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catch a break today.”
Laura watched as Holly walked off with the doctor. “He’s one of
those guys who can’t seem to commit, but doesn’t want to let go.”
“Well, I wasn’t hitting on her,” Wolf protested.
Laura raised an eyebrow.
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“Much,” Wolf admitted. “Hey, I’m on the rebound.” He turned
very serious. “Those men keep watching you.”
She turned and saw who he meant. Joe, Edward, and that asshole
Brad were talking amongst themselves, ignoring everyone around
them. They stared at her in turns and talked behind their hands as
though deciding on an assessment.
“They’re trying to decide if I’m going to be murdered tonight,”
Laura said.
Wolf paled. “No.”
“Now you sound like Caleb.”
“Damn it, Laura, I know Rafe and Cam offered to take you away.
Tell me they didn’t.”
“They did.”
“Then why the hell aren’t you gone? Why aren’t you miles down
the road?”
No one understood. “I have to face him. I ran once, and now
there’s another dead girl. I’m the one who got away. He’ll come after
me. He has to. It isn’t in his nature to leave something undone. He’s
been stewing for years on the fact that I got away. This is the only
way to catch him. If he’s allowed to continue, he’ll never stop.”
“Fine, then let someone else be the decoy,” Wolf suggested.
“Surely they can bring in someone with your height and coloring.”
She’d thought of that herself, but discarded the notion. “It won’t
fool him. He’s very clever, and for all I know, he would be the one
picking the decoy.”
Wolf breathed deeply, his chest expanding. “You seriously think
he’s already here?”
“I know it. He’s here, Wolf, and he will come for me.” Laura
turned and walked off, Logan following behind her. She needed to
find a bathroom. She had an interview to do.
* * * *
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217
“Scotch?” Stef Talbot asked, holding up a crystal decanter of
amber liquid.
Cam shook his head. He didn’t need anything screwing with his
faculties. Not even a single drink. He was already a bit nervous about
leaving Laura, but Stef had assured him that Logan Green would
watch over her. She wouldn’t be allowed to leave the safety of town
hall. “No, but thank you.”
Rafe shook his head as well. It seemed they were in sync. They
had been since they stood out by the river and contemplated what the
hell they would do if Laura didn’t let them back in. Stef shrugged and
poured three glasses. He passed them to the men in the room. Nate
Wright took his with a nod, and his partner, a big dude named Zane
Hollister, took the other.
Cam waited impatiently for someone to tell him why he was here.
The door to Stef’s office opened, and the twin cowboys with the
wife who liked to feed her child walked in.
“Damn, Stef, give me some of that. Rachel is pissed off,” one of
them said.
The other grinned. “And not just at me, brother. I told you she
wouldn’t know what to do if we presented a united front.”
“Yeah,” the first one said morosely, “now we’re both cut off.”
“Max, don’t worry. It never lasts long. She can’t help herself.”
Stef looked at the two with great affection. It was easy to see they
were all friends, which begged the question of why he and Rafe had
been called into this meeting of a close-knit group.
“Gentlemen, I appreciate the invitation, but my partner and I
really need to get back to Laura,” Rafe said in a firm but polite tone.
Cam nodded. He would have just said “what the fuck.” Rafe was
better at the social conventions.
“Partner? Is he really your partner?” Stef asked, staring at both of
them.
What was that supposed to mean? Cam tried to explain. “We used
to be partners when we both worked for the Bureau.”
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They all exchanged looks, heads shaking, eyes narrowing. They
seemed to be communicating amongst each other, as though that was
the answer they had all expected and it disappointed them.
“That’s what we thought,” the sheriff said.
“Amateurs.” Max Harper had a little frown on his face.
“What is this about?” Rafe seemed calmer than Cam felt. Cam felt
like he was being judged and found wanting.
Zane Hollister turned. “Look, we all care about Laura. It’s easy to
see that you do, too.”
“Are you attempting to pursue a ménage relationship with Laura?”
Rye Harper asked. He asked the question academically, without a hint
of judgment. Cam tried to calm down.
“I don’t see where this is your business, but yes,” Cam managed.
He kind of wished he’d taken that drink.
Stef sat on the edge of his desk looking wholly comfortable as he
probed into someone else’s private life. “Laura belongs to Bliss. She’s
everyone’s business. We work differently here, gentlemen. You
should get used to that.”
Zane grinned, his scarred face looking years younger. “Yeah,
everyone is up in everyone else’s shit here.”
