Tannamae pursed her lips. “Five minutes after Ms. MacNal’s email, the victim’s entire security system went offline. Are the two events linked, and if so, how did Ms. MacNal accomplish this?”
She scowled. Her dark eyes went even darker with her thoughts. “This is the fifth hermaphrodite murder in the last two years. As far as we know, Ms. MacNal had no contact with the other four victims.”
Fergus tapped his fingers on the side of his keyboard and shook his head. “Depending on how skilled the murderer is with computer security programs, he or she could have inserted a piggyback code into Ms. MacNal’s email system. That would have triggered a direct link between her email and the victim’s security going off grid.” He pulled the keyboard up and tapped in another request.
“What are you looking at now?” Tannamae asked.
“I’m wondering how many other incidents occurred in the victim’s security links. I’m wondering if the victim was in the habit of shutting down her system in order to accommodate a secret lover. Then, I’m going to see if we can match up any of her contacts with system shutdowns.”
He tapped his fingers on the keyboard again. “I’m running a third-level security background search on Ms. MacNal. We might as well, just to be on the safe side.”
Tannamae booted up her computer. “While you’re doing that, I’m going to take another look at the other victims’ reports and autopsies.”
Almost four hours later, their suspect list had been pared down to three possibilities.
The interoffice comlink went green.
Fergus exchanged an annoyed look with Tannamae. “This better be good. I hate interrupting an investigation for stupid meetings.” He flicked open the link.
Their district captain’s bald-headed visage glared at them from the monitor screen. “Detectives Desoto and Jones, report to my office now for a private meeting on your newest case.”
* * * * *
Shannon gritted her teeth, paced back and forth, and counted to ten. Her hands were clenched so tight that her fingernails cut into her palms, but it was either that or pull her hair out in sheer frustration. Besides, turning around and assaulting two police detectives would only make the situation worse, not better, for her. “This is crazy! You can’t do this to me.”
The male detective, Fergus Desoto, spoke in slow, reasonable tones. His voice had a lovely Spanish lilt that sent every nerve ending on her body into super tingle. “We don’t like this any more than you do. It’s orders. We don’t have any other choice. It’s either this or put you into protective custody.”
Shannon whirled around. “Protective custody? You’d put me in jail? I’m not the murderer. Shouldn’t you be focusing your energies on capturing whoever’s killing herms instead of harassing me?”
The female detective, Tannamae Jones, had soft brown skin, almond-shaped eyes, and loose, black curls that gave her an exotic, almost magical appearance. Five-six was the minimum height for police officers. She must have barely squeaked by that requirement. Standing above her, Shannon felt like a clumsy elephant in her six-foot-tall frame.
Fergus splayed his hand across the small of Tannamae’s back and guided her to the other side of the table. She tilted her head to the side, flashed a seductive smile at him while he pulled out a chair for her. When she sat down, he moved behind her chair and rested his hand upon her shoulder.
Shannon sucked in a deep breath. Her throat ached. Detectives Tannamae Jones and Fergus DeSoto were more than just partners. They were lovers. Why couldn’t she have someone give her little touches and looks like that?
Tannamae held up her hand. She had short, clean nails and delicate wrists. Plus, she worked out regularly; Shannon was sure of that because the muscles in her arms were whipcord-hard. “We’re not harassing you. It’s your choice. You know the law mandates protective custody for potential victims of domestic violence. You qualify because of the threatening note you received with the holopic images of the latest victim. Either accept that we’re moving in with you until this case is solved, or accept protective custody in a more secure establishment.”
Shannon bit back a weary sigh. They were right. That particular law was an offshoot from domestic violence cases where the police hadn’t protected potential victims to the fullest extent possible. Even though this murder didn’t appear to be a domestic violence case, they couldn’t be sure and had to abide by the letter of the law. She didn’t have any other choice but to let them move in with her until the murderer was captured or killed. “All right. You can stay. I’ll tell the house droid to put clean sheets in the spare bedroom.”
