Tears of Blue (Shades of Death Book 2)

by Hoffman McManus, Stephanie

  “Thanks, this is great.”

  He set my bags next to the bed. “Okay then, I’ll let you settle in. Come down when you’re ready. I’ll go see what I can find us for dinner.”

  I didn’t really have much settling in to do once he left me alone in the room. I wasn’t planning to be here long enough to unpack any of my things. One night. That was it. I flopped down on the bed and laid back. It really was a very comfy bed. The blankets were soft, not that I’d need them. His house was almost too warm, especially upstairs, and there was no AC in here. Just a ceiling fan.

  I pulled out my phone and texted Nora before giving my mom a call to let her know all was well. Only after I’d hung up with her did I join Camden downstairs. He was at work in the kitchen, so I pulled out one of the stools along the back of the counter. “What are you making?”

  “I had some fish I caught with my dad not too long ago in the freezer and a box of rice in the cupboard, hope that’s okay. It’s looking pretty sad on the vegetable front. I haven’t stayed here in over two weeks, so all I found were some fuzzy peppers and what might have once been onions in the fridge.”

  “That’s okay, I had vegetables on my sandwich earlier. Do you want any help?”

  “I think I got it pretty well handled, won’t be anything fancy, but it will be edible. You can find something on TV if you want, or put in a movie, or of course you’re welcome to watch, but I promise it won’t be anything exciting.”

  “You mean you don’t say ‘bam!’ when you add the spices?”

  “Afraid not,” he chuckled.

  “Well in that case . . .” I rose up from my stool and moved to the large sectional in the living room. Pretty Woman was on when I checked the guide and I couldn’t resist. It was one of my favorites.

  “What did you find?” Camden joined me a few minutes later.

  “Pretty Woman?”

  “Is this a chick flick? I’m assuming because it has Julia Roberts, it must be a chick flick.”

  I gave him a shocked look. “You’ve never seen Pretty Woman?”

  “Do I look like I’ve seen Pretty Woman?”

  “Well now you have to watch it.” I turned the volume up and then gave him a brief recap of the first twenty minutes of the movie that had already passed. He was a good sport about it, but he looked like he’d much rather be watching a Mariners game or something.

  When it was time, he took the fish out of the oven and dished us both up. We ate in the living room and finished the movie. He’d barely finished his meal when his phone rang.

  He looked tense before he even checked it, and twice as irritated when he looked at the screen.

  “This is my work phone. I have to take it,” he excused himself to the other room.

  I didn’t pay attention to the call, not that I could have heard his hushed voice anyway, but when he came back he was angry.

  “I have to go out for a bit.”

  “What?”

  “I have to go to the club. It shouldn’t take long, but you’ll be okay here. “

  “Are you sure I shouldn’t just go to the hotel?”

  “No. I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

  “Okay,” I forced out.

  “Hey, there’s an alarm system. I forget to set it, but I’ll show you how if it will make you feel better.”

  “I guess.”

  “You’ll be okay out here. Relax. Watch TV. There are a couple of phone numbers on a pad on my fridge. If you needed anything. They’re the neighbors up the road. One lives directly behind my place, through the trees there,” he pointed out the window, “and the other two are that way.

  “You shouldn’t need anything, I just want you to know that there are people around. You won’t be out here all by yourself. Before I go, I’m also going to call my neighbor Jack; he’s the one who lives behind me. I board my dogs and my horses with him when I have to be gone for long periods of time. I’ll have him bring the dogs to stay with you.

  “He’ll come in a black pickup, big guy with a beard. Or he might send one of his sons, not sure what they drive, but they’ll have two German Shepherds with them. They’ll probably bark and be curious about you at first. Once Jack or the boys show them you’re okay, they’ll warm up to you and probably follow you around the house.”

  “This really seems like a lot of trouble for you. I can just go to the hotel. I’ll be okay there.”

  “But I’d like you to stay. If you feel comfortable here.”

  “The dogs will make me feel better,” I admitted.

