by Desiree Holt
“Oh, yes.” Her breathing kicked up a notch.
“How about this?” He moved his mouth back to her pussy, lapping her juices.
“Yessss,” she cried, arching off the bed to him. She felt like a flower that had been waiting for years to open. But once unfolded, it opened without reservation to the sun.
He described to her in explicit erotic detail what he was doing to her breasts, her nipples, her pussy. How her wet heat felt to him. His words drove her crazy. Made her heartbeat pound furiously and her pussy quiver with need.
He pulled one stiff nipple into his mouth again and sucked on it while his thumb teased her swollen, sensitive clit and his fingers rested lazily in her wet slit. Every pulse point in her body thrummed with anticipation.
He kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks. Trailed the tip of his tongue around the shell of her ear and down the column of her neck, taking one tiny nip where neck and shoulder joined. Lapping at her nipples, pausing again to ask if she was all right. If everything was okay.
Until she couldn’t stand it any more.
“Please,” she begged. “I want you. Now. Please, Cole.”
She heard the nightstand drawer open, watched him pull out a condom.
“No, I don’t make a habit of bringing women here,” he told her when she looked at him curiously. “But I like to be prepared.”
His voice was as unsteady as his hands, which were shaking so badly he could barely get the condom out of the nightstand drawer. It thrilled her to know he was that aroused. For her.
He stared at her slick center for a long time, the impact of his gaze ramping up the heat blazing through her. Then he was right there, looking at her as if he could see into her soul. And she into his. Something inside her, the last tight coil, snapped, and she was free. Because he made love to her heart, not just her body. Because her needs were more important to him than his own. Because in his eyes, she saw everything she ever wanted or ever needed to know. The answer to her future.
He turned her over and pulled her to her hands and knees, then stroked her buttocks with a slow glide of his hand. “Does this position frighten you?” His tone was gentle, but there was no mistaking the need in it.
Dana forced herself to think through the erotic haze she found herself in. Frighten her? Maybe with someone else. But not with this man.
“No,” she answered softly. “Not with you.”
“One of these days when all this is over and there’s no question of anything at all, I’m going to take you back here, Dana. But for tonight, this will be the best.”
The head of his cock probed at her opening, touching the wet flesh. Then he glided into her so slowly she thought she’d die before he was all the way in. His hands gripped her hips, lean fingers holding her in place as he stroked in and out. It was the most sensual thing she could imagine. She caught the rhythm and moved with him, joining him in a dance they might have been doing forever. He rocked slowly, gauging her reaction, the movement of her inner muscles.
One hand moved around to her pussy again, finding her clit, stroking, stroking, stroking. As he glided in and out, his balls slapped against her, another tactile sensation that ramped up the fire burning inside her. He rode her for a long time, holding back until he knew she was ready.
Tonight she was ready for him, her body welcoming him. And after all the teasing in the shower, it wasn’t long before her climax built within her. His body tightened, and he drove hard into her, taking her over the edge with him, the orgasm shaking her very bones.
She had no idea how long it lasted. A minute? An hour? When the last aftershock died away, when the thundering of their hearts slowed to an acceptable pace, she felt as if she’d been bathed in magic.
Very slowly, he eased from her body, turning her onto her back again. He left her only long enough to dispose of the condom. Then he was back, pulling her against him, wrapping her up in his arms, her head nestled on the pillow next to his.
The last thing she heard him say was, “You’re mine now. Don’t forget it.”
Then he kissed her cheek.
Chapter Thirty-Five
It seemed they had hardly closed their eyes before reality intruded with the ringing of Cole’s cell phone. Dana pried her eyes open and watched him stumble out of bed. He cursed as he dragged it out of his pants pocket.
“Landry.” He sat back down on the bed and held the phone so Dana could hear, too.
“Sheriff? It’s Roy on dispatch. You asked me to call you.”
“What?” he rubbed his eyes. “Okay, yeah. Thanks.”
“Agent Clayton asked me to let you know the chopper’s here. And sir? Kelly wouldn’t go home. She says she’s got some long lists for you, matched them up with those names in the Chamber booklet. She won’t leave until you get here.”
Excitement stirred inside Dana. Maybe they were finally getting somewhere. Her gut had told her the clowns would provide the answer.
“I’m on my way.” He pressed the End Call button and looked at Dana. “You heard. The FBI chopper’s here. We’re going to see if we can find this asshole’s hidey hole.”
She started to push her way off the bed. “I’ll get up and make you some coffee.”
Cole tugged her back against him, his arm curling around her. “No need. I’ll get some at the office. But I do want you to get up long enough to chain and bolt the door after me, okay?”
“Sure, although I still can’t believe even this guy would be so bold as to go after me in at your place.”
“Why not? I don’t have any workers around here, and he knows our entire department is focused on the killings. He’s probably counting on it. I haven’t exactly advertised the fact, but a few people know you’re here and information has a way of leaking out around here.” He kissed her, just a light touch of lips. “Give me five to take a shower and dress.”
