For All to See (Bureau Series Book 1)

by Megan Mitcham

  “Fuck.” His hands balled into fists at his sides. “I wish it wouldn’t.” His head lulled. “I just won’t ask a woman to subjugate herself for my pleasure.”

  “How have you kept them from throwing themselves at your feet? Do you go for the snub-nosed conservative type?”

  “They go for me. I don’t pursue women.”

  “So you call all your sly comments and devilish tongue not pursuing a woman?”

  “You’re different.”

  More than she should, Madelyn hoped his whisper was true. “Most women would go for a door opening, cooking, cleaning, employed, good-ole boy who won’t make them suck cock.” She nodded and took another step. “I can see it. Plus you look like a fucking great Southern edition of GQ. But let me tell you something you and all those other women don’t know.”

  Madelyn collapsed on her knees in front of him and ran her hands over his tight thighs to his fly. The button slipped between the fabric. His fly screamed open. She pulled down his shorts and boxers in one easy motion, and then looked him in the eyes. “This is the most erotic and most powerful position for the fairer sex.”

  Her gaze dropped to clear pre-cum smeared over a narrow head. She licked her lips and canted her head to better see the wide shaft that bulged his dusky skin.

  “So you’ve never had a blow-job?”

  “Fuck. No. And if you don’t quit looking at my junk like that, I think I’m going to come before you touch me.”

  A grin the size of the Big Bad Wolf’s spread her lips. “This is going to be so fun.”

  “For you?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “It’s going to be torture for me. I don't want to hurt you. It’s not like my dick is a good fit for your sweet mouth.”

  “Sweet, huh?” Madelyn latched onto his lean hips, wet her lips, and then pressed them against the head of his cock. She used the slick tang of his lust to lubricate his thick column. Ballooned veins ribbed his length. A sigh of ecstasy rumbled in her throat as she pressed him deeper.

  His tip brushed her tonsils and he groaned. The heady sensation of authority over this virile and heartbreakingly sweet man’s pleasure made her nipples stiff. He was always eager to prove a point, but now it was her turn. She slid to his curved head, and then slowly sank back to mid-shaft. Her jaw relaxed. Her gaze reached for his, desperate to see his reaction.

  Madelyn swallowed him inch by delectable inch, but had to stop short from his base. The man didn’t joke about the fit. She pulled back before her eyes watered and he called the whole thing off. Though—judging by the flare of his pelvic muscles, the clench of his fists, and the look of cannibalism in his eyes—he might be too far gone to care. Satisfaction prodded her to the edge. She pumped him deep for long enough that Nathan’s fingers plunged into her hair and he muffled a string of obscenities.

  Her skin prickled. Nothing existed but their need. His need for release. Her need to give it to him.

  She backed off, firmed her lips, hollowed her cheek, and sucked. The lips of her sex dampened. Nathan’s control broke. His hips rocked in time with her working mouth.

  “Good fuc—”

  Her increased pace stopped his exclamation, but she figured the two words fit perfectly. A warning shot warmed her mouth. Greedily, she took it all and got more. After she sucked him dry, she stood, wanton, and wildly willing to forgo protection to get him inside her. “Just a kiss, right?”

  Nathan used his grip on her hair and pulled her in for a ferocious kiss. Their sweat and scents mingled in an erotic cologne that did little for her intellect and everything for her libido.

  He pushed her back to arm’s length. “Get in the water before I wrap your legs around me and bury my dick inside you.”

  “That’s not really incentive to go.”

  The line of his brow smoothed. “Are you on the pill?”

  Well that took the wind right out of her sails. “No. I haven't had to be.”

  “Ever?”

  She shrugged.

  “Are you a virgin?”

  “No, but my most major sexual relationship has been with myself.”

  “Really?” He wiggled a brow.

  “I’ve had sex with men. A couple. To make sure I wasn’t…broken.”

  “There’s nothing broken about you, Madelyn. Stubborn? Yes. Cautious? Yes. But those aren’t bad traits. Well…” His lips pursed and waggled.

