Treachery Rising (MidKnight Blue Book 4)

by Sherryl Hancock

  Randy bent down and kissed him on the cheek softly. His eyes opened instantly. He reached up, taking her hand and pulling her down on the lounge chair with him. Randy laughed quietly as she snuggled close to him, enjoying his familiar playful side. They lay together, Randy turning so that she could rest her head on his shoulder as they both looked out over the ocean.

  After an hour or so, Joe whispered to her that he thought they should move to where they’d be more comfortable, since they were both falling asleep. Randy stood up, holding Joe’s hand and tugging him to his feet. She led him inside and down the hall to the bedroom. Joe lay on the bed and pulled her down with him. Randy turned on her side, her back to him, and his arms wound around her protectively. They fell asleep.

  A few hours later, the phone rang, and Joe reached over sleepily to answer it.

  “’Lo” he said, his accent thick from sleep.

  “Joe?” came a familiar voice.

  “Jess! Hey, how’re you?”

  “More importantly,” Jessica said, her usual humor intact, “how’s the lieutenant?”

  “Better,” Joe said, smiling. Randy was awake, and she turned over, watching him. Joe didn’t notice her eyes on him; he was lying on his back, his arm still under Randy’s neck, his hand shifting to hold her tight against his side. She watched as her husband talked to “Jess”; she wasn’t jealous—she was curious—but she found herself looking at Joe as she had that morning, as if she were just falling in love with him all over again.

  “Everyone was asking about you. They were wondering if you’re coming back.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Joe said, looking remorseful. “I just don’t know at this point.”

  “Well, everyone at the academy voted, and they don’t want to graduate till you come back and finish teaching them.” Jessica sounded sincere.

  Joe laughed, closing his eyes. “Great. It’ll be full summer by the time I can come back, and they want me to teach at an outdoor range. Don’t it get to about a hundred there?” His eyes were twinkling as he said it, and Randy could tell he was trying to bait the person on the other end of the line.

  “I’ll personally find you a nice indoor range, Sergeant Sinclair,” Jessica said, sounding very official.

  “I see.” Joe grinned. “Sounds to me like the class ain’t the only ones voting to get me back there.” There was no vanity in his statement, only pleasure at having been appreciated that much.

  “Well, that’s true enough,” Jessica said seriously. “Remember you promised to get me back out on the street…” She trailed off, hoping she didn’t sound like she thought that him being there for Midnight was less important than a dumb little promise.

  “I remember full well, young lady,” Joe said sternly, with a hint of humor. “I will tell you what, though. How ’bout you come down here. I can get you ready for real streets, not those tame Sacramento streets.”

  “Are you offering me a job, Sergeant?” she asked, surprised.

  “Maybe in the long run,” Joe said, making no commitments. It was Midnight’s unit, after all. “But I would like to help you get your nerve back.”

  Jessica laughed. “Yeah, me and my whole family, right? Maybe I should bring Gary—he sure misses Midnight.”

  Joe laughed with her. “I’ll bet.”

  Jessica became quiet for a moment. “Joe,” she said, much more seriously now, “how are things going with you?”

  Joe knew what she was talking about, and he nodded. He glanced down at Randy and saw that she was watching him. Randy smiled, and he smiled back. “Much better,” he told Jessica, his eyes on Randy’s.

  “Really?” Jessica remembered the state he had been in just a week before.

  “Yes, really, Jess.”

  “So Randy and you?” Jessica said, making what she figured was a natural assumption.

  Joe grinned again. “Yes, Detective.”

  “Oh, stop!” Jessica said, then her voice grew serious again. “I’m glad, Joe. Really.”

  “Thanks, Jess.” Joe smiled warmly, and Jessica could almost feel it over four hundred miles away.

  “I just might take you up on the offer to come down though,” she said.

  “Tell me when and I’ll pick you up. You can stay at my place, so it won’t be a major money drain.”

