He looked horrified, which made Emma want to laugh.
When the receptionist came to the door and called their names, they both stood. Emma took his hand in hers, making sure he didn't try to make a run for it. As they entered the office, they were greeted by a woman who smiled warmly.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Croft. Please have a seat and we can begin discussing why you’re here today. I see that from the forms you filled out, your husband has an addiction to pornography.”
Again, he was horrified.
“I just need to ask a few questions,” she stated, focusing on the man. “Do you find that you need to masturbate more and more while you surf the net?”
It was official. Greyson was three days past appalled that someone even asked him that question out loud, let alone in front of his wife. When he got her out of the office, he was going to make her pay.
When he didn't reply, she continued, “Do you find that you need to look at more and more violent images to have an orgasm? Or when you’re having sex with your wife, is it progressively getting rougher?”
Emma was so close to laughing as the woman continued talking. It was priceless how her husband had gone pale in color.
“Don’t be shy, Mr. Croft. You can tell me all about it. Now, what exactly gets you turned on?”
When he looked like he was about to bolt, Emma jumped in to rescue him. She pulled out her badge and slid it across the desk. “I’m sorry we had to lie to get in to see you, Doctor Russell, but it was urgent.”
She stared down at the badge, looking bewildered. “I don’t think I understand. You aren’t here for your husband’s addiction to internet porn?”
Croft took out his badge and also flashed it. “I’m not addicted to porn. I only have sex with my wife, and I’m not violent in bed, am I?” he stared right at her.
“No, babe, you’re not,” Emma reassured.
“The FBI and a detective? What’s going on?” Now, she was more than curious.
“We have some questions to ask you about two women who had appointments with you,” Emma began.
“I’m sorry, Detective, but you wasted your time. I can’t discuss my patients unless you have a warrant.”
It was Greyson’s turn. “The women we’re here to discuss are deceased, and that takes care of doctor patient confidentiality. In fact, they were murdered.” He waited for the woman to put up a fight.
“Oh, that’s horrible. Absolutely, I’ll assist you with anything I can. Who are they? I’ll get their files right away.”
Emma read off their names and watched the doctor for some response.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t recall the faces. I need to see the files first, and then I’m sure I’ll recognize them. I see a lot of young women in my office. You’d be amazed at the different afflictions that people can have.”
Watching the woman head to her file cabinet, Croft took the time to scan the room. On the wall was a diploma from Harvard. “How long have you been in practice, Doctor?” he inquired.
She paused to think about it. “I’ve had this office for three years. Before that I was in medical school. I’m relatively new in the field. I think that’s why I’m so popular with the female patients. People feel more comfortable telling their problems to the same sex.”
Greyson couldn’t imagine that anyone would be comfortable discussing their sex life with a stranger, especially a man. Maybe he was just born in the wrong decade, but a man didn't blab about shit like this. He was all about football, bourbon, and a cigar when his wife wasn’t around. Not sitting on a couch and talking about his feelings with a doctor.
Emma stared at the woman in front of her. She was definitely pretty. Doctor Russell had her sandy brown hair pulled back in a bun and it made her look like a true psychiatric professional. “We appreciate your help,” she added as the woman took a seat.
“It’s not a problem,” she answered, opening the files. “I remember Valerie Weist now. That poor girl. She was battling an eating disorder for so long. We were on the cusp of a breakthrough too.” She flipped through the notes. “In her last session, we tried hypnosis, and Valerie spoke of her sexual relationship with a male figure in her life. I believe it was someone she worked with,” the doctor added.
“How do you know?” Emma questioned, curiously.
“Under hypnosis, she confided that if it wasn’t for the paycheck, she’d stay away from him.”
“Can you check the other file?” Croft asked, making notes on his tablet.
“Certainly.” The woman flipped through the pages. “I only had one appointment with Tiffany Frankel. So, I don’t have all the details. She was scheduled to return a week from today.”
Emma nodded. “Yes, we found her card. What can you tell us?”
The file was relatively thin. “I can only tell you what she opened up about in the first appointment.”
Croft nodded. “We’ll take whatever you have, Doctor Russell.”
The woman leaned back in her chair. “She mentioned the need for a great deal of sexual contact.”
It confirmed what they already knew. “So, she was a sex addict?”
The woman nodded. “She admitted to randomly picking up men to fill her needs. Sex is a powerful thing, especially when you’re under the compulsion.”
Croft simply stared at her.
“You doubt what I say, Director?” she asked curiously.
“I’m not disagreeing with you, Doctor,” came his reply. “I just think it’s not something people should talk about with strangers.”
“Does discussing your sex life make you uneasy?”
“Yes.”
The woman placed her glasses on the desk. “I can tell a lot about a person by their intimacies.”
He didn't look like he was buying it. “I have a perfectly normal sex life.”
Emma started laughing, until the attention was directed at her. “What?” she asked as they both stared at her.
“How would you classify your sex life, Detective?” she inquired.
Glancing over at her husband, she noticed he had lifted his brow, waiting for her answer. “It’s perfect.”
