by Deborah Camp
Trudy’s breath rattled down her throat and she pressed her fingertips against the glass and strained forward, her eyes widening and locking on that face . . . that face! She knew that face. Gonzo and Levi had shown her photographs of her and she remembered her from that afternoon at Mallory Square. The Key West stalker! The woman who had been here when Levi had arrived home! Excitement shot through her veins, making her jitter in place.
“It’s her! It’s her!” She looked around, wanting someone to show up so that she could tell them . . . do something! “It’s her and she’s outside . . . no, she’s leaving!” She dropped the binoculars and raced to the front door, flinging it open just as Wes trotted in from the kitchen wing.
“What’s going on? Did you need something?” he asked, looking from her to the startled security guard who had been sitting in a folding chair outside the front door, but was now on his feet.
“The stalker is out there! Right out in front of the building. I saw her.” Trudy slammed her hand against the elevator panel as she grabbed the security guard’s sleeve and gave it a yank. “Go! Go get her. She’s leaving. She’s walking with some other people out there. Tell Gonzo. Do something!”
The guard looked past her to Wes and pointed to the front door. “Get her back in there and keep her there! Call Gonzo and tell him,” he ordered as the elevator doors opened and he stepped inside.
“Trudy, come back inside,” Wes said, his voice stern but calm. “Please.” He waited for her to obey, then he closed and locked the door and pulled a cellphone from his apron pocket. He punched a number. “I need Gonzo. It’s an emergency.”
Dashing back to the window and grabbing the binoculars, Trudy looked for the woman but the walkers and joggers were gone, having moved on and out of sight.
“What was she wearing, Trudy?” Wes asked behind her. He’d connected with Gonzo, so she set the binoculars back on the table and held out her hand for the phone.
“Gonzo?”
“You okay, Trudy?”
“I’m fine,” she said, only then realizing that she was breathing hard and her voice had risen. Hitching up her chin, she gathered her composure. “She has on blue jeans and a dark blue sweatshirt. She’s wearing a yellow ball cap with an animal on it . . . a tiger or maybe . . .” She squeezed her eyes shut, giving her mind a chance to reproduce the vision of the woman. “It might be a wolf. Yes, I think it is.”
“Okay. Thanks.” The line went dead.
Trudy handed the phone back to Wes. “She’s long gone.”
“Maybe not. If she thinks she’s safe, she could get sloppy and they could get the jump on her.”
“She’s brazen, huh? Parading right out in front of the building.” She shook her head, amazed. “Oh, and she stopped and looked up here.”
Wes went to the windows and glanced out. “Levi needs to be told.”
“Gonzo will fill him in, won’t he?”
Wes slipped the phone back into his apron pocket. It was a bib apron – black with white piping. Masculine. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Chicken?” he asked around a smile.
She stared at the toes of her tennis shoes, chagrined to be read so accurately. “I hate to add more crap to his already crappy day.”
“Gonzo will tell him – after the situation is resolved, one way or the other.” He shrugged. “Just thought you might want to be the one to break the news to him.”
She answered his shrug with one of her own as she fished her cellphone out of her back pocket and pressed #1. Levi answered on the second ring.
“Trudy.” His voice was low, silky, thrumming through her like plucked violin strings. She could hear the hum of voices and telephones ringing in the background.
“Are you in a meeting or something?”
“Yes . . . or something. I’m at the television station where Nikki worked.”
“Oh.” She closed her eyes. Great. And now for some more bad news. “I won’t keep you. I just wanted you to know that I saw the stalker outside the building a few minutes ago.”
Silence. Long seconds of nerve-stretching silence.
“Pardon?” he whispered in a near hiss. “What did you say?”
“I was looking out the window and I saw her. She was with a group of people who were walking by. Gonzo and the guys are out now trying to track her down. Everything’s under control.” She glanced at Wes. He was staring at the floor between his black Adidas and shaking his head. She thought he might be laughing before he turned and left her alone.