  “Won’t that be inconvenient for you two?” Jessica asked, not wanting to impose.

  “No, it won’t. We’ll take good care of you. Hell, I don’t think your dad would let you come down if he thought you’d be staying in some hotel.”

  “Well, that’s true enough, being that you are my lifesaver and all.”

  “God, don’t start that shit again,” Joe said, chagrined.

  “It’s true, Joe, and you know it.”

  “It’s not, and I don’t,” he replied stubbornly.

  “You are hopeless,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. “I just hope Randy knows what a great guy she’s got.” Her tone was earnest, and Joe couldn’t help but smile.

  “Well, if she doesn’t, I’m sure you can set her straight when you get here.” He spoke lightly, but Jessica didn’t care. She had every intention of doing just that if the need arose. Randy Sinclair was a damn lucky lady, and Jessica found herself wishing once again that Joe had a brother.

  “Damn straight,” she said. “Call me when you know how you want to handle the academy.”

  “I will. And you call me when you decide to come out.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  “Bye, Jess,” Joe said, laughing again.

  Joe looked at Randy as he reached across her to hang up the phone, and realized how closely she had been watching. “What?”

  A slow smile spread across Randy’s face as she shook her head. “I just…” she started to say, but stopped.

  “Just what?”

  “I just can’t get over you again.” She almost felt like the shy schoolgirl she had been with him years before.

  “Over me?” he said, confused.

  “I find myself watching you and feeling like everything is new again.”

  “Interesting,” Joe said, his grin mischievous. He touched her arm, stroking it thoughtfully. Randy watched as the expression on his face changed.

  “What?” she said.

  Joe grinned as his eyes met hers, and he leaned down and kissed her. When their lips parted, he looked into her eyes again. His hand brushed down her arm, moving to her waist. His eyes trailed down after his hand, as if he were examining the places he had just touched. He moved his hand down her thigh, then bent her leg at the knee to bring it up over his legs and ran his hand along her calf. Randy shivered at the sensations. It had been so long since they had been together—too long. Joe looked up into her eyes again, as if he were searching for something.

  “What?” Randy said again, this time longing coloring her voice.

  Joe heard it and grinned seductively at her. Randy suspected he had full knowledge of how he was affecting her, but she was enjoying it.

  “You’re different,” Joe said finally.

  “Different how?” Randy asked, her voice a husky whisper.

  “Stronger, leaner.” Joe made the words sound sexy somehow.

  Randy nodded at him, and he leaned down to kiss her again. This time there was almost an electric charge between them, and Randy felt his hand moved to her shirt. As they kissed, she could feel him undoing the buttons. Her body was shaking from the anticipation. It was obvious Joe was enjoying his effect on her. She had no idea how hard he was fighting to keep control over his own body, but he was much better at hiding it than she was.

  When he had finished unbuttoning her shirt, Randy sat up and pulled it off. She wore no bra. Her eyes never left Joe’s as she discarded the shirt. Before she could lie down, he reached over and pulled at the button to her jeans, undoing it. Taking the suggestion, Randy stood and removed her jeans as well. Joe took her hand and pulled her back to the bed. Randy’s entire body began to shake as his hands slid seductively down
her arms and hips again. He took her leg again, to bring it over his own. He had made no move yet to remove his clothes. Randy didn’t want to think; she just wanted to revel in the feel of his hands.

  After a few minutes, he moved her to her back and leaned over her, kissing her passionately. Her hands entwined in his hair, but after a few moments he reached up and gently removed them, holding them in his own, as if telling her this was his seduction, not hers. She smiled, kissing him back and not caring what he did at this point, as long as he continued to touch her. But as her body began to demand more, Randy moved to push him back, to lean over him. Joe surprised her by taking her by the waist and pulling her over to straddle him.

