The Steve Williams Series Boxed Set

by J. E. Taylor

  * * * *

  Fury layered over his skin and Randy clenched his fists, controlling the urge to break everything in his path. He stopped in front of the sliding glass doors, staring out at the Statue of Liberty in the bay taking deep breaths to calm his fury.

  “Where were you this evening?”

  Randy looked at the reflection of the room behind him, zeroing in on Agent Williams. “Why are you here?”

  “I thought we should have a little chat.”

  “Carolyn didn’t call you?” he asked, turning to face the FBI agent.

  “No. I followed you upstairs and thought twice about knocking when I heard the start of the argument.”

  “So you just thought you’d eavesdrop and enter my house without a warrant?”

  “I have probable cause. You scared the shit out of your girlfriend and I’ve been assigned to protect her at all costs.”

  Randy refocused on the bay, Steve’s answer calming him a notch.

  “Now, back to my question. Where you were between eight and nine this evening?”

  “I was at the gym.”

  “Which gym?”

  “Equinox down on Wall Street.” Randy pulled out his wallet and took out the key card, tossing it to Steve. “You can check the times I swiped in and out. I’m sure they’ll remember me, especially since my clothes were stolen tonight.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Steve said and tucked the card into his pocket. “Why don’t you take a seat and we can have a talk while Carolyn packs.”

  Randy glanced at the hallway and the bedroom beyond and his heart plummeted into his stomach. Despite the anger throbbing in his temple, he really didn’t want her to leave.

  “You scared her, what’d you expect?” Steve said, taking a seat.

  Randy sent a glare his way. “Look, I tolerate her reading my mind, but you’ve got no right.”

  Steve leaned forward and met his glare with a stark penetrating stare. “Sit down.”

  Much to Randy’s surprise, his body responded to the command, crossing and taking a seat in the overstuffed chair opposite the federal agent.

  “Tell me what you are hiding.”

  Again, Randy had no control over his voice or the words that spilled out. “I helped my mother kill herself.” The admission rolled out as if he was talking about the next prudent stock purchase to an investor. “The cancer was eating away at her and she was in horrific pain and she didn’t want my father to have to stand by and watch her waste away to nothing. She didn’t want her last days to be like that and she asked me to help her with the morphine machine. She begged and I couldn’t say no.” A noise in the hallway pulled his attention away from Steve and he looked into Carolyn’s shocked stare. “I killed my mother,” he whispered.

  “Are you the Scarlet Psychopath?”

  Randy’s gaze shot to Steve. “No, I’m not, and I resent the question.” He felt the influence release and he glanced at Carolyn. “And I hate the fact that you still have doubts about me.” He blinked and glared at Steve. “What the hell did you just do?”

  “I’m just doing my job.”

  “Bull-fucking-shit. That felt like a hefty dose of truth serum so you could dig out my darkest secret just for shits and giggles.” Randy stood and turned away from both Steve and Carolyn. He shoved his hands into his pockets and returned to the spot in front of the window. “I didn’t kill those women and you didn’t have to dissect my past to figure that out.”

  “Yes. I did. And I will still follow up on your alibi because it’s my job,” Steve said and stood. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Randy waited until the door closed and then he turned to Carolyn. “Are you happy now that you know my dirty little secret?” Venom laced his voice and he grinded his teeth waiting for her to meet his glare. When she finally raised her gaze, the sight of her tear-filled eyes diffused his anger.

  Carolyn shook her head. “No, I’m not happy right now. Do you really want me to leave?”

  Randy scanned her from head to toe and back, taking her in, committing her to memory and then he sighed and said, “I’m not sure I can deal with this. I thought I could but…” He trailed off and glanced at the clock on the curio shelf. “But it’s too late for you to go wandering the streets with a suitcase.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Carolyn said and headed toward the door.

  He moved faster than she did and blocked the door. “No. Look, I can’t let you go tonight, not with the killer in the area. If anything happened…”

  “Then you wouldn’t have to deal with this anymore,” she said with more than just a hint of sarcasm.

  Randy ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Stop it. I have every right to be pissed at you.”

  Her suitcase clanged on the ground. “Can’t you see it from my point of view?”

  “No, I can’t see this from your point of view. I don’t understand how you can say you love me and are still so quick to think the worst.”

  “I saw the worst of humanity for the past ten years and I saw people blinded by their love for these monsters. I don’t want to be one of those pathetic women who stand by killers and rapists and child beaters.”

  “Fuck you, Carolyn,” Randy walked by her and into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

  He stripped and headed for a shower to clean off the sweat and anger from his skin. The warm water pummeled his back, loosening the tenseness building in his muscles and he reflected on the disaster of an evening. In the steam-filled bathroom, he considered her viewpoint and while her lack of faith still burned him, she did have cause for questions. But this time, he wasn’t going to be the one to crawl back with an apology.

  * * * *

  Carolyn sat on the couch, listening to the patter of the shower as well as Randy’s thoughts, contemplating whether to stay or go. Randy’s anger, while upsetting, was justified.