“Hold on a second, Trudy,” Levi said, his voice tight. “Excuse me, please? I need to take this call. Thanks. I’ll be right back. Thanks.” A rustling of clothing. People talking. Door opening. Closing. Levi’s voice came back, stronger, angrier. “She was in front of the building? Where were you?”
“In the penthouse.”
“You could see her from eight floors up?”
“With binoculars, yes. Why are you mad at me? I didn’t do anything.”
“I’m not mad at you.” A deep breath released in a huff. “I’m just . . . damn it. Could this day get any more fucked up? I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Don’t rush back here, Levi. Do you hear me?” She waited for a reply. “Levi?”
“I heard you. I haven’t gone deaf in the past minute, Trudy.”
Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind and pictured herself reaching out to him, fingers outstretched . . . and she felt him. Felt his barely controlled rage, his deep sadness over the loss of his friend, his tightly caged fear. Fear for her. He knew about the mug.
“You’ve read Tom’s e-mail?” she asked, already sensing the answer.
“Yes. How did you know about that? Did he e-mail you, too?”
“He called me.”
“Sure he did. The cocksucker.”
“Levi, stop that. Someone could hear you.”
“I’m in an empty office. Trudy, you stay there. Don’t go out and don’t—.”
“I’m not going anywhere, boss,” she cut in, letting him know with that one word that his orders didn’t sit well with her. “I’m perfectly safe. Yardley is locked up and Gonzo and the boys are on the stalker’s tail. Cool your jets, take care of business, and I’ll see you when I see you. Then we’ll talk it all out. Okay?” She waited and waited, listening to him breathing. She could see him in her mind’s eye and her heart went out to him. He was full to overflowing with frustration and grief. She had to lessen his burden. She had to. “When you come home I want you to head straight for the master bathroom. You understand? By the time you get to the bathroom, I don’t want you to be wearing a stitch of clothing.”
“Wh-what?”
She grinned, loving that she’d thrown him a curve. “You heard me. Naked, Wolfe. Got that? See you soon,” she said, purposefully using their private sign-off.
“But not soon enough.”
She thought she heard a smile in his voice.
Chapter 7
Lounging in the big sunken tub, Trudy heard the canned voice at the front door say, “Hello, Mr. Wolfe,” and then a few seconds later she heard the sounds of shoes hitting the floor in the bedroom. She inched higher up in the tub so that her breasts were exposed. Obeying her instructions, he entered the bathroom naked as the day he was born. His eyes were heated, but the smile that tilted up the corners of his mouth tugged at her heart because there was a tinge of sadness about it.
She lifted her arms and motioned for him. “Come here to me.” She didn’t have to ask him twice. He stalked to her and right into the tub. Bracketing her hips with his arms, he leaned in for a long, deep kiss. “Welcome home, handsome.”
“I’ve never been so glad to be home in my whole damned life,” he murmured against her lips. “Before you called, my plan was to go straight to my gym and beat the living shit out of the punching bag down there.”
The violence in that statement put her heart in a vise, making her wince, but she recovered quickly. “My plan is better. On you
r back,” she instructed, gently, pushing at his broad shoulders. “Between my legs and rest your head against my shoulder.”
His brows met above his expressive blue eyes – eyes that reflected emotional exhaustion. “Who’s bossy now? I like the ‘between your legs’ part, but I’m not crazy about the rest of it.”
“Please?” she cajoled with a smile. She sensed he was wound tight, every muscle taut and straining, his brain on overload. He’d had a day that would cause a crying jag in most women and make most men want to howl in abject misery.
After another moment or two, he gave a nod and assumed the position, the back of his head tipped against her shoulder, his hands grasping hers and bringing them to his chest. When he let go of her, she stroked him, running her hands down his pectorals, her fingernails combing through the hair there, and then along his ribs and the cords of muscle. She rubbed her heels up and down his legs, massaging him, urging him to relax against her.
