blown away was no cause for tears. Robbers getting shot by the store owner they tried to rob was cause for open celebration by many people.
“He has the gun that shot several of our victims lately.” Her eyes rounded in emphasis. “He has the murder weapon in his possession.”
“Or so he would have us believe.”
“He showed it on TV,” she countered.
He took a sip of coffee, trying to ignore her standing so close, within touching distance. “I’ve gotten so absorbed with these kidnappings that when he said that it went right under my radar.”
She nodded. “Ordinarily, you and I would have been over there immediately, interrogating him, taking the gun into possession.”
“That’s for damn sure. And the police chief and the mayor would have been breathing down our backs.”
She looked at him in amazement. “But,” she held out an open hand, “nothing.”
“It went right under the radar with everyone, because everyone was so obsessed with the kidnappings of the banker’s and the mayor’s kids.”
“But he got it out there.” She sat her cup down and began to pace, pivoting back to look at him. “He got the information out there, so if it ever came up in court, he could say in his defense, ‘I went on TV with the information and the cops did nothing’.”
Her eyes rounded. “You don’t think possibly that he’s been killing people.”
He laughed roughly, the sound almost hurting as it came out, as if something true had been ripped from his gut. “Making his own news? Well, there was that guy down in Central America who arranged hits so his station could be the first with the exclusive.”
“Oh my Lord.” The words gushed out of her. “You don’t think? He was so dismissive of Skin being killed, knew that there were two guys in that drug house, knew about the demands for the furloughs to end before we hardly knew it, and he was first at the SWAT situation.”
He laughed with disbelief. But could it be true? “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is a theory. One theory out of about a hundred we may have to come up with to solve this thing.”
Just then her phone chirped. She pulled it out of her pocket, reading a text message.
Her face went pale.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “What?”
“It’s him.” She turned the face of the phone to him so that he could read the text.
I want Moseman.
Chapter Seventeen
“Why you? Why does he need you to bring Moseman to him?” Suddenly, that seemed the most important question.
She looked at him with terror stricken eyes. Damn, he wanted to kill this guy for putting that expression on her face.
He reached for her, pulling her into his embrace, and wrapped his arms around her, determined to keep her safe. “We’re in this together, Lainey. I will not let anything happen to you.”
She leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his back, seeming to cling to his strength, wanting to believe.
Then, she sucked in a deep breath and pulled away. “Why me?” She looked at him. “That is a good question. Why me?”
She turned to pace, running her hand along the kitchen counter before turning back to look at him.
“This guy can get the mayor’s daughter, a rich man’s child and my little sister. But he can’t get to a bum like Sean Moseman. A guy who wanders the streets drunk.”
“If he really wanted him…”
“He could gun him down in the middle of the night and walk away with very little interest from anyone.” She tapped the counter.
Brice raised a shoulder. “The police wouldn’t make it a priority to investigate Sean Moseman’s murder. The public would say that guy who killed that pretty woman got what he deserved.”
“He could get away with it clean, if he wanted to kill Moseman.” She shuddered as if the cold intent of an evil man pierced through to her soul.
He started to reach for her but she raised a hand, warding him off. As if she didn’t want to succumb to the fear.
She was a fighter. What every cop liked to see in his allies when he was on the hunt for the bad guys.
“Everything this guy does seems to be done according to some bigger agenda. Why not this too?” She looked at him.
“So, what does he want?” God, he didn’t want to think it, much less say it.
“He wants me.”
Then, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for her. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. This maniac would not get her.
God, he wanted her safe in his arms forever. He would kill anyone who tried to hurt her.
He held her there for a long moment until she pulled away ever so slightly.
He had to force himself to let her go.
Slowly, she leaned back and looked into his eyes. He didn’t see fear there, he saw…
Was it desire? He met her gaze and heat flamed in her eyes. It fired a response that spiraled throughout his body.
Leaning into her, he felt no resistance. Softly, he brushed his lips across hers and she met the contact with a soft whispering breath of yes. Then, he took her mouth with a ferocity. A ferocity born of fear for her.
He wanted to connect with her, hold her close, prevent anything bad from happening to her. It started that way.
Then, the kiss became so much more.
He had to have her. Underneath him and now.
All the passion and emotion of the last couple of days exploded between them in a kinetic reaction, as if their touch ignited and released it in each other.
“God, I want you,” she said with naked emotion.
He looked down into her eyes and saw desire shimmering on her face.
Then, he couldn’t have stopped himself if the SWAT team were bashing in the front door. A bullhorn wouldn’t have penetrated his senses.