Stef shook his head. “Not the way I would have put it. I believe
what the big guy is trying to say is that we care for each other here.”
“And you two are totally fucking this up,” Max interjected.
Dark eyes rolled as Stef replied. “Again, I would have used
different words.”
Max shrugged. “And taken up way more time with all your
pussyfooting around. Let’s get to the point. You two are fucking up.
You’ve been fighting amongst yourselves since the day you walked
into town.”
Rye agreed with his twin. “You two are not acting like partners.
When we asked about the whole partner thing, we weren’t talking
about your work relationship. We were talking about the way you live
your lives.”
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Nate held out a hand. “Don’t take this the wrong way. We’re
really trying to help. Normally, we would take a step back and let you
two figure this out on your own, but we’re worried about Laura. With
a killer on the loose, she needs the two of you to get your shit
together.”
“Trust me, those two are experts at this. They know how to fuck
up. They fucked up for years before getting their shit together. You
should listen to them,” Max said, sarcasm dripping.
Zane stood up, and his face turned into a mask of intimidation. He
bared his teeth at Max, and then sat back down and sipped his Scotch
while looking up at Nate. “He’s right. We were dumbasses for years.
We wasted a lot of time that we could have spent with Callie.”
Nate put a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “That’s in the past.”
Cam looked over at Rafe, who seemed to be assessing the
situation as he always did. Though Cam had gone through all the
training and knew how to read body language and size up a subject,
Rafe was the one with the true talent for it. Rafe wasn’t on Laura’s
level, but he knew what he was doing. When Rafe’s shoulders
relaxed, Cam calmed down.
And Stef Talbot smiled. “There. That’s what I’m talking about.
Rafe just decided we’re not out to get them, and Cam took his cue.
Now we can talk.”
“Are you sure you’re not a profiler?” Cam asked, surprised
someone had read him so well.
“I am many things,” Stef replied. “But for now call me a
concerned friend. Laura isn’t happy.”
“When she talked to Rachel earlier this afternoon, Rach said she’d
been crying,” Rye explained.
“She had a rough afternoon.” Rafe’s eyes were downcast. They
had all had a rough afternoon. There had been moments of pure joy,
but now all Cam could feel was an aching sadness.
“Yes, I watched the whole thing.” Nate took off his Stetson and
set it down on the desk. “I also know that you two did what you could
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to protect her. The trouble is she’s not protecting herself. Now, I
know a little bit about what happened. Stef and I have looked into
this. We don’t know all the details, but we can read between the lines.
Laura handed in a profile of the serial killer that neither one of you
agreed with.”
Cam nodded. His guilt was an uneasy knot in his gut. “We backed
the senior special agent’s report. Laura was upset because we were
involved at the time.”
“All three of you?” Stef asked.
“We had just started a relationship the night before,” Rafe
explained. “We hadn’t worked out the details yet.”
“So she was unsure about your intentions,” Stef continued. “And
then she was taken and tortured.”
“But we were there for her,” Cam argued. God, there was a part of
him that was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Zane shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Look, I know what I’m
talking about. When you’ve been through something like that, you
feel utterly powerless. I know that some people would curl up and
sink into the first affectionate person they could find, but people like me and Laura, we leave. I’m not talking about just walking away. We
leave emotionally. We retreat because it’s easier than feeling. I was
lucky. I had someone who wouldn’t let me fade away. Laura has
made a comeback, but it took her a while. I don’t pretend to know
exactly what she’s feeling, but everyone here has seen the way she
looks at the two of you. She’s just scared.”
“I don’t know about that,” Rafe replied. “I think there’s a certain
amount of anger in there, too. I think she blames us for what
happened to her.”
“Then you make it up to her,” Stef said resolutely. “Are you in
love with Laura?”
“Yes.” The word came out of both of their mouths at the same
time, sounding as though their voices were one.
“Then you have to quit fighting and work together,” Nate said.
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“The whole screwing her in my office was a good play, even if it was
a little messy. But you need to take it further. You took turns.”
Everyone shook their heads at Nate’s announcement.
“Like I said, amateurs,” Max whispered.
Max might get that ass kicking everyone thought he wanted.
His twin stepped forward. “You can’t view it like that. You have
to take that girl down, and the best way to do it is together. You see,
women are a little like horses. They’ll kick and buck and resist that
saddle until you prove you can handle them. Then they like a real
nice, smooth ride, if you know what I mean.”
Cam was pretty sure he didn’t. “So, like at the same time?”
“He learns,” Max snarked.
