“This what you were looking for?”
“Yep,” she said grimly. “Thanks for the ride.” She slid down and slammed the door.
Aware of her surroundings, aware, Mac/Mark hadn’t taken off yet, Aubrey tugged on her gloves as she approached the hill above Erich’s house, where Sheriff Doherty and a female deputy were poking around.
“Did you find where he was shooting from?” she asked, approaching the sheriff.
“We’re thinking this is the best angle, but it snowed again after he left and we can’t find where he was positioned. Maybe it would be better if we waited until the snow melts. Should be gone by tomorrow. Not sure what we can tell if we find it now anyway.”
“We can tell what kind of gun he was using, and that might narrow down our suspects.” Though she knew in her gut who it was. “Have you turned up any strangers in town? Anyone driving an older luxury car?”
“I made calls to motels in nearby towns. We have a couple of possibilities, and I’ve sent Daryl out to follow up.”
She ground her back teeth. That was a stronger lead than this. If she had a vehicle at her disposal, she’d check it out herself.
“Why don’t I help you look out here and you can send your deputy to help follow up at the motels?” She motioned to the young woman.
The young woman looked up, relieved. “I don’t mind sitting on my ass in the warm car.”
The sheriff looked doubtful, and Aubrey wasn’t sure if it was because he resented her interference or because he didn’t know if the young woman—who was pregnant, Aubrey could see now—was capable.
“Be in radio contact,” he said to the young woman.
“Yes, sir,” she said in a long-suffering tone that had Aubrey raising her eyebrows.
“My daughter Lori,” the sheriff said tiredly when the young woman climbed into the second car. “Expecting my first grandson.”
“That must be challenging. I can’t imagine working with my father.”
“She always wanted to follow in my footsteps. Made me happy until she actually strapped on a gun and pinned on a badge. Now I’m petrified every day.”
“Does she like the job?”
“She does, and she was excited about coming out here today. As you can imagine, it’s usually pretty quiet out here. She’s good at what she does, but once she found out she was pregnant, her priorities shifted. She’s not sure she wants to stay active when the baby’s born. Her husband makes a good living, so she could stay at home with the baby if she wanted to, and I’m thinking she might want to, for a few years.” The sheriff coughed into his glove. “Don’t know why I spilled my life story like that.”
She didn’t, either, but it made her like the man a little more. She patted his arm. “We worry about the ones we love. Now, let’s see what we can find out.”
Erich pulled up in front of his house as yet more snow began to fall, and saw the two figures bobbing around on the hillside. He heard a shout and saw the slender figure bend, motioning to the other.
Aubrey.
He charged up the hill toward her. “What the hell?”
She rose in a fluid movement, holding out a hand to stop him. “Hang on there. We finally found our crime scene.”
He’d seen enough detective shows to know to stop. “How long have you been out here?”
“Long enough to need some coffee. Can you go make us some?”
He started to argue, but despite her wind-reddened face and dripping nose, she looked damned confident standing there, gun on her hip, feet apart, snow in her hair and on her lashes.
Hot.
He suddenly had lots of ways to warm her up. He turned away and headed down to the house.
He returned minutes later with a thermos of coffee, two cups and a heavy shearling jacket and knit hat. He held the garments to her wordlessly. She looked at him a moment before dragging the hat over her hair, covering her ears, and shrugging into the coat. Once his hands were free, he poured coffee into the cups she and the sheriff held.
“Find anything?” he asked.
She held up the long cartridge in her gloved fingers. A chill went through him that had nothing to do with the temperature. Whoever had been shooting at them meant business. He swore and took a step forward.
“Winchester .270?” he asked.
“Looks like,” she replied.
“Anyone around here could have a rifle like that,” the sheriff pointed out.
“But who has motive to sit up here in the cold and shoot at us? They didn’t know when I was going to leave, if I was going to spend the night.” Her face flushed at the words. “So they followed us back from the dance and camped out here.”
