by Debra Kayn
She walked out of the room and said over her shoulder when she was out of sight. "I'll make you something to eat."
"Hey." He followed her. "Why don't I call Vavoom's—"
"No, thanks." She strolled into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "I took some ground hamburger out of the freezer this morning. I'll fry it up and add it to a box of macaroni and cheese you have in the cabinet."
"Did you check the expiration date on that box?"
She glanced at him to see if he was teasing. Seeing his straight face, she pulled the box down and read the back. It was inedible. Six months expired. "Really, Chuck?"
He leaned against the kitchen island and rubbed the top of his head. "I think it's been in there since Gracie and Clara brought some groceries over to the house when they thought I'd starve during one of our searches."
"Of course, they did," she mumbled. "Order from Vavoom's if you want."
"Erikka?"
She whirled around and held out her arms. "What do you want me to say? Go ahead and invite all the women in your life over for dinner. Throw a party. Don't mind me. I'm just going to go upstairs and think of another way to try and find my sister."
He snagged her wrist, bringing her around and in front of him. "Tone it down, love."
She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what he could do with his advice, and he shook his head stopping her. She boiled.
"Does this have to do with Gracie again?" he asked.
"Gracie. Samantha. Cassandra. If you need more names, I'm sure they're all on your voicemail, because they all want to talk with you." She glared.
His neck straightened. "Cassandra?"
She blew out her breath. "The woman at the gym you were flirting with."
"Ah." He brought up her hand and kissed her knuckles. "I'm not going to apologize for my past."
She pulled on her arm, but he refused to let her go. "You're free to do whatever you want."
"Bullshit." He let go of her arm and grabbed her hips, pulling her tight against him. "Feel that?"
The hardness at the front of his jeans pressed against her. Her nipples hardened as a shock of arousal swept through her. "Damn you," she mumbled.
"Hear me out." He held on to her. "I'm forty-five damn years old. I've got a past that includes other women and things that'd have a lady like you walking out the door if you knew about them."
"So, I'm finding out..."
"That's all in the past." He exhaled. "I have not been with, talked to, or seen any other woman, but you, since we first had sex and I don't plan to because I see a future with you, and I'm not going to fuck that up. I'm also not going to let you go because you're trying to figure out our relationship by yourself when I'm at work, and I have no say in the matter. I've got my own plans for us, but we can't go forward until we find your sister. I'm not going to lay that on your shoulders. What I can do is answer any question you have for me if you can ask it without getting in a snit before I come home."
Snit? She stared into his eyes. The intense way he'd gazed at her through his talk, and now those same eyes softened, she felt like a fool, jumping to conclusions. Being jealous wasn't something she normally experienced. The emotion made her sick to her stomach.
He'd never once asked her about her past boyfriends or her sexual experience. From day one, he'd trusted her and never judged. Her vision blurred. "I'm cranky."
He wrapped his arms around her and palmed her head, holding her to his chest. "I think once this is over and life calms down for you, you'll be able to see a lot more in front of your face than you see now. I'm falling in love with you."
She squeezed her eyes closed. His admission hurt. He deserved so much more than what she could give him at the moment. She could barely look after herself. If he weren't around, she wouldn't even remember to eat. Something she knew she had to do to keep up her strength and think clearly.
"How about you call Vavoom's and talk to Gracie, since she wants to speak with you, and I'll go wash my face and come out in a better mood?" She pulled back and looked up at him.
"Burger, steak, or salad?" He kissed the tip of her nose.
"Burger." She kissed him quickly and left him in the kitchen while she escaped to try and gather control over her emotions.
He was falling in love with her. She climbed the stairs. He wasn't the only one feeling love, she had it bad. But if she failed to find her sister, what good would she be to Chuck? He deserved someone who had their life pulled together and were free to be happy.
Chapter 28
Chuck disconnect the phone call to Kip Sandova, one of the spotters who rode in AirChinook Search & Rescue and moonlighted on private missing person cases. Every single person he had out looking and questioning during the week while he worked weren't able to add any more leads to Rachel's case.
It was as if Erikka's sister vanished. One positive I.D. of her flying to Cabo and two rocks in a mailbox. That's all they had. Notus had found others with far less information, but for an abduction case, the pickings were slim. Usually, if the abductor was known to authorities, pieces of both lives slid together creating a bigger puzzle.
He leaned back in his office chair and stretched his arms, latching his fingers behind his head. Frustration continued to grow with each option he checked off. Someone, somewhere, had to have seen her or Stoddard. Because of the time that'd passed, the police were only actively searching as they went about their shift or if they received any leads. With a warrant out on Stoddard, they kept checking up on the places he frequented and his apartment. But the P.D. couldn't afford to have one officer devoting all his time to one case that was slowing getting cold.
"Fuck," he muttered, lowering his arms and scratching his beard.
"Everything okay?" asked Erikka.
He swirled in the chair and found Erikka leaning against the doorframe. "Yeah, just frustrated. I keep running down the same paths and feel like I'm missing something."
