December Frost (A Southern Romance Monthly)

by CJ Hockenberry

  And when their lips finally met, Cecelia released a moan she hadn't heard herself make in years.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Cecelia's lips against his own broke through Thomas's barriers. Barriers he didn't realize he'd been throwing between himself and this woman since the instant he met her. All of his life he'd told himself he didn't deserve the love of a good woman. This belief was a deep seeded once, something his handler had told him during those years the government trained him to be a thief.

  Because women were a distraction, and the men and women in his division couldn't allow anything to bend their focus away from their targets.

  So many targets, so many women, so many…denials.

  Even after he moved on and worked for the Professor and himself, Thomas had continued the thinking because it kept him focused. He convinced himself he wasn't worthy. Women like bad men. Women fall in love with reputable men.

  That women…could never love a man like him.

  He wanted to slip his arms around her and pull her to him. He gasped when she paused between kisses and moved her lips over his chin, then laved her tongue over the left side of his jaw. His body shuttered and cursed at his disability when he did try to reach up and cradle the back of her head in his right hand. But the angle was wrong and the pain in his shoulder made him lurch.

  "Oh Thomas…" But Cecelia seemed to understand. She came out of the tub like a water Goddess and offered him her hand. He took it and stood up as well, the weight of the water pulling his underwear to his hips. The only thing keeping the cloth up was the bulge of his attraction.

  Cecelia looked down and then grinned up at him. "I think the bed would be good for now." She stepped out of the tub, bent over and turned off the jets. Thomas climbed out as well and still dripping, followed this incredible woman back into the cabin and into the room on the left.

  He hadn't really seen this part of the cabin and didn't have time to as Cecelia closed the door and immediately reached up to pull him down to her again. This time he did wrap his arms under her shoulders and pull her to him as he tasted her mouth.

  Oh how wonderful she was. Her lips were soft and warm. So was her wet body against him, her stomach against his.

  But that wasn't all he felt. He pulled away from a kiss and looked down at the perfect mounds of her breasts pushed against his chest. He moved his hands to the latch of her bra. With a quick pinch the wet bindings released and fell to the floor when Cecelia stepped back.

  He wanted to sob in joy when he saw her perfect breasts, so natural and round against her chest. Her pink nipples pointed up at him and he reached out to cup them, one in each hand.

  Cecelia bent her body toward him and closed her eyes as a low moan escaped her. Thomas's hard on throbbed at the sound and he bent down to kiss the top of the right breast, and then the left. He pushed them up and laved his tongue over each nipple and made sure to give equal attention to each.

  Cecelia's touch on his back brought goosebumps to the surface as she moved down to the edge of his damp and dripping underwear. She ran her fingers just inside the waist band and the thought of her pulling them down completely wiped out his train of thought.

  Her soft laughter brought him back as he suckled on her left nipple. It hardened against his tongue and he moved to the other. Her back arched as he released the right breast and moved his hand down her front to the top of her panties.

  "Yes…" she said in a throaty whisper. "Don't stop."

  He plunged his hand under the damp nylon and gasped at the heat between the folds of her lips. Swollen, hot, and so very slick. He gently moved his middle finger around her clit and relished the way her body writhed against his. He took the delicate fold of skin between his middle and index finger, trapping it there as he suckled her nipple.

  Cecelia moaned and pressed her hips against him as she widened her thighs. He released her nipple and watched her face as he tugged just a little. Her juices flowed as orgasm moved her muscles and he plunged deep inside of her to feel each clinch and release.

  She let go of him and pulled her underwear down and kicked it off, revealing her entire body, opening herself to him, making herself vulnerable to…him.

  And then she reached out and pulled his own underwear down, kneeling as she reached his knees and then holding it as he stepped out of it. He waited for her to stand again but she paused on her knees and took hold of his very hard, and very up-right shaft with her hand.

  He gasped when she ran her tongue over the head and feared he would fall from the utter pleasure of that single movement. He could have released at that moment—

  Until she put her lips around him and took him into her, deeper and deeper until—

  No…no, no, no. He wanted her, but he wanted to be inside of her. He wanted to hold her against him. He wanted…

  Thomas wanted to fulfill her in every way he could.

  He reached down and put his hands on her shoulders. "No…" he shook his head.

  She looked up, confused, and he smiled as he pulled at her and she stood back up. Then he suppressed a cry of pain as he wrapped his arms around her and lift her up so that her hips were above his. His shaft was eager, ready, and pressed against her.

  Cecelia's thighs were strong as she wrapped them around his waist and he slowly entered inside of her. So wet, and so very, very tight.

  Then the rhythmic movement back and forth began and he almost lost himself in the joy of her on top of him. Unfortunately his knees buckled and moved back to the bed. She jumped off of him as he settled himself back and he gaped as she pulled a condom from the nightstand.

  Cecelia opened it with her teeth and then straddled him once again before she slowly and deliberately teased him as she threaded it over his cock. When she was done she leaned forward, her hands on either side of his shoulders, and pressed her hips back down on his even harder cock.

