by Measha Stone
Scott scratched his jaw. “Her sister hasn’t gotten back to us. Do you happen to know anything about her?”
“Her sister? She had an adoptive sister, but they didn’t talk.” Steve nodded at a group of men walking past them.
“Anything else you can think of that might help us? She have any friends at work, someone close we should talk to?” Scott pressed.
“Work?” Steve laughed. “She was a workhorse, really went after accounts hard. I doubt anyone in that office would be considered a friend. No, as far as I know, she didn’t have time for friends. She really only put up with me because I wasn’t battery operated.” He glanced at Sophie and cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
“I understand what you mean.” She smiled, probably to assure him she hadn’t been offended.
“Where’d you two meet?” Scott asked. Susan James didn’t seem the sort to give a great first impression.
Steve quickly glanced around them; a soft blush crept onto his neck. “Online. Just the usual dating site. You know, long-walks-on-the-beach sort of stuff.”
“Think she might have gone back on the site after you two split?” Sophie asked, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
“I don’t think she ever left.” He made a face, clearly explaining that Susan wasn’t a one-man woman. “She was out for whatever suited her at that moment. We weren’t a good fit, I saw that right away, but the sex was good.” He grimaced again. “Sorry.”
“If you think of anything that might help, make sure you give us a call.” Scott handed him a business card.
“I will.” Steve pocketed the card. The walkie-talkie strapped to his chest sprang to life. “That’s me. We good here?” he asked with hand hovering over the button.
“Yeah. We’ll be in touch if we have any other questions,” Sophie said.
Steve nodded and walked away, already answering the call from dispatch and hurrying to the motor pool.
“You believe him?” Sophie asked him starting to work up the zipper of her jacket.
“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know more than he’s told us.” He brushed her hand away when the material of the jacket got stuck in the zipper and she struggled with it. A quick yank, and zip and she was bundled back up. He couldn’t help but grin down at her. “Warm enough?”
“Shut up, it’s freezing outside.” Her smile countered the stinging words, and a soft blush blossomed to her ears. Damn she was edible.
“Sophie!” a dark voice boomed from across the room. The smile dropped from her full lips, and Scott’s hands fisted at his sides.
“Travis.” Sophie pulled her hair out from where it had been tucked into her coat and turned to face the asshole.
“Good to see you.” His smile bordered on a sneer. “I didn’t think I would after you ran away.” He ended his sentence just as he stepped up to them but held enough volume a few officers walking by turned to stare. Bastard.
“I transferred, not ran,” she said in a tight tone.
“Ah, so you’re working over in the seventh district now? This your partner?” He jerked his chin toward Scott. “Scott, right? Yeah. I remember you.” He waggled a finger in the air. “I understand the two of you make quite the pair.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Scott stepped toward him.
“It means it looks like my girl couldn’t get what she wanted here, so she ran off to find it on the other side of town.” Travis flashed Sophie a knowing grin.
“She’s not your girl,” Scott said with clenched teeth. Just being near him was enough to get worked up, but for him even to pretend to have a claim on his Sophie was too much.
“Scott.” Sophie’s expression morphed into shock, her nostrils flared, and her lips pressed together. Letting out a huff, she turned to Travis. “Scott and I are working a case, but we’re done here. It was nice seeing you.” She’d started to turn when Travis put his hand on her shoulder.
Scott clenched his hands, reminding himself where they were and who they were. Taking his fist to the asshole’s face would feel good, for a moment, but ultimately it would end badly.
“Sophie, don’t run off. Look, I know things were a little embarrassing for you, but you didn’t have to change districts.”
Sophie shoved his hand from her shoulder and squared off with him. Travis had two inches on her, but she didn’t cower.
“I had nothing to be embarrassed about. You should have been embarrassed. Going through my apartment like some creep, digging around in my underwear drawer? Seriously, Travis. It was weird. I’m good where I am now, and it’s only a bonus that I don’t have to see your stalker face every day.”
Travis ran his tongue along his bottom teeth while regarding her. His upper lip curled under, and his nostrils flared. Tension built in Scott’s chest, but he couldn’t stop it from happening.
“Yeah, well, I don’t mind not having the reminder of my chubby-chaser phase. Thankfully, it was a short phase.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Scott stepped forward, despite Sophie’s hand on his arm tugging him back. “Can you really be that big a prick, still? Did you forget the part where you’re supposed to grow up and be a fucking man?” He wedged himself between Sophie and Travis.
Travis’s eyes widened, and he licked his lips like he was getting ready. Maybe the little bitch thought if Scott threw the first punch, someone would save him. Travis’s head reached Scott’s eyebrows, and his build hadn’t grown over the years like Scott’s had. Apparently, there wasn’t as much tail to chase at the gym, these days.
“Scott. Scott!” Sophie tugged on his arm. “Stop it.”
Travis huffed a laugh. “What, you taking a turn now?”
Heat burst through Scott’s body, and an explosion built beneath his skin. Getting his hands around this asshole’s neck would be just the soothing medicine he needed. How could Sophie ever have dated this guy? Could she not see what a buffoon he was?
