by Kaylea Cross
Close one.
He’d almost said something like, “I wish I could come home to this picture every night,” or some such shit. Something he would have regretted as sure as he was a fucking US Navy SEAL. And what right did he have to go say or do something like that? He couldn’t offer her anything except some endless nights of fucks and blowjobs. He’d never had to say dumb crap like that with any of his other girlfriends to get into their pants.
Except it wasn’t Libby’s pants he really wanted. Well, yes, he did want to fuck her six ways to sunrise, to be perfectly honest, but he wanted her to want to be there. In that split second, he fantasized that Libby felt she belonged to him.
It was dangerous territory. Why couldn’t he just fuck her so hard she wouldn’t be able to walk, and would have to go home and rest? Wouldn’t that be safer for them both? She wanted it, after all. Give it to her, and then walk away. Get out now. Satisfy the shit out of her and then get out of Dodge.
You are a dog. You are a fuckin’ dumb-as-cum-type-of-scum.
He was standing at the bathroom door with an erection so large he was surprised it bounced. He was a fucking heat-seeking missile. There she was. He could see where her flesh bumped into the frosted glass shower door. This wasn’t any oversized two-person shower. There was barely room for the both of them in it, if they pressed themselves close against each other, which was exactly what he had in mind. If they didn’t hurry up, there’d be no hot water left. Not that it would matter.
She was properly sudsy, her hair in a clip but part of it dangled in the bubbles sliding down her back. She greeted him and he stepped inside and immediately pressed her back against the wall. Her soapy goodness spiked his libido as her legs wrapped around his hips and she was kissing him while soaping his neck and shoulders.
Why can’t I get enough of you, Libby? What do you see in me? You know I am only a simple man who cannot offer you anything. Why don’t you say no? Why are you always so open and available to me?
She wanted him inside her. She was so slippery, his cock was pushing every which way and not finding home base. He didn’t want to get soap in her cave, but Christ, she must have used up all his shower gel because he almost lost his footing trying to ram inside her. She threw her head back and laughed.
Fuck me. Libby, tell me to stop.
But she kept laughing. Then she looked at him, all serious, like a young virgin. As if she was doing this for the very first time. Demure. Almost afraid. Trust in those brown eyes of hers that reached down and grabbed his balls. The water was turning cold, but she didn’t change her focus. She looked down to his lips and very tenderly leaned in and claimed him in her soft way, like breathing life into him.
Something deep in his chest began to ache. He spread his thumb over her cheek, over her lips, and repaid the kiss. His hand caressed her chin and raised her carefully like she was a china doll. Soft kisses. Cold water.
What is happening?
She adjusted herself on top of his cock and he didn’t have to press very hard to be inside her. Completely inside her, slowly, bit by bit, while they looked at each other, watching the other feel the joy of the union.
Something was definitely happening.
She reached over and punched the water off. She levered herself up and down on him in slow, deliberate movements. He braced her, hands under her backside to help her stay right there, riding him, loving him. She closed her eyes and he knew she savored the feel of their joining. He could see it on her face. It wasn’t his size, it wasn’t the place or the urgency and excitement of the sex, and it was him. She was loving him, like he’d never been loved before.
He let her lead. He let her show him how she loved this. He let her be soft and supple, he let her heal him in the only way he could be healed.
He felt connected. Opened. Introduced to a new part of himself he’d never seen before.
Cooper’s eyes began to ache as he realized he had never cried for his family, for all the years he would never have with them, the first kisses and dates his little niece would never have. But he was spared. Spared to have this. This was about being alive, about being a part of something else greater than just himself. Life wasn’t to be wasted by being just lived.
Life was meant to enjoy, meant to be shared with someone else.
Her thumbs brushed aside the wet on his cheeks. He’d never cried during sex, goddamit. Maybe she just thought it was part of the shower water. He hoped she didn’t notice.
