The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1))

by Kelley, Morgan

  “So, if she comes back to the FBI, we both have a job out of the field?”

  “Yes, running the office together as co-directors. That’s providing she can re-qualify on the gun range.”

  “I need to talk to her about it first. She should be home soon.” He couldn’t help but feel happy; this would solve their problem, and keep them together.

  “Call me as soon as you decide.”

  “I will,” he promised, hanging up, feeling a rush, along with a huge weight being lifted off his chest. He couldn’t wait to tell his wife.

  Elizabeth practically ran into their house. He was waiting for her in the kitchen, and he was smiling like a loon.

  “Guess what?” he said, coming around the counter and kissing her.

  “What?” Her husband certainly was chipper all the sudden.

  Blackhawk told her all about the job, and the opportunity for them to stay in one place working together. “It’s a great opportunity,” he said, smiling. “You just have to return to the FBI, and we have to move out west. I know you said you never wanted to come back to the FBI, but it’s out of the field.” Then he noticed Elizabeth didn’t look right. “Why do you have that look on your face?” He was concerned and rubbed his thumb over her lower lip.

  She couldn’t believe it. “I just had a meeting with Jacob, the man that heads the council.”

  “Did they terminate you?” he said, angrily. “If you want, I’ll go in there and kick all their asses around for upsetting you.”

  She started laughing uncontrollably. There was no doubt in her mind he would.

  “You okay?” Blackhawk wasn’t getting it.

  “No, they offered me a job and a promotion actually.”

  “There isn’t a position above sheriff,” he said, confused. “You are the top of the food chain in Salem.”

  “Well, there’s one position over my job.” Elizabeth laid her head on his shoulder, as he wrapped his good arm around her waist.

  “The only other job is mayor,” he said, and then it dawned on him. “Oh.” Now his wife had the opportunity to be the mayor of her hometown. That was a pretty big deal.

  “Looks like it just got more confusing, Ethan.”

  “Now that both the deals are on the table, we need to sit down and decide.”

  Elizabeth shook her head and whispered, “Let’s think about it after our honeymoon, Mr. Blackhawk. I have other things to think about, like which bikini to wear to the beach.”

  Ethan’s body tighten at the mere mention of the word bikini. “Deal, Mrs. Blackhawk. Suddenly, I seem to be busy too,” he replied, before kissing his wife.

  ~ Epilogue ~

  Eight Weeks Later

  “Ethan, I’m home,” she called, rushing into the brownstone, full of excitement. She set the code and locked the door. “Where are you?”

  “I’m making dinner in the kitchen. Where have you been, baby?”

  “Out,” she grinned to herself.

  Ethan Blackhawk walked around the corner and leaned against the wall. “Care to elaborate?” he asked. She had been acting odd all day, and then she disappeared for hours, kissing him goodbye and running out. Normally if she left the house, she’d invite him to join her, but not this time. When he called she didn’t answer her phone.

  Just the change in behavior had him worried.

  “Hmmm…. Maybe later we can discuss it. I have a surprise for you after dinner.” She couldn’t help but stare at her husband, as a wave of heat flushed her body. His hair was down, and he was wearing a tank top and shorts, and must have been running on the treadmill in their office. She wanted to jump him and get him naked, except she didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

  Damn it, he looked delicious!

  “A surprise?” Ethan watched her walk past him and casually sit on the arm of their couch. Not even a kiss? Something was wrong. He hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts or an affair. Wasn’t that a sign of an extramarital affair, when one partner disappeared for hours at a time, didn’t answer their phone, and lost all desire for sex? Okay, so they just had sex that morning and last night, so maybe two out of three.

  Since leaving Salem and taking the jobs with the FBI, they had some down time while the office was put together out west. She had been re-qualifying to get her badge back and did so with ease, as her arm was almost back to one hundred percent, just like his.

  Then they did what married couples did.

  They took a week to sleep in and have sex.

  A week to hang out and have sex.

  A week to honeymoon and have sex.

  Now they were taking the last few days to pack up the things they needed for their new life.

  In the long run, they decided to keep her childhood home as retreat of sorts to go and hide out when they took their vacation. The brownstone was being sold, and he had insisted. There were good memories there of him proposing, but there were demons there too. It just wasn’t the man he was anymore, and he wanted a clean slate with his new wife. Besides, he found them the perfect house in suburbia for a brood of children. Kissing all of this goodbye would be worth it, but now he was worried.

  It wasn’t like his wife to not be all over him. When he stayed in his tank top and shorts after his run, he was sure he could lure her in for some pre-dinner sex, and she just walked right by him. Something was up, when she passed up on sex. Elizabeth Blackhawk was voracious when it came to climbing all over him. Even after being shot, she still insisted they have sex.

  “When’s dinner, Ethan?”

  “Now, if you’re ready,” he answered, unable to push past the dread. It had been filling him all day while she was gone. He knew she took the FBI job because of him, all because she knew he wouldn’t be happier anywhere else. It was such a part of his identity, that he needed it. All he hoped was one day she wouldn’t regret it, giving up her quiet life for the unknown that waited for them.