  “They’re good guard dogs, but one more just in case thing, do you know how to shoot?”

  I swallowed and nodded.

  “There’s a handgun in my nightstand. There shouldn’t be any reason for you to need it, but if you did . . .” he let his words hang and I nodded again. I really didn’t want him to go, but it was his job.

  He walked over to where I still sat on the couch and did something unexpected. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

  “You’ll be okay, and I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he murmured softy against my skin. “There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  I closed my eyes and a strange feeling washed over me. I couldn’t even really explain it, but it felt right, like everything about this, him kissing me goodbye and me waiting here for him to come back, was right. As if this is how it was supposed to be between us.

  But it wasn’t.

  My emotions were just playing tricks on me.

  Thirteen

  Camden

  Leaving Emily alone, after fighting so hard to get her to agree to stay with me, and promising to keep her safe, was the last thing I wanted to do, but telling Alexei no wasn’t an option. Not if I wanted to stay in his good graces, which I needed to do if I hoped to get anywhere near the meeting.

  He was jacking me around. Alexei wasn’t even supposed to be in tonight. Never was on Mondays. The guns came in tonight. I’d gotten the text informing me it all went down. So Alexei should have been taking care of business. Not screwing with my night.

  Should have expected this shit, that I’d get her here and then something, or someone, would get in the way. I hoped I got the chance to shoot Alexei during the bust, maybe just in the leg. He was waiting for me when I got to the club. Draped over his leather throne in the VIP lounge, a nameless brunette perched on his lap until he shoved her away and waved me over.

  “Hope I didn’t interrupt your night.” He reached for a bottle as I sat, and we both know he didn’t give a shit what he’d interrupted.

  “Tomorrow night,” he said pointedly as he poured the alcohol into two glasses. “I need footage in this room off and no one allowed in. No waitresses. No one. I’m sure you understand.”

  I nodded that I did, assuring him I would handle it, and he went on. While he talked business, Oleg Leknov just stood in the corner, his dark, murderous gaze fixed on me. I knew Alexei had that fucker Lenkov whispering in his ear, telling him not to trust me, to just put a round in my skull and be done with it. He made my position with Alexei all the more precarious.

  That asshole didn’t like me, and the feeling was mutual. More so than any of those scumbags, I wanted Lenkov to rot. He was a sick, deranged fuck – a thug, a killer. Given the chance, he’d off me himself without blinking an eye, but not without Alexei’s permission. At least not without being sure Alexei wouldn’t find out he’d gone against orders. I had to watch my back at all times with that asshole lurking around.

  Lenkov had to go down in the bust or I was going to be looking over my shoulder every day. My “cover” would mean shit with him. There would be no clean out for me on this one if all didn’t go well.

  Once Alexei was appeased and I’d finished my obligatory drink with the bastards, I slipped away to the office and sent off a quick email to Cap. We needed to talk again. If the meet was going down tomorrow, I had to be sure the entire task force was on the same page. A fuck-up or wrong move would get my ass killed.

/>   I’d heard a few names scattered in amongst the Russian during a conversation between Alexei and one of his guys, Grigory Vasili. Of his men, if Oleg was the muscle, Grigory was more the brains. Keen, shrewd, level-headed but equally as dangerous as Lenkov.

  I doubted Alexei even realized I understood a word of their conversation, but I understood just enough to be able to give my guys some names to rundown of guys I suspected were some of the major players on the cartel end of this thing. It also sounded like Yuri wanted this deal pushed ahead as quickly as possible. If they fucked this up, Yuri would have all their heads. That meant things would move fast. If all went as planned this would not only be a major blow to the Russians, but the Sinaloa Cartel as well.

  Pulling my car out of the club after midnight, I wanted nothing more than to rush home, but I couldn’t get sloppy now. I detoured around the city to make sure I didn’t have a tail. When I was sure I wasn’t being followed, I headed north, to Emily, and didn’t slow down until I was making the turn-off on my road.