He motioned her forward and patted his thigh. She sat down in his lap, and he pushed the chair to recline, sending her to his chest where she could lay across him. He cupped her breast through her shirt and found her hard nipple.
"Can I help?" She cupped his jaw and trailed her thumb over his lips.
"Not much you can do, unless you remember some other place Rachel could be or know another person connected to Stoddard." He rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger. "We've got a certain amount of leads, and I've branched out from each one trying to think like both of them. I'm getting hung up, because if a kidnapped woman gets away, why would she leave rocks in a mailbox instead of going straight to someone who can help?"
"I wasn't home. I was here, at your house. Maybe that was her only option." She dropped her hand from his face. "If Stoddard was after her because she broke free from him, she might not have had time to do anything else before he caught her again."
"You think she's out there hiding from him?" He slid his hand underneath her shirt and held her bare breast.
"No." She pressed into his palm. "I think he caught her again. She would've found me or made contact with someone if she was running away from him."
"It's a long time to hold a woman hostage, love."
She sat up on his lap. "What are you saying? You think he...he...killed her because she escaped long enough to give me a sign?"
"No." He gathered her back in his arms. "I'm just talking to hear myself think. Something will break through when my head clears."
"That's how I can help you." She turned her face and pressed her lips to his ear. "Let me clear your head."
He slipped his hand between her thighs. "If that means we're going to have sex, I'm in."
She nipped his ear with her teeth. He stood with her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. At the bed, she wiggled her way out of his clutch and stood in front of him.
Her hands went to his belt. His hands went to her breasts. She tilted her head and smiled at him teasingly. His woman liked giving head, and he wa
sn't going to stop her.
She unfastened the front of his jeans and tugged them down to his thighs. Already hard from touching her in the office, his balls tightened in anticipation of her warm, tight mouth on him.
Erikka crossed her arms in front of her and lifted the hem of her shirt over her head. He gazed at her bare breasts, down her stomach, and to her black panties. She'd gotten comfortable living with him that in the evenings after she'd taken a shower, she lounged around in an oversized T-shirt and underwear. He loved it because he got to watch the way her breasts swayed underneath the material, free and touchable.
She took his hands and pulled him toward the bed, turned, and gave him a gentle push. He sat down on the mattress. She straddled his boot, unable to get between his thighs because of his jeans keeping him from spreading his legs.
"Damn," he mumbled, taken with the sexy picture playing out in front of him.
Her breasts rubbed against the hair on his legs. A shiver worked its way down his spine and settled between his legs. Another moment hit him out of the blue.
This was the woman he was meant to be with for a lifetime.
This was the woman who soothed the pain, the guilt, the searches.
This was the woman who belonged to him.
Right now.
Tomorrow.
Forever.
His cock pulsed wanting attention. She wrapped her hands around his dick. One on top of the other. Then, she peeked up at him. Damn, he loved that.
There were times she blew him away, scratching his back, kicking her legs, pulling and pushing in her enthusiasm, and he'd swear on his life she was born to love him. Perfect, skilled, and talented.
Then, there were times like now where she looked to him to gain confidence. As if she needed his permission at every step, and he liked that, too.
His dick ached pleasurably. The head of his cock sticking out from her double grip. Pre-cum wet the end and Erikka caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
"You want that?" he asked, running his hand over her hair.
She raised her brows and looked up, looked down, then she stood, wiggling out of her panties, and climbed up on the bed on her hands and knees, and turned around. Dipping her head down to his lap, she licked the tip of his cock. He looked to his left and grinned. Her ass was level with his head.
He leaned back, grabbed her thighs, and lifted her lower half above him until she straddled his head. Perfect.
His cock in her mouth. His mouth on her pussy.
He held her legs as he licked, capturing her wiggles, her bucks, her humps. Everything made him rock hard, and he inhaled and swallowed her arousal.
She cupped his balls and lowered her mouth, taking him until the back of her throat pressed on the head of his cock. The muscles in his legs tensed and his ass constricted in response. He was going to come if she kept that up.
He circled his tongue around her clit until Erikka moaned and her head movements slowed on his cock. He lapped at her wet pussy and closed his eyes. This was the way he wanted to go when his life was over. Not by riding his Harley into the asphalt. Not on a search for a serial killer with a gun. He wanted to die with his face in Erikka's pussy when he was ninety-five years old, and the only thing that worked was his tongue.
Erikka's head bobbed faster, and she sucked harder. His toes curled, straining to hold out until the last possible second. He wasn't done yet. He needed to taste and love on her more.
He trailed his hands up the back of her thighs, slipping his thumbs between her legs. Her wetness made entrance slick, and he plunged his thumb inside her pussy while he sucked on her clit. She rocked back against him, and he withdrew his thumb and thrust in with his other thumb from his left hand.
Her mouth came off him. "Yes."
He changed thumbs again. Alternating back and forth in perfect rhythm, filling her, stretching her. Her clit swelled between his lips, and he staggered sucking and licking. He couldn't stop his hips from thrusting off the bed, sending his cock farther into her mouth, making her take him faster.
