Avalon was so much more.
Lowering himself down her torso, he skimmed over her breasts and the flat plane of her belly. At the junction of her legs, he knew that he needed to replace the pain with so much pleasure.
“Let me have you, Avalon,” he said. “Trust me enough to show you what making love should be like.”
“Yes, Nate.”
With that, he began. His mouth moved over the most sensitive part of her body, teasing, tormenting, and drawing out her moans.
“Oh God!” she mumbled, her body bowing under his very eager mouth. The more she gasped, the more Nate devoured.
He drove her to the edge and over with very little effort.
As she fell, he didn't stop.
He wanted to erase the pain. When she thought of her first time—their first time—there could only be pleasure.
This was a beautiful moment.
“Please,” she begged as his mouth continued to drive her wild. With each breathy gasp, he showed no sign of quitting.
When she tumbled again, her whole body wracked with pleasure, only then did he glance up at her.
“Feel any pain?” he asked teasingly.
Avalon couldn’t speak, so she shook her head. In fact, she could barely hear his words over the thundering of her blood pounding in her ears.
Nate loved watching her.
It was all that blonde hair and the bowed lips as she gasped from the pleasure. It made him long for more. This was something he’d never forget.
“Are you ready for more?” he asked, sliding up her body.
“Yes, please.”
Slipping between her thighs, he stroked himself through her wetness. When she tensed, he pressed himself into her body until they were mouth to mouth.
“This won’t hurt. I promise. Do you trust me?”
She blinked her sightless eyes as if weighing her options. “Yes, I do.”
His mouth came crashing down over hers. Together, he drove them right back into the ecstasy of lovemaking. When she was lost in the kiss, he slowly slid into her body. With each glide of tongue against tongue, he was working his way deeper into her.
She gasped but this time from the pleasure, not the pain.
“Oh, Nathaniel,” she whispered.
This was going to be torture, and he knew it. While he was precariously teetering on the razor’s edge, he didn't know if he could keep himself from falling.
Well, he’d give it a try.
Slowly, he began moving in and out of her body, the perspiration beading on his shoulders. With each stroke into the delicious warmth, Avalon’s nails dug into his flesh. The kiss of pain helped him focus.
“More,” she whispered, wrapping her legs around his waist as she moved with him. Before long, she picked up the rhythm, and her hips were meeting him stroke for stroke.
Nate was shaking.
“Oh, God,” he hissed, burying himself in her body. Heaven help him, but he was trying to be gentle.
Then, like an answer to his prayer, she ruptured apart. Avalon’s body tightened around his, pulling him from the edge and into the pleasure.
The colors exploded.
She shouted his name.
Everything around them stopped, and in that brief moment, Nathaniel Carter got the taste of another storm—but not his hellish one. This was absolute heaven.
They floated together in the bliss. There was no one else in the world but them, and nothing mattered.
Not time.
Not the situation they faced.
There was calm.
When he rolled off her body, Avalon curled into his side. This was only something she could dream about. He was against her body, holding her.
She dropped a kiss to his cheek. “That was amazing,” she offered.
Nate didn't speak. He was still trying to catch his breath. When she dropped her leg over his, linking them together, he wanted to run around the room and do cartwheels. This was the best he’d ever felt after sex.
It was different, and he knew it. Still, he couldn’t let go of one important fact—she hadn’t been honest from the start.
“We need to talk.”
She tensed. “I see.”
“I don’t think you do.”
She went to move away from him, but Nate wouldn’t let her go. He couldn’t. If she slipped away, he feared the worst.
For her.
For him.
“You could have told me the truth, Avalon. Before we got naked, you being a virgin should have come up. I didn't want to hurt you, and that’s exactly what I did.”
“I know I should have, Nathaniel, but I was afraid that if I did, you’d run. You freaked out over the tattoo,” she stated, running her hand over it on his chest.
How she knew the exact location, he’d never know. Surely, that wouldn’t show up on an aura, right?
“That doesn’t give you an out. Using my meltdown as an excuse is playing dirty.”
“I’m…”
He stopped her with a kiss before she could apologize again. “When I make love to a woman, I don’t want lies.” Who was he kidding? He didn't stick around after hopping into a woman’s bed. Nate Carter didn't give them time to come up with a lie. He was out the door before the sweat was dry.
This would be the first.
“I promise that I won’t hold back anymore, if that’s what you really want.”
“It is what I want,” Nate stated, running his fingers through a tangle in her long blonde hair. “I promise I won’t lie to you, and you need to do the same.”
“I promise,” she offered.
“Good. I do too.”
They remained silent for a little while.
Nate was thinking about the job and his future, and Avalon was thinking about the other secret that she was holding back.
Did he really want to know the truth?
Or was this one of those things people said until you dropped the bomb.
“Nathniel?”
“Hmmm?”
“Are you serious about knowing all the truth?”
“Yes,” he stated. “I insist.”