  “Hey!” She protested with a step in his direction.

  His hands shot out as though she bore the plague. “I’m usually a self-controlled guy, but with you…” His gaze honed on hers. “Unless you’re ready to welcome a strapping baby boy in nine months and marry me months before that, get your ass to the boat.”

  She stumbled back, but his words took her much further aback. Like Canada back. A wedding and a family had never been on her horizon. Were they on his? And if they were, how did she feel about that? This? Them? Was there even a them to think about?

  A wave brushed her calves, and then her thighs.

  “The faster we get back, the faster I can get inside you. You get the boat ready. I’ll wrangle Deacon and grab our stuff.”

  Madelyn dove into the sea and let the current play with her until her lungs burned. Heaven knew the tumult of it couldn’t compare to the emotions Nathan wrought inside her. Joy. Surprise. Peace. Ecstasy. Fear. Love.

  33

  Nathan downshifted in the turn, and nearly snapped the ball right off of the shifter. He wanted to blow past the junker of a car that had gotten in front of them a mile back. Madelyn’s giggled filled the open topped car.

  “What happened to not rushing this?”

  “We’re not in the middle of the ocean and about as far away from condoms as a man can get. Plus…” He dared a glance at her long legs sticking out of the bottom of her thin cover-up. “Damnit, woman. I know you’re naked under there and exactly what all that real estate looks like. And tastes like.”

  Her legs shifted and shuffled in the seat.

  What the hell was he doing almost literally screwing with a case? At the very least he could get lumped into the same category as Dick. At the worst his straying focus could get Madelyn hurt. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of her as a case, as a potential victim.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered. “Not as long as I can help it.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.” The thought of losing her at all clawed at his guts. The thought of losing her to the Field-Dresser turned his blood to ice.

  Nathan wheeled the Jeep onto her foliage crowded driveway, rolled slowly along, and scanned the density for anything out of the ordinary. He stopped the car short of its destination.

  In the back seat Deacon stood and yipped.

  “What’s wrong?” Madelyn straightened in the seat.

  “Amadi’s here.”

  “Where?”

  “Edge of the woods. Left of where you park.”

  “I don’t see him.”

  “Neither does my team. The sneaky bastard.” He reached into the console and handed Madelyn the gun he’d given her the other night. “Stay here. No matter what, don’t get out. Do you understand?”

  Her gaze bounced back and forth between him and the wood line. She drew a shaky breath and nodded.

  This guy had size and years of lethal fighting skill on his side. Nathan had a gun. He wouldn’t hesitate to use it to protect Madelyn. He exited the Jeep and squared his shoulders.

  The shadow in the tree line shifted. Amadi Chiduben emerged from the foliage with both palms up. Though the guy was all right for the profile, from another angle he was all wrong. The fact that his skin was blacker than night and that most serial killers were Caucasian didn’t play into it. His eyes did. A psychopath’s face could change, show expressions of joy and sadness, but true emotions never hit their eyes.

  Even from half a football field away clear anguish pulled at the man’s face and clouded his amber gaze. Nathan stopped two yards from him—a distance the
giant could cover in a blink—and settled his palm over his Glock.

  “What do you want?”

  “I am sorry for unsettling you yesterday. When Madelyn didn’t show up to the gym I needed to know she was okay.”

  “Why not call?”

  “She doesn’t have a phone.”

  He didn’t know she had a phone, because up until a few days ago she hadn’t. “Why snoop around the woods like a suspect?”

  “I grew up in these woods. I heard the killer had stalked Deacon in the brush and I thought…I don’t know. Maybe I could find a clue.”

  “A clue?” He’d heard a lot of lame excuses in his day and this one took the cake, which meant it was probably close to the truth. People lied better than that. Especially when given time to fabricate it. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  The man’s huge chest inflated slowly and he huffed a breath. “It’s a long story, but I think it will help you figure out who’s killing these women.”