  What if he had accused me? How the hell would I react to that?

  “Not very well,” she said to the empty living room. With a sigh, she stood and crossed the apartment, entering the bathroom, ignoring his black thoughts. She stared at his bare back, the muscles glistening with streams of water, the trim lines of his back and the curve of his ass all made for quite the scenery.

  Heat stirred within her, painting her skin with a flush and she stripped her clothing and opened the shower door, stepping into the oversized marble enclosure. The only indication that he knew she had entered was the tightening of the muscles in his shoulders.

  “What do you want?” he asked without turning.

  “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

  He glanced over his shoulder with a glare that gave warning of the emotional storm brewing inside him. “Sorry isn’t enough this time.”

  She reached her hand out and he flinched away as if her touch was a deadly poison and his reaction sparked the seed of her own anger. “What exactly do you want from me, Randy?”

  His eyes blazed with aggravation and he turned, cornering her against the sweating tile. “I want a fucking partner who believes in me and doesn’t throw me to the wolves any time she damn well pleases.”

  “I did not throw you to the wolves,” she said and the muscles in her jaw stiffened in defense.

  “Then why the hell was Agent Williams following me?”

  She blinked and looked away from his intense stare and without thinking, she crossed her arms, distancing herself in the small confined space he allotted her.

  “Look at me.” The request came out in a growl and her gaze snapped to his.

  “Don’t you take that tone with me,” she began and he stepped closer, crowding her even more with his towering mass.

  “I’ll take whatever tone I damn well please.”

  She uncrossed her arms and put her hands flat on his chest to hold him at bay, but all that did was aggravate the situation. His jaw clenched and his glare became threatening.

  “You’d better step out of this shower before I do something stupid,�
� he said, the growl in his voice transitioning to a feral quality that promised pain.

  “What are you going to do, Randy? Spank me?” Carolyn asked, goading him with a ghost of a smile, baiting him with something out of left field meant to diffuse his anger.

  His eyebrows arched at the playful quality of her response and he stepped back. His features transitioned, softened from the untamed fury displayed moments before to an ambiguous anger she could work with.

  “Did you just…”

  “I asked you if you were going to spank me.”

  “You can be so fucking infuriating…” he ran his hand through his wet hair, still staring at her, but now a smile edged his lips.

  “Enough to spank?”

  “No… well maybe… but that’s something to consider for later. Right now, you were in the middle of trying to show me just how sorry you were for questioning my innocence.”

  “I’m…”

  “Words aren’t going to cut it, honey.” This time he crossed his arms and stood tall in the shower spray and the things flitting through his mind made heat rush to her cheeks. He noticed and smiled. “There are much more gratifying things you can do with that mouth…”

  Chapter 40

  Randy opened his eyes and glanced at Carolyn draped over his chest in the warm bed. He ran his fingers through her hair, feeling the silky dampness of each strand and wondered if they’d really make it through this.

  She lifted her head and met his gaze. “Still having doubts?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I know you are, but I’m not sure I can deal with the constant distrust.”

  “You mean you can deal with the visions and me reading your mind?”

  He smiled down at her and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I can deal with your visions, but I’m not so sure I like you in my head all the time, but I’ll get over that. You not believing in me, well that’s a whole other story.”

  She sat up, pulling the covers with her and leaving the cool air to brush his bare chest. “I believe in you.”

  He laughed at the absurdity of her words. “No you don’t. If you believed in me, you wouldn’t have any doubts.”

  “Look, I…”

  He put his hand up to stop her. “We aren’t going to agree on this, at least not tonight, so let’s give it a rest. Okay?” His stomach piped in with a grumble that nearly shook the bed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” The covers shifted as he sat up in bed and reached for his clothes, sliding them on in silence. She followed him out to the kitchen and stood beside him in the entry, surveying the broken glass and spilled Chinese takeout. “I’m not sure this is salvageable.”

  “The food or our relationship?”

  Randy met her glance and waved toward the mess. “The food.” He wasn’t in any mood to discuss a future right now.

  “What about us?”

  “Honestly, I’m still pissed,” he said and watched the subtle change in her features. Her lips pressed together and the question in her eyes disappeared. “But you already knew that.”

  “Randy…”

  “Don’t tell me you can’t read what’s going on in my mind right now.”

  She looked down at her hands and nodded. “I can hear you.”

  “So what is it that you’re hearing?”

  “That you’re not ready to shut the door on us just yet, even though you’re still angry and disappointed.”

  “Right, so stop asking me and just let it be for a while.” He turned and crossed to the closet, grabbing the broom and dustpan. “After we clean up that mess, we can go grab something to eat.”

  “Do you think Red will still be open?”

  Randy glanced at the clock and shook his head. “They close at nine. I was thinking more along the lines of Harry’s.”

  “Steak?”

  “Yep—fury and sex really upped my appetite,” he said and flashed a grin in her direction.

  “Okay, steak it is,” she agreed.

