by Natalie Ann
“What? No way. He wouldn’t. He’s been my informant for years.”
“Giving him cash, food, and clothing, a hotel room now and again wasn’t enough. Someone else gave him more. We’re thinking it might have been Fast.”
“What makes you believe it was Zippy that set us up?”
Little by little memories came back to him over the weekend. The sense of unease entering the drug den. That no one was in the apartment but Fast and the girl. There were users all over the place on the way up, but not in the apartment.
“When they’d found Zippy’s body, he had wood splinters in his hand. Wood that matched the two by four that hit me in the head. Zippy had a bag full of blow on him and a needle in his arm.”
It didn’t matter Zippy never had coke on him before. Always heroin, but there was coke in his blood, mixed with the heroin and it was lethal enough.
The assumption was someone gave him what he needed to set the two detectives up. That someone was probably Fast and long gone.
“So now what?” Mick asked. “Case is closed? Moving on to something else?”
“It’s still open, but not a priority at the moment,” Ian said. He nodded his head to the pile on his desk. “Lots of shit to take care of. Lots of things to work on. It’s tight when we’re a man down,” Ian said, ribbing Mick.
“Hope to have my medical clearance in a week. Then onto a few visits with your girlfriend. Think you can put a good word in for me?”
“I think you’ll do just fine. Like you said, you had it years ago. You’ll be able to pull enough out of your ass to get your release.”
***
Two days later, Cam went to open her office door and couldn’t find her keys. Yesterday Tiffany opened and closed since Cam was out, but today she planned on getting some work done in the peace and quiet.
After she fished around enough in her purse, she realized they weren’t there. She went down to her car and looked around to see if they’d fallen out there. Her purse was always falling on the floor when she was driving, but there were no keys around that she could see.
Rather than go home and look for them, she went to the cafeteria on the first floor and got a coffee, talked to a few other people in the building housed on her floor and made her way back to the office at nine. Still no Tiffany. Not until five minutes after.
“How come you’re standing here?” Tiffany asked.
“I must have left my keys at home. I couldn’t get in.”
“But you drove here?”
“My car key is separate. It’s a fob. I don’t even need to take it out of my purse to start the car.”
“Oh,” Tiffany said, smiling, then finally unlocking the door. “But you’ve got your keycard, right?”
“No. I couldn’t find that either. I switched purses this morning and must have left them out.” She’d been distracted like she never used to be.
She and Ian had met for lunch yesterday...still having to give the perception of a dating couple. It was getting hard to find things to talk about though. Things that had to do with the case. Things she was able to tell him.
She was guessing he was feeling the same. There was only so much he could tell her about the case too. It seemed they were trying to steer clear of personal topics. Almost walking on eggshells around each other.
That stupid kiss. Then calling him over in the middle of the night and all but holding him tight to her bosom like some smothering grandmother...all the while she was barely dressed.
God only knew what he was thinking of her. She sure as hell didn’t want to know.
She was wondering if they were doing a horrible job with their fake relationship. Or maybe it was a good one since they didn’t have much in common and it seemed everyone thought it was odd they were dating anyway.
People were probably taking bets on how long it’d last.
At least everyone Ian knew thought it was odd. She hadn’t told anyone that knew her. Though Tiffany figured it out since Ian came and picked her up for lunch yesterday.
Cam managed to push everything out of her brain and met with her patients for the rest of the morning. She ate lunch at her desk, looking over her schedule for the rest of the week, finishing up her notes and trying not to think of Ian.
When the smoke alarms started to go off, she jumped up, her heart racing, wondering if she was going to have a heart attack at some point. It seemed every time she turned around something was making her jump.
It was probably just a false alarm and she went to buzz Tiffany and see if she knew anything. When the phone went unanswered, she realized Tiffany was still out to lunch.
She grabbed her purse and got up to leave, but when she got to the inner waiting room door, she remembered she didn’t have her keycard. She forgot to ask Tiffany to leave hers. She was trapped inside. All those security precautions to keep her or a client safe or give them privacy from the reception room was working against her now.
Rotten Luck
Ian was going to have to replace the tires on his SUV soon with the number of times they squealed as he tried to get to Cam. The fire alarms were going off in the background as he strained to hear her voice screaming she was locked in.
He’d called dispatch on the way and was told there was smoke in the building—this wasn’t a false alarm.
When he pulled up to the building, he saw multiple fire trucks and men in gear running into the building, smoke coming out of the basement and first floor.
He went to run past them, flashing his badge, but a fireman pulled him aside. “She’s trapped on the third floor. She can’t get out,” he yelled.
“You can’t go in. We don’t know what’s going on.”
“I need to get her. Suite 303,” he said, trying to push his way forward.
The fireman turned and called over two men. “Third floor. Woman trapped in suite 303. Get up there.”
Both men ran into the building. He pulled back and called her. It was all he could do. His hands were tied. “Help is on the way, Cam.”
