“Once it’s over, you can go back to living a normal life. And maybe, I don’t know…”
My heart skipped a beat even though I really very much wished it wouldn’t. “Maybe what?”
“Maybe you and I could, you know, spend more time together. Without cameras on us all the time.” When I turned to him, he grinned affably. “Hey, don’t pretend you don’t like me. I know you do. And I like you, too. So why not see what happens?”
He had so much confidence. I was sure girls everywhere were ready to claw each other’s eyes out for a chance to be with him. And under any other circumstances, I would’ve been ready with my nails sharpened to a fine point. But this wasn’t a normal circumstance. He was going to hate me, and he didn’t even know it yet.
I wished there was a way to explain it to him. I wished he would understand. I could only hope the pictures were lost, destroyed when the memory card got scratched. It was the only hope I could still hold onto.
“We’ll see,” I said. I couldn’t shoot him down, not when he looked so hopeful. Not when I wanted more than anything in the world to say yes. Yes, I will be with you. Yes, I want to see where this goes, too. I want to see if you really do fill the loneliness I didn’t realize was there until you came along.
He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll take that for now, because I know you’ll come around.” He winked before settling back on the couch. “Did you say something about coffee a while ago?”
***
That had to be one of the strangest days of my life. I was there, but I wasn’t. No matter what we were doing—chilling out, watching TV, reading, eating—I was miles away. God forbid Brett try to have a conversation with me. I could hardly keep my mind focused on what was coming out of his mouth. I decided to edit some of the photos from the wedding as an excuse to keep myself occupied and eliminate the possibility of conversation.
Every time his phone buzzed, I was sure it was my doom. Eventually, he’d get a call or a text stating that I hadn’t told the whole truth. Everything would come crumbling down, and the smile Brett couldn’t seem to keep off his face whenever he looked at me would be anything but. He was probably the best man I had ever known, and the thought of hurting him gnawed at me. Oh, please, don’t let them extract the files. Please, please.
Should I tell him? Maybe it would be easier to hear it coming from me. But what if there was no reason to tell him? What if the files were gone and all I did was incriminate myself? I couldn’t run that risk, either. Once he knew the truth, it would all snowball from there.
Day turned to night. Brett ordered sandwiches—I only picked at mine. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked.
That was my chance. “Honestly, not very well. I was thinking about heading in early.” It was only eight o’clock and I would be bored out of my mind, but it was better than sitting there while my eyes kept drifting from my laptop over to the spot where his phone sat.
“I’ve been wondering about you all day.” My heart just about broke when he said it. He was wondering, which meant he was thinking about me. “Come on. Get some rest.” He led the way to my room, and there was nothing I could do but follow and wait while he turned down the bed.
“Why are you so good to me?” I blurted.
He turned and took my hands in his. “I’m in charge of you, remember?”
“But you don’t have to be this good to me. You don’t. It’s all right. I know this is just your job, and you feel like it’s important to treat me this way, but you don’t have to.”
The only light was coming from the living room, through the open door. I could just make out the way he frowned. “I want to,” he murmured before tucking hair behind my ear. Oh, God, life was so unfair sometimes. I should have been able to enjoy that touch, and the way the backs of his fingers stroked my cheek. The way he took my chin in his hand and tilted it upward before leaning down to brush his lips against mine—softly, so softly, but that was enough to spark a fire that quickly raced through my body. Even though my brain was in torment, my body burned up in the heat from his kiss.
This time, he didn’t pull away. This time, his hands ran over my back, my butt, my hips. Yes. I wanted him to claim every inch of me before it was too late. I wanted to at least have one night with him, a night when we could finally give into what had been building for days. I wanted him inside me, to feel his body over mine as he pumped in and out. I had to forget, just for a little while.
We fell onto the bed, pulling at each other’s clothes. “Are you all right?” he whispered breathlessly. “You’re not sick?”
