Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6)
Page 17
“Ohhhhhh.”
Both men dropped a kiss to her cheeks.
“You are one lucky girl,” she said, walking away and shaking her head.
Elizabeth started laughing, because that was the absolute truth. When it came down to it, she won the sexy Native man Lottery tenfold. “Yeah, yeah I am.”
Tori watched him driving the Denali and all she could think about was getting home, getting naked and having the wildest possible sex. Something about the way his hair was tucked behind his ears made her incredibly crazy. What she wanted to do was unbuckle her seatbelt and climb into his lap.
Then her boss’s words came back to her.
“Victoria, you’re making it very hard to concentrate on driving,” Julian said, refusing to look over at her. If he did, she’d attack and they’d die in an accident.
“I can’t wait to get home, Julian.”
When she called it ‘home’ and made it sound like it was theirs, it fired everything in his body for her. Tonight he was going to bite the bullet, bring up her leaving the FBI and possibly marrying him tomorrow.
“We need to talk later,” he said, as her hand ran up and down his thigh, much like in the diner. He swallowed as she moved her fingers delicately over his erection. “Honey, we’ll have an accident- a horrible maiming one, where I die with a raging hard on.”
Tori giggled at the desperation in his voice. It fired off everything in her body. Then the visuals in her head began, and she was flushing with heat.
Pulling into the driveway of his cabin, he jumped out the driver’s side door. “Get inside and get naked, Honey. I need you right now!”
She saluted him and ran for the cabin door. Looking over her shoulder, Julian was stalking towards her with a deliciously proprietary look on his face. Already he was working on unbuckling his belt.
Damn, it was good to be home.
The three directors strolled into the makeshift lab, and it was still abuzz with activity. Both doctors were working on the corpses. One was redoing some organ samples, and the other was stripping one corpse of its muscle tissue.
“What’s up, Doc?” inquired Elizabeth. “You look perplexed and that’s rarely a good thing.”
“It’s odd. We sent out the tissue samples for tox, and it came back with inconclusive readings. There seems to be a chemical on the body that we can’t figure out.” Chris Leonard redid the slides in front of him. “No worries though. We’ll ship them down to FBI West and get them to rerun different tests on them tonight.”
Elizabeth was curious. “Let us know when they come back in, okay?” It piqued her interest. There weren’t a lot of things that surprised and caught the doctors off guard. This may be a first.
Chris looked up from his work. “Do you have anything for us to work on?”
Callen dropped the evidence bags on the table. “One is from Andrew Sumners and one from Jeffrey Hopper. We believe they’re the victims. We need DNA run as soon as possible.”
Tony stuck his head in the other room and called for Christina. “We need a pickup of evidence.”
The woman entered, smiling at her bosses. “What do you have for me?”
Callen handed her the nail that was holding the one feather. “We have another eagle feather, found at the farm where Andrew Sumner went missing. You’re probably going to find nothing to shock and surprise us, but see if they match.”
She nodded, examining the nail.
“I dug that out of a fence post. I didn’t touch it, so maybe we can get a partial print on the head.” Callen was hopeful.
“Tomorrow guys I need a confab on the time of death and everything else that is up in the air. We got you possible ID’s, so now you’re up. Prove to me you’re all worth that fat paycheck you get on the taxpayer’s dime.”
Chris laughed. “We’re grotesquely underpaid. Say it with a raise.”
Elizabeth lifted a brow. “How about I say it with a boot in your ass, Chris? And I let a certain agent you have the hots for watch?” She alluded to Agent Cyra Austin. The woman was due back in from Quantico training soon, and Chris was constantly asking about her.
“Your point is taken, Lyzee. What’s my reward if I find you something big?”
The three thought about it.
It was Ethan that was willing to play the game. He was well aware that bribery motivated the team more than anything else. Well, bribery and the promise of big shiny lab equipment. “It could be arranged that the first assignment she goes out on that you’re her ME on duty.”
Chris grinned, not buying it. “I’m the only ME.”
Now Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, how wrong you are my friend. It seems just three days ago we signed off and hired a new staff member. In fact, we all did the interviews and are madly in love.”
Tony and Chris stared at them questioningly. “You got me back up? I actually get down time?”
Callen nodded. “I personally adore the new ME.”
Tony crossed his arms. “They’re not telling us something. She has that ‘screw with them’ look on her face.”
Elizabeth simply laughed at her team. “Night boys! See you in the morning for the answers, which I know you will be showering on me first thing.”
“Wait! You can’t drop the bomb that you hired my back up and not tell us anything about a new staff member.” Chris was annoyed. “Please?”
Now the begging began and was ignored.
Whitefox laughed. He loved when Elizabeth messed with the team. The hiring of the new ME was straight forward. There was nothing special or unusual about the new staff member. They were simply screwing with them. “Maybe if you amaze us tomorrow you’ll get some information.”
All three left the room snickering.
Chris glanced over at his friend. “I need to know. We better pull a late night and get all the information in for them.”
Tony dropped a container of beetles into the glass plexi-glass, thinking about the possibilities. Maybe he’d get a sexy co-worker to stare at next.
