She gripped the back of his head as he went to his knees and pressed his lips against her navel. She groaned. He unzipped her pants, looking up at her as he pulled the fabric over her hips. Down her thighs.
Her knees went weak. She held on to him as she lifted one foot, then the other. The lace panties now had his attention. “Vince.” She quivered as he kissed the heat of her through the thin fabric. She bit her lip and rested her head against the wall, seeking solace as the pressure built inside her.
He touched her, teasing the elastic aside. She whimpered, as memories of these feelings in her office came back to her. She was already climbing, could already feel herself ready to fall into bliss, but this time she wasn’t going alone. Not until she got what she wanted.
Not until she had him inside her.
“Stand.” She gripped his shoulders, encouraging him to get up. “Vince, stand.”
The primal sound he made against her ears was one she’d never forget. She pressed her lips to his, wanting to taste him. “This time, my way,” she whispered. The sight of him fully clothed while she wore nothing other than lace did something to her she couldn’t explain. Something she didn’t want to explain. All she wanted to do was feel. Feel him. Touch him. Envelop him.
Steps away from the bedroom, she saw him toss the box of condoms ahead of them. Steps away from the bed, she stopped again. Let her hand drop and claim the box. She slipped her fingers up and then down his sides, much the way he’d done to her moments before. She felt his muscles tighten beneath her touch. His arms flexed. His breathing echoed in her ears as she took hold of his shirt. Without breaking eye contact she pulled it up, unable to hide her smile as he ripped it over his head. That his hands went immediately to the snap of his jeans proved he was as anxious as she was.
She covered his hands with hers, pushing them aside as she did the job herself, luxuriating in another kiss. Having unzipped him, she reached in and cupped him in her palm.
He groaned and deepened their kiss. She stroked him, loving the steely length of him, the desire he had for her. It didn’t matter what had come before, didn’t matter what had come between them. What had driven them apart. She couldn’t let herself think beyond now, beyond what she wanted. What she needed. And right now, what she needed, all she needed, was Vince.
“Enough,” he said.
“Not nearly.” She laughed out loud as he leaned over and ripped the sheets off the bed. When he reached for her, she darted away, waving the box at him. She pointed to him and then to the mattress. He obliged her and lay on his back, bracing on his elbows. In return, she shimmied out of her underwear, exposing herself to him for the first time in years.
The cool air of the ceiling fan prickled her skin, her nipples peaked, igniting long-dormant embers of desire within her. She tore open the box and tossed him one of the foil packets.
“Looks like Eden planned a big night for us,” she teased as he covered himself.
“Far be it from me to let her down.” He held out his hand, the arousal in his eyes matching that of his body. She moved over him, straddled him, felt the heat of him pressing against her. His hips began to move, inching him closer to where she wanted him, but she shook her head. She leaned over. Her mouth hovering over his, she lifted and sank onto him.
Vince arched his back and exposed his throat to her. His hands gripped her hips. She wanted to kiss him, to feel him everywhere as she surrounded him, but she waited. He pulsed hard inside of her, stretched her as she set the pace, slowly, as deliberately as she could. His hands covered and caressed her breasts, slowly to match their rhythm.
Tiny explosions went off inside her. Wherever he touched her was all that mattered. She could feel herself climbing so fast, so overwhelmingly, she had to close her eyes to keep control.
“Simone.” Her name on his lips only increased her desire. “Simone, look at me.”
She didn’t want to let go. Didn’t want this to end. She wanted to stay here, in this perfect moment, with him, for the rest of her life.
“Simone.” The whispered plea broke through and she dropped forward. She opened her eyes, cried out as he sat up, rolled her under him and drove himself more deeply inside of her.
She locked her legs around him as she matched his kiss. She couldn’t get enough of him, urging him faster until she couldn’t resist the pull any longer. Her orgasm triggered his as she and Vince rid themselves of the past and soared into the future, however uncertain, but together.
* * *
“I might actually be dead after all.” Vince pulled Simone’s naked, lax body over his and settled his hands into that favorite place of his in the dip of her spine. He wasn’t entirely sure if he could feel every cell in his body or if he’d short-circuited and gone numb. The way she cuddled against him, her thick hair draping over his arm, her delicate fingers tracing the outline of his tattoos, he honestly couldn’t recall ever feeling more at peace.
“I’m pretty sure you’ll be back to life in no time.” Her voice soothed him. “This one’s new.”
“Hmmm?” He tucked his chin in as she shifted to look at him. “The phoenix?”
“It’s pretty.”
“Oh, good, because that’s what I was going for.” He grinned. “Try...trial by fire.”
“Is that what I was? A trial?”
His heart skipped a beat. “What makes you think it has anything to do with you?”
She drew her arms in and rested her chin so she could meet his gaze. “We did have some conversations the first go-around. I remember you telling me each tattoo was a symbol of a rite of passage; something meaningful that happened in your life. Good or bad.” Her passion-dazed eyes glimmered. “So was I good or bad?”
He remained silent, unable to choose between flippancy and honesty. One would irritate her. The other?
