by Alyssa Breck
Callie was more than good. A pang of guilt stabbed her as she considered whether or not she was using him. It had been a long time since she’d been intimate anyone, and she just missed being close to someone. Hem was safe. She trusted him, and he was beautiful. On one arm, tribal tattoos circled his biceps. An elaborate dreamcatcher with turquoise-blue feathers hanging from it covered his other biceps. On his abdomen was a cracked skull with two pistols, the logo of the Knights of War. Above that, to the left on his chest was an American flag.
His jeans sat low on his hips, giving her a glimpse of those muscles that formed a V if a man was in really good shape, and Hem had the body of a god. He was several inches taller than her, and in the tight confines of her small kitchen, he loomed over her in an almost sinister manner, and it turned her on. She spent her days being the one in control, and now, she was ready to hand over the reins to him.
The bulge in his jeans let her know that he was as into it as she was. When he’d been pressed against her, she’d felt how big and hard he was. Her curiosity was piqued of how he’d feel moving inside her.
“Do you want to take this to another room, or do you have a kitchen fantasy?” Hem smirked and reached for her hand.
She laughed. “Well, the counter is pretty sturdy, but maybe we can try it out later.” Callie pulled him toward the hallway that led to her bedroom. She flipped the light switch to turn on the light just outside her room.
The door was ajar, and she pushed it inward. The room wasn’t fancy. The queen-sized bed was covered with a white down comforter. Two pillows were propped up against the wooden headboard of the sleigh-style frame.
Inside the room, Hem moved in behind her and brushed her hair away from her neck. He peppered kisses from one side to the other. He slid his hands underneath her sweatshirt and unhooked her bra. She pulled the shirt over her head and let the bra fall down her arms. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of her yoga pants and tugged them down. Callie kicked them aside. She still had her back to him and suddenly felt very exposed standing in only her panties.
“Do you want to turn around?” His voice was deep and gravelly as he gripped her hips.
She covered her breasts with her hands and turned toward him. He pulled the elastic out of his hair and let it spill down over his shoulders. Then his mouth was on hers again, his tongue searching and seeking, moving in and out erotically.
Her nipples hardened beneath her hands, and her pussy ached. Hem pushed her hands away from her breasts and pulled her against him. Her sensitive nipples pressed against his warm, hard chest. Callie wrapped her arms around his torso and lightly scratched her nails down his bare back.
Hem backed her up to the edge of her bed and gently laid her back on it. He stood over her for a moment, his gaze sweeping over her body.
“You’re fucking beautiful.”
Heat flooded her neck and face. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had told her that.
He pulled at the button on his jeans and unzipped them. Then he was there in just his boxers. The bed shifted when he knelt on the edge and crawled over her, his legs straddling hers. Halfway up, he stopped and cupped her breast. He kept eye contact with her as he licked a circle around the pink pebble. Her breath caught in her throat when he closed his lips on the hard tip and sucked softly.
A jolt of pleasure pinged from her nipple to her core and back up again. His hair spilled over her sides and tickled her sensitive skin. She put her hands on his shoulders and dug her nails into him. The sweet pull of his mouth was intoxicating.
He moved to her other breast and gave it the same treatment. He used his knee to push her legs apart, and he settled into that space. His hardness rubbed against the crotch of her panties. Hem kissed her breast, then moved up to her collarbone and scraped his teeth over her shoulder before bringing his mouth to hers again.
She’d never tire of his kisses. He reached behind one of her knees and lifted her leg to open her more. He slipped a finger beneath the elastic of her panties and stroked her pussy.
“Mmm. You’re so wet.”
“I want you,” she said breathlessly.
“I want you too, but not yet. I want you to come first.”
“Yes. Make me come, Hem. I need it.”
He slipped back down her body and grabbed the waistband of her panties and yanked them down her legs. Using his thumbs, he spread her open, and her toes curled in anticipation. “Earlier, you asked me what I wanted to eat.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
Callie laughed. “You’re filthy.”
“I don’t deny this.” His hot breath was just inches away from her pussy. Her back arched involuntarily when he licked her clit. He fastened his lips around the sensitive bundle of nerves and sucked gently.
“Oh, my God.” She gripped his head and hissed.
Hem slid a finger inside her and curved it up to coax her G-spot. All rational thought left her as he stroked inside her and worked her clit with suction and tongue. Her thighs were already beginning to tremble, and her stomach muscles tightened. She pulled his hair and lifted her ass up. Just as she was about to tumble headfirst into an orgasm, Hem pushed a second finger into and increased the speed of his thrusts. He sucked a little harder, and the world lit up in glorious biological fireworks.
Callie panted and moved her hips in time with his fingers. Her pussy contracted, and her whole body pulsed with pleasure. When the sensation began to ebb, she was suddenly too sensitive, and he moved his mouth from between her legs. He kept his fingers inside her and moved them rhythmically with her contracting muscles.
“Jesus. I don’t think I can move now.”
He laughed. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
She pulled him up for a kiss. “That was … you are … my God, I can’t even string together a coherent sentence.”
