“Mandy? Yes, he married her.”
“But … why?”
“I’m pretty sure he loves her,” Grady said.
“I just don’t understand you … Hardys,” Marge muttered. “You all keep getting bamboozled by looks and completely ignore a woman of substance.”
“We are men,” Grady said, playing his part to perfection. “Sometimes we just can’t help ourselves.”
“I guess not.”
“So, um, is Sophie here?”
“She doesn’t check in and out with me like she’s supposed to,” Marge replied. “I have no idea.”
“Can you call back into the newsroom and find out?”
“I suppose. Oh, look, I guess it won’t be necessary.”
Grady shifted his attention to the glass doors that separated the lobby from the inner sanctum of the newspaper. Sophie was moving through them before he got a chance to respond.
“What are you doing here?” Her face was a mask of confusion and pleasure.
“I came to get you,” Grady said.
“Why?”
“Because I know exactly where you’re heading right now,” Grady said.
“I’m going out to cover a story,” Sophie said.
“Where?”
“Just … out.”
“Where?”
“Across town, if you must know,” Sophie said, averting her gaze.
“You’re going down to the border crossing, aren’t you?”
“I … what makes you think that?” Sophie’s eyes were dark slits against her pale face.
“Because I know you, sugar,” Grady said, fighting the mad urge to laugh as Marge rolled her eyes at the term of endearment. “I know that you have to start investigating what we discussed yesterday. You won’t be able to stop yourself. That’s why we’re here. You can go down there with us.”
“Why are you going down there?” Sophie asked.
“For the same reason you are.”
“But … .”
“Sophie, it’s too dangerous for you to go down there alone,” Grady said. “I don’t want to get in your way, but I don’t want you to get hurt. I thought this would be a nice compromise.”
“What makes you think that I want to compromise?”
“Because you’d hate for me to sit home and worry about you,” Grady replied.
“I don’t want you to worry about me,” Sophie conceded. “I also don’t want you to boss me around.”
“Do I look like I’m trying to boss you around?”
“Your whole family likes to boss people around,” Sophie said.
“Don’t use James against me,” Grady said. “He’s more overbearing than I am. Just because he takes over and bosses Mandy around, that doesn’t mean I’m going to do the same with you.”
“Besides, I think Mandy secretly likes it,” Finn offered. “She likes to fight right back with him. That allows them to get hot and sweaty in the middle of a fight.”
Grady shot Finn a look. “Do you think that’s helping?”
Finn shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“It’s not,” Sophie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not sure if this is a good idea.”
“Sophie, I try really hard not to get in the way of your job,” Grady said. “Last month, when this county was a war zone, did I go to every crime scene with you?”
“No.”
“I just want you to be safe,” Grady said, helpless. “Just … ride down there with us. I won’t get in the way of your interviews. I won’t follow you around like I’m your shadow. I just need to know you’re not wandering into danger.”
Sophie sighed, considering. “Fine.”
Grady arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Let’s go,” she said. “We’re wasting daylight.”
Grady smirked, shooting a triumphant look in Finn’s direction. Even though her back was to them, Sophie straightened. “I saw that.”
“You saw what?” Finn asked.
“Just for that, I’m riding shot gun,” Sophie said.
“Hey, wait a second,” Finn protested, turning to his brother for support.
“She called it, dude,” Grady said. “You know the rules.”
“You’re just as lovesick as James is these days,” Finn grumbled. “Displacing me for a girl … that’s just wrong.”
“And for that girl,” Marge grumbled.
“Have a nice day, Marge,” Sophie sang as she coasted out the door.
“WHERE did Sophie go?” Finn asked, looking over his shoulder as he leaned against an abandoned building.
“She wanted to talk to some of the working girls,” Grady said. “She promised not to go far.”
“I’m impressed,” Finn said. “You’re letting her wander around down here, and you have no idea what she’s doing.”
“I trust her.”
“I didn’t say you didn’t,” Finn said. “I’m just surprised that you’re not worried about her in this neighborhood.”
“This neighborhood is crap,” Grady agreed, glancing at his watch. “What time did Sean tell us he would meet us here?”
Sean Dean was an old Navy buddy of Finn’s who now worked border patrol. He’d agreed to meet the brothers close to his workstation before his shift began. That’s why they were standing on the corner of a street that wasn’t fit for human occupation.
“He should be here any minute,” Finn said. “I can’t believe how bad it is down here. You keep hearing about the city getting better – but that’s pretty hard to believe when you look at this area.”
“It’s sad,” Grady agreed. “The architecture is still great, but there’s not enough money in the world to fix all of the problems down here.”
“I can see how easy it would be to grab someone from here,” Finn said. “There’s no one around who would report a crime. They’re too busy committing them to want to call the cops.”
Grady fixed his attention on the two men openly dealing drugs a block away. “Yeah. It’s ridiculous.”
The Hardy brothers looked up as a car pulled into the spot next to them. Finn broke into a wide grin as he greeted the man exiting the vehicle. “Hey, Sean.”
“Hey, Finn.”
Finn introduced Grady to his friend, and after the pleasantries were exhausted, he got straight to the point. “Have you heard anything about women disappearing in this area?”
