Through Her Eyes (Mind's Eye Book 4)

by Deborah Camp

  “Yes, but that’s never happened. He couldn’t make me think of something.”

  Levi narrowed his eyes and she could almost feel waves of concentration emanating from him like rays of sunlight baking a desert landscape. Then there was that push in her mind. That damned, irritating thing he did!

  She shoved against his chest. “Stop that! I hate when you do that!” She gave him a mean look. “And you said you’d teach that to me and you never have!”

  He relaxed and grinned. “I will someday. I promise. But if you hate it, why do you want to learn it?”

  “So that I can retaliate! See how you like it when someone pokes at your brain.”

  “I know how it feels. I learned that little trick while I was at Findlay College. My classmates, who were able to do it before I was taught, practiced on all of us newbies.” He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek. “But the point is, Forté was toying with you, trying to see if he could mind meld with you.”

  “Don’t call it that!” She shifted on the hard bench, irritated and defensive and wishing she were neither. “I’m not Mr. Spock, for God’s sake.” Had Forté invaded her head? She shivered against the thought. “If that’s what happened, that’s gross.” When Levi chuckled, she gave his shoulder a playful thump. “Hey! Don’t laugh at me.”

  “It’s gross? Like when you slip into someone’s mind and watch him rape and murder?”

  “No, of course not. It’s just different.” She sipped her coffee and thought about it. She couldn’t really find much difference. “Why would he do that? Why would . . . oh crap!” Her thoughts veered onto a different track, one she realized Levi was already on. “He was watching us that day!” She slumped, feeling like a dunce. “Jeez. Well, welcome to the party, Trudy. Better late than never! He was sending me a message, letting me know that he’s been spying on us. I wonder if Detective Bonifay made him that day?”

  Levi arched a brow, finished his coffee and tossed it toward a trash can. It dropped in, neat as you please. “Three points,” he murmured before shifting around to face her. “You are a trusting soul, Trudy Tucker. Too trusting. Was it a grand coincidence that Bonifay was there when Forté was parked near our hotel?”

  “I told you that her husband’s food truck was a few blocks from there.”

  “Yeah, right. And she happened to buy food at the same time you were there. It’s a small, small world here in the Big Easy. Yessireebob.”

  Contemplating this, sans his sarcasm, she couldn’t deny the logic. “Okay, so Bonifay was tailing Forté, which is why she ended up tailing me.”

  “Most likely.”

  “Why didn’t she just tell me that?”

  “Because she’s a cop and you’re not. She’s going to tell you what she thinks you need to know, which is next to nothing at this point. To her and Dupree, we’re just a couple of circus performers putting on a little whodunit freak show performance. Soon enough, we’ll move on to the next audience of suckers.”

  She bit her lip to keep from grinning at him. “Wow. You’re overflowing with caustic insight tonight, aren’t you?”

  His smile was part amused and part ironic. “Someone has to don the gray-colored glasses.”

  “And it’s always you, sunshine,” she said, using Gonzo’s nickname for him. She giggled when he shot her a scathing glance, then dropped a kiss on his cheek. “Okay, so Dessie played us tonight. He is creepy, isn’t he? I have no trouble seeing him as a serial killer. None at all.” She finished her coffee and let him pitch the cup into the receptacle for another three points. Folding her arms tightly against her chest, she braced against the breeze that had cooled considerably. “But what do we do from here? What’s our next step?”

  She could feel the heat of Levi’s body and she scooted closer, snuggling into him as she gripped his wrist, lifted it, and placed his arm around her. He smelled lemony with a hint of sandalwood and she nuzzled against the side of his neck, breathing him in and feeling the scrape of his emerging whiskers against her skin. With her hand on his chest, she felt his quick intake of breath and the slight sputter of his heart before it set off again, picking up pace. Wondering what brought on that reaction, she leaned back a little to see his face. In the dim light, she could make out the vulnerability shining in his eyes and dipping down the corners of his mouth.

  “What is it? Something wrong?”

  He closed his eyes for a few moments and shook his head, then he swallowed hard. When he spoke, it was a strained whisper. “Sometimes it gets to me.”

  “What? The case?”

