Dream Huntress

by Michelle Sharp

  Jordan laughed. “I know, right? I’m really going to miss it. I love to sleep on it.” She nuzzled into his neck. “But I love to have sex on it even more.”

  He groaned and not in the good way. “Great. Now I have to figure out how to buy the damn thing.”

  New emotions filled the room. Better emotions. In fact, Jordan couldn’t remember anything in her life feeling this close to perfection.

  After several minutes of quiet, Ty asked, “When exactly did you decide, you know, that you couldn’t live without me?”

  She smiled against his chest. “The night Lewis kicked me, and you followed me out to Buck’s picnic table, you had me weak-kneed. But by the time you took me back to your parents’ house and took care of me, I was a goner.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Pretty much.” She found his hand and laced her fingers with his. “But the night that Warren—”

  “Shhh, It’s okay, I get it.” He touched a finger to her lips. “You don’t have to talk about that night.”

  “No, actually I do. I saw my dad that night, and I think he saved me. He told me that he was sorry for all the mistakes he made. Even after all these years, it helped. Him taking responsibility helped me understand that I wasn’t the only one to blame for what happened to my family that night. He said it was time to forgive and learn to make connections again. I think he might be right.”

  Emotion overtook her voice. Ty grabbed her hand, kissed it.

  “He also said that you loved me and would find me and take care of me. And just like that, I slipped from his arms into yours.”

  “He sounds like a wise man,” Ty said, pulling her close. “I will most definitely always take care of you.” He gently touched his lips to hers and kissed her as though he was kissing her soul. At that moment, she knew her father had been right. There was a lot to be said for connection. Especially when those connections came in the form of Tyler McGee.

  There would be more police work and there would be more dreams, but the one truth she finally understood was that she no longer needed to dream alone.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Two months later

  St. Louis County Police Chief, Ronald Hyde, gripped the microphone on the podium and began to wind down his speech with a theatrical flair.

  “These officers are a shining example of what can be accomplished when local, state, and federal agencies work together. I’m convinced the St. Louis Interagency Drug Enforcement Team is the most valuable cooperative effort Missouri has in place to fight drugs in our state.”

  Jordan made the mistake of glancing at Bahan. He pinned her with an accusing look as Chief Hide waxed on about the importance of working as a team. Hindsight truly was 20/20. She was lucky to be alive. Lucky she’d kept her badge. And damn lucky Bahan had the authority and inclination to report her strengths and smooth over her less than professional behavior.

  Guilt made her break eye contact with Bahan and look at Ty. The stony expression carved on his face made her heart ache. The commendations she and Ty received today would never be associated with a victory, but rather a painful reminder of what had been lost.

  The way she figured it, they both needed a nice long stretch of sipping tropical drinks and dozing on a warm beach. She hoped that was exactly what Ty had planned for their two weeks off. She’d given him free rein to schedule their vacation anywhere he liked, but God help him if he missed the less than subtle hints about blue Caribbean water lapping at her feet.

  Chief Hyde continued on.

  “Operation China White confiscated over thirty pounds of heroin. By the time it’s cut with additives, that over a million dollars’ worth of drugs off the streets. It was quite a bust.”

  Yeah, Jordan thought as a final applause spread through city hall, it was quite a bust.

  Not only had they gotten a substantial amount of drugs off the streets, four drug runners for the Delago Cartel had also been arrested. One of the runners had been offered immunity for turning evidence against the cartel. They’d gotten a lot of good information out of him, but unfortunately, not the one piece of information Jordan had wanted most: the names of the men who’d killed officers Lee and Benson.

  Today, the families of the fallen officers had been given posthumous commendations. Quite honestly, Jordan found it agonizing to maintain eye contact during that part of the ceremony. Their families had been handed medals in lieu of justice, and the sting of it sliced wide and deep. Every cop knew the risks, particularly working inside the drug world. But you at least had hope that another cop would have your back, catch the asshole who’d gotten the drop on you. Jordan felt the failure of providing that justice in every breath.