But no, it would be his dumb luck, she would figure it out. And did it matter that he would keep this from her, as he pulsed inside her, meeting her orgasm with his own version of the Fourth of July? Another unprotected encounter with someone he just could not keep his hands off? Someone who deserved more, but seemed to be quite happy being here with him just the way he was. Was it wrong that he enjoyed her satisfied smile afterwards as much as the moment he was exploding inside her?
No shit. Something was definitely happening. And fast.
And for the first time, he didn’t want to run away.
Chapter Twenty-eight
“Austin, I think we should cancel the dinner tonight,” Carla said as she stepped out of the shower. Morning sunlight poured through the picture window in their bedroom. Dr. Brownlee was shaving in his shorts.
“Can’t do that, Carla. Riverton says we go about our lives just like normal. I go to the office. But you stay here, or if you go back to the house, you get help, or have Lib—”
Dr. Brownlee turned and strode across the bedroom, opened up the door to the living room and stepped inside, noting the opened door to the other bedroom. Her bedroom that had not been slept in.
He stormed back into the bathroom. “She didn’t come back last night.”
“No, of course not. She’s with him, like the letter said.”
“The letter said she’d be back later,” Dr. Brownlee answered.
“The letter said she was with HIM and I think she’s safer there than over here with us, if you want the truth. Austin,” she dropped her towel and stood completely naked in front of him. “You are so tense.”
She glided toward him with liquid grace, and lifted her hands to massage his temples. It felt good. She smelled good, too.
“How much time do you have?” she whispered as she slid her palms down to his shoulders and to his neck. She leaned into him and did what she knew he couldn’t resist. She pressed those beautiful orbs of flesh against him as her mound pressed against his groin.
“Enough,” he whispered back and kissed her. Her lips were hungry for him. He could still smell the fresh soap on her body. He suddenly wanted to taste all of her.
* * *
Dr. and Mrs. Brownlee had invited Cooper and Libby to join them for breakfast.
Cooper hoped it wasn’t too obvious to Libby when he dropped her hand just before they entered the Beach Bum restaurant down the street from the Hotel Del. They were ushered to the balcony, with a view of the ocean and beach below, protected from wind by a clear Plexiglas barrier.
He felt pretty good, although he and Libby had gotten practically no sleep. Plus, Bay had decided he needed to go out twice to explore. Coop suspected the dog wanted to make sure he wasn’t being ignored.
The sleep deprivation caught up to him as he faced Libby’s dad, who stood up when they approached their table. He extended his hand to her father and managed to avoid making eye contact by saying something to Carla Brownlee. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Dr. Brownlee sat back down with a scowl.
Yessir, I have fucked your daughter. Every time she wanted it and a couple of more for good measure. Cooper smiled as he looked down at his canvas slip-ons. If Libby’s mom was anything like Libby, Dr. Brownlee was a very satisfied fellow this morning as well.
“Something funny, son?” Brownlee blurted out.
Cooper pulled out the chair for Libby, brushed the top of her shoulder as she sat down, then sat down next to her. His thigh rested against hers. He looked u
p to the good doctor and glared at him at first, then decided to give him the cat-that-ate-the-canary grin.
You can treat me anyway you like, sir, but I still fucked your daughter.
Brownlee leaned back, his back hitting the back of the wooden café chair, and took in a deep breath. Carla was searching between both their faces. Libby seemed to be distracted by the look of her exposed thigh against his.
They ordered food and then her father leaned over the table and cleared his throat. “Libby, honey, your mother and I have been invited to a dinner for the Lavender House. I’m getting an award tonight.”
“Nice, dad. That’s wonderful.”
“It’s nothing.”
Carla looked at Dr. Brownlee and blinked without expression.
“They give these every year,” he said. “I’ve always passed them over. I just couldn’t duck this year. And Riverton thinks we should keep up with our normal routine, so I wasn’t going to go, but now think we should. We should all go.”
Cooper was glad they were following the police detective’s orders.