“We’re not idiots,” Rafe interjected. “We’ve taken her together.”
“Have we?” Cam asked, suddenly kind of getting what they
meant. “We’ve been in the same room. One of us has held her while
the other one fucked her, but have we really taken her together? Have
we really worked together or just been voyeurs?”
“It’s the same way in life as it is in sex,” Nate added. “You have
to talk things out between the two of you. Cam just picked her up and
walked out today. You didn’t look to Rafe. You left him behind to
quit his job and deal with all the Bureau shit. Now, that’s fine and dandy if that’s the way your roles work. Trust me, I handle anything
that requires a modicum of delicacy, and Zane’s job is to make
sarcastic remarks.”
Cam wasn’t sure delicacy was the sheriff’s strong point. Maybe he
and Rafe made a better team. Damn. Was he just the sarcastic one?
“And to give Callie multiple orgasms,” Zane interjected.
“I don’t need to hear that, Hollister,” Stef said with a sigh. “The
point of this exercise is to let you two know that we’re here for you if you want advice or need to talk about how to make a ménage
relationship work.”
“And we need your input, why?” Max asked. “You’re in a ménage
with Jen and your collection of sex toys.”
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Stef nodded and looked awfully superior. “Yes, that’s because I’m
the smart one. None of my sex toys talk back. Well, that new one
from Japan does.”
Nate looked at them seriously. “Are you two really interested in
trying this? None of that taking-turns shit. You have to be in this
together. You have to be a team.”
Cam looked at Rafe, almost afraid of his reply. Rafe had far more
to lose than Cam. Cam’s mother would sigh and then get another
beer. She wouldn’t reject him. Rafe was running a risk.
“Cam has always been my partner,” Rafe said. “Even when we
weren’t working together. Yes, we’re serious.”
“Then you need a plan, my brother,” Rye said with a friendly
smile. “We’re good with plans.”
Max looked at his brother like he’d gone insane. “No, we’re not.
We’re horrible at them. Rachel always sees right through them.”
“Well, I’m good at them,” Stef said with complete confidence.
There was a loud snort from outside the office.
Every male eye in the room rolled.
“That’s ten, love,” Stef called out. “Do you want to make it
twenty?”
“Fine,” a feminine voice called from behind the door. “We’ll go.
Callie has to use the bathroom anyway. And Rachel needs to feed
Paige.”
Max flushed. “My life was easier when the only ones hanging off
my wife’s boobs were me and my brother.”
Cam finally laughed. Long and hard. It was ridiculous. It wasn’t
normal. He was standing here talking about how he was going to
share the woman he loved with his best friend.
And he felt happier than he had in a long time.
Rafe doubled over, his hand coming out to balance against Cam’s
shoulder.
Cam stayed still so his partner didn’t fall.
He was quiet as they started to talk about how to win Laura.
Lost in Bliss
223
* * * *
His pretty rabbit paced, her arms crossed. She could feel the
connection. He was certain of it. There was a tension to her body that
let him know she was anxious. She was impatient. He wondered if
she’d missed him.
They had an intimate connection—far more intimate than any sex
she could have had. He’d held her life in his hand. For the hours they
had been together, he had been her god.
He was going to do it again, and no one could stop him. Certainly
not the two idiots who sat beside him, talking about the case and
making plans. They had sat beside him for years never realizing that
the killer they were looking for was right in the room.
This was why he needed her. She was the only one to see through
him. Oh, for certain, she hadn’t seen past his mask, but he wouldn’t
make that mistake this time. This time he wouldn’t wear the mask. No
theatrics between them.
His cock hardened. It almost never did that anymore. Certainly
when he was with one of his charges, administering discipline, he
would become aroused, but almost never when he was simply
thinking about it.
His rabbit did this for him.
He wouldn’t be able to hold it in. He answered his colleague on
some meaningless point of procedure, but his brain was looking
around the room.
So many ladies. And so many of them were naughty.
He would have liked to play with the one who tried to take her
clothes off in a public forum, but her husband had saved her.
A pretty redhead walked behind a man.
“You don’t have to do this, Caleb. I really can get a ride with
Laura,” the woman said. “I live right next door.”
“No.” The man simply herded her out the door.
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Obviously they weren’t married. He wondered if the man with the
gold and red hair would drop her at her doorstep. He doubted those
two were having sex. These cabins were so easy to get into. No one
here really protected themselves. He wondered if his rabbit would
appreciate a friendly gift.
“I’m heading back to the motel,” the Marquis de Sade said,