“Yes. I really want to go with him, but work comes first.”
“You know that you’re both young,” he said, trying to figure out how to navigate this one.
She was staring at him with big eyes filled with tears.
“You’re both barely children. Are you sure that this is something you want to get wrapped up in?”
He wiped the tear from her cheek.
“It’s okay. He’s better off not being seen with me. I’m not special and this is an important function.”
Dimitri was tough, but not when it came to Nat and Kat. He was putty in their hands. How she didn’t see her worth hurt him.
For that alone, he’d go out of his way to make her happy.
“He’s going to be briefing his boss. Why don’t you take a little drive?”
She shook her head. “I’m good.”
“I think you should go. While you’re out, go buy a dress for tomorrow. Later, tell him you’ll be his date.”
Katerina glanced over. “Who are you? Where’s my bossy, domineering brother who hates men around me?”
He grinned. “Know why I trust him?” he asked.
“Why?”
“The man who wants to adopt him is a good person, and I trust his judgment.”
She rested her head on his shoulder.
“What if I’m not good enough for him?” she asked. “What if people talk and he sees the truth?”
He was appalled. “Oh, Katerina, no man will ever be good enough for you. They aren’t worthy of you, not the other way around. Curtis comes close. That’s important.”
She gave him a kiss. “Thank you for giving me tomorrow off. I love you, Dimitri. A lot.”
She hustled off.
Being a big brother wasn’t easy.
It was harder than it looked.
Still, he’d work extra hard tomorrow to pick up the slack. Katerina never asked for anything.
It was the least he could do.
Inside, Greyson was getting an update from Curtis, Tessa, and Paris. He was also sharing what had happened in the strip club.
When he told them the name, they, too, were amused. It was obvious why.
They didn’t have to walk out of there and be on the nightly news.
“Emma is going to kick my ass, and I feel too old to even put up a fight,” he stated. When Curtis didn't make a comment, he lifted a brow.
Uh oh.
Trouble.
“We have bigger issues,” Tessa stated. Then, she told him about what they found at the woman’s house. “We don’t know if we should tell him or not. We’re passing the buck on this one.”
Greyson sat down and pondered it. “I’ll tell him, but when he’s a little more stable. I received a few texts from Dante, and he said Steele is hurting. I’m not sure how he’ll react. Maybe I’ll bounce it off my brother later.”
“Good idea.”
“What about you, Paris? Did you find anything?” Croft asked.
“Well, I only got the files a few minutes ago. I haven’t started going through them, but they look like straight business.”
“Shit!”
“This isn’t going to be an easy one, Grey. We’re working with twenty-year-old cases. It’s going to be harder. Give me some time. As soon as I compare the two victims, I’ll have more.”
It’s all he could do. Croft hated waiting, but that was part of the game.
Right when he sat, his phone chimed. He quickly read the message from Dante.
‘You have trouble. Turn on the news and don’t freak out.’
“I hope nothing exploded at work.”
Dimitri sauntered in. “We have a problem,” he said, taking a seat not far from Greyson.
“My brother just told me the same thing via text. What the hell is going on?”
He picked up the remote and turned on the TV. It was on BNN and they were talking about the Crofts.
There was Emma getting a chaste kiss on her forehead from her boss, and then her not denying that she was having an affair.
The second the on-air reporter said it, they all glanced over at Greyson to see if he was going to lose it.
He couldn’t help it.
He started laughing.
“Knock it off! I’m not going to lose it! I trust my wife. She and Chris have a bond. He’s watching her back. Had his tongue been down her throat, that’s a different story. Curtis kisses her on the forehead like that, and he’s not trying to jump her.”
He smiled to torment Croft.
“Shut up.”
“That’s not it,” Dimitri stated.
The news continued.
There was both men outside the sleazy strip club. Timed with the kiss from Chris Ford, the news stations had concluded that the Crofts were getting a divorce.
“I won’t be so lucky. Shit! I’m a dead man,” he muttered. Immediately, he reached into his pocket to pull out the box from Tiffany’s.
Tessa laughed. “At least he’s ready.”
What he wasn’t ready for was what was on the news next. Emma was on a crime scene, gloves on, and her badge around her neck.
She wasn’t with Dimitri.
Or with Greyson.
She appeared to be alone.
“I’m going to murder my wife,” he muttered, standing up. “Curtis, get me that address!”
The man began typing frantically.
“Now, Grey…”
He didn't hear it. When he got her, she was definitely going to be spanked.
Over his knee.
Hard.
Without mercy.
His wife was going to get herself killed, and that, to him, was crossing a line.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
Parking Garage
Thirty Minutes
Later
To say that he was pissed would be an understatement of global proportions. He couldn’t believe his wife would be so rogue and risk her life. They had decided to dig up the bodies over time, slowly making Dominic Marianna nervous.