“Were they actually outside or in a car?” Erich asked.
“I think they were sitting in a car at first, which is lucky for me, but by the time I got to my car, they were out and in sniper mode.”
“These guys you suspect, the gang members, do they have people trained to shoot like that? Like snipers?” Erich asked.
“As far as I know, no, but I don’t think theses guys were necessarily trained. I mean, if they were, we might be dead.” She held his gaze for a long moment. “They were using the rifle and the stance, but probably only because they’d seen it in a movie or video game. They didn’t really know what they were doing, lucky for us.”
“I will say this eliminates the possibility of one of Erich’s old girlfriends. These guns have a hell of a recoil,” Sheriff Doherty said, plucking the shell from her fingers and putting it in an evidence bag. “We’ll get this fingerprinted.”
“Sheriff.” Lori’s voice crackled over the radio on his hip.
He looked at Aubrey while he unhooked it to answer.
“What’d you find?” he asked his daughter.
“Two male suspects driving a car like Aubrey described were staying at a motel in Sisterdale,” she reported. “They checked in yesterday but never came back. But I do have a license plate number.”
“Put out a BOLO and head back to the station. Pick up lunch on the way. We’re heading in, too.”
“Did you find something?”
“We did.” He signed off the radio and turned to Aubrey. “We’ll keep you informed. Nothing much to do now but wait for a hit on the fingerprint and the BOLO. Keep your eyes peeled, though, in case they want to finish what they started.”
Aubrey rolled her shoulders and looked like she wanted to say something. Instead she nodded, and in a few minutes, the sheriff was gone.
“Come inside and warm up.” Erich motioned with the cup the sheriff had handed him toward the house. “How did you get here, anyway?”
“Mac or Mark brought me. I don’t remember his name. He drives a green pick-up.”
“Mason,” he said with a chuckle, reaching a hand to steady her when she slid in the snow.
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure. Hates my guts. Thought he should have been foreman instead. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.”
“He didn’t say much. He was curious why I wanted to come out here, though. I guess word hasn’t gotten around about the shooting?”
“It’s getting around. A few people asked me about it today, and of course I had to explain when I took the truck in. Your mom’s car is in pretty bad shape. Looks like they got the gas tank.”
She winced. “I hope the insurance will pay for that. If not, I may have to dig into my savings.”
“Not really wanting to talk about your mom right now,” he murmured.
He swung open the door and pulled her inside. Her mouth was icy when he covered her lips with his. She stiffened a minute, like she hadn’t seen the intent in his eyes, then parted her lips.
The heat of her mouth was a shock after the chill of her skin, and he dived in, threading his fingers in her snow-dampened hair, cupping the back of her head, angling her so her cold nose was against his cheek. He chuckled and captured her hands, pulling them around his waist, under his coat. She curled her fingers in
his shirt a moment, then tugged.
He yanked back with a shout when her cold hands slid under his shirt and over his back. This time she laughed, and stretched up to kiss him, yanking him toward her, her fingers resting above his waistband.
“Best way to warm up,” he said against her mouth, “Body heat.”
5
Erich shouldn’t be lounging in bed in the middle of the day, when there was a new mare to monitor. He especially shouldn’t be lounging with the boss’s daughter. But damn, she was beautiful and sexy and, well, naked, her throat red from his stubble, her lips swollen from his kisses. He curved his palm over her cheek and bent to kiss her again.
“Warmed up?”
In response, she dragged her cold toes along the inside of his calf. Taking his cue, he dove beneath the covers, captured her feet and pressed them to his chest before lifting one to kiss the arch.
“You have the cutest toes,” he said, stroking his fingertips up and down the top of her foot. “Little baby toenails.”
She curled them, embarrassed by his inspection. “That’s why I never go for a pedicure. They’re pathetic excuses for toenails.”
“Sure, that’s why you never go.” He kissed the tops of her toes and slid his hand up her calf, meeting her gaze as he did so.
