by Lisa Ladew
Dan groaned and kissed her again, longer, deeper. He grabbed her waist with his free hand and hauled her against him, tilting his head and plunging his tongue into her eager mouth. Only the thought of someone seeing them stopped him from doing more.
When he released her the second time, Kate’s eyelids were at half-mast and her cheeks flush with arousal. Dan wanted nothing so much as to drag her back inside and bend her over his bed, slam into her welcoming body until they both surrendered to each other.
Instead, he released her hair and sighed. “I guess I’ll have to take a rain check.”
Kate sent him a shrewd look. “Oh, I don’t know. I bet we could work something out. You drive.”
She tossed her keys and Dan caught them on instinct, even as his brain exploded with the possibilities. Was she actually suggesting-? His feet compelled him forward, smiling at the way Kate kept him guessing.
He pulled out of the driveway and into the neighborhood, heading toward the shopping center that sported Kate’s favorite grocery store. The sun had set and the streets weren’t crowded. Dan supposed most people were at home having dinner at this hour.
Kate’s hand crept onto his thigh and gave a little squeeze. “Turn here.”
Dan followed her finger, turning down a residential street and beginning to catch on when he came upon a large baseball field. He pulled into the parking lot and found a secluded spot under a tree, feeling like a teenager pulling into the make-out spot. She really did make him feel seventeen again, even if he couldn’t remember what it had been like. It couldn’t have been this good.
He noticed Kate’s hand was still on his thigh, but inching higher. Dan reached down and slid the seat back, giving her more room between his body and the steering wheel. His cock twitched and lengthened, visibly filling space in the leg of his pants.
Kate glanced up at him and smiled in that teasing way he loved so much. “Uh-oh. Constriction of blood flow is very dangerous. If you don’t want to die young, you need to let me fix that.”
“I’ll do anything to live, Doc.” Dan watched as Kate maneuvered herself over to him. Her fingers moved to his fly, working the buttons open and inching his pants down over his shaft. His breath caught at the feel of her hand wrapped around him through the soft cotton of his boxers. He moved one hand to Kate’s hair and slipped his fingers through the silky strands, lightly caressing.
She began to tease him then. Her fingers slipped down to cup his balls through his underwear, her lips grazing the fabric covering his dick so that he could feel her hot breath and the slightest friction. Dan knew she was trying to provoke him, and he chose to let her. She drove him crazy when she was in this mood.
His fingers tightened in her hair and lifted, as his other hand moved to the waistband of his boxers, pulling the elastic down over his cock and letting it spring free. “Is this what you were looking for?”
“Mmmm, just what I’ve been craving.” Kate inhaled deeply, setting Dan’s heart to thumping. Could she want to know everything about him, even memorizing his scent? Was it possible she thought him the same treasure he found her to be?
He saw her pink tongue an instant before he felt it, warm and wet, on the end of his cock. At first, she flicked it over his flesh, but within moments she was licking and laving him, taking him in her mouth and sucking. Dan groaned deep in his throat.
“Fuck, Kate, that’s so good. Suck it harder, honey. Faster.” He fisted her hair at her scalp, prompting a lusty moan from Kate and a doubling-down of her efforts. Dan was a goner, he’d be coming in no time if she kept that up.
One glance to the right showed her luscious ass in the air. Dan reached his free hand to her belly and slipped it under the waistband of her pants and right between her legs. She must have shaved in the shower just a little while ago. She was completely smooth, silky, and already wet.
“Jesus, Kate, you make me crazy. I’m going to make you scream tonight.” He swirled two fingers around her swollen, slippery clit and then plunged them inside her. Kate moaned, her mouth still stretched wide around him.
He tried to keep his breath even, but there was no doing it. “Can’t wait till tonight?” He focused one finger on the hard little nub of nerve endings, hoping he could get her off before he exploded down her throat. He was so fucking close already.