Because all his sensory receptors were inundated with her—her scent, how she sounded when he kissed her, how she looked. And the image in his head of what he wanted to do with her.
He slipped one hand underneath her knees, scooping her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.
He grabbed the cover with the same hand that held her knees and pulled it down quickly.
Then, he deposited her on the bed.
Stepping back, he took a second to take in the picture of Lainey lying in her own bed, soft, cotton sheets cocooning her in a white nest.
Her buttoned shirt gapped at the top, giving him a glimpse of her breasts. A fierce pulse of desire centered itself in his groin.
She reached for him and he went to her, sliding onto the bed, taking her in his arms.
A crazed need filled her eyes, and it was all he could do not to instantly rip off her clothes.
But he held himself back for a moment, pulling her to him, fitting her body to his. Their bodies melded to each other, seeming to be made of the same material, molten, hot, each wanting the other’s body.
She reached for him and in a long fluid kiss communicated to him just how much she wanted him.
Without breaking the kiss, he began undressing her, first unbuttoning her shirt, then unzipping her pants.
As if it belonged there, his hand slid down into the front of her pants, fitting into place there at her center.
Her head fell back, her eyes closed a
s she savored the intimate contact.
He watched her expression as he touched her, the small sounds coming from her mouth encouraging him in the stroking.
Finally, when he felt like he was about to explode, he pulled her pants down over her hips to her ankles.
She opened her eyes to kick them off, then reached for his shirt.
Unbuttoning it, she looked up into his eyes. Her passion stoked his into a fire that burned higher and higher.
He’d never desired anyone this much in his entire life.
“I want you,” she breathed in a husky voice.
“You got me.” He was barely able to force out the words.
“I mean now.” She rolled over him, the weight of her body on his exquisite torture. But she got up and crossed to the bureau. “Julie bought me these.” She pulled a small, unopened box of condoms out of the drawer.
He couldn’t help laughing.
“I found them in there one day and she said she hated the thought of me becoming a nun. That I needed a man.”
He laughed huskily. “My appreciation of that little girl grows every day.” He didn’t mention that he’d begun carrying something himself, on some level anticipating this moment, although he hadn’t expected it to really happen. “Now, please, no more talk of little girls.”
Her blue eyes turned dark with passion, almost an indigo.
She walked to the bed, opening the cellophane wrapper around the box of condoms. She slid onto the bed and opened a small foil envelope and took out a condom.
He quickly slid out of his jeans and she put the condom on him.
God, no one had ever done anything that excited him more. Just her hands on him drove him crazy.
He had to have her now.
Pulling her underneath him, he slid his hand down between them, stroking her until her head dropped back.
Then, he entered her slowly, taking his time, although it almost killed him. Because he wanted nothing more than to just pound into her.
But he took it slow, building along with her sounds until he knew she was ready. Then, he set a quick rhythm that flowed into a quicker pace.
They moved together, their hands encouraging the other. Everything in them focused intently on the joining of their two bodies into one molten force of nature.
Finally, Lainey clutched at him with her body, her arms, her hands. Every muscle in her body held him as close as possible.
She shuddered and clung to him until her breathing formed a hormonal haze that swirled with satisfaction.
Still, he held himself back, waiting until she relaxed a bit, then finally, he went with his own desire.
He moved into her, stroking in and out with a quickening pace, feeling her inner muscles holding onto him.
Inside of Lainey Thomas was where he belonged. There was nothing else in the world that mattered at that moment except her body and what it was doing to him.
He tried to hold himself back, to make the moment last as long as possible.
But, finally, his mind exploded in a moment of unforgettable release. He levered himself into the cradle of her hips, taking all the sensation that her body could give his.
* * *
The first thing he thought when he could think again was he had to find the guy who was threatening Lainey.
Somewhere inside, he knew losing Lainey would be much more devastating even than losing his wife and daughter. Losing daily contact with his daughter had nearly destroyed him and loss of his wife had hurt. Hurt his heart and his pride.
It had shaken apart his whole world and the future he’d seen lain out before him for the next twenty years.
A decade with a daughter in the house, nightly dinners and special occasions. Then, the rest of his life living with the mother of his child in Maddie’s childhood home where she’d always return for visits.
He’d survived the loss of his family. But, already, he knew that losing Lainey would shatter the soul he’d managed to piece back together after his wife had taken his child and left him for another man.
But, he wasn’t about to let that happen.
The man who was a threat to her, and who terrorized little girls was scum. There weren’t words to describe how low the guy was.
Well, he was getting ready to have to deal with a man. See how tough he was then.