Wait a minute? Go to a dinner? An awards dinner?
“Honey,” Carla began, “We want to have you and Cooper here go with us tonight. As our guests.”
“No, mom. I don’t really want to—”
“It would mean a lot to your dad,” her mother insisted.
Dr. Brownlee rolled his eyes and looked right at Cooper, who had been successfully avoiding him again. The doctor’s eyes locked him in place and wouldn’t let go.
Of course he has to know I’ve been fucking his daughter. Cooper had personally kissed every square inch of her lovely body. He decided to do the right thing.
“Libby,” Cooper said as he laid a palm against her back and stroked her up and down. “I think your parents are right. Probably better to show that this creep hasn’t interrupted any of your normal activities as a family.”
“Going to this dinner isn’t anything like normal—” she said firmly. But when their eyes met he could see she softened.
“I’d like to accompany you to your father’s important dinner. Please.” He smiled, then watched her search her parent’s faces. He squeezed the top of her shoulders and neck. “Okay, honey?”
Cooper saw Brownlee flinch, but remain controlled. He was actually enjoying making the doctor squirm. But, like it or not, it was still the right thing to do to go to the dinner.
“Well, seems like I’m outnumbered. I’ll have to get some things from the house,” Libby said.
“I don’t think that’s wise, Libby.”
“I can take her, sir, if she has to get some things. I don’t mind.”
“Thank you, Cooper,” Dr. Brownlee said. “Glad we got that settled. Now there is something else I need to discuss.”
Cooper had no idea what was coming up next.
“Last night, you said you had some recommendations about making our home safer. I understand you have spent some time with our boys in Quantico and have some special training on surveillance.”
“Yes, sir, I have.”
“I could hire someone to help us out here, but I don’t know where to start. Thought maybe you could help me find someone. Someone good.”
“Just what did you have in mind?”
Brownlee scratched the back of his head, taking a quick glance at Carla before continuing. Coop could see he was extremely nervous.
“I don’t have to tell you I think this guy isn’t going to give up. Everything he’s done has had some connection to our house: Libby’s cat, our swimming pool, my office, the letters in the mailbox.”
“Okay, I’ll grant you that.”
“I think he’ll be back.”
Carla dropped her fork on her plate as everyone at the table jumped.
“Austin, I thought you said—”
“Now, please, hear me out. I’ve had some time to think about it. He’d be dumb to do anything here,” he waved at the Hotel in the background and the crowds of tourists milling about on the beach. “He thinks he has free access to the house. He doesn’t know what we are planning to do, but I’ll bet he’s noted we’re away for a few days.”
“You’re not thinking of moving back into that house, are you, Austin? You can’t be thinking that?” Carla had thrown her napkin on her half-finished omelet.
“No. Not yet. I was thinking Cooper could wire it up, help us monitor it. Then we could move back in and—”
“No. You didn’t discuss this with me.”
“Carla, the police have no leads. It’s the only way to help catch this guy.”
“Using us as bait?” she said. Her words fell like boulders all around them.
Cooper could only describe Carla’s look to her husband as murderous. No one said a further word. Cooper appraised Brownlee and saw for the first time the man was not a coward. A coward runs away, and Cooper could see Brownlee wouldn’t do that. He was an idiot to think he could catch the guy without the police, of course. He was an idiot to think he could pick the guy out from a group of strangers, or that a personality profile would yield any secrets if someone was adept at conning the system.
But Brownlee was no coward.
Libby searched his face, placing her hand over his arm. All three of them were looking at him.
“I’ll need equipment. Take me a couple of days to put it together,” he said.
“Anything you need, we’ll pay for.”
“We’ll pay you for your time, too.” Carla said.
“Not allowed, ma’am. Thanks, but that’s not something I can do.”
“Cooper, I think it might be a good idea if you moved into the house.” Brownlee looked at Libby. “Alone, of course.”