Apparently, she’d forgotten that part of the plan.
When he arrived on scene, she was working beside Steele as they tried to remove a whole concrete pillar. Greyson knew what that meant.
The body was dumped before the structure was built.
That meant over a decade ago.
As he approached, none of the cops on the tape even tried to stop him. Either they recognized his face, or his reputation had preceded him.
When they lifted it for him, his FBI badge was clear, as was the vest beneath his jacket.
“Detective Croft,” he said, getting her attention.
When she glanced up, she was smiling.
Then she stopped.
Yeah, she knew he was going to be pissed.
“Greyson,” she said, knowing what was coming.
“What do you have?” he asked, barely able to keep in control. At that moment, Dimitri was moving through the techs and construction crew to sweep for anyone who didn't belong.
Luckily for him, they had tech that could scan for anything electronic. At least a bomb wouldn’t be going off.
Well, unless it was him.
He was that damn angry.
“We opted to move on the next body. Marianna is nervous, and this will rattle his cage,” she said, keeping her voice low.
“Can I speak to you alone?” he asked, tugging her toward the elevator where no one was standing.
“Do I have a choice?” she asked, praying that no one noticed her husband was ready to go off like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
She wasn’t surprised.
In fact, she expected this. That’s why she wasn’t answering her phone until the body encased in the concrete was safely back in the morgue.
“IN,” he said, shoving her into the elevator.
He followed her, and then hit the close button. Before he could even calmly ask her what the hell she was doing, Emma started.
“How did you find out I was he
re?”
Croft began laughing. “My brother got the notification that the cops were asking permission to cut apart the wall in our parking garage. He said no, and you overrode him.”
Well, shit.
She should have known. She was going to strangle the bonehead who called the owner.
She was half the owner, so they didn’t need to pull him into this. Apparently, she hadn’t been clear enough when she ordered them there.
“Then, I saw you on the news. Congratulations on your new affair with Chris, by the way.”
She opened her mouth. “You can’t believe that! Last month, I was pregnant with some co-worker’s baby, since you were away on business for three days.”
Granted, he wasn’t pissed about that, but he figured why not go for broke? If you were going over the edge, why not really do it up.
Since the doors were closed, he turned the elevator off. They were stuck in there until he was done with his freak out.
“Emma Croft, are you insane?” he raged. “You’re marked by a mob man, and you come out to a crime scene, where you’re digging up one of his victims alone?”
She went to speak.
He wasn’t seeing the entire picture.
“You have lost it. Last night, you were crying, and tonight, you could be dying. Are you trying to be the death of me?”
She was pretty sure it was best to let him vent, then they’d be better.
“I see you on the news, and I picture you dead. That’s a horrible thing for me! I can’t even tell you how mad I am. I want to…I want to…”
“What?” she asked. “What do you want, Grey?”
He couldn’t form the words. Part of him wanted to spank her, part of him wanted to fuck her brains out in that small, dirty elevator.
He made up his mind.
Greyson pulled her toward him, his mouth hungrily seeking hers. He devoured her whole, as if trying to climb into her body by way of her lips.
She moaned as his hands began wandering. He knew there was a full tech team outside the elevator, but it was be angry or this.
They couldn’t be divided. Their lives depended on it.
So, he continued.
When he pinned her to the wall, his free hand wandered until it found the button of her dress pants.
“Grey! We can’t,” she mumbled right before he lifted her chin.
“I can and I am.”
She didn't have any choice.
In that moment, she wanted his hands on her. Technically, they owned the building. So, fornication was legal, right?
He pressed her body to the wall with his. Roughly, his hand slid into the opening of her pants and through the wetness between her legs. She moaned, and it was the most wonderful thing he’d ever heard in his life.
He’d been afraid.
Afraid she’d be angry about the strip club.
Afraid he’d actually lied to everyone and himself, about Chris Ford kissing her being okay.
And mostly, he was terrified that he wouldn’t reach her in time.
Now that she was safe, all that adrenaline had to have somewhere to go.
It looked like this was it.
As his fingers invaded her body, finding that tight, sensitive bud, he worked her hard.
She was breathless, gasping in release as he forced her mercilessly into that first orgasm.
“That’s for the media telling the world you’d dare cheat on me,” he whispered as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Grey!”
“Tell me you’d never do it, Emma,” he ordered.
“Never,” she whispered, staring up and into his eyes. They were the window to his soul, and he was both furious and scared. She could see it there.
Again, he strummed, teased, and took whatever he pleased in that vulgar spot in some death-ridden building. He was out of control and wanted her never to forget the hell he’d lived thinking she might die.
“Grey, please,” she whispered, praying no one was outside the elevator, trying to get in. His leg was shoved between hers, Emma’s hands were trapped above her head, and now he was frenetically fucking her with his fingers.
