Dying to Love (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 18)

by Morgan Kelley

  They all looked at him.

  “No, you just didn’t go there,” she stated.

  “Sorry, angel. It was that or taking one for the team. I couldn’t decide.”

  Ethan shook his head.

  Of course his brother went there.

  “Ethan, what do you think?”

  “Can a man pretend to be gay? I don’t know. I’m naked with Callen all the time, and I don’t think I could do it. While there’s nothing wrong with it, or him, I’m not attracted to him as a man.”

  Chris agreed. “I couldn’t do it. I like soft, smooth, and hairless.”

  Callen laughed. “We’re Native. We have very little body hair.”

  “I can attest,” Elizabeth offered.

  “I really didn’t need to know that,” Chris teased. “I now know way too much about both of you. Excuse me while I cleanse my brain with beer.”

  He chugged his.

  Elizabeth was amused, as was Johanna.

  “I couldn’t pretend,” Brody offered. “I think you’d have to be bisexual and not hetero at all. It has to be awkward. Like ‘Hi! I’m not really gay, but I need to pretend I am. Can I stick my penis in you’?”

  She snorted. “That was wrong. It was almost as wrong as Callen’s comment.”

  “I know but at least I’m in really good company.”

  Ethan went with the easy way out. “Just put him on the list. Broderick, since he’s thought way too much about this, is going to run him, and Jay Melrose too.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Yeah, he played straight for a long time. Why can’t he do it again but in reverse?”

  He had a very valid point.

  “Well, that’s a decent list to start with,” she offered.

  Elizabeth was right.

  They might have a shot at this.

  She had one more thing to add for the team. “You might find this coincidental, but he’s on vacation. What better way to hunt and kill then take a little time off from your job of being an officer of the law?”

  She had a point.

  Elizabeth looked at her watch. “Seatons, you’re welcome to stay if you have your go bags in the Denali.”

  “Thanks, boss!” Johanna offered.

  “I’m going to go tuck the kids in, and then I’m going to work a little while. I have to get some down time. I didn’t sleep much last night.”

  “Yeah, we saw on the news,” Brody said, wiggling his eyebrows at Callen.

  “How could they tell it wasn’t a hooker, but the media, who studies you every damn day, can’t tell the difference?” Callen asked.

  She laughed. “Let it go, Callen James. You got caught with your hand in my cookie jar.”

  Ethan started choking.

  Callen laughed. Yeah, he really did.

  And he’d do it again.

  It was one hell of a cookie jar at that.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  When they retired to the guest room, Brody had only one thing in mind.

  Sex.

  It was hard not to when all you did all day was think about it. He’d like to say it was about being a newlywed, but playing agent had a lot to do with it too.

  They were working a case about hookers, and now that he confirmed Elizabeth played one to get her husband off, he was curious.

  Johanna was pretty straight laced.

  Would she do it?

  As they stripped down and climbed into bed, he had to know.

  “If I ask you something, will you promise not to be offended or get mad?”

  She rolled to her side, to rest against him.

  “I’ll try, Brody. What’s going on?”

  “Elizabeth dresses up like a hooker. Why do you think she does it?”

  “It probably adds some spice to their marriage. Some couples like to role-play. It’s pretty normal.”

  Here went the potentially dangerous part.

  “Why don’t we?”

  She looked up at him.

  “Are you being serious? I can never really tell with you,” she admitted.

  “Yeah, I kinda am. I was curious. They have all these kids, the men are always trying to feel her up, and she’s always watching them like she’s going to pounce.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “What if that’s how you keep a marriage fresh?”

  She stared at him. “Are you in some subtle way trying to tell me our marriage has become stale?”

  God!

  She hoped he wasn’t.

  They hadn’t even been married a full year yet.

  That thought scared her stupid.

  “NO! I was just thinking maybe we should try it. It might be fun.”

  She wasn’t sure she believed him. “Brody.”

  “I swear, Johanna, I wasn’t alluding to anything. I really like our sex life.”

  She only heard one thing.

  Like.

  Not love.

  “I think I’ll go to bed now.”

  Brody wanted to reverse time and go back to retract everything he’d said. It was stupid to even go there with his wife. What the hell had he been thinking?

  Clearly, he’d hurt her feelings.

  “Baby.”

  “Goodnight, Brody,” she said, sliding away from him to move to the other side of the bed.

  He wanted to weep.

  What had he done?”

  Somehow, he was going to have to make this up to her. Brody wanted to reassure her. He was new at this thing, and he was trying to find his way too.

  Only, he’d been an idiot.

  If it’s not broken, why mess with it?

  Lesson learned.

  Only a little too late.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Friday

  Three A.M

  When her phone rang, she couldn’t believe it. This killer was a pain in her ass.

  She knew it wasn’t going to be anything less than a call to a scene.