  “No.” He laughed once, but there was little humor in it. “You. Us. This.”

  Baffled, she tried to find answers in his expression, but couldn’t. “I don’t understand.”

  “Being . . . you know, in love. Belonging to someone.” He tightened his arm around her. “I like it, but old habits are hard to break. Being so open, so close, I instinctively want to push you away.”

  “Why?”

  He looked up at the dark sky. “Because it’s terrifying. Feeling so much and not knowing what to do with these . . . these strange emotions swirling inside me.” He spun a finger round and round to illustrate. “No one has ever wanted to be so close to me. Ever.”

  “That’s not true. I’m certain there have been women in your life who wanted to know you better. Not just sexually, but emotionally. You put walls up and wouldn’t allow it.”

  “Didn’t stop you.”

  She smiled. “Like you’re always saying, I’m tenacious. I love a mystery and you are that personified. I wanted to know your story.”

  He let go of another short, sardonic burst of laughter. “And then you wished you hadn’t opened that particular book.”

  “No, I was fascinated. Still am.” Wiggling as close as she could get to his side, she gave him a hug and kissed his jaw. “Don’t you dare push me away, Levi Wolfe. Besides, I’m cold and you are, as usual, hot. My own personal heater.” She smiled, feeling the chuckle begin in his chest before she heard it. “Let’s have fun being in love. I understand about the crazy feelings and intense emotions. Sometimes, I look at you and I think my heart might burst with all the love I have in it for you.”

  He took a shuddering breath. “God, Trudy, when you talk like that . . .”

  “What?”

  “It unnerves me.”

  She lifted her gaze to his and she fashioned a mock frown. “Hey! You’re supposed to say good things back to me.” He tried to smile, but it was there and gone. She could feel how uncomfortable he was talking openly about his deepest feelings and that was unnerving her. Men! No. Man! Her man, specifically, because no one was like Mr. Moody Blues. Taking pity on him, she decided to steer him toward subjects where he was supremely in control.

  “Hey, Wolfe?”

  “Yes, Tucker?”

  “You wanna go back to the hotel and get nekkid?”

  His heart beneath her hand thumped with renewed vigor. “Must you ask?”

  “Well, you were talking about pushing me away, so . . .” She walked her fingers up his chest and let out a little yelp when he tried to bite them.

  Turning his head so that he could whisper in her ear, his words heated her right along with his tickling breath. “You’ll cry out louder than that when we’re at the hotel and I’m fucking you so hard all you care about is my cock and how deep you want it.”

  Passion arrowed down her spine and settled between her legs. She stood up and tugged him to his feet. Rising on tiptoe, she sealed her mouth to his in a blazing, soul-searing kiss. Without another word, they hot-footed it to the Soniat House.

  ###

  Clinging to the bed rail, Trudy held on tightly as she was jolted again and again by Levi’s powerful thrusts. Bent at the waist, she moaned as he took her from behind, driving into her, his body and hers slick with perspiration. He clamped one hand on her shoulder and his other at her hip, holding, pulling her, pushing her, commanding her. Her bare feet slid a little on the polished w
ood floor.

  God, he was in his element like this!

  Her body quivered inside and out. She’d already had two orgasms since they’d dashed into the hotel room, undressing and staring at each other like opponents in a battle of wills. The wills crumbled the moment bare skin rubbed against bare skin.

  “Are you close, Trudy?” he asked, his voice raw and gruff.

  She shook her head. “Go without . . . me. I’m g-good.”

  “Fuck.” He gripped her shoulders and spun her around to face him. “On your back.”

  She scooted onto the bed, her attention momentarily snagged by the lace-edged canopy above her. It was so out of place with what they were doing. No place for satin and lace, she thought disjointedly as Levi grabbed her knees and pulled her legs further apart.

  “Look at that,” he murmured, his eyes almost glowing as if lit from within. “You’re fucking gorgeous. Wet and pink and . . .” He groaned and lowered his mouth to her slick center, his tongue separating, soothing, flicking, tormenting. Then his lips captured the most sensitized part and sucked the throbbing nub into his mouth.