  * * * *

  “I thought you had to have reservations to get seated here,” Carolyn said after they were seated.

  “Normally, you do, but they get their beef from Kincaid packing, so…” he trailed off and gave her a shrug. “There are some perks I’ve taken advantage of over the years and this is one of them.” He opened the menu and concentrated on what he wanted to eat.

  Carolyn glanced around the crowded restaurant and sighed, a million questions flitting through her mind about Randy and his family, especially those revealed in the earlier conversation with Steve Williams. “Do you want to talk about what happened with your mother?” she asked and took a sip of water.

  He glanced up and dropped the menu on the table while irritation settled into his gaze. “No.” Shaking his head, he scanned the restaurant and then brought his attention back to her. “What the fuck are you trying to do to me?” Pushing his chair out, he threw the napkin on the table and headed toward the restrooms, leaving her staring after him.

  His anger brushed off him in waves, even from the confines of the bathroom and she blinked back the mist that covered her eyes. When he returned to the table, his jaw was still clenched and his gaze was more of a glare than it had been before.

  He took control, ordering steak and salads for both of them along with a scotch on the rocks for himself. When he had downed the alcohol, he closed his eyes and let it seep into his muscles, calming the angry lion within. When he opened his eyes again, he tried on a smile, but to her it looked forced. “So what are you doing tomorrow?”

  Carolyn shifted in her seat, knowing her answer was going to ruffle his feathers more than they already were. “I was going to stop and see Jim because I want my job back, then I’m going back to the studio so Damon can finish your painting.”

  Randy’s face slowly transitioned to red and he nodded, without speaking, but his eyes lanced into her like sharp daggers, piercing her skin with prickling pain. “You don’t say.”

  “You’re more than welcome to come with me if you’d like,” she offered, hoping it would diffuse the volcano below the surface.

  “What time is your appointment?” he asked, but the low timbre of his voice raked her skin, creating tiny bumps of remorse.

  “I, um, I told him I’d be there at nine.”

  He pulled out his Blackberry and checked his calendar; he looked up at her and nodded. “My morning is clear, I’d love to come.”

  “Good. You can meet me at City Hall at eight thirty and head over to Damon’s from there. I think you’ll be very pleased with the painting,” she said, keeping up the pretense of civility in the public venue, but she knew the moment they were behind closed doors, he was going to have her head. “I didn’t have the opportunity to mention this to you because of everything else, but Damon wants me to pose live at his art show.”

  Randy’s brow creased in confusion. “What do you mean pose?”

  “Live art. Olivia is one of the models too,” she said, and didn’t need to read his mind to know he didn’t get it. “Damon starts with body suits that he paints as the base for his creations and on the day of the show, we put them on and he finishes painting us. The models pose for half of the art show and during the other half we get to mingle with the guests. It sounds kind of fun, don’t you think?”

  “You’d be on display?”

  “If I agree to do it, yes.”

  “As what?”

  “An angel representing original sin.”

  He stared at her and then cut into his steak without further comment, but his mind was full of snark and underlying bits of intrigue. Silence prevailed for the remainder of the meal and continued on the walk back to the apartment.

  Once the door closed, he headed toward the bedroom, stripping his clothes, climbing under the covers and rolling on his side with his back to her.

  “Is this the way it’s going to be?”

  He rolled to face her. “I’m tired and I don’t feel like get
ting into another argument, so yes, this is the way it’s going to be tonight.”

  “So you’re not going to rant and rave about me taking my clothes off for a painting again?”

  “No, I’m not, because it won’t do any good. You’ll just go off and do whatever the hell you want regardless of how I feel about it.”

  “Were you serious about coming with me tomorrow?”

  “If you’re serious about going, yes.”

  “Promise you won’t make a scene?”

  He laughed at her. “Regretting the invite already?”

  Hell yes, she thought but just sent a smile in his direction and headed toward the bathroom and her before bed rituals.

  Chapter 41

  The alarm blared, and Carolyn sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes and glancing at the clock. Six o’clock in the morning came much faster than she would have liked and she shook Randy’s shoulder. “Time to get up,” she muttered and reached over him, slamming her palm on the snooze button.

  Without waiting for him to stir, she headed into the bathroom and jumped in a hot shower to wash away the sleep. When the air in the stall shifted, she glanced over her shoulder at his sleepy smile.

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her shoulder. “I’m sorry for being such an ass last night.”

  “You’re forgiven.” She kissed his cheek and stepped out of the shower, refreshed and ready to take on Jim Britt. Randy stepped out of the shower just as she put on the finishing touches of her make-up. She smoothed her power suit and turned toward him.

  “How do I look?”

  “Like you’re ready for a court battle.”

  “Good.”

  “Why is that good?”

  “I’ve thought about it and I want my job back. The idea of defending someone who could be guilty just doesn’t sit well with me.”

  “You’ve gone from being gung ho on defense to wanting back in the prosecutor’s office in a matter of two days?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Look, Carolyn, he was livid the other night, you might want to wait a few days before you spring this on him.”