“Again?” she asked in mock exasperation.
“You’re not warm enough yet.” But instead of sliding up her body, he grabbed her hips and dragged her deeper beneath the covers with him.
The phone rang on the bedside table, her ringtone, and it didn’t take her long to switch gears. She shoved back the blankets and reached for the phone, sitting up in one fluid movement.
“This is Cavanaugh,” she said, her tone businesslike.
Damn, that shouldn’t have sounded so sexy, but it sent another surge of lust through him. Naked in his bed, talking like a cop. Whoever was on the other end of the phone better be prepared to wait, because he wasn’t letting her out of this bed any time soon.
“Make sure she stays out of sight, because if they catch sight of a cop car, they won’t be coming back.”
She pressed her lips together as the person on the other end of the line spoke.
“Maybe I should go over there.”
She listened again, and Erich felt himself holding his breath.
“All right. Keep me posted. And let me know if there’s anything you want me to do.” She disconnected and placed the phone back on the nightstand. “They found the hotel where two men with a car matching the description of the shooter’s car are staying. They got surveillance footage and verified that it’s Manuel Lopez and one of his cohorts. The sheriff has Lori watching the motel, since they haven’t checked out yet, but I’m not all that convinced she has the chops for surveillance.”
“You want to go over there?”
She blew out a breath. “No. I don’t think they’ll be going back there. They’re going to come back here.”
That sent a chill down his spine. “Then we’ll be ready for them. You don’t go anyplace by yourself.”
He thought she’d argue, remind him she was a cop, but she only nodded.
“Now.” He captured her hips and dragged her beneath him. “Use the cop voice again.”
Her forehead furrowed, then she lifted her eyebrows. “Really.”
“Hell, yeah, that was hot. Seeing you in cop mode—” He shook his head and grinned. “Damn.”
She flipped him onto his back and rose over him. “Maybe I should show you some of the self-defense moves I know.”
Naked self-defense. He nearly swallowed his tongue as he looked up at her, her hair tumbling forward, brushing his skin.
She reached for a condom from the bedside table and he gritted his teeth as he searched for control. God, she was gorgeous, her dark hair falling around her slim shoulders, her breasts playing peek-a-boo through the ends of the strands.
“Don’t play with me, Aubrey.”
“You think I’m playing?” she demanded in the cop voice. “You think this is a game?”
His eyes rolled back when she closed her hand around his erection, stroked, squeezed lightly. He reached to take the condom from her but she held it high.
“My pace,” she said.
“Then it’s going to be a short ride.”
She smiled, tore open the packet, and rolled the condom on him. His stomach tensed when her hand rested for a moment on his groin, but then she tightened her knees on her hips and rose over him. When she lowered herself on him, both of them groaned. He watched as she gathered herself, bringing herself back from the edge of pleasure. Fascinating, seeing her pull the control around her. She lifted her chin and began to move.
“Is this what you want?”
How she managed to keep the cop voice with him deep inside her, he didn’t know, but he gripped her hips and rolled into her, rolled with her. She pushed her hair back over her shoulders, opening herself to him, and suddenly looking wasn’t enough. He curled his arms around her back and sat up, bringing her mouth down to his. It took them a moment to find a rhythm in the new position, but when they did, the heat ratcheted up, though he’d thought that wasn’t possible.
Her breath came in staccato little bursts, and she couldn’t fake the cop voice anymore. He slipped one hand between her and watched her face tense, then soften in pleasure.
Then he couldn’t hold back any more. He tumbled her backwards and pounded into her, following his own pleasure. He stared down at her a long moment afterwards, waiting for her eyes to drift open again, before he pulled out of her.
“What was that?” she asked, her voice rough.
He wished he knew. “Apparently I have a thing about authority.”
She snorted and turned onto her side toward him, not exactly cuddling, but pressed against him. “I’ll bring my handcuffs next time.”
