Heart Stop

by Radclyffe

  “I’ve got a priority job for you. We need to send a message to our friends south of the border.”

  The Salvadorans, Rebecca presumed, who held the underworld territory south of Bainbridge.

  “Here’s Carlos,” Carmody said and a rough, accented voice came on.

  “Yeah, it’s about time those little fuckers get what’s coming to them. They been fucking with us too long already. After the Galaxy—”

  “Spiro cut him off,” Carmody interjected. “Zamora has never been able to train some of the old guard in the subtlety of surveillance.”

  Rebecca chuckled.

  “Then Spiro spells it out,” Carmody said, “and Carlos names his guy.”

  “We want the statement to be loud and definitive, if you understand what I’m saying. Someplace they’ll know we sent it.”

  “Sure, I know just the place. I’ll have Mickey the Match turn the lights on in that hole-in-the-wall down on Moore.”

  “Good. Make it soon.”

  Mickey the Match. Rebecca let out a breath. There it was, an order direct from Zamora, or as close as they’d ever come, with a name. “Did you run this Mickey guy?”

  Carmody’s smile came through the line. “Oh yeah, right away. Mickey the Match is one Mikolos Bakos, thirty-seven years old, did a stint at Attica for arson about ten years ago, has been a suspect in a couple of other firebombings, but no definitive evidence, and—get this—is married to the daughter of a low-level Zamora numbers runner.”

  “You might just have given us the break we’ve been looking for, Sergeant. Nice work.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

  “Hand this all over to Sloan and start working on all known associates. Let’s broaden our net.”

  “Yes, Loo. Already called her.”

  Rebecca cut the call and wove her way past clots of SWAT and first responders to the crime scene. Uniformed and plainclothes cops huddled in front of the blown-out building, while firefighters hosed down steaming adjacent buildings. Pete Gonzalez appeared to be in a standoff with a couple of suits who might as well have been carrying big signs identifying them as federal agents. Rebecca paused and made a quick call to the assistant state’s attorney, Jared Calhoun.

  “You know what time it is, right?” Jared said, sounding perfectly awake.

  “I do. Are you in the office?”

  “Where else?”

  Rebecca grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “What have you got for me?”

  Rebecca filled him in on the firebombing and what Carmody had turned up.

  Jared said, “You think if you squeeze this Bakos firebug, he’ll give you Zamora?”

  “He’s likely to trade if we work him hard enough—maybe not Zamora right away, but someone else. You know it’s always a game of dominoes,” Rebecca said. “We’ve got a wedge, and eventually they all start to fall. Carmody has Spiro Pavlou on tape setting this up. That’s a powerful persuader. He might not break, but someone else will.”

  “Well, that’s how these cases get made,” Jared said. “What do you need from me?”

  “Right now? I need control of this crime scene. The feds are here.”

  “Of course they are. What else do they have to do. I’ll make some calls.”

  “Thanks, Jared.”

  “Good hunting, Frye.”

  Rebecca pocketed her phone, energized by the sense of her quarry finally within her grasp. She could taste Zamora’s blood. She headed over to let the feds know they were welcome to observe, but this was her crime scene now.

  *

  “It’s not much,” Jay said, unlocking the door to her studio apartment, “but it’s actually pretty clean, and I make a mean grilled cheese sandwich.”

  “I happen to be a big fan of grilled cheese.” Olivia’s stomach had seemed on the edge of revolt a short while ago, but now that the adrenaline had diminished, she was aware of being hungry. “You know you feed me a lot?”

  “You mind?”

  Jay held the door open, and Olivia stepped through into a tiny kitchen no wider than the foyer in her town house, with a table barely big enough for two against one wall and an efficiency-sized stove and fridge. The space opened directly into the living area beyond that. Enough light came through the single window to illuminate the narrow sleeper sofa. The whole apartment didn’t seem much bigger than a dorm room.

  “No, I like it when you take care of me,” Olivia murmured. After all they’d been through, hiding what mattered to her was no longer an option. She could have died. Jay could have died. Her stomach clenched at the thought. Nothing came close to the fear that possibility stirred, not even the fear of being vulnerable to her own desires. She pulled out a chair. “Now it’s my turn to return the favor. Take your shirt off and sit here.”