  Back-to-back killings were apparently on his ‘To Do List’, and they were stuck catering to the cuckoo.

  Yeah, that was an escalation, and she knew it.

  When she answered her cell, she prayed it was going to be a wrong number.

  Only it wasn’t.

  They had another victim.

  She told them to text her the location, and she woke the men in her life.

  They both moaned.

  “Callen, get your ass out of bed,” she said, rolling him over.

  “Please don’t make me go to school, Mom,” he muttered.

  She snorted. “We have a body.”

  “Why aren’t you bothering Ethan?” he asked.

  “I have a seven in the morning meeting with the President of the United States. I have to be on my game,” he replied. “If I miss it, I’m a dead man. You two are on your own.”

  He pulled Elizabeth’s pillow over his face so he could breathe in her scent. He mumbled something.

  “What?” she asked, as she was pulling on her jeans.

  “He said, ‘meet me at my office before you go out to do your interviews. I want to see what you have,” Callen translated.

  She was always amazed by that. It had to be some secret skill Callen had. She’d never understand how he pulled it off.

  Callen headed straight for the closet. He grabbed two vests, and carried them toward her.

  She didn’t hesitate.

  They were all thinking about what this man would do if he had the opportunity.

  “I’ll get Chris,” she stated. “Grab the Seatons.”

  “I love you both,” Ethan said, emerging from his pillow cocoon one last time.

  “Back at you, handsome,” she said as she headed toward the door.

  Before she could head down the hall toward Chris’s room, Callen grabbed her arm.

  Tugging her toward him, his mouth found hers.

  When he’d broken the kiss, he touched her face. “Be safe, stay by me, and k
now that I love you more than my own life. I will protect you with everything I have.”

  Then he braced to be punched because he was acting like armor, and she really hated that.

  Instead, she hugged him.

  “I love you. I’ll always love you. Now help me catch a bad guy.”

  With that, they went their separate ways to wake the team.

  They had a crazy to catch.

  And tonight, was going to be one hell of a ride.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  When he’d taken her, it had been easy. She was out grocery shopping. All he had to do was drop the water bottle into her purse. When she drank from it, she’d fall asleep, and he’d have her.

  Oh, she thought she could pretend, but the truth was the truth.

  This woman was a whore, and she’d always be one too. You could put lipstick on a pig, but it would still be a pig.

  This was no different.

  When she’d come out of the grocery store, she began loading up her groceries. Seeing the water in her bag, she drank without a second thought.

  Fool.

  In a matter of seconds, her life was about to change.

  No.

  It was about to end.

  See, he remembered her. Under the pretty clothes, and the softer makeup, she tried to hide her identity, but he saw the truth.

  She was the same as she’d always been.

  Once a hooker, always a hooker.

  He would have his fun on her behalf.

  As she slumped in the front of her car, he simply parked beside her, dragged her into his vehicle, and rested her head in his lap.

  Immediately, he got hard.

  It was just like old times.

  She still made him wild.

  That’s one of the things he loved most about her. Feisty had always been…feisty. That and she was willing to do wild and crazy shit in bed.

  She’d been his first hooker way back when.

  It only seemed appropriate that she die to mark his love for another.

  It had all worked out perfectly.

  He’d taken her to the secret place, screwed her stupid, and then took what he needed.

  Then the woman he really loved would get the present.

  This whore.

  This hooker.

  This broken treasure.

  Standing in the shadows, he heard the sirens. He’d have to disappear for a little bit—until she came.

  Then…

  Then he’d watch her. Maybe, when he got back to his home, he’d jerk off thinking about her. Feisty hadn’t been enough.

  No one ever was.

  That was why he needed her.

  He needed Elizabeth to quench that craving. Once he had her, he was sure he’d be okay.

  The voices would stop.

  The pain would go away.

  She was his cure.

  And he’d kill to get to her.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Alley

  Washington DC

  She had that feeling that she’d been here before. Only, Elizabeth couldn’t place it.

  The sights.

  The sounds.

  The smells.

  It had to be a case, but once you found a body in one alley, you’d likely stumble upon many, many more, and she had. With all the pallets, the garbage, and the filth, it looked like every other alley crime scene.

  “What’s wrong?” Callen asked.

  “I feel off.”

  “Off?”

  “Yeah, like I’m being watched or tested. I’m supposed to get something out of this, only I don’t have a freaking clue what it is.”

  That didn’t make him happy.

  At all.

  “Let’s check out the body. Maybe we should leave it to the team and get off the street,” he suggested.

  That probably wasn’t a bad idea.

  Honestly, the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, and this had to mean something.

  It had to be something huge too.

  But what?

  “Good idea,” she admitted. Elizabeth was thinking back to the last note. The men in her life were a target.

  Callen was out in the open.

  Yeah, she wouldn’t risk him.