Next time. That was a good sign.
He drove her back to her parents’ house after dark. She frowned when she noticed the lights were off but both cars were in the driveway. Erich glanced at her when she started to open the door before he stopped the truck.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” She didn’t want to worry him, didn’t want to put him in danger, but all her cop senses were tingling. “Maybe they’re in the back of the house.” Maybe they’d lost track of time and forgot to put on the front light. Maybe they were out of the habit since they’d been on their trip, and she hadn’t lived here in so long. Nonetheless, she unfastened the strap on her holster.
“Jesus,” he said under his breath, killing the headlights and reaching behind the seat for the rifle he always kept there.
“No, you go and get the sheriff,” she said, knowing even as she said it what his response would be.
“I’ll call, but you’re not going into that house alone.”
Her stomach squeezed as she imagined what she might find. She shook the image out of her head. She couldn’t get emotional, had to be tough, focused. Because if her parents were in there, she was going to get them out, safe and sound.
She waited long enough for Erich to make the phone call, then unholstered her gun and held it in front of her. “You do as I say, got it? I’m trained, you’re not. I won’t have you getting hurt.”
It was her cop voice but she was pretty sure he wasn’t getting turned on this time. He nodded, and followed her out of the truck, closing the door quietly.
Grateful for the snow to quiet their footsteps, she led the way up the pebbled sidewalk,. She tested the front door and found it unlocked. Since it was dark, she felt around, and found a divot in the wood that meant forced entry. She signaled to Erich to go in low, and she pushed the door open.
She braced herself for the scent of blood, but thank God, didn’t smell it. So she listened, tried to hear where they could be in the house. In the back, like she suspected? She toed off her boots and bent to muffle the heels as she set them on the wooden floor.
She crept through the house, her back to t
he wall, gun at the ready. She couldn’t risk distraction, so trusted that Erich would be smart and follow her lead.
At the door to the closed-in porch, she stopped. The twinkling of the lights on the Christmas tree in the corner were at odds with the sight she came upon. Her mother was on the edge of the ottoman, hands folded between her knees, shoulders tight. Her father sat with his back to her, at an angle in his chair, defensive. As she edged closer, she saw Manuel facing the hall, an automatic pistol in both hands. Ice ran through her veins. Her parents in danger, because of her.
She couldn’t freeze. Couldn’t afford to. But she hadn’t fired her gun since that night. She wished to hell she’d taken Erich up on his offer to shoot it the other day. Now her palms sweated on the grip, her finger trembled as she slid off the safety. Then Erich stepped into her line of sight, and Manuel moved, lunging for her mother, clearly determined to use her as a shield.
Aubrey let training take over, and she fired through the glass door, sending Manuel reeling, her mother ducking. She was vaguely aware of her father launching himself from his chair to cover her mother as Aubrey pushed through the shattered door, clearing the room to see if Manuel’s partner was hiding in the shadows before turning her focus on the man on the floor, writhing in pain from the gunshot wound to his shoulder. She kicked his gun so it skittered across the stone floor away from him.
“Cover him,” she said to Erich as she bent to pat him down. She discovered a knife and another gun in his boot before she rolled him onto his stomach and cuffed his hands behind his back. He howled in pain, cursing at her in Spanish.
“You think you can fuck with my family and walk away?” Aubrey countered, flipping him back over.
“Aubrey!” her mother gasped.
Aubrey ignored her mother’s outrage at her language. “Where’s your friend?”
The smile Manuel gave her was chilling and she bounded to her feet. “Watch him, watch them,” she ordered Erich. “Be alert.”
The rest of the house was dark and quiet, but the gunshot would have alerted Manuel’s partner to her presence. Where would he be? Upstairs, going through their belongings? Outside waiting in the car? She hadn’t seen a car when she pulled up. What had been the plan?
Home for the Holidays: A Contemporary Romance Anthology Page 23