  “Sorry?” Jay’s voice held surprise and uncertainty.

  “I want to look at your back. The scrape, remember?”

  “It’s nothing, really.”

  “Mm-hmm,” Olivia said. “Let’s take a look and be sure.”

  “Okay. If that will make you happy.” Jay shed her borrowed jacket, the one she accidently kept forgetting to return to Olivia, and pulled off her polo shirt. Her skin pebbled slightly even though the room was warm. While waiting for Olivia’s touch, she sat in the chair, hands clasped in her lap, as tense as she’d been her first day as an intern.

  When Olivia brushed the hair away from the back of her neck, she shuddered. Olivia’s fingers were cool on her shoulders, the sensation like fire in her blood. Her nipples tightened and a swell of arousal cinched her insides into a painful knot. Her heart had already kicked up to double its usual tempo, and she figured there was no point in hiding what she was feeling.

  “Looks like a shard of glass or possibly gravel hit the back of your neck.” Olivia rubbed her thumb along Jay’s hairline as she took in the long irregular abrasion in the skin below. Jay’s body was hot, hot enough for Olivia to feel in her depths. She swallowed the desire suddenly blocking her throat. “You’ve got an abrasion that’s through the dermis in a few places. It needs to be cleaned up.”

  “It’ll be fine once I shower,” Jay said.

  “I’d rather get it taken care of now. Do you have any peroxide?”

  “Uh…maybe in the medicine cabinet?”

  Olivia laughed, running her hands up and down Jay’s arms. “Which means you have no idea. Where’s your bathroom?”

  “Right around the corner.” Jay tilted her head back and grinned. “It would be pretty hard to miss.”

  Olivia stared down into Jay’s eyes. Tiny flecks of gold danced and teased in the deep gray irises. She’d never seen anything so enticing. “I’ll be right back.”

  A minute later, Olivia returned, her tattered control hastily stitched together. If she didn’t touch Jay any more than clinically necessary, she might preserve what little willpower was left to her. “Peroxide and antibiotic ointment.”

  “A true mother lode.” Jay looked over her shoulder. “I told you I was well supplied.”

  Olivia cupped Jay’s cheek, and the urge to kiss her rolled through her with the same primal urgency as the need to breathe. What she felt must have shown in her face. Jay’s eyes darkened, grew heavy with desire. Olivia whispered, “Sit up straight so I can finish this.”

  Jay shivered again as Olivia used a washcloth she’d found in the bathroom to cleanse the wound and applied the antibiotic ointment.

  “All done,” Olivia said, setting the peroxide and ointment on the narrow counter behind her. “This is going to sting when you put your shirt on, but it’s probably better to leave it open for a while.”

  There was very little room in the kitchen, and almost no distance between them. The back of Jay’s head was at the level of Olivia’s breasts, and when Olivia leaned forward, their bodies touched. Looking down, she watched Jay’s breasts rise and fall, her quick shallow breaths matching Olivia’s. A flush bloomed across Jay’s chest, and Olivia trailed her fingers ov
er Jay’s collarbone and skimmed her palm between her breasts, lingering with her fingertips over Jay’s heart. “You’re very beautiful.”

  Jay pressed the back of her head against Olivia’s chest and closed her eyes. “You did say you liked the shirtless, trousers-only look.”

  “Mmm. I do. Although I like you in pretty much anything.” Olivia dropped her hand lower, and Jay’s stomach tensed beneath her palm.

  “If you take your hands off me,” Jay said very carefully, “you’re going to kill me.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Neither can I.” Jay pushed the chair to one side and pivoted to face Olivia as she rose. She grasped Olivia’s shoulders and backed her up against the refrigerator, caging her there with both arms. If Olivia wanted her to stop, she’d have to say so, because she was done waiting.

  A second passed and Olivia’s arms slid around Jay’s waist. Jay kissed her, melding their flesh with the weight of her body until no space remained between them. Olivia moaned and dug her fingers into the muscles on either side of Jay’s spine. Olivia’s touch was fire, her kiss the match that ignited Jay’s desire.

