A large hand clamped on one buttock. An arm encircled her, fingers pressing against her lower abdomen as he moved in behind her. His face nuzzled the corner of her shoulder. Then his teeth bit her lobe, tugging it before he nipped the tender skin of her neck, causing her to gasp and her knees to weaken. She sagged against him, her bottom jutting to rub against the thick, hard ridge.
He peeled away her clothes, licking and nipping at everything he bared. When she was nude, he pushed her toward the bed.
She stumbled, falling onto the mattress. His strong hands gripped her waist and shoved her toward the center. Before she could get her knees beneath her, he was on top of her. His boxers gone. His cock nudging her backside, his hands pushing apart her legs.
He entered her from behind, not the deep thrust she craved, but his rutting movements, churning cream, warmed her from the inside out. His weight sank her deep into the mattress.
Her breaths were shallow, kittenish pants.
He surrounded her with his size, his musky scent, his strength. But then he withdrew, and again, his hands were shaping her, forcing her bottom up, her chest against a soft cotton comforter.
Fingers traced the length of her slit, drawing more moisture to coat the digits before sinking into her. His mouth pressed a single kiss against her bottom. When he began to pump his thick digits inside her, she wanted to say it wasn’t enough, opened her mouth to voice her complaint, but then a swat landed on her skin—sharp, stinging.
Again, she gasped, pushed up on her arms, and aimed a glare over her shoulder.
Her eyes, having adjusted to a darkness relieved by a sliver of moonlight peeking through curtains, noted Sam kneeling behind her, his face tense. His eyes, though darkly hooded, glittered in the silvery light.
Lips quirked up on one side, he swung his free hand and gave her ass an underhanded slap that rocked her body. That one she’d feel in the morning.
He challenged her with his dark eyes, thrust his fingers deeper and swirled, his thumb coming into play to rasp over her hardening clit.
All thoughts about the inadequacy of his actions flew from her mind. Her bottom and swollen sex caught fire. She faced forward again, leaned down to press her chest against the bed, and gripped the covers to hold herself still for whatever he wanted. He’d swatted her in play before, but never as a punishment. She wondered how far he’d go to make his point. Thought maybe she’d enjoy it.
His fingers slid free. A wet clap landed on the other side of her bottom. The next swat caught her directly between the legs.
She groaned, dropping her forehead to rest on the covers, surrendering, because her sex swelled, enlivened by his sweet abuse.
When her bottom and her pussy burned, his hands gripped her buttocks hard, fingers digging into hot lovestung flesh. His cock butted against her sex and then drove inside.
Cait moaned, a sound that stretched and gusted with his powerful thrusts. The thickness cramming so fast and hard inside stretched her inner walls. His heavy balls smacked against her engorged clit, giving her exactly what she needed to begin her ascent. She inched apart her knees to let him stroke deeper, to allow his groin to spank against her intimate flesh. Friction and his sexy pounding lifted her higher.
But he pulled free—so abruptly, she cried out. He turned her, dragging her body beneath his, and entered her again. His hands slipped under her, cradled her butt, and then he was stroking again, his chest against hers, his sturdy frame rocking hard and unrelenting against hers.
Cait cupped his face and lifted her head, branding his mouth with a hot kiss, which he returned with feral satisfaction, rubbing his mouth hard against hers, driving his tongue inside to duel and subjugate her own.
Her hands slid around his neck. She drew up her knees and curled her hips. Each thrust pushed the air from her lungs until she grew dizzy, her sounds more desperate.
She splintered apart, a jagged flash exploding from her core to tremble through her body.
Sam growled, gripped her ass harder, and powered into her, setting her sailing over the peak and into a pitch-black darkness.
When his movements ebbed, she rubbed her face against his, kissed his hard jaw, his throat, catching a trickle of sweat with the curl of her tongue. He dropped down, his cock and large body pinning her to the mattress. For now, she was content to lie breathless beneath him.
As her body relaxed, she roamed her hands over his back, fingers sinking into the deep indent of his spine. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear.