  As he stood in the kitchen, leaning on the counter all he could hope was she wouldn’t resent him. From the start she swore she wouldn’t return to the FBI, and now she did it for him. Maybe that in combination with rushing into marriage was too much for her.

  Elizabeth saw him looking so lost, and it broke her heart. Since she had to fight her brother to save their lives, he’d been over protective and hovering over her nonstop. She knew he’d always stand guard over her, but she wanted to give him something to know how she really felt about him and make him relax. Lately, he continually asked her if she was happy, if she was still okay with being married, and the choice to return to the FBI. He was slowly slipping back into the man he was before her. Elizabeth needed to shake him up, and get his attention.

  “Ethan, are you okay?” she asked softly, watching him from the doorway.

  “Are you still in love with me, Elizabeth?”

  She was shocked that he even asked her that, but before she could speak, he continued.

  “Are you upset I dragged you back into the FBI? We can always call Salem home. I can be the sheriff, and you can be the mayor. I just want to be together with you. I didn’t think I could leave the FBI, but I can’t let it come between us.” Blackhawk looked at his wife, willing to make the sacrifice. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Ethan Blackhawk! Am I still in love with you? I’m crazy, stupid in love with you and always will be.”

  “Don’t leave me, Elizabeth. Not over this job.” The fear coated his words and made his stomach roll with the possibility of a life without the only woman who ever held his heart. His wife was the only person who ever saw them real man beneath the facade.

  “Ethan, I want to work with you every day, and I want to come home with you every night. I’m not leaving you. I promise.” Elizabeth took the FBI job because of one big reason, it pulled him out of the field, and like Gabe, she knew they’d both come home safe at night. As sheriff, the possibility was still there that he could be hurt, and she couldn’t bear it. She loved him too much to lose him in the line of duty.
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  “You aren’t acting like yourself, and I don’t know what’s wrong and it’s scaring me shitless. For a few days now you’ve been secretive, and then today you disappeared.”

  Crap! He was on the trail of her secret.

  “Is there another man?”

  “What?” Elizabeth almost got sick over just the possibility that he believed anyone could compare to him. Ethan Blackhawk was her other half.

  “I need to know.”

  “Ethan, you are the killer of all surprises.” Elizabeth held out her hand. “Dinner can wait. I have something to show you.”

  Just the contact with her hand lifted the dread and doom in his heart. She was the light to the dark that sometimes wanted to swallow him whole.

  Elizabeth led him to the living room. “Stand right here,” she directed and walked away from him. “I know you’ve been worried, but today I wanted to give you something you’d have forever. I know I’ve been acting suspicious, and I couldn’t tell you or it would ruin the surprise. I’ve been working on it a few days now.”

  Blackhawk felt minutely better. “Okay, Lyzee.” He watched her start to unbutton her shirt and laughed. “We’re going to have sex in the living room? I think I’ve been given that gift a few times.” Ethan moved towards her. “Not that I mind, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. In fact, I think it may be one of my most treasured presents you’ve given me. Well, second to the cheerleading outfit.” His body stirred at the possibilities and the memories they’d made while she wore her high school outfit.

  “Stop right there, Cowboy! No, it’s bigger than sex. I think so anyway.” She dropped her shirt, facing him.

  “Really, this is pretty much how sex starts. You begin stripping, and I get incredibly turned on, and then...” he wiggled his eyebrows and pointed at the couch and coffee table.

  Elizabeth ignored him. She was completely giddy. She pulled her hair up, on top of her head. “Are you ready, Ethan?”

  “Yes, but I’m really confused.”

  Elizabeth turned around. Across her back, was black plastic, taped to her skin, the kind tattoo places put over finished tattoos to protect them. “Well Ethan, unwrap me,” she directed, grinning over her shoulder at her husband. The look on his face was priceless.

  It was a mix between horror and awe.

  Perfect.

  “You got a tattoo?” he looked amazed and worried at the same time. “Baby, they’re forever and shouldn’t be picked lightly. I know that for a fact. I have a few I can’t forget, like a big black raven on my chest.”

  “I love that raven and always will. Now shut up and peel it off.” She wanted to see his face when he saw it.

  He walked toward her, unsure how he felt about her pale, gorgeous flesh, marred by ink. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. It was done. As he peeled off the plastic, he didn’t know what to say. “Elizabeth,” he stared open mouthed, taking in the entire tattoo. On her back in large beautiful script was his full name.

  First, Middle and last names.

  “Well?” she asked anxiously. Maybe he didn’t like it after all.

  “Lyzee?” He just stared at it, almost wanting to run his fingers over it, but knowing it would be sore and raw. “You put my name on your back?”

  Elizabeth turned and saw the look on his face. “You once said that you’d never put another person’s name on your body, because it was crazy and out of control.”

  “I know I did!” Blackhawk didn’t know what to say, this was completely crazy and the most amazing thing ever. “Because it’s forever and you just can’t erase it.”

