Constant Craving (Task Force Hawaii #3)

by Melissa Schroeder

  He groaned against her, then pulled away, falling to his knees in front of her. Looking up at her, he pressed his mouth against her sex, thrusting his tongue inside of her. She moaned as her knees buckled under his sexual onslaught. Before she could stop herself, she was coming, her scream echoing in the shower stall.

  With quick movements, he turned off the shower, then dragged her out of the stall. He frowned and turned to leave.

  “I have condoms in the draw,” she said, dragging it open and grabbing them.

  He yanked one from her hands, ripped one open, then rolled it on. Charity needed this, needed the connection she felt when he was inside of her. She stepped closer, but he turned her and bent her over. After situating her hands on the counter in front of her, TJ brushed his hands over her flesh. As he watched her in the mirror, he slipped his fingers down her spine. When he reached her rear end, he broke eye contact to look down as he splayed his hands over both of her cheeks.

  “You have the most amazing skin, but this ass.”

  He sighed before slipping one hand between her legs and into her again. She was still sensitive from her orgasm, but she loved when he added another finger. Her body was already responding again. She closed her eyes. He skimmed one hand up to her breast.

  “So, wet,” he whispered and bent down to kiss her shoulder.

  He drew his fingers out of her and she opened her eyes. She watched him, watching her, as he slipped his fingers into his mouth. He hummed against his fingers. Just that sound almost had her coming.

  “You taste so good, Charity.”

  He positioned himself behind her and placed a hand on each hip. With one hard thrust, he was inside her. She closed her eyes, but he did not like that.

  “Look at me, Charity.”

  It took her a few seconds. He stopped moving. She forced them open the rest of the way. As TJ started to move again, his fingers dug into her flesh. He seemed to go deeper, harder each time. All the while, he kept eye contact in the mirror.

  It was the most erotic experience of her life.

  His rhythm increased, and he slid a hand down to her clit. He teased it as he continued to thrust. It didn’t take her long to go up and over again. She closed her eyes and let herself go. But that wasn’t enough. TJ leaned down, kissing her neck.

  “Again” he ordered. Charity didn’t think she would be able to do it again, but his talented fingers and cock had her soaring once more. This time, he sped up his thrusts, then followed her, shouting her name as he came.

  By the time they made it out of her apartment, Charity still couldn’t think straight. She was going to be late for work, and she needed some food after the workout she had been through in the last twenty-four hours.

  “I think we should eat in tonight.”

  She glanced at him, as she stepped onto the elevator. “Is that so?”

  He nodded and followed her onto the lift. “With everything up in the air, it will be easier to have a handle on things.”

  “It couldn’t be that you just want to have hot monkey sex, could it?”

  He punched the button for the first floor. He slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer. “That might be part of it. The other part is that I want to go over the case some more.”

  She shrugged. “No problem for me, but I don’t have much in the house.”

  “I’ll pick something up on the way home.”

  She nodded. When the doors slid open, she stepped out of the lift and found Drew standing there. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  He looked at the arm TJ had around her waist, then at her. “I thought we could ride together.”

  She looked at TJ. “You’re behind this.”

  “Not really. Well, sort of. Both Delano and I think it best.”

  “There have yet to be any issues. In fact, it’s speculation that anyone would target me.”

  “Hey, it’s better safe than sorry. They see you with people, it will lower the chances.”

  She knew it was the smart thing to do. “Fine. But when y’all decide things like this, I don’t want to be left out. It’s not like I would disagree, but I don’t like decisions being made for me. I’m an adult.”

  His mouth twitched. “Noted. And tell your boss.”

  He leaned closer and brushed his mouth over hers. “Behave today.”

  “See ya, later, Drew.”

  Drew said nothing as he watched him leave. “You’re sleeping with him.”

  She glanced at the older woman who was now waiting for the elevator. Grabbing Drew’s hand, she pulled him along to the door. “Not that it is any of your business, but yes, I am.”

  He said nothing for a long time.

  “Your car or mine?” she asked.

  “Yours. I walked over this morning, and I’m closer to work, if I need to get to the apartment.”

  They said nothing to each other as they walked to her car. He was one of her best friends, and had never passed judgment on the men she dated. Ever. He had always viewed them with amusement. His irritation with TJ was completely out of character. She knew jealousy was not part of it. He was no more interested in her than she was in him.

  Once they were in her car, he finally spoke.

  “It’s not like you to do something like this.”

  “Leap without looking? I do it all the time.”

  She had her hand on the ignition ready to turn the car on, when he stopped her. “No. You like him. You like him a lot, and when you found out what was going on, it hurt you. You hid it from almost everyone, but I knew. I saw it. Now, he’s practically living with you, and you’re sleeping with him. I’m more than a little concerned.”

  Her heart softened. At the bottom of it all was that her friend was worried about her. She sighed.

