Next To Die

by Marliss Melton

  “Well, thank you very much, but respect isn’t what I wanted tonight.”

  Her words snatched his gaze upward. With a sense of shock, he realized that his proper little neighbor was as human as he was. The itch in his palms spread elsewhere. “You want to be disrespected?” he asked, reaching for the buttons on his shirt. “I can arrange that.”

  Penny’s eyes widened, but she didn’t utter a word to stop him. Joe kept undressing, yanking his shirt out of his jeans and tossing it onto the bench along with his undershirt. He kicked off his shoes and shucked his jeans, not caring that he dragged them through the water pooling on the floor.

  At last, he was as naked as she was. They stood on opposite sides of the steam-filled cabana, staring at each other. Then, in the next instant, through some unspoken form of agreement, they met under the shower spray, a collision of desire.

  Joe tangled his fingers into Penny’s hair. Picturing her in the senior chief’s arms, his temper surged, and he tugged her head back to deliver a punishing kiss. She returned it in equal measure. Unable to grab hold of his shorter hair, she seized his ears and speared her tongue into his mouth. She had to stand tiptoe deliver that retribution.

  She was as hot and feisty as any woman he’d ever been with. He wanted to think that it was him and not Senior Chief McGuire who’d turned her heat up. A possessive shudder went through him as he splayed his hands over every inch of her slippery-wet body. He’d been raised an only child. He did not like to share.

  But he couldn’t get enough, either. Frustrated by their height difference, Joe cupped her bottom and lifted her off her feet. At the same time, she practically climbed him, coiling her legs around him, seeking purchase.

  Oh, yeah, now they fit, and it felt incredible. Her soft, wet skin rubbed against his. Anchoring her against the wall, he freed one hand to twist the showerhead so that water rained between them. She glanced at it, smiled, and offered herself to the wet massage.

  God damn, she was hotter than he’d ever imagined. The glazed look in her heavy-lidded eyes, the flush in her cheeks, it excited the hell out of him. He wanted to watch her come.

  Aligning her spread thighs beneath the water’s spray, he watched it lick at her. She was beautiful down there, so pink and full, like a lush flower soaking up a heavy rain. She moaned and touched her breasts, and it made his knees tremble. When her tongue darted out to lick the water off her lips, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to kiss her mouth, to be the recipient of her passion, not just a spectator.

  He groped along the ledge for the condoms he kept handy. Lifting his lips from hers, he tore the foil package open with his teeth.

  “I’ve gotta put you down,” he warned, letting her slip to her feet.

  She looked dazed, like she’d lost track of where she was. “Where’d you get that?” she asked, eyeing the prophylactic.

  “Up there.”

  She glanced at the ledge. She looked back at him. And the disillusionment in her eyes was like a slap in the face. “So this is a regular thing for you?” she asked. “Nail the girl in the cabana, which is conveniently located right beside the hot tub?”

  “Uh . . .” Her dismay—not to mention the explicit way she said it—left him momentarily without words. He fell back on honesty. “Come on, Penny. I’ve been your neighbor for three years. You know I’m not exactly celibate.”

  Her eyes took slow measure of him as she contemplated her decision. His erection gave a throb of denial that she was going to put an end to this now.

  He needed this. He really, really needed this for reasons he didn’t want to think about. “Look, it’s up to you,” he ground out, “but it’s pretty damn obvious what I want.” His face was on fire.

  “Just tell me something,” she demanded, a vulnerable look on her shadowy face. “Are you doing this because you feel obligated to me?”

  Joe tried to follow her line of thought. “What? No. Of course not.”

  He tried to nudge her chin up to better see her in the scant light, but she pushed his hand away.

  “Then maybe you feel sorry for me or something,” she suggested.

  “Penny!” he exclaimed in frustration. “Look at me. This is not the result of pity—or obligation.”

