Intercepting Love

by L. P. Dover

  She sighed. “You did make love to me, Cooper.”

  Picking her up in my arms, her body was like liquid fire as I carried her up to her room. “I know I did, but this time it’ll be different … I promise.”

  When I got her upstairs to her room, I set her down on her bed and waltzed into her bathroom so I could let the shower water get warm. With her gaze half-open, she bit her lip and watched me as I dropped my pants to the floor and slid my boxers down. Slowly, she got up from the bed and followed me into the shower.

  I couldn’t stop from touching her, her breasts, her nipples … her ass to pull her closer to me. Taking her soap, I skimmed it across her chest and down her stomach to wash away the rest of the stickiness of the whipped cream and chocolate. The second she reached down and wrapped her fingers around my cock, I thought I was going to lose it. Jerking in response, she chuckled as she lowered to her knees and began to suck me off while massaging my balls in her hand.

  “Kate,” I groaned. “What the fuck are you doing to me?”

  In reply, she sucked harder and I almost lost it. “I’m going to come if you don’t stop, love.” Putting her hands on my thighs, she pushed me back until I landed on the built in seat in her shower. I used to think showers with a place to sit were useless … but not anymore.

  Watching her swollen lips glide up and down my cock was such a fucking turn on. Picking up her pace, her head bobbed up and down and I couldn’t help but wrap my fingers gently in her hair to feel her move. I wanted to come like that, with her mouth on my dick, but it wasn’t the way I needed for it to happen.

  “Stop, love,” I groaned. “I need you to stop.”

  With a smile on her face, she slowly got back up to her feet, her breasts right in my line of sight. “You sure do know what you’re doing, don’t you?” I scolded halfheartedly.

  Turning off the water, I grabbed a set of towels that were draped on the rack and dried her off quickly. Once we were semi dry, I carried her to the bed and spread her wide. Her lips, her nipples, and her clit were so swollen that I knew it had to be the same agony I felt within my own body. That feeling before orgasm when everything heightens was the strongest yet euphoric feeling anyone could ever imagine.

  Gently, I laid on top of her and pushed inside slowly, feeling her tremble underneath me. I continued with that slow pace, at least until I could feel her tightening around me. As soon as I felt that, I pushed in deeper and a little harder; that was all it took to drive her over the edge. Holding on tight, I thrust as deep as I could go and released inside of her at the same time she screamed my name from her lips.

  “I love you, Kate,” I murmured across her lips.

  Breathless and with a tear streaming down her cheek, she gazed up at me with her gentle, gray eyes. “I love you, too, Cooper. Thank you for helping me realize it was possible again.”

  “I think I need to thank you for the same thing.”

  Because without her I would be in the same place I’d been for the past year, and that place was nowhere special.

  Ring … ring … ring.

  Groaning, I turned over in bed and looked at my alarm clock. Surely it wasn’t time to get up, was it?

  2:23 a.m.

  Nope, it definitely wasn’t. Who the hell would be calling at two in the morning? Reaching for my phone, I had to blink a few times to get the blurriness away before I could read the screen … it was Lara.

  “Lara,” I answered curiously, “what are you doing calling me at this time? You know I don’t stay up late like you do.”

  “Yes, I know, and for the first time in forever I actually went to bed as soon as I got home from the restaurant. Hey, listen, someone’s prowling around your house. I came down to the kitchen to get some water and I noticed someone snooping around your front door. Do you want me to call the police?”

  Shooting up out of bed, I grabbed a pair of shorts out of my dresser and quickly slipped them on. “What? You have to be kidding me? What do they look like? Is there a car out there or anything?”

  “What’s wrong?” Cooper asked, running a hand through his hair.

  “Someone’s outside,” I hissed low. “I’m getting my gun.”

  “No, there’s no car … oh wait, there is one parked out by the Stewart’s driveway,” Lara informed me. “I’ve never seen them drive that kind of car before. It’s blue and it looks kind of like a Toyota Camry or something. I can’t tell from this far away. I’m going out there.”