  “I know it’s a different situation, and I might be doing something really stupid.” He opened his mouth, but she stopped him. “But I don’t care. I can’t explain it, but he...well, he gets me. I know I date a lot—which loosely means I have a lot of ex-lovers. But the truth is, none of them really knew and accepted the geek side of me. Remember that one surfer I dated during the Eddie?”

  “Jake. Just Jake,” Drew said with the perfect imitation of Jake’s surfer Cali accent.

  “Yeah. I spent a week with him.”

  “He left sand all over your apartment.”

  That pulled a laugh from her. “Yeah, he did. I have no idea if he even had parents. And, when I explained the names of my cats, he seemed, put off by it. Like a girl like me isn’t supposed to be into stuff like that.”

  “I get that. I do. But TJ lied to you.”

  She nodded. “And tell me if we were investigating the FBI, we wouldn’t have done the same thing? I know Del likes to get pissed and talk about invading his house, but we all cut corners from time to time. I do thank God it was him and not another agent.”

  “Why?”

  “Other than the fact that I might just be addicted to his body—”

  Drew made a gagging sound. “Ugh, gross.”

  “Another agent would not have looked under the surface. He did, and because of that, I’m not being set up. I know I would have gotten out of the mess, but he might have saved me months of aggravation.”

  “He hurt you.”

  “We’re all human, Drew. Hurting each other is part of the game. It’s what we do to make up for it that matters.”

  “Okay. But, if he does any kind of crap like he just pulled, I’m going to make him cry. It might not be physical, but Emma can help me really mess with him.”

  She smiled. “I would expect nothing less of you.”

  TJ actually made it into work, and started going through his emails. He was about half way through when Tsu popped his head in the door.

  “Hey, how was the conference?” TJ asked.

  “Not bad. Not that I learned anything, and it was cold and rainy.”

  “You were in Seattle.”

  He smiled. “How’s that Foley case goi
ng?”

  TJ shrugged. “Waiting on a warrant for some security video that could clear the subject.”

  Tsu shut the door behind him and walked into the office. He wasn’t his usual laid back self. Something was really off.

  “I’ve heard some rumors.”

  Fuck. Did he know TFH knew about the investigation? TJ leaned back in his chair and tried to keep his voice smooth.

  “About what?”

  “Remington.”

  “What about him?”

  “I talked to an old friend at the conference, who said he has a few marks against him because of this Foley incident. He said Remington didn’t handle it well.”

  TJ shrugged. “Things went wrong. You know with undercover work sometimes things don’t go right.”

  “Yes. But it seems that he’s not been doing the rest of his work. He had a case taken away from him just last month.”

  That made TJ pause. “Why?”

  “He’s obsessed with Foley.”

  “Can you blame him?”

  Tsu shook his head. “But, sometimes, you go too far off the edge of that cliff you have nothing to do but fall. I just wanted you to know all the facts.”

  “I appreciate it.” And he did. Remington might have been his mentor, but Tsu was definitely a nicer boss. He understood that as an agent, you have to put up with a lot of bullshit. He always allowed for a level playing field for his agents.

  “I gotta go handle my emails, which I’m sure are out of control.”

  “See ya, later, boss.”

  As the door closed behind Tsu, TJ thought about the situation. He was definitely not telling any of them about TFH knowing of the investigation. He’d wait on that. If Remington was going off the rails, he wanted to make sure he played this one close to his chest.

  It was then it struck him that he was picking Charity over the Bureau. Not really picking her, but choosing her side for the moment. Hell. He was picking her over his job. Six months ago, if someone had said he would be in this position, he would have called them a dirty liar. But now...things were different. Of course, that happened when you fell in love.

  He blinked. He wasn’t in love. That was just asinine. He barely knew the woman. People didn’t fall in love with other people in the space of a week—no matter what stupid movies said. It just did not happen. It was hormones and some of the best sex of his life. It was all crowding out his ability to think. Once he sorted it all out, he would be on the straight and narrow again. Get back to his life.

  The fact that getting back to his life without Charity left him feeling slightly queasy was a worry. Hell, right now, he wanted to call and check on her, but he didn’t. Barely.

  Shit. He was falling in love with her. In the middle of an investigation into activities the FBI had her linked to. He couldn’t be in love. This wasn’t the time, and it definitely wasn’t the place. He always thought things through, and had planned on falling for a woman outside of law enforcement. One who would never know the dirty side of his life.

  “What the hell am I thinking?”

  You don’t think when you’re in love.

  Well, shit. Why? Why now? Why this woman? He could walk away right now, maybe save himself. He wasn’t completely in love with her. He was still falling. Maybe he could save himself the worry and the pain. The moment he thought that, he was already shaking his head. If he was going to be stuck with the woman, she was going to have to accept it. His mouth curved. And he had just the way to convince her.

  Before he could get too stuck on how he would convince her, his email sounded. He’d gotten the warrant. The sooner they got the footage and looked it over, the sooner he could clear all of this up. And, the sooner he could figure out just what the hell to do about Charity.

  Chapter Twelve

  Around eleven that morning, Charity rushed into the conference room about five minutes late, and was relieved to find everyone but Del there. He was still on the phone in his office. She was breathing heavy when she hurried over to the table.