“I’m scared, Ian.”
“I know. I know. Can you see smoke up there?” It didn’t look to be anywhere past the first floor from what he could see, but the windows were tinted as the floors increased.
“No. But I can smell it. It’s like I can taste it.”
“Can you open a window in your office? The firemen are on their way.”
“No, they don’t open. I tried calling the security company, but I couldn’t get through. I tried calling Tiffany, but she didn’t answer. No one will answer my calls,” she said. He heard her sobbing as she was talking loudly in the phone over the alarms.
“I answered you. I’m here.” She screamed and his heart stopped. “What’s going on? Cam, answer me!”
“There was a crash. I heard a crash.”
“Stand back. They’re probably breaking your door down.”
“It’s the firemen. I can hear them. I’ve got to go.”
She disconnected the call on him. She’d be fine, he kept telling himself. He repeated it over and over again until he saw her walking out of the building coughing with the fireman. The smoke seemed to be nothing more than a lingering fog now, not getting worse by any means. He’d yet to see flames but heard there were some by the fireman issuing orders.
She came running toward him and he didn’t hesitate to lift her in his arms and hold her tight. Crushing her to his chest, then framing her face and looking at her.
She was soaking wet, the sprinklers having been set off in the whole building. Tears were running down her face spreading mascara like a teenager’s attempt at a horror movie. “I’ve got you,” he said. “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re going to be fine.”
He brought her to his SUV out of the way and just stood against it, holding her in his arms, rocking her and letting her cry it out, pushing the paramedics away for the moment.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been that scared before. I thought it was a drill. Then a false alarm. We get them a lot. I wasn’t
even rushing to get out of the building. But then I realized I was locked in and I just panicked when I couldn’t reach Tiffany or the security company.”
“How did you get locked in? Didn’t your card work?”
“I must have left it home. I couldn’t find it or my keys when I came in this morning. I mean, what rotten luck for this to happen on a day I didn’t have them.”
“Yeah. Rotten luck,” he said.
***
Ian drove her back to her house. She was too shaken to consider driving. She’d sent a text to Tiffany to cancel all her appointments for the afternoon once she was allowed back in the building and the door secured for the night.
“I’m okay now. You can go back to work,” she said when they walked in her kitchen.
“I’ll stay just the same. I can bring you back to get your car later anyway.”
She hadn’t thought of that. Hadn’t thought of anything other than getting to safety. Wondering if she was going to burn alive. Or maybe she’d suffocate first.
What a horrible way to go. Either having her lungs fill with smoke or skin melting off. Both were unthinkable.
“Thank you. It seems all you do is save me lately.”
“Just doing my job,” he said.
“I don’t want you to do your job anymore.”
“That’s just too damn bad.” His eyes were like steel. Cold and heavy, but his touch had been anything but while he held her. While he took care of her. And now she was ready to throw it all out the window.
“I need this all to go away,” she said. “I need you to help me make it go away. Just for the afternoon. That would be enough, right?”
He looked at her and knew what she was asking. “It’s not a good idea, Cam,” his fingertips trailing down her cheek. But she didn’t want gentle and tender, but rather rough and rapid.
“I’m done with good ideas right now. Do you have a better one?”
He laughed, not a humorous sound at all. “I’ve got a lot of ideas and none of them are good when it comes to you. None of my thoughts are all that pure.”
“I know,” she said. “I see it. You see it when you look at me too. Admit it.” She wanted him to admit that he knew what she’d been feeling. That she wasn’t doing so good at hiding and that maybe he caught her at her lie.
“It doesn’t seem I need to.”
His eyes were searching hers again. She was so weak at the moment and she was hoping he’d be too. That he’d cave and give into the moment. They could deal with it after, but all she needed was the here and the now. His hand on hers. His mouth tasting her. Making her feel like Cam for the moment. Not Dr. Mason. Not Doc. He’d called her Cam right now and she was going with it.
“Push the outside world away for now,” she said, reaching up and putting her lips to his. If he pushed her away she’d be devastated, but she’d be damned if she’d let him know that.
He didn’t push her away though. Instead he bent down and slid his hand under her knees, cradling her in his arms and carrying her to the couch. Not to her room, but to the first piece of furniture that they could make work. The way she was feeling the kitchen floor would have been enough.
She wasn’t in the mood for soft and slow. Gentle and teasing.
She wanted to feel alive. She wanted it fast and hard. Bruising almost.
And she wanted to take control.
So much had been out of her control lately and this was one thing she could take command of. One thing she was going to take command of.
Ian sat down on the couch, her in his lap, but she rolled over and stood up. He lifted his eyes to her hands as she started to unbutton her shirt. “I know you’ve been looking at my breasts. I see your eyes go there. You want to know how they feel, don’t you?”
He grinned. “Not just that.”
A few more buttons and her shirt was undone, then she pulled it out of the waistband of her skirt, spreading it wide. He went to reach for her, but she stepped aside.
