by Mimi Barbour
Small town, good-hearted folks… God love ‘em.
***
Hours later and many towns away from home, John had his new friend drop him off at an airport hotel where he settled down to catch a flight first thing in the morning. He didn’t care where it flew, as long as they didn’t look too closely at the photo in his new passport.
He knew for a fact that most officials never really scrutinized old people. It had been happening a lot over these last few years, him passing under the radar like he had no importance to the world.
He figured it meant they hated any reminders of their own approaching futures. If he wore the glasses he’d bought at a convenience store, combed all his hair back from his forehead and pretended to be a grouch, surely they’d see Brad.
Wrestling his eyes open yet again, waiting for his wake-up call, his mind wandered to Charli. If she’d followed through with her plans to go to Fort Lauderdale, and he located the house she’d rented, just maybe he’d find her there, warn her… protect her.
If unsuccessful, it wouldn’t be for the lack of trying. The idea of failure brought back the heart palpitations he’d been fighting off ever since he found Mark. He took another sip of his tea. Face it, man. You need to get lost for a while, and what better place?
Not being too stupid, he knew the killer had somehow linked him to Charli, and that wasn’t good. He couldn’t be used to trap his girl. Hell, she’d do anything; even give herself to a killer to save her old popsicle.
Damned if he’d let that happen. The only relief he got from Mark’s death was praying that the killer believed Mark to be him.
***
Late the next day, after sleeping on the various flights and getting wheelchair assistance in the airports, he arrived in Fort Lauderdale. Though the heat sucked the little energy he had left, pure gumption, or what Charli alluded to as his mule-headedness, kept him going. With the help of an accommodating taxi driver, he found a nice hotel, freaked at the outrageous cost for the two nights but forked it over, and rented a boat with a driver to tour the waterways the next morning.
He grinned ruefully and shrugged at the same time. Penny-pinching no longer mattered. He needed to find his girl.
Chapter Twenty-six
Earlier, Blake’s heart pounding, pitching battles inside his chest, he’d floored it to the address that Kayla had shared, the siren screaming all the way. He’d broken every road rule and had arrived even before the back-up.
Once he’d seen the three girls standing outside the dump-like house, and they appeared fine, the dryness in his mouth became flooded with an abundance of saliva. For a few seconds, he thought he’d lose his lunch.
Charli stood beside the other two; ramrod straight, her soft blonde curls haloing her head. Tight black pants sculpted her perfect ass, her long legs tucked inside fitted black boots. Paired with a snug white shirt, a cover emphasizing perky breasts he’d dreamed of too often lately, he unclenched the wheel.
Damn, that woman has me wound so tight, I can’t think straight.
Leaving his vehicle in the middle of the road, he’d quickly approached Kayla who stepped forward, her eyes warning even while her lips explained.
Listening, he searched the area, and when he felt he’d hidden his angst enough to approach a now cranky Charli, Angie’s words had painted a picture he’d have given his next paycheck to have seen. Charli laying a beating on a deserving fat asshole and winning, well… how straight-up fucking awesome.
He relished the word-picture, until he looked at Charli’s face and saw the reaction to Angie’s words.
Hugging her hadn’t been planned, just an instinct he couldn’t fight. He didn’t know anyone who needed his arms around them more than the shaking mess in front of him. Aha! She wasn’t Superwoman after all. The fight had taken its toll.
Nope.
While he’d forced her close, her whispered warning stirred his memory.
Stress! The report he’d poured over yet again the night before came back with a vengeance. The Bureau’s psychologist strongly advised that Charli be given a period of timeout – meaning personal leave to get her head straight.
In dire need to recoup from an earlier extended case, one where she’d handled crushing tension, constant peril, and in the end, a battle where many died, the doctor hadn’t minimized his diagnosis. Charli needed to rest, take a vacation. No working for the foreseeable future. And… under no circumstances, have any undue stress in her life.
***
Hours later, Blake appeared at their dinner table and made his announcement. “I’ll be moving back home tonight.”
Angie and Kayla grinned and voiced their support. “Sweet!”
Charli reacted somewhat differently. Her chair skidded before it flipped over. Her face lost its color, and her voice rose just slightly lower than a full-out scream.
“What?”
Inside he flinched but forced an outer calm. Taking on the boss-like tone he used to run a police department full of hot-heads, he added, “There’s no argument you can say to make me change my mind, I’ll be around a lot more, so suck it up, sweetheart.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Earlier, calming from her panic to where she could see a doable future with Angie, it took Charli a while to lay down new rules for both her wards. The need to wiggle around Angie’s questions, obliged to play it safe; she purposefully didn’t reveal a lot of information.
The pitiful few questions Angie did ask surprised her. As if the girl still existed in a dream she didn’t want to wake up from, she became agreeable to whatever Charli said. In fact, she couldn’t have been more affable. Knowing that would change soon enough, the relief Charli felt at the moment was huge. Since she didn’t have answers, not having questions right now worked for her.