Right. I was supposed to be feeling unwell. “I’m fine. I want this,” I whispered. I pulled him to me by his impossibly thick shoulders. “I want you.” He thrust his hips forward and I gasped at the rock-hard bulge pressing into my belly. Yes. I wanted that, for sure.
He slid one hand under my t-shirt and bra, and a cry of pleasure burst from me as he fondled my breast. My nipple went hard under his palm, and he flicked it with his thumb while his tongue darted into my open mouth. I groaned as he took his time exploring me, sweeping his tongue in circles around mine. My leg draped over his, and he dug the fingers of his free hand into my thigh.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing siren filled the air. I screamed in surprise, while hands that were just starting to explore his body covered my ears.
“Motion sensor!” I just barely heard him shout over the wailing siren. Motion sensor. I jumped up from the bed while he ran around it to open the window. Somebody had tried to break in. It tripped the sensor.
“Damn it!” He slammed the side of his fist against the windowsill, then ran out to the living room. He waved his arms in front of the camera, then sliced the side of his hand over his throat. The siren stopped, and the sudden silence was chilling.
“What happened?” I whispered, my head still spinning, ears ringing from the awful screeching.
“An intruder. I just made out the top of their head as they got to the ground. I don’t know how the hell they made it up the fire escape without one of our guys spotting them.” He looked out the window, across the street. “There’s nobody there. They must be changing shift. Son of a bitch!”
His phone rang, and he lunged for it. “Yeah. No, I didn’t see them. Dark hair, but it might’ve been a cap. Yeah. Yeah, I think so, too.” He looked at me and nodded. “Okay. On our way.”
“On our way?” I asked when he slid the phone into his pocket.
“Come on. Pack a week’s worth of clothes, now. Everything you think you need. You have five minutes.” He threw open my closet and pulled out a suitcase, then opened it and tossed it to the bed. “Toiletries too. We can always have somebody pick them up for you, though.”
“Are you serious? Where are we going?” Even so, I yanked open the drawers to my dresser and started pulling things out right and left. Underwear, socks, pajamas. Jeans, shorts, t-shirts.
“The safe house. We have one around twenty minutes from here, across the bridge.”
“In New Jersey?” I asked as I tossed sandals and sneakers in. I spun in a circle, hands on my head. There was so much to take. I pulled a shoulder bag from the closet shelf and ran out to the bathroom to throw my toiletries inside.
“Yeah, in Jersey. It’s very safe, we have nothing to worry about there.” So why did he sound so worried? He dialed another number on his phone and started talking in what sounded like code. My hands shook as I pulled things from shelves and drawers and threw them, blindly, into my bag.
“Are you ready?” he asked after hanging up.”
“Yes. I think so.” He closed my suitcase and picked it up as I turned off the lights.
“Don’t worry—if there’s something you still need, we can get it for you.” He was repeating himself, which told me he thought I was in a lot more trouble than I had been before.
All I could do was ask myself as we ran down the stairs Why would he try to break in? What was he thinking?
Chapter Eleven – Molly
“You’re going to get us pulled over,” I protested as we raced over the bridge. “And then what?”
“A ticket, I can handle,” he replied in a tight voice. His jaw was clenched hard enough to crack walnuts. I wanted to tell him not worry, that I had nothing to be afraid of—but that would ring false, wouldn’t it? Because I wasn’t entirely sure that I had nothing to worry about anymore. Not if he tried to break in. Why would he do it?
“Hmm?” Brett glanced at me.
“What?”
“You said, why would he do it.”
I had? Oh, crap. I needed to be more careful. “Oh. Just thinking to myself, why would anybody break in? I mean, why would they wait a week and then come for me? I might have gone to the police a dozen times by now.”
“But if you had given them anything, they would’ve hidden you somewhere else by now.” He smacked the steering wheel with the palm of his hand, making me jump. “Damn it, they must’ve found out who you are. But how?”