  She was surprised to realize that he had somehow managed to remove her underwear—in her frustration she hadn’t even noticed. Randy looked down into his eyes and shuddered at the expression there. He was looking at her body appreciatively, as if admiring an expensive piece of art. His hands traced the line of her body from her shoulders down her arms, then slipped from her hands to her waist and up the sides of her breasts, then back down to slide along her legs, which straddled his waist. His eyes never left hers, and Randy was sure she would explode soon—her body was shaking with the barely contained passion.

  Joe sat up, moving her body with his. He put his lips to her bare shoulder, kissing it gently. He continued to kiss her until his lips finally, exquisitely came to rest just between her breasts. He hadn’t touched her breasts up until this point, and Randy thought she’d die with the anticipation. Her hands moved to his head, holding him against her as her body seemed to come alight with a fire from within. She had never experienced such slow-burning heat before. Her body trembled and shook. Joe’s hands moved over her bare back as he finally kissed her breasts. His hands tightened on her skin as she cried out, her body convulsing against him. Randy felt like she had just exploded into a million pieces as she grasped Joe’s hair in her hands, holding his head to her, as if letting go meant the incredible sensations she was feeling would stop.

  Minutes later, Joe rested the side of his face against her chest. Randy stroked his hair. She could feel his breath warm against her skin, and she reveled in the sensations still coursing through her body. She understood that Joe hadn’t made love to her because of what he had told her the day before. It had been his way of telling her that he wanted to, but that he couldn’t until he knew what Midnight expected from him. In a way, Randy felt more pride in his dedication to a promise he had made, even if that promise kept them from being as close as they could be. She steered her thoughts away from the situation, not wanting to overthink what had just happened.

  Joe lay back a while later, pulling her down with him so that she lay over his body, her head resting on his shoulder and her lips next to his jaw. She looked up at him and saw that he was watching her. A slow grin started on his face, and Randy grinned back.

  “That was…” Randy started to say, her voice still showing the effects of the experience. She shook her head, not able to put it into words.

  “I love you,” Joe said, as if trying to make up for the fact that they hadn’t actually made love. His voice was deep with emotion.

  “I know.” In her way, Randy was telling him that it was okay, that she understood. “I owe you though,” she said, her voice taking on a new edge, and Joe was surprised by her brashness. In the three years they’d been married, they had always had good love-making, but mostly because they were so much in love. It was always tender and sweet, rarely bordering on the hot and heavy type of sex that Joe was used to with other women. He had never missed it, but now, with Randy’s comment, he found himself looking forward to the payback. He clamped down on the thought that she had acquired this new way of being from Dickerson, but he didn’t do it quickly enough and Randy saw the change in his expression. She sat up, eyeing him.

  Joe began to shake his head, his expression indicating that he did not want to have this conversation.

  “Joe,” Randy said, her voice soft but strong. “We need to talk about this sometime.”

  “Not now, Randy, please.” His own voice was very soft, his eyes pained.

  Randy reached over and picked her shirt up off the floor. She shrugged into it and did up a couple of the buttons. She looked at him, shaking her head.

  “If we don’t talk about it, Joe, we can’t get past it.”

  Joe knew she was right, but he wasn’t sure he could handle talking about her and Dickerson. She could tell by the look in his eyes that she had inflicted a lot of pain on him with her betrayal.

  “Joe?” she said cautiously, feeling the need to comfort him but aware that if she didn’t know what he was thinking, she couldn’t. “Talk to me.”

  Joe reflected that she sounded like he had over three years ago, trying to get her to talk to him. It was funny, what time could change. He looked back at her, but it was obvious he wasn’t seeing her. His eyes were narrowed. “When I heard about it,” he said miserably, “all I could think of was that you had always been mine, and no one else’s.” His eyes focused on her, and Randy thought she would die from the look of pain in them. “But that wasn’t true anymore.”