Well, in that case, she’d test the water. “Are you sure?”
“You can tell me anything, Avalon. I’m not going to run.”
She got ready to drop the bomb. In all honesty, she wasn’t quite sure how he was going to react.
“I love you.”
He opened his mouth, and then closed it. That wasn’t what he was expecting.
Not at all.
“Um…okay…” he said, unsure what to add to that. When he demanded truth between them, he didn't think she’d come back with this.
“I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you in your dream, and I always will until the day I die.”
“Avalon.”
“You don’t have to say it back, Nathaniel, but you wanted the truth, and it’s not always convenient. You threw down that rule, and now it’s something you have to deal with.”
How did he argue with that?
Avalon tried not to let his silence bother her. Instead, she closed her eyes and let herself drift into asleep. Part of the weight was off her chest. Yes, she held back, but this had been a test. Nate Carter didn't do well with her truths. All she was holding back now was destiny.
It was the big scary monster at the end of their journey.
Yes, she loved him and would until she died.
Only, that was sooner than they thought.
Time was ticking.
Fast…
CHAPTER NINE
Wednesday Morning
I t had to still be early, and yet some idiot was knocking on their door. No, knocking wasn’t the word for it. They were pounding. The banging was more than he could ignore, so he had no choice. It was time to get up. Whoever was there, his partner Luke, was a dead man.
He wanted to slap the shit out of someone.
Nate rolled away from Avalon to squint at the clock radio on the end table.
It was b
arely past six thirty.
Someone was going to die.
Glancing over at the naked woman bedside him, he flashed back to their night together. After her declaration of love, Nate hadn’t been able to share the words back with her. It wasn’t that he didn't feel them, but they had to be locked away because of the big pink elephant in the room.
His job.
So, instead of sharing the words, he offered Avalon what he could. They’d made love into the night, randomly waking to come back together again. Each time they finished, she’d offer him the same words, and each time he felt horrible.
He couldn’t say them.
At some point, if this assignment didn't kill him, he’d be off on some other job, and Oracle…
Well, she was tied to this life.
He wanted to whisper them, but she deserved more. They promised no lies and those feelings, while not false, would dredge up ugly truth, and she’d get hurt.
That’s what he didn't want happening.
So, for now, he wanted to pretend.
It wasn’t lost that as he slept, there were no nightmares. It was like she surrounded him in a big cocoon to protect him, and for that—he was beyond grateful. How could he hurt her after she gave him one hell of a gift?
He wouldn’t.
So instead, they made love.
He was sore, so he could only imagine Avalon was feeling it too. He wouldn’t admit it, but the fact that she’d never been with another man thrilled him.
It was so archaic, but it was the truth.
She was his in the truest sense of the words. No one else had ever touched his beautiful Avalon. In a way, she was exactly what he needed. In a world so filled with sin and horror, it was nice to find that one oasis of beauty.
The banging continued.
“Okay! Hold on!”
He climbed out of bed to throw on his jeans. As he peeked out, there stood his partner…grinning. Whipping open the door, he practically growled his displeasure, “Luke, this better be damn important.”
Luke didn't miss much. Just looking at his partner, he could tell something had gone on. His hair was a mess, his jeans were unbuttoned, and he was trying to keep him from looking past him and into the room.
“Rough night?” he asked, laughter present in his voice.
Nate gave him a warning look.
It was a good thing shit like that didn't faze him. So when his best friend wouldn’t speak, of course Luke tried to get a peek behind him and into the room.
“Knock it off. What do you want?”
“Maura was out checking on the vehicles and scoping out the area, and she saw a suspicious person by the Hummer. She wants to bug out as soon as possible.”
“How long?” he asked.
“Thirty minutes. We’re going to walk over to the café and grab our coffees, and then we’ll go get the Hummer. We’ll swing back around and pick you up.”
He was good with that. It shouldn’t take long to get Avalon up and ready.
“She drinks tea, not coffee.”
Luke grinned. “What else do you know about her?”
His best friend answered with a sucker punch, right before he slammed the door.
“Hey! I was only teasing! You’re grumpy today.”
Yeah, he was, and it was all because of three little words that he couldn’t give back to the naked woman in bed.
He couldn’t figure out why it was pissing him off. Was it because of work, that she handed it to him so easily, or that he’d never said them to anyone before?
Yeah, that was it.
If they came out of his mouth, it would be an indicator of what lay ahead for them. So for now, he needed to think. They were bugging out, so he didn't have time to worry about it.
“Honey, I need you to get up,” he said, shaking her shoulder.
“Did we even sleep at all?” she mumbled into the pillow, as she cuddled further down into the bedding.
Even in that shithole dive, Avalon looked beautiful, and Nate found it hard to speak. It could have been his heart tripping in his chest.
“Hardly,” he replied, grinning at her. She was a rumpled mess, and he loved her that way.
Damn it!
There was that word again.
She groaned.
