“Damn, Rocky. I tried!” He grabbed her hips, adjusted his erection and shoved home. He went deep, arching his back until he’d buried himself to the hilt. She gasped and braced herself, hands on his chest. He was a man possessed, determined to possess. He rocked hard, slamming up into her with enough force to bounce. Her breasts swayed. Her back arched. Her mouth opened in that sexy, oh-so-wanting-to-be-satisfied way. He slid his thumb to her clit and in a relentless frenzy of need didn’t stop anything and everything he could do to rocket them both out of the freaking universe.
She collapsed on top of him, crying his name, her sheath convulsing around his dick, ratcheting his orgasm to the point that his whole body spasmed. For a moment, his vision blacked, his ears rang, and he was sure he was going to pass out. All he could do was wrap his arms around her and hold on. Even breathing seemed beyond his capability. Heart thudding in tandem to hers, Jared relaxed and focused on enjoying the feel of her and the pleasure saturating the moment. He knew all too well that life would intrude soon enough.
CHAPTER NINE
Dawn had yet to break and Jared was up, partly because his leg had been clamoring from abuse and required Tylenol to take the edge off. After reporting in to Jesse and informing him of the pending “to be delivered after death” packages, he’d awkwardly showered, shaved and dressed, armed for the day—three condoms lined his pocket.
This was one morning after that he wanted to mark as...different. So, he’d made coffee, toast, and bowls of sliced fruit. Cream, sugar and jam completed his offering as he carried the tray into the living room where he’d left Rocky asleep on the couch.
She wasn’t there. Frowning, he set the tray down. “Rocky?”
He headed to the downstairs bathroom. Nothing. Heart kicking up a notch, he went to the stairs and shouted. “Rocky?”
Nothing. He heard nothing—not even the creak of the floorboard or the rush of water running through the pipes. In a surreal panic, he grabbed the Glock and-ditched the boot. In silence, he re-checked the downstairs and rushed up the stairs. He found the cotton-pajamas she had on last night in the hamper, but the shower was dry, and the rooms were empty. Had she gone up to the roof even though they’d agreed she’d stay inside?
Hoping against hope, he crept up the spiral stairs and reached the center rotunda of the captain’s walk. The sun was a pink-purple haze in the distance and the day had yet to shift from the gray shades of the night. Shadows filled her roof-top oasis and honeysuckle scented the air, but Rocky wasn’t there. He moved to the edges and started scanning the perimeter of her yard. Within seconds, he found her—a dark silhouette swimming beneath the surface of the pool.
He didn’t know whether to shout in anger or cry in relief as he went back inside and exited through the downstairs French doors. All he did know is his body shook. He reached the poolside about the time she surfaced for a breath. Going to his knees he got as close to her as he could.
“Bang. Bang. You’re dead.” His voice was rough and harsh.
She gasped and swung around to look at him. “Jared?”
“No. It’s Ted Bundy or whoever the hell it is who’s after you. You promised you wouldn’t go outside.”
“I-I forgot. I’m sorry. But it’s not like there’s some serial killer after me for heaven’s sake. A freaking planter fell.”
Reaching out, he grabbed her arms and pulled her to him. Christ. She was swimming naked. “Let me be very clear. The planter had help, which means someone who wanted to cause you harm took the moment of opportunity to do it. They failed. They will try again and the next time they’ll be a little more assured of the outcome. They may try and make it look like some random accident. They may not. I do know one thing for sure. It will be a deliberate act and you do not need to be swimming in the dark alone!”
Moving as close as she could, she placed her palms on his shoulders. “I’m really sorry. I honestly forgot. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
“I’ll get over it. But until we know what in the hell is going on, you can’t do this—do you always swim naked?”
“Unless I have company. Considering I swim at least twice a day, do you know how much a pain in the ass wet swimsuits are? It’s practical.”
“It’s provocative as hell and you’re going to have to change your MO.”
She pulled back, her expression wary and fierce. “You have no right to dictate—”
“Ease up. After we’re clear safety-wise, I hope to be skinny dipping with you. Until then, can we go back inside? Your coffee and toast are cold by now.” He reached for her.
