by Avery Gale
Colt spoke up first. “I want you to know we’ll all do everything we can and Alex and Zach have authorized the use of any ShadowDance resource to help, so we’ll be providing electronics security upgrades until you can get your system up and fully functional. We’ll also be providing staff both inside and outside your residence. I also wanted to let you know we’ve spent some time educating all your ranch hands and making sure they are all aware of the situation and exactly what’s at stake.”
Sheriff Dylan Marshall spoke up next. “I’ve got patrols in the area as much as possible, and my deputies are canvassing the town to find out if anyone has had any dealings with someone meeting Gary George’s description. We are also leaving copies of his picture with everyone we talk to and making sure they understand how important it is that they let us know if they see him.” Dylan had made it clear earlier in the day that he was fed up with women being hurt in his jurisdiction, and he was going to do everything he could to find out who had hired the flunky they’d caught after Tori was drugged and taken from The Club.
Trace swallowed past the lump in his throat as he looked around the room, it took him a few seconds to calm the emotions racing through him so he could thank his friends for their help and assure them that Tori would be just as touched by their love and concern as he was. As he finished speaking, he looked up to see her standing in the doorway with tears glistening in her eyes. “Princess, what are you doing up already? And why the tears, sweetness?”
She padded toward him, her sock covered feet silently crossing the room until she leaned into him and he wrapped her in his arms. She finally looked up and said, “I’m just so touched that your friends love you so much that they are willing to go to all this trouble just because I’m marrying you and…”
No one had seen Alex Lamont arrive, but he quickly made himself known when he cut her words off, saying, “Victoria, that’s enough of that. We are very close to Trace, that’s true enough, but we are your friends as well, and as you are going to soon discover, we take care of our own. Now, someone update me on the progress. I’ve got a very pregnant, cranky wife at home, and I need to get back there. I’ve left Zach in charge of her and things being how they are, she’ll have him twisted into a pretzel and gotten him to agree to God knows what if I leave them alone for too long.” His low chuckle and smile took most of the sting out of his words, and Tori had to smile at him. It was plain to see Alex Lamont worshipped his fireball of a wife. It had been his love for his family that had been the first thing Tori had noticed about the man who now seemed every bit the soldier she’d been told he had once been.
After several people in the room gave Alex updates, he gave several suggestions and reiterated his orders to the members of the ShadowDance staff and then said his good-byes. Tori was impressed with the economy of his movements and the smooth way he handled all the information he’d been given. She’d watched as he processed everything he was being told as if he was gathering military intelligence and quickly set a plan in motion. She had to smile to herself when she’d been able to easily identify his former Special Forces team members simply by watching the way they responded to his inquiries and orders.
As Tori stood in the kitchen in the soft yoga pants and sweater Rissa had brought her, she thought that judging by everyone’s stunned expressions, she must look a fright and unconsciously tried to smooth down her crazy curls. Trace’s large hand stopped her movements. “You look beautiful, and I want you to stop worrying about what others think.” He turned her in his arms so that they were facing each other, and he placed his hands on her waist and picked her up as if she weighed nothing at all and sat her on the counter so their faces were closer together and spoke against her ear. “You are the most beautiful woman in the entire world, and I want you to always remember that. I want you to know that I’m drawn to your inner beauty as well as what others can see from the outside. You are my other half, sweetheart, and I will do everything in my power to prove that to you each and every day for the rest of my life.”
Tori thought her heart would burst with the joy Trace brought to her heart. She felt as if he had reached deep into her soul, and as always, he’d figured out exactly what she needed and then handed it to her on a silver platter. She had spent her entire life trying to be better…do more…prove herself in all things and to have a man like Trace tell her she was everything to him, was just more than she could have ever asked for.