Cooper thought it was funny. He wondered what Bay would think of living in such a huge place. And then he realized that might be a problem. “Dr. Brownlee, I do have a dog, and he would have to come with me.”
“He’s a really nice dog. Very well behaved,” Libby offered.
“I’ll bet.” Brownlee scrunched up his mouth and then shrugged it off. “Cooper, the dog can stay too.”
Brownlee extended his hand and the two men shook.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I am almost late for my first appointment, and we have a dinner to prepare for tonight.” He stood. “Carla, buy some new things. I don’t want you going back to the house just yet, okay?”
“That’s not necessary, Austin. I have everything I need here. Besides, Cooper can take me,” she protested.
Brownlee shook his head. “I can never figure out women. You give them the opportunity to do what they love to do, and they come up with reasons why they shouldn’t.” He leaned down, held her chin tenderly in his fingers and planted a kiss there. Carla’s cheeks flushed and Cooper knew he was right. She was a hot one, all right.
And she was keeping Brownlee sane through all of this.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Cooper had to get back to his Team and let them know what he was up to. He left Libby and her mother to go shopping in downtown San Diego while he rode his scooter over to Fredo’s apartment.
He knocked twice on the front door and didn’t wait for an answer before he tried to open it. It was locked.
“Fredo?” he knocked louder. The SEAL’s truck was in the parking lot, so he knew the Team guy was home.
Fredo appeared at the doorway in his shorts and a sleeveless tank top. The security chain was still affixed so the door was only open a few inches.
“You picked a helluva time to come showing up at my door.” Fredo whispered.
“Why, you getting a nooner? I thought you dated—”
The door slammed, then Fredo walked outside and closed the metal door behind him. A pair of shiny silver handcuffs dangled from one wrist. “Asshole, I’m paying by the hour, get my drift?”
Cooper shook his head with renewed respect for his buddy. He had been wondering lately, with Fredo’s luck with women, how he was handling his needs, not that it made any real difference.
“So what the fuck’s so important you couldn’t just leave me a message?” Fredo asked.
A string of high pitched Spanish shot through the door, something to do with a frog and a whip. Cooper had never taken the time to learn proper Spanish to communicate with his best friend, except swear words and slang. They understood each other just fine.
“I gotta go, man. Sorry I couldn’t offer you better hospitality, or are you here to do your laundry again?”
“No. Sorry. Hey, Fredo. I need to borrow your truck for a day or two.”
“You’re leaving the red demon with me?”
“Yes I am.”
“Boy this must be serious. What you up to?”
“I gotta help Libby’s parents with some surveillance, and I need something big enough to transport my stuff. You okay with this?”
“I’m not washing your scooter, and I can’t be responsible for any scratches—”
“Just don’t wreck it, okay, Fredo?”
“Holy shit, this is serious. Don’t start any wars without me, com-pren-day?”
“No worries. No improvised explosive devices, although, come to think of it, that might be a pretty good idea.”
“Just a minute, I’ll go get my keys.”
Fredo disappeared behind the door. Cooper heard him laugh and heard a woman’s voice squeal. When the door opened, a woman’s soft-looking hand with long, deep-red fingernails slipped out, holding Fredo’s keys in its palm.
Cooper took the keys, replacing them with his scooter keys and the hand retracted, followed by a slam of the door.
Cooper tossed the keys into the air several times as he whistled and walked down the stairs to the parking lot. He started the salvage vehicle up and, after he put it into reverse, it backfired before sputtering out of the parking lot in a cloud of smoke.
* * *
Libby swung the motel room door open, eyeing all six-foot-four inches of Cooper standing in the hallway. She inhaled his lemony aftershave. Just the sight of Coop’s square jaw and clear blue eyes made her swoon. It had been only a few hours since they’d last been together, and now just being so close made it hard to think straight. Images of muscles of steel lurking beneath his dark blue suit made her weak at the knees. He’d never worn anything but cargo pants or jeans with tee shirts.
