by Anna Lewis
“But Tom accused me, don’t you have to look into it?”
“We were going to, but Tom has up and disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
Lilly watched Jason absorb the news, and she was pleased with his reaction. He was genuinely shocked by the news of Tom’s disappearance. He was even more shocked by that than he had been when Lilly had told him that Tom had accused him of murder. If Lilly had to guess, she would think that Tom had falsely accused his fellow teammates of things before.
That explains the rift between Tom and the others, she thought.
Aside from Jason, who was just someone who really enjoyed crime scene investigation, the rest of the team had been very tight-lipped. Only Tom had been somewhat willing to talk. Now, it was all starting to fall into place; Tom’s excessive drinking, living in the locker room when the team wasn’t practicing, and his willingness to throw a teammate under the bus without a second thought.
She’d have to do more looking into Tom’s life and history. When a friend and teammate wasn’t surprised by someone accusing him of murder, there was something wrong.
“Are you going to explain what happened to Tom?” Jason asked, ripping Lilly out of her reveries.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking.”
“I’ll say.”
“We sent him to rehab. He checked in, and as soon as the officer that took him there left, he checked out. Adam is looking into his whereabouts now.”
“And what does Adam think about all of this?”
“He’s not surprised Tom is a flight risk and—”
“No, I mean about us. You and me, and what happened. Or does he know?”
“He knows.”
Jason smiled.
“You told him?”
“I didn’t have to tell him. He’s a detective. He figured it out.”
Jason’s smile spread from ear to ear.
“Don’t look so pleased with yourself,” she laughed. “I wasn’t bragging about you or anything. It just came up.”
“No pun intended,” he laughed.
Lilly’s face colored again, and she cursed her fair complexion.
“No. Of course not.”
“So, what now?”
“I’m going to ask you some more questions.”
“Do I have to go ‘downtown’?” He winked.
Lilly rolled her eyes at his obvious double-entendre.
“No. I can interview you here, unless Adam calls and something changes.”
“So let’s talk. What do you want to know?”
Lilly flipped open her note pad and leaned back into the sofa to get comfortable.
“Let’s start from the beginning. Tell me about the first time you met Leroy and how you ended up on the Brook Ridge Railroaders.”
“This is going to take a while,” he said.
He ducked into the kitchen, grabbing a soda for himself and offering one to Lilly before making himself comfortable in the massive recliner. He propped his feet up and took a long swig before answering.
“If you want to start from the beginning, we’ll need to go back to my senior year in high school. Leroy recruited me, and I met him then.”
Jason continued on, stopping every once in a while to give Lilly a chance to catch up. She directed him with a question here and there, but otherwise, she let him talk and took down everything he said.
They went over everything, including everything Jason knew about each of his teammates. He was a wealth of information, and Lilly could tell that his interest in detective work wasn’t a recent one. He’d obviously thoroughly studied each of his teammates. Lilly flipped the page and continued writing, almost giddy.
She was getting more information that she would ever get from the rest of the team. For the first time since this case started, she was feeling that little twinge of excitement that said she was onto something.
Things were looking up.
***
It was almost an hour later when Jason finally stopped talking. Lilly set down the pen, shaking and rubbing her hand to release the cramp that had been building for at least the last ten minutes.
“Too much?” he asked.
“There’s no such thing as too much information.”
“Good to know,” he said, standing up and moving behind Lilly.
Lilly rolled her shoulder, eyes closed, oblivious to Jason moving around the room as she tried unsuccessfully to work the kink out of her neck and back. She felt his hands on her shoulders and her eyes flew open.
“That’s not necessary.”
“Sure it is. You’ve been working your ass off. Let me take care of you,” he said.
His fingers pressed expertly into her sore muscles, and cut off any thought of arguing further. Her head fell back and she moaned when he hit a particularly tight knot and worked it out expertly.
Hands slid up and down her neck, shoulders and the top of her back, kneading, pressing and rubbing away all the tension that Lilly had been holding onto for days.
“A little better?” he asked after a few minutes.
“Yeah, as good as it’s going to get anyhow. I’m always tense. It’s one of the perks of the job I’ve been told.”
Jason chuckled at her pitiful attempt at a joke, leaning down and kissing her softly on the cheek.
“Have you slept?” he asked, his breath hot in her ear.
“Not much.”
“Not enough.”
“Are you saying I look like hell?” she laughed.
“I’m saying you look like you could use a good cuddle and a long nap.”
“I can’t do that, Jason. I thought you understood that.”
“I wasn’t talk about sex. I was talking about sleep. Just sleep. You look dead on your feet and you’re not helping anyone as exhausted as you must be.”
Lilly turned, and glared at him suspiciously.
“No sex? Is that a promise?”
“I promise that I won’t initiate sex. If you can’t keep your hands off me, I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t give you what you wanted.”
He winked, and Lilly’s laughter filled the room.