Once again Tori found herself thanking the Universe for the gift standing in front of her at this moment. She had felt like she was quickly running out of steam and had been thinking about going back upstairs to rest when she found herself suddenly lost in thought. Trace had been just looking deeply into her eyes, watching her internal battle he’d be willing to bet was between her desire to be polite to their guests and her overwhelming fatigue. He was watching the play of emotions move across her face when suddenly her stomach growled so loud he leaned his head back and laughed out loud. He looked up and said, “Selita, do we have anything for my lovely fiancée to eat? It seems she’s a bit hungry, even though she wouldn’t dream of mentioning it.”
Chapter 12
Tori had eaten a light dinner and then excused herself in order to return upstairs for a long soaking bath. Trace had helped her get settled and then returned downstairs to see their guests out. Jamie Creed had remained inside, but had assured Trace that he didn’t need anything and that he should return to Tori. Trace was grateful to the Lamonts for lending him one of their best. Jamie had been a SEAL team sniper and even though Trace didn’t actually see a weapon, it was a given the man was heavily armed and it was likely he’d already stashed loaded weapons all over the house. Trace made a mental note to mention that to Tori, and he hoped she wouldn’t be put off by it. Trace went to the top of the stairs and watched the younger man for a few minutes. Christ he moves like a fucking cat, sleek and silent. Trace knew that Alex and Zach still did contract work for the various governments on occasion and that Jamie Creed was on almost every team that seamlessly assembled, disappeared for a few weeks, and then slid right back into routine as if they had never been gone. Trace had laughed more than once at how that seemed to fly right under the radar of most of the residents of Climax, where typically, the local busybodies didn’t miss a single thing.
Trace hadn’t even realized he was still watching Jamie until the man spoke to him without ever even turning around, “Bra, you gonna just stand there all night watching me or you gonna go to your woman?” Trace smiled, Jamie’s Cajun slang was always entertaining and managed to attract any number of the subs on the occasions the lanky young man visited The Club’s busy Main Lounge.
Knowing Jamie had the downstairs secured, Trace turned silently and went on up the stairs to where he knew Tori was still soaking in a bubble bath. Looking in on her, he wasn’t surprised when he saw that her eyes were closed, but he could see her sexy smile, and he knew she was enjoying the music he’d started downstairs. One of his favorite features of the beautiful log home he’d built was the stereo system that was state-of-the-art and piped into every room throughout the entire house. There were even speakers on each deck and in various places throughout the pool area and front porch. Trace might be a rancher, but he loved beautiful music. His mother had been an accomplished pianist, and he’d grown up knowing the power of music to soothe or excite the soul.
Stepping back into the bedroom, Trace lit candles then slipped out of his clothes and re-entered the bathroom. He slowly slipped behind Tori in the large tub and set the jets to rewarm and begin moving the water around them in slow swirls that would soothe her tired muscles. Trace wanted to make sure she got every bit of rest she could, and he’d been pushing her to drink a lot of liquids so the drugs would be flushed from her system as quickly as possible. The large marble tub was a sharp contrast to the bathrooms at his friend’s cabin. For each rustic element the other men had implemented, Trace had gone equally far toward modern. The irony hadn’t been lost on
any of them as they’d helped each other with the designs. The soldier and engineer had gone for natural and rustic, and the rancher had gone to the other extreme, opting for as modern a look as he could get.
The black-and-white marble gleamed in the soft light, and then Trace smiled when Tori moaned in contentment. “Princess, you feel so good pressed against me. Feeling you flush against me, skin to skin, is nearly perfect.” For several minutes he just soaked up the feeling of her in his arms. He knew better than most people how lucky he was to have this second chance with Tori. He’d nearly lost her to the lunatic who didn’t seem to understand the word no, and he swore to himself that he’d spend the rest of his life protecting her.