Tannamae shook her head. “One of us must remain within three feet of you at all times. Would you be more comfortable having a man or a woman bunked down in your bedroom with you?”
Shannon stopped, crossed her arms under her breasts, and took her time looking them over from head to toe. Good. A blush darkened both detectives’ faces now. Served them right for doing this to her. If she called their bluff, would they back off and give her a semblance of privacy? What the hell? She might as well stick it to them deep and dirty. “It doesn’t matter who sleeps in my bed. I’m a herm, a shemale with breasts and a penis. Both sexes turn me on.”
She placed her hands on her hips and smiled a slow, seductive smile. “I’m going to take a shower now. Do you want to watch?”
Chapter Three
The sound of water splashing in the shower came out loud and clear past the half-open door. Standing outside the bathroom was a compromise that gave Shannon a semblance of privacy while satisfying the letter of the law that said a police officer or detective must remain in the same room as the potential victim. Tannamae leaned against the wall and rubbed her arms. A nice, hot shower would help her relax, too. “Shannon did a great job of goading us with her remarks. How are we going to resolve this fiasco?”
Fergus lifted his arms and stretched himself with the unconscious ease of a wild animal. A tigerish glint gleamed in his whiskey-amber colored eyes. Per departmental regulations, he kept his dark red hair in a military buzz cut. The café-au-lait skin he’d inherited from his Puerto Rican father always reminded her of a surfer’s tan. He flashed a wicked grin and said, “We could always flip a coin.”
And what would that prove? Nothing, really. If she won the toss, she’d spend a sleepless night totally aware of her proximity to Shannon. And if Fergus won the toss, she’d still lose sleep. Not that she didn’t trust her man. No, it wasn’t that. She just didn’t feel comfortable with the thought of him sleeping in the same bed with Shannon.
Fergus grinned, strolled over to Tannamae, and traced her mouth with his fingertip. “What’s the matter, mi corazon?” He leaned in for a long, slow kiss that curled her toes and made her want to rip his pants and shirt off so she could savor every inch of him.
She managed to pull away from that kiss without groaning in frustration and glared at him. “The last thing we need right now is to get ourselves all hot and bothered and then not be able to do anything about it. I don’t like the coin toss idea. The only logical way to solve this without causing any problems is to have both of us sleep in the bedroom with her.”
“That sounds like a fabulous solution.” Shannon’s sultry murmur behind Tanny raised goosebumps on her arms. “I’ve always wanted to try a ménage.”
Tanny sighed, schooled her face into a bland mask, and turned around. She’d be pissed, too, if she had to allow strangers to invade her personal space like they were invading Shannon’s.
Shannon leaned in the wide-open doorway, very properly clad in a long-sleeved, white cotton pajama top and pants. Tall, broad-shouldered, and small-breasted, she looked strong enough to hold her own against most assailants. Her brown hair swirled in wet waves around her face and neck, leaving damp patches on her shoulders. The front of her loose-fitting pants failed to completely conceal the small bulge of her sex. Pale peach glitter polish added a disconcerting and very feminine gleam to her fingernails and toenails. �
�For my own peace of mind, I recommend pajamas for both of you. That would be less tempting all around.”
Shannon grinned and arched sardonic eyebrows at them. “You did remember to bring pajamas, didn’t you?”
Tanny bit her lip and did her best not to react.
Fergus cleared his throat. A slight flush darkened his cheeks. He pulled his gaze away from the front of Shannon’s pants up to her face. “I forgot to bring any with me.”
Shannon’s grin widened even further. “I’ll gladly lend you a pair of mine.” She let her gaze travel over Fergus in a smoldering and lingering assessment of his physique. “How tall are you?”
“Six-five.”
“They might be bit snug on you. I’m only six foot.” Shannon pursed her lips and a speculative gleam deepened within her light blue eyes. “As for your partner?”
