“Hit you? I’ll do a hell of a lot more than that!” Grabbing a handful of her hair, he yanked her forward against him. “Listen here, you fat bitch. You’re going to search this house from top to bottom, and you’re going to find that envelope. You hear me? You find it or I’ll kill you!”
Fear shot through her. Looking up through a haze of tears, hanging onto his wrist to try and stop the painful drag on her scalp, she saw the murderous fury in his eyes. Right then she knew that he was possibly capable of carrying out his threat.
“I’ll look. Jonathon, I’ll look again.” She sought to sooth him. Voice shaking, hands trembling, she repeated, “I’ll look again.”
Hauling her upright, Jonathon shoved her down the hallway and into the kitchen, using his grip on her hair to steer her. Releasing her hair, he threw her into the kitchen, where she fell heavily to the floor.
“Get up.” He looked around. “Get up and search every draw and cupboard in this Goddamn room.”
Shaking, tears slipping down her cheeks, Carly got up and approached the kitchen pantry. “It’s not in this room. I swear, Jonathon, it’s not here.”
Furious, he kicked Crusher’s basket across the floor. “If you don’t find it, I’ll drag that stupid mutt in here and kill him! I- well, hello.”
Flinching from his rage, Carly followed his gaze to see a corner of something white sticking out from under Crusher’s cushion in the basket.
Crossing to the basket, Jonathon bent down and grabbed the envelope, lifting it carefully out from under the cushion. The fury left his face to be replaced with relief. Checking it, he laughed. “Goddamn! Well, Goddamn, you had it the whole time!”
“I don’t – I didn’t know.” She held onto the kitchen bench. “It must have somehow gotten in there during the packing and unpacking.”
“Bloody dog probably found it and brought it in here.” Jonathon turned the envelope over. “Has tooth marks in it, but he hasn’t broken through the padding.”
It didn’t surprise Carly. Crusher was known for pinching things that interested him and hiding it in his basket, she’d just never thought to look there for it.
Jonathon looked up at her. “Lucky for you this is in one piece.”
“What is it?” she queried before she could think of what she was doing. “Why is it so important?”
He smirked. “The contents are worth a tidy fifty thousand dollars on the street.”
“Is it jewellery?”
“Might as well be. White gold.” He laughed. When she continued to look puzzled, Jonathon tapped the envelope. “Cocaine.”
All colour left her face. Incredulously, she stared at him. “Drugs? You’ve got drugs in there?”
“Yep.”
“You’re dealing drugs?”
“Makes money, baby. Lots of money.”
“But Jonathon, it destroys lives! How could you do this?” Horrified, she gripped the bench. “How long have you been dealing?”
He shrugged. “A year. What do you care?”
Running one hand through her hair, she winced at the soreness of her scalp. “I don’t do drugs, Jonathon, you know that.”
“As if I didn’t bloody know that. You’re so straight and righteous, Carly. If you’d gotten wind that I’d hidden the envelope amongst your photo albums, you’d have turned me into the cops in a flash. I’m lucky you didn’t spot it when you were unpacking. Obviously the dog is smarter than you. It probably slipped out when you were unpacking and he grabbed it.”
“My photo albums? Why’d you hide them with my stuff?”
“Because the cops had gotten wind of my side-line. I needed a safe place to stash them, and your place is the safest around.”
“You bastard!” Fury flashed through her. “How could you?”
“Come on, Carly. You are such a patsy.” He laughed unpleasantly. “It was a win-win for me. I got to screw you, have a little fun, and keep my stash safe at your place. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Angrily, she stormed up to him. “You jerk! What if I’d been caught with that? If Ed had? We’d have gone to prison!”
“Like I give a shit.” He pointed to his beaten face. “Because of your slack-arse ways, Carly, my boss gave me a reminder of what happens when I don’t deliver to the customers on time. So saying, I’ve got something for you, too.” His hand went to his pocket, something clicking as he withdrew it.
Cold dread trickled down her spine. Looking down, she saw him holding a switch blade. The only thought that flashed through her mind was, Oh Sam, how could I have been so stupid? How could I have not taken what you offered straight away?