  “I know and that’s the point. I wanted to prove how much I love you, and how important you are to me. So, to show you how I feel about you, I went and did it. Now, you literally have my back. This is all you, Ethan Jackson Blackhawk.”

  There would never be enough words to tell her what she meant to him. Elizabeth undid him every second of the day, with a smile, a laugh and with his name on her body.

  “Well? Do you like it? Now you're stuck with me, because it’s not coming off. I don’t know how many Ethan Jackson Blackhawks are out there, if I have to find a new one,” she teased.

  He pulled her into his arms, carefully avoiding the tattoo. “No one has ever given me such a gift, and nothing will ever beat it. I love it more than words, Elizabeth.”

  She kissed her husband and broke away breathlessly. “The office opens in a couple weeks, and we a great deal of work to get it up and running. Before we know it, we’ll be on our adventure together. I plan on keeping my vows, Ethan. I plan on keeping you guessing and filling your life with joy.”

  “How did I ever live without you, Elizabeth Blackhawk?”

  “Got me, but now you don’t ever have to worry about it,” she kissed him deep and hard.

  “Mmmmm… Lyzee baby,” he moaned into her mouth as she undid him with her lips and wandering hands.

  “Do you think we can put off dinner a little longer?” she asked, moving to his ear and whispering what she wanted to do, instead of eating.

  When his body tightened at her words, he felt a rush of want and need wash over him. His wild hellion was back, and he couldn’t be more overjoyed. “Baby, as far as I’m concerned we don’t ever have to eat again.” Ethan let her lead him into their bedroom.

  “Oh and Cowboy?”

  “Hmmmm?” he couldn’t stop staring at the tattoo. He loved it and he loved how it made him feel like she was his forever. Marked and possessed and never belonging to anyone but him. Ethan Blackhawk had finally found the one woman who saw through it all and understood the real him.

  She was his miracle.

  “It’s a back tattoo, and I have to be on top the next couple of days.”

  “Oh hell yeah baby, this surprise just keeps getting better and better!” Ethan Blackhawk chased his woman into their bedroom to begin his favorite adventure of all times.

  Loving his wife.

  Meanwhile…

  He watched the woman with her swollen belly waddle to her car. She had no idea that he was waiting for her in the shadows. It had been a long seven months of preparation, and it all came down to this moment.

  First he’d grab her.

  Then hunt her.

  Proving what he already knew in life. He was one of them. His family may have scorned him, and his own father may have walked away, but he would find a way back into their hearts and lives, as the only son who mattered.

  It was time to take her and bring her to his hunting grounds, letting the sport begin.

  As she dropped her keys, he popped up at her side. The syringe was hidden in his hand and ready to go.

  She turned at the sound. “Gez! You scared me,” she muttered, letting him help her retrieve her keys.

  “Here you go,” he answered, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and take her and the unborn child.

  When she turned to put her purse on the front seat, he made his move, slamming the needle into her side, and filling her with the drug.

  The interior of the car wavered. “What have you done?” she slurred, before everything went dark.

  “I’m just taking back what’s mine,” he answered, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her to the trunk of his car.

  This was his favorite part of the game.

  It was time to take her to the hunting lands and then her final resting place, the Sacred Burial Grounds.

  Letter from the author;

  Dear reader,

  This is book one in an UNCONVENTIONAL series. It's about love, life and a path that isn't always taken.

  As the author, I’m going to warn you now. There's a twist in book four of the series that bends the conventional relationship and gives us a new perspective on love. Can a woman love more than one person?

  Can it work?

  Let me warn you, that if you're looking for a cookie cutter romance novel where girl meets boy, girl marries boy, and boy and girl live happily ever after, you won't find
it here.

  Yes, there will be happy ever after. The girl will be falling in love, but it's going to bend some of the norms of society. Why? Because I want to give you the reader a look into what isn't done all the time. I want to show you that love can flourish where it's expected to fail.

  If you trust me, please read the series. If you get easily upset with sexual situations, this series isn't for you. (There will be threesome in their future)

  In the first book of the series, we meet Elizabeth and Ethan, and by book four their relationship has expanded, morphed and changed. It works for them, or at least I hope I convey that. I don't often take the road most travelled, and there is a reason.

  Adventure follows the less traversed path.

  I hope that you love my series.

  I hope it evokes an emotional response from you. (I know it won't always be good and I accept that as an author.)

  I want you to see that there isn't just black and white, but a plethora of colors and shades in between.

  Remember, this is fiction and not meant to do anything but entertain you along the way. I’m not making a political statement, or trying to force beliefs on you along the way. My only intent is to entertain and give you a different perspective on something that may pique your interest.

  Thank you for joining me on the journey. I hope when we reach the end, you're with me by my side.

  Much Love, Mayhem and Murder,

  Morgan

  Coming Next in the series:

  Sacred Burial Ground (book 2)

  Other books by Morgan Kelley:

  Stand Alone Romance/FBI thrillers

  The Junction

  Serial Sins

  Romance/FBI Thriller Series

  The Killing Times (book 1)

  Sacred Burial Grounds (book 2)

  True Love Lost (book 3)

  Deep Dark Mire (book 4)