* * * *
Gary George sat in the Shift Captain’s office, wondering how the hell things had gone so wrong. He had made it home from Colorado just an hour before being called in and questioned for hours by the Internal Affairs clucks about an “attempted kidnapping” in Colorado. He’d explained that he had been on days off and had just worked in his garage wood shop, so no, he didn’t have anyone to vouch for him as to his whereabouts for the previous few days. Next time he wouldn’t hire some fucking kid to bring the bitch to him. And the next time he got his hands on her it wasn’t going to be a picnic for her either. You think your dog died an ugly death, bitch, just wait until you see what I have planned for you.
Apparently Miss Victoria Paulsen had made some powerful friends since she’d moved to ‘Colorful Colorado’ judging by the black suits now chatting up his Captain down the hall, he’d say likely some well-connected Fed friends. If he survived this witch hunt, he’d lay low for a couple of months and then he’d go back and finish what he’d started. Nobody walked away from him and lived to tell about it, well, not for long anyway.
Being a cop was the perfect cover. Hell, he’d even worked most of the cases involving the women he had killed, and no one had ever suspected. Movement on the other side of the glass wall brought him back to the moment. When he saw his supervisor shake hands with the Feds and then smile as the other two men walked back down the hall toward the exit, he knew that he’d dodged the bullet…again.
* * * *
Sitting in their rental car down the street from the Houston precinct where Gary George worked, both agents watched as he left the building. His smile and the cocky walk only confirmed the impression they’d gotten when they’d watched his interview earlier in the day. And after talking with his Captain, they were all convinced the man they were dealing with had likely been involved in many, if not all of the unsolved murders of several women in the city during the past few years. They’d been working what everyone suspected was a serial killer case for almost a year, and the one common thread was Officer Gary George, now all they had to do was prove it.
When Alex Lamont had called them yesterday, they’d almost rejoiced at the excuse to get closer to their prime suspect. After making sure Alex had a good understanding of the seriousness of the situation, they’d called Captain Gasman to enlist his help. Sitting in a small, remote observation room, they had all watched the interview via live stream from various hidden cameras in the IA office’s interview room.
It had only taken a few short minutes for Captain Gasman to recognize several problems with the man he had only minutes before defended and described as an exemplary employee. The inconsistencies in the officer’s answers were so small anyone who hadn’t worked with the man for a long time would have missed them. The agents had been impressed with Gasman’s astute observations and his willingness to be open-minded enough to recognize a serious problem within his ranks. Everyone would be watching George for the foreseeable future. They had all agreed that he would likely take a breather and wait for the heat of the situation to dissipate some. George would have known this had been a close call, so now it was just a matter of waiting him out and not letting their guard down.
Relaxing in the passenger seat as they watched Officer George saunter down the sidewalk looking, for all intents and purposes, like he had the world by the tail, Agent Rivera called Alex Lamont and updated him and promised to visit soon. Joe Rivera and his partner, Derek Lake, had both been Navy SEALs and had worked with the Lamonts on joint missions on several occasions. Even though they hadn’t been on the same team, they had a mutual respect for each other and it was common knowledge that “Once a SEAL, always a SEAL,” so they looked forward to visiting the Lamonts’ Club sometime…soon!
Chapter 13
Holding Tori in the whirlpool was almost heaven on earth, and Trace knew just exactly how to make it perfect. Slowly moving his hands up to her shoulders, he massaged them gently until he felt her muscles go lax under his work-roughened hands. “Turn around, princess. I want to feel those beautiful breasts against my chest, and I want to be able to look in to your beautiful eyes as I sink my cock deep inside your sweet heat.”
Trace could practically feel the shift in her energy as she repositioned herself in his lap. Looking deep into her eyes, he watched as they dilated with her arousal. As he shifted so that he could slide in to her tight pussy, he watched the base of her throat and saw the exact moment her pulse and respiration rates accelerated. “Are you wet for me, my little snow angel?” Oh my God in Heaven, I may not survive this woman. She already owns my heart and soul. Trace thought his cock was going to explode as he rubbed the engorged head over the swollen lips of her labia. The feel of her heated flesh was just about the most amazing moment of anticipation he’d ever experienced. He wasn’t sure who he was tormenting more, and soon it was more than he could take, and he plunged in so deep, he felt the head of his cock bump Tori’s cervix.