  But despite the fact that this case had almost broken both her and Ty, the knowledge that Arlo and Warren Buck were sitting in cells somewhere felt good. It’d feel even better with a margarita in one hand and Ty’s sun-baked biceps under the other. It was finally over, and she was more than ready to get the heck out of Dodge.

  Later, back in her office, she packed up her laptop and edited her phone greeting to basically say: Don’t call me, I’ll call you. All she needed now was one hunky Longdale cop in a swimsuit and frankly, the swimsuit was optional.

  “Hey, gorgeous,” Ty said, walking into her office. “Kiss me now or lose me forever.”

  She raised an eyebrow and leveled a grin at him. “Well, then, front and center, officer.”

  Sauntering toward her, he backed her up as though he was closing in on prey. She quickly became wedged between her desk and a very tempting wall of muscle. He yanked a folder from her hand, tossed it to the desk, and peered down at her. “Is that a direct order, detective? ’Cause my front to your center is one of my favorite positions.”

  His leaned in and kissed her. A sweet, sweet wave of pleasure took her breath away. He tugged at the pins that held her hair in her standard professional bun and then caressed her scalp as her hair fluttered free.

  Her eyes closed, and her head tipped back into his hands. “That feels so good.” She practically purred the words, and his fingers stilled. Her eyes blinked open, and she immediately clicked into his hungry, lust-filled stare.

  Wiggling out of his arms, she shook her finger at him. “Nice try. How many times have I told you no hanky-panky in my office?” She made a good pretense of scolding him, but inwardly she smiled, knowing that if they’d been anywhere but her office...

  “Pack it up then, woman. If you insist on killing my fantasy, we’re out of here.”

  She was intrigued. “You have a fantasy that involves my office?”

  “Well, not so much your office, but”—his hands sketched an hourglass figure—“but that uniform, goddamn it.”

  She looked down at her dress blues. Standard uniform for all ceremonies and in no conceivable way attractive. “Have you lost your mind?” She snorted. “I’m covered from my chin to my toes.”

  “And it’s all very...form fitting.” He blew out a breath and groaned appreciatively.

  “Seriously? In Titus I walked around in a bikini top and cut-offs for days on end. Big hair, lots of make-up. Perfume. Heels. It never fazed you. And you’re saying this”—she flicked a hand up and down her body—“works you up?” She laughed. “You are an incredibly disturbed individual.”

  He moved closer, hooked a finger in the collar of her shirt, and tugged her close. “That’s why they call it a fantasy. Now, if there happens to be red lace underneath all that and you took it off real slow—”

  A knock sounded on the door, and Bahan poked his head in.

  Jordan jumped away from Ty, her face hot with embarrassment.

  Bahan rolled his eyes and whispered, “Get a room,” as he stepped inside. “Listen, my new boss would like to meet you. He used to work in St. Louis, then in Kansas City. He’s back and was impressed with our task force. I’m showing him around a bit.”

  Knowing Ty was ready to manhandle her out the door, she aimed a warning glare at him
.

  She turned back to Bahan. “Sure. Bring him in.”

  “We’re not ever going to leave, are we?” Ty grumbled when Bahan walked out.

  “Shush. You know how much I owe Bahan. Two minutes. They’ll be here; they’ll be gone.”

  Bahan walked in, followed by an attractive older man in a crisp blue suit—salt and pepper hair, meticulously groomed, expensive-looking shoes. He was FBI, all right. He held out his hand to Jordan first.

  “It’s nice to meet you, detective.”

  Bahan jumped in. “Ken, this is Detective Jordan Delany.” He motioned toward Ty. “And Officer Tyler McGee from the Longdale Police Department. Jordan, Ty, this is Special Agent Ken Bellows.”

  Bellows turned toward Ty and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, McGee. Congratulations on a job well done.” He turned back to Jordan. “SLIDE is a wonderful unit. I’ll be throwing all my support behind the effort, and I’m proud that our special agents are a part of it.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Jordan said.

