Elusive Identities: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 1)

by Olivia Jaymes

  Ella reclined against the pillows and watched fascinated as Chris shed his own clothes. First the t-shirt was pulled over his head, revealing a muscled torso and ridged abs. She had to curb the instinct to reach out and trace his stomach with first her fingertips and then her tongue. For now, anyway, but she definitely wanted to do that at some point. In the faint light of the bedside lamp, his skin was golden and infinitely touchable, covered in a soft dusting of silky dark hair that disappeared under the waistband of his boxers.

  He was the one currently undressing yet his attention never wavered from Ella, his gaze sweeping her from head to toe and then back up again. In the dim light, she couldn't see his blue eyes but she could feel the warmth as if he'd physically touched her.

  "You're so beautiful, honey," he said, his voice deep and hoarse. The outline of his cock was pressed against the cotton of his boxers, letting her know in no uncertain terms that his words were not empty. "I can't wait to make love to you."

  He wouldn't have to wait if he'd simply hurry up, and she almost told him that but then her mouth went dry when he stripped down completely. Holy smokes.

  Dropping down onto the mattress, he crawled up her body, his skin brushing against her own and sending tingles to all the right places. It had been way too long since she'd felt the weight of a man on top of her.

  Not able to resist any longer, she ran her fingers down his spine, delighting in the gasp that escaped his lips at her mere touch. She lost her train of thought, however, when that clever mouth of his found a spot at the base of her neck that had her writhing underneath him in pleasure.

  "I'll catalog that under successes. What about here?"

  His lips leisurely traveled to the sensitive skin behind her ear, nipping and sucking until she was arched flush against him.

  "Easy," she choked, her fingers digging into his biceps. "You don't play fair."

  "Neither do you, honey."

  His lips wandered down Ella's neck to the curve of her breast before his tongue made a lazy path to the already pebbled nipple. He laved at the sensitive bud, his fingers plucking at the other until she was a panting mess, her hands anchored onto the back of his head to keep him right where he was. Preferably forever.

  A bar of arousal began to build in her abdomen with each stroke of his fingers and tongue. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she allowed herself to simply revel in the attention for a few moments. She could feel the blood flying through her veins and the flames lick at her over heated flesh. If a human being could die from pleasure she was taking her last breaths.

  But Chris was far from done with her.

  Hallelujah.

  Pressing open-mouthed kisses down her quivering belly, he pushed her thighs apart with his shoulders. His breath was warm on her most intimate flesh and for a split second she was self-conscious, but it simply couldn't last when Chris was doing devilishly naughty things with his tongue and sending her spiraling higher into the stars.

  At first, he teased, not letting her tumble over the cliff but her moans and pleas for mercy must have done the job because suddenly he was there, exactly where she needed him to be. His mouth closed over her clit sending her directly into orbit, her thighs clamping onto his head and her toes curling with pleasure. It was a star-spangled, multi-colored light show behind her eyelids as her orgasm washed over her and she was breathless and smiling when it was over, her limbs heavy as her heart slowed rate slowed and her breathing resumed.

  Oxygen is good.

  Sex is better. We need to do this a lot.

  "That was..."

  "Yeah, it was..."

  They were having that conversation again where they didn't finish their sentences yet knew exactly what the other person was trying to say.

  "Are you okay, honey?"

  A full sentence. Clearly he could recover faster than she could. Oh wait. She was the only one that had climaxed. She'd need to rectify that immediately, if not sooner. She was no slacker between the sheets and she wanted to make Chris feel this blissful.

  She sort of had a plan, too.

  Pressing her palms against his chest, she pushed him onto his back and threw her leg over him so she was straddling his lean hips. His brows shot up in surprise but then he smiled, reaching up to wrap a strand of her hair around his finger.

  "You have a very determined look on your face, honey."

  "I am determined."

  Bending down, she brushed her lips across his flat abdomen, watching the muscles jump under her touch. A surge of confidence ran through her, knowing that she could affect him so strongly. She pressed kisses down his treasure trail, her long hair tickling his stomach until she reached her final goal.