“Bon appetite my little hungry friends.”
Julian rolled to her side, his heart pounding in his chest. He and Tori had barely made it to their bedroom. There was a trail of clothing starting at the front door. Not to mention the over tipped chair and end table. The minute they stepped in the door the melee began. It was hot, frenetic and wildly out of control. Then again, any time he had sex with his woman this was the general outcome.
It was like some combustible chemical reaction.
Tori began giggling as she finally caught her breath. “What the hell was that, Julian,” she purred, running her hands down his chest.
He wanted to tell her exactly what got into him, but he opted for the lighter reasoning. “I have to say, watching you rough up Carly Kester made me all hot and bothered.” He didn’t mention that it was James Duffy flirting with her, or him wanting to make Tori never leave his side by making her marry him.
“Well whatever it was I’m happy to accommodate,” she laughed more. “I think I may go find her and slap her around some more. Want to watch?”
“Sure thing,” he said, sitting up in bed as his heart was pounding. It was now or never. He went to open his mouth and chickened out. “I need some water. Want some?” he offered, sliding out of bed. “Plus I better straighten out the wreckage. You know how my family pops in randomly.”
Tori shook her head. “I’m good Julian.” She honestly didn’t mind his family. Since being alone in the world, having people around her to keep her safe was a nice feeling.
Julian grinned, closing the door as he heard a phone ringing. He paused to listen to the tone. He wasn’t sure if it was his or hers. When Julian heard her answer, he knew that moving away from the door was the right thing to do, and yet…
Tori glanced down at the caller ID, glad Julian was gone. “Hey Mark. Yeah, I can talk but make it quick.”
“Can you meet tomorrow? The paperwork is done, and we’re set to close,” the man said.
�
��Yeah, what time?”
There was a brief pause. “How about ten in the morning? Then you can get back up there as fast as possible before Julian knows anything about it.”
“Yeah, I can meet you at ten. I can’t stay long so can we do it fast?”
“I just need your signature and that’s it. Fast and quick are my middle name. Then the check is yours. We can meet over coffee.”
Tori laughed. “Good, I have no problem with quick.” She hung up the phone and whipped out a text to Elizabeth, explaining she needed some down time tomorrow in the morning, and could she be spared a few hours.
The reply was immediate.
Tori grinned excitedly. It was going to be such a surprise when she returned to Red River.
Sliding out of bed, she opted to shower to cut down on time in the morning. Tori knew she had to be out of the house early in order to make the appointment.
Excitement bubbled up in her, as she entered the spray.
It was the best day of her life!
Julian’s heart filled with stone at her words. She was meeting a man named Mark for a quick bout of sex. The woman he was in love with was cheating on him.
First came the rage, and then the pain at his past repeating once more. What he wanted to do was go in there and shake her, yelling and arguing. Then rational thinking took over. He needed proof, and then he’d break up with her and crush her like she’d done to him.
Her words and promises came crashing back as he picked up their clothing all the way to the door. Locking up, he rushed back into the bedroom and made a call.
“Yo! What’s up Jules?” Justin said, cheerily.
“I think Tori is cheating on me, and I need you to follow her tomorrow.” Julian spilled the entire conversation to his twin. “You need to lay low and track her back to her home. Can you do it?”
“Julian, why don’t you just talk to her and confront her?” Justin didn’t like where this was headed. He knew his brother had been burned before, but he’d seen the way Tori watched him. She loved the man. All of this seemed way off for the woman. Since springing Tori from the VA, they’d been inseparable. How the hell could she find time to cheat?
“Please Justin? I need to know. I know what I heard. Just follow and snap some proof for me,” he pleaded. Right now he needed his twin.
“Okay, when and where.” This was completely out of character for his brother. He scribbled the information down and shook his head. “I’ll take care of it.” Justin honestly hoped his brother was wrong, but he could understand where the fear originated.
Julian hung up the phone and climbed into bed. He needed to avoid Tori until tomorrow or there’d be a fight. Lying on his stomach, he turned from her side of the bed and faked sleep. The anger was too painful in his gut to face her. Tomorrow he’d have his brother get the proof, and he’d send her on her way. Despite loving her more than anything in the world, cheating was his big turnoff.
It meant the end.
Tori Christensen was getting ejected from his life and then he was going after the man named Mark to destroy him too.
He was a dead man for ruining his life.
* * *
Tori exited the shower with a towel wrapped around her body. The lights were already off and Julian was asleep in bed. She grinned. The poor man must be exhausted. She almost wanted to laugh, but managed to hold it in.
Climbing into bed naked, Tori leaned over and kissed him on the shoulder. “I love you, Julian.”
His heart clenched at the lies. He loved her more than his own life, and could never hurt her the way she was damaging him. That wasn’t love, and he wanted to rage and scream those very words to her. Everything in him wanted to roll over and accuse her of using him, breaking him, and lying to him. Julian managed to hold it in, keeping still.
Now wasn’t the time.
Once he had proof, it would erupt.
Tori set her alarm and curled against the man she loved. Excitement was making it hard to sleep. Tomorrow everything was going to be different. When she returned from Damascus, she could give him the good news, and they could move forward.