  I didn’t realize how anxious I was to see her and make sure she was alright, until the house came into view. I’d only been gone a few hours, but something twisted in my stomach and I felt regret again for having to leave. I heard the loud barks the moment I stepped out of the car. Cash and Kota had been alerted to my arrival. It was one of the reasons I didn’t bother to have the drive paved. It was hard to sneak a vehicle up gravel. The barking continued as my boots crunched the gravel.

  To say they were excited to see me when I finally made it in the front door was an understatement. The alarm beeped at me and I hurriedly shut it off. The dogs were jumping at my heels.

  “I missed you guys too.” I knelt down and let them greet me, knowing right where their sweet spots were. They were both on their backs enjoying a good belly rub when I glanced up to see a figure on the stairs.

  Emily was there, a shadow in the dark at the top of the staircase, looking down.

  “Sorry if I woke you,” I rose to my feet and the dogs, realizing belly rub time was over, jumped back up as well.

  “It’s okay. I wasn’t asleep.”

  “Trouble sleeping?”

  “I’m just glad you’re back,” she said softly and took a step down, then seemed to stop herself before taking another. She stood there, her hand resting on the bannister and the pressure inside my chest that had been building since I left her, increased. I took the stairs slowly. Her chin gradually tipped up to keep my gaze as I came to stand before her. Her hair fell loose around her face. Unable to help myself, I reached out and tucked one side behind her ear.

  “I’m sorry again that I had to take off tonight.”

  “It’s okay.” She touched her hand to my wrist. “It’s your job.”

  “I still hated leaving tonight. Everything was okay here, though?”

  She dropped her hand and I pulled mine back “Everything was good, so don’t worry about it.”

  “But you couldn’t sleep?”

  She gave a slight shake of her head.

  I scraped my hand through my hair, guilt gnawing at me. “I should have let you go to the hotel. The whole point of this was so you wouldn’t be by yourself.”

  “It wasn’t that. I was okay with the dogs and the alarm, I just . . . I wanted to make sure you made it back safe.”

  I let that sink in. “You were worried about me?”

  She jerked her head in a nod and I couldn’t take it.

  I needed to touch her. I needed it like I needed my next breath. To feel her warmth and softness, to prove to myself that she was real and right in front of me.

  Propelled by my baser instincts, I took her face between my palms, gently brushing my thumbs over her soft skin. “I’m back now.” I touched my lips to her forehead and let them linger there. Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed deeply. I skimmed my lips down and kissed her cheek softly.

  “You should get some sleep, now. I’m not going anywhere.” I started to pull away, but her hands came up and curled around my wrists, holding them in place. Her eyes blinked open, locked on mine. Uncertainty warred with something else as she slowly leaned into me and tilted her mouth to meet mine. Her lips touched the corner of my mouth and grazed my jaw before she lifted them.

  She pulled back a fraction and peered anxiously into my eyes. I wanted to drag her lips back to mine, but I couldn’t hardly breathe, let alone move. I was frozen, waiting to see what she would do, and then she leaned forward again. She hesitated just before our lips touched. I felt the soft breath that she let out. All I had to do was lean in just a hair and I would be kissing her.

  I searched her eyes. I had to be sure she wanted this as badly as I did. At this point, it was more need than want.

  This close, I could see her blue eyes had turned hazy with desire. Then her teeth scraped across her bottom lip and her chest heaved. The last bit of doubt I had, melted away and so did the space between us.

  My lips brushed ever so lightly over hers and then we both stilled, sharing breaths but not quite touching, eyes locked as if to say, are we really doing this?

  Yes.

  Yes we fucking were.

  God, nothing could have stopped me at that point, except one word from her. Had she spoken it, asked me to stop, I think I might have died right there on the stairs. But she didn’t.

  Her eyes fell shut and I let mine do the same before I slid one hand around to the back of her neck and captured her mouth in a real kiss. The first taste was enough that I knew I was hooked. Her lips were warm and soft and she tasted of sweet vanilla chapstick and minty toothpaste.