  “It’s exciting to see law enforcement as it should be,” he continued. “When it comes to drugs, we’re in this war together. Whether you’re FBI, DEA, or a city officer, if we don’t work together as a team, shame on us, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Jordan said. Her gaze flashed to Bahan’s. He was gonna irritate her about teamwork and cooperation from now until she retired, she just knew it.

  There was no anger in his expression this time, however. Instead, Bahan winked at her, and an evil smile spread across his face. “Jordan was just saying the same thing. In fact, she could be our poster child for teamwork. Right, Jordan?”

  “Right.” She wondered if Bahan had paid Bellows to set her up that cleanly.

  “I understand you’re on leave for the next two weeks,” Bellows said. “Well deserved and well needed, I’m sure. You kids have a nice vacation.” Bellows headed for the door, then stopped and turned back to her. “By the way, Detective Delany, did you have family that worked for the FBI years ago? Is that what brought you to law enforcement?”

  Not by a long shot. Knowing her father had been on the wrong side of the law was probably the single biggest reason she’d pursued her career. That, however, didn’t seem like information that would endear her to an FBI agent.

  “No, sir. No one in my family is in law enforcement. Why?”

  “The name Delany clicked with me.” He snapped his fingers. “I worked with a Delany years ago. Good agent. He and his family were killed when his cover was blown. I wondered if maybe you were related.”

  His words started spinning in her head. “I don’t think so, sir. I don’t have any living relatives.”

  “You have an uncle, don’t you?” Bahan asked.

  Yeah, the son of a bitch who’d refused to take her in after her parents had been murdered. Jordan glared at Bahan for mentioning it. “I had an uncle. William Delany. We were never close.”

  Bellows paused with his hand on the doorknob. “No, my guy was Jack.”

  Jordan’s heart thundered. Jack was her father’s name.

  “We were working together one night, chasing after two local dealers,” Bellows said. “We’d been watching them for weeks, finally nailed their operation. We chased them into an empty warehouse and took ’em down. I thought we were clear. With no provocation, and no warning, Delany whipped around and shot a third guy. The asshole was probably thirty feet away, a semiautomatic pointed at us. I never heard a sound, but Delany spun around and nailed the guy like he had eyes in the back of his head.”

  Jordan’s gaze darted to Bahan, then to Ty. A roaring rush of blood pounded through her head.

  Ty stepped close, hooked an arm around her waist.

  A chill sliced through her and almost froze the most important question of her life on her tongue, but she managed to force the words out. “Do you remember what time of year Jack Delany’s family was killed?”

  Bellows frowned. “It was horrible. Happened on Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve never been able to smell pumpkin pie or eat turkey without thinking of Jack.”

  Jordan inhaled on a gasp. Ty pulled her tighter against his body.

  Bellows smiled and shook his head. “I still don’t know how he did it, but he saved my ass that night. I asked him how the hell he pulled it off, but the wiseass never told me, just made a joke. Said he must have seen it in a dream.”

  An Excerpt from

  PROTECTING THE DREAM

  Michelle Sharp

  Chapter 1

  St. Louis narcotics detective Jordan Delany sat quietly beside Tyler McGee, the only man who’d ever been able to bring her to a mind-bending orgasm with little more than a steamy look. And she had two whole weeks off to do nothing but sip margaritas and enjoy said man.

  Less than two hours ago, she’d received a medal of commendation for a successful finish to her latest case. As a plus, her bank account had beefed up nicely while she’d been undercover.

  As vacations went, she’d planned on this one being stellar.

  But in true Jordan Delany form, two minutes before starting the vacation of a lifetime, a demon from her past had walked into her office and kicked her squarely in the teeth. Funny how one event in her childhood kept defining and re-defining her adult life.

  An FBI bigwig had offered an innocent congratulations, but then proceeded into a startling string of questions about Jordan’s father. Special Agent Bellows had remembered working with a Special Agent named Jack Delany. Jack had been Jordan’s father’s name, and her mind was still attempting to make sense of the strange coincidence. Jordan’s father had been a drug dealer, not a cop.

