by Karen Foley
“Yes,” she breathed. “Oh, yes.”
“Look at me.”
The words were soft but insistent. She opened her eyes and stared down at Jason, seeing the raw, masculine desire on his face.
“I want you to look at me when you come,” he rasped. The tautness of his expression told her he was close to losing control, and his words were enough to send her over the brink. Her orgasm slammed into her, and it seemed the only thing anchoring her to earth were Jason’s hands, holding her. She might have closed her eyes but for his command.
“Look at me.”
And when he reached his own climax, their gazes were locked on one another, until with a last shudder of pleasure, he smiled into her eyes and tugged her down until she lay replete against his chest.
Caroline felt sated and so completely drained that she could barely keep her eyes open. The sound of his heartbeat thudded beneath her ear, lulling her into sleep. With one hand, he stroked lazy patterns over her skin. She was only distantly aware of him pressing a sweet, tender kiss against her face before he tugged the blankets over them both. As she snuggled closer to his warmth, one thought filled her mind—she loved him.
12
CAROLINE WOKE TO the sound of the shower turning on. She lay still for a moment, disoriented, until memories of the previous night came rushing back. Rolling over, she pressed her face into the pillow, breathing in his scent. She’d never known happiness like this even existed. She’d spent years fantasizing about him, but the reality of being with him eclipsed anything she had ever imagined. She’d thought she knew what it was like to be in a physical relationship, but Jason had shattered those notions in less than a day. What she’d never been able to do in previous relationships, he’d coaxed her into doing in less than two days.
A part of her thought she should feel some shame at having given so much so soon, but another part of her wanted to give him even more. She wanted to give him everything and take as much in return.
Glancing at the bedside clock, she saw it was barely five in the morning. They didn’t have to be at the hospital for several hours yet, and her imagination swelled with images of Jason standing beneath the steaming spray of water. Feeling bold and a little nervous, Caroline slipped out of bed and retrieved a condom from where Jason kept them in his duffel bag. Then she walked nude to the bathroom, finding the door partially open. She took that as a tacit invitation.
She could just make out his form through the shower enclosure. His body was wreathed in steam. Sucking in a deep breath, she opened the glass door.
He turned, startled. “Caroline.”
“Can I come in?”
He stepped back enough to make room for her, his eyes devouring her. Pushing down her own self-consciousness, she stepped into the shower, not missing his growing arousal.
Jason drew her under the water and moved his hand beneath the fall of her wet hair. She lifted her face, feeling the slick slide of his body against hers.
“You do things to me that no other woman has ever done,” he muttered, gazing down at her. “You make me crazy.”
His lashes were spiky from moisture, and rivulets of water ran down his face and over his neck, tracing wet paths across his chest. Caroline’s breath escaped on a sigh. Jason lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers, gently fusing their mouths together. She opened for him, and he pressed forward, guiding her hands to his back to explore the planes and muscles of his shoulders and spine. His body was wet and warm and strong, and she was aware of her body responding to the feel of him against her.
He pulled away, and looked down at her. “Jesus. Look what you’ve done to me.”
Caroline followed his gaze to where his arousal rose against her stomach. She had a sudden, vivid image of him lifting her against the tiled wall and bringing her down onto his straining shaft. Excitement pulsed through her, and she was helpless to prevent herself from curling her fingers around him.
He made a hissing sound of pleasure, and she reached behind him for the small bar of soap. She worked it gently across his impressive chest, watching the streams of water trickle clean paths through the suds. Mesmerized, she smoothed her soapy hands over his body, reveling in the warm, slippery feel of him beneath her palms.
Jason throbbed beneath her touch and eased a hand between her thighs. Her head fell back and she widened her stance to allow him better access.
“Christ. You’re so soft,” Jason groaned, gently parting her feminine folds. “I could touch you like this forever.”
“And I’d let you,” she replied with a husky laugh. “Oh, that feels so good.”
He supported her around her waist as she leaned back against the tiled wall, but he didn’t stop the sensuous rhythm of his hand.
“And to think,” she managed between fitful breaths, “that I almost let you shower alone.” She gasped as he gently bit the side of her throat.
“What made you change your mind?”
“The thought of you in here. Alone. Naked.”
“I don’t have any protection.”
With a smile, Caroline opened her fisted hand, revealing a small foil packet. She tore it open and quickly covered him. He reached down and grasped her buttocks, lifting her and pressing himself into the cradle of her hips.
“Put your legs around me.” His voice was a hoarse growl.
Caroline did. He lifted her higher and braced her against the cool tiled wall. He fused their lips together, and she welcomed the hot slide of his tongue against hers. She gasped as he pressed against the most intimate part of her, before he pushed upward, thrusting himself into her eager body.
She gave a small cry of rapture and raised her legs higher, wrapping them around his hips even as she met the thrusts of his tongue against hers with equal fervor.
