Silver Shield Security Box Set

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to taste you.”

  At his words, she felt her core get drenched. She was so turned on, she thought she would die if he did not do what he promised. She lay back and closed her eyes. She moaned when she felt him make contact. Before long, she was screaming with orgasm after orgasm as he used his tongue and lips to pleasure her.

  When she finally came down from the third orgasm, he lifted his head and moved till he could look directly into her eyes, then he kissed her. Hope tasted herself on him and it was the most erotic encounter she’d ever had.

  Her body went lax as she drifted off. She felt so good. She tried to open her eyes to let him know how good she felt, but the stress of the day had caught up with her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Rusty sat beside Hope and watched her sleep. He had carried her to her room earlier after tugging back her yoga pants. She’d been so cute murmuring in her sleep and batting his hands away. As he watched, she sighed and turned on her side, muttering his name. He knew she would be appalled if she knew he was watching her sleep, but he could not stop looking at her. She looked defenseless in her sleep. He was still reeling from what she’d told him about her experience.

  Remembering her ordeal, he clenched his fist in anger. If the bastard who had raped a child continually was not already dead, he would have hunted him down and killed him himself. He stared at the sleeping woman. She was much stronger than she knew. How she could survive all she did and still turn out a well-adjusted, productive person was beyond him.

  He leaned forward and gently kissed her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him.

  “Rusty?”

  He brushed her hair back. “Go to sleep, baby.”

  She shut her eyes with a sigh and was fast asleep. After a few minutes, Rusty got to his feet. Turning off the light, he let himself out of her room. The first thing he was going to do once he got to his room was take a cold shower. He was still hard from making out with Hope. The woman was so hot, it was incredible.

  After the cold shower, he sat in front of his computer and got to work. As he tapped, he placed a call to Emily. She picked on the first ring.

  “What’s up?”

  “I’m thinking… do you know what happened to the Shipman family?”

  “You mean the family that fostered Hope?”

  “Yeah, that one.”

  “I don’t know…We’ll probably have to check the records.”

  “I’m on it now.” He tapped rapidly as he spoke.

  Thankfully the records from two decades ago had all been digitized and since he knew the year and the name of the family, it was not hard to find out the details of what had taken place on November twenty-ninth of that year.

  “What’s going through your mind?” Emily asked.

  “This whole case looks like a revenge mission and since there was reference to that date, I’m thinking that it might have something to do with the remaining members of Shipman’s family.”

  “That makes a lot of sense,” Emily said after a pause. “If the man died, they would most likely blame it on Hope. What do you have there?”

  He looked at the records on his screen. “Well, Robert Shipman was survived by a wife and a daughter. Marinette and Sandy Shipman. The daughter was seven years old when the man died.”

  “So it’s possible that Sandy Shipman might have something to do with all that’s been going on?”

  “It’s worth considering.”

  “Get all the info you can on her and get back to me.”

  “Roger that.”

  He ended the call and got to work. By the time he was done, he would have everything on Sandy Shipman, including what she ate for breakfast.

  He worked through the night, sometimes going down several rabbit holes. He finally leaned back on his chair around four am., a satisfied smile on his face. He had hit pay dirt. He printed out all the information he had, placed the printouts into a plastic file and then got up. He stretched then hit the bed for a quick shut eye.

  Before he fell asleep, he made a promise to himself to find whoever was trying to destroy Hope’s life and bring that person to justice. This time, it was personal.

  He was up by six that morning and got ready for his daily run. He was surprised to find Hope dressed in running gear.

  “Don’t tell me you’re going running as well,” he said with a teasing smile.

  She sniffed and turned her nose up at him. “I do run. Sometimes. Like once or twice a month.”

  Rusty laughed. “Alright, come on then. Let’s get your monthly run out of the way.”

  Hope gave him a reproachful look, then smiled. He could not help smiling back at her. He hoped she would still be speaking to him when they got back.

  They got back almost an hour later. Hope sank on the stoop by her doorstep breathing hard.

  “C’mon, sweetheart, you need to do some stretches or you’re going to be sore.”

  She gave him an evil eye as she tried to catch her breath. “I…hate…you!” she gasped out.

  “Yeah, but you still need to stretch,” he said, laughing. “I’m serious, Hope.”

  “Oh god,” she groaned as she got to her feet.

  He took her through some stretches. She moaned and bitched the entire time, but she did everything he asked of her.

  “I’m proud of you,” he said, throwing an arm around her shoulder once they were done.

  “I’m still not speaking to you,” she said, but she left his arm there and walked with him into the house.

  As she turned towards the stairs, he called her name. She turned back to look at him.

  “Do you think you can take the day off today?”

  “Are you crazy! You know how crazy things are at the office right now…”

  “I know.” He took a step towards her. “But I spent most of the night digging and came up with some stuff that I think we need to check out.”

  She went still. “Is this about who’s hacking my servers?”

  He nodded.

  She turned around and walked to the phone that was sitting on a coffee table. She punched in some numbers and waited.