  Certainly not a Fed.

  “Hey.” Ty’s voice reverberated through the cab of his truck and shook her back to the here and now. He reached for the radio and turned down the music. “Maybe we should just head home. Put vacation on hold. We can call Bahan, put our heads together, and figure out if the Jack Delany that Bellows mentioned could have possibly been your dad.”

  Still in shock, she shook her head. “It’s just not possible, doesn’t make sense. I was there the day the cops talked to my uncle. I heard them talking about missing drugs and missing money. They said my dad made a horrible decision and it cost him his life. I heard it, Ty. I swear I did.”

  He signaled, pulled the truck off the road and onto a gravel shoulder. He shifted into park and tugged her into his arms, rubbed his hands up and down her back. “I believe you,” he whispered against her ear. “But you were only ten. You could have easily misunderstood.”

  He cupped her face in his hands. “It’s a pretty big coincidence, don’t you think? Bellows working undercover with an FBI agent that had the same name as your dad? Bellows remembering Jack Delany’s family being murdered on Thanksgiving weekend, just like your family? Come on, Jordan. I’m just an outsider, but even I can’t ignore that kind of information.”

  Her throat tightened and burned. The stinging tears she’d tried like hell to avoid ran down her cheeks. “I’ve spent the better part of my life hating my dad because I thought he was a drug dealer. Jesus, God,” she sobbed. “Please don’t tell me I’m that stupid. What kind of dumbass cop makes a mistake like that about her own father?”

  Ty tightened his grip on her cheeks and forced her gaze to his. “The kind that walked through hell as a child and was strong enough to come out on the other side. There’s a lot more to this than we know right now. You are not going to beat yourself up about this, not before we even know what happened.”

  She pulled Ty closer and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Most of her life had been spent avoiding any real connection with other people, but she couldn’t deny that being in his arms, having him understand like no one else ever would, may have been the one thing holding her together.

  Finally, she nodded. “Okay, okay. You’re right. I’ll have to get all the answers one way or another.” She rested a hand on his chest. “But I don’t have to do it in the next two weeks. Bahan is my best FB
I contact; he’ll know how to dig deeper into their system that I ever could. I’ll call him, see what he can come up with.” She took a shaky breath. “Beyond that, the rest will have to wait.”

  Ty looked into her eyes with just a little too much knowledge of all her dark corners. “It’s not a big deal if we push back our vacation and spend a few days—”

  She pressed a finger to his lips. “It’s a very big deal to me. I’ve put my life on hold for twenty years second-guessing what I could have done differently to save my family. And you know what? No matter what I do, no matter what I figure out, it’s never going to bring them back.”

  Ty nodded, but she had no trouble reading the expression on his face. They both knew even if she didn’t reach out to Bahan right away, she’d be worrying the issue in her mind for the full fourteen days.

  Ty worked as a deputy and senior investigator in the small town of Longdale, nearly two hours outside of St. Louis. At first glance, he radiated the easygoing charm of a good ol’ boy from Small Town, Missouri. But in reality, his skills and intuition were as lethal as those of any cop Jordan had ever worked with. He missed nothing, particularly when it came to her.

  She leaned close and brushed her lips against his. “I want this time with you. I need this time with you, and I don’t want what happened today to affect one second of our vacation.”

  Ty nodded. “Vacation it is, then.” He brushed her hair back, tucked it behind her ear, and then leaned close. “Make no mistake, I will definitely be giving you everything you need while we’re gone.”

  He whispered the words devilishly against her neck and then closed his teeth gently on her earlobe, a move he knew robbed her of the capacity for rational thought. They’d only been in a relationship for a few months, but in those months she’d felt more alive than she had in the previous twenty years put together.

  His tongue, seriously gifted in so many ways, worked in tandem with his breath to reduce her to nothing more than a sex junkie.