  As she took him in, visibly swallowing at the sight he presented, his desire surged to new heights. “I’ve wanted you for a while now,” he heard himself admitting. “Ever since I saw you naked at your bathroom window.” At her shocked expression, he continued, “Yeah. I was checking the security of your home and you were up in your bathroom, getting ready to shower or something. I liked what I saw, Penny. Every time you massage my back, I have to fight my body’s response to you. And your eyes, they hit me right here.” He put a fist on his stomach. “And that’s not all,” he added. “I came back from duty an emotional wreck and you marched right up to me and made me talk. You forced me to deal with my issues. So don’t try and tell me that this is a pity fuck, because if it is, it has to be you who is taking pity on me.”

  At his words, a strangled cry came out of Penny and she launched herself into his arms. He caught her face and kissed her, shuddering with relief and a renewed surge of desire.

  It was all he could do get the condom on now, he was shaking so badly. He needed to get her legs around him, to bury himself inside her now before she changed her mind. He grabbed her bottom and lifted her, pleased by how tenaciously she wrapped her legs around him. Then he kissed her, gauging her response to the invasion of his body by the way her tongue played against his.

  The sensation of Joe taking ownership of her body brought a moan of wonder to Penny’s lips. Oh, my God, she’d forgotten how elemental sex could be. After Brad abandoned her, she’d turned her needs off, shut them down completely. It had been her best defense against disillusionment. But with desire riding on a hot tide of pleasure, she wondered how she’d ever lived without this. The sounds of repletion issuing from her throat sounded oddly familiar, like the voice of a long-lost friend.

  She clung to Joe’s broad shoulders, reveling in the restrained power of his much bigger body. She could sense him holding back. For her sake, he was being so gentle with her. She ground herself down on him, urging him to just let go.

  “Penny,” Joe muttered against her lips. “This feels so damn good.” He sounded shaken. “Tell me you’re okay,” he requested.

  “I’m better than okay,” she reassured him. Ecstasy was winding itself around her womb, drawing her tighter and tighter. Every deep stroke brought her closer to the edge of release. “Oh, Joe!” she cried, riding the climax that exploded suddenly within her. To her delight, she felt him shudder and groan. How amazing it was that she—plain Penny—could have this effect on him!

  In the wake of the storm, they clung to each other, dazed and shaken. The only sound was that of their ragged breathing.

  “I have to sit down,” Joe finally confessed. He found the bench and collapsed, keeping her in his lap. “My knees are knocking,” he said with a self-directed laugh. He caught her face in his hands and kissed her. “You were incredible.”

  “You don’t have to say that,” she told him.

  His smile fled. “Damn it, Penny, I’m not flattering you. I’m serious. That was . . .” he groped for the right word. “Thrilling,” he added.

  She could tell he was serious, as well as puzzled by their sexual compatibility. “It was,” she agreed, wondering what had made it so special.

  They exchanged a long look, as if reassessing each other, shifting preconceptions.

  “You don’t have to worry that I have all kinds of expectations now,” she felt compelled to assure him.

  He looked suddenly nonplussed. “Penny,” he protested.

  “I know you’re not exactly . . . a one-woman man,” she interrupted, aware that the condom was probably leaking—didn’t he care? “And I’m okay with that. I want us always to be honest with each other. I just needed to feel . . . sexy again.”

  “I’m happy to o
blige,” he said lightly, a little remotely. But then his head came up alertly. “Someone’s ringing the doorbell,” he announced.

  Penny groaned. “Maybe they’ll go away if you don’t answer,” she suggested. She wasn’t ready for this moment to end.

  “Good idea,” said Joe. His gaze returned to her face, and he leaned forward and kissed her, slowly, thoroughly. She could feel him quickening inside her.

  The distant ringing of the doorbell ceased.

  Penny privately rejoiced. From what she could tell, Joe intended to do what they just did all over again.

  “Stand up a sec,” he suggested with a wicked little smile.

  She never found out what exactly he had in mind, because the sound of Lia calling her carried over running water. “Damn,” Penny swore, hearing desperation in her sister’s voice.

  Joe turned the water off. “Tell her you’re in here with me,” he suggested.

  “I’m in here, Lia, next to Joe’s hot tub. What do you want?” She couldn’t bring herself to say that Joe was with her.

