I tip my fingers to my forehead and smirk. “Okay, boss.”
Josh wanders off and I focus on the children having fun on the swings and slide. A toddler runs off toward the water, but luckily he can’t get too close to the danger because of the railings around. A duck waddles over and nibbles on the child’s T-shirt much to his delight. It sends him into a fit of giggles, making me laugh along with him. It’s difficult to not watch the antics of the children, even though I’m supposed to be watching the entrance of the gift store.
There hasn’t been any movement in that direction, so I think I’m good for now, and I certainly am when Joshua appears carrying two steaming cups of coffee and a bag of what I’m hoping are cinnamon buns.
“I should have gotten something for the ducks,” he comments, sitting next to me.
“Maybe.” I sniff the bag he offers and roll my eyes at the amusement on his face. “They’re not sharing my muffin.”
“You not going to share with me?” He raises a brow.
“Seems as though it’s your fault I’ve worked up an appetite, and because I’m expected a repeat tonight, I’ll share.” I grin and laugh when he snatches the bag from my hands.
“I bought four.” He sorts us out with food and settles me against his side. “It was Neve that I saw. John sitting waiting in the car. Think he’s asleep. You can’t see from here, but I had a better view from the coffee store.”
“Then let’s enjoy the peace and quiet on a beautiful day before we head back.”
“I’d like that a lot.” I pick at the muffin while enjoying the feel of the man beside me.
38
Joshua
It’s been a weird kind of day with all the couples sneaking around like they shouldn’t really be here. It’s left Mallory and I wondering what the hell they’ve been doing. There’s been no sighting of Clarissa and Roger, so we’re hoping they’ve left. We’d ask but don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.
Mallory looks amazing in the red dress she has on. Her splendid legs are on display in the short, fitted dress, not to mention her breasts. The material clings to her body like a glove and it’s taking all my will power not to put my hands on her. She knows it too with the way she’s moving. She wants my eyes and hands on her.
Currently leaning on the countertop with her head dipped as she reads something on her phone, my body throbs at the sight of her. The material stretches over her bottom making my heart race with the desire to touch.
“Don’t move,” I hiss, crouch down so that I can slide my hands up her legs. “I need to touch you before we go anywhere. I need everyone to know you belong to me.” I shove her dress further up and delight in the smooth skin that the palms of my hands are trailing over.
Coming to her hips, I grab each side of her dress and lift it over her ass, cursing when I spot the thin red thong between the cheeks of her ass. My cock throbs behind my zipper and I wince at the uncomfortable position my flesh is in.
Mallory groans when my hands massage her ass and the sound goes straight to my balls. Forcing myself to return to my feet, I sigh in relief, which turns into a grunt when Mallory reaches back and cups my dick. Her fingers search and find my zipper, and yanking it down her fingers touch my burning cock.
“Fuck,” I hiss between clenched teeth.
“Inside me, Josh.” Mallory jacks me off while her thumb rubs the weeping slit on the crown of my dick. “I need to feel you sliding inside of me.”
“I’m not going to survive you,” I admit, moving her thong to the side. I rub my fingers through the wetness she’s unable to hide and feel my cock pulse with every moan leaving her sexy as sin mouth.
I knock her hand from me and thrust inside my own personal heaven. Her body is warm, wet, and swollen around my hard flesh, causing my legs to tremble. I hold her hips and grind up into her, knowing it gets her unbelievably wet. Her pussy ripples and pulses, sharply tugging on my cock and I spill my semen into her. My orgasm came so suddenly that the hard flash of pleasure that comes with it takes my breath away. My hands tremble on Mallory’s hips as I grunt and thrust through the intense release that only intensifies when Mallory’s release wraps around me.
“I want you to stay inside of me,” she whispers, squeezing her inner muscles.