  “No, you’re not, Lara. If you go outside so help me God I’m going to kick your ass. Don’t be stupid,” I warned.

  Rushing to my safe, I entered in the combination and pulled out my .50 S&W and a clip of bullets. Cooper jumped out of bed and threw on his clothes before quickly coming to my side.

  “Kate, let me have the gun,” he said, prying my fingers away from it. When I narrowed my gaze at him, he held up his hands and sighed. “I don’t doubt your shooting skills, love, but I’m pretty sure I have more experience. Now let me have the clip.”

  Huffing, I handed it to him. “I know how to use a gun, Cooper. My dad taught me how to when I was a little girl and I go to the shooting range with him at least once every few months.”

  “Kate, what are you going to do?” Lara asked.

  “I don’t know, but when I hang up, call the police and get them out here.”

  “Okay, just be careful.”

  As soon as the call was over, I turned my phone on vibrate and put it in my back pocket. Cooper and I slowly walked down the stairs as quietly as we could, but he went straight to the front door and I went to the very front bedroom so I could look out the window.

  Before I could look out, Lara called again.

  “They’re running to the car, Kate. We need to get the license plate number. I’m going out there.”

  “Dammit,” I hissed, running out of the bedroom.

  Cooper must’ve seen the person running off because he unbolted the door and took off outside with me following, but I stopped once I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. Before I could figure out what had happened, Lara bolted out into the street and ran with Cooper down the road.

  From where I stood, I could already see that they weren’t close to catching the person because it wasn’t long before I heard a set of screeching tires and watched as a set of tail lights disappeared down the street. Slowly, I walked around Cooper’s car, and that was when I noticed what was wrong. His tires had been slashed, and in the front one there was a knife protruding out of it. The closer I got to that knife, the sicker I felt because it just so happened that I recognized it. Oh no, please don’t let it be his, I screamed in my mind. Bending low, it didn’t take long to see the set of initials that were engraved on the hilt. I knew they were there because I was the one who had it engraved for his birthday … it was Luke’s.

  No, I screamed in my mind. Luke hadn’t caused any problems since I made my decision. Why would he do such a thing?

  By the time Cooper and Lara made it back to the house, the police finally pulled up. “Did you get the license plate number?” I asked.

  Cooper shook his head. “No, it was too dark. They had too much of a head start.” It was then he looked down and noticed that the tires on his car had been slashed. “What the fuck?” he growled.

  Lara came to my side and put her arm around me, shaking and breathing hard. “We have never had anything like this happen in our neighborhood.”

  When the officer got out of his car, he shined his flashlight around my yard and approached us. “I’m Officer Stilwell. What’s going on here tonight?” he asked, looking back and forth at all three of us. He was pretty muscular, with a shaved head and blond goatee, and probably around my age or maybe slightly older.

  “Well, Officer, it was probably about twenty minutes ago when Lara,” I said, pointing to her, “called me and told me that she saw someone lurking around my house. They had a car parked up the road and it looked to be something like a blue Toyota C
amry or something along those lines. We didn’t get a license plate number or anything.”

  “I see. And who lives here?” he asked, pointing to my house.

  I lifted my hand. “I do. My name is Kate Townsend.”

  He nodded and pointed to Cooper. “And you are, sir?”

  “I’m Cooper Davis. I live in that house over there,” he said, pointing to the one beside Lara’s.

  “And I’m Lara Jacobs. I live next door.”

  “Did any of you get a good look at the person? Were they male or female? Did they steal anything?”

  We all shook our heads, but then I pointed to the car. “They didn’t steal anything, but they did slash Cooper’s tires.”

  The officer shone his flashlight around the car until he got to the knife. “Do you have any enemies, Mr. Davis? Or anyone that you’ve pissed off recently.” Pulling out a glove from his pocket, he took the knife out of the car and inspected it.