“Really, honey, we have to get moving. Maura is coming for us in thirty minutes, and we’re moving out.”
She sat up. “Okay, Nathaniel.”
When he turned his head to scan the mess they’d made, Avalon attacked, pulling him into the rumpled bed. Her laughter filled the room.
“Promise we can do this again?” she asked, nuzzling his scruffy cheek.
Nate took her face between his palms. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he stated, right before giving her a gentle kiss on her swollen lips. “I swear.”
“Good. Now I have to get ready. I need a shower.”
He grinned wickedly.
“You’re smiling aren’t you?” she asked.
He started laughing.
“I’m going to shower. You’re not going to interrupt me because then you’ll have to explain to Maura why we’re late.”
She crossed the room, shaking out her long blonde hair. It kissed the back of her ass, drawing his attention. When the door to the bathroom closed, and the water turned on, he checked the time.
It would be close.
“Oh, I will interrupt you, and Maura will just have to accept that I wanted to conserve water.”
With that, he followed.
It was time to enjoy his life.
* * * C a r t e r - G a i n e s * * *
Fredricksville
After fueling up with breakfast and coffee, Quinn and his wife headed out to see Sarah Miller. Hopefully, since it was the summer, she’d be home and not at class.
They were going to have a busy day, and they didn't have time to chase around a college kid.
As they pulled up, they noticed a few things. The car in front was brand new, and the place looked pricy.
It didn't add up.
“You said she’s a college student, right?” Quinn asked.
“Yes, she’s a junior at the local college.”
“Does she have a roommate?” he asked.
Callie began flipping through the papers until she found the name of the woman’s sibling.
“Yes, she shares the place with her brother.”
It still didn't add up in his mind. Quinn remembered his college years, and they were lean—like ramen noodle and cheap beer—lean.
Well, they’d figure it out once they spoke to the girl. Knocking, they could hear footsteps. When the woman opened the door, they couldn’t help but noticed that she looked a little like her sister, Avalon.
“Are you Miss Sarah Miller?” Quinn asked, beginning the questioning. He was used to this part of the job and was going to handle it.
“Yes, I am. Who are you?”
He pulled his badge as Callie did the same, making the introductions. “We’d like to offer you our condolences regarding your grandmother and cousin, Frank.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe maw-maw is gone. She was the rock of our family. It’s not going to be the same without her.”
Then it must have dawned on her.
“Are you investigating their deaths?” she asked.
Quinn let her think what she wanted, without confirming or denying anything. “We’re working on the case. Can we come in, miss?”
She stepped back, leading them into her living room.
“This is a really nice place,” Callie stated, trying to get the woman to give them any information.
“Oh, thanks. My mom foots the bill for it. She wanted us to stay here, and not with my maw-maw.”
That didn't match up with what they had in the file. Sarah’s mother was unwed, and couldn’t financially support Avalon, but she could afford this place for her kids?
It was odd.
“I wish I did move in with my grandmo
ther,” Sarah stated. “Had I been there…”
Callie reassured her. “You couldn’t have done anything about it. In fact, you might have been hurt yourself.”
Sarah wiped her eyes.
Quinn took that lull to start talking shop. They had a job to do, and he needed the details. “What can you tell us about your grandmother’s death?”
“It was odd. She was here one day, and then gone the next.”
“Would anyone want to hurt her?”
She shook her head. “I told the police all of this.”
“We know, Sarah, but we have to re-canvas when the trail is going cold. If you want to find her killer, we may have to revisit your statement.”
“Well, in that case, sure! I loved my grandmother. She was the best thing in our family. When you think of the glue that holds people together, she was it.”
“Let’s talk about you first, and then we’ll get into your family.”
Sarah tucked her legs up under her body as she leaned back on the couch to relax. “Okay, what do you need to know?”
“You have a brother and a sister, right?”
She looked genuinely surprised. “Wow, I haven’t thought about her in a long time,” she admitted.
From the tone of her voice, they knew they were onto something. There was disgust and distaste there, and they didn't know why.
“Can you tell us why?”
“It’s simple. Avalon was a freak. When she left, we kinda just forgot she ever existed. I know that sounds bad, but she never really fit in. She was a total outcast.”
Callie couldn’t believe that the woman was being so harsh. This was her flesh and blood, and she didn't pull any punches. It made her sick.
“When’s the last time you saw her?”
“She was fifteen, and I was ten. We’re about five years apart. When mom came back with her, she met my dad here in town and married him. Brian and I are only Avalon’s half siblings. That may explain why we’re normal, and she…wasn’t.”
Even Quinn looked disgusted, and that said a lot. He’d worked the streets and met all kinds of scum.
“Did your mother ever tell you anything about her?” Quinn asked. “Was there anything that might have stood out?”
She thought about it. “Well, once she called her evil, but that could have been my mother being dramatic. You see, she didn't really have any maternal feelings toward Avalon. She loved her, yes, but she didn't touch her.”
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