  A mutter and a sniffle preceded the sound of footsteps on Joe’s deck. “Do you know what time it is?” Lia inquired. “It’s half past midnight. Aren’t you coming home?”

  “She sounds upset,” Penny whispered, accepting the towel Joe pushed into her hands.

  “Talk to her,” he said, shaking out his own towel.

  “Are you all right, Ophelia?” Penny called, wrapping herself for warmth. Cold air was pouring in through the slits at the top of the cabana’s walls.

  “I don’t know, I . . .” She broke off with a muffled sob. “I’m just confused. I just wanted to talk, but you never came home.”

  Penny sent Joe a torn look.

  “She needs you,” he mouthed. “Go.”

  Penny clutched the towel regretfully. She’d wanted so badly to stay with Joe tonight, to make all her fantasies come true.

  “Are you with Joe in there?” Lia suddenly asked, on an incredulous note.

  “I’ll be right out,” Penny promised.

  “No! No, I’m all right. Please.” She retreated quickly. “Stay. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  With a sigh, Penny glanced back at Joe. Now she wanted to cry because the moment was gone, the spell broken.

  “She needs you,” Joe repeated. “It’s okay. I know where to find you,” he said with a wolfish grin.

  “Thanks. Can you reach my clothes for me?” She pointed to a shelf behind him.

  “Sure. Don’t forget these,” he added, bending to scoop up the two dripping halves of Lia’s bikini.

  Penny put them aside as she wriggled quickly into the push-up bra and panties, then the dress. “Do you have to watch me?” she demanded self-consciously.

  Joe stood there with a towel around his hips, unmindful of the cold. “I’m getting my adrenaline rush,” he explained.

  “Yeah, right.” She couldn’t believe they’d just become lovers, that she’d calculated the risks and decided to embrace them, but she’d needed to feel sexy and alluring again. She was lucky Joe had been willing to go along with it. Even if all he ever gave her was a romp in the cabana, then so be it. She wasn’t going to try to tame him.

  “Thank you,” she said, giving his damp torso a quick hug. Before words complicated their recent intimacy, she scooped up the wet bathing suit and left.

  “Go back to Joe,” Ophelia wailed. “I’m fine. I should never have come looking for you.”

  “I’m not going back,” Penny insisted. She’d found her sister lying face down on the couch, crying noisily into a pillow. “Tell me what’s wrong. You’re obviously upset.” She sat down next to her and squeezed the water out of her damp hair.

  “I’m such a pain in the ass,” Lia lamented, with a sniff.

  “Well, yeah, but I still love you, Lia. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome anyway.” She wasn’t one of Joe’s girlfriends. She refused to categorize herself that way.

  Lia rolled onto her hip and looked at her. “Did you have fun?” she asked. Her eyes were puffy, her mascara running, her dress crumpled.

  “Yes,” said Penny, honestly. “What happened to you?”

  Lia’s chin trembled. “Vinny came by. That’s why I didn’t show up at the party.”

  “I know, hon. I saw his car.”

  “I’d sworn to myself I was never going to see him again.”

  “Because he’s too young?” Penny guessed. Empathy welled within her; she knew exactly where Lia was coming from, except that Joe wasn’t too young, he was too wild.

  “He’s twenty years old!” Lia cried. “And a Navy SEAL! What, am I stupid? That’s just asking for heartache.” Her turquoise eyes pleaded for Penny’s reassurance. “He’s gone on some freaky mission somewhere that he can’t even talk about,” she added, her tears overflowing. “He could be shot or killed.”

  “Oh, honey,” Penny crooned, understanding her fears. “Vinny’s going to be just fine, you’ll see. SEALs train day in and day out. They’re prepared for just about anything.”

  “I know,” said Lia, accepting her comfort. “It’s just so scary. Why couldn’t he be an accountant or a dentist or something?”

  Penny gave a wistful laugh. Why, indeed?

  “I always thought I could choose who I fall in love with,” her sister added, on a thoughtful note. “But it’s not like that, is it?”

  The truth stitched through Penny’s consciousness like a darning needle. Dear God, Ophelia was right. “No,” she agreed with a sinking heart. “It’s not.”

