Harlequin Romantic Suspense March 2016 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “You’re doing an incredible job, Kayla.” The rough edge to his voice made her flush, and when he started to knead her neck with his fingers, she had to work to stay focused on the road. “Rio, don’t. We’ve done well so far.”

  “Except for the stairs.”

  She blew out a breath. “Yeah, well, we’re only human. It’s been very unsettling this past week or so, for sure. It’s not like I ever thought I’d be involved with a murder case.”

  “You’re a strong woman. It’s why you’re so independent.” His right hand massaged her neck as she drove and she didn’t complain. She was getting tired of fighting her attraction to Rio.

  It’s not just the attraction. You care about him.

  She’d never stopped caring about him.

  “Have you reconsidered your vow to stay single for as long as possible?” His voice wasn’t mocking or cajoling. Honest and filled with hope, perhaps?

  “I’ll admit that after seeing the shenanigans between Gloria and Mickey, I should be more skeptical of marriage and happily-ever-after. And to see Cynthia wrap Charles in her Machiavellian web is frightening. It’s highlighted for me that maybe it’s okay to make a lifetime commitment—but only if it’s the right person and not one minute sooner.” She’d never spoken words like this before but they didn’t surprise her. It was a thought that had been rolling around in her head a lot, more since she and Rio had been forced to be together each day.

  “You’re scaring me, Kayla. You sound like you’ve talked yourself out of one of the reasons we broke up.”

  “There was nothing to break up. We were barely dating.”

  “We were more than friends with benefits. We are more than that, and now you’re finally admitting it.” Rio’s conviction rattled her to her toes. It wasn’t what scared her, though. What frightened her was that she wasn’t afraid.

  Being with Rio day in and day out felt natural. Normal. Right.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “That I need to go over my notes on the flower plan for the house and gazebo, and then review what we know so far about the case.”

  “We’ve done all of that, Kayla. The night before a big op is time to rest and sleep as much as possible. You don’t know when you’ll get rest again.”

  “Why are you so sure we’ll get the murderer tomorrow?”

  “Because Tony Charbonneau may suspect that the information Meredith had was copied. Meredith was a perfectionist and threatened him that she was going to the police unless he came clean. Someone that smart wouldn’t not make a copy. He has no idea that we have it, but it’s enough to make him act out. He’ll want to deal with whomever he thinks has the information.”

  “Or have one of his thugs do it for him.”

  “Right.”

  They were at her shop where she maneuvered the van up the alley and to the back of it. “How will we get to your place?”

  “My car is around the corner.”

  “You think of everything, Rio.”

  * * *

  Two hours later she sat at Rio’s kitchen table sipping herbal tea and going through the notes Rio had on the case. She considered it a small victory that he’d let her look at his private notes. Talking the case over was one thing but sharing his personal theories and hunches meant more to her than a dinner out on the town. She giggled.

  “I didn’t realize the Charbonneaus were amusing.” He drank a big mug of warm milk as he leaned against the granite counter. A grey T-shirt stretched across his chest and pajama bottoms with Spider-Man printed on them somehow looked sexy on him.

  “Where did you get the Spidey pj’s?”

  He glanced down. “My sisters. They’re always getting me silly stuff at Christmas.”

  “Do you ever go back to Texas for the holidays?”

  He shook his head. “No. My family’s all here now. We moved after my grandfather died. My uncle was already in central Pennsylvania, so it was an easy thing for my mother to do. My abuelita had passed by then...” He took another gulp of his milk before he leveled his brown eyes on her. “No distractions. Focus. What were you laughing at?”

  “I was thinking about what a big deal it is for you to share your case notes with anyone, especially me. And for me, it’s a huge gift. Thank you. This is more meaningful to me than if you took me out for a lobster dinner with champagne.” She’d almost said romantic dinner. Not where her mind, or Rio’s, needed to go tonight.

  “I understand.” He was perfectly still and she wanted to get up from the table and wrap her arms around his waist, get him to open up more about his childhood, his teenage years, what led him to be a cop. But they had work to do and she had to keep her head on straight. Figuring out what she wanted to do with her feelings for Rio couldn’t be done while working on her first case for Trail Hikers.

  “We need to rest, Kayla. Let’s call it a night.” He eased off the counter, turned and rinsed his mug. Kayla stood up and closed his laptop. “Thanks, Rio. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”

  “Good night, Kayla.”

  She went to the guest room, her body aching with need and desire for him. There were so many reasons to quell her longing for Rio, from the fact that they didn’t need the distraction, as he’d said, to the reality that Rio wasn’t a man to mess with. If she gave herself to him again, it had to come with something more permanent. A commitment.

  That word didn’t elicit thoughts of a nightmarish life stifled by boredom, or a vanilla life in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Instead, a small thrill ran through her and made her think that maybe, just maybe, she and Rio could make a go of it.

  After they solved the case.

  CHAPTER 17

  Rio woke to the sound of dripping rain the morning of the wedding. As he lay in his bed he couldn’t help but want Kayla here, next to him. There were times he hated being so damn professional. Except for the total lapse of sanity on Kayla’s stairs, which he was grateful as hell for, he’d steered away from too much physical connection.