  Randy stared at him, realizing what he had just said. It shocked her to think that she hadn’t thought of it that way. Joe had been the only man she had ever been with, and now something had changed that could never be changed back. The thought hit her hard. It was yet another consequence of an action she had taken so lightly. In truth, Dickerson hadn’t even come close to Joe’s worst day in bed; he certainly hadn’t been capable of making her feel the kind of excitement she’d felt a short while ago. She wondered if that had to do with Dick’s lack of sexual prowess or if it had everything to with the fact that she deeply loved Joe. She also wondered if her renewed infatuation with her husband had allowed her to go beyond what she had been capable of feeling before.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice breaking. There were tears in her eyes as she shook her head miserably. “God, I have been so stupid, and every moment it’s like I’m finding out what else I have ruined with that stupidity.” She looked at him, her eyes begging him. “Can you even begin to forgive me, Joe?” Her voice was so sincere and so despondent that Joe found it impossible not to reach out and pull her to him. He sat up, pulling her into his embrace in the same motion.

  “I love you, Randy, and nothing you could do could ever change that,” he said, his lips in her hair as he rocked her. She was crying now, her body wracked with sobs.

  “I’ve been so awful.” Randy’s voice was muffled because her face was pressed against his shirt. “Like someone else.”

  “Yes, love,” Joe said tenderly. His voice turned wry. “And we’ll start the search for the pod later.”

  Randy laughed miserably, and Joe laughed too. She looked up at him, her face tear-streaked. Joe reached down and brushed the tears away with his thumb.

  “We’ll be just fine, baby. Don’t you worry.”

  “But—” Randy started to say, but Joe shook his head.

  “We’ll be fine. I love you, and you’re not getting away again.” His voice was stern, and Randy nodded solemnly. “Lighten up, will ya?” Joe said, wanting her to be happy again.

  “Do you want to hit me or something?”

  “What?”

  Randy looked up at him, a grin on her face. “I mean, if you want to, it’s okay. I’d understand.” She was smiling now, and Joe started to shake his head.

  “No,” he said. He was smiling too, but his voice was serious. “But if you ever try to leave me again, I will handcuff you to something permanently.”

  Randy stared at him for a moment, but he couldn’t keep the straight face any longer and he started to grin. She punched him on the arm as she started to laugh. Then they were silent for a few minutes, Joe just holding her close.

  “Are you going back to the hospital tonight?” Randy said eventually, her face still against Joe’s chest.

  “Yeah.”

&nbs
p; She looked up at him. “Would you mind if I didn’t go?”

  Joe considered the question, imagining that it must be difficult for her right now. He had no idea. Finally he shook his head.

  “I was thinking that I should go over to the apartment,” Randy said hesitantly. “Get my stuff and let Sarah know…” She trailed off, because she realized she wasn’t sure what to tell Sarah. Randy herself wasn’t sure what was going to happen between her and Joe, but she assumed that she was welcome back to their home.

  Joe read her uncertainty and nodded. “Tell her you’re coming home.” He sounded strong and sure, as if there had never been a doubt in his mind that she belonged there. Randy was once again astounded by his ability to forgive.

  Chapter 7

  Midnight woke in the dim light of the hospital room, feeling like she was trying to move under a soaking wet blanket. She knew it was the painkillers they were injecting into her IV every four hours or so. As if on cue, the nurse walked in carrying the hypodermic kit for just such an administration. Midnight held up her hand and the woman halted dubiously. Rick stood from his chair and came over to the bed.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” Midnight said, eyeing the nurse. “That’s just it. I feel fine, but they keep pumping that crap into me. I feel like I’m swimming in quicksand.” She looked at Rick, her face set in a determined line. “I don’t want any more.”

  “Ms. Chevalier,” the nurse interjected, shaking her head vehemently. “I don’t think you realize the extent of your injuries. Perhaps if Doctor Duhane could—”

  Midnight stopped her with a look. “I don’t think you realize, Nurse,” she said, her voice even but bordering on anger, “that I don’t like to be doped up. It’s not a healthy thing in my profession.”

  “But—”