He would grind that guy down into the dirt. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he was going do to him.
Lainey was tough. She’d always been cool and wisecracking when he’d dealt with her before this event. The only time he’d ever seen a chink in her toughness before her sister was kidnapped was after they’d had to tell the judge they were dropping the charges against Moseman, that the lynch pin in their case had a defect.
Even then, and later when she was distraught over her sister, she’d presented more of a warrior façade than that of a victim. He was attracted to everything about her, physically as well as character wise.
But, what the hell was he doing?
Suddenly, he saw himself as if from afar. As a cop, getting involved with someone who was at the center of this situation? She was the sister of a kidnapping victim and possibly the next target.
He should be protecting Lainey and her sister, rather than climbing into bed with Lainey. What sort of a cop did that?
Lainey ran her hand across his stomach. And cuddled up to his side. Instinctively, he pulled her closer, although his mind was telling him not to, for several reasons.
“You know what we need to do?” she said.
He felt an instant physical reaction to her touch as well as the question.
“Go talk to John Canton,” she said.
Damn, she shouldn’t have touched him like that just before she said that.
Talking to Canton would have to wait just a while longer. Because he wanted inside of her, again.
But she sat up quickly, as if she were unaware of what he’d been seconds away from doing to her.
She flipped her legs off the bed and got up. Pulling a robe around herself, she walked into the bathroom that was just off her bedroom and started the shower.
That would work. She dropped the robe, giving him a quick glimpse of her rear before she stepped into the shower. He followed her into the bathroom and pulled back the shower curtain.
He took a second to take it in, her body, with all its curves, with those long, lean legs.
She turned to look at him with a little smile. “Dirty thoughts?” she asked wryly.
Hell yeah, his body answered. Against his better judgment.
Chapter Eighteen
Lainey ran her hand through her still damp hair, fluffing it, then she hit the remote control for the television. “Let’s see where John Canton is right now. Five minutes till the noon show.” She flipped the channel to the station he reported for.
“He likes to top the news so a tease at the top of the show will tell us where he is and we’ll head right over to where he’s reporting from and be there almost before he’s done his news report.”
Brice laughed. “Sounds like you know a bit about television news.”
Lainey shrugged. “My little sister is a news monster, always checking to see if I’m on it. She’s started using the lingo and I’ve picked it up. Tease. Throwback to the station.”
She looked at her watch. “As a matter of fact, I bet she’s already been watching television and can tell us where they’ve teased him as being.”
She picked up her cell phone. “Oh, I forgot she doesn’t have her cell phone.”
The phone had never been retrieved from the kidnapper. Somewhere out there, a monster was roaming around, with Julie’s phone in his pocket.
Wouldn’t that be sweet if they found the guy with the phone still in his possession?
Try defending that to a jury.
“You can call her at my parent’s house.” Brice pulled the number up on his cell and started to hit connect.
“No, let me call it so I’ll have it in my ce
ll phone.”
He showed it to her and she dialed it. After a short ring, someone answered.
“Hey Mrs. Brice, it’s Lainey. Thank you so much for taking care of Julie. I hope it’s going to be just for a bit. Is Julie around?” She smiled at something his mom said before putting Julie on.
“Hey Julie. You watching the news?” She smiled knowingly. “I thought so. Where is John Canton reporting from? Have they teased his story yet?”
She listened and nodded. “I thought you’d know where he was. You doing all right?”
She listened, her face tender. She probably didn’t even know her expression changed so much when she talked to or looked at her little sister.
“Okay. Call me whenever you want.”
She hung up after another thirty seconds of chatting.
Brice rolled up his sleeves, looking away at the television as the station’s logo came up below the face of an anchor.
“Coming up, we’ll go to John Canton outside police headquarters as the chief responds to allegations of mismanagement of evidence in one of Atlanta’s recent high profile murders.”
“Let’s go.” He tilted his head at the door and Lainey grabbed her purse, her face intent.
They pulled up at Police Headquarters just as Canton’s crew was breaking down from his live shot.
At quarter after noon, cops and civilian employees were streaming out of the headquarters building, heading to the various lunch spots around the downtown area, intent on getting fed. Relaxed, joking and trying to decide on a meat-and-three-vegetables place or a sandwich shop.
For just a moment, Lainey envied them their easy choice.
Her choice right now was whether to lay it on the line with Canton or play cat and mouse, seeing what he’d give up.
Canton looked toward them and his eyebrows lifted in fake surprise. He was expecting them. A little shiver of animal awareness swept through her, a dart of fear.
Not only was justice at stake here, but also Julie’s safety.