The woman steepled her fingers and mulled something over before speaking. “He’s the dominant personality in the relationship and possibly in bed too. You looked over at him as if you were seeking acceptance before you answered. You want to please him.”
She didn't know what to say. The woman wasn’t wrong.
“Then there’s you, Director. You are a man’s man. When you came in here, you were clutching her hand as if you were holding her to you- almost like a possession.”
“I don’t own my wife.” That was a big, fat, caveman lie if he ever heard one before. Emma was all his, and he wasn’t rationalizing his feelings. He found her, caught her, and married her- thus she was all his.
The doctor laughed. “Not in the way you’re thinking, but you believe men are men and women are not. Is that a little bit better?”
Ahhhh, this was a slippery slope. “I am a man, and she isn’t. That’s a fact.” If he was stuck in another decade, that was their business and no one else’s.
Emma took his hand in hers and offered him reassurance.
“Maybe we should discuss why we’re here. Not my potential inadequacies.” Croft pulled up the first victim’s name. “We also had a third woman, but aren’t sure she came to see you. Would mind checking your files?”
There was the briefest of hesitation, and neither Emma nor Greyson missed it.
“Is she deceased also?”
“Yes,” Emma replied.
The hesitation was gone. “I’ll be more than happy to check for you then. What was her name?”
“Sara Jensen.”
The doctor went to the drawer marked ‘J’ and moved through the files. “I don’t seem to have that name. Let me look under ‘S’. Maybe it has been misfiled. I don’t believe she’s a patient of mine,” the woman stated as she looked in the other cabinet further down
.
“Thank you for checking,” Croft added. So much for that long shot, and now, they needed to escape this loony bin.
“Can we get copies of the files to take with us, Doctor?”
The woman nodded. “I’ll get them for you. Give me a minute.”
When she was gone, Emma leaned over to her husband. “Don’t let what she said bother you.”
It was like she read his mind.
“Are you happy with our sex life, Emma? Am I too domineering and controlling?” Now, he was concerned he was making her unhappy. “The last thing I want to do is suffocate you.”
She ran her fingers down his cheek. “I’m completely happy. I love the man you are. If you weren’t bossy and this way, we wouldn’t work the way we do. I enjoy that you’re dominant in bed. Not many men would think to google sex positions to spice it up. Don’t listen to the quack. She doesn’t know the man you really are inside.”
He hoped she was being honest.
“It was a good try asking about the first victim,” she added, hoping to distract him. If he didn't ask, she was planning on it herself.
“Yeah, I love when I can beat my wife to the punch,” he answered, taking her hand in his and kissing the top of her knuckles, across their wedding ring. His heart melted that she was trying to protect his ego.
The woman returned to the room, smiling. “Newlyweds?” Doctor Russell inquired, taking her seat.
“Yes,” Emma replied, hopelessly in love with her husband.
“I hope what I said before didn't upset either of you. I’m just used to making fast character assessments on the fly.”
He didn't say anything and only stared at her. Yeah, it was hard to believe people came to doctors to discuss things like this. Croft focused back on the dead women, unwilling to dignify her words with a response. “What was the prognosis of the two patients you were seeing?”
“With Valerie, she’d been fighting the disease for so long that it wasn’t good, I’m afraid. Already her hair was falling out in clumps, and she was tired all the time. It was making it hard to do her job.”
“And Tiffany?”
The doctor shrugged. “With intense therapy, and a new career, she could have pulled through, but when you’re in a show that deals with sexual topics, how do you not dwell on it? It would be akin to having a bartender who is an alcoholic. How do you go to work every day and not drink? Tiffany was surrounded by sex at work, so of course she was going to feel the need to have more of it.”
“Did you suggest quitting to either woman?” Croft asked.
“Yes, both and they had the same answer.”
Emma was intrigued. “Which was?”
Doctor Russell sighed. “The money was too good, and that they’d rather die first.”
Friday noon
He made sure they arrived at the bistro early. He wanted a few minutes alone with her to talk. The entire morning they’d been working on background information on Harrison Tyler in dead silence.
It was more than uncomfortable.
It was downright painful.
As they sat down and ordered iced tea, he stared over at her. “I’m sorry,” he finally said.
She was taken aback. “What for?” The guilt was building in her that he was apologizing for absolutely nothing when she knew it should be her. She had specifically told him no messing around while on a case, and she went and did it herself.
Talk about hypocrisy.
“The other day when the lab tech came in, I saw you smiling at him, and it set me off. I don’t think I’m a possessive person, but for some reason I wanted to beat him to death.”
Oh hell. When he found out the truth, it was only going to get worse.
“I’m tense and edgy, because I generally just hop into bed and call it a night. With you, I want to do that but I don’t. I want to treat you the way you deserve,” he said, honestly. It was going to make her want him or run screaming in horror, but he’d take his chances.
“I see.”
“I don’t know if we’re even compatible, but I want the chance to find out.”
Brynn was feeling sick to her stomach, and she was hoping it was because of the booze and not the sleazy one-night stand she had with a lab tech behind his back. Curtis Briggs may be young, but he was obviously a gentleman.