  “Hi Derek, I’ll be out of office today. Don’t call me unless it’s absolutely necessary…What? No, I’m fine. Just need to sort out some stuff…Yeah, talk to you later.” She placed the receiver down and looked up at Rusty. “What now?”

  “Can we work on your dining table?” He hadn’t seen her use it once since he came.

  “Yeah, sure,” she said with a shrug.

  “Okay then. Let’s meet back here in thirty minutes to an hour?”

  “Works for me.” She turned to leave then paused. “Thank you for last night.”

  He noticed the color was high on her face. He’d wondered if she was going to mention it or if she planned on acting like the night before had not happened. He took a few steps towards her, closing the distance between them.

  “Last night was totally my pleasure,” he said sincerely.

  She raised her gaze to his. “But you didn’t…I mean, you were…”

  He placed a finger over her mouth. “Giving you pleasure, watching you come…that was the sexiest thing ever, Hope. And believe me, it was my pleasure.”

  She held his gaze for a moment, then her eyes softened. He felt her smile. She pushed his hand away gently, then went on tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth. Before he could respond, she had taken a step away. She turned and walked up the stairs. She’d taken a few steps when she paused and looked at him.

  “I’ve been thinking Rusty. I think I’m ready to explore this thing between us.”

  And then she was gone.

  Rusty stood there staring after her. Had she just said what he thought she said? He felt a wave of joy crash over him.

  “Yes!” he mouthed, pumping his fist in the air.

  **

  Much later, they sat at the dining table. Rusty had a stack of printouts while Hope
was munching on an apple, with a cup of yogurt beside her. After the run she’d had that morning, she did not want to ruin it by eating up the calories she’d lost.

  “Do you know anything about Robert Shipman’s family?”

  Hope had just lifted a spoon of yogurt to her mouth. She dropped the spoon back into the cup, suddenly losing appetite.

  “There was Mrs. Shipman and their little girl…Shirley? No…Sarah?”

  “Sandy.”

  “Yeah, Sandy. She was this sweet little thing. I wonder what happened to her.” She hadn’t thought about Bob Shipman’s family in years. “She wanted to share her room with me, but her dad wouldn’t hear of it, for obvious reasons.”

  Rusty ruffled through some papers and held out a picture. He passed it on to her. It had the picture of a young woman, maybe in her early twenties. She had large brown eyes and blonde hair that was in a pixie cut very similar to the way Hope’s hair was cut.

  “Who is this?”

  “That is Sandy Shipman. She graduated on the Honors list from University of Chicago. Computer Science. She works as a freelance web developer.”

  Hope studied the woman in the picture. There was something familiar about the woman, but she could not place it. Had she seen her somewhere before? Maybe in one of the tech cons or something? It was hard to tell.

  “Do you think…?” She kept her gaze on the picture. She did not look like someone who was out to sabotage someone else’s life. “Could she be…?” It was hard to comprehend another person going all out to ruin someone else.

  “I’m not sure, but I think she may know something about the hacking. And everything else.”

  Hope gently placed the picture back on the table. She looked up to find Rusty watching her with concern. She tried to smile but failed. She felt distressed. She’d gone through hell living with the Shipmans and afterward, it had taken her years to get over the trauma. She had finally moved on and built a life for herself, and now the same people wanted to snatch it all away from her. Well, she was not going to go down without a fight.

  She placed her hand on the table and brought her fingers together, thumb to thumb, index finger to index finger, until all her fingers were pressed against the others. Over the steeple of her fingers, she sent Rusty a determined gaze.

  “What’s the plan?”

  Admiration lit up Rusty’s eyes and seeing that, she felt a little better. He nodded once then looked back at the papers spread out before him.

  “I have her address here. I say we pay her a visit,” he said.

  Hope thought about it. “Do you think it would make any difference?”

  “Well, we might be able to reach her, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll be able to plant a few bugs in her apartment. That way we can keep track of her activities, to some extent.”

  “Okay. Let’s do this,” she said, placing her hands palm down on the table.

  If there was even a chance that they could end this here and now, that very day, she was all over it like a rash. This was not just about her anymore. She had employees who were counting on her to make sure they would still have a job when they turned up the next day.

  Rusty placed a hand on one of hers. “Are you okay?” he asked when she turned her gaze to his.

  Was she okay? It was a hard question to answer. She wished she did not have to face anything like this, but that was her life. She’d struggled for almost everything she had, but she could not deny that she had been blessed in so many ways. She could have remained on the streets, probably dead or on drugs if Jared had not rescued her. She could have been struggling on a deadbeat, minimum wage job that she hated. But she was self-employed and solvent and it was something to be thankful for.

  “I’ll be okay,” she said truthfully.

  “We’ll get through this together.”

  “Why, because it’s your job?” Even as the words left her mouth, she wanted to call them back. She bit her lips and looked and tried to pull her hand away, but he held tight.