She didn’t slide the shirt off; she didn’t need to. It happened to be her lucky day for once. Her bra had the clasp in the front and she just easily flicked it up, parting the sides. “What do you think?”
His hands went to her knees, pushing her skirt up and over her thighs, then tugging her on his lap, spreading her legs around his hips.
His jeans were rough against her sensitive skin and just as she was ready to comment on how he never looked at what she had on under the skirt, he set his mouth to her nipple. Guess he had something else on his mind.
That was fine though because he was doing exactly what she wanted him to do. Transporting her mind and body outside of what was going on beyond these walls. Making her feel alive. Like a reckless woman.
She arched her back and started to rub up and down on him. If she thought his stare was like steel before, it was nothing compared to what was in his jeans pressing against her.
His mouth moved to the other side, tasting her, licking, nipping and sending her to another planet. This was what she had needed to relax every night for the past week, and this was what she’d been missing and craving.
“Ian,” she said. Her voice sounded hoarse and foreign to her own ears.
His mouth never left her breast, but he shifted and she felt like she was being lifted. Then she realized he was reaching into his back pocket. Something cool was dropped down between them, brushing against her leg.
A leather wallet. She opened it up and fished around as best as she could since his mouth was making it hard for her to think about the task at hand.
Once she found what she was looking for, she slid back, a popping sound like taking a bottle out of a baby’s mouth as they greedily devoured what they were starving for. She was missing it too, just like him, but there was something better to be had.
He took the condom out of her hand, unbuttoned and unzipped himself, then covered up. She barely had time to shift the silk out of the way before he lifted and dropped her right down on top of him.
It was everything she needed and more. His mouth went back to work, and she did the rest.
Rising and dropping. Grinding and rubbing. Wanting to wrap her legs around his waist, but the back of the couch was there preventing it.
One of his hands slid down and touched her, sending her higher, making her move in a way she didn’t know her body was capable of.
There were noises coming out of her mouth, foreign sounds, sexy sounds, thrilling sounds. Turning her on more, building her up.
His other hand was digging into her waist, his hips slamming into her as she rose up and down, but his mouth never moved from its target. Never detracted from what he wanted.
Then it seemed what they both were dying for—both waiting for—was handed over so easily. Making them both scream, both curse and both collapse in a heap out of breath.
An Endearment
Somehow they ended up in Cam’s bed and he wasn’t sure if he carried her there...or she carried him.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
“Extremely. You?” she asked, snuggling into his chest.
He was going to say that he needed the release, but that would have been a lie. One she would have seen right through easily enough.
“Pretty darn good. You’ve got some moves on you, Doc.”
She sighed. “Back to that again.”
“What?” he asked, wondering what she was thinking.
“I was Cam earlier. Now I’m back to Doc.”
“Does it bother you when I call you that?” He didn’t think much of it. To him, it was probably more of an endearment, but he couldn’t very well tell her that.
“I think a lot of things are bothering me now when they normally didn’t.”
“You’ve got a reason to feel that way.”
“What about us?” she asked. “Or shouldn’t I be talking about it?”
“Is there an ‘us’?” he asked.
“I’d think the fact you’re naked in my bed and had me screa
ming for a second time a few minutes ago is answer enough. I guess the question is if you want to go back in time and pretend this didn’t happen?”
She was trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal; he could see it in her eyes. But it was a big deal to him. More than he wanted to admit though. “What do you want to do?”
“I think if we try to play it off we’d both be lying to ourselves.”
“I like that you’re pretty to the point.”
She ran her hand around his chest. “It normally comes in handy. Guess lately I haven’t been too much to the point. Not like I should have been. Maybe if I told you more, I wouldn’t have been so pent up trying to hide it all. That I look at you and want to strip you naked every single time. That I see your hard edges and rough lines and know that I’ll be dreaming about them for years to come.”
He ran his hand down her hair, trying to keep it gentle when he really wanted to show her those edges and lines she talked about. It wasn’t what he expected of her, but had a feeling she liked keeping it hidden.
“No more holding it in. I’m going to move in with you until this is over.”
She sat up straight. “That’s making a lot of assumptions.”
“There’s no winning with you. I can stay in the spare room if you want.”
She paused. “That’d be a complete waste.”
“Make up your mind, Cam.”
“I don’t know what I want. Why do you want to stay here?”
“You need protecting. I’m not buying the coincidence, that the day you don’t have keys or your keycard there is a fire in the building trapping you inside.”
“You don’t think they are related?” she asked. “Do you? That’s a lot of damage to get to me.”
“Some people don’t care about collateral damage when they want something,” Ian said.
“Like Simon Arrow?”
“I don’t know. Once we find out more about the fire, we’ll go from there.”
“So you only want to stay because you think I need protection?”
“That and I’d like to end up back in this bed again, but I’ll understand if you want me to sleep in the one next door.”