  “I need you, Liv,” Jay gasped. “Please.”

  Olivia found Jay’s hand, pulled it to her breast, and cupped Jay’s fingers around her flesh. “Touch me, then. I need you to touch me.”

  Jay unbuttoned Olivia’s shirt, slid her hand inside, and cradled her breast. Olivia was hot and pliant in her hand, hot and demanding in her mouth. “Come to bed. I want to make you come.”

  “Yes,” Olivia whispered.

  Jay pulled Olivia the short distance to the daybed beneath the window, shedding her clothes and helping Olivia out of hers, until they fell naked onto the sheets. Jay slid her leg between Olivia’s and kissed her until Olivia tugged at her hair and murmured, “Hurry.”

  Jay made her way down Olivia’s body, savoring the taste and scent of her until she reached her breasts. When she rubbed her cheek over Olivia’s nipple, Olivia’s legs came around the backs of her thighs, holding her tight between them. When Jay tugged the nipple lightly between her teeth, Olivia’s hips bucked.

  “Fast this time,” Olivia urged. “I want you, I need you. Don’t make me wait.”

  Jay knelt between her legs, light-headed with need and power, and filled her in a quick thrust as sure as any truth she’d ever known. Olivia cried out and tightened around her. Jay stroked her to the edge, breathlessly intent. Olivia raised up and braced herself on her elbows, watching Jay take her over. Jay had never seen anything so sexy in her life.

  “I’m close, close—God, yes.” Olivia threw her head back and came in sharp, short thrusts.

  When Olivia sighed and dropped back to the bed, Jay stayed where she was, waiting for her heart to start again, for her breath to fill her lungs again, imprinting the image of Olivia in the deepest reaches of her soul.

  “God, you’re good,” Olivia groaned.

  “You make my head explode.” Jay still knelt between Olivia’s thighs, caressing the shallow valley just inside her hip bones, one of her favorite places—so sensuous and compelling, so female in its strength and elegance.

  Olivia laughed softly, her face relaxed and supremely satisfied. So astonishingly beautiful Jay trembled.

  “I love you,” Jay whispered.

  Slowly, Olivia opened her eyes, caught Jay’s heart in their smoky depths. “Would you say that again?”

  “I love you.”

  Jay was aware of her own breathing, as if her entire being was about to fly off in opposite directions, one way leaving her adrift and uncertain, the other finally finding a place from which to go forward—this time, not a recovery, but a renewal.

  “You don’t need to look so worried,” Olivia whispered, covering Jay’s hands with hers.

  “I was just waiting,” Jay murmured.

  “Not a usual thing for you, is it, Flash,” Olivia said, tenderly teasing.

  “It’s true, I have been known to rush in where angels fear to tread and all that—but with a plan. I’ve never been able to plan with you.”

  “Is that such a bad thing?”

  “Uncharted territory. I’ve always known where I was going, from the time I can remember.”

  “And where was that?”

  “Wherever Vic and Ali were going.”

  Olivia smiled, rubbing her thumbs over Jay’s knuckles. “Sometimes I wish I’d had that kind of experience. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn’t going where my mother was going.”

  “And where was that?”

  “Into a self-inflicted pressure cooker, sacrificing everything for admiration and prestige and success.”

  “And yet you are successful and respected and have accomplished every bit as much as your mother in your own field.”

  Olivia shook her head. “Hardly. And obviously, I didn’t fall far from the maternal tree. I still deal with the dead.”

  Jay leaned down, braced herself on her elbows, and kissed Olivia. “No, you don’t. You deal with the living to help them deal with the dead. You’re a scientist and a physician and a healer. That makes you very special.”

  Olivia threaded her hands into Jay’s hair. “And that must be why I love you.”

  I love you. Jay closed her eyes. “You really just said that, didn’t you? I didn’t imagine it?”

  “Is that so surprising?” Olivia stroked her cheek and kissed her. “I’m sorry if you didn’t have any inkling of how I felt about you. I’ve learned to deny so many things, but I never wanted to deny you.”