Together.
At some point she calmed, falling into sleep, pressed against the back of his body. The sleep was deep she never felt him slide as far from her as possible, just to escape her touch.
Had she, Tori would have had warning of the heartbreak that was yet to come.
Arriving at the rental house, no one was hungry. Not for food anyway, but they were starving for their woman. Both men watched her and tracked her every move around the room. If it were up to them, Elizabeth would be naked on the couch immediately.
“I’m going to go shower and get changed. I’ll meet you boys in a few,” she whispered, seductively. Before they could accost her, she raced up the stairs and out of their grasp.
“Ethan, wait. I need to talk to you,” he said, reaching out for his brother. With everything that happened today, Callen needed to make sure they were both okay.
He glanced over at his brother and the hand restraining his arm. “About?” Ethan was a smart man, and he was pretty sure what had his brother all stirred up.
“Today I said something I didn’t mean, and I hurt you. I’m so sorry. I selfishly didn't take your heart into consideration. I know that you’re still wounded that the baby isn’t yours. Don’t think I don’t notice you staring at her belly with pain in your eyes.”
Blackhawk sat on the couch and sighed. “I won’t lie. It hurts every damn day, Cal. I look at her and I’m happy for you, but aching for me.”
“How can I fix this, Ethan? What can I do to make your pain subside just a little bit?” Callen hated watching the man he loved hurt over him and Elizabeth having a child together.
“You can’t. I can’t help what I feel, and it lives in me. I want to let it go, Callen, trust me. The more pregnant she gets, the more I’m reminded.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan continued, “I know exactly how you felt when she was pregnant with CJ. Your heart hurt every damn day. You wanted to have her as yours forever and see your child growing in her body.”
Callen nodded.
“I feel it now too. I’m swallowing it so she doesn’t suffer. I don’t bring it up, because she loves this child, and I can’t be cold or cruel and let Elizabeth see what’s living in me right now.”
“What about you, Ethan? Are you going to love him?” Callen needed to know what his child’s life was going to be like. “Will you make him pay because my sperm beat yours to the egg? Is EJ going to be reminded every day that fate destroyed his life?”
Callen needed to know the truth. He’d grown up unloved and unwanted, and it made him a mess in his adulthood. He couldn’t bear to think that his son would travel that path too.
It killed him.
Blackhawk grabbed his brother by the back of the head and placed his forehead against his own. “Never Callen! I won’t ever hurt this child. A while ago I made you a promise. When you sat on the couch in our home, telling Elizabeth about the burns on your arm, remember it?”
How could he forget? It was the first time he spoke of it to anyone and his brother over heard it all.
“I won’t hurt you either. I’ll love EJ because he’s part of her and you. Each half of him is part of a person I love with all my heart. I won’t ever not love him, cuddle him or cherish the moments when he smiles up at me. He’s mine, Cal. I’ll get through this.”
His brother helped him release all the pent up pain he was carrying all day. “I love you, Ethan.”
His brother hugged him. “I love you to, Cal.”
“Awwww isn’t this touching,” she said from the stairs. “You two started the love fest without me? Isn’t it a little weird?”
Blackhawk began laughing until he glanced over at her lingerie, and all he could think of was her body. “Callen, this is why I love pregnancy,” he stated, checking out his wife’s breasts. “Seriously love every damn second of it.”
He just laughed, and it was reminiscent of a crazy man teetering precariously on the edge. “Yeah, I am.” His entire body got harder with each step closer she took.
Callen watched her in awe. Even pregnant, she was still working the lingerie for both of them. Apparently, Elizabeth had the foresight to bring some with her. “You look amazing,” he finally got out. In the erotic looking lingerie, you couldn’t see the baby bump hiding beneath.
“Sit boys,” she demanded, watching both men rush to obey. The entire time she was showering and changing, they were on her mind.
Elizabeth climbed onto the couch, straddling Ethan’s lap. His erection was pressed against her body, and at immediate contact his body went tight. “I love you in a tie, Mr. Blackhawk,” she whispered, using it to pull his mouth to hers. The kiss was hot and explosive, and when she pulled away he moaned, needing so much more.
“Mr. Whitefox, You in jeans is a sight of sheer beauty.”
She pulled him to her mouth next, burying her fingers in his ponytail. Working the kiss hard too, driving up the need in both men.
Ethan began running his hands over her incredible breasts. Nothing got him hotter than his wife’s body. As she kissed his brother, Elizabeth ground down against his erection, and all he wanted was to get her naked.
Scratch that. He wanted her naked and bouncing in his lap.
Breaking the kiss, Elizabeth stared down into Ethan’s face. “Release the hair boys,” she whispered, enjoying the way it fell free around both of them. “I have to say, Ethan. I love your hair this length,” she purred, burying her hands in it and pulling roughly to control the kiss.
His hands went to his own shirt buttons, as he tried to remove the oppressive clothing. What he wanted was to feel her sliding across his flesh. Ethan needed it in the worst way, and it was to the point he’d rip his clothing off to experience it.