He nipped her lip. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She nodded. “It totally is.”
He laid beside her and circled her nipple with his fingertip until goosebumps popped up on her skin.
“I still want you,” she said, reaching down inside his boxers to take his cock in hand. He was thick and hard and hot, and she wanted him to fuck her. She stroked him slowly.
“Mmm. God. Yeah, I want you too. Do you need a few more minutes first?”
“No. I want you now.”
He climbed off the bed and stripped off his boxers. Callie lay there in awe. She’d never seen a man built like him. He was tall and broad-shouldered and built to scale. Seeing up close how big he was gave her pause. She watched him pull a condom out of his wallet and roll it down his length. Good thing he was being responsible because it honestly hadn’t crossed her mind. Yeah, the foreplay had been that good.
He climbed back onto the bed and angled himself between her thighs. Using his fingers, he alternately stroked her clit and slid his fingers inside her. “So wet and hot. I can’t wait to slide inside you.” His hair hung around them like a curtain, shutting out the rest of the world.
Callie slipped her hand between their bodies and gripped his cock, guiding it toward her entrance. Hem moved his hips until he was pushing into her.
She gasped at the invasion, the sudden friction as her pussy stretched to accommodate his size.
He closed his eyes and groaned as he pulled back out and pushed in a little farther. One more time and he bottomed out, sliding his entire length into her.
Callie cried out and held onto his biceps. The muscles in his arms bulged with the effort to power his body forward and up with each thrust.
“Tell me if I’m hurting you. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re not, you’re just so big, and oh, my God, so deep.”
He laughed for a second, then groaned again. “Fuck. You’re so tight, like a glove.”
She moaned and moved her hips in sync with his. They settled into a rhythm where each stroke of his cock rubbed that spot inside her, and she found herself gritting her teeth. T
he tension was taut like a guitar string and another pluck or two, and she was going to come again.
Hem increased his pace, going harder and deeper with each stroke. “Yes. I feel your pussy tightening around me. Come, baby.”
“I am. I am.” Her pussy clamped on his cock like a vise, and she moaned.
“Mmm.” He slowed down a bit to work through her tightened muscles. “Now that’s going to make me come.” He pulled away and knelt between her legs, watching his cock go in and out of her. He gripped her legs behind the knees for leverage, then pumped hard and fast. He leaned his head back and moaned as he found his release.
Still inside her, he leaned forward to kiss her. “You’re amazing.”
“Thanks. So are you.”
He pulled out and rolled over to lay beside her. “I might need another drink now.”
She laughed. “Yeah, me too.”
They took a quick shower, and Hem pulled his wet hair into a ponytail and made a pot of coffee.
He handed her a steaming mug. “Are we okay?” he asked.
Callie smiled. “Yeah. We’re really good, aren’t we?” she said, throwing the question back at him.
“Good in my book.”
“So, about this case …”
“Can it wait until tomorrow morning while I make you breakfast?” He put his feet up on the coffee table and took a drink of his coffee.
That was his way of asking if he could spend the night, she supposed.
Callie tucked her feet up under her butt and blew on her coffee. “That works.” Her bed was big enough to accommodate two. That original pang of guilt or something like it surfaced again. Could their friendship survive if this went south? Or were they friends with benefits now?
She was a worrier. Her mother had always told her she overthought everything. That was true and was why Callie was good at her job. Being analytical was great at work, not so much when it came to relationships.
“You look worried.” Hem set his cup on the coffee table.
“Do I?”
“Do you want me to go? It won’t hurt my feelings if you’d rather I not stay over.”
She put her hand on his arm. “No. No. I want you to stay. I guess I’m just analyzing what this is. What is this? What are we doing?”
“Do we need to slap a label on it? I mean, I just really enjoy your company. Sex doesn’t have to be complicated. You know I care about you.”
“I know. I’m not trying to complicate anything. I just think too much. I don’t want to mess up our friendship. You’re important to me.”
“Listen, Callie. If you decide tomorrow that this was a mistake, it won’t change anything for me. I like you, and I respect you. I always will.”
“Thanks. I feel the same. You’re probably the one person I genuinely trust without reservation.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. I’d never intentionally hurt you. I hope you know that.”
“I do.”
“Good. Now stop worrying and get over here.” Hem held his arm out. “I got this empty spot right here.”
She smiled and scooted under his arm, and it felt right.
Chapter Twelve
Calliope
When she sat down at her a desk, Callie saw the message on taped to her computer screen. The secretary for their unit had an annoying habit of doing that. The woman couldn’t just leave it on a chair or deliver it while someone was actually in their office. No, she carried a spool of clear tape in her pocket to tape messages all over the place. For a prank, the people in the cybercrimes division had used message slips and a lot of clear tape to basically gift wrap the secretary’s monitor. She’d laughed, but Calliope had noticed the twitch at the corner of the woman’s left eye. It could be worse. The secretary could be one of those people who would stand in your office and not stop talking. Taped messages were an acceptable compromise.
Callie snatched the piece of paper off her monitor and read it. The instructions were that she be in the conference room at eleven for a meeting. She rolled her eyes and folded the sticky part of the tape behind the message before setting it on her desk beside the phone.