Because life was so fleeting and precious.
She knew it now, knew it in the split second when it was possibly going to be too late.
But she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Lunging backwards, her hand flew up defensively as he sprung forward, reaching for her with one hand, whipping the blade up with the other.
The glass door exploded inwards, a deep, guttural roar of primal fury filling the kitchen. Glass shattered, a big, tall figure coming through it as though it were made of paper.
Before Carly had a chance to register who it was, Sam had Jonathon pinned high up against the wall, one hand around his neck, the other ripping the switch blade from his tightly clenched hand.
Not one word did Sam speak, but he tore into Jonathon as though he were a rag doll, yanking him away from the wall to throw him across the room, bouncing him off the kitchen bench and dragging him up again by the scruff, cocking his fist back and lifting him right off his feet with one blow of his big fist.
“Sam!” Alan yelled. “Sam, stop!”
Sam wasn’t finished, not by a long shot. There was pure murder in his eyes, the boiling rage in them shocking Carly.
Grabbing the semi-conscious Jonathon by his shirt front, he picked him up and slammed him against the wall, drawing back his fist once more.
Knowing he wouldn’t stop until he’d pounded Jonathon into the ground, Carly grabbed his arm. “Sam! Sam, stop! Please stop!”
Then Mike was there, the hulking cop grabbing Sam’s fist before it could make contact with Jonathon. Dragging Sam away, Mike pushed himself between Jonathon and Sam, forcing him back. “Sam!” His voice rumbled like thunder, underlying the roar of pure fury that Sam directed at him.
Oh God, Sam was so furious, so almost senseless with rage that Carly feared he’d tackle Mike as well in his quest to get to Jonathon.
Grabbing his leg, Alan dragged Jonathon away from behind Mike, flipping him over roughly to handcuff him. “Damn it, Sam, snap out of it!” His gaze shot to Carly. “She’s fine. You’re fine, right, Carly? Tell him you’re fine before we have to cuff him as well!”
Without thought, Carly ducked under Sam’s arm, sliding between him and Mike. “Sam! Sam, stop!”
Mike swore. “Carly, be careful!”
Ignoring him, she acted on instinct. Throwing her arms around Sam’s neck, she pressed herself against him. “Sam, please. Please. For me, stop for me.”
His gaze dropped down to sweep across her face. Almost instantly two big arms came around her, hugging her hard against him, actually lifting her off her feet to hold her so close it almost hurt to breath. Sam swung away from Mike, his body shaking with rage, the fury in his voice mixed with fear and relief. “Oh God, Carly. Oh God.” Sam held her close, burying his face in her hair, sucking in deep lungfuls of air.
“Shhh. Shhh, Sam, it’s all right.” She smoothed a shaking hand down the back of his head, turning her head to kiss his cheek. “I’m okay. Sam, please, you need to calm down.”
For a long minute he just held her, the shaking of his body easing. She could almost feel the rage seeping away.
When he lifted his head, his gaze scanned her, falling on her reddened cheek which she suspected bore Jonathon’s handprint. Rage flared again in his eyes. “Jesus, I’ll kill him.”
“No. No, Sam.” Placing her hands each
side of his face, she spoke softly, forcing him to quieten to hear her. “It’s over. Mike and Alan have him. I’m okay. You’re okay.” She pressed her lips to his. “I need you to be okay. Please, Sam. Please.” Tears filled her eyes. “Please.”
“Don’t.” With a shudder, he tucked her head beneath his chin. “Don’t cry, honey. Don’t cry.”
Of everything, it was her tears that calmed him. Within seconds he was soothing her, rocking her gently. Gradually her shaking stopped and she held onto him tightly.
The sound of sirens suddenly registered and she realised that while trying to calm down Sam, the police had arrived.
“Are you hurt?” Mike asked.
“No.” She curled in closer to Sam. “I’m fine.”
“Carly,” Alan said quietly from behind her, “we’ll need a statement.”
“When she’s ready, Alan,” Sam snapped, squeezing her tighter.