Minutes passed before she saw his eyelids droop and heard his breath escape in a long, soft sigh. She massaged his shoulders for another minute and then shifted her fingertips to his temples, moving them in small circles as she kissed the top of his ear. A lemony lime scent lifted from his skin and she closed her eyes and drank him in.
“Gonzo didn’t find Heather Asher,” he said after another minute of soothing silence.
“Yes, he told me. She’s clever, but she’ll get bolder and they’ll nab her. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I want you to stay here until she’s arrested,” he said, keeping his eyes closed.
She thought about her schedule and responsibilities back home. “I meant to leave Mouse with my sister for four or five days, tops. And I only brought enough clothes for about a week.”
“You can buy some more clothes, can’t you?”
“Yes, but I hate to shop.”
He was quiet for a beat. “Did I hear you right? I thought all women like to shop.”
“As in all men like sports?” She angled her head to smile at him, but his eyes were still closed. “Shopping has never been my thing. I order everything possible off the Internet. Express mail is my friend.”
“Then shop on the Internet for more clothes. I’ll send someone to get Mouse and drive her back here for you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Would you like for Mouse to be here or not?”
She saw the slight frown wrinkle the skin between his eyes and said what she knew would erase it. “Yes. Thank you. That someone could pick up a few more clothes for me, too. I’ll have my mother pack another bag for me. Then I won’t have to buy more.”
He relaxed and the wrinkle disappeared.
“I’ll stay as long as I can, Levi, but I have a life I need to get back to.”
“I’m part of that life now. I have a say in it, right?”
Talk about a loaded question! She eyed him, wondering how to answer without hurting herself or him. “Of course, but our arrangement is that we live both here and in Tulsa. I need to talk to my parents about all of this and I have job offers I want to accept. My personal expenses won’t stop just because I’m here. I have a mortgage payment to make in a few days.”
His frown deepened. “You have a mortgage on your house?”
“Of course, I do.” She angled a look at him. “Did you think I inherited it or something?”
Sandwiching her hands between his, he brought them up to eye level to examine how his hands engulfed hers. “I wish I could build a castle with a moat around it and a tower that I could lock you up in and keep you safe.”
“I don’t want this place to begin to feel like I’m a prisoner in a tower. And I took care of myself just fine before the Key West case. I want you as my lover, not as my boss or my sentry, and certainly not as my jailer.”
A sigh sailed past his lips. “Nothing you can say will make me stop wanting to protect you. That’s just the way I am – with you, anyway.” He brought her hands to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “I have never in my life been this possessive or protective of anyone. It’s all new to me and I’m sure to be an asshole about it. Just give me some time, Trudy. I’ll work it all out.”
The tenderness in his gesture and his candid and unexpected confession of his feelings for her brought moisture to her eyes and fierce devotion to her heart. “We’ll work it out,” she said after swallowing hard and blinking back her tears. Wrapping her legs around his middle, she wiggled closer to him. “Tell me about Nicola. Any more news about her? How was it at the TV station?”
In the silence she listened to her heartbeats drumming in her ears and his breathing. Finally, she craned her head around again to see his face. A far-away expression bathed it. He stared straight ahead and his eyes were so dark blue that they looked almost black.
“Levi?” she whispered, kissing his cheek and then his wet shoulder. “Talk to me. Please. You can tell me anything.”
He let go of her hands. “Hell. That’s what it was like. Hell. Everyone was sad and the women she’d worked with were crying or trying not to cry. All day long people have expressed their regret and sympathy to me and every time I felt like I wanted to hit something.” His hands balled into fists of impotent rage. “Each bit of news that trickled in made it worse. She was raped – and sodomized.” He stopped, swallowed hard, and continued in a monotone. “He tore her up pretty bad. He might have used something other than his dick on her.”
Trudy shut her eyes, but the visions swam behind them anyway. Fractured, faceless, but horrid.