  The woman already has your heart.

  He sat up, almost hitting his knees against the nightstand as he swung his legs around. Where the hell had that thought come from?

  From the same place as the uncontrollable urge to tear off her clothes in her foyer had. Last night had been rough. He’d fought his primal urge to make love to her on his maple kitchen table. She’d looked so damn hot as she’d studied his notes.

  He was losing it. Since when did anyone look sexy working on a laptop? And when she’d commented on his Spider-Man bottoms, he’d wanted to invite her to take them off and let him show her what a superhero he could be.

  He stumbled into the bathroom and took his usual four-minute shower, shaved and was in the kitchen with coffee perking by five. Kayla needed to be at the Charbonneaus’ by eight, so he’d probably have a couple of hours to himself until she woke up. He’d been surprised by how quickly she got ready in the mornings. As if she’d been born into law enforcement.

  He opened his laptop and prepared to sink himself into the case, searching as always for the missed clue, the overlooked detail that could yield pay dirt. The murderer.

  “Rio. Good morning.” She stood at the counter in her pajamas, her hair mussed but her eyes bright and an anticipatory expression on her face. “It’s takedown or bust today, isn’t it?”

  Ignoring her reference to the case, he shut his laptop. “There’s fresh coffee for you. Creamer is...you know where the creamer is.” He couldn’t stand up and pour her a cup of the fresh brew, not without her noticing what he wanted at the moment. His erection strained against his cargo pants and he wondered how soft her mouth would feel against his.

  “Thanks.” She helped herself and he took advantage of the view of her ass in her short pajama bottoms. Tight and curvy. “You workin
g on the case?” She shot the question over her shoulder, oblivious to his morning sexual fantasies.

  Morning sex. They hadn’t had that since they’d dated. And it was hard to classify it as morning or nighttime sex then, as when they’d been together it had been a constant need they’d both been eager to fulfill during the wee hours.

  “I was going over some of my notes.”

  “You’re always on a case, aren’t you?” She pulled out the chair across from him and sat down, but not before he had a full view of her hard nipples pressed against her knit tank top. Maybe she was thinking about morning sex, too.

  “It’s my job. I can’t leave it at the office.”

  She sipped the hot liquid, her full lips on his heavy-duty ceramic mug. At her silence he met her gaze and realized she knew exactly what he was thinking about as he stared at her mouth on the cup. She licked her lips. He could see that her pupils were dilated despite the bright kitchen light.

  “Kayla, this is a tense time. It’s natural to feel, um...”

  She laughed.

  “Why, Detective Ortega, is that a blush on your face? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speechless before.”

  He leaned back and reassessed. Kayla knew exactly what was passing between them across the table. It was a hell of a lot more than the stress of the case. It was the hope that they’d be successful and take down not just a murderer, but the entire posse of losers who were posing as upright citizens. Starting with Mickey and Tony Charbonneau.

  “We have a lot on our plate. I’ve found one bite at a time is usually the best way to handle cases like this, but with what’s happened so far we should expect the unexpected.”

  “We’ve gone over every possible angle with Claudia umpteen times, Rio. We’re ready.”

  “Almost.”

  It was Kayla’s turn to blush.

  * * *

  The jolt of caffeine from the coffee only fueled her arousal. Rio Ortega was the sexiest man she’d ever known, and living under his roof the past week had become both familiar and excruciating.

  “Don’t tease and flirt now, Rio. We have a job to do.” He’d been the one to make sure they didn’t cross the invisible boundaries they’d erected. She couldn’t call it a mistake anymore, what they’d done last week. And she didn’t regret it. But now she understood better than she had before her Trail Hikers training that they needed their space to prepare. To stay safe.

  “I’m not teasing, Kayla. I’ve been doing all I can to keep my hands off you for the better part of a week, and the thought of having to wire you without being able to touch you the way I want to is driving me crazy.”

  “How crazy do you feel?” She purposefully let her voice remain low and gravelly. She could flirt back. Let him feel how hot and bothered she was, living under his roof, sharing his kitchen, his space. As if the time in between when they’d stopped seeing one another and now didn’t exist.

  Except they’d stayed away from the bedroom. A laugh erupted from her and she had to put down her mug before she spilled coffee on the polished wood table. “I’m sorry but I was thinking about how careful we’ve been to stay away from each other, especially at night and in the morning.”

  “When we’re coming from or going to bed.” His face was set in grim lines as if he was enduring torture and she leaned over and ran her fingers down his smooth cheek. He’d already shaved.

  “Yes, yet when we lost control, we...”

  “Weren’t even in the bedroom.” His hand came up and clasped hers, tugging, pulling her up and around the table, where he pulled her down onto his lap.

  Kayla meant to simply sit down on his lap, but she saw his erection through his pants and without hesitation straddled him. The heavy wooden kitchen chair easily took both their weight and she exclaimed at the sheer pleasure the close contact jolted through her.

  Rio drove his hands through her hair and grasped the back of her neck as if she was drowning and he had to give her resuscitation. Instead of air, he pressed his tongue into her mouth and Kayla lost all hope of using the extra hours of wakefulness to prepare for the wedding.