“Sam,” Carly wheezed.
“Yes, honey?”
“I can’t breathe properly.”
“Shit.” He loosened his hold.
Immediately she slid down his body. It shocked her to think that Sam had actually been holding her against him with her feet off the ground. Really? Did that actually happen to women like her outside of fairy tales?
It was a heady thought, but one glance at Jonathon being led, silent and bleeding, through the broken glass door dashed it from her mind.
She looked from Mike who was talking to a uniformed officer, to Alan who was leading a man in plain clothes over to her.
“Alan,” Sam said warningly.
Carly squeezed his arm where it still rested around her waist. “Its okay, Sam.” Turning in his arms to face the cops, trepidation filled her when she saw that the man carried the envelope in a plastic evidence bag. “It’s not mine. I swear, I didn’t know about it.”
The man smiled. “I know. Your friends here heard everything. And as cops, they make good witnesses, especially when Mike decided to start recording the conversation on his mobile as soon as he saw what was happening.”
Carly looked at Mike and back at Alan. “You saw and heard everything?”
Alan nodded. “We came to drop Sam’s beach towel off, the drongo forgot it again. While we were on his front veranda, we heard that ridiculous dinky dog barking up a storm and Sam reckoned something was wrong.”
“I knew you wouldn’t leave him outside alone.” Sam nuzzled the top of her head from where he stood behind her, a warm and solid presence with his arms tight around her waist as though he feared letting her go.
Alarmed, Carly glanced around. “Where is Crusher?”
“Don’t worry, we came over the gate, not through it, so he’s safe in the yard.”
“One of the other cops has him in the car right now to keep him safely out of the way,” Alan said. “So anyway, Sam came running over. We managed to persuade him to let us check things out quietly when we heard swearing coming from your kitchen window at the side. We knew something was up as soon as we saw Jonathon, he’s been one of the suspects in an on-going investigation involving drugs.”
Sam glared at him. “You knew about him and Carly?”
“I had no idea that Carly knew him. Look, Sam, we’re not working with the detectives running it, we didn’t know everything or sure as shit we’d have been watching her. Don’t look like that, moron. I meant for her protection.”
The plain clothes cop spoke up. “We were in the vicinity when we heard about this, so we came along with the uniforms.”
“Mike had the bright idea of recording the conversation.” Alan returned his attention to Carly. “Took all we had to make Sam shut up and just watch, but once he saw Jonathon draw out that switch blade he was through that glass door before we could make a move. Man, I’ve never seen a bloke move so fast.”
“Understandable,” Mike rumbled. “His lady was in danger. You’d have done the same if it was Sophie.”
“He’d have been dead meat,” Alan replied.
Mike grunted.
Alan gestured to the plain clothes cop. “This is Detective John Barclay. He’s the one heading this investigation.”
Detective Barclay smiled reassuringly at Carly. “There’s a lot of paperwork to be done, a statement from you, a few other things. But you’re basically in the clear with your ex’s confession which we now have recorded. Plus, to be honest, we had you investigated when you started going out with Jonathon and you came up clean, so there’re no problems there.”
Relieved, Carly leaned back against Sam.
His arms tightened reassuringly around her.
“Now, let’s get you checked by the paramedics.” Detective Barclay stepped back.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Really.”
“He hurt you,” Sam objected.
“A slap, but that was all.”
“I must ask that you get checked anyway,” the detective insisted. “If all is well and they’re happy with you, you won’t need to go to the hospital.”
Alarmed, Carly looked back up at Sam.
“It’s all right.” He dropped a kiss on top of her head. “I’m here, honey. You know that.”
Mike just pointed to the door.
“King Kong has spoken,” Alan said. “Better move it. He gets antsy when he’s not obeyed. Starts cracking heads and shit.”
~*~
One Week Later
The sun was already making its way up in the sky when Sam got home from the nightshift. Closing the garage door, he went into the house. SJ greeted him by demanding breakfast, stat.