“Not sure I could walk with my cock buried deep, but I’m more than okay with leaving my semen inside of you.” I kiss her neck and feel her shiver. “All night I’ll be thinking about how wet and sticky you are between your legs.” I nuzzle her neck and bite her shoulder, lightly. “I don’t think Paul knows how lucky he is to be spending the evening with you.”
“Mmm,” she wiggles and gasps when I slip free of her body, “the next few hours are going to drive me crazy.”
I put myself away before I reach out and smooth my hands over Mallory’s curvy ass, making sure her thong is back in place. I lightly smack her on the ass before pulling her dress back down her thighs. “You are one sexy lady.” Turning her in my arms, I grin and offer my arm. “Shall we?”
“You really don’t want me to wash up?”
“Hell no!” I propel her out the door of our cabin. “Anyone gets close enough to you and they’ll smell exactly what you’ve just done. They’ll know you belong to someone else,” I growl.
Mallory quickly turns too me. A hand cups the back of my head and seconds later our mouths come together in a heated kiss. Our tongues tangle and dance, my heart tells me to carry her back inside, but my head tells me to get this assignment over with so we can be alone. Totally alone. With that thought at the forefront of my mind, I gentle the kiss and step away to give my body time to calm down.
“Let’s get this over with,” she says. “We need to catch him so that others are safe, and then we can concentrate on us, and what we’re going to do about our jobs.”
My eyes search hers wanting the answers to my unasked questions, now and not later. She gives me a brief kiss. “Don’t worry.” Smiling, she wraps her hand with mine and changes the subject when she cobbles over in her heels. “I should have worn boots.”
“We have a part to play and boots wouldn’t really do it.”
She snickers. “Thigh high boots with a nice heel would.” She raises a brow and as much as I want to pursue her words, I ignore them with a shake of my head and a slight twitch of my lips.
“I’m not going to be watching you flirt with Paul otherwise I’ll hurt him.” My body goes tense when I think about what we both have to do while in public. Behind closed doors will be easy because we’re swapping with other agents, but the flirting beforehand will drive me crazy.
Inhaling deeply, I open the door into the lodge for Mallory and as she moves past me, I wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her into the front of my body. “Be safe, Mal.” I kiss the back of her neck and let her go.
Samantha and Paul spot us the moment we enter the large room and after a slight hesitation on both their parts, they make their way over to us.
Paul clears his throat and holds his arm out to Mallory. “Shall we?”
Mallory forces a bright smile and turning to me, she leans over and briefly kisses my lips. Our eyes meet and she whispers, “I love you,” before she lets Paul lead her away from me.
My heart thumps in my chest at hearing those words and it takes Samantha’s hand on my arm to keep me with her, and not go after Mallory.
“I don’t know what’s really going on between you two, but we have to put on a show.”
Samantha is right, and I force myself to wrap an arm around her waist, my hand resting on her hip. She’s taller than Mallory with thick blonde hair pulled back in a tie. Minimal make up covers her face. She’s attractive, but no one can compare to Mallory in my eyes. The woman is it for me, which is why I’m struggling with this part of the assignment.
“You could at least look as though you’re in to this,” Samantha says. “We’re being watched by the others.”
“Sorry.” I wince. “This is awkward.”
&n
bsp; “More awkward than being here as a couple with your boss?” She raises a brow, which I ignore.
“Let’s head out.” I make a split second decision and have Samantha outside before she can even wonder what the hell I’m doing, before even I can work out what I plan to do. “Got any idea what the plans are for tonight?”
Rolling her eyes, Samantha says, “I’ve never experienced a swingers party before, but I was under the impression that it all happened out in the open, like in the same room.”
“Not always,” I mutter. “We’ll head to your cabin.” I can’t bring myself to take her to the one I’ve been sharing with Mallory.
“Fuck,” I stop and tense. “If we go to your cabin, where will Mallory and Paul go?”
Samantha curses under her breath and walks off. “They’ll go to your cabin.” She grins and takes off toward her cabin.