Dana grabbed her sleep shirt from the chair where she’d tossed it the night before and pulled it over her head. Looking out the window, she caught the dawn just blossoming on the horizon, fingers of rose and gold reaching into the sky. Prairie grass trembled in a breeze. She imagined Cole mounted on a horse, riding flat out across the pastures. The scene was so peaceful she could almost pretend all the ugliness was happening to someone else. Some place else.
The shower stopped at the same time she saw the battered pickup stop at the barn and a tall, skinny boy hop out and go into the barn.
“Your helper’s here,” she called.
“Good. I’ll stop and have a word with him before I leave. Maybe he can stick around.”
“Cole, he’s just a kid. I don’t want him in any danger.”
“And I don’t want you in any danger.”
“I told you I’ll be careful. That’s a promise. And if anyone tries to get in, I’ll call right away.”
When he was shaved and dressed, his gun and holster in place, she walked him to the door. He wrapped her in his arms, leaned his head down, and kissed her until her toes curled. His tongue touched every inch of the inside of her mouth, and his hands rubbed up and down her body as if imprinting himself on her. Both of them were breathing hard when he let her go.
“I’ll be checking with you during the day, just in case.”
She frowned. “Just in case what?”
“Just in case I can’t wait another minute to talk to you. Also to let you know what’s going on.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Listen, Dana,” he began. “I want…I feel…that is…”
She smiled. “I know. Me, too.”
“When this is over, we’re going to make plans.”
“Sounds fine to me. Now get going before the FBI gives you a detention slip.”
He smacked her bottom playfully then jogged to his truck.
“Lock the door,” he yelled as he climbed behind the wheel.
She waved one more time, then closed the door and fastened all the locks. There was no going back to sleep so she headed for the kitchen to start a pot
of coffee.
****
When Cole walked into the conference room, every deputy not on patrol was there as well as the five Feds. Gaylen had printed out topographical maps of every sector and pinned them up on the wall in. He and Scott and a third man were studying them carefully.
Scott turned just as Cole was helping himself to coffee and one of the leftover donuts.
“Cole, meet our pilot, George Fillipi. Gaylen and I were just going over the different areas with him and trying to decide where to start. Any suggestions?”
Cole looked at each picture carefully. “I’d say these two areas first.” He pointed. “They’re the most remote and stand the least chance of strangers stumbling on them. Mostly there’s nothing there but herds of cattle that have been moved from one pasture to another. Both places are far away from the ranch houses.”
He took the pencil out of Gaylen’s hand and marked each photo with a number.
“This is the order I’d hit them. Gaylen? What do you think? Should I make some changes?”
“No.” The chief deputy shook his head. “I think you’ve got it pegged.”
“All right.” Scott began pulling the photos off the wall then looked at Cole. “Okay if I get one of your deputies to make several copies of each? We thought we’d do land searches with air cover. That way if George spots something we can be on it pretty quick.”
“Absolutely. How do you want to split everyone up?”
Gaylen cleared his throat. “I don’t want to overstep my bounds here, but Scott and I discussed that. We’ll take our five best deputies and pair each one up with an agent. Give them a route to drive.”
“Good. And there’s no overstepping here. At all. Don’t even think about that.”
Gaylen looked at him hard. “You’re all right, Cole. For a foreigner.”
Scott lifted one eyebrow. “Foreigner?”
Cole gave him a rusty laugh. “Not only not born in Texas but not born in the county. It’s a heavy burden to carry.”
Gaylen nodded, then turned to the deputies waiting in the room. “All right, guys. Let’s get to it. Cole, I thought you should be the one to go up with George.”
Cole shook his head. “I’d rather it was you. You know the lay of the land better than I do and can spot things I’d miss.”
Gaylen gave him a look. “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. Besides, I want to talk to Nita when she brings in her final report, and I’d like to check on Grace and Stacy.” He punched Gaylen lightly on the arm. “Go ahead. If I mess up the office, you can fire me when you get back.”
Just like that Cole felt the atmosphere between the two of them shift again. Now he not only had a coworker he could trust, he felt he’d made a friend.
He walked out to the parking lot where the chopper had landed and waited while Gaylen and the pilot climbed in and lifted off. Ten minutes later, everyone else was sorted out and Scott opened the passenger door of the lead car.
“We’ll get him before he strikes again. My SAC may be calling while I’m out. I told him to ask for you. Also there could be stuff coming through on the fax machine.”
“Got it. Good luck.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
He was so furious he wanted to break something. This was not going his way at all. Not one bit. Who knew that Cole would end up being so besotted over Dana Moretti? Or that the boy would decide to call in the FBI. They hadn’t done it twenty-five years ago. Didn’t Cole understand that wasn’t the way things were done around here?
He didn’t have much time. The first thing he had to do was call Tony and tell him all deliveries were off until this blew over. He didn’t care how he got rid of the merchandise. Just so long as that snot-nosed kid didn’t bring it around here. Then he had to figure out exactly how he was going to get his hands on his little flower.