His soft grunting response made her smile.
At last, he rolled them until they lay side by side, her thigh riding his hip to keep their bodies intimately locked together.
“We should sleep,” he said, his voice already slurring with fatigue.
Nestled against his chest, for once she offered no argument.
The jarring sound of the phone ringing woke them both. Cursing, Sam reached out and slapped his nightstand, finding his iPhone.
Cait groaned and rolled to her back to watch as he tapped the screen. They’d gotten maybe three hours of sleep. Still, she was wide awake, felt a frisson of expectancy that something significant had happened.
“Pierce.”
“Get your ass down to the station,” came Leland’s gruff bark, loud enough she heard. “Reyes is here and wants to talk to the two of you.”
“Be there in thirty,” Sam said and ended the call. He rolled toward her.
Cait leaned up on an elbow.
“You hear that?” he asked, his voice rough as gravel.
“Yeah, sounds like we better hurry.”
They rushed through a shower, conserving water and time, and then headed straight to interrogation.
Leland was waiting in the hallway. “Reyes is in there.” He jerked a thumb toward the door. “And he didn’t lawyer up.” His lips curled in a snarl. “By the looks of him, he might be workin’ on an insanity plea.” He reached out and opened the door but didn’t bother following them in.
When Cait passed him, Leland leaned close. “You do something to him? I don’t care if you did. Man’s a dirt bag, but he doesn’t look right.”
“And your first thought was that I’m somehow to blame?”
“I’d be impressed.”
Really? She narrowed her gaze.
Sam’s lips twitched.
When she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, she saw what Leland meant.
Sam took the chair opposite Reyes, whose hair stuck up in oily spikes and whose beady eyes were so wide, the whites showed.
More surprising to Cait was who stood behind him. She lifted her chin in a silent greeting to Sylvia, whose red-markered lips were stretched with a wide smile.
Cait took the chair beside Sam’s, aimed a glance toward the camera in the corner of the ceiling, and then settled her full attention on Oscar.
A cup of coffee sat in front of him, and he stared at it, his expression a little wild.
“Oscar,” Sam said, drawing the anxious man’s attention. “The officers read you your rights. Whatever you say now can be used against you. Do you understand?”
Oscar, all bravado gone, nodded, the movement jerking.
“You have something you want to say to me?”
Tears filled Oscar’s eyes, and he began to sob—deep, wrenching cries that made Cait cringe because they were so opposed to his previous arrogant display.
“She won’t leave me alone. The fucking bitch is haunting me.”
Sylvia’s dark eyes narrowed, and she leaned around Oscar. She pointed a finger and then stared at the cup. When she touched it, the cup moved an inch toward him.
Oscar cried out and scooted back his chair. “You see that?”
Sam gave no indication he’d seen the cup move.
Cait had to fight the urge to look in Sylvia’s direction. Instead, she intently watched Oscar Reyes’s shot nerves fray.
“She’s haunting me. Everywhere. Moving things. Writing on mirrors and windows. ‘Confess, con
fess,’ she says. The bitch knows.”
Sylvia pushed the cup into his lap, and Oscar leapt from his chair, shouting before curling into a fetal position in one corner of the room. “I spoke with a dude at the Deluxe,” he whispered, not lifting his head. “Said he’d take care of my whore of a wife. Said he was in the business of taking out whores. He got me drunk. Got me to agree. Then I gave him my wife’s Match.com password. She didn’t know I knew she had an account. She was flirting with other men online.” His face rose to meet Sam’s steady stare. “What was I supposed to do?”
Sylvia stood next to him, one hip hitched forward, her arms crossed under her ample breasts. “Joo a loser, Oscar. An idiota! Now joo gonna go to jail. Ha!”
Cait kept a straight face, but just barely. The man cowered like a whipped puppy.
Sylvia was on fire, flipping her hair behind her shoulder and doing a little victory dance in her pink heels. She shot a glance at Cait. “That enough to get him?”
“Oscar,” Cait said loudly to break through another round of loud sobs. “Who was the man who approached you?”