  Cooper laughed halfheartedly. “I’m sure I have plenty of enemies, Officer, but I can’t think of anyone that would want to do this.” He glanced at me quickly and I could tell he was lying. He knew he had pissed off Luke. I wonder why he’s not saying anything.

  “Do any of you know someone with the initials of LC?” Officer Stilwell asked, holding up the knife.

  Lara gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. “I take it that means yes. Care to tell me who?”

  Nervously, Lara glanced over at me, leaving me no choice but to tell the officer what I knew. “It’s Luke Collins, Officer. That’s his knife.”

  “And how do you know it’s his?”

  “I know it’s his because I bought it for him for his birthday. I had his initials engraved into it.”

  Fuming, Cooper crossed his arms at the chest and mumbled something to himself. He was pissed and I couldn’t blame him. I had no idea Luke would ever do something like this and leave the evidence behind.

  Officer Stilwell walked around the car, shining his flashlight this way and that. “It looks like we need to pay Luke Collins a little visit. Do any of you know why he would do such a thing?”

  My gaze went straight to Cooper.

  “Ah, I see,” Officer Stilwell said. “I take it he didn’t get the girl.”

  Spotting something on the ground, he shone his light onto it and picked it up. Cooper walked around his car and looked down as well.

  “Does this mean something to you?” he asked Cooper. “It says this is your second warning. When was the first one?”

  Marching to their side of the car, I glared down at what the officer had in his hands and then up to Cooper. “What is that? What does it mean by second warning?”

  Cooper sighed and hung his head. “I was going to tell you tonight, but then we got distracted. There was a first warning last Saturday.”

  “Was it just a note that time?” Officer Stilwell asked.

  “Yeah, but it was on my car in my driveway, not Kate’s. It said to stay away from her and that it was my first warning. That’s all it said.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I snapped, interrupting them.

  Sighing, Cooper came up to me and gently took my hands in his. “Because he’s your friend and I know you care about him.”

  Officer Stilwell took the note and the knife to his patrol car and bagged the evidence. “All right, I’m going to take this stuff to the station and find out where Mr. Collins is at. As soon as we find out what’s going on, we’ll get in touch with you. Before I go I’m going to need your phone numbers.”

  He handed us a notebook and pen, so we all three wrote our numbers down. “If Luke did this, what will you do to him?” I asked, handing him the notebook.

  “There’s probably not much we can do other than make him pay for the damages and charge him with a misdemeanor. Now if he tried to harm you or anyone else here then the charges would be different. The only problem with these types of scenarios is that the issues tend to escalate. The first warning was a note, this time it was slashed tires. What’s it going to be next week?”

  “I understand,” I said with a nod. “You have a point.”

  “If you want my advice, I’d stay away from him until we get to the bottom of this. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  Before getting into his car, he turned to Cooper and smiled. “Good game, by the way. I would’ve told you earlier, but I didn’t think it was appropriate while surveying your damaged car. Glad to have you in our city, though.”

  Cooper chuckled. “Thank you, Officer. I’m glad to be here.”

  As soon as he left, Lara threw her hands up in the air, her eyes wide. “Please tell me you don’t think Luke did this,” she argued.

  Clueless, I shrugged and leaned into Cooper’s body for comfort. I didn’t like what was going on one bit. “Lara, I honestly don’t know what to think. It doesn’t make sense, that’s for sure.”

  “And as much as I don’t like the guy,” Cooper stated, “I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to leave a knife with his initials on it. Something’s not right here.”

  I nodded. “Agreed, but what’s going to happen if something worse happens next week?”

  Cooper rubbed his hands down my arms to warm away the chills before holding me tight against him. “And that, love, is what I’m worried about.”

  I barely slept once everything was said and done, and now that it was midday I thought we would’ve heard something from the police. My brother hadn’t called, which was a shock since I was sure Luke would’ve called him to tell him what was going on.

  “What do you think is taking so long?” I asked.