His little escapade at her house had backfired, too. He’d just wanted to throw her off her game. Make her more susceptible. But Cole had to play hero and move her to his house. He was sure Cole had told her to lock herself in the house and not let anyone in. That meant he had to find a way around it, and that couldn’t happen until dark. At least Cole didn’t run cattle so there were no ranch hands to get in the way.
Raging at the bad luck plaguing him, he prayed that this would be over before anyone located the cabin. Of course, it was very well hidden, so even the stupid chopper probably wouldn’t spot it. And the road into it hardly looked like a road at all. Still, he needed to be finished before he pushed his luck too hard.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The day dragged. The chopper radioed in, as did the cars, but they had no success to report. It was slow going all around because thick stands of trees hid so much. By dinnertime, they had barely finished searching two areas and started on a third.
Cole swore under his breath. At this rate it would take them a week and he had a sick feeling they didn’t have that much time.
The only new piece of information he got was on one of his calls to Dana.
“The ladies came through,” she told him. “The clowns were hired through two agencies in San Antonio. The bill from the agencies was one lump sum. Four clowns. But no one was actually counting them at the events. Things were just too hectic and who figured they had to keep track of clowns?”
“Damn.” Cole felt his anger rising again. “Someone saw a good thing and made use of it.”
“Well, Letha Milton is trying to find the names of the individual clowns so you can run them down and eliminate them. Trouble is, who knows where they are now.”
“Always a cheerful thought.”
He called her so many times during the day she told him she might have to move into the sheriff’s office to prove to him she was safe.
“Now that’s not a bad idea,” he told her. “I can pick you up in ten minutes.”
She laughed. “I’m fine, Cole. I’m starting to outline the book so I’m busy working. And yes, everything’s locked up.”
He took time to go by Grace’s house. She looked so old and drained he hardly recognized her. Her friends had gathered around her and Barry had stopped by to see her and check her over. She kept insisting on blaming herself for Gaby.
“I should have listened to her,” she said over and over. “I shouldn’t have told her she was imagining things.”
Cole sat down opposite her and took her cold hands in his warm ones. “Grace, listen to me. It wouldn’t have mattered. If he wanted her, he was going to find a way to get her. If she started to leave town he would have followed her. If anyone’s to blame it’s me for not catching him sooner.”
Stacy Corona wasn’t much better. When he stopped by the hospital, Jered was still sitting in the chair, still holding her hand and murmuring softly to her. She looked like a ghost lying in bed, and Jered blotted the tears on her cheeks with a tissue.
“She won’t talk,” he told the sheriff. “Won’t say a word. Just lays there and cries.”
Cole bent down to her. “Stacy, I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Grace. If you want to blame anyone, blame me for not catching him before this. His course was already set. Don’t let her death be a waste by dying yourself, please?”
He squeezed her other hand, then clapped Jered on the shoulder.
“You’ll let us know the minute you catch him?” the younger man asked, an anxious look on his face.
“Count on it.”
Beyond that, he felt he accomplished little. He talked to the SAC in San Antonio and reported on their abysmal progress. There were no further leads on the human trafficking gang either.
Still, he had a feeling that somehow he’d forgotten something important.
****
Dana turned on the television to catch the news at five o’clock. Most of was just background noise, as she worked at her laptop. But one fragment of a sentence caught her ear.
“…putting on their production of Three Little Girls. The senior class president said…”
/> And like that, the light went on in her head.
Sweat broke out on her brow and her hands began to shake. Good God, how had she ever forgotten that horrible song? She’d heard the sing-song phrases over and over in her head for so long she’d finally, consciously blocked it out. But it had hung there, waiting for something to trigger it.
Her hand shook as she picked up the phone and punched in Cole’s number, but it went directly to voice mail. Next she tried the direct line to dispatch
“I’m sorry, Miss Moretti,” the deputy handling the calls said. “He’s gone to see Grace and then he’s stopping at the hospital. If he’s there now, he’ll have to have his cell off. Can I help you with something?”
“You can give him a message for me. It’s really important, so please don’t forget.”
“I’ll write it down, ma’am. And get him on the radio as soon as I figure he’s back in his vehicle.”
“Tell him the song I told him about is ‘There was a little girl’. He’ll know what I mean. Got that?”
“Yes. ‘There was a little girl.” I’ll see that he gets the message.”
“Thank you.”
But after pacing the dining room for twenty minutes, she decided to try his cell again. Again it went to voice mail so he was probably still with Stacy.
“Call me. I left a message at your office, too.”
Then she sat back down at her laptop and tried to focus on the outline. Anything to keep her mind occupied.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
He had driven by Cole’s place twice, trying to figure out how he was going to get inside. And how would he get her outside without being seen? Driving past the hospital, he saw Cole just leaving the building, no doubt checking on Stacy. An idea popped into his head and he turned into the parking lot.
“You look like you’ve been run over twice,” he told the younger man when he pulled up next to him.
Cole rubbed his face. “I feel it.”
“How’s Stacy?”
Cole shook his head. “I don’t know how she’s ever going to handle this.”