The file that Leah had given her was in the dark wooden box on the opposite side of her desk. That was where she kept her current files. No doubt, Leah had already provided the same info to whoever would be in the meeting. They were calling Callie in to find out what she’d discovered on the computers. She couldn’t stall anymore. They wouldn’t believe her if she told them she still hadn’t cracked the hard drives.
After her computer warmed up, she set about typing up a report of her findings. She detailed the information in the video. As much as she wanted to protect Hem and his club, Callie had an obligation to the girl in that clip. They needed to try and find her. She made a copy of the video and burned it onto a flash drive. She included some still shots and relayed the fact that the suspect in the video wasn’t likely the owner of the computers, and the dude was smart enough to not look directly into the camera. Consequently, her attempts to run him through facial recognition hadn’t yielded any results.
She didn’t mention the pictures of the dogs because she didn’t really believe it had anything to do with the girl in the video. The rest of the shit on Rubio’s computer was low rent porn, and photoshopped pictures of naked celebrities. He seemed to like finding and saving pics of famous people who took nudie shots before they were famous. He had some shots of a topless Madonna with hairy armpits. There was nothing wrong with having hairy pits, whether you were a man or a woman, but it was a far cry from how Madonna portrayed herself after she became famous.
It took her almost two hours to complete the report and attach prints of the pictures she felt were relevant. There was still a half-hour before her meeting. Callie loaded the computer tower and laptop onto a pushcart to return to the evidence locker upstairs. She printed out a custody form for the property clerk to sign and tucked it underneath the laptop.
The elevator was empty as she pushed the cart inside and pressed the number three button. Just as the doors were closing, a hand pushed in between the doors. The man smiled when he saw her and then he stepped into the elevator. It was Lt. Stanley. The lieutenant she’d tasered when he’d groped her in his office. He’d never reported her because he would have had to tell his superiors why one of his subordinates had shocked him.
“Detective Cooper. How are you?” He put his hands behind his back. She wasn’t sure if he did that to avoid giving the impression he might touch her again or if he was just being polite.
“I’m good, LT. How’re you?”
“Doing well. Thanks for asking. What do you have there?”
“Just returning some hardware to evidence in major crimes.” She glanced at her watch. “Then, I have a meeting with the brass.”
“Did you get yourself into trouble?”
She narrowed her eyes. “No. It’s about a case.”
The lieutenant nodded. He was wearing his dress blues. He was an attractive man in his late forties. Callie knew that he’d had several inappropriate relationships within the department. Cops were the worst gossips. Lt. Stanley was revered by the men for his conquests and reviled by most of the women. Pretty much all the female cops knew to not be alone with him unless they were willing to give him a blow job under his desk.
They both got off the elevator. Lt. Stanley went left, and Callie went right. The first few times she’d run into him after what she’d call the electricity incident had been awkward, but a few years had passed. Now, she basically had to stifle a laugh when they crossed paths. What an asshole he was.
Callie pushed the cart into the evidence room. The clerk was a civilian who wore a uniform much like the sworn officers. The only difference was his badge said security where Callie’s said police. It was the same clerk she’d checked out the computers from.
She snatched the form from under the laptop and signed her name and badge number on it. She looked up at the clock on the far wall to record the t
ime, then she slid the form across the counter. The clerk signed the form and put his initials beside each item she had listed.
“Can you make me a copy of that, please?”
“Sure thing. Be right back.” He pulled the pushcart to his side of the counter then disappeared around a corner.
With her copy of the form in hand, she headed back down to her office to gather her materials for the meeting.
* * *
Callie knocked on the closed door to the conference room.
“Come in,” a male voice called.
She ducked inside and found four men around the table. She’d expected to see Leah, but instead, Leah’s sergeant was there.
“Come on over and have a seat,” the man closest to her said.
She took a seat and placed the manila folder in front of her.
“Grab some coffee, Detective Cooper.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Detective Jordan with the gang task force.”
Callie shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.” The Dallas Police Department was big enough that she still met people she’d never seen before. The gang task force was one that she hadn’t tangled with much aside from her phone call to one the other day. Their team worked closely with the DEA and FBI because gangs were involved in drugs, prostitution, and organized crime.
Once they all had their coffee, Callie opened her folder and passed out copies of her report. She waited until they’d all had a chance to read it.
“I’ve detailed the pertinent information that I found on the hard drive from the tower. His laptop didn’t have much on it. Seems he did most of his porn watching on his desktop.”
“We have any idea who this guy is or what connection he has to our suspect?
“I haven’t been able to tie them together yet. I don’t know if Rubio had a hand in this or if he’s just another chomo who watches this kind of crap for kicks.” For now, she was holding back the information that Hem had given her. She wasn’t sure how she could present it without outing the fact that she was sleeping with an outlaw biker. But it was kind of unfair to call him an outlaw. Hem wasn’t wanted for anything. She hadn’t specifically mentioned the cut in her report, but it was visible in the still shots she’d provided.