God, he felt incredible, all pulsating power. She rode him just as fiercely, gripping his hips tightly with her thighs and using them to lever herself up and down on his shaft. Her fingers speared through his hair, and she moaned into his mouth.
He was everywhere, surrounding her and inside her, his breath mingling with hers and his heart pounding wildly against her own. His skin was slick with water, and his powerful muscles bunched with effort as he pumped into her.
“I can’t— I have to—” With a hoarse cry, Jason drove into her one last time, and the raw need in his voice was enough to push Caroline over the edge, as well. She clung to his neck, holding on to him for dear life as she fractured around him in an explosion of pleasure.
They stood locked together like that for several moments before Jason allowed Caroline to slide from his body. Turning the water off, Jason snatched a towel from the rack and wrapped it around her, then used a second towel to cover her hair. He slung a third towel around his lean hips and led her back to the bed.
They lay sprawled across the bedclothes, their breathing still a little uneven. Finally, when she thought she could move again, Caroline raised herself on one elbow and leaned over him, tracing a pattern over his chest with one finger.
“That was unbelievable,” she said.
He turned his head and looked at her, and she saw the smile of masculine satisfaction on his face. “Yeah, it was.”
Reaching out, he caught a loose tendril of damp hair that had escaped her towel and wound it around his finger. He tugged on it gently, until she was forced to move her face closer to his.
“So who is Patrick?” he asked, releasing her hair and stroking his thumb over her lower lip. “He’s called you at least a couple of times.”
Caroline wouldn’t have thought Jason was capable of jealousy, but the expression in his eyes was so intent that she wondered if she might be wrong.
“He’s a social worker in Richmond.”
“Go on,” he urged.
She couldn’t talk about Patr
ick without revealing the pro bono work she did for Child Protective Services. She didn’t know why she was so reluctant to share that with Jason.
“Are you romantically involved?”
“Of course not.” She couldn’t quite suppress a smile at the thought of kissing Patrick Dougherty. At fifty years old, he carried about thirty extra pounds and his ruddy face bore the evidence of a hard life. He drank too much, but she couldn’t even blame him for that. He was a good man, and he’d seen some terrible things during his years as a social worker. She’d probably drink, too, if she was in his position.
“Then why are you smiling?”
Caroline gave Jason an exasperated look. “He and I have worked together on some child welfare cases, okay? But he’s old enough to be my father, and even if I was into older guys, he’s not my type.”
He looked at her with sharp interest. “You work child welfare? I thought you handled corporate law.”
“I do some pro bono work on the side for the city of Richmond.”
“What kind of pro bono work?”
Caroline hesitated. He had shared his background with her. The very least she could do was tell him about her work, even if it meant he would guess the impact he had made on her life. “I’m a child advocate, mostly working with kids who’ve run away from home or gotten into trouble. I try to keep them out of juvie, make sure they have a safe place to go every night.”
Jason was silent for several minutes. “You’re more like your father than you want to admit. Does your pro bono work have anything to do with a certain angry kid that your dad once rescued?”
She risked a glance at his face, but his expression was so tender that she found herself coming clean. “You’re the reason for everything I do, every decision I make. I couldn’t even come back to San Francisco because I was too afraid I would see you, and that you’d reject me like you did all those years ago.”
“You know why I had to do that.”
Caroline nodded. “Do you think my father ever guessed?”
“What? That I had the hots for his daughter?”
“Oh, right,” she scoffed. “No, that I had the hots for you.”
Jason gave a half smile. “I think he knew. I wanted to know everything that was going on in your life, and I wasn’t always so subtle or smooth in getting the information from him that I wanted.”
Caroline stared at him. “You used to ask my father about me?”
He actually had the grace to look embarrassed. “Well, not directly, of course. But I pretty much knew everything you were doing, even when I was away at school.”
“I never knew. My father never said a word.”
“He probably didn’t want to encourage it. I’m sure I wasn’t exactly what he’d envisioned for his daughter.”
“That’s not true. You were the son he always wanted.” Dipping her head, she pressed a lingering kiss against his mouth. “For myself, you were just the guy I always wanted.”
She was unprepared when Jason hauled her into his arms and hugged her tightly against his chest, his face buried in her neck.
“I’m glad.”
* * *
JASON DIDN’T WANT to leave Caroline alone, but he was anxious for any news about the break-in at the beach house and if the subsequent inspection of the property had yielded any clues. But there was no way he was letting her out of his sight, even to make some phone calls.
There was a new intimacy between them, and he was aware that her eyes followed him when she thought he wasn’t looking. For his part, he just wanted to keep her locked in the hotel room until an arrest was made, and maybe even afterward. He wasn’t taking any chances with her safety.