Kate’s hips started to churn and her breaths grew frantic. Dan could feel huffs of air blowing from her nose, the rhythm scattered and disorganized. She was barely keeping it together. He smiled and pumped his fingers inside her, before focusing on her clit again.
That did it. Kate’s back bowed and she screamed around his cock, her fingers squeezing and milking him, her mouth sucking like she wanted to swallow him whole. She was amazing. He could imagine being with her for the rest of his life. Dan kept his fingers going, swirling and plunging and rubbing until her contracting muscles relaxed, then brought his wet fingers to his mouth.
“Mmm, you taste good. Your turn now.” Both hands in her hair, he held her head still, knowing from sweet experience with her that she relished the feeling of his cum shooting into her throat. He plunged his cock through her gripping fingers and in between those sweet, hot, welcoming lips, taking care not to be too rough, but fucking her mouth all the same.
Her groans and gasps egged him on, letting Dan know he wasn’t hurting her, that she wanted him to do it. He changed his rhythm to short shallow thrusts and Kate swirled her tongue around his head on every pass. He was lost for her. He felt the thunder gathering in his balls and warned her.
“Oh, here it comes. Fuck!” A huge orgasm ripped through Dan’s body, making him tingle from his scalp to his toenails. He felt himself spilling into Kate’s waiting mouth and sighed, the relief reaching all the way down to his bones.
She kept him inside her mouth for a long time, her tongue making passes every so often that had Dan shivering and gasping. Finally, he softened and slipped from between her lips.
Kate raised her head, bringing her smug, satisfied grin up as she wiped her mouth and pushed her hair out of her face. “Better than chips?”
He laughed. “So much better. Think we should tell your brother?”
“You tell him, see what happens.” Dan slipped his hand back in her hair and pulled her close to kiss her. Gently, gratefully, reverently, until Kate pulled back and he could see a blush heating her cheeks. Funny, this one. She could give blowjobs without flushing at all, but go too far over the line from sex to affection and she always reacted that way.
They left the field, then giggled their way through the grocery store, Dan snagging Kate’s hand to hold and pulling her close for innocent kisses every couple of aisles. He couldn’t help it. She was everything a man in his right mind would want.
If only Dan was in his right mind, it could be perfect. Instead, he was in limbo, not even sure who he really was.
As they approached the checkout lane, Dan noticed the man already standing there looked a little rougher than usual, so he subtly stepped in front of Kate to provide a buffer of protection between him and her.
It wasn’t that the guy was doing anything wrong, just that Dan preferred to keep heavily-tattooed men with poor hygiene and shifty eyes away from the woman he loved. The thought turned into a groan, surprising him. Loved? Shit.
Dan frowned, considering the situation, then turned to give Kate another quick kiss on the lips. Apparently he was the type of man to fall in love quickly? When he turned back to face front, still frowning and trying to decide if he’d meant the L-word, the guy in front of him was holding out a twenty-dollar bill to the cashier. His hairy forearm stretched out, making the denim of his jacket ride up and giving Dan a better view of his tattoos.
Dan’s blood seemed to freeze, stuttering his heart. A buzzing sounded in his ears, muffling his thoughts. He tried not to stare at the forearm, but his eyes were locked on an image of two black, white, and red hammers crossed over what looked like a gear wheel.
Dan shot a glance to the
man’s face as surreptitiously as he could, but there was no jolt of familiarity there. Something about that tattoo was making his head ring like a fucking church bell. He almost asked the guy about it, but the “H8” tattoo a few inches below the hammers made him reconsider. There were other ways to find out what such a tattoo meant. He watched the man pocket his change, grab his bag, and head out the front door of the store.
Kate noticed his distraction. She kept up a conversation with the cashier and shot concerned glances at him every few seconds as their groceries got bagged. Dan tried to smile but felt only a grimace on his lips.
From the heights of new love to the depths of confusion in less than a minute. How long before his mind was his own again? How long before Kate didn’t have to wonder if he was going to wake up one day and walk away? How long before he didn’t have to wonder the same?