  They were preparing in a different way.

  Her need matched his kiss for kiss, squeeze for squeeze. Rio rocked his pelvis under hers and she shuddered at the near release it brought, as if they were teens experimenting through their clothing.

  “Rio, let’s take our clothes off.”

  “No talking.” He grasped her hands and entwined his fingers with hers, placing their hands in the space between both of their chests. She felt his heartbeat match her own and the turn-on was more than she could handle. Pressing her lips to his, she kissed him as if it was the last time she’d be able to.

  Rio held her hip and lifted her off him. Before she could protest at the lack of contact, he had her pajama shorts down around her feet. She unzipped his cargos and reached for him as his pants fell to meet her bottoms.

  Rio had her tank top up, off and over her head, and she knew she’d find it somewhere strange later as she did the same with his T-shirt.

  “We have to stop meeting like this.” Her words came out in short pants and she shook with want. He stood next to her, his shoulders blocking her view of the French doors that led to his backyard.

  “Rio, your neighbors.”

  “Screw ’em.” He kissed her hard and brought her hips up against his erection with his hands cupped under her buttocks, kneading and caressing her with a skill she wanted to get on her knees and thank God for. “They’re not up yet, anyway.” With no further conversation, he bent down and lifted her into his arms.

  “Rio, this isn’t going to tire you out for work today, is it?” She looked up at his face as he walked down the short hall to his bedroom. Not the guest room, where she’d been staying, but his room, his sanctuary.

  As if being with Rio wasn’t enough, once he placed her on his bed, she was inundated with his scent on the sheets and her desire peaked from the extra stimulation of her senses. As Rio lay down next to her, she rose on all fours and started kissing him at his neck, his shoulders, his chest. Bracing her hands on his shoulders, she straddled him again, but this time didn’t allow their pelvises to meet. Instead she kept inching down his torso, licking and kissing his hard abs as her hands massaged his shoulders.

  “You’re killing me here, Kayla.” His words were punctuated by sharp intakes of breath and she let her power over him make her lovemaking more ardent, more intense. When she got to his erection and lowered her mouth to it, the groan of satisfaction from Rio was worth every minute of keeping her own satisfaction at bay. She sucked and kissed and licked until Rio took hold of her hips and moved her to the side.

  No words as he suckled each of her breasts with tenderness and passion, his fingers inside her, moving, making her hips gyrate in a desperate attempt to reach the climax his lovemaking always promised.

  Rio chuckled against her stomach, her belly, lower. She moaned. When his tongue dipped into her belly button and then kept going, she ran her fingers through his hair and urged his head lower. Again Rio interlaced his fingers with hers and held her hands to either side as he dived into her center, his tongue further arousing her swollen and wet insides until she screamed his name at the peak of her climax. As she came back to planet earth, Rio didn’t wait. As soon as he had a condom on, he was on top of her, moving over her, and entered her with their eyes connected. She couldn’t keep her eyes open for long but it was long enough to see that this was more than lust for him, too.

  Nothing sounded sweeter to her than Rio’s hoarse utterance of her name as he came and brought her with him, their bodies slick, hot and completely engulfed in bliss.

  After several minutes, she felt Rio stir and raise himself over and to her side, resting on his back. She curled into him and traced lazy circles on his chest, loving how completely rela
xed his profile appeared in the lightening room.

  “Sun’s up.” She kissed his shoulder.

  He opened one eye and snorted. “I won’t be again for a while, thanks to you.”

  They lay together for a few moments longer, until Rio’s deep exhalation alerted her to what they both needed to do today.

  Catch a killer.

  * * *

  Cynthia’s wedding day had dawned damp and drizzly, but the sun was starting to peek out from behind big white and grey fluffy clouds as she drove to the mayor’s house. Kayla wasn’t worried about the ceremony, since she’d arranged to have the path from the back door of the house to the gazebo covered, and the gazebo was large enough to hold the entire wedding party along with a handful of guests, and keep them dry. The other guests would be given white umbrellas as they arrived at the house, to keep the appearance of the ceremony uniform and “tasteful, not tacky” as Cynthia had requested.

  Being wired wasn’t as uncomfortable as she’d expected, thanks to the Trail Hikers having up-to-date technology. Some of the equipment wasn’t even on the commercial market yet. She’d have to take off her clothes for anyone to see the superthin wires and tiny microphones. Rio had wanted to hook her up with two-way comms with SVPD but she’d declined. She didn’t have the training for it.

  SVPD was providing security for the event, since as far as the public knew, the mayor was conceivably at risk in light of Meredith’s murder.

  Rio was in an unmarked police van in front of the house, listening to Kayla’s feed. She placed a large basket of extra flowers on the back porch, hoping she wouldn’t need them. The bridal party’s flowers were in the refrigeration unit of her van.

  “I don’t see why you’re so upset. He’ll show up. The men went out for nightcaps after the rehearsal dinner.” Cynthia’s voice wafted out of the open door and Kayla caught a glimpse of Gloria walking into the dining room in a bathrobe. The woman even ate breakfast at the formal dining table?