  Nathan cocked his head. “I’m all ears.”

  “It will make me look more guilty than I already do.”

  “Must be one hell of a story.”

  “Nathan,” Madelyn called from the Jeep.

  “I want to hear this story of yours. So, don’t go away. And…you can put your hands down.”

  “You’re not going to shoot me?”

  “Not unless you pull a weapon, run away, or run at me.”

  He returned to the car, keeping Amadi in his line of sight until he chanced a glance at Madelyn.

  She thrust a phone into his hands. “I grabbed your phone from the bag to call for help, if we needed it, and saw you have about four missed calls.”

  “Where’s your phone?”

  She shrugged. “Inside, maybe.”

  “If you don't have it on you, it does you no good.”

  “Says the man who left his phone in the car.”

  “You distracted me…too much.”

  The device vibrated against Nathan’s palm. Dick’s number flashed on the readout. He answered the call and put it to his ear.

  “Don’t shoot him,” Dick said.

  “Why not?”

  “When Trisha Sutherland was killed he was in a tournament in Shanghai. Won the whole damn thing. Then went to the Henan province to live with Shaolin Monks.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Nope. You might want to stand a little farther back. I think this guy could kill you with a hard stare.”

  “What about the other murders?”

  “Teaching until eight-forty-five the night Starks went missing, which makes it pretty unlikely he island hopped, took her, tortured her, and then hung her in time to get back for a god-awfully early morning class.”

  “Which he taught?”

  “Yep. And none of the people I interviewed thought anything was out of the ordinary those days.”

  “Not that they could remember, at least.”

  “His girlfriend at the time of Starks and Young’s murders said they had a very romantic night on the beach and back at his place when Young went missing. And everything else checks out clean. The cousin does too, only opposite. He paid for the kid to go to the Shanghai tournament the following year. He got creamed. He taught while Amadi was gone, and there were a bunch more women on his alibi roster.”

  “The bartender is looking pretty sketchy. Lots of odd jobs and small time crimes.”

  “I want you to look into Adrian Tau’s wife. See if you can find her.”

  “How about we trade places and you look into it?”

  Nathan disconnected the phone.

  “What’d he say?” Madelyn asked, her face scrunched with concern.

  “Amadi’s not our guy.” When the smile grew too big for her face, he added, “But that doesn’t mean I trust him.”

  “So, now what?”

  “We go listen to his story.”

  “What story?”

  “I have no idea.”

  34

  “Are the cuffs really necessary?” Madelyn scoffed.

  “He can cuff himself or I can hold a gun on him the whole time.” Nathan patted his side arm. “You pick.”

  “Fine.” She released the cuffs and watched Nathan walk to Amadi and toss over the manacles. When they entered the house she pulled the Jeep into its normal spot, grabbed the waterproof bag, and hustled Deacon in through the back door. She needed underclothes before dealing with company.

  Slightly more presentable, she practically ran into the kitchen where Amadi made her dining table look like a children’s toy and her big dog sitting on his lap look like a puppy. “Deacon, have some manners. I’m so sorry about that, and those.” She stared at the cuffs. Her pup huffed off to his bed in the corner.

  The man’s brilliant smile lit the room. “I’m not. I’m glad he’s doing okay. And this,” he held up the handcuffs, “means you’re finally letting someone look out for your best interests. As long as they’re not permanent, I’m okay.”

  “A drink? Food? Can I get you guys anything?” She sounded jumpy to her own ears and hated it.

  “Water would be great,” Nathan whispered from just a few steps behind her.

  She rushed through the kitchen, grabbing cups and filling them. When she sat down a sheen of sweat had formed between her breasts.

  “How are you, Madelyn?” Amadi asked.

  “Good considering my world has been turned upside down.” She tugged at the edge of her cover-up. “I have grieved for my friend, but now I’m focused on justice for her.”