Trace plunged deep and he heard her gasp just before she moaned his name. “Trace…oh my God…Yes.” He watched as she leaned back into the water. He knew her new position would cause a shift in pressure and intensity as his rigid length passed over her sweet spot. He watched for the shudder that signaled she was rapidly approaching the point of no return. She had told him that she shuddered because it always felt as if lightning was racing up her spine.
And there it was. Trace watched her back bow, as if she’d been hoisted by an invisible line tied around her torso. He loved watching as she lost herself to the pleasure and wave after wave of pure ecstasy washed over her sweet face.
Trace had wondered if he could maintain his control as he watched Tori move just fractionally so that she was shifted to the perfect angle for the head of his cock to rub the spongy spot at the front of her channel. He had nearly come himself when her pussy had clamped down on him like a vise. The feeling of being squeezed by hot, wet velvet had been almost more than he could take, and holding off had been an exercise in sheer will power. The channel of her pussy had flexed and squeezed in a primal mating rhythm as old as time, and Trace felt Tori’s ecstasy as her climax peaked several times in rapid succession. When she finally began to come back down from the peak of her release, the look of sated bliss that passed over her face touched him so deeply, he felt tears build and had to quickly blink them away. Great way to show her what a strong Dom you are - cry just watching her come, geez, Bartell, get a fucking grip. When he’d finally regained enough emotional control to speak, he simply said, “Beautiful.”
Tori’s sweet smile was followed by another intense flex of her vaginal walls that immediately redirected his attention to where he was still buried deep inside her warmth. Just as he was about to move he saw goose bumps spread over her softly rounded abdomen and knew he would have to wait until she was dry and warm in his bed before he found his own release. “You’re cold, come on, princess, let’s get you out of this water, dried, and warmed up. And then I’m going to make sweet love to you.” He knew she was ready to argue, but he covered her lips with his own and kissed her as he stood and stepped from the water. Grabbing a towel from the warming bar, he wrapped her in its plush warmth.
Moving to the bedroom after they were both dry, Tori felt herself being lowered on to the softest bed she’d ever kno
wn. It was like laying on a cloud. Looking up into Trace’s face, she lost herself in his eyes and knew she would never find another man she would love more. The speed at which they had recognized love in each other still shocked her. Bringing her hand up to caress the side of his face, she felt herself being carried away on a wave of desire that would only be satisfied when she knew he’d lost himself in her body just as she’d lost herself in his a few minutes ago. The strength of her earlier orgasm had surprised her, she hadn’t been ready for the depth of the connection between them and had fought the tears that had threatened to fall. Oh yeah, Tori, way to turn a hot guy on, cry when he gives you the best orgasm of your entire life.
“What was that thought, sweetness? And I’ll remind you, don’t even think about trying to lie to me, because I’ll know.” Trace had watched her eyes as they had flashed with something that had looked too much like self-recrimination for his comfort. He knew it would take a long time to reprogram her thinking, and he smiled to himself knowing he had several decades to get it done.
“Well, I was just thinking that, well…our connection is so strong for some reason that I can’t even begin to understand or explain and well…we just seem to click so perfectly. And, well, I don’t want to mess it up. And I am so good at messing things up…and…”
He noticed Tori wouldn’t even look at him now. She obviously wasn’t used to having anyone who really cared about her feelings. He didn’t want her to think her answer might have gone too far. It was important that she understand how important her honesty was and how much deeper their bond would be if they were completely open with one another. It saddened him to think that she had never been with anyone who asked or cared about how she felt. He wanted her to know he would not only ask, but that he would actually listen to her answers also. He would always listen to her, with his ears and his heart, and it was apparent to him that she just wasn’t accustomed to that sort of intense attention.