Sean shrugged. “You hear a lot of stories in this area.”
“Like?”
“I heard just last week that aliens were taking over the city.”
Finn made a face. “Um … .”
“We’re talking about real stories,” Grady said, cutting his brother off.
“I know,” Sean said. “The problem is, every story I hear seems like the person telling it to me believes it. This isn’t the suburbs. There’s so much sadness around her, so much desperation … everyone is self-medicating down here. Everyone. All that self-medication makes for some interesting urban myths.”
“But have you heard about women disappearing?” Finn pressed.
“Yeah,” Sean said. “I didn’t hear five, though. I heard fifty. You just … you can’t believe what you hear down here. It’s awful, and it’s sad, but those are the realities.”
“Do you think there’s any truth to the stories?” Grady asked.
Sean shrugged. “Maybe. I mean, I don’t put any stock in the alien stories, and I don’t believe the governor is trying to introduce zombies to the downtown area so he can legally firebomb it, but disappearing women isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Especially down here.”
“Can you just keep your ear to the ground?” Finn asked. “If you hear the story again, try to get a name or a contact?”
“Yeah,” Sean said. “Can I ask why you’re interested?”
Finn and Grady exchanged a look.
“A friend asked us to investigate,” Grady said.
“A friend?”
“It’s a long story,�
�� Finn said. “We’re just trying to see if there’s any truth to the stories.”
“Well, good luck,” Sean said. “I hope they’re not true, for the sake of the women down here, if for nothing else.”
“Me, too,” Finn said.
Once Sean was gone, the brothers continued to scan the area.
“What do you think?” Finn asked finally.
“I don’t know,” Grady said. “Tracking anyone down with legitimate information in this neighborhood is going to be a nightmare.”
“Well, we have to at least try,” Finn said.
“Yeah,” Grady agreed. “For now, though, we need to find Sophie and get out of here. Where did she go?”
Four
“She promised not to go too far,” Grady said through gritted teeth, his brown eyes flashing as he rounded another corner. “I’m going to kill her.”
“Maybe she just got distracted,” Finn offered.
“She promised!”
“Calm down,” Finn said. “She knows how to handle herself. Three weeks ago she held off ten armed thugs from Bermuda. She’ll be okay.”
“Have you ever considered that you’re just lucky with Emma?” Grady asked, striding down the street with a purpose.
“Of course I’m lucky to have found Emma,” Finn scoffed. “She’s beautiful, and kind.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Grady shot back. “Emma is just so easy compared to the rest of them.”
Finn ceased his forward momentum. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Grady sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he lifted his face to the sky. He’d stepped in it. He knew he had. It was too late to backtrack. “I didn’t mean anything bad,” Grady said, apologetic. “Emma is just uncomplicated. She doesn’t rush headlong into danger every chance she gets, like Sophie and Mandy. She’s not constantly complaining, like Ally. She’s a joy to be around.”
“You mean she’s boring,” Finn countered.
“I said no such thing,” Grady protested. “It’s just got to be easier for you not to be constantly worrying that Emma is in danger.”
“No, I just have to worry about random guys groping Emma when she’s on a job,” Finn said. “I just have to worry about Emma waking up in the middle of the night screaming because she’s having a nightmare about her father raping her. I just have to worry about constantly reassuring her because she doesn’t think she’s worth anything because that’s what her father drilled into her head for eighteen straight years.”
Grady paled. “I’m … sorry. That was a stupid thing to say.”
Finn waved off his brother’s apology. “I shouldn’t have jumped all over you. It’s not your fault.”
“Sometimes … sometimes I think we forget what Emma has been through,” Grady said. “She’s always so easygoing. She never complains, man. Ally is a constant fountain of complaint, and Sophie and Mandy aren’t known to keep their mouths shut.”
“I know I’m lucky to have Emma,” Finn said. “I just don’t want you to think she’s boring.”
“Of course I don’t think she’s boring,” Grady said. “She just needs to learn how to bitch so we can hear her above the din of the other women in our lives.”
Finn smirked, the crisis passing. “Let’s find the source of your worry. I hate to say it, but I’m not any fonder of this area than you are. The idea of Sophie wandering around without anyone keeping an eye on her makes me nervous.”
Grady frowned. “I really am going to have to put one of those tracking monitors on her.”
“Let’s find her,” Finn said. “The faster we’re out of here, the faster we can … shower.”
“That sounds like a great idea.”
“I CAN’T believe you embarrassed me like that,” Sophie said, kicking her shoes off as she walked into the house.
“How did I embarrass you?” Grady asked, fighting to keep his tone even.
“You interrupted when I was conducting an interview,” Sophie replied. “You said you wouldn’t do that.”
“I’d been looking for you forever,” Grady said. “You said you wouldn’t go too far away.”
“I was two blocks away.”
Grady slipped off his own shoes, taking the time to line them up on the mat next to the door. When he was done, he did the same with Sophie’s. While she wasn’t a slob, and Grady adored everything about his feisty reporter, her refusal to organize drove him crazy.
“You were still gone,” he said.
“I wasn’t gone,” Sophie countered. “I was doing my job.”