  Nathan pulled out the chair for Madelyn to sit with the table between her and Amadi, while he pulled a stool from the bar and perched on the edge, blocking any access Amadi might have to her. Her heart hiccupped at the protective gesture. “So, what do you need to get off your chest?”

  Amadi’s bound hands sat atop the table. He rubbed his thumbs together and stared at them. “My father was a poor builder, but he was a great man. He taught me what it is to respect yourself, so that you can respect others. Even more than I’ve trained to be the best, I’ve trained to be the best man like my father was. While I could fight just about anyone and win, I’ve never been in a true fight. I’ve never hit someone outside the ring. I help people find the best of themselves.

  “So, when I meditated on the southern mountains of the island four years ago I refused to believe what I saw with my own two eyes. Because I look for the best in people. That area of the mountains isn’t populated. It’s stripped of man’s sounds and nature takes over. Back then, I would go there once a month to be alone with my thoughts. But on that day I was not alone on the mountain.”

  Madelyn’s pulse kicked up a notch.

  Amadi lifted his head and stared at Nathan. “Grunts pulled me from peace. Curious, I moved closer to the noise. Concealed by the woods I watched as an ox-like man trudged his way up the incline. He labored because he carried something large over his shoulders.

  “I left, immediately unsettled at the sight, and never returned to my mountain retreat. I pushed the image out of my mind. Just a farmer burying one of his fallen stock. I told myself it was nothing and of no consequence, but now I fear it is of grave consequence.” He bowed his head in disgust.

  Nathan’s orders began, “Describe what he was carrying.”

  “It was long and draped over his shoulder. A fallen soldier was the first thing that came to mind. It was covered in a dark blanket. The tips weren’t pulled tight, which is why I refused to believe what I know now that it was.”

  She pushed way the glass of water, afraid she’d meet it again if she drank anymore.

  “Did you see the man’s face?”

  “No. He was moving away from me, farther south.”

  “Skin color?”

  “White.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this sooner? Years ago?”

  “Denial, I guess. Murders, things like this, don’t happen here.”

  Nathan fired a barrage of questions and Amadi answered
them all. They went over every detail of that day until Madelyn’s head spun. She stood.

  “Are you okay?” both men asked in unison.

  “I need to busy myself before I go crazy.” Though she had no appetite the thought of feeding people eased the quivering inside. “I’m going to cook something.” She piddled while they went over everything and more again.

  “Can I help with anything?” Amadi asked some forty minutes later.

  “You can eat some of this feast I’ve concocted.” She gestured to the vegetable fajitas, rice, beans, and salad cluttering her counter. Nathan stood in the threshold of the living room with the phone to his ear, peered at the spread, and smiled.

  “It looks great, but I don’t think I can eat right about now.”

  “I’m so sorry about all this.”

  “Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

  “He took your fancy bracelets off.”

  “Let’s hope for good.” Amadi’s long fingers rubbed at his wrists. “I can’t help but think that if they find a body and I’m the one who told them about it, then I’ll be the one they lock up for it.”

  Madelyn extended her hand across the island and covered part of his with her own. “No matter how well the truth is buried, no matter how secure the locks, it always finds a way to escape. Reality is relentless and so are we.”

  Amadi folded her hands between his and bowed.

  “It’s taken care of. You’ll meet them at the tent at dawn, take them to the site, and help with the search.” Nathan announced.

  “I will,” her friend agreed.

  “Sure you won’t stay for dinner? I have enough to feed at least the two of you,” Madelyn offered.

  “Man, y’all grow abnormally large around here.” Nathan raised his chin to look Amadi in the eyes. “I’m not short, but if I stay here much longer I might develop a complex.”

  “It’s all in the genes,” Amadi told him. “You know most of our ancestors were slaves in the cane fields.”

  “I’ve learned a thing or two in Ms. Garrett’s class.” Nathan nodded.

  “You all stay safe.” Amadi gave one last bow, and then left.

  “I want eyes on him all night,” Nathan said into the walkie-talkie he pulled from his pocket. “Just in case.”