Tannamae gritted her teeth. After they solved this case, she had every intention of ripping a few departmental heads off. In the meantime, they were just going to have to make the best of a very awkward situation. “I need to borrow a pair of pajamas, too.”
Shannon took her time looking Tanny over from head to toe, tsked, and shook her head. “If you roll up the arms and legs, I have another pair that should fit you very nicely. It’s such a shame. As much as I would enjoy it, I suppose it’s against the rules for you to sleep in the nude with me.”
She spun on her heel, padded barefooted across the thick hunter green carpet to a sturdy dark cherry wood bureau, and opened the top drawer.
* * * * *
No matter how much Fergus soaped and scrubbed his body, it didn’t change the fact that he had a raging hard-on.
Shannon’s sultry-voiced insinuations had kept his mind in the gutter all night long. Plus, the sexy way she kept staring at him and then Tanny made him remember that in addition to her pussy and breasts, Shannon had a cock she wanted to use on both of them.
Slow and easy, he stroked the slippery, soaped length of his cock. He closed his eyes and considered the possibilities. How would it feel if he started out with Tanny sandwiched between him and Shannon? Or would Shannon prefer to be in the middle while he and Tanny played with the startling blend of soft, womanly breasts on her chest and the small penis sticking up from the wiry curls and folds of her pussy lips?
What was that word she’d used to describe herself? Shemale? Yeah, that was the perfect word for her. Hermaphrodite sounded like something from a medical textbook. But shemale -- that word rolled off your tongue just right. One thing for sure, having both male and female sexual parts gave Shannon a very special advantage whenever she made love. As a shemale, Shannon knew how it felt as a woman and as a man. Because of this dual perspective, she probably knew exactly how to satisfy both sexes.
Fergus switched the shower to steam pulse and let it sluice across his skin. Stabs of needle-sharp spray teased his balls and cock. He groaned under his breath, tightened his grip, and stroked faster. The tender skin at the head of his cock swelled and throbbed on the cusp of release. Had Shannon jacked herself off, too, while she showered?
What about Tanny? Was she as interested in Shannon as he was? Had she aimed the shower spray directly onto her pussy and let it tease her to orgasm?
How would it feel to pump his cock into Tanny’s pussy while Shannon pressed her breasts against his back and thrust into his ass? Come to think of it, it would probably feel a lot more natural than a woman wearing a strap-on cock trying to give him a new experience. Or would Tanny prefer to have Shannon take care of her ass while he handled her pussy and felt Shannon’s shemale sex rubbing against his larger male cock inside Tanny?
He pictured himself humping both of them, one after the other, and every nerve in his body centered on the friction of his hands slipping and sliding up and down his cock. His come spilled out in long splats against the shower curtain.
Fergus collapsed against the wet, tiled wall and shook his head to get rid of the ringing sound in his ears. Then he bent over and snagged the washcloth from where it lay on the floor of the tub.
That was one hell of fucking mess he’d left on the curtain. Talk about leaving incriminating evidence behind. Tanny would nail him to the wall if she found out he’d been jacking himself off in the shower. He was here to solve a series of brutal murders and bring a criminal to justice, not waste his skills and experience as a homicide detective by thinking and acting like a horny teenager with no self-control.
If Shannon became the next victim because he couldn’t keep his mind on his job, he’d kill himself rather than live with that shame. He and Tanny were the best detectives in the division. No way in hell was he going to ruin her career along with his just because they had to remain celibate for the duration of this investigation.
* * * * *
Shannon reset the views on her bedroom wallscreen. Staring at the exterior street views was a lot less tempting than watching Tannamae sitting in front of the mirror combing out her wet hair. As for Fergus, wisps of steam were trickling out from the bottom of the closed bathroom door. He was taking a very long time in there, most likely because he had to jack off just like she had when she took her shower.