“Maybe they followed us?” I asked in a near-whisper. I had to come up with some way to calm him down—but that wasn’t the way, obviously, because he smacked the wheel again. Harder, that time.
“Which means I allowed it to happen. How could I notice somebody was tailing me?” He looked up into the rear view mirror as he asked it, like he was afraid of a tail right then and there.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ve been watching, and there’s nobody following us.”
“You shouldn’t have to be the one watching. That’s the point.” He snarled. “I’m the one who’s watching you, not the other way around. I wasn’t paying close enough attention. And whoever tried to get into your apartment was paying attention, enough attention that they knew when the shift in front of the building changed. They must have been hanging out all week, watching.”
He was right. Damn, that must’ve been it. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. No way was it coincidence that he showed up exactly when I wasn’t being watched from the street. So he had been planning it. it wasn’t a last-minute effort to reach out to me. My stomach clenched, and I was suddenly glad I hadn’t eaten much for dinner.
The house was dark when we arrived. It might as well have been any house on any street, anywhere. Tall, three stories, with a gabled roof and gingerbread porch. Very cute and homey. I would never guess what its real purpose was.
“Why are we driving around to the back?” I asked as he turned the corner.
“We don’t want anybody seeing us going in through the front door. Nobody goes in that way. We always use the back.” So what happened when somebody started watching the back door? I thought it best not to ask. They knew what they were doing.
When we got inside, entering through the kitchen, Pax and Ricardo were waiting for us. Brett exploded. “I thought one of the rules was they were never allowed to follow the same routine even two days in a row!”
Pax looked just as furious as Brett sounded. “I know. I’ve already called all of them in for a meeting at headquarters. I’ll get to the bottom of it, even if it means firing every last one of them.
Ricardo turned his attention to me. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. “Yes, thank you. Nothing happened but a very loud noise.” I laughed shakily.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you around while these two fight it out.” He took me by the elbow and led me from the narrow kitchen, with a breakfast bar cut into the wall separating it from the dining room. There were stools along a counter, and a little round table and chairs in the middle of the floor.
Next came a series of rooms, three in all. “The front room hardly ever gets used,” he explained. “They don’t like light coming through the front window.”
“That makes sense,” I murmured.
“The other two are free for your use.” And they were pretty, and comfortable, too. It reminded me of my parents’ house when I was growing up, with its overstuffed furniture and throw blankets across easy chairs. The biggest difference was the large, flat-screen TV mounted to one of the walls—and, of course, the lack of windows.
“There’s one bedroom here on the first floor,” he said, pointing to the closed door we had passed on the way from the kitchen, “and three more upstairs. You don’t have to worry about anything here. They keep the fridge stocked, along with the cabinets. Anything special you might need, somebody will bring it to you.”
“Thank you so much.” I held out my hand, and he took it with a look of surprise on his face. “I mean it. I know I haven’t made this easy on you.”
“Well, no case is ever really easy. We can only hope they will be.” But he smiled, and it was maybe the first genuine smile he’d given me all week.
Pax and Brett walked in, and Ricardo explained that he’d already given me the tour. “I’m going back to the station to see if they picked up any prints on the fire escape.”
“They probably didn’t,” Brett muttered. “Gloves. These aren’t amateurs.”
I sank down onto the couch, hands clasped between my knees. “Why would he do it?” I whispered, rocking back and forth. It changed everything. I saw the whole thing through new eyes. The men talked things over for another few minutes—again, it sounded like code to me—until it was just Brett left.
He turned and looked down at me. “I’m sorry about this.”
I tried to shrug it off. “Hey. We have more room now, right?”
He gave me a faint smile, at least. “You’re taking this better than I thought you would. I was sure you’d be pissed at having to come here.”
“It’s an adventure, right?” Meanwhile, I was almost quaking with fear. An adventure. Sure. If I was lucky, I would make it out alive.