Shaking, not able to relax after the earlier battle with scumbag Hank, she overcame her reluctance and used one of the pills her doctor had prescribed for such moments. They were awful, made her sluggish and off-center, like she was drunk. She’d have benefited a whole lot more from an hour of yoga or hard physical exercise. Unfortunately, she had no time.
First, she’d talked privately with Kayla, where after an intense argument that Charli had trouble following, the highly intelligent teen agreed that it wouldn’t be fair for Angie to stay with them – to possibly put her life at risk.
Even though the danger level had minimized with each passing day nothing happened with Dylan Ross, it would be wrong to take any chances, nor would the department approve.
Therefore, the next day, Charli would look into a private school in Seattle, close to the smaller town where her grandfather lived, and request that Mark Crawly look after the details. She’d also ask him to instigate a meeting between John Madison and Angie and share her wishes with John that he should take the young girl under his wing until Charli returned.
Once they had Dylan in custody, she’d let Angie decide her future, hers – and if she could wrangle through the red tape, Kayla’s. Let them choose a school where they could be together, and she’d pay. Hell, what better way to spend some of her inheritance than to give two deserving girls a chance in life. A way they could stay together if they so wished.
Everything had settled down to where she felt better, more relaxed, could breathe without the constriction around her chest tightening uncomfortably. She’d been cool, even looked forward to Blake arriving that evening for dinner.
That he’d been late didn’t faze her. That he’d dumped a bombshell in the middle of their Scrabble game, well… that did it!
“I’ll be moving back home tonight.”
Angie and Kayla grinned, high fived and voiced their support. “Sweet.”
Charli reacted somewhat differently. Her chair skidded before it flipped over. Her face lost its color, and her voice rose just slightly lower than a full-out scream.
“What?”
He flinched even while he took on the boss-like tone he likely used to run a police department f
ull of hot-heads. “There’s no argument you can say to make me change my mind. I’ll be around a lot more, so suck it up, sweetheart.”
She was pissed.
Glaring his way, she gritted her order between teeth that she’d forced closed to keep in the vitriol she couldn’t flay him with in front of witnesses. “In the bedroom. We need to talk.” She stomped down the hallway and heard the nervous giggles the girls shared at whatever stupidly cute comment he’d no doubt shared.
As soon as he closed the door, she whipped around, hands on hips, and let it rip. “There’s no blasted way in hell you’re moving in here while I’m under this roof. Either things stay the way they are, or we leave.”
Obviously working to keep his cool, Blake glared back, and then he said words she couldn’t argue with, words that stopped her cold.
“He killed her. Agent Melissa Dale, the one who took your place at the house you rented, he tortured her first. And then he killed her.”
Charli sagged, about to drop, and Blake gathered her close. “I’m sorry for giving you the news so brutally. But I need you to understand why I’m adamant about you and the girls having sufficient protection until we can move you out.”
“Of course. Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I never thought he’d find out about my personal plans for renting that house.” Charli’s head swam in a morass of guilt and pain for the other agent and her family. “That bastard’s not going to stop, is he?”
“Nope. We never thought he would. He wants Alicia Shoal and killing anyone in his way won’t even register on his guilt-meter. In fact, the monster doesn’t have one.”
“I know. You’re right. Thank God we’ve changed our identities and Agent Dale didn’t know where we were heading.”
Blake turned away but not in time. She saw his face.
“What? You’re not telling me something.”
“He broke into your apartment.”
“In Seattle? When?”
“Two days ago.”
“Hold it. When did he kill Agent Dale?”
“After the police finish their investigation, we’ll know more. But from the crime scene, and the neighbors who were with her in the early part of the evening, I’d say last night.”
“So, he was in town this morning. And I left Kayla in a car by herself.”
“With a loaded gun. You were slightly busy beating the shit out of Angie’s dad. Who, by the way, ended up in the hospital with some pretty bad damage to his precious boys. He’s claiming it was an accident.” At her probing look, he added, “We get notified whenever anyone appears in the emergency room with questionable injuries. I paid him a little visit before I got the news about Agent Dale’s murder. He won’t be bothering you or Angie ever again. And he promised he’d turn over any documents she’d have need of, and he’d get his wife to sign away any rights on papers that the court draws up.” Blake closed the gap between them and gently tugged her into his arms, hugging her close.
Charli’s arms clung around his waist and her head rested on his wide shoulders. Feeling protected, like she did as a little girl perched on her daddy’s knee, she let the tears fall. Tears that wouldn’t be held in any longer.
“That poor woman.”
“She put up a fight, Charli, but in the end, I figure she gave him whatever information she had.”
“Which was nothing, right?”
“Which was that you and Alicia were in Fort Lauderdale.”
“Seriously? Shit.”
“Seriously.”
“That’s a game changer, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s closer than I ever thought he’d get.”
“What do we do now? Should we move?”
“As soon as we can get arrangements made, yes. Until then, I have a full detail posted around the house. For now, we’ll hunker down here until either we get the all-clear that they have the son of a bitch in custody, or they’ve arranged a new safe house.”
His hands gathered her face, and he stared into her soft brown eyes, shining with unshed tears. Sorrow, visible in their gorgeous depths, made them gentler than he’d ever seen them before.