Oscar sniffed. “Some fireman at the Union Street station. Eddie.”
She winked at Sylvia and then angled her body toward Sam.
He hadn’t written a word in his notebook. Nor had he clicked the end of the Nick the Plumber pen. “Eddie,” he said, giving her a glare.
Cait raised her shoulder. “He seemed like such a nice guy.”
His gaze smoldered, so she moved around on her chair until she felt a twinge, and let him see it.
His lips curved. “Guess we’re done here,” he said, his gaze locking with hers. “Back to the hotel?”
Her breath left in a whoosh. She hadn’t expected him to cave that easily, and gave him a nod.
“I’d like to see the recording your buddies from Reel PIs have.”
Leland met them in the hallway as uniforms led Oscar away to booking. “Strange shit. Can’t edit that tape since it’s evidence.”
Cait cleared her throat. “His knees were bumping the bottom of the table. Scared himself silly. Guilty conscience got to him, I guess.”
Leland glared but gave her a nod. “Yeah. That’s the way I saw it too.”
Sylvia fluttered her fingers from behind Leland’s back, trying to get her attention.
Cait scratched her head. “I’m gonna hit the restroom. Be right back.”
Once inside the ladies’ room, she quickly searched the stalls to ensure privacy before rounding on Sylvia. “That was some trick.”
“Joor daddy showed me how. Said pure emotion can make it happen. Since I purely hate Oscar, piece o’ cake,” she said, snapping her fingers.
“You plan on sticking around here? Torture him some more?”
Sylvia shook her head. “I’ll be around. For when joo figure out how to send me back. Joor daddy said hi too. Says joo know where to find him if joo need to talk.” She yawned. “Need to rest. Payback takes a lot out of joo.”
In Sam’s car, heading to the hotel, Cait gave Sam the rundown of what had happened with Oscar.
Sam’s gaze didn’t leave the road, but the corner of his mouth twitched. “Too bad we can’t put her on retainer.”
They parked on the street in front of the hotel and got out of the car.
Cait cocked her head, listening but hearing no whispers. She glanced up at the dumpy place. Old glass, yellowed, and in need of a good exterior cleaning. The marquee sign with its missing letters. Would anyone miss this place if it did burn to the ground? And how could she manage the destruction without ending up in prison herself, or getting someone hurt? There had to be another way.
“Nervous?”
“Of going inside?” She shook her head. “Just worried about how this will all end.”
“Can’t torch the place, if that’s what you’re thinking.” His gaze rose as well. “Not that anyone would miss this dump.”
Cait smiled. In some ways, they were on the same page. More alike than not, if she thought about it. They were both mulishly stubborn. Both kept their hearts cloaked behind brittle shields. And Sam had missed her every bit as much as she’d missed him during their long split.
The proof had been in the photographs. Even though they’d rushed through getting showered and dressed, with her climbing back into yesterday’s clothes because they didn’t have time to hit her apartment, she’d paused long enough to note the pictures. One of her on his nightstand, uncharacteristically smiling for the camera at her old desk in homicide. A picture of her and Sam, both wearing PD T-shirts at a family-day picnic. On Beale Street, standing under the red, white, and black Blues City Café sign. All happy moments. Always with a smile. Because they’d been so fleeting, she couldn’t remember the happy times as well as she could the sad.
Sam touched her elbow. “Look, you don’t have to come with me.”
Summoning a smile she didn’t feel, she met his questioning glance. “But then you couldn’t stay on my ass and make sure I don’t take rides in the elevator with demons.” She touched his sleeve. “You be careful too,” she added softly, then led the way inside.
Things were hopping. Two clerks staffed the front desk. New arrivals were being processed. Looked like business as usual. Odd in a place where numerous bodies had been dug out of the walls. Hadn’t these people read the newspapers?
Mr. Lewis, looking rested, his posture held straighter than on the previous days, walked toward them. “I need those rooms. We’re getting calls for bookings from as far away as California. Reservations. And they’re all requesting that floor. I’ve got repairmen lined up to fix the holes your people left as soon as you clear out.”