“No. He’s not.” Sophie yanked on Scott again. He bit into the side of his cheek and took a step back. They were in the damn precinct. Getting into a barroom brawl wouldn’t do anything other than cause a few appointments with internal affairs.
“We have to get back to work.” Sophie turned away from Travis, but her eyes blazed with fury. She could be angry at Travis for his shitty comment or pissed at Scott for getting involved. He would sort it out when they got to the car.
“Yeah,” Travis said, giving Scott another sneer. “Need to get back to work.”
Scott took half a step toward him, making him retreat a full step before turning around. Sophie couldn’t just brush off a comment like that; it had to sting her. Meanwhile, Travis just walked away looking completely unphased. He should be feeling the pain of a broken fucking nose after talking to her that way.
Fuck.
When he was in the military, he wouldn’t have thought twice. Back then, he would have swung first and thought about consequences later. But after bunking down with Grayson and Sammy for over a year in a war-torn country, he’d learned to use his head before his fists.
Sophie was already on the sidewalk before Scott caught up with her. She had her cell to her ear, and when she noticed him she turned her back to him.
Great.
She walked down the street, and he fell in step beside her.
“Yeah, no, I get it. Think you’ll have something by tomorrow?” she asked into her phone.
Scott stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
“Good. Let me know as soon as you have it, thanks.” She clicked off the phone and slid it into her pocket.
“Anything I should know about?” he asked after several long moments went by in silence.
“Craig can’t find the original email. He’s gone through the vic’s computer from home and work.”
“Well, why would she send the email out? It has to be from somewhere else.”
“That’s what I said. He checked the server at her firm and found nothing. He’s goi
ng to see about getting access to Mrs. Singleton’s computer and server at her new job. If she got the email, he should be able to track it down that way. He should have something tomorrow.” Her clipped tone, along with her speed walking didn’t give him the opening he hoped for.
“And Steve was pretty much a dead end, although I’m going have IT check into her dating profiles. Maybe there’s something else there that can be helpful. Her parents—I guess adoptive parents—passed a while back, so, other than her sister, there isn’t any other family. We’ll have to send a uniform out to the sister’s house and try to contact her that way.” Sticking to the case until they were in private would work in his favor. Professionalism was on the forefront of her mind, and having seen Travis, he could understand her hesitation to let anyone inside their precinct know they were anything more than partners.
“Yeah. We’ll start with the dating profiles up tomorrow.” She let out a long puff of air. “I’m really beat. I think I’ll just get an Uber and head home.”
And get out of having to talk about what bothered her? Uh, no.
“I don’t think so.” He shook his head and grabbed hold of her elbow before she got the idea of walking away from him. Looking over his shoulder, he gauged the precinct far enough way they wouldn’t be spotted, or at least not overheard.
“Scott.” She sighed, like she was annoyed at his attention.
“No. You’re obviously upset, and we should talk about it. You know, like adults. No running off to pout in separate corners.”
Heat blazed in her eyes. If only it were arousal instead of anger.
“Talk about what, Scott? How you just bulldozed your way into a conversation? How you got all Neanderthal back there?” She yanked her elbow free and jerked a thumb toward the station. “I don’t need you to fucking protect me against verbal assaults. I’m not a little girl. I can take the insults just fine. And I sure as fuck can stand up for myself.”
Of course, she could. He’d never doubted for a moment she could hand Travis his ass if the situation called for it.
“I want you to lower your voice,” he commented.
She laughed. “What?”
“I get that you’re mad, and I understand the point you’re trying to make, but you don’t get to yell at me.”
She jabbed a finger into his chest. “It’s your behavior that’s being discussed right now, not mine.”
“That is the case, yes, but if you don’t stop pointing that finger at me and raising your voice to me, the tables are going to turn—and not for the better.” He could admit when he’d stepped over the line, and he would apologize immediately once his mind wrapped around his error. But he would not allow his girl to act like some screaming banshee when she was angry.
“You can’t be fucking serious.”
“We’ll talk about this when you’re calm.” He laced his arm through hers and took a step forward. When she gave slight resistance, he leaned down. “I’m happy to throw your ass over my shoulder and really show you what a Neanderthal I can be. Or maybe you’d like me to bare your ass right here in this alleyway”—he nodded toward the entrance—“and give you a spanking before we get in the car.”
Anger flashed in her eyes, but she started moving. “You were the one who acted like an ass.”
“Not a word until you’re ready to talk about this calmly and without cursing,” he said.
“But—”
“Two minutes with a gag when we get back to my place. Keep talking if you want to make it five.” He stared at her, watching her lips twitch, the need to defend herself simmering in her expression until she regained control of herself and pinched her lips closed. He nodded and started for the car.
She had valid points. Jumping into that conversation hadn’t been needed, and definitely could have drawn more attention than she was comfortable with at the moment. The idea was to ease her into a grander picture of them, and there he had been shoving her right into the fire.