Picking him up, Sam rubbed his head, rewarded by the rusty purr that immediately erupted. Man, how he loved his cat. Tough, besotted with poor little Crusher who he apparently thought was his adopted son or something - who knew how SJ’s mind worked - and Sam’s companion while Carly had been busy with police interviews, work, and her and Ed’s family descending on them.
She’d barely had time to be alone with him. Several times she’d snuck over, but they hadn’t had much time together. Poor Carly, his little honey had been so apologetic.
He liked her family. He could understand their concern and need to heap love on her, to reassure themselves that she was all right.
God, when he’d seen that bastard yelling and verbally abusing her, he’d wanted to tear his throat out. It had taken all Mike’s strength and Alan’s powers of persuasion to stand back and observe. But the last straw was when Jonathon had pulled that switch blade. Rage had erupted and he’d gone for him. Nothing was going to stand in his way, let alone a shitty piece of glass. He’d have killed the bastard if Carly hadn’t flung herself into his arms. One look at her and he’d gone from raging lunatic to protective lover, cradling her close.
Later, Mike had told her off for putting herself in danger. She’d merely replied that she knew that Sam would never hurt her. Sam found her faith in him humbling. All Mike could do was rumble and grumble and stomp about like a bear with a sore head. Then he hugged her briefly, told Sam to take her in hand, and left.
Yeah, Sam understood her family, and he liked them, but it wasn’t the same as being alone with her.
Heading for the bathroom, he peeled off his clothes and dropped them in the laundry basket, kicking off his work shoes and shoving them in the shoe cupboard beside the washing machine.
The family were all leaving tomorrow and he’d finally have Carly to himself. He’d deliberately swapped the next three night shifts with some of the other nurses, just so he could be with her. It had warmed his heart when she’d told him she’d taken time off work as well. Man, he couldn’t wait to be with her again, to spend time with her, to make love leisurely and afterwards hold her in his arms. He missed her so much.
Okay, maybe there was a little bit of resentment towards her family…
The warm water was welcome, sluicing away the smell of disinfectant and banishing his weariness. Getting out, he dried himself before wrapping the towel loosely around his waist and stepping
out of the bathroom.
And then his mouth fell open.
Leaning against the door jamb of his bedroom door was Carly. But hell… His tongue nearly fell out of his head.
The silky swathe of her hair fell around her shoulders and lower to curl enticingly just above one breast. Tantalizing glimpses of her curves were revealed by the long, red, lacy nightgown she wore, and the bodice barely covered her full breasts. The valley between them just begged him to bury his face in the scented warmth.
Lifting his stunned gaze, he found her looking at him, her thick lashes half covering her eyes, her lips soft and full and pink, shining with lip gloss he just knew he was going to lick away. One, because he knew it was strawberry flavoured, and two, because he just loved tasting her. Underneath that strawberry was Carly’s unique flavour. It made for a delicious combination.
Slowly, her gaze sliding provocatively down his body and equally slowly and provocatively back up to his face, Carly lifted one arm to lay her hand against the door jamb. “Hi.”
His knees almost knocked at that sultry purr. That’s what it was all right, hell yes. Sultry. “Hi.”
“So, Sam, I was wondering if you had plans for the rest of the day.”
His shaft was already stiffening. Hell, yes.
Her smile was pure allure as she watched him move forward.
Coming to stop right before her, Sam reached out to rest his hand on the doorjamb above hers. Leaning on his arm, he looked down into her now up-turned face. “Depends what you have planned,” he replied huskily, inhaling her scent of soap, faint perfume, and strawberry.
“Well, now.” She smiled seductively. “What would you like to do?”
Lifting his other hand, he sifted the silken strands of her hair through his fingers before bringing a fragrant lock to his nose. Oh man, strawberry.
A tug at his waist, cool air on his legs and then the towel fell around his bare feet.
“My,” she breathed. “I do think I know what you might want.”
His answer was to lower his head and kiss her lightly.
“Mmmm.” Taking his hand, she slid past him and backed into the bedroom, towing him willingly along. Facing him as she stepped back gracefully, the lace of the nightgown slipped aside to reveal a daring slit up to her thigh on one side before sliding back into place to cut off the mouth-watering view.
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