She grasped his hand and he pulled. “You made me breakfast?”
Jared shrugged. He might have said something romantic but she was standing there all sleek and wet and slippery and all he could say was, “Come on.” He pulled her to the house.
“Let me get my robe.”
“You don’t need it.”
“Jared. Would you stop acting so—dictatorial. Nothing bad is going to happen while I get my robe.”
He swung around. “You don’t need it. I want you wet. He leaned down and sucked a nipple into his mouth and pulled deep. She arched and groaned. He released her and pulled her toward the French doors. “We need to hurry.”
Once inside with the door locked, he jerked off his shirt, searching for the nearest landing pad. The only thing within his two-step-radius-capability was the back of the couch. He picked Rocky up and set her on it. He put his Glock and a condom carefully aside, flung off the rest of his clothes and slid between her legs. Spreading her knees, he leaned down and ran his tongue up the cleft of her smooth sex, parting her lips. Finding the nub of her clit, he laved special attention to it and didn’t stop until, breathing heavy with her hips squirming, she reached for him.
Standing, he kissed her long and hard, pressing himself against her wetness from erection to chest. He kept the kiss fest going as he slid, reveled, and wiggled all over her slick body until he couldn’t wait another second to get inside her. Rolling on a condom, he opened her knees as wide as he could and watched as he pressed his erection into her hot sheath. With her denuded sex, he could see every nuance of her flesh taking in his thick shaft. An erotic thrill shivered up his spine. He pulled back out and shoved in again and again. She arched to him and he shifted his gaze to hers.
She’d braced herself on the couch back, hands gripping the tops of the cushions at her sides. She didn’t look comfortable and he wanted to drive into her without worry. Making love to her without the boot on his leg was HEAVEN and hurt less because he wasn’t straining against the hard plastic shell. No more boot in bed or out of bed when he was with Rocky and if there was consequences, he’d gladly pay then later.
“Lay back.” He urged her to let go and fall backward.
She looked puzzled and unsure. He grabbed her legs and lifted them up to his shoulders, so her ankles rested against his neck. This caused her to fall backward, her back and head supported by the thick couch cushions. She wasn’t quite upside down, but close enough that he knew the rush of blood would give her quite an orgasm. He shoved home and his balls slid against her sweet ass, almost making himself dizzy with pleasure. He wrapped his arms on the outside of her legs to hold her in place and pumped into her as he stroked her clit. She moaned with pleasure and he gave himself over to the frenzy consuming him—mind, body, and soul. He couldn’t get enough of her.
Rocky reveled in the waves of pleasure rippling from head to toe. The sensations were drowning her in a molten pool that she never wanted to emerge from. Jared’s erection filled her to the core. Her lips burned from the power of his kiss. Her breasts ached from his touch and the bouncing force of each deep thrust. And his silky hair brushed the arches of her feet over and over. It drove her crazy. Her hips rocked with every flick of his thumb. Her breathing shuddered, her body shook, but what captured her from the inside out and sent her senses soaring to an unknown level was the look of total need and complete surrender in his gaze. It sent
her flying past the moon as a wave of orgasms clenched her insides and shot stars soaring though her mind that, exploded with his every thrust until he stopped, and collapsed upside down on the couch with her.
“I’m dying,” he whispered as he caught her hand in his.
“Me too,” she gasped. “And I don’t want to do anything else...ever.” She laughed.
“Give me a minute, and I can arrange that.”
She shifted to her side to look at him, almost believing he could continue this wild sensual odyssey forever. “We’d likely starve to death.”
Humor, hunger, and satisfaction lit his blue eyes. “What a way to go, though.”
“Considering how in shape you are, it would be a while.” She ran a hand over his sculpted chest then raked her gaze over his body. It was then she realized he wore only a bandage on his hurt leg. “Where’s your boot?”
He looked down, frowning as if he didn’t know he didn’t have it on. “I took it off when I went searching for you. It’s not stealth material.”