“Again!” he ordered, biting her on the neck. He hoped it left a mark.
“That was for not telling them you only loved me,” he hissed.
She rode his hand right back into another orgasm, and it was heaven and hell. She feared being caught, and part of her wanted more.
God help her.
She wanted all.
“Take me,” she begged, getting his attention. “I need to feel you in me!”
It drove him wild.
His wanton wife was begging for what he craved.
Well, in that case, he’d give her that and everything else. Violently yanking his hand from her body, he shoved her pricy pants to the floor. His hand went to his own zipper, and he set himself free.
Emma watched him with need and lust in her eyes. Her husband was harder than the steel surrounding them.
It added fuel to the fire.
She gasped as he lifted her up, ignoring her gun as he threw her badge around her neck so he didn't have to see it. Now she wasn’t Emma the cop. She was Emma, Greyson’s wife.
As her legs went around his hips, he pushed into her with one rough stroke. His fingers bruised her hips as they dug in, but she didn’t care.
She wanted more.
When he was fully buried in her, she came again.
“Emma,” he moaned, the pleasure of her body trying to milk his to release was almost too much to take.
Her hands bunched in his shirt, and she was able to feel the Kevlar between them. “Make it count,” she muttered. “Make it worth it.”
He would do just that.
Greyson pounded into her, offering no mercy. He wanted to feel her fall over and over again, but they didn't have time. In reality, someone would come looking for them.
So, he had to rush.
As he drove his rock hard erection into her body, she moaned in so much pleasure. Greyson was forced to take her mouth with his.
Swallowing her shouts, he allowed a few of his own to escape as he moved closer and closer to the edge.
“I’m going to cum,” he muttered, preparing her for what was inevitable.
“Yes! God, yes!” she whispered over and over again until he exploded apart, filling her.
“Christ,” he whispered, dropping his forehead to hers as he tried to keep from falling over.
The space around them felt warm, and he was pretty sure it smell like his wife and sex.
He could live there.
In that moment, he could stay there forever.
“Greyson,” she whispered, until he lifted his head to stare into her eyes. There was anger still there.
The silver was molten, and there were worry lines across his brow.
“I was pretty pissed,” he stated.
“And now?” she asked, unable to move.
“I’m better. I’ll get over it. This took some of the wind from my sail.”
“Is now a good time to tell you that I wasn’t here alone? Natasha was about three feet from the elevator, and Chris came with me as my backup.”
Well, bloody hell!
He felt like an idiot.
“Maybe you could have told me that part earlier. It might have kept us from this.”
Emma laughed. “Then I’m glad I kept it to myself. It seems like a good time to tell you that was pretty hot, Director, and I want to go home and do it all over again.”
He started laughing. “You’re such a hussy. The media is right about you.”
Emma snorted.
Gently, he lowered her to the floor so they could quickly put themselves together again.
As Emma got redressed, he fixed her hair and doted on her, making sure she looked the same as when they went into the elevator.
“I love you, but if you ever scare me like this again…”
She laughed. “Duly noted, Mr. Croft.”<
br />
As the doors opened, no one even noticed they were there. The concrete saw was going, drowning out just about everything.
“Is it a bad time,” he said over the saw, “to tell you that I was caught leaving a strip club, and Vegas is going to think we’re having marriage issues?”
She stared at him.
Then began laughing.
All of that happened as the saw was shut off.
Everyone looked over at her, and she punched him. She’d been caught laughing on the crime scene. They’d doubt her sanity now.
“Later,” she muttered.
He was amused.
Heading toward the body, they were intercepted by Dimitri.
“Really?” It was all he said. “I’m beginning to think Curtis is right about you two.”
Greyson shrugged. “It’s love her or fight her. The first option will keep you married. The second, not so much.”
He shook his head.
“Doctor Bentley is just about done removing the body,” he said, following them back onto the scene.
On the ground, they had a giant block of concrete.
“Doc?”
He glanced up. “I can tell you there’s a human in there, and he’s in pieces. That’s all.”
“Pieces?” Greyson repeated. Then he glanced over at Dimitri. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but killers tend to keep the same pattern, right?”
It was funny that they were asking him.
They were so comfortable around him, and his past, that they didn’t even notice they were doing it. That gave Dimitri a sense of calm.
He’d been right to trust them.
“You know more about serial killers,” he offered.
He had a point.
Steele spoke up, “I know I don’t always give my opinion at a crime scene, but I happen to have formulated one if you’re interested.”
Of course they were.
“What?” Emma asked.
“My professional assessment is that you have a very large problem. I don’t’ think that this body was left by the same person who left the last two.”
That was unsettling.
Great.
That was the last thing they needed to hear.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
Justice is Dead (Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 7) Page 23