“Then he choked the life out of her and smashed her esophagus. Nicola was tall, but petite. Wouldn’t take much to break her bones.”
She had to get his thoughts away from the ugliness. “Tell me what you liked most about Nicola?”
He shifted a little and the water rocked back and forth across their bodies. “She was kind,” he said, finally, and his voice had gentled. “Good-hearted. She loved kids and she worked with children’s charities a lot. And she loved to talk about weather.” One corner of his mouth tipped up. “She spent her vacation time last year with tornado chasers in Oklahoma and Texas. When it snowed in Atlanta, she was ecstatic. Couldn’t get enough of it. She made a snowman – a small one because there wasn’t that much snow, really. And she made snow angels everywhere she went.” He shook his head. “Yeah, she got off on weather.”
And you, Trudy thought, but kept that to herself. She wondered if Nicola had harbored hopes of her relationship with Levi deepening. Had she been in love with him?
“What happened at the police station this morning? Did they keep you long?”
He ran his hands along her thighs. “I was in and out of there in about half an hour. They asked some general questions and that was it. Cocky said they’re trying to ferret out any names of men who might have been mad at Nicola – past lovers, rabid fans, that sort of thing.”
“Do you have a good working relationship with the police here?”
“It’s okay. There are a few in the department I get along with, but most of them lump me in with opportunists and minor celebrities. The guys who questioned me today were respectful, though.”
He sat up slowly and turned over onto his stomach, sloshing water as his mouth located hers like a heat seeking missile. He tasted her, taking his time, kissing one corner of her mouth and then the other before settling in the heart of her lips, pressing gently until she parted them on a sigh.
“You, Trudy Tucker, are the only bright spot in my day,” he whispered against her lips, his breath mingling with hers. “Come on.” He stood, flipping the lever to open the drain as he did, and pulled her to her feet.
Letting go of a startled laugh, Trudy followed him out of the tub and automatically reached for a fluffy, white towel, but was unceremoniously spun around into a warm, wet embrace. She saw the crackle of lust in his eyes before his mouth swooped to hers and he picked her up and sat her on the bathroom counter between the two sinks.
“What
. . . what are we . . . ummm.” She closed her eyes as he stole words from her tongue with the flick of his. Pushing her fingers through his damp hair, she opened her mouth wider to mate with his. When she finally ended the kiss to draw a breath, the smoldering expression on his face sent passion pouring through her like a lava waterfall. “Levi.” It was all she could manage, all she could think to say as he gripped her hips and yanked her to the edge of the counter.
He positioned himself and slid inside her. Trudy gasped from the shock of it. His eyes closed slowly and he tipped his head back. Water droplets raced each other down his cheeks and clung to the hairs on is chest. “Put your arms around my neck,” he ordered in his authoritative tone that both irritated and inflamed her.
She obeyed, sensing that he needed to take charge and that he was born and bred to lead. And when it came to coupling, he was the undisputed master. Before she’d barely settled her arms around his neck, he lifted her off the counter and began moving her up and down, his long fingers flexing on her buttocks. With each upward rock of his pelvis, he released a grunt of satisfaction. Opening his eyes, he stared into hers in an unspoken challenge.
Staring back, she let him see her feelings slowly melt to compliance. She rained feverish kisses on his neck, the side of his face, behind his ear, finally taking the lobe between her teeth and giving him a sharp nip. He sucked in his breath and bit her shoulder just hard enough to make her shiver. Her nipples hardened, abraded by the slip and slide of his chest hair as he moved her up and down his rock-hard shaft.
She could feel the turbulence inside him and the deep shadows in his mind. Each punishing thrust, every primitive grunt, was a release. So, she rode him and grimaced only slightly when his fingers gripped her hips too hard and his rough, blistering pace left her in his dust. He came with a growl that excited her more than even his panting breath against the side of her neck or the thundering of his heart slamming against his chest and tapping against her skin.