  She had thought she could stay emotionally aloof while awakening her body’s dormant responses. Sex and love were supposedly separate entities—to Joe, maybe, but not to her. Having shared that moment with him, her heart was in serious, serious peril.

  Truth was, she loved him already; she had for a while.

  Only Joe wasn’t going to settle down with her and start a family. That had never been in the cards for him.

  Doubt nipped belatedly at Penny’s heels.

  “I think we’re both in trouble,” she confessed, giving her sister a hug.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hannah hurried toward the elevator at FBI Headquarters, hoping to grab it before it closed shut. She was troubled by cramps this morning and dismayed by the sign that her cycle was coming, regardless of Luther’s determination to get her pregnant. He would be so disappointed.

  She didn’t notice who had held the elevator for her until he spoke. “Not awake yet?” he asked her.

  She blinked in surprise. “Rafe—I mean, sir! What are you doing here?”

  He bestowed on her the barest suggestion of a smile. As was his custom, he wore a dark silk suit, paired with a snowy white collared shirt and no tie, which left him looking like a priest. Or maybe it was the sad but serene look in his black-as-night eyes. “It appears,” he said, “that we might be working on the same case.”

  She gasped as the elevator lurched upward. “You mean those four officers were poisoned with ricin—all of them?”

  He gave a faint shrug. “That’s what the tests indicated.”

  “Oh, my God.” The doors swooshed open on the second level, and they stepped out, walking past several partitions to Hannah’s cubicle. “I thought my idea was a shot in the dark,” she marveled.

  “You have amazing instincts,” Valentino countered. “That’s why I hired you.”

  She stopped at her office space. “I’m sorry it’s such a mess,” she apologized. “I’ve been running in circles trying to make headway on this case. Here, draw up a chair. Make yourself at home. I’m going to run and get us coffee.” She dropped her briefcase inside the door.

  “Hannah?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “First of all,” he said placing a settling hand on her shoulder, “You make me feel so old when you call me ‘sir.’” He wasn’t a day over forty. “Second, I’ve opted to step down the promotion ladder, so please do call me Rafe.”

  “Okay. Rafe.”

&n
bsp; “That’s better. Now take a deep breath. I’m coming with you to get coffee.”

  She drew a deep breath and nodded. “I’m good now.”

  His ghost of a smile was almost real. “I’m going to enjoy working with you.”

  Three hours later, Hannah pushed her chair from her desk and rubbed her stiff neck. “I’m hungry and restless,” she admitted. “How can you sit that still for so long?”

  Rafe dragged his dark gaze from the monitor and looked at her in surprise. “I don’t know,” he said.

  “We’ve pored through hundreds of documents. We’ve cross-referenced every aspect of the victims’ lives, and we still don’t have a motive,” she lamented.

  “Perhaps we should talk about it over lunch,” he suggested.

  “You’re only saying that because I said I was hungry,” she accused.

  “I’ll never tell,” he retorted, rolling to his feet.

  While Hannah stretched, he stood there like an undisturbed pond.

  She gasped. “I have an idea.”

  “On an empty stomach?”

  “Bear with me. It’s probably not a good one. Who knows about the ricin poisoning besides you and me?”

  “The three techs at Quantico who ran the tests,” he replied.

  “What if we were to leak this to the press?” she suggested.

  “And we would do this because . . .”

  “Number one, so that high-ranking officers know to be vigilant. This guy might be trying to poison someone else right now. We could save a life. Two, chances are that someone out there knows something we don’t, like what these victims all had in common.”

  Rafe regarded her thoughtfully. “I’ll think about it,” he promised.

  “Fair enough,” said Hannah. “Let’s chow.”

  Joe rounded his desk to gently close his office door.

  His impulse was to slam it. Immediately, the noises that had been distracting him all afternoon were muted, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

  Maintaining an open-door policy was an intentional leadership decision, but it was giving him a headache. The buzz of voices, punctuated by laughter in the break room or Senior Chief McGuire’s bark, was making Joe as edgy as a Gerber blade.