I should have realized this, actually I had, I’d just chosen to ignore the fact that one of us would have to take someone else back to our cabin. Nothing would be happening but that isn’t the point. It’s like our own space is being invaded.
Swallowing back what I really want to say, to call this whole thing off, and probably end up blowing the entire assignment, I jog to catch up to Samantha. “Sorry!” I eye the steps up to her cabin and decide to at least get with the program while in public. “Don’t shoot me,” I whisper as I sweep her up in my arms and carry her up to the porch.
“Open the door, Sam.”
She fumbles with her purse and grabbing the cabin key, opens the door. Once inside I help her back to her feet and reach for the light switch. Nothing happens. “Lights are out.”
I glance through the window and notice the lights are on in the cabin through the trees. “Sam,” I whisper. “Try the kitchen lights.” I sense her moving toward the kitchen while my eyes adjust to the darkness. I don’t see anyone other than Sam moving around, and then I hear the light switch as she flicks it back and forth.
“Nothing.”
This isn’t right. “Sam?”
“I’m with you.” She withdraws her gun from her purse, as I remove mine from my ankle holster.
Sam stays in place while I check the front room, and move toward her in the kitchen. When we’re together, we both check out the bathroom and bedroom. “Anything different?” I ask, happy that no one else is inside the cabin.
“Nothing looks out of place.” She shrugs. “Maybe the fuse has blown.”
“Maybe.” Unease sits in my belly as I slowly follow her into the main part of the cabin.
“I’ll go and check it out.” She grabs a flash light out of a drawer.
“We’ll both check it out.”
She sighs and gets another flashlight from the drawer. “Here. Maybe we can flash the light up in the direction of the camera. Alert the others that something may be wrong.”
“Okay. Let’s find the fuse box. We’ll make it appear as though we’re glancing around the area before we check the fuse out.”
It’s cold now when we step out of the cabin and everything is still. The silence feels off to me. We’re in the middle of a forest and usually there are sounds of birds chirping high in the trees.
“What is it?” Samantha asks from the corner of the cabin.
“It’s too quiet,” I whisper under my breath moving closer. “Briefly shine your torch at the camera a couple of times as we slowly move around back.” I move behind Samantha and guide her toward the back of the cabin and the wooden box attached to the cabin.
My ears strain for any sound as I open the box and check inside. The fuse in question is half hanging out of its slot, which has me worried. Samantha glances inside and says, “That hasn’t happened without help.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I push the fuse all the way into the slot and the cabin lights come on. I should sigh in relief but my hackles are raised. Something really isn’t right. “We need to stay alert. I have a bad feeling.”
“Let’s check inside the cabin again.”
“Yes.” I glance around. “I want to wedge the door to the fuse box closed so if someone does try to open it, we’ll hear them.”
“I’m not sure how you’re going to do that?”
She’s right. The box is wooden with a bolt and I don’t see anyway that I can wedge it closed, although I can make it difficult.
“Hold your flashlight on the box,” I ask of Samantha.
Using the base of my flashlight, I bash it hard against the small lever not the bolt, and after a few minutes, it’s wedged in the wood of the door. “That isn’t perfect, but the best I can do for now.”
“It won’t be easy to get inside it without some sort of tool, and sound.” She smiles before turning toward the front of the cabin.
We slowly make our way to the front porch, keeping our backs to the frame. It doesn’t take us long to check through the small cabin again, along with the windows to make sure they’re securely locked. Closing and locking the front door, we both relax slightly.
My thoughts immediately go to Mallory.
39
Mallory
Although I’m a trained agent it feels different being alone in this cabin with Paul. I miss the presence of Joshua and because of that my concentration isn’t the best. In fact it’s completely off and I feel jittery, and then my stomach lets out a loud growl. I knew I should have eaten a full meal before tonight instead of picking at the sandwich Joshua had made for me.
“I’m hungry and I know you are,” Paul says smiling.
“You heard?”
“It was kinda loud.” He laughs and I blush.