  “I get why you would think that,” he said calmly. “Yes, it’s my job. But even if it wasn’t, you are my girl and I will be here for you.”

  His words set a thrill in the pit of her stomach, even as a thread of fear went through her. She did not depend on people for a very good reason. He was here now, but what of tomorrow, or the day after? What if she got used to relying on him and then he just left?

  Some of her thoughts must have shown on her face because he reached out and trailed the back of his hand down the side of her face. Her lashes came down as she felt the tenderness of his touch right down to her toes.

  “Let’s take it one day at a time, okay?”

  She nodded slowly. One day at a time. Okay, she could do that.

  “Great, now finish up your yogurt let’s go pay a visit to Miss Shipman.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” Hope said with a frown.

  “What, I should not tell you to finish up your yogurt? You need to eat something; we might have a long day,” he said, getting to his feet.

  “You are not the boss of me, Rosabelle.” If they were going to make this work, he needed to understand that ordering her around was a total no-no. It was not a deal breaker, but it could be.

  “I only asked you to eat something.”

  “I have been taking care of myself all this while. If I need to eat something, I’ll do so. You don’t need to tell me what to do.”

  “Jesus!” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “You are stubborn; do you know that?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you rethinking this?”

  He snorted, “You would like that, wouldn’t you? But now that you’ve finally agreed to date me, there’s no way I’m letting you back out.”

  She blinked once, twice. “Is that what we’re doing…dating?” she asked.

  Rusty reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Damn straight, Conran. That’s what we’re doing,” he said, holding her gaze.

  Hope did not know what to say. She felt vulnerable as she stared at him. She had never dated anyone before. Sure, she had affairs and one-night stands, but she had never had a boyfriend, ever. How did she feel about that?

  “I like that,” she said softly. “I like it a lot.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Hope took a sip from the steaming hot cup of mocha that they’d picked up minutes ago. They were driving towards Avondale, which was where Sandy Shipman’s apartment was located.

  “I can’t believe you made us stop for that,” Rusty said, waving at the cup.

  Hope took another sip and sighed as the heat warmed her insides. “Stop grousing already. It’s not like we have an appointment we need to keep.”

  “Yeah, but we are on a mission and we need to focus on that.”

  “Yes, sir! Roger, sir!” She threw a mock salute at him before taking another sip from the cup. Next she placed it in the cup holder between their seats.

  “You’re impossible,” he muttered.

  “I know, right?” She gave him a bright smile before lowering her head to look at the address on the paper she was holding. She glanced up and pointed. “There. That’s the street.”

  Ace turned into the street and came to a halt in front of a row of houses.

  “That’s the number we’re looking for. Hers is the top apartment.”

  They got out of the vehicle and walked to the house. It was a house that was nestled between two larger houses. There was a small yard in front of the house and at one time, it must have been a single home. The top floor was now a separate apartment from the lower floor, with steps leading up to the entrance of the top floor apartment.

  “Guess we’d better go up,” Hope said, eyeing the shabby steps and wondering if they would hold up under their weight.

  “I’ll go first,” Rusty said, walking ahead.

  She had no argument there, so she followed him, stepping carefully on the wooden steps. They got to the door and pressed the doorbell. They
waited a beat and then Rusty pressed the doorbell once more.

  “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Hope observed.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do we come back another day?”

  “I’d say we wait. She can’t be gone for too long.”

  Hope sighed. She was not looking forward to the encounter, but she knew it was something that had to be done.

  “Fine. Let’s wait in the car,” she said, turning around and gingerly climbing down the steps.

  Back in the car, Hope glanced around, taking in their surroundings. It was a nice neighborhood, not very expensive but safe and decent. There weren’t a lot of cars parked by the curb, though, and that made her slightly uncomfortable. They had parked a few houses away from Sandy Shipman’s apartment, but they still had a good view of the building.

  “I hope no one calls the cops on us,” she said.

  “Why would anyone want to do that?” Rusty asked, reaching for her cup of mocha. He put it to his mouth and drank most of it.

  “Hey! That’s mine.”

  “Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.

  “Humph…We kinda stick out like a sore thumb,” she said, going back to their discussion.

  “Hopefully, we won’t be here much longer.”

  “Yeah, hopefully.” She had never been on a stakeout before, but this was beginning to feel like one. “How were you able to track down the Shipman girl? You got a lot of info really quickly.”

  “I accessed your records at child welfare services,” he said with a shrug.

  Hope went still. It was almost as though someone had poured ice water down her spine.

  “You what?”

  “I needed a lead and that seemed like the best place to start.”

  She brought a hand to her forehead as she turned her shocked gaze at him. “You mean to tell me that you read all my records? You went through my records at the child welfare services?”

  “Yeah, what’s the big deal?” He looked confused.

  “What’s the big…it was an invasion of privacy. My privacy! You had no right, Rusty!” Her head was beginning to pound as she struggled to speak over her feelings of outrage. How could he do that to her? He had not only invaded her privacy he had also broken her trust.