  He was long and thick, the skin like velvet but hard as iron underneath. She wrapped her hand around him and began moving her hand in a rhythm that was as old as time. His eyes drifted shut and a soft groan escaped his lips. Leaning down, she gave him a long lick from root to tip.

  His reaction was instantaneous.

  His fingers curled into her hair and his entire body bowed off the bed, his heels digging into the mattress. "Honey, that felt amazing and I'd love for you to do even more, but if you keep that up this evening is going to end far sooner than either one of us would like."

  Giggling at the compliment, she ran her tongue up and down a few more times and reveled in feeling this confident and strong man tremble. "I'm okay with starting again."

  "I'm not."

  Just like that she was flat on her back. He'd flipped her over so quickly she hadn't even realized it until it was done. His hands flat on the bed, he hovered over her, their bodies brushing against one another as he leaned down to capture her lips with his own. Arousal fizzed in her veins like the finest champagne, the bubbles popping one by one like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

  Ella was so caught up in the kiss she didn't hear him reach into the bedside table until he'd pulled away to tear open the foil packet with his teeth. With shaking and eager hands, she helped him roll on the thin layer of latex and was probably more of a hindrance than anything, but they managed without making it awkward. She was using protection as well and was glad that she didn't have to make a fuss about him wearing a condom.

  Positioning himself between her thighs, he nudged at her entrance while his lips and tongue played a game of tag with her own. He pressed forward slowly, giving her ample opportunity to change her mind or simply to get used to his size. He stretched her deliciously, not painfully and she savored the sensation of being so completely filled when he was in to the hilt.

  Heaven.

  His breath was warm against her cheek when he spoke. "Fast and hard or soft and slow? Ladies choice."

  "Can I have both? Soft at the start and then hard and fast at the end."

  "We can do that, honey. Why don't you wrap those gorgeous legs around my waist?"

  That sounded like an amazing idea so she did as he began to move, pulling out slowly just as she'd requested before thrusting back in a little faster and harder. With each stroke her arousal built as he unerringly found that spot inside of her that made her crazy. Clever man that he was, he was quick to recognize his luck and aimed relentlessly for it over and over again until she was sailing among the clouds, her body not even touching the bed underneath her.

  She ran her hands down his damp back and anchored her fingers at his hips, her nails digging into the flesh. She needed...more.

  "Faster," she urged, lifting her hips to meet each thrust. If she angled her hips just so... Yes, that was better. He was stimulating her inside and out now and she was going to explode soon. Very soon. "Harder now."

  With a grunt, Chris did as she bade, slamming into her again and again, his face a mask of concentration and his jaw tight with the effort. Their bodies were bathed in sweat and their fleshed slapped together loudly in the silence, punctuated by their breathy moans and barely intelligible words. He could have been speaking a foreign language and Ella wouldn't have known. Or cared. She o
nly wanted one thing and that was for him to fuck them both into nirvana.

  "Now, Chris, now."

  Trembling on the brink, she reached down to touch her clit but Chris's hand was already there, his skilled fingers circling the sensitive mound. It didn't take much to push her over the edge. Waves of pleasure wracked her body and her back arched off the bed, her head thrown back in pure ecstasy. The world tilted and whirled around her, making her dizzy like a roller coaster, so she hung on to him for dear life until the wild ride was over.

  At some point Chris reached his peak as well, his mouth plundering hers as his muscular frame shook with the force of his climax. At the end he froze above her, his entire body taut and his eyes closed as if trying to make the moment last a little longer. He exhaled noisily and then collapsed on top of her, quickly rolling on to his back and tucking her into his side.

  Ella couldn't have moved if the apartment was on fire. So completely exhausted and sated, all she wanted to do was lie here with Chris floating on a cloud of pleasure for as long as she possibly could. Tonight? Tomorrow? A week from now? She didn't know how long it could last but right now the entire world was trapped outside of this bedroom and it was only the two of them. No worries, no problems. Just physical pleasure and happiness.