  She kissed me back, slowly, gingerly, but oh-so-fucking deeply. It was enough to push me over the edge, and then I was coaxing, crushing, taking, teasing and tumbling head first into the oncoming rush of need. It was dragging me under, pulling me deeper into her.

  Her fingers curled into the fabric of my shirt at my waist and she leaned in closer, pressing her lips firmly and desperately against mine, her kisses no longer hesitant, but consuming.

  I buried my fingers in the hair at the back of her neck and gripped her to me. My other hand slid down her back, exploring the delicate curves of her spine, down to her hips and the swell of her firm, round bottom.

  Her hands burned a path up my chest and behind my neck until they found my hair. They scraped over the back until they found purchase in the thicker, longer locks on top. I slipped my hand down farther to squeeze her thigh and drag her leg up around my waist, fitting our hips together, letting her feel just what she was doing to me.

  Her eyes opened and her mouth parted as she drew in a harsh, needy breath. I thought I’d gone too far until I felt her fingers dig into my hair, tugging on my scalp. I dragged her bottom lip between my teeth and bit down on the plump flesh. Her tongue darted out, sweeping over my bite. I did it again, gently drawing her lip between my teeth, but this time I ran my tongue over the flesh when I released it.

  Eyes locked, I released my grip on her hair and wound my arm around her back, hauling her impossibly closer. Her back arched and every inch of her softness was pressed against every inch of me.

  Time for teasing was over. I rocked my hips into her center and claimed her mouth like I’d wanted to from the first moment I laid eyes on her. Nothing gentle about it, I thrust my tongue in her mouth and dug my fingers into her thigh. Her tongue tangled with mine, pushing back until she was sweeping inside my mouth, a back and forth dance, neither one of us able to get enough.

  I grabbed her around the hips and lifted. Her legs locked around my waist and then I turned us, pressing her back into the wall, and continued my assault on her mouth, while her own assault went much deeper. She was working her way inside of me, taking everything and still I wanted her to take more. I wanted her to take all of me. I wanted to throw my head back and roar like some kind of animal in the throes of ecstasy and I wasn’t even inside her.

  I skimmed my fingertips down her arms and captured her wrists in my hands. Dragging them
up over her head, I laced my fingers in hers and used our hands to brace myself against the wall as I rocked into her soft center again.

  Her breath hitched and her head fell back against the wall. The legs around my waist squeezed me tighter, dragging me into her as she thrust her hips into mine. I was moments from losing it and shoving her little cotton shorts down and pounding into her right there on the stairs.

  She bit down hard on my lip and the pleasure and pain were one. Her teeth and lips scraped along my jaw and then she started biting and sucking her way from my neck to my shoulder and back up. Her teeth clamped down at the curve of my throat and I almost came undone. I slammed my hips into her and nearly dry-fucked her up the wall.

  “Need you in my bed,” I managed a hoarse growl, burying my face in her neck.

  I felt her head jerk in a quick nod and that was all I needed. I spun us and took the last step, making my way down the short hallway to my room. I forced the door open with my boot and then kicked it closed behind us, shutting the dogs out, who’d tried to follow on my heels.

  “Sorry, guys, not tonight.” I stalked toward the king bed, dressed in black and white, that dominated the room. I tossed her down and she bounced on the mattress, letting out a soft giggle before stretching her body out like a lazy cat.

  “Mmmm,” she practically purred like one too. “Your bed is so soft.”

  “Well get cozy, sweetheart,” I grinned down at her before hooking the back of my shirt at the collar and dragging it over my head. Her eyes roamed hungrily over my torso while I removed my belt and tossed it aside as well. I knelt at the edge of the bed and then crawled over her body.

  I pinned her to the bed with my gaze and my jeans became even more constrictive. The sight of her in my bed . . .

  I swept her hair off her shoulders, letting it fan out over my pillow.

  Fuuuuuck!

  I was in so much trouble because I wanted to keep her here, and not let her go. I’m talking ever. I brushed one stray lock out of her face, and swept the backs of my knuckles over her cheek. “You’re so damn beautiful.”