  "I—"

  But she silenced him with a kiss. She bit at his lower lip and pulled it between her teeth as she began her magic again. Thomas's breathing increased with each thrust and was amazed at how easy it was to move with her, in harmony. He stared into her eyes, ran his thumb over those beautiful lips. She took his thumb into her mouth and sucked just as he felt he couldn't hold it in anymore.

  "Come for me," she said around the thumb. "And I'll come for you."

  He fell back into darkness as he released and his cock pulsed over and over. He was vaguely aware of her own muscles clinching against him as she came. She was bent over him, her breasts brushing his chest.

  Thomas realized he'd fallen asleep after he released a little while later when Cecelia shook him awake. She was dressed again, in a teeshirt and sweats. Her hair was brushed back and she smelled of soap and shampoo. He could see the outline of her perfect breasts through the shirt. "Hey," she said as he looked up at her. "You need to take a pill."

  "I—" he looked around the room. He was warm and sweaty. "What—I'm sorry did I—"

  She laughed and kissed his lips. Her lips here cool compared to his own. "You went to sleep. Your body needed it." Cecelia ran her fingers through his hair. "And you have a slight fever. I'm going to take your temp, okay? So put this under your tongue."

  He did as she asked and lay still as the little electronic device counted. She stayed with him, looking at him, and making sure he was comfortable. When it beeped she removed it and frowned. "Thomas, you have a fever of a hundred and one. So there's infection."

  I have a fever? He checked under the sheet as she stood and moved out of the room. She'd removed the condom and cleaned him up. He'd never had a woman do that.

  When she returned, she had a glass of water and two pills. "Another antibiotic because it's been over seven hours and here's the pain killer."

  He hadn't even thought about pain until she mentioned it. Then he realized how much his shoulder was throbbing. Was it because he'd lifted her? It wasn't an action he regretted—no not from the pleasant memories that flooded back.

&n
bsp; Thomas took the pills and drank all of the water. He rested back against the sheets and took Cecelia's hand in his. "Are we okay?"

  The smile she gave him warmed his heart. "Thomas, why are you so worried?"

  "Because the bubble always bursts for me. And I don't want this to be something fleeting."

  She kissed him again. Cool lips. "Get some sleep. You need it to break that fever."

  "You going to sleep too?"

  "Not yet. I want to call the Captain and check in with Lex. Then I'll come join you."

  He wanted to stay awake with her, but even as she watched her leave the room, he felt himself wrapped up in a warm darkness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  She was worried about Thomas. She'd felt his hot skin while making love, but hadn't really thought it was a fever until after he continued to sleep once she was out of the shower. Cecelia didn't worry when he fell asleep after sex—she'd been told by her brother once that if you put him to sleep—then you rode him good.

  Not that she always took everything Lex said as truth.

  But Thomas was wounded, he had lost blood, and now in the afterglow of a woman very well satisfied, she wanted him well.

  She wanted him to herself.

  But she also wanted to stop this Phantom before he actually killed Thomas.

  After stoking the dying fire, she poured herself a glass of wine, grabbed his tablet and brief case and sat on the sofa facing the TV. The weather was just about all there was. Nothing on the national news was getting through the local stations.

  They still had power, which was a good sign. But if the lights did go out, she'd already lit a few of the larger storm candles Lex had set about in decorative sconces and holders.

  She left a message with her Captain—something vague only he would understand, just in case the Phantom had compromised the precinct. It was far out idea, but he had showed up in the lockup and managed to escape.

  Then she called Lex and got his voice mail. She told him about Thomas's fever and asked him to call her back asap.

  Cecelia was pretty sure the briefcase as well as the laptop and tablet had passwords. And directly asking Thomas what they were would defeat the purpose of him getting rest because she was pretty sure if he knew what she was doing, he'd want to be up to help her.

  And right now, fighting the infection was what he needed to be doing.

  So…

  She thought about everything he'd told her, about his life, his family, and his past and scribbled it down on a legal pad she'd found in the kitchen junk drawer. Once she had a nice list, she started trying combinations of things.

  Her third attempt on the brief case worked and she opened it. Inside was a notebook laptop, pens, business cards and a brick of cash.

  Interesting.

  She looked at the cards. Thomas Carr, Retriever. Interesting title.

  Once the laptop was out she opened it, booted it and hit the password screen. This time it took a bit longer to crack the password but eventually the tenth time did it. She opened his email, and started doing searches for "professor", "La petite fille de fleur", "thief" and "phantom."

  She hit on a few emails and just like he'd said, he had a whole folder of emails from an account that said Professor. The address was just a simple Gmail account. Not much help there. But she was able to read them and so far, Thomas Carr was extremely honest.

  He had six emails from a Frank Clark with a FBI email address, one she knew from her job was a real address. All of them were relaying information about this particular statue and the family that created it. Ribeaux. So the family's loss of the statues as legit.

  Then there was a message from Agent Clark giving Thomas the rumor that the Phantom was going to steal a statue at the High on a particular date.

  Cecelia sat back and stared at the emails. She needed her white board to see all the players. So… she pulled sheets of the legal pad off, grabbed tape from the kitchen drawer and taped a bunch of the sheets together on the coffee table. Then with a marker she started marking up the pertinent facts.