  And for now, she would enjoy it. There was plenty of time for the real world to catch up with them. There was no way to avoid it. But she could pretend for a few hours that it didn't exist.

  Awareness came slowly the next morning. Chris wasn't quite awake but he wasn't asleep either, just sort of drifting in between. He knew that he wasn't alone. Ella's pert little derriere was pressed up against his morning wood and her long hair was lying on his face, tickling his nose. He blew on it but it didn't shift, still tickling so he had to actually move, which made him wake up even more.

  The weak morning sun could be seen through the slats of the blinds, casting shadows on the bedcovers. Seven? Maybe seven-thirty? He didn't normally get up this late but they'd barely slept last night so it wasn't a surprise. He ought to get up and get going. There were a million things to do and it was going to be a busy day. But...

  Surely they could take a few minutes for just themselves.

  Ella's head was pillowed on his bicep and at some point his arm had fallen asleep, all pins and needles. Luckily his right arm was good to go and he reached around and insinuated a finger between her legs, finding her already wet and ready.

  Drawing circles around her clit, he watched as she slowly woke, her eyelids fluttering and a low moan dragged from her lips. With a wicked grin, he slid two fingers inside of her tight channel while his thumb strummed her swollen bud.

  That did it. Now she was moving around restlessly, but not wanting to admit she was awake.

  "I guess you're not a morning person, huh?"

  Wrinkling her nose, she delicately grunted in response but he wasn't sure whether she was agreeing or telling him to fuck off.

  "I can stop if you want me to."

  Her eyes popped open and her lips tightened into a line. "If you stop, I'll kick you out of bed, Chris Marks."

  Laughing, he did stop so he could reach into the nightstand and retrieve a condom. "Give me a minute and I'll do better than that."

  "Sixty seconds. Tops."

  "You're bossy in the morning. Interesting."

  It was probably more like ninety seconds by the time he ripped open the foil square and rolled it on. At least this time Ella didn't try and help him out. Last night there had been far too many fingers and it had taken twice as long.

  If last night was fast and furious, this morning was as leisurely as a stroll by the lake in July.

  It wasn't that he was any less aroused or that he wanted her any less. Hell, if anything now that they'd made love he wanted her even more. But he also wanted to savor this time with her because he knew that they'd be apart most of the day.

  In his position as the big spoon, he could easily reach all the important spots so he curled close around her and plucked at one hard nipple while slowly circling her clit with the hand, all the while pumping in and out as if they had all day to laze in bed. Or maybe not.

  A wave of heat ran through him and the pressure began to build in his lower back, telling him in no uncertain terms that he sure as fuck didn't have all damn day and he was going to detonate any minute now.

  "Honey, are you...?"

  "Yes," she breathed, reaching back to pull his head down so their lips could fuse together. Quickening his pace, his tongue explored her mouth and his fingers rubbed at her clit. He could feel her climax building as her body stiffened and her fingernails dug into his scalp. She tore her lips from his and panted his name as her orgasm hit.

  "Chris."

  It was a beautiful song to his ears and he fell over the cliff right after, her voice the catalyst. Her channel clamped down on him, dragging a groan from his throat. His orgasm ran through him like a waterfall, gentle at first and then crashing waves at the end. When it was over he sucked oxygen into his starved lungs and pressed kisses to the warm skin of Ella's shoulders. She felt soft, warm, and she fit against him perfectly.

  He was falling hard and what surprised him the most was that he wasn't even scared by it.

  26

  Ella had to go into the office to work on her update for the evening news so that meant that Chris was paired with Knox again. The two men were getting along better but they still liked to snipe at each other and probably always would. As usual, Knox had insisted that he drive. Chris had decided it was easier not to argue. Today at least. Tomorrow might be different.