Yep. Tonight was going to be another long one. Instead of torturing herself with the fact that she was going to spend the night with a hunky man and a beautiful woman who were here only because it was their job, maybe she should take a sleeping pill to knock herself out. Trying to push their buttons and annoy them with her sexual quips had backfired and made her hornier than ever.
Snow fell in fat flakes and had already piled up in thick drifts on the streets and sidewalks. Large and small droid plows and snowblowers whirred back and forth trying to keep up with Mother Nature’s latest onslaught.
A quick stab of her finger opened a link to the weather channel at the bottom of the screen. The latest prediction was eight to ten inches of snow by midnight. The City Air Patrol Squad had posted severe restrictions with heavy fines and citations for private aircar traffic. The only aircars allowed out between the hours of ten p.m. and eight a.m. were ambulances and other emergency vehicles.
“Where did you hide the controls for your hairdryer?” Tannamae’s soft-voiced question sent a tingle of carnal anticipation straight to Shannon’s groin.
Shannon turned around and managed a casual stroll across the room. It was probably safer to just tell her where the hairdryer was instead of moving closer, but she couldn’t stop herself. She rested her hand on Tannamae’s shoulder, then tapped at the buttons cleverly hidden within the roses carved around the mirror frame. “This one is for the hairdryer and styling droid, Ms. Jones. This one starts up the hair-dye droid. You can ask it to do a complete dye job, frosts, or just the tips of your hair. That one’s for the manicure droid. It has a full selection of styles and colors for your nails.”
Tannamae tilted her head back, patted Shannon’s hand on her shoulder, and smiled. With the arms and legs rolled up on the oversized pajamas, Tanny looked like a kid playing dress-up. But there was nothing childish about the tantalizing glimpse of her full breasts where the top gaped open. “Thank you. Call me Tanny, please. Every time you say Ms. Jones, I find myself looking around for my mom.”
Shannon’s knees wobbled under her. This wasn’t working at all. Tanny was turning the tables on her. She better snag another chair soon before she fell over and made a complete idiot of herself. “Sure.”
She carefully moved her hand and twisted a strand of Tanny’s soft hair around her finger. “You have lovely hair. It’s so thick and curly. Would you like to dye the tips with silver and gold glitter for the holidays?”
The bathroom door flew open. Shannon spun around in her chair with a guilty blush on her face. She snorted and bit back a laugh at the sight of Fergus stuffed into a pair of her pajamas. The arms and legs were way too short. Instead of hanging loose around Fergus’s hips, her pants outlined his crotch in explicit and damp detail. He’d also given up on trying to button the top. Dark hair furred his chest and ar
rowed down past his taut stomach.
And for a final touch, the holster, stun gun, force cuffs, and shield he carried in his hands added a very wicked flavor to his attire. Shannon grinned and refrained from making comments about bondage, in deference to Fergus’s embarrassed scowl.
His voice had a decidedly peeved tone to it. “While the two of you finish your discussion of hair colors, I’m going to grab a set of sweats from my gear. I can’t sleep in these things.”
This was true. Pajamas were supposed to be loose and comfortable, not tight and constricting. Of course, this didn’t stop her from admiring the delectable view of those light cotton pants clinging to the curves of his tight-muscled ass when he exited the room.
Chapter Four
His old pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt with its sleeves torn off felt way better than those tight pajamas. The only reason he’d even put them on was because the blasted house droids had snagged his discarded clothes in order to clean them. He should have hung his clothes on the wall hook instead of leaving them on the floor, but he hadn’t expected that kind of efficiency programmed into the housecleaning system. The only things the droids didn’t cart away were his weapon belt, stun gun, force cuffs, and badge.
It was either wear the pajamas or walk out with a towel draped around his hips like a porno model. Not that it made any difference. The damned things were so tight, they’d clung to him like a second skin. He might as well have strutted around stark naked with a bright red arrow flashing above his groin. At least the ones Tanny wore were loose enough to conceal her weapon belt.
Rated: X-mas Page 16