But he could not tolerate her being disrespectful. And she didn’t want him to tolerate it either. She may not see it at the moment, or even during her ass whipping, but once it was settled, once the heat of her ass worked its way into her core, and her heart stopped hardening against the injustice and allowed softness to take over, she would see he was only putting them back into place. He was giving her what she wanted. What they both needed.
But he doubted she would go quietly over his knee.
And a part of him really hoped she wouldn’t.
Chapter 14
When Sophie was a child, her mother constantly warned her about pushing limits. If she was told to sit quietly in the corner, she just had to whistle or do something equally obnoxious until her mother gave up and let her out. Unfortunately, the same need to needle thrived inside the adult version of Sophie, and she managed to earn herself ten minutes with a gag.
It would give her time to calm down, she figured. At least then she could come up with an idea of how to derail his thought of any sort of punishment. He’d been the one misbehaving, not her, and once she could rationally discuss it with him, surely he would see it.
Scott rode beside her in the elevator to his condo in silence. The little tick in his cheek had stopped. That had to be a good sign.
Once inside, he helped her out of her coat and hung it in the closet, along with her purse. He made sure her phone was tucked away in a pocket of her bag and left it in the closet as well, shaking his head when she protested.
He crooked a finger, which she assumed meant she should follow him, and follow the leader she did, right to his bedroom. No, she didn’t want to be in there yet. Bedrooms were for couples, and they weren’t a couple. They were, well, partners both on the job and sort of the same off the job. Friends who were having some fun.
“Can I wait in the living room, please?” she asked, holding her hands behind her back and digging her nails into her wrists.
He glanced over at her where she hung out in the doorway, his brow furrowed slightly, but he didn’t deny her. “There’s a guest bedroom if you’d rather we took care of this in there.”
She released her hands. “Yeah, that’s fine.” At least he wasn’t pushing her. It had to seem weird, her unease at being his bedroom. But since he was focused on the current issue, it seemed she’d be able to skirt having to talk about that as well.
“To the right.” He jerked a thumb. “Might as well disrobe while you’re waiting,” he said and opened his closet. Whatever he was looking for, she could contain her anticipation to find out. A moment to breathe openly had been granted, and she hightailed it to the next room.
A simple room furnished with a double bed, dresser, TV. More like a hotel room than a guest room, but she supposed it got the job done. Shaking her head, she reminded herself she needed to get her game in order. She needed him to understand she could stand on her own two feet. That just because she was interested in exploring her submissive side, and she agreed she enjoyed the idea of discipline being part of a relationship, she did not need him to be her body guard, especially against stupid apes she could easily take care of on her own.
“I guess you aren’t in the mood to follow directions tonight.” Scott walked into the room, straight to the dresser, and plunked down several items.
“I wanted to talk to you. This isn’t all my fault.” She pointed out. Not really the way she had thought to go, but it was at least a start.
“Never said it was. Now. You have ten minutes with the gag, so strip down and kneel at the foot of the bed.” He picked up the black ball gag from the dresser and unbuckled it.
She swallowed back the refusal burning on her tongue. Ten minutes—not so bad. Sophie pulled off her clothes and neatly piled them on the dresser beside his arsenal. She could have done without seeing the hairbrush paddle. Her mother also always told her she was her own worst enemy.
“I just—”
He clamped a hand over her mouth. “You just nothing. You will just kneel in position and
open your mouth wide for me. That’s what you’ll just do.” Had he ever used that deep tone with her before? She would have realized it if he had. Because it sent a chill down her spine but warmed her insides at the same time. Who knew a tone of voice could turn a human body into a weather report.
Deciding compliance would serve her better, she nodded. Once he released her, she stepped over to the bed and sank to her knees. Thankfully, the room was covered in plush carpeting, so her knees weren’t on bare wood. Though she had a feeling the worst of the pain she would feel by the time he finished with her would be spread throughout her ass.
He shoved the ball between her teeth and strapped it around her head, buckling it behind her. She winced at the few hairs he pulled, but overall, she let him get the job done. Compliance.
Another chill went through her when he stood, towering over her kneeling form. Not so much because of the force he represented, but from the lack of his presence. The soft touches he’d given her that morning, the minor brush of his hand across her back as they walked down a hall seemed to have happened so long ago. Replaced now by a separation between them. Though he stood only a few steps away, he might as well have been in the next apartment.
Could it all be because he was displeased?
After the silence made her skin itch, she looked up at him. His arms were crossed, his eyes set firmly on her.
He glanced at his watch. “Ten minutes.”
The ball already stretched her jaw, but she’d bear it. She could handle it.
Scott sat on the edge of the bed, hooked his finger into the leather strap running from her mouth to buckle, and pulled on it until she moved to face him. He removed his finger, and she moaned internally for the loss.
“You aren’t a woman to be fucked with.” He caught her off-guard with his statement. His eyes still screamed displeasure, but there he was complimenting her.
He leaned forward enough she could smell his aftershave, but not close enough for her to truly feel him.
“It’s one of the things I’m attracted to about you. So, yeah, you could have handled Travis on your own, and you did. You didn’t let him get under your skin and make you react out of anger. You did better than me in that department.” His tongue wet his lips. “I’m proud of you for that.”