  They headed deeper into the bowel of the alley where Chris Leonard was bent over a body. When he looked up, his face said it all.

  “She’s bad, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah, she’s bad.”

  Elizabeth took a deep breath before she looked.

  The second she stared down at her, there was that wave of recognition.

  “I’ve met her before.”

  “Where?” Callen asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s the least of your problems,” Chris said, lifting the black plastic garbage bag the killer had placed over her midsection. “He left you a present.”

  They all stared down. Inside the hole in her chest, where her heart should have been, there was the red rose. It had been shoved in there, battered and broken.

  That had to mean something.

  But it got worse.

  Her heart?

  It lay between her spread legs, sitting in a puddle of blood.

  “Blessed baby Jesus,” she muttered. “This person is freaking insane.”

  Yeah, he really was.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Callen asked.

  Then he remembered what Ethan had said.

  “Wait. He’s taken her heart, and he left a red rose already?”

  Chris stared right at him. “If Ethan is right, then he’s at the end of his hooker killing.”

  They both knew what that meant.

  She was next.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Hoover Building

  Ethan was just leaving his meeting when he heard his boss clear his throat. Gabe was there waiting, and for the first time, in many years, he was dressed down.

  Who was this?

  Really?

  “Wow, someone is sporting a polo shirt and khaki’s. I never thought I’d see that in my lifetime—especially when you’re working.”

  He laughed.

  “Yeah, well, I had a shitload of paperwork, and I didn’t want to be in a suit. Since you handled the President, I didn’t have to dress up.”

  “He was in a polo too. I didn’t get the memo. I’m beginning to think it’s a conspiracy.”

  Gabe patted him on the back. “Don’t get even more paranoid on me.”

  Ethan was trying, but he’d worked under Gabe a long time. Paranoia was normal. It was how you survived.

  “What do you need then?”

  “Can we talk?”

  He already knew what it was going to be about. “Sure. We can as we walk back to my office. I’m meeting my wife and Callen in a little bit.”

  Perfect.

  “Are you going to get involved in the Elizabeth-Livy issue?” Gabe asked.

  Ethan tossed his paper coffee cup into the trash. “I really wasn’t planning on it, and I hope you’re not either.”

  Gabe knew the man understood his position. This was an ugly thing, and no husband should wade into it.

  No smart one…

  Still…

  “Actually, I am involved. I hurt Elizabeth a long time ago, and I was instrumental in this clusterfuck.”

  Ethan shrugged. “Gabe, let the women work it out. Personal things should be kept outside the workplace. Aren’t you the one who told me this?”

  “I was, but I didn’t think your wife and mine would ever be in a battle.”

  “Gabe, I’m going to be honest here, and you may not like what I’m about to say. Your wife crossed a huge line. I don’t want someone in our life who’s going to strike Lyzee. Period.”

  “I get it.”

  “I’m not getting involved. If Elizabeth wants to talk to her, she will. If she doesn’t, she won’t. I support her either way. This is her circus, a
nd I’m just one of the clowns.”

  “Can you just tell me if there is a possibility of her forgiving Livy?”

  He stared at the man. “I can give you that.”

  “I promise, Ethan, that if you ever need a favor, I’ll help you out. I need this for my wife. I found her in a car eating about twenty pounds of fast food. She’s going to eat, or cry herself to death. I’m not sure which.”

  “Livy needs to give Elizabeth some space. If she lets her calm down, she might have a shot. Right now, she feels like Livy floats in and out of her life at her whim. When Elizabeth needs her, it would be really awesome for her to show up and be a friend for a change.”

  He got it.

  “Thank you, Ethan.”

  “I’m not saying it’ll work,” he said, as they headed toward his office, “but it’ll be worth a try. She’s not going to kick her ass, so there’s that.”

  He had a point.

  “Thank you.”

  As they walked into his office, his wife and brother were already there. Elizabeth was sitting in his desk chair, her feet up on the desk.

  “Hey, Gabe. How’s tricks?” she asked. “How are you feeling? Do you need anything? Maeve makes muffins that would cure just about anything. I can get her to whip you up a batch.”

  Apparently, she wasn’t mad at him.

  “I’m good, Elizabeth. It’s one more day. I hear you caught a new dead victim.”

  She laughed.

  Callen wasn’t amused.

  “Why is my brother scowling?” Ethan asked.

  He tossed his brother his phone. “Look for yourself,” he offered.

  Ethan scanned them.

  “Shit. A red rose and a heart. This is bad. I called this as his end game.”

  “Yeah, so Callen keeps saying,” she stated. “I personally take it as an opportunity for the killer to screw up and for me to catch him.”

  There were days Ethan felt the weight of his job.

  Today was one of them.

  “The victim is in-house, and we’re going out to do an interview,” she began. “Want to come play?”