  An hour later her phone rang and she checked the number. "Hey Lex."

  "Hey…I take it you're in the cabin?"

  "Mmhmm." She told him about the fever and went in to check on him while on the phone with Lex. His skin was still hot to the touch but he was breathing deep.

  "Wait till the morning, and if the fever hasn't broken then or it's gone up, call me again. I would say get him to a hospital at that point, but nothing's going to be open by the morning."

  "Still snowing down there?"

  "Oh…Atlanta's shut down, so is Macon…all the way to the border. There are reports of snow in Jacksonville, Florida."

  "Wow." She looked at her sheets of paper. "Hey Lex, you do work with the FBI, right?"

  "On occasion."

  "You ever heard of an agent named Frank Clark?"

  He laughed. "No. But I can ask for you if you need a confirmation."

  "Yeah. And I need you to check on another name. Blair Hodges."

  "Who's that?"

  "I think this is that professor's daughter. He mentioned a Blair earlier. She's who told him the Phantom was going to be at the High."

  "You suspect her?"

  "I suspect everyone. How fast can you check on this stuff?"

  "I'll call you right back." He disconnected. She checked her battery and dug her charger from her bag in the second room. Once the phone was charging she looked at the tablet. Oddly enough, it didn't have a password.

  But it did have a lot of pictures, especially of someone outside the High. She assumed these were his surveillance shots of who he suspected was the Phantom. Cecelia increased the size as best she could and looked at each of the shots.

  In her opinion, if this was the Phantom, it looked like a girl. And to her happiness, she found a small mpeg movie he'd taken which showed the target walking back and forth in front of the High as if casing it.

  And in her opinion, not only did it look like a girl, but it also looked way…way too obvious. "Almost as if you wanted Thomas to see you."

  Hadn't Thomas seen that? Probably not. He was a thief, not a cop.

  Her phone rang again and she jumped. "Hey Lex."

  "Hey…why were you asking about Frank Clark?"

  "Because he's apparently a friend of Thomas's. He was the one that sent emails that the High was going to be the target of this Phantom." Cecelia looked at the TV. "Why?"

  "Well…because Frank Clark's body was found early this morning, before the snow started. The ME estimated his death about a week ago."

  Cecelia checked the dates on the emails. Thomas received his first email about this case six days ago. She checked the Professor's emails. Those started five days ago. Before then, the professor's last email was a month ago, and Frank Clark's was six months.

  "Uh oh." She stood up slowly. "We have a problem, then. Someone's been using Clark's email address to set him up."

  "Yeah, well, we know who."

  "What?"

  "The person that told me about Agent Clark's death freaked out when I asked him about Blair Hodges because they found her finger prints in Clark's house."

  "Son of a—" Cecelia sat back and stared at the slide show on Thomas's tablet.

  "Do you know if Thomas has been in contact with this Blair?"

  "He said he left a message with the Professor when he was arrested. He said," Cecelia thought about where her gun was. "Lex—he said he seemed surprised the Professor never called back and didn't bail him out. Then the Phantom showed up in exactly the right lockup."

  "If Blair's the Professor's daughter, and she got Thomas's message, then she'd know where he was."

  "But that would mean she's in Atlanta. That she was always in Atlanta."

  "I'm not sure you guys are safe anymore, sis. If Blair finds out you're the cop helping Carr, then she'll investigate you and find out about me, and everyone else."

  "Which means she'll know about this cabin—"
>
  The lights went out. Cecelia froze as every one of her senses went on alarm. She'd been expecting the power to go out but the timing was a bit suspicious.

  "Cece…Cecelia!"

  "Sshh…" she said in a low voice. "The lights just went out."

  "That's not surprising, given that most of the state is out of power…but you don't think that's it, do you?"

  "No."

  "I'm calling the local police, Cece…but I don't know if they can get there."

  That's when she heard the generator turn on outside and the lights came back on.

  "Bro…we're not alone—" A noise brought her attention behind her and she ducked from instinct. Something clipped the side of her head with enough force to knock her off balance. Cecelia pitched forward over the coffee table and rolled to the floor beside the fireplace.

  Her head hurt but she didn't have time to see how bad she'd been struck. She saw a shadow moving above her in the light of the fire and rolled into the coffee table, under the edge.

  Something struck the wood floor just past her shoulder. She had enough time to see it was the blade of an axe. The attacker made a small grunt noise as they tried to yank the axe out of the floor. That gave Cecelia enough time to put both of her hands under the edge of the coffee table and shove it up. The edge caught the attacker in the head and knocked them back.

  Cecelia put the pain aside and scrambled away, using the edge of the sofa and what little light came from the fire as her guide to the hallway. She needed to get to Thomas and protect him because she knew if this crazy asshole was able to get past her, then Thomas was next.

  He was the main target.

  But before she could round the corner something grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards. She yelled out, spun to her left and bent her body down at her torso coming under the attacker's arm, rammed her fist into the soft area of their stomach.

  They let go of her hair. Cecelia dropped further down to stay out of striking range and braced herself on her hands. She swept her legs out and knocked the intruder on their ass.