“I really did a number on you, didn’t I?” The empathy in her voice wasn’t something he was used to and didn’t particularly like. She reached out, stroked her hand down the side of his face.
“I wasn’t exactly a paragon of communication myself, Simone. I survived.” He drew his fingers up and down her spine, reveling in how she shivered under his touch. If they could stay here, only had this, then life could very well remain perfect. “So did you. We both came out stronger on the other side. The question is—” he took a deep breath “—what do we do now?”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”
“How about we start with you telling me what’s going on with Chloe’s case.” He stopped when her entire body went stiff. “And her killer.”
“How did you—” She blinked up at him.
“Aside from the fact that I’m a detective and I know you far better than you realize?” He continued to touch her, to stroke her. “I saw your reactions to those photos that maniac left on your car, Simone. You really didn’t think I’d let it go.”
“You should be angry.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why aren’t you angry?”
“I’m disappointed you didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
“It wasn’t about trust—”
“No. It was about not wanting to let me into that part of your life. But I am in that part of your life, Simone. And I’m not letting some killer stalk you and make you relive the horror without doing something about it. So I did.” Her brow knit hard enough for him to tap a finger against her forehead. “Botox, remember? I made sure those pictures got to where they needed to go.”
“Oh, wow.” She slid off him and rolled onto her back. “That’s why Jack and Lieutenant Santos weren’t surprised when I gave them the pictures. They already had them.”
“Yeah, guilty. Not apologizing, either.”
“So this whole staying over thing, sleeping on my couch and midnight conversations—”
“All part of my evil plan to k
eep you safe.” He looked over at her. “Came with some nice perks, though. You okay? What are you thinking?”
“That I seem to have lost whatever control I had over my life.” She sat up, turned her back on him. “As far as the world is concerned, I’m dead. My job, the case, everything I’ve worked for my whole life is hanging over my head like a guillotine and I don’t have any idea who’s holding the rope.”
“It’s not me.” He remained where he was, thrown back into that uncertainty from three years ago. Other than enthusiastic bed partner, what role did he play? Her life was in flux? Given the situation, he wasn’t entirely sure he’d ever dragged himself out of flux. “I want what’s best for you, Simone. I want you to succeed. But I learned enough last time to know if we’re giving this a serious go, then I need an equal partnership this time around. I want to participate in your life. I want you to be a part of mine.”
“So maybe we have this talk about what comes next after I’ve put the Denton case to rest and things settle down.”
He felt his heart shrink. “Things will never settle down enough for you to be comfortable with this conversation, Simone. We both know that. You’re still wearing those blinders for justice you put on that day in the field.” All the things he wished he’d said three years ago, all the arguments he’d come up with after the fact hovered, but didn’t manifest. Nothing had changed. He loved her. More than he had before. And yet...everything had changed. “Until you’re willing to make room for me, for anyone, you’re going to find yourself alone in all the ways that matter.” He got to his feet, retrieved his pants and tugged them on. When he saw she hadn’t moved, he picked up his shirt, sat beside her and pressed it into her hands. “I love you, Simone. I’ve always loved you. From the moment I saw you at that fundraising event to the day I walked out. But me loving you isn’t enough. At least it isn’t for me. I want to be let in.”
A solitary tear trickled down her cheek when she squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t know that I know what love is.” She wiped the tear away. “I don’t know how to do this, Vince. I didn’t last time, so I focused on work. Because that I could control. This?” She waved her hand between the two of them. “These feelings I can’t define? They scare me. And I do the only thing I can think of when I get scared. I switch off. But then I wonder about this and how much I’ve missed you and then I worry about when I’m going to mess it up and drive you away. Or...” She let out a shuddering breath. “Or what if something happens to you? If I don’t let you in all the way, I don’t have to hurt when something happens. I can’t control any of it. And that terrifies me.”
He cupped her chin in his hand and stared into her eyes. If he hadn’t loved her before, that she would finally admit these fears to him showed him they’d already moved far beyond where they were three years ago. “Then maybe you stop trying to.” He pressed his mouth to hers, tasted the saltiness of her tears. She clung to him, opened to him, breathed life into him as he lowered her back on the mattress and gave himself over to her. Again.
Chapter 19
Simone tugged Vince’s shirt over her head and slipped out of bed. She looked back at him, both grateful and jealous that he’d found enough peace to sleep. She, on the other hand, couldn’t find any.
His carnal prowess might have settled her body, but her mind? That was another story. Cookies. Yeah, maybe cookies would help.
She went downstairs, popped open the cookie jar from on top of the fridge where Cole had added a fresh supply of lemon sandwich cookies earlier that day. She held two in her palm, considered, added a third. “Oh, the heck with it.” She grabbed the entire jar and took a seat at the breakfast bar where she found the disposable phone Jack had set up for her until her miraculous resurrection occurred.
She saw a voice mail message from Eden, noted the time and took a chance. She called her back.
“Mmm, yeah?” The sleepy voice caught Simone off guard. “Who is this?”