  Trudy reared up, a garbled cry leaping from her before she could form words. “Levi! Oh, God, oh, oh, God, Levi!”

  His mouth released her. “I know, baby.” He blew a warm breath against her wet, quivering flesh. “I could feast on you all night. Did you know that?”

  She tossed her head from side to side. It was all too much. She was wrung out, but still needing . . . still wanting . . . him. Always him.

  He pulled her toward him until her backside was even with the edge of the mattress, then he brought her knees up to her chest. “Right there. Keep them there.” He gripped himself, tapped the tip of his penis against her opening in a tease before tunneling straight into her.

  Her head snapped back as stars danced behind her eyelids. He filled her completely and utterly, burning a path straight up to her heart. Rocking into her several times to force her body to accommodate him again, he caressed her inner thighs and murmured incoherent words as he moved in and out, making her body burn. He palmed her breasts and then pinched her nipples. She cried out and heard him chuckle. Oh, he was enjoying this! But so was she.

  She looked at him through barely opened eyes. The bedroom lamp cast light on half of his face, leaving the other side in shadow. His hair was thoroughly mussed by her hands. Beads of sweat trailed down his cheeks, chest, and stomach. Muscles rippled beneath his taut skin as he stroked in and out. His gaze found hers and one side of his mouth kicked up.

  “You ready?” He lowered his brows.

  She nodded, smiling back at him. Arrogant beast. So confident in his ability to send her over the edge. Her body stiffened suddenly when his fingers massaged her tingling clitoris. He tilted his hips just so to rub against her G-spot, and the world tipped sideways. Then he was jolting into her with renewed vigor, forcing little grunts out of her with each connection.

  “One more, one more time,” he rasped. “Come all over me. Goddamn, Tru, you’re everything. Every. Fucking. Thing!”

  She beat on the mattress with her fists as her orgasm rolled through her like a freight train. Every muscle tightened and quivered in a jactitation of spent passion. In the aftermath, drowsy feelings floated through her. She opened her eyes to find Levi sprawled on his belly at her side, his breathing quick and deep as if he’d finished a marathon. Which, in a way, he had.

  “You okay?” she asked with a teasing grin.

  He opened one blue eye. “You’ve taken every drop of my magic man juice, you sorceress you.”

  She sputtered for a moment and then laughed up at the canopy. “Magic man juice?”

  He flung one arm across her middle and hauled her closer. “Fuck, I needed that.”

  Turning onto her side, she slipped her arm over his chest. “I know.”

  A scowl marred his features for a few moments. “Sometimes I can’t be tender like you want me to be.”

  “Ummm, pardon me, but didn’t you notice that I was screaming your name and coming undone? You think I was yearning for tenderness? Didn’t I yell at you to go harder?”

  He grinned and the golden lamplight made him look younger – almost boyish. “Oh, yeah. So you did. I suppose this means we’re compatible.”

  “’Fraid so.”

  “Which means you will marry me.”

  She held up her left hand, flashing the ring at him. “’Fraid so.”

  “Just checking. I couldn’t help but notice that we haven’t set a date yet, so that makes me wonder if you might have changed your mind.”

  With a scolding shake of her head, she angled up enough to bestow a quick, hard kiss on his lips. “I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you really need to see a therapist about your insecurities.”

  He chuckled and wrapped her in a tight embrace, his nose and lips rubbing up and down the side of her neck and making her giggle. “Smart-mouthed witch.”

  ###

  After reading the last few lines of the file Trudy had composed about Kassidy Laker, the salvage yard killer’s most recent victim, Levi closed the manila folder and tossed it onto the top of the pile on the coffee table. Removing his glasses, he set them on the side table and rubbed his tired eyes. Last night had been . . . well, fucktastic. This morning, he and Trudy had slept late, had brunch at a nearby café, and then divided the files they’d made for each salvage yard murder victim to search for similarities or other notable information. Tomorrow they would fly back to Atlanta to attend to some business and the Armhurst charity party.

  It would be good to home for a few days. This case was scraping his nerves raw. So many victims to sort through and then there was Desmond Forté. He really fucking hated that guy. Hated his smugness, his arrogance, and his patronizing way of talking.