She rolled to the side and sat upright on the couch. “You need to get it back on right now. What if you’ve worsened the fracture? How in the world could we explain to your brother that you injured yourself more because you were—”
“Having the best five minutes of my life?” Jared grinned and swung around upright. Before he could say anything more, she heard her cell phone ringing. A glance at the clock across the room revealed that it was already seven o’clock. She was due at the construction office in thirty minutes.
“I’d better get that.”
“You do that and I’ll get this.” He caressed her bottom as she stood. “I’ll slide inside from behind while you talk business and pretend nothing at all is going on.”
She couldn’t believe the catch of excitement in her stomach. “Considering you short circuit my every brain cell, all I’d do is heavy breathing. You need to get dressed so I can think.”
“Ditto,” Jared said.
Rocky laughed and ran for the phone. It was Mack. She answered.
“You all right? You sound out of breath,” he said.
“Uh, just rushing in from a swim. What’s up?”
“I’m at the office. Alice left several messages for Pat to call Albright Concrete. He missed the meeting yesterday and they want to reschedule.”
“I wonder why? Did he mention it at the jobsite?”
“He never showed up at the Drake Hotel. Did you talk to him yesterday?”
Her heart began to pound. “No. I called his cell and left messages on his voicemail.”
“Me too. Just now.”
“Did you call Collin?’
“No. Was letting him cool off. Should I?”
“No. Not yet. I’ll stop by Pat’s on the way into the office and call you. He might just be in bed with the flu or something.” She hung up. Jared was there and thankfully dressed. He’d strapped on the boot, but had left the crutches propped up in the corner.
“What’s wrong?”
She explained.
“He was supposed to bring you that box your mother left, right?”
“Yes.”
Hurry up and get ready. “I’m calling, Jesse. I don’t like the sound of this at all.”
Rocky didn’t either. She was ready to go in minutes and noted with a shiver that Jared carried the Glock with him. They were almost out the door when she remembered his crutches and mentioned them.
“Jackson can shoot me later, but I’m not going to hobble around all day, especially if the situation you are in becomes more serious. I need to be able to move fast.”
Rocky only nodded and didn’t try and ague with Jared, perhaps because she felt it, too—the ominous cloud hovering over her that made her want to run for her life.
Jared offered to drive and Rocky didn’t argue. Her nerves were on edge and the butterflies in her stomach had her feeling ill. He dove adeptly with his booted leg off to the side. They parked behind Pat’s green truck in Pat’s driveway. If he wasn’t at home, then he’d left by some other means. He’d lived in the quiet neighborhood for decades. Though he could have afforded and built a bigger house, he stayed in the two-bedroom bungalow that he and his wife Cissy had bought when starting their life together. Cissy had died giving birth to Collin. So growing up, Pat and Collin had been the bachelors that Rocky and her mother, Keira, had tried to fill in the gap for with occasional home cooked meals and spring cleanings.
A black sedan pulled up and parked on the street. The driver got out as she and Jared exited the truck. It was Jesse. The look on his face was as grim as Jared’s.
“I arrived a few minutes ago, parked up the street, and checked the perimeter. It’s clear. No one answers the door.”
For some reason, Jared groaned.
Jesse only lifted a brow.
“There’s a key above the door jamb,” Rocky told Jesse.
“I know. I didn’t use it. Wanted to wait for you, since you’re a close friend of the family. You two stay behind me and follow my lead. No arguments.” Jesse led the way. Rocky got the idea that when it came to serious situations Weldon’s never shirked from taking the lead.
Rocky had had a strange feeling since speaking to Mack. Now her angst doubled. Just the simple act of checking on a dear friend had become a point of danger.
She didn’t like what was happening to her life. Everything had a sinister shadow cast over it and she wanted to blame someone—to yell. She wanted it all to go away and have everything normal again. But somehow as they entered Pat’s tiny bungalow, she didn’t think her life would ever be the same. The moment she stepped inside Pat’s house, she shivered hard. It was almost as cold as she imagined a meat locker would be.