  “Whew, I thought I was late.”

  “You are late, lass,” Graeme said with a smile. “But I’ll no’ tell him.”

  She snorted and took the open seat next to Drew. “Since he was staring at me when I came around the corner, there is a good chance Del knows.”

  “Yeah, I saw you,” Del said as he walked into the room. “But since this was last minute, I’ll cut you some slack.”

  “You are too gracious,” she said.

  The joke went unacknowledged, and she knew what the frown meant. Something had happened. Del was a good boss and never minded a little joking around. But, when he had that bulldog expression, something had just gone down. Considering the situation, she felt her stomach quiver.

  “Is it the Foley case?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing still on that. We need to talk about it, but we might have a case.”

  “Thank God. I thought I was going to be forced to sit through another terrorism briefing,” Cat said.

  Del shook his head. “You’re still going to have to do that.”

  “Yeah, but I can pretend to listen while I think about another case.”

  “Hey,” Marcus said. The former Capitol policeman was in charge of all the terrorism tasks for the TFH since he had the most experience with it.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m only there as backup. Everyone knows you’re our expert on that. I take notes on the important things, but you know, they go on and on about crap that is a waste of time. Even Tamilya agrees.”

  “Tamilya is not always right,” Marcus responded.

  Cat let one eyebrow rise. “Have you said that to her? Either way, no one talks to me but you and Tamilya.”

  “That’s because you challenged them to a shooting contest and won.”

  She smiled. “Aw, the fragile male egos I have to deal with.”

  “That’s enough,” Del said with no heat. “I got a call this morning from the governor. We have two dead males who used the same dating service. At first glance, it really doesn’t scream connected case.”

  “On second glance?” Adam asked.

  “I sent you the pics. The way they were killed, and the fact that all their money and valuables were gone, is a common thread. Throw in the dating service, and it is moving toward suspicious.”

  Adam nodded and clicked a few buttons. Two young men, one Asian, the other white, appeared on the screen. They were both around the same age, perfect skin, hair, and teeth.

  “The service they used was local, and very selective. Seems they only cater to the one percenter types. Or, local celebrities.”

  “Why did the governor call you?” Marcus asked.

  “Mainly because of Charlie Xan there. He was the latest one, and his father is a huge donor.”

  “And there you go,” Drew said. “I knew Charlie.”

  “Oh, Drew, I’m sorry,” she said patting his hand.

  He shook his head. “No worries. I knew him, didn’t like him in particular. I mean, I definitely wouldn’t want him to die, but he wasn’t a nice guy.”

  “How well did you know him?” Del asked.

  “Not very. We went to high school together. He was kind of a jerk.”

  “In what way?”

  “His family was one of the richest in school—and that is saying a lot.” Drew had gone to Punahou. It was the most expensive school on the island, and boasted President Obama as one of its alumni. “He also did not have a problem letting everyone know it. Drove the best car, dated the most popular girls, and loved to pick on the nerds. He never got in trouble for it either. Really spoiled.”

  Del nodded. “That’s what I’m hearing. He was in the middle of a divorce and using a dating service before his wife filed.”

  “What a bastard,” Elle said.

  “And his former wife is being investigated. Or will be. Adam, I want you to look at that. As well as a few of the women he was dating at the time.”

  Adam nodded. “So,
you’re basically saying that a bunch of women wanted him dead?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What about the other victim?” Charity asked.

  “Patrick Denney. He’s new to the islands, meaning that he’s only been here ten years.”

  That brought a smile from her. She knew that locals always considered anyone from the mainland new to the islands. It took years to gain the respected title as Kamaʻāina.

  “And their only connection is the service, and the manner they were killed. So, what I need is some digging, mainly from you, Charity. I would have Emma do it, but she’s got an appointment this morning and a video conference with someone in Tokyo later. Plus, I don’t want to pull her in unless it turns into a case. I’m also worried this may take a few months, and she will be preoccupied in a few weeks with the baby. I want you to take the lead on that area and just ask her for advice. That way you will be familiar with the situation. The rest of you, I wanted you aware of the situation. And we need to talk about our federal situation.”

  Everyone looked at her. “Hey, don’t blame me.”

  “Do you know if the warrant came through yet?” Adam asked.

  “TJ said it would be this morning, probably.”

  “Good, let us know as soon as you do. Anything else?” Del asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Good, that’s it.”

  Everyone got up to leave and she asked Del, “Did you send me everything you have?”

  “Yep, should be in your inbox by now.”

  “I’m off to work, while the rest of you laze about.”

  She hurried out, her mind on the task at hand. She always fared better when she had a project, and this one sounded promising.

  “Who’s holding the bet on this one?” Marcus asked as soon as both Charity and Del were outside of earshot.

  “Emma was holding the money on it I think.”

  Drew said nothing. He had inside knowledge, but he was worried about his friend. Getting involved with a man like Callahan wasn’t always good, especially for someone with a soft heart like Charity.