“How romantic,” she said sarcastically.
“Look, I get it. You don’t want a romantic attachment while you’re knee deep in this case. And I’m willing to wait. But you have to admit, that when this case is gone, they’ll be another and another. There will always be an excuse for why you can’t be in a relationship.”
“It’s just complicated.”
“It’s always complicated. I’m busy too. Why not be with someone who gets that your job comes first and isn’t threatened by that?”
“You’re still a person of interest in an active case.”
“You said yourself that Tom isn’t a reliable witness. And it’s not like you have any other evidence pointing to me at all. Plus, there’s my rock-solid alibi.”
“It’s still not right.”
“To cuddle?”
“You’re not making this easy.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
He came around to the front of the couch, sitting on the ottoman in front of her and gathering her hands in his.
“Why? I’m sure you have tons of women throwing themselves at you all the time. Why me?”
“Because you’re different, and you’re special. I can’t let you get away.”
“So you’re willing to play second fiddle to my career while I get this case sorted out?”
“Absolutely.”
Lilly groaned inwardly. Whatever resolve she had left was fading fast, and the thought of a few hours of blissful sleep to relieve her pounding headache was so tempting.
“Just sleep?”
“Just sleep,” he said.
He pulled Lilly’s hands, leading her to the bedroom. The late afternoon sun that streamed into the room was immediately snuffed out when he pulled the heavy curtains shut on the windows.
He slipped under the covers, holding them up while Lilly
kicked off her shoes and slid in beside him. Pulling her close, he nestled his chin on the top of her head, her back pressing against his bare chest.
She let out a deep sigh, snuggling in closer and letting her body relax against him.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much better.”
“What time do you need to wake up?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
He chuckled, his hot breath tickling her ear.
“I don’t know if I can sleep for twelve plus hours, but I’ll try.”
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”
“Is your partner going to miss you?”
“No. He’s looking into Tom’s disappearance on his own and a few other things. He’ll be happy I got all the information I did from you, but it won’t do us any good until everything else falls into place.”
“It must suck being forced to wait for everyone else in the department to catch up with you.”
“It does. It doesn’t help that you can’t really rush DNA, and that restoring a video file can be tedious. I want everything done now, but all the evidence is collected and we’ve interviewed everyone we could, whether they were cooperative or not. And now, we just wait until something happens.”
“I’m sure that’s frustrating for you, having everything ready so you can hurry up and wait for the evidence to trickle in.”
“It is, but when it happens, it’s usually in a rush. The most frustrating thing for me on this case is that I don’t have a viable suspect right now. Usually within the first forty-eight hours I have at least one person who is the likely suspect. But Leroy was dead for a while before he was found, and the only witness, if you can call him that, didn’t come forward until the body had already been found. Then, there’s the corrupt video file, the miniscule DNA samples that need to be separated from all the other DNA evidence and the complete lack of finger prints belonging to anyone besides the victim. This entire murder is a complete cluster and I just don’t know what to do. I’ve never put one in the locker before.”
“The locker?”
“That’s what we call the cold case depository. Everyone remembers their first cold case, but I don’t want one to remember.”
“You can’t solve everything.”
“All cases can be solved; you just need that one piece of evidence that makes everything fall into place.”
“Until then?”
“Until then, I’m just running in circles, putting out fires that I wish I’d anticipated.”
Jason kissed the top of her head tenderly.
“Don’t beat yourself up. You’ll figure it out, I know you will.”
“I wish I had as much faith in that as you seem to.”
“Well, you’re no good to anyone exhausted. Close your eyes, get some rest. The case will still be there in the morning.”
“You’re right,” she said, sighing heavily and pulling his arms more tightly around herself. “This is nice. I’m just so tired.”
“Let it go,” he murmured softly.
She yawned, her body relaxing noticeably when she exhaled. Jason listened to her breathing, which was more and more even with each passing moment. With a final, heavy sigh, Lilly let go and drifted to sleep.
Jason watched her in the dim light of his dark room. Her brow was still furrowed, the worry still evident on her face. He kissed her gently and a soft smile tugged at her lips. Even in her sleep she was aware of him. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, but he wasn’t about to let her go. They didn’t make women like Lilly Bruce anymore.
His eyes grew heavy and he abandoned his vigil. A little afraid that she would slip out of bed in the middle of the night and he’d never see her again, he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and tucked his hand beneath her.
She felt good in his arms, the slow beat of her heart and her gentle sighs lulling him to sleep.
Before he knew it, he had drifted off, the women of his dreams nestled safely in his arms. And for the first time in more years than he could count, everything was right in his world.
***
Lilly woke up confused, looking around the dark room and feeling lost. Jason stirred beside her and suddenly, it all came back to her.
At least I didn’t have sex with him again, she thought. She felt a twinge of disappointment at that, but she pushed it away. She didn’t need any more complications in her life.