“Does he always keep his house this cold?” Jesse asked.
Rocky shook her head. “Cold made Uncle Pat’s bones ache. He liked things warm.”
Jared and Jesse exchanged a look that Rocky ignored. She was too busy praying that everything was all right and that the doom churning inside her wasn’t real. Jesse moved slowly, she followed and Jared closed in the rear, his plastic boot clanked on the wood floors of the foyer like a death knell.
The kitchen and eating area lay to the left and appeared to be empty. To the right was the great room and fireplace. Bedrooms and bath were in the back. She turned right and saw Pat’s hand on the arm rest of his recliner and rushed forward. “Uncle Pat? Everyone’s been—”
Jesse blocked her with his arm and Jared pulled her back.
She started to protest, but realized that Pat hadn’t responded in any way. Jesse moved across the room and edged around the chair. “Jared, call the police. He’s dead. Gunshot wound to the head. Possible suicide?”
“No!” Rocky cried, moving forward. “He’d never do that. Uncle Pat would never do that.”
Jesse caught her arm. “You sure you want to go closer? There’s some things once seen can never be forgotten.”
Rocky stopped and sucked in air, feeling like she was going to be sick or pass out. The sensation of free-falling into a dark abyss was back, only this time it was wrought with horror and pain.
After calling 911, Jared wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close to his heart. “Do you want to go outside?”
“No. I’ll be all right.” She groaned. “I need to call Collin.”
“In a minute,” Jesse said. “First, I need you to look around and tell me if anything is out of place from what you remember it being before the police arrive and kick us out.”
“It’s been years since I was here but...Uncle Pat wasn’t one to change anything.” Rocky eased from Jared’s hold and glanced around the great room. The book shelves, entertainment center, even the sofa, were all the same as they’d always been.. Fearful, but unable to stop, she moved over to where Jesse stood, searching the room. The magazines on the coffee table were the same, just newer issues. Pat liked reading about race cars, motorcycles, and fishing. The TV remote was in its customary place on the end table
by the recliner. The curtains and pictures, all aged by sun and time, were the same. She shook her head. “No, everything is as I—wait, I smell something burnt. Like wood in the fireplace.” She moved to the hearth. “Uncle Pat never uses the fireplace. Wood smoke sets off his asthma.”
Jesse and Jared joined her. Before she could touch the thick iron mesh covering the opening, Jesse stopped her. He used the blade of his pocket knife to ease open the grate.
She gasped. Sitting on the rack, with burn marks curled all around it, was a rose painted box she had no trouble recognizing. “It’s my mother’s hatbox. She kept notecards and letters in it on her writing desk at home. I haven’t seen it...since she died. I even asked my Da about it and he’d just said that he might have packed it up with all of my mother’s things. Her death was so painful to him at the time that he put everything in the attic. We went through it all two years ago when he sold the house and moved to an apartment, by then I had forgotten about it.” She turned to Jared. “What if this is the box from my mom that Pat had at the bank?”
“I’d bet on it,” Jared said. “He opened it.”
“And maybe found something that made him take his life?” Jesse suggested.
Rocky glanced Pat’s way then quickly averted her gaze. “I can’t imagine what.”
“Believe me,” Jesse said. “I’ve seen it all. Although there is never a good reason to throw in the towel because life means hope, sometimes a person takes their life over the stupidest reasons. You do realize that if we touch the box, we’ll be tampering with evidence that may or may not be part of a crime scene. I might be able to work a deal with the local police so that—”
“Hell no,” Jared interrupted. “You and I both know shit gets tied up in red tape and evidence protocol. It will be days if we’re lucky before Rocky could even get a look. The box belonged to her mother.” He grabbed a stack of newspaper and spread it on the hearth. “What if this man’s death isn’t an accident? What if the killer tried to destroy evidence? This puts her in even more danger than before. I’ll take the blame and pay the penalty, but we’re taking that hat box out to the truck before the police arrive. Don’t you have the ability to process evidence at the R&D?”
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