“Here. Let me show you the bedroom. The one on this floor is the biggest, and nicest.” He picked up my suitcase from where he’d left it on the floor and carried it down the hall. The walls were bare, I noticed, except they weren’t painted. It wasn’t wallpaper, either. I ran my hand over the surface.
“Is this fabric?” I asked as I followed him.
“Fabric-covered panels. Sound dampening.”
“Oh, wow. You guys thought of everything.” I rounded the corner and stepped into the bedroom. A king-sized bed sat against one wall, with a big oak dresser on one side and a wardrobe on the other.
“There’s a bathroom right here,” he said, flipping the switch just inside the bedroom door. A private bathroom, too. It would be like a vacation, if only my heart didn’t flutter almost out of control when I thought about how close I had come to a break-in.
When he turned to leave the room, I stopped him. “Where are you going?”
His back was to me, but he looked over his shoulder. “I thought you’d wanna get yourself settled. You know, unpack and stuff. Maybe get some rest like you were going to before…”
“No.” I went to him, reached up to touch his shoulder. “No. I won’t be alone right now. I can’t. I need to be with you.”
He turned slowly, almost grudgingly. “Molly. Don’t do this because you’re afraid, or you think I expect you to.”
“I’m not afraid—well, I am, but that’s not why.” I took his hand and put it on my waist, then put the other one on my back. “We started something there and I want to see where it goes. I need to. Please. Show me how far we can go.”
His fingers flexed, the tips pressing against my back almost spasmodically as he fought with himself over whether or not to take me up on my offer. I ran my hands up his arms, ending at his shoulders. He was so impossibly big, so strong it was overwhelming. I felt that strength in his muscles even as they tensed, even as he fought what he knew he wanted.
“Please. Take me to bed,” I whispered.
His self-control broke, and before I knew it, he was lifting me in his arms like I didn’t weigh an ounce. There was something about the feeling of being completely overpowered that sent unknown shivers throug
h me. He could overpower me without thinking twice about it—and I realized I almost wanted him to. I wanted him to give me everything, even if it was only once.
As he lowered me to the bedspread, I shuddered in anticipation of what was to come. He looked down at me, eyes half-closed, and I saw the desire in them. That desire reflected itself in my eyes.
“Touch me,” I whispered. “It felt so good when you touched me.”
His hand found my thigh and ran along its bare length, up under my shorts. “I can’t promise I’ll be gentle with you once we get started,” he growled, his breath hot on my skin as he skimmed his lips over my neck. I closed my eyes and felt a flood of wet heat between my legs at the thought.
“I don’t want you to be gentle,” I whispered as I ran a hand over the back of his head. “I want you to take me and use me and make me scream your name.”
“Then I will,” he growled, nipping at me. “I’ll make you scream it until you can’t scream anymore.” He covered my mouth with his, then, and cut off anything else I had to say. Just knowing that he wanted me the way I wanted him was enough to send my body into near rapture at the touch of his tongue against mine.
My fingers tangled in his hair as he probed the inside of my mouth, while the hand under my shorts was slowly stroking my butt. I draped my leg over his thigh, pulling it between my legs, pressing it against the painful ache he had caused in my most sensitive place. I didn’t care about anything else in the world just then—nothing that was happening around us was as important as the throbbing, aching sensation down there. I needed him to make it stop, even as I wished it would never stop.
“Get rid of this,” he muttered, pulling at my shirt. I fumbled with it, tossing it to the floor while he unhooked my bra. There was that heart-stopping moment when I had that super-exposed feeling of being almost naked in front of a man for the first time, wondering what he thought of me. He let me know right away, almost diving down to take one of my hard nipples between his lips while he used his fingers to play with the other. I arched my back and moaned, eyes closed, sinking into hazy pleasure the more and more he teased me. His thigh was still between my legs, and I thrust my hips upward to meet his thick muscles. I wrapped my leg tighter, pulling him closer, wanting more of him. I wanted all of him. My head rolled from side to side as I cried out in delicious pleasure as his skilled mouth drove me higher and higher.
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