Grady bit his bottom lip. “I couldn’t find you.”
“I knew where I was the whole time,” Sophie said, stripping out of her suit jacket and dropping it on the back of the armchair in the living room.
“But I couldn’t find you,” Grady said. “It scared me.”
Sophie’s gaze softened. “Grady … .”
“It scared me,” he repeated. “I’m sorry if that upsets you. I’m sorry if you think I was trying to embarrass you. I wasn’t. I just … I needed to find you. When I did, I just wanted to hug you.”
Sophie pushed the heel of her hand against her forehead. “I’m sorry I scared you. I got lost in what I was doing. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Grady nodded, pursing his lips. “Did you find anything?”
“Not much,” Sophie said. “There are a lot of stories … and very few facts.”
“That’s what we found, too.”
Sophie’s hands reached to the buttons on her shirt, Grady’s eyes following the movement.
“What are you doing?” Grady asked.
“I’m going to take a shower,” Sophie said.
“Oh, okay.” He was quiet as he regarded her. “Are you still mad at me?”
“I’m not mad, Grady,” Sophie said. “I can’t be mad. You did what you did because you … care. I just don’t like being treated like a child.”
“That’s not what I was doing.”
“I know,” Sophie said, unbuttoning her skirt and letting it drop to the floor. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Okay,” Grady said, glancing around the kitchen. “I guess I’ll cook dinner.”
“Really?” Sophie asked. “I was kind of hoping you would join me in the shower.”
Grady’s eyes brightened, his smile turning from contrite to flirty. “And what would we do in the shower?”
“I was thinking we would do something dirty,” Sophie said, smiling. “And then I thought we would clean each other up.”
“And what about dinner?”
“What do you think those menus in the drawer are for?” Sophie’s hands traveled to her back, unfastening the bra so her breasts could spring free and Grady could focus on the milky expanses he wanted to devour.
Grady followed the trail of clothes as Sophie discarded them piecemeal, adding his to the mix as he moved. The shower was on, and Sophie was already inside when he entered the bathroom.
When he climbed in next to her, he couldn’t restrain his hands. They roamed her tone midriff as he pulled her beneath the steady stream of hot water. Steam rose around them, both from the water and their own heated intensity. Grady lowered his lips, capturing Sophie’s mouth as he tangled his hand into her hair.
“I just want you to be safe, Sophie,” Grady murmured. “You mean too much to me to lose.”
“I know,” Sophie said, running her hand down Grady’s cut torso, flattening her palm against his defined abdominal muscles. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“I’m sorry, too.” Grady extended his tongue, licking the expanse of skin between Sophie’s ear and her shoulder.
“Don’t ever be sorry about caring,” Sophie said, caressing Grady’s cheek with her finger as she leaned forward and kissed him. She slipped her tongue into Grady’s mouth, letting it tangle with his as she sank into his warm embrace. “Don’t ever be sorry about caring.”
Grady tightened his arms around Sophie’s narrow waist. Her body w
as lithe, but strong. Her face was flushed with color, and her mouth was open as he cupped her rear in his hands. “No more talking,” he mumbled, kissing her deeply.
Sophie didn’t bother to respond, instead wrapping her hand around his rigid length and tugging lightly. Grady gasped at the tactile sensation, his mind muddying with desperate thoughts and desires.
He ran his hands up and down her back as he moved her to the wall of the shower, pressing her shoulders to the tile. Sophie lifted her leg, hanging it over Grady’s hip as his fingers pressed to her warm core.
“Oh.” Sophie gasped as he rubbed her sensitive nerve bundle. “Oh!”
Grady reached down, anchoring her raised leg to him as he slid inside of her, relishing the feeling as her warmth engulfed him. Sophie wrapped her arms around Grady’s shoulders, pressing her wet face to his as he started to thrust.
“Oh, you feel so good,” Grady murmured, sucking her ear into his mouth as he pumped in and out. “You feel so good, sugar.”
“I … .” Sophie couldn’t find the words to express her feelings. She knew what she wanted to say. She knew what she needed to say. She still couldn’t say it.
Grady pulled out, swallowing Sophie’s protests with his mouth. After a feverish kiss, Grady flipped Sophie’s body around so she was facing the wall of the shower. He moved up behind her, kissing her shoulders as he entered her from behind.
“Ugh,” Grady moaned.
Sophie’s arms were outstretched, her hands plastered to the walls on either side of her head. Grady reached up, linking his fingers with hers as he continued move in and out of her. He rested his forehead against the back of her head, recognizing the building orgasm as he continued to piston in and out of her.
He moved his right hand down, slipping it between Sophie and the wall so he could rub her while their bodies remained joined. Sophie’s body stiffened, mewling cries escaping her throat as she orgasmed.
Grady held off on following her until he was sure her tremors had subsided, and then he careened over into his own bliss. He grabbed Sophie’s hands again, their bodies jerking together as they tried to regain their breath. The words were on the tip of his tongue, and yet he couldn’t get them out. Every time he tried to tell Sophie he loved her, the words failed. The emotion was real. He felt it every time he touched her, and yet the words were elusive.
Deadly Questions (Hardy Brothers Security Book 8) Page 3