  His gaze landed on the files again. He’d been dragging his feet about contacting Kassidy, the pink-haired 20-year-old, whose shallowly buried, naked body had floated free of its grave during a flood last fall. The coroner estimated she’d been dead three months. The body had been found five months ago. The coroner’s report noted that she had a tattoo on her left ankle that read “Free to be me.”

  Her parents were divorced and her dad was in prison in South Carolina. Her mother lived in Macon, Georgia on disability checks for a “nervous disorder.” Kassidy had left home last year and had ended up a few months later dead in New Orleans. He and Trudy had tried to reach Kassidy’s mother, but had failed so far. The woman didn’t answer e-mails and didn’t return phone calls. Therefore, they couldn’t obtain any personal objects of Kassidy’s, which would make contacting her easier for him.

  Trudy strolled in from the terrace, looking sexy as hell in low-slung jeans, boots, and a seafoam green blouse with a fringed hem that fluttered when she walked. Like a dream, he thought, smiling. His own personal wet dream.

  “I just had another weird thing happen.”

  His gaze snapped from the outline of her breasts to her pale, drawn face. He straightened from his slouch and motioned for her. When she sat next to him on the sofa, he put his arm around her and reached for her hand. Her skin was cold. “You connected with someone?”

  “Yeah. Same guy, but he was thinking about another man and I’m pretty sure that man was Desmond Forté. He referred to Forté as ‘Sensei.’”

  Levi swallowed to keep from coughing up a brittle laugh. Sensei. Really?

  “He . . . the guy I connected with, he’s jittery and anxious to ‘do it’ as he called it. Murder is what I call it. Sensei is looking for a new place for the bodies and the guy is aggravated because he’s taking too long.” Her green eyes found his. “He mentioned us, too.”

  “Oh yeah? What about us?”

  “He knows about the séance. He thinks the Sensei has a ‘thing’ for you.”

  “Wait . . for me?” He stared at her, thinking she’d misspoke. “Like a sexual thing or a he wants to slug me in the face thing?”

  Her smile barely moved h
er lips, but her eyes were alight with laughter. “Sexual. Forté is kind of obsessed with you. Evidently, he went on and on to this guy about your good looks and your sexy voice and your reputation as an unparalleled psychic.”

  He laughed under his breath; it was so crazy. “This just gets better and better. I thought Forté had the hots for you.” He touched his forehead to hers. “At the séance, you were the one he kept staring at.”

  “It’s because he’s intrigued about letting someone in his head to see what he does or what he’s done. He gets off on finding a way to reveal the complexity of how his mind works and how each murder is executed to perfection. That’s what he told his apprentice.”

  “His apprentice?”

  “Yes, that’s how I see him. He’s taking over from the master murderer. You’ve written bestselling books and Forté sees that as a way to be immortalized. He’s got this guy all jacked up about it, too. His apprentice was thinking about how cool it would be if I could slip into his mind and watch him. He likes to be watched.”

  Her voice had a weakness threading through it that cinched his heart. He ran the back of his fingers down her soft, lightly freckled cheek. “You okay?”

  She glanced at him and rubbed her hands on her jeans. “Yeah. Sure. It’s always a little unsettling. The gross things I see and hear. This wasn’t horrible, but it was upsetting. You know, that he and Forté think they can ‘play’ us . . . use us.”

  He ran his hand over her soft hair. “I know. But we won’t let that happen.” He pulled her closer and kissed her temple, wanting to reassure her. “The guy is anxious to murder someone, is he? Did you get the feeling he might go rogue?”

  “It’s a definite possibility. He’s been wanting to strike again ever since I first tapped into him and this time it was consuming him. He paced and paced and his thoughts were all over the place. Oh, and he knocked a bunch of books off a shelf. He’s really wound up.”

  “Was the woman there this time? His wife or girlfriend?”

  “Yes, at the end. Before the connection snapped. She must have been in another room and heard the commotion when he knocked the books to the floor. I heard her asking him what he was doing and then – then . . .” She snapped her fingers. “It was over. I was hoping she’d call him by name. But she didn’t.” She shifted against him. “I wish we didn’t have to go back to Atlanta right now.”