  Alan Maxwell, Kelly's former boss, owned several restaurants and nightclubs, but in the last ten years or so had made most of his income from real estate. They were meeting him at his home, a swanky condo in the downtown area.

  "Parking in this part of the city sucks," Knox groused as they pressed Maxwell's doorbell. He'd been bitching about it for the last ten minutes. "In Montana we didn't have any parking problems."

  "If I give you ten bucks will you let it go?" Chris asked. "Even the doorman was giving us strange looks, you were so loud about it."

  "It's highway robbery," Knox protested. "And I don't want your money."

  "I offered to drive, but you insisted."

  Knox didn't reply as the door swung open revealing an older man with graying hair, dressed in jeans and a navy crew neck sweater. He was a few inches shorter than Chris but carrying more weight. He greeted them warmly and invited them in.

  "Please come in and sit down. I have to say that I was very intrigued by your call, Mr. Marks. I haven't heard Kelly's name in at least thirty years."

  The decor in the condo was ultra modern and blindingly white. Chris would never in a million years live in a place like this. In fact, he'd bet money that Maxwell didn't have pets or small children come through here. But he'd been invited to sit down so he would, praying that there was nothing on the back of his jeans or on the bottom of his boots.

  "Please call me Chris," he invited, perching on the edge of a snow-white sofa cushion. Knox seemed just as uncomfortable, not relaxing back but sitting straight up. "This is my associate Knox Owens."

  "Nice to meet you." Maxwell shook Knox's hand. "Now what can I do to help you?"

  "We're investigating the murder of a Jane Doe from about thirty years ago," Chris explained. "We've come to the conclusion that Kelly Perkins is that Jane Doe. Now that we've identified her, we're working on finding who might have killed her."

  Maxwell's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "Kelly? Little Kelly is...dead? Oh my God, that's terrible."

  Hopping up from the chair he'd been seated on, Maxwell didn't seem to know what to do with himself. His shock seemed genuine, at least to Chris. So far.

  "Perhaps we should start at the beginning," Chris suggested. "How did you meet Kelly? How long did she work for you? That sort of thing."

  Patience was a virtue, Chris had learned when questioning people. Give them lots
of rope and if they were guilty of something they just might hang themselves. It was tough to stay quiet but it was better to listen.

  Gripping the back of a chair, Maxwell shook his head. "I honestly don't remember how I met Kelly. She probably came in looking for a job and one of my managers hired her. She was a nice girl and a decent waitress. She was late sometimes and called in sick a little too much, but she was nice to the customers. They liked her."

  "How well did you know her?"

  "Acquaintances," Maxwell shrugged. "I wouldn't call us friends, more friendly. Like I said she was a nice girl."

  "You seemed pretty shaken up when I told you she was dead."

  "Well...yeah. I don't like to hear about anybody being murdered." The man scraped his fingers through his thinning hair. "What...I mean...how...did it happen?"

  "You may have seen it in the papers," Knox replied, breaking his silence. "Remains found by the road outside of Seattle, hands cut off so no identification could be made."

  Maxwell paled, his grip on the chair tightening until his knuckles were white. "Oh God...that's awful. Just...shit. I don't know what to say. Are you going to arrest her boyfriend? What was his name...Steve? That's it. Steve. I don't remember his last name."

  Now this was interesting. Chris was definitely going to follow up with more questions.

  "Why would you think we were going to arrest Steve Adams?"

  "Adams. That's it." Maxwell came around the chair and sank down into the cushion. "I just assumed..."

  "Yes?" Chris prompted. "Why did you assume that?"

  Sweat had popped out on Maxwell's forehead. "They used to argue. A lot. Sometimes Kelly would come in with a black eye or bruises on her arms. I asked her about it one time and she shut me down, said it was no big deal. It was clear she didn't want to talk about it."

  "So you let it go?"

  Maxwell straightened. "Hey, I talked to that little peckerhead about it. I told him that men don't knock their women around but he swore up and down it wasn't him."

  "But you suspected that it was."