She rolled out of bed quietly, the soft, plush carpet cradling her bare feet. A quick glance at the clock revealed that she still had a few hours before daylight, even though she’d slept more than eight hours. Feeling more refreshed than she had in a while, she stepped into the shower and let the cold spray wake her the rest of the way up.
“Mind if I join you?” Jason asked, his voice gravelly with sleep.
“You have to quit sneaking up on me like that.”
He stepped into the shower, shivering when the spray washed over him.
“I didn’t say yes, you know,” Lilly said.
“But you didn’t say no either.”
His hands were on her shoulders, gently messaging and rubbing her soapy skin.
“You feel less tense. I knew a good night’s sleep would do you a world of good. And we still have time to for breakfast before you have to head for work.”
“Do you ever give up?”
“Not when it’s something important.”
She turned, looking him in the eye.
“I don’t know what to say to you. Every time I shoot you down, you just roll with it. I give you the cold shoulder and you give me a massage and make sure I get the best sleep of my life.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It isn’t. I just don’t understand how you keep it up, no matter how many times I reject you.”
“Because I know you’re not actually rejecting me. You’re not the only one that can read people, Lilly. I know you want to believe what you’re saying, but deep down, you’re just scared of being vulnerable.”
“I’m scared, am I?” she quipped, raising her eyebrow and smiling at him.
“A little. But I think I could make you happy. And not just a little happy, deliriously happy.”
“You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
Her hands rested on his chest, fingers absent-mindedly stroking his wet skin.
“I’m not sure of a lot in my life, but I know that if you give us a chance, you won’t be disappointed.”
Jason leaned down, capturing her mouth with his and kissing her gently. Lilly leaned into him, full breasts pressing against his bare chest. His hands went to her hair, burying themselves in the wet strands.
She pulled away, her body still against him, her rapid heartbeat pounding in her ears.
“We shouldn’t do this,” she said, making no move to pull herself away from him.
“We can stop if you want to,” he said, squeezing some shower gel into his hands and building up a lather before he went to work on her shoulders.
His hands slid over her breasts, cupping them gently as his soapy hands worked the fragrant gel over her hot skin. Lilly bit her lip, watching his hands move over her body with familiarity and closing her eyes when his hand slid between her legs and brushed the nub between the folds of her sex.
She opened her legs to him, deft fingers working her body as she tried to convince herself that she should make him stop. Cold water sluiced over her skin, causing her nipples to pucker and her skin to breakout in goosebumps.
He watched her while his fingers worked their magic, smiling at the way she bit her lip and furrowed her brow when he found just the right spot to rub.
Her hand went around his erection and he sucked in a deep breath. She held his gaze, her look almost challenging. Moving her hand up and down, she squeezed and released rhythmically. Jason’s breath came out in small shudders as he tried to focus.
“What if I don’t want to stop?” she finally asked.
She
kissed him before he could answer, fingers still wrapped around the length of him, leaning in so that her body was crushed against him.
He moaned into her mouth. Wet hands slid over her shoulders, down her back and cupped her round ass. He pulled her against him, grinding against her when her hands went up and wrapped around his neck.
She held on tight and kissed him hungrily, her tongue darting into his mouth and tasting the heat of him. He pulled her up, lifting her to hover just above the tip of his erection.
Lilly wrapped her legs around his waist as he lowered her down onto his rigid shaft. Her body stretched to receive him, the heat of him inside her in stark contrast to the icy water pelting her from behind.
Lilly moved against him, slowly at first, then gathering speed as the heat built within her. The mix of sensations drove her closer and closer to the edge at a frightening pace. The ice cold spray on her back and shoulders, the heat of him inside her, and the water cascading down their bodies was almost too much.
Jason held her tight, watching her ride him with wild abandon, her face slack as she gave herself over to the feeling of their bodies. Her orgasm overtook her without warning, and Jason held her tightly, guiding her through with his steady movements as she writhed and bucked in his strong arms. Her mouth covered his, silencing her screams of pleasure as she rode him hard and fast.
Jason held back as long as he could, finally giving in to the feeling as Lilly was going down from the heights of ecstasy. He groaned, thrusting into her forcefully over and over again.
Lilly wrapped her arms and legs around him even tighter, taking all of him. A second orgasm engulfed her, completely unexpected. This time, she didn’t even attempt to silence her cries, screaming out his name while cry after ragged cry was ripped from her throat.
She clung to him as the pleasure faded, body weak and shuddering around him. She was still impaled upon his length.
Jason’s breathing was heavy when she kissed him tenderly, deeply. He lowered her to her feet, steadying her while she found her footing again before pulling her close and hugging her to him.
“So much for keeping sex off the table,” Lilly said wryly.
“I don’t think sex in the shower counts,” he said.
He stepped out, turning off the spray and grabbing a large, plush towel from the stack on an ornate bench. He dried her off, taking his time patting every inch of her dry.