  “You didn’t.” Jay opened her eyes. “And you don’t have to apologize to me for protecting yourself. I get that.”

  “You were right to remind me that Marcos wasn’t here any longer. He was, you know. He followed me around, the memory of him, or more accurately, the memory of who I was with him.” Olivia let out a weary breath. “I couldn’t sort out who I was from who he told me I was. That’s so embarrassing to admit.”

  “You never hid who you are inside. And that’s who I fell in love with.”

  “And that’s another reason why I love you,” Olivia said. “You love me for the parts of myself I tried to hide. You made me realize I have a right to be my whole self.”

  “If you mean the sensuous, passionate, unbelievably sexy self you are—you’re damn right.” Jay kissed her until she realized she wasn’t breathing and pulled back, gasping and grinning. “And I want every bit of you. As often as possible for as long as possible.”

  “Is that right?” Laughing, her eyes shining with the joy of being free, Olivia grasped Jay’s shoulders, lifted her hips sharply, and rolled Jay over on the narrow bed. Coming to rest on top of her, she kissed her back. “Well, I’m glad you feel that way, because I’m a planner too, and I’ve got a lot of plans for you.”

  Jay’s pulse went from slow and cautious to fast and eager in a single stroke of her heart. “I sure as hell hope that too.” She narrowed her eyes, looked over the side of the bed. “That was quite a move. How did you manage to do that without dumping us?”

  Olivia laughed again. “Well, I do have a lot of practice moving inert forms from one place to another.”

  Jay groaned. “Okay, I’m sorry I asked that.”

  “You did ask.” Olivia leaned down, nipped Jay’s chin. “You know, I have constant thoughts of making love to you. Everywhere. All the time.”

  “You can have me any time, any place—for as long as you want.”

  “That will be a very, very long time,” Olivia murmured.

  Jay couldn’t help but ask. “That’s all I want. You. For a very, very long time.”

  “You have me.” Olivia kissed her throat, her breasts, the sweep of her abdomen, and the butter soft skin on her inner thighs. When she reached the delta between her trembling legs, Jay grasped the back of her head and lifted her hips.

  “Fast this time,” she said, tight and desperate.

  Olivia wrapped her arms around Jay’s hips to hold her close, took her in, and
pleasured her until she gasped and trembled against her mouth. She rested her cheek on Jay’s thigh, wholly content, and finally whole.

  “I love you,” Olivia whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Olivia lay cradled in Jay’s arms, listening to her heart beat for a few indulgent and completely contented moments. With a sigh, she finally pressed a kiss to Jay’s breast. As amazingly happy as she was, she couldn’t ignore the rest of the world, and Jay wouldn’t expect her to. “I should call Kim and get an update on the scene.”

  “I know,” Jay murmured, lazily stroking Olivia’s back. “My phone is right here. Let me grab it.”

  “Sorry,” Olivia said.

  Jay handed her the phone. “No need to be sorry. It’s the job. I just wish to hell you didn’t have to go back down there, at least until the place is more secure.”

  Olivia sat up, tucking the sheet around her waist. “If the scene hadn’t been secured already, Kim would have notified me by now. I’ll be careful. Don’t worry.”

  “Don’t worry? That laceration on your forehead could have been from a bullet instead of just a fall.” Jay rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do—”

  Olivia leaned over and kissed her. “You won’t have to worry about that either. I’m not going anywhere.” She paused, tapped Jay’s chin. “And I guess I should break it to you now, I’m not letting you go anywhere either.”

  Jay grinned, the lightness in her chest such a foreign thing she almost laughed. “Oh, you won’t hear me arguing about that. Just try to get rid of me.”

  “Not on your life.” Olivia paused. So much to say. She’d give a lot to take Jay away somewhere for a few weeks and tell her—show her—how much she loved her. How much she wanted a life with her. “We need a honeymoon.”

  Jay stared. “Okay, sure. Whenever we get a break.”

  Olivia smiled. “Nothing ever throws you off stride.”

  “Not true.” Jay pulled her down, kissed her. “You do every second. And whenever we can get away, I’m ready.”