Why didn't she listen to her own gut?
“Just having to watch you with that asshole made me absolutely crazy. I kept imagining his lecherous grin as he tried to get into your pants. I’m sorry but it set me off.”
She swallowed some tea, trying not to choke on it. “It’s okay.” Yeah, Max got into her pants all right, and her bed.
“I don’t own you, but I want to try and start a real relationship together. That’s why I’m being upfront and honest.”
Damn. Damn. Damn.
Brynn was getting sicker by the minute.
“Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale today,” he asked, staring into her eyes.
She nodded. The last thing she needed was to compound lies on top of what she did. “What if we don’t work?” Brynn asked, feeling giddy and scared at the same time. No man had ever been this open with her and honestly. She liked Curtis and genuinely enjoyed being near him.
“Then, it doesn’t, but I’m not a big fan of the one night stand. I know now what it causes. I just wanted to be truthful and start off on the right foot by telling you how I was feeling.”
“I appreciate your honesty.” What the hell had she done? Once this big ugly cat was out of the bag, he wouldn’t want to even speak to her.
Well shit.
“I need to tell you something,” Brynn said, finally building up the courage.
“Okay,” he answered, staring into her eyes.
Just at that moment, they were interrupted.
“Hello you two,” Emma said, taking a seat beside her husband’s partner.
“Later,” Brynn said, letting it go. Now definitely wasn’t the time.
Briggs shrugged as he focused on Emma and Greyson Croft. Both were smiling and looked relaxed. That meant on thing. “You two kissed and made up,” he tossed out there, snickering.
Croft gave him a look, warning him to tread lightly.
“We did,” Emma answered. “I hear you helped him find me.”
The man didn't answer. “That depends. Are you happy I did it or mad as hell?”
She laughed as she leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Curtis,” she said, patting him on the arm. “I appreciate you taking care of the caveman in my absence.”
The young man smiled. “No problem, Mom. I’m glad you and dad worked it out.”
Brynn watched it all unfold, unsure what to say.
Croft timed it just right, waiting for the man to pick up his drink. “Did you pillage my wife’s panty drawer while we were at the hotel?”
Emma started laughing.
Curtis choked.
Brynn slapped him on the back as she curiously stared at the three of them.
And Greyson Croft simply leaned back grinning smugly.
“What?” Briggs finally got out, as his eyes burned from the tea going into his lungs. “Why would you even ask that? I think you’ve lost your mind.”
He leaned over and kissed his wife. “I guess you were wrong.”
The man didn't want to know. “I broke rules yes, but definitely not that one!”
Emma was entertained. “Pizza, huh?”
“Yeah, and I used your Jacuzzi tub, but that’s it,” he swore, vehemently. “I even ate the remaining pizza this morning, so not to torment him,” he said, pointing at his boss.
“I had bacon this morning,” he admitted proudly. Forget the mind-blowing sex with his delicious wife. He was still celebrating the food. Curtis didn't need to hear about the other details.
When the man stared at him doubtfully, Emma spoke up, “He did, and an omelet with cheese, toast with butter and waffles.”
He opened his mouth to
comment on the previous night’s festivities, and how spectacular they had to be if Emma was willing to let all of that cholesterol into his body.
“Don’t even go there. I know you and your mind is going right to sex.”
Emma giggled as the waitress approached.
Ordering, Brynn picked something ‘carb-y’ to soak up the booze still sloshing in her stomach.
Briggs picked a burger and slyly grinned at his boss to mock him. He may have had breakfast, but this round was his.
Emma ordered a salad with salmon and couldn’t help but notice the glance between Briggs and her husband. Whenever the man taunted Greyson, she wanted to level the playing field.
Before her husband could order, she had questions for the waitress. “Is the ground beef lean?”
“Yes, ma’am. The owner grinds it daily, and it’s from organically fed cows.”
Greyson watched his wife cautiously. Certainly, she couldn’t be letting him have lunch his way too.
“Go ahead, babe.”
SCORE!
“Give me a double cheeseburger with bacon,” he paused to glance over at his wife. “And I’ll have it all on a whole grain bun with a salad on the side and fat free dressing.”
The waitress walked away, and he kissed her. It spoke volumes of his food happiness.
Briggs cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah, you have a girl protecting you. Rub it in,” he said, knowing she only let him have it because he was busting his ass.
“Remember that, Curtis,” Emma said, running her thumb across Greyson’s lower lip. “Swimming tonight to burn off that fat,” she added.
He nodded more than willing to comply.
Briggs laughed. “Now, she’s making you work out? That’s priceless.”
The man wasn’t going to let his partner off that easily. “Guess what she wears swimming, Curtis? It’s the tiniest bikini on the face of the earth, so hell yeah, she can force me to swim with her.”
Even Brynn laughed at the look on the agent’s face.
“Okay, you two. Let’s talk work. You can ride each other’s egos later,” Emma retorted, getting them to focus.
Brynn started. “How was the therapist?”
Vegas is Dying (A Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 2) Page 25