  Cooper sighed and joined me on the couch while I impatiently flipped through every channel. “It takes time to find people, and they probably had a lot of questions to ask him.”

  I had a lot of questions to ask him. It took all I had not to pick up my phone and call him myself.

  “What if it wasn’t him? Is there anyone on the team that doesn’t like you or would want to play a cruel joke like this?” I asked.

  “I can’t think of anyone. The only person that really makes sense is Luke, but then again given the circumstances I’m starting to doubt it’s him.”

  Ring … ring … ring.

  My heart thumped in my chest, and when I looked at my phone it was a number I didn’t recognize. “Hello,” I answered nervously.

  “Ms. Townsend?”

  Immediately, I recognized the deep, baritone voice from last night; it was Officer Stilwell.

  “Yes, this is she.”

  “This is Officer Stilwell. I wanted to call and give you an update. Unfortunately, we have yet to find Mr. Collins. No one seems to know where he’s located, not even his family. Do you know when the last time you spoke to him was?”

  “It was last Saturday,” I told him, “when he dropped me off at my house after our date. He had tried calling this week, but I never answered.”

  “Okay, thanks. We’re still trying to hunt him down, but in the meantime, if you see or hear from him we need to know. Also, there were several fingerprints we detected on the knife and right now they’re being examined. We should have the results of those by tomorrow morning.”

  “Thank you. I’ll let you know if we hear anything.”

  As soon as we hung up the phone, I called my brother since he was Luke’s best friend; surely he had to know where he was. “Kate, what’s up,” he answered, yawning into the phone.

  “Hey, do you know where Luke is? Have you talked to him or the police for that matter?”

  “The police? Why would I have talked to them?”

  “It’s because they’re looking for Luke. We’re not sure, but we think he might have slashed Cooper’s tires last night. The knife I gave him was stuck in one of the tires.”

  Evan fumbled with the phone. “You can’t be serious? This is a joke, right?”

  I sighed. “I wish it was. Have you talked to him?”

  “No, I haven’t talked to him in a couple of days.
He said he was leaving to get away from everything and that’s the last I heard from him. He’s probably at his cabin. If I can’t get in touch with him I’ll drive up there.”

  “Thanks, Evan. I just want to find out what’s going on,” I said.

  “Yeah, me too,” he said before hanging up the phone.

  Cooper put his arm around me and squeezed. “Anything?”

  “Not yet. The police can’t find Luke, but they also said they found other prints on the knife. I’m sure I have a set on there, but there could also be a ton of other prints as well. I don’t see how that’s going to help. Evan’s going to try and find him; however, in the meantime all we can do is wait.”

  “I can think of something we can do while we wait,” Cooper teased, burying his nose in my hair.

  “You’re insatiable. Is that all you think about?”

  Chuckling, he grabbed me around the waist and tossed me on the couch, covering me with his body. “Actually, I was referring to unpacking my house, love. However, if you want to do something else, I’m pretty sure I can rise to the occasion.”

  Already he was hard and ready between my legs, but there was so much on my mind I couldn’t begin to think about sex. “I tell you what,” I began, “why don’t we unpack some of your boxes, and tonight you can rise as much as you want. How does that sound?”

  Sighing, Cooper’s smile slowly disappeared and his gaze grew wary. “I know you have a lot on your mind, Kate. It’ll all get figured out soon, okay? Just try not to worry so much.”

  It was hard not to when stuff was happening to the one you cared about. What if it got so bad that he didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore?

  “What if things get bad, Cooper? It’s all because of me that you’re going through this.”

  Eyes wide, he shook his head quickly and held my face firmly in his hands when I tried to look away. “Look at me, Kate.” Releasing a heavy sigh, I lifted my gaze and stared into his crystal blue eyes. “Nothing and no one is going to keep me away from you. Do you think I care about my tires or my car? None of that even compares to you. I’m not going anywhere … I promise. Now let’s get out of here.”