“It’s me.” Simone bit into a cookie and instantly wished for milk. Or coffee. “I wasn’t sure if I’d wake you or not.”
“News flash, I was asleep.” A rustling of blankets and murmurs echoed through the phone. “Hang on a second.”
Simone took that second to turn on the coffeepot.
“Clearly my little gift didn’t have the intended effect,” Eden said with a yawn. “What’d you do? Put Prince Charming into a coma?”
Simone smiled a little and retook her seat. “Not quite. Why did you call?”
“Why did I what?”
If only she could throw coffee through the phone. “There’s a message here from you. I didn’t listen to it.”
“Oh, yeah, okay. Sorry. It was about Jason’s case.” Her sleepy voice gradually gave way to alertness. “I did a lot of digging in some of those areas you can’t exactly access.”
“If there’s a felony involved, please refrain from sharing.”
“Hey, you’re the one who called me and no, there was no felony committed. I think. No, yeah, I’m good. I took a look at the other defendants Jason was accused of working with. They’re a bad crew, Simone. Like seriously bad. But here’s what caught my attention. Did you know Jason fired his original lawyer and went with one provided by his so-called partners in crime?”
“He fired the one who worked out the plea agreement? Elliot something? Yes. I knew, but after the fact.” Simone mumbled around a cookie. “I don’t know the circumstances.”
“Well, I do now. While you were almost getting yourself flambéed yesterday, I had an informal meeting with Elliot. Good guy, actually. Has a reputation for being a real proponent for his clients. If Jason had stuck with him, he’d have been out ages ago.”
“So what happened?” Simone wasn’t entirely sure she liked where this was heading. “Better yet, how did you get him to talk to you?”
“You mean how did I get around that pesky attorney-client privilege thing? Please. I told him I was looking into Jason’s case in connection with another. And then I asked if there was something in particular we should be looking into where Jason was concerned.”
“And?”
“Elliot said he visited Jason three times after his arrest. Once to prepare for a plea bargain—”
“Which he eventually turned down,” Simone said.
“But again, that happened later. Jason was on board as far as Elliot knew. The second time he talked to Jason, Jason admitted he was being threatened by other members of the crew who were already on the inside. And, here’s where things get interesting. Jason wasn’t the only one being threatened. Turns out someone got hold of his brother’s wedding photos that ran in the local paper. That same someone got creative and left them stabbed into his mattress. Next thing Elliot knows, he’s visiting Jason in the medical ward where his client fires him and announces he’s turning down any plea bargain that will reduce a full sentence. He put a stop to it, pled guilty and has been sitting in prison ever since.”
Simone couldn’t swallow. She couldn’t talk. Vince’s wedding photo? Her stomach churned as her entire body went cold. “Hold on.”
She dropped the phone and dived for the sink, gagging and washing her mouth out. When she picked the phone up, Eden was calling her name. “I’m fine. You’re telling me Jason Sutton took almost a ten-year sentence to protect his brother?”
“Mostly.”
“That’s your hedging voice, Eden. Spit it out before the sun comes up.” Which would be in... Simone glanced at the clock. In another four hours.
“Before he signed off Jason’s case, Elliot asked for copies of everything in Jason’s cell. He might have left his office for a few minutes so I could look through them. There were some pretty graphic notes and letters explaining exactly what would happen to Vince.” She hesitated. “And you, if Jason didn’t keep his mouth shut and do his time.”
“Oh, no.�
� Simone sank onto the stool. What was going on in her office? Who had missed this? Jason had been railroaded and now the Denton case was fracturing. None of this had been in the file she’d seen, that she’d been shown. How many other cases, how many other defendants were paying a political price in a game she hadn’t even known was being played? “I want this to be some kind of joke.”
“This kid didn’t have a chance from the moment he was arrested, Simone. His record, his past worked against him. I know you saw his file, but that doesn’t tell half the real story. He went from being willing to take a plea in exchange for testimony to taking the full blame for a robbery he couldn’t have planned in a million years. Every other person involved in that armed robbery went free. Even worse, I’m betting Vince doesn’t know anything about it.”
If Vince had any idea this had gone down, he wouldn’t have stopped until his brother was out. “As far as Vince knows the system had it out for his kid brother and I was complicit.” Simone rubbed her fingers over her forehead. “Turns out he was right.”
“He’s not right. You didn’t know.”
“Not knowing isn’t a valid defense.” Guilt piled on top of regret on top of fear. “I need to fix this.”
“Because you promised Vince?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Simone countered. “And yes, because I promised Vince. But I can’t be seen to be involved.” And that was going to be the trick, wasn’t it? “I’ve got a conflict of interest and can’t make any attempt to get Jason out legitimately.” There was so much at stake over the next few days with the Denton case, how did she add Jason Sutton to the mix?
Not only that, she needed to put some distance between herself and Vince. And fast. She needed to come across as completely impartial where Jason’s case was concerned. If getting his brother out of prison meant she had to sacrifice her future with Vince, it was the least she owed him after all he’d done for her.
Reunited with the P.I. Page 21