“Sorry.” Wincing, I pull out a chair at the breakfast bar. “I think I should tell you that I’m not very good in the kitchen.”
“Then it’s as well that I am.” He grabs a large skillet and pours olive oil into the base before placing it over a medium heat. “Stir fry,” he adds, looking into the fridge.
“You like cooking,” I observe.
“My mother loved to cook so as an only child she’d insisted that I’d be as capable in the kitchen as she was.” He smiles. “My mom used to cook up a huge feast every holiday for family and friends. She was always the happiest in the her kitchen.”
“You said used to.”
“She still cooks, and only tends to cook up a feast when I go home.” He shrugs. “She’s in an assisted living facility. It’s one of the good ones. She likes it and has friends close by. I don’t worry as much as I did before I talked her into living there.”
“You’re a good son, Paul.” He blushes at my words.
“I try to be.”
“What does she think about your career choice?” I lean my elbows on the countertop and rest my chin on my hands, feeling tired as well as hungry.
He laughs and places a large cup of steaming coffee in front of me.
“Thank you.” Adding milk and sugar, Paul says, “She wore a fancy hat when I graduated from Quantico. She worries. I actually wanted her to move in with me, but she refused. Said I was too young to have his mother living with him.” He smiles. “She also said with a lot of meaning behind her words that she didn’t want to be in the way of me finding a wife and family.” He blushes again. “I’m getting married in five weeks.”
“I take it you haven’t mentioned to your fiancée about this assignment?”
“Heck no.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, what about you?” He raises a brow.
“I hate talking about myself.” I sigh and Paul stays silent. “I’m not sure about me anymore,” I admit quietly. “I thought my path was set, and now I don’t think it is.” Groaning, I add, “Actually, I think it is set just in a different direction than I had intended.”
“You’re being cryptic, but as an agent, I’m going to guess that Joshua and you are actually a couple.” He smiles softly. “I’m good at my job Mallory.”
“He was unexpected.” I circle the rim of the coffee cup with my index finger. “I’m his direct supervisor.”
&
nbsp; “I’m aware. So what are you going to do about it?”
I glance up and hold Paul’s gaze. “I’m going to resign and work as a consultant.” Until I utter those words I hadn’t realized that I’d made up my mind. “I need to talk to Joshua, but it’s what I want to do. It’s been hovering in the back of my mind for a couple of years now.”
Paul searches my gaze and finally nods. “I do believe you’re telling me the truth.”
I laugh partly with embarrassment. “I am.” I glance away. “There’s going to be a lot of paperwork to finalize this case once we’ve made an arrest, but then, I’m out.” I smile, feeling as though a weight has lifted from my chest. “We just need to catch him first.”
“Hmm, I’ve been thinking,” Paul says, placing a bowl of food in front of me. “We’re thinking it’s a man, but what if we have it wrong and it’s a woman? Couples are being killed so what if it’s a woman whose partner strayed. Maybe she didn’t want to take part in the swinger parties, but he did. He was the insistent one. So she’s now going around killing the couples who strayed.”
“That makes sense.” I frown wondering if we really have been looking at this the wrong way when I have a thought. “After the first murder we looked heavily at their son who was in his early twenties, but when it became apparent that we had a series of murders we stopped looking so closely at him. However, going off your theory of it being a woman, what if it’s a daughter and not a son? Because of the profile we didn’t dig too deeply into the daughters of the deceased.” My heart pounds when I realize we really have been looking at these murders all wrong.
Reaching for my phone, I curse and throw it back down. “No Wi-Fi or cell coverage.” I groan in frustration. “We need to let the others know what we’re thinking. I also need to call the office and ask Stephanie to find out where the two daughters are and what they’ve been doing. If I remember correctly Eve is eighteen and was the eldest daughter of James and Louise Seddon. Maria is twenty-three and was the daughter of Julie and Richard Brandon.”
McKenzie Cousins Box Set Three: Books Seven, Eight, Nine Page 18