His chest pounded and sweat coated his forehead. Caught up in the pleasure gathering in his balls, he was caught off guard when her pussy constricted on his thumb, and she moaned loud and long.
The vibration from her throat pushed him into losing control, and he came with a powerful burst, over and over. She swallowed every drop.
He continued licking her until her legs trembled and her ass jiggled. Removing his hands, he wiped his face on her inner thigh as she rolled and collapsed on the bed beside him. He lifted his head.
Erikka's cheeks were flushed, and he patted her bare ass and laid his head back down on the mattress and closed his eyes. He'd rest for a few minutes, fifteen at most, and then get back up and work on the search for Rachel.
Chapter 29
"I said no."
Erikka followed Chuck into the kitchen. "Why not?"
"Because we can go faster when you're not on the back of my Harley." He finished the last drop of his coffee and set the mug in the sink.
"I get it, but can I take my car and drive around? I won't stop or get out." She planted her hands on the tile atop the kitchen island.
"No." He stopped beside her and kissed her forehead. "Gomez is coming by at eleven o'clock. You need to stay here and meet with him."
"How do you know?"
"He called fifteen minutes ago." He walked out of the kitchen.
She hurried into the living room after him. "What did he say?"
"Stoddard's mom thinks her son's car was parked at the old G.I. Joe store late last night." He bent over and picked up his gloves and helmet.
"The G.I...that building is empty. They closed almost a decade ago."
"Right." He put on his helmet without latching the strap. "They built a huge apartment complex out front by the road in front of the store. Mrs. Stoddard doesn't know if he has anyone he knows who lives there but the parking for the apartment is assigned, which means visitors of the tenants often use the abandoned parking lot."
She rubbed her forehead trying to absorb all the details. "If it's out of sight from the road now, how did his mother see the car?"
"She didn't." He shook his head. "She has a friend who sells makeup and was making a delivering to one of her customers at the apartments. That friend parked in the parking lot and mentioned she thinks Stoddard's car was there. Mrs. Stoddard called Gomez when she heard. He's sending a policeman to do a drive-by now to see if the car is still there. Notus is going to take a closer look and ask some questions at the apartments."
"Oh, my God. What if he's there?" She grabbed on to Chuck. "That could mean Rachel is being kept in one of the apartments. You could find her."
"It's only a lead." He cupped her face. "I need you to stay here. Meet with Gomez."
"I will." She nodded, changing her mind about searching on her own while Chuck went in a different direction.
Whatever he wanted her to do, she'd do it if it meant he'd rush over there and find Rachel. This was the closest they've come to finding a possible location in St. John's.
"Go, go." She kissed him quick. "Ride safely."
He walked to the door. "Lock it behind me."
"I will."
"Remember to keep your purse in the living room and make sure the safety is off your pistol." He stood in the doorframe. "Don't answer the door, unless it's a Notus member or Gomez. Keep your cell phone on you."
"Got it." He'd told her the same thing every day since she started staying with him. She knew the drill.
Alone, she flipped the lock. Her stomach spiraled and tightened with nerves. Hope filled her. She'd woke up that morning with a niggling feeling she couldn't explain. It must've been a premonition that something would change today.
"God, Rachel, hang on. They will find you," she whispered to the empty room.
Pacing the house, she couldn't stop moving. Nervous energy bounced around inside of her, alternating making her weak, and then strong. If she go
t Rachel back, she'd agree to join the gym with her instead of stubbornly turning her sister's offer down to use her visitor pass. She'd go, even though she would probably end up glaring at the desk worker who flirted with Chuck the whole time. As soon as she got a job, she'd save money and take her first vacation to Italy, even though she had no desire to go out of the states. Whatever Rachel wanted, she'd do. Never again would she take time with her sister for granted.
She tripped on Chuck's extra pair of boots and caught herself on the couch before she fell. Picking up his shoes, she carried them over to the stairs and set them on the bottom step. Love filled her. She wouldn't have survived the last two months without Chuck supporting her emotionally.
He'd been her strength. On her low days, he kept her going. On her high days, he kept her safe when she wanted to tear down all of St. John's and search for Rachel. She pressed her hand to her upset stomach. Rachel would like Chuck, once she got to know him.
A wave of dizziness hit her. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee, adding extra sugar. Cupping the mug, she carried the drink to the living room and sat on the couch. The warmth helped settle her nerves.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and set it beside her. Her purse sat on the end table. It was a little after ten o'clock. Lieutenant Gomez would be here in less than an hour.
Time moved slowly the more she looked at her phone. Eventually, she set the empty mug on the coffee table, went pee, and returned downstairs to find that only twenty minutes had passed.
Rapid knocking on the door startled her. Lieutenant Gomez had come early.
She hurried over and looked through the peephole. Pressed against the door, she wasn't sure if she was seeing right when the fisheye view of her sister appeared.
"Rachel?" she whispered, fumbling blindly with the lock.