After their shower, they dressed and Jason ordered breakfast from room service. She had been adamant that he review the files on the medical malpractice cases and that he have the FBI look into the families involved. As a U.S. marshal, Jason had certainly seen people do violent things in the name of love, but his gut instinct told him that the shooter was either connected to Eddie Green or Conrad Kelly. Both men were formidable in their respective spheres. They had connections and could easily have ordered the attack without fear of reprisal. But he agreed that they would follow up on the malpractice cases.
“So what do we do now?” she asked. She sat on the bed, the pillows propped behind her as she reviewed yet another case file. She’d retrieved a narrow pair of reading glasses from her overnight bag, and they sat perched on the end of her nose as she simultaneously ate a fruit parfait and read through the documents. With her hair down and wearing a loose pair of pajama bottoms and a camisole, she looked incredibly sexy.
“Since when do you wear glasses?” Jason asked, sipping a mug of strong coffee as he scrolled through the messages on his smart phone.
“Since forever,” she replied absently. “See...there’s something you don’t know about me. I even wore glasses back when I was in high school, or at least I was supposed to.” She flashed him a mischievous smile. “I didn’t think they were sexy, so I refused to wear them.”
There was a knock at the door, and Deputy Black called Jason’s name through the door. Slanting a look at Caroline, he opened the door and let the deputy in.
“They made an arrest last night,” Colton said. “Two men have confessed.”
Caroline threw the files to one side and climbed to her feet, yanking her reading glasses off. “Are you sure? Who was it?”
Colton looked at Jason as if for permission. Jason nodded curtly.
“After the break-in at the Santa Cruz house, the police received an anonymous tip that two men were seen in the vicinity of the Sea Cliff residence on the night of the shooting.”
“Go on,” Jason said.
“Who called it in?” Caroline interrupted. “Are they sure they have the right men?”
Colton looked at her, his expression serious. “My understanding is that the police just brought them in about ten minutes ago, and they’re still being questioned. But one of the men did admit to the shooting.”
Caroline turned to Jason. “We have to get down there. I want to see these guys for myself.”
“Do they have names?” Jason asked.
Deputy Black nodded. “Yeah. They’re two of Sanchez’s men.”
Jason’s eyes narrowed. “Really?”
“He’s the Mexican drug lord who wanted to serve the remainder of his sentence in Mexico?” Caroline looked at Jason for confirmation.
He nodded absently. “Yes, but it doesn’t make sense. Why would his men confess?”
“My understanding is that whoever called in the tip was able to provide a tag number for the car they were driving. The police went to the address and found the men. Someone had worked them over pretty good. From what I hear, they practically begged the police to take them in.”
Caroline frowned. “But they did confess.”
“That’s correct.”
“So then it’s over?” Caroline turned to look at Jason again.
He didn’t want to crush her hopes, but the news just didn’t make sense to him. If the men had been beaten, it was because they had botched the job, or someone with even more influence than Sanchez had intimidated the men into confessing.
“Deputy, I’m sending you over to the police department to oversee the questioning. I’ll bring Caroline over to the hospital. Until we have solid proof that these are our guys, we’re not doing anything differently.”
“But, Jason—”
“I’m not taking any chances,” he said, forestalling whatever argument she might have presented. “I don’t know who these guys are or if they really are part of Sanchez’s gang or why they would confess to the shooting. They must know that if they implicate Sanchez, he’ll have them killed. Being in prison won’t keep them safe.”
Caro
line sighed heavily and walked over to the far side of the room, hugging her arms around her middle. Jason’s eyes lingered on her for several seconds, and then he turned his attention back to Colton.
“Get over to the station and check it out,” he said. “If anything seems out of place with their story, let me know.”
Colton nodded and looked over at Caroline. “What will you do?” he asked quietly.
Jason followed his gaze. “Deputy Mitchell and I will bring her over to the hospital to see her father, and we’ll wait for your call.”
When they were alone again, she pivoted toward him. “Do you think it was them? Sanchez’s men? I mean, it’s possible, right? Sanchez is on your list of potential suspects, based on how my father ruled against him.”
“It’s possible that Sanchez’s men are culpable,” he conceded. “But I’ll have the FBI look into those malpractice cases, just as a precaution. Until we know for certain these men were responsible, you’re still under my protection. That’s not going to change.”
13
CAROLINE SAT BY her father’s bedside, holding his hand in her own. The doctors, satisfied with his progress, had removed the ventilator, and he was breathing on his own. He still had a number of tubes coming out of him, but he did seem to be resting more comfortably.
She desperately wanted him to regain consciousness, however briefly, but he hadn’t opened his eyes again. The doctors had assured her that this was normal, and that he was, in fact, going to make a full recovery.
Caroline just had to be patient. But she’d been by his bedside for nearly six hours, and there’d been no visible change in his condition. She looked up as the door opened and Jason came in. He stepped over to the window and exchanged quiet words with Deputy Mitchell. The deputy glanced over at her and left the room.