Kate stepped in front of Dan on their way out the door. “Ok, what the hell was that about?” She tried to peer into his soul. “You looked a million miles away, like someone having a panic attack. What happened?”
Dan took her hand, pulling her around toward the car. “That guy had a tattoo that I recognized. I want to look it up on the Internet as soon as we get home.”
Kate’s face lit up. “Do you think you knew him?”
Dan still felt far away, the gears in his mind turning. “No, I don’t. And he didn’t know me. I think it was just the tattoo.”
Back home, they walked in the door and Kate booted up her laptop, handing it over to Dan before starting to put the groceries away. He dropped into a chair at the kitchen table and started an online search, finding the tattoo easily.
“It’s called Hammerskins, and it’s popular with white supremacists.” Dan could hear his voice, dejected and morose. What the fuck was he mixed up in? “One of the most popular in the country, apparently, so it’s not even that much help.” He frowned. “What if I’m with them? I mean, if I was racist, that wouldn’t change with amnesia, would it?” Dan couldn’t stop the panic creeping up his throat, because he knew it probably would. He didn’t want to be a neo-Nazi, or whatever that group called themselves. What if he found out he was a horrible person in his old life? What if it was so bad that Kate couldn’t even love him?
Suddenly, she was right there again, her arms wrapping around his shoulders from behind. “I think we can safely say you’re not part of the group. What you could be is a journalist, or a private investigator. There are lots of other explanations that make way better sense, okay? Don’t panic.”
Dan leaned his head back onto Kate’s shoulder and sighed. She was right. He just had to dig further and keep his cool. Pretend it was a research project instead of his life on the line.
Chapter 10
Talon strode into the lobby of Alpha Security, his jaw set. He knew the perpetual scowl he wore intimidated many of the other employees, but he couldn’t help it. Worry was wearing him down.
It’d been over a week and he still had no solid leads on Daxton’s whereabouts. It had been eleven days since anyone had heard from their brother. The standard policy at Alpha was not to file a missing person report until two weeks had passed. It was a risk taken by all the employees who relied on their anonymity to do their best work, including Talon. But, man, did it chafe when it was family that was on the line.
The week plus had been wonderful in other ways, confusing the issue even more. His first week as a married man, something he never thought he’d be in a million years. Even though he and Crystal had been living together already, there was something about seeing rings on both their fingers that warmed Talon all the way down to his formerly frozen heart.
He was so caught up in thoughts of Crystal, he almost didn’t see Janice, one of the firm’s long-time receptionists, frantically flagging him down, almost mussing her perfectly-coiffed seventies ’do in the process.
She handed over a pink message slip, staring into Talon’s face as he read it. Well into her fifties and a founding employee of Alpha Security, Janice was a bit of a mother hen when allowed to be. She was also tough as nails and had stared down more than one client who got too aggressive with their demands. Talon liked her, mother hen or not.
“Mr. Covina, thank goodness, I was just about to call you. It’s about Mr. Rosesson, Daxton, I mean.” Janice’s words blended together she was so overcome. “A motel in Oregon just called. They said they found his personal effects in one of their rooms, but he’s gone.”
Talon met her eyes. “I’m on it, Janice. Thanks for bringing it to me right away.”
“Of course, Mr. Covina. We all want to know he’s safe.” Message delivered, Janice squared her shoulders and returned to her post. Talon smiled despite his worries over Dax. That tough old broad would have made an outstanding soldier.
He strode towards his office with a single-minded focus. Finally, a lead on Dax he could grab onto, do something about. Talon closed and locked his office door and picked up the phone, not even bothering to sit. He thought better on his feet, anyway. He punched in the digits and waited.
“Fernleaf Motel, come and sleep among the pines. How can I help you today?” The voice that answered the phone was female, middle-aged, and brashly out of sync with the serene message it delivered.