Kissing her mouth, a simple touch of sympathy, he hugged her even tighter. “I need to keep you safe.”
“Me and Kayla, and now Angie. Poor girl’s caught up in this too.”
“I know. If you feel its best, we could take her to a safe house where she’d be looked after.”
Snuggling closer, ignoring warnings blaring from her brain that she was allowing him a lot more leeway than she usually let any man, Charli admitted, “Already made a similar suggestion. Her answer was a simple – no way in hell. That girl can become an iceberg when she’s not happy.”
“No doubt she’s spent most of her life in that condition. I saw her old man.”
“Yeah. If I don’t keep her with me now, she’ll be lost… her chance wasted. She needs affirmation that she matters, that someone cares. Earlier, when we were at her house, she had it. I gave it to her. We can’t take the chance that she’ll misinterpret the reason she shouldn’t stay now. The damage could be irreparable. That kid’s on the brink of doing something stupid. She’s that close to taking her own life.”
“God, Charli. She’s a good kid. See how she’s taken to Kayla, how the two of them are together?”
“I know. I’ve watched them, saw them sharing these last few hours, and it’s beautiful.” Charli told him what she’d overheard the night before. How even in her depths of despair, Angie thought to reach out to others by donating her hair and organs. And how her young body had been tortured repeatedly by an animal who didn’t give a rat’s ass about the harm or pain he caused. To his credit, Blake listened without interrupting.
After she’d finished, he questioned her, his husky tones filled with understanding. “So, you decided the Neanderthal needed a lesson, and she needed to see it. You did what I would have done in your place. The shit deserved everything he got and more. From now on, my people will be watching both her parents. They just have to step out of line, and I mean a tippy-toe over, and we’ll book them with whatever we can. In the meantime, I see what a pickle you’re in with Angie.”
“Yep. I’m taken with the girl, her guts and deep-down sweetness. Not sure how it happened, but both her and Kayla have snuck into… ahh, mattering. Now I need to keep them safe.”
Without releasing her, he arched back so he could see her eyes when asking his question. “So, you’re good about me staying?”
She tried pulling away but gave up the struggle when she sensed he needed her to stay, to answer… to relieve his worry. “I guess, as long as we make some rules – keep things between us impersonal. No more hugs and kissing. Just two cops on a job.”
“Bullshit, Charli. You know I can’t keep my hands off you. You’re like a magnet for me. There’s nothing impersonal about what I feel when I’m around you.”
Her voice steely, Charli reacted, “Buddy, it’s called lust. So quit acting like I’m a bitch in heat and back off.” She pushed away from him and stopped a foot away.
Hoping she’d get him so pissed he’d leave her alone, she made her expression reflect her hard words. God, she needed him to stop torturing her with his smell, his strength… his nearness. The last thing she wanted in her crazy, mixed-up life was a horny man who had somehow broken through her barriers left open from two teens she couldn’t resist.
His reaction shocked her. First he grinned, making her nervous, his handsome face adoringly more so with the soft light in his mystical green eyes. And then he made his move. Within seconds, he’d hoisted her into his arms, his lips demanding.
Any options left open completely faded, she lifted her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist.
Like she weighed less than a child, he boosted her, and then used the nearest wall for support. Without hesitation, his expert kisses forced her response. His tongue delved into her mouth and made love to her, pushing in and out until every bone in her body melted from unleas
hed passion.
Any thoughts of stopping him fled as she immersed herself in the torrid swells of erotic emotion. Incited, on fire, she changed from breathing normally to panting, and knew he suffered the same condition. That knowledge aroused her even more.
His hands undid her bra and began forcing it and her top over her head, and she willingly held up her arms to make it easier. On their downward move, his hands cradled her butt to put her body in perfect position with his own thickness.
Meanwhile, her hands caressed his head, sliding through his hair, cradling his cheeks, holding him in place. He’d gotten her attention, her involvement. Now, there’d be no stopping. She needed him, needed his hardness inside her… to feel alive again. She’d lived in a vacuum without sex for far too long.
“You’re so beautiful, baby. I love your hair.” After gliding up over her bare back and shoulders, his hands were now entangled in her curls. Twinges of pain from him tugging the strands added to her hunger. God, how she wanted to feel attached to another soul in the way humans were meant to be – their bodies joined.
Their hearts beating hard in unison.
Their breaths gasping together in ecstasy.
“Hmmm.” She wouldn’t answer, couldn’t. He had her attention, held her captive. No way would she give him bits of her heart through her voice.
Each time they moved, their body’s grinding into each other’s, back and forth, from side to side, she mashed her chest to his. Taking the hint, Blake cupped her loosened breasts as they swayed and bounced.
Lowering his head, he bathed them with his tongue. “You’re gorgeous, your body is perfect.” His kisses travelled until he stopped at her nipples. “These babies are so pretty. God, Charli, you’re so sweet. So sweet.”
Allowing him full access, she wrapped her arms around his lowered shoulders and soaked in the sensuous reactions. Her body throbbed, her groin tingled, dampened, waiting, writhing, the palpitations overwhelming. She wanted him inside her.