Cait eyed him, wondering if he was the demon. Then wondering why a demon couldn’t manage a more imposing figure.
“Sir, we’re working as fast as we can,” Sam said, his voice calm and firm.
Mr. Lewis’s gray brows bunched together over his faded eyes. “I’ve spoken to your director of police. He has assured me you’ll be out of here by tonight. There’s nothing more to be learned. You have your evidence. Your bodies.”
“Looks like all this fuss is good for business,” Cait murmured.
The old man’s glance was sharper than she expected, nearly making her take a step backward.
“Damn curiosity seekers. It’s all your fault. Letting that film crew up there. Staging that ridiculous display. It’s all over the Internet.”
Cait’s stomach dropped, wondering whether the crew had posted everything they had. She was particularly worried about the part where she appeared to be talking to herself. Leland wouldn’t be pleased because then he’d have to defend his decision to hire a crazy person.
Sam’s hand touched the small of her back, and he ushered her forward. “We’ll get back with you before we leave. Give you an estimate of how much longer we’ll be.”
“You do that,” Mr. Lewis called after them. “But don’t be surprised if the plug gets pulled for you.”
In the elevator, Sam shot her a glare. “Leland’s going to put that all on you.”
For a split second, Cait closed her eyes. “Don’t forget, you were there too. Right beside me, while I was talking to the air. You’re gonna look like you’re as big a flake as I am.”
“Dammit, Cait. Why didn’t you sit on those guys?”
Her teeth ground before she spoke. “Because you kicked me off the case.” But the erstwhile TV crew had been the least of her worries.
The door to the Reel PIs room was propped wide open.
Cait glanced inside to find the space teeming with black T-shirted dorks, the Reel PIs logo prominent on their chests.
Clayton gave her a cheerful wave. “We’re a hit,” he shouted over the din. “Discovery and The CW have called.”
At Cait’s frown, he rushed over. “Don’t worry, Cait. I edited bits. Just aired the part where we’re running down the hall, and the swirling vortex. Doesn’t mean I won’t want to interview you for that episode.”
&nb
sp; Cait didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or grimace. “Really think it’s going to happen? A TV show?”
“We’ve had more than three hundred thousand hits since we posted this morning. That was Mina’s idea. I didn’t want to give away anything until we had the clips edited. But she said what with the case making the major networks and the story plastered all over the newspapers, the time to strike was now.”
Sam’s hand clamped hard on one side of her hip. “I’m glad for you,” he growled. “But how the hell did all these folks get in here?”
Clayton waggled his eyebrows. “All crew members of Reel PIs, Inc., were cleared for admittance. These guys had to buy our T-shirts. Walked right past the cops.”
Cait and Sam shared a glance. She pressed her lips together to keep from congratulating him on his chutzpah.
Sam shook his head, a dire warning in his darkened glare. “I’d better check that hall. Make sure no one slipped past. We don’t want any more excitement.” His hand dropped from her side.
“What the hell is goin’ on here?” Leland’s voice rang imperiously from the doorway.
Cait pursed her lips. Shit was about to hit the fan. With an effort, she cleared her expression and turned.
His cheeks were florid, and both fists curled at his sides. “I want everyone out of here now!”
Sam went to the door, standing there as folks trailed out.
Cait indicated to Clayton that he, Booger, and Mina should stay put.
When the last of their fans exited, she faced Leland, schooling her expression and wincing inside.
He drew a deep breath, staring daggers straight at her. “It’s all over the damn Internet. Director’s on my ass to get this thing sewn up tight.” He turned to Sam. “You’re the one in charge here. How the hell did that footage get leaked?”
“It’s my fault. I didn’t confiscate their recordings.” A muscle in Sam’s jaw ticked.
Clayton cleared his throat. “Sir, we’re within our rights—”
Leland’s head swiveled sharply. “This is a goddamn crime scene. Already had an earful from the manager downstairs. Told him he’d get his hotel back when I was good and ready to release it.”
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