“Good morning, my name is Thomas Covina, with Alpha Security, returning your call. I understand one of our employees was staying at your hotel? Mr. Rosesson?”
“Yeah, that’s him. Didn’t figure him for a skipper. He works for you?”
“That’s right. Do you have any idea of his whereabouts?” No sense in small talk.
“Nah. He paid two weeks in advance, but he came and went a lot. Nobody’s seen him in at least a week. His money ran out this morning, so we sent housekeeping in to clean the place. Found his wallet, business cards, all his clothes and stuff still in the room.”
Talon knew that, like him, the Rosesson brothers would sometimes leave their identification at home if they were going out on a dangerous job. Less chance of being found out by the bad guys if things went south. Shit.
“That’s odd. Do you know if he called any cab companies for transport, or did he have a rental car?”
“He had a car, I don’t know if it was his or a rental. A black or dark blue car. I only saw it through the window when he checked in and don’t remember any more.”
Her tone changed from curious to resigned. “Anyway, I figured I’d call you before the police, since we don’t even know if he’s missing or whatnot. Thought you might have a way to get a hold of him, tell him to come back and get his stuff.”
“Actually, ma’am, would you mind boxing all his belongings up and sending them to me here?” Talon rattled off the Alpha Security mailing address even as his mind was running a million miles a minute. What could Dax have found that would make him leave all his stuff at the motel and then take off? “Just one more thing, was there any cash in the room?”
He heard sputtering on the other end of the line. “There most certainly was not. But if there had been you can rest assured it would be with his other belongings. There are no thieves at the Fernleaf, sir.”
The strength of her protest made Talon wonder if she was being honest, but theft was the last thing on his mind. “Of course not, ma’am. I was just trying to piece together the puzzle, figure out where he might have gone.”
The woman on the other end was in no mood to be appeased, it seemed. She sniffed disparagingly. “Well, I’m sure I don’t know. We’ll get these belongings together and charge the shipping costs to the credit card on file. Have a good day.”
“Right.” Talon heard the click of the line before he’d even finished speaking. He let the phone drop and thought of what to do next. The woman on the phone said Dax had a car, and the one she described was not his personal vehicle, so it was a rental. Talon booted up his computer and started searching.
The Fernleaf Motel was outside Baker City, Oregon, so Talon started his search there. He called all the car rental agencies
in the area, from nationally-known vendors to the few mom-and-pop establishments that still existed. He emailed Dax’s photo to dozens of accounts, hoping one of them would recognize him and call.
The next day was more of the same, but this time Talon focused on hospitals. He knew, of course, that they were forbidden to give out patient information, but he hoped that some compassionate person might at least reach out if they knew Daxton was hurt, or worse. Just in case, he made sure the photographs got to the medical examiner’s office as well. At this point, they needed answers more than he needed to pretend.
Talon dragged home to Crystal that night frustrated as hell. To be so close as to know Dax’s last whereabouts and still not be able to find him was worrying. It was like he just disappeared, ceased to exist. Talon didn’t want to think about the possibility of delivering that news to his new family.
“Babe, don’t worry.” Crystal ran her fingers through his hair as they lay in bed at midnight, catching their breath. He’d brought his worries to her in the form of aggressive sex and she’d responded with enthusiastic participation. “I mean, maybe a little, so you’ll stay all pent up and keep taking care of me like that…”
Talon cut a sideways glance at her teasing eyes, managing a smirk of his own.
“Don’t give me that skeptical look, Tal. You’re doing your best. And he’s out there; you’ll find him.” Her fingers moved over his cheekbones, his jaw line, the slope of his nose. The softest touch he’d ever felt, but somehow it rocked him to his core.
Talon turned into Crystal’s warm embrace and closed his eyes, soaking up the comfort she offered with her words and her body. He hoped to hell he could find Daxton. Knox and Bronx would never be the same if he couldn’t. Phoenix? He didn’t know Phoenix well yet, but he assumed it would be the same.
