“That’s not true,” Richard said, and then stood, turning and pointing at empties, gathering them up, and then pausing before entering the door to the kitchen. “My Roberta was shot and killed in her car before Lynn. I knew she was cheating on me and figured a lover was pissed that she wouldn’t leave me.”
“Any woman would be a fool to leave you.” Joanna handed him her empty bottle and then ran her fingernails up his arm, smiling suggestively up at him.
“So how many are dead?” Rain glanced at him and then around at the others, her expression shocked. “And they all died the same way?”
“This is not something you can discuss with anyone.” Joanna pointed a finger at Rain but then looked at Noah with an expression so hard and cold it changed her entire appearance. “Because I promise if you do, you’ll be the next to die.”
“Joanna, that sounds terrible,” Jan whispered, covering her cheeks with her hands.
Noah wasn’t sure he’d ever seen blue eyes look so cold and demonic as Joanna’s did before she slowly pulled her attention from him and focused on Jan. But then everything about Joanna softened, like sweet butter melting, altering her entire appearance. Hard edges disappeared, and her eyes once again glowed with life and mischief.
“I just don’t want anyone else to die,” she said softly, and scooted closer to Jan, then put her arm around her. She kissed Jan’s cheek softly, but then she adjusted her head and Joanna kissed her on the lips, a slow, passionate kiss that two lovers might share.
“Man, I leave for one minute,” Richard complained, reappearing with a handful of beers and also managing to balance Jan’s glass of wine.
Noah jumped up to help pass out drinks. “I was enjoying every minute for you,” Noah assured him.
“I’m sure you were,” Richard told him with a wry grin.
Noah took one of the beers and handed it to Sheila. Rain stared, head down, at her wineglass, which she turned slowly, causing the wine to swirl against the rim. She appeared lost in thought, and he sat down, ignoring the others while they chatted, and placed his hand on her wrist. Her tense expression didn’t completely fade when she looked up at him. Several of the comments could have upset her, or all of them for that matter, and he hated guessing what put that look on her face.
It faded quickly and she masked her expression, giving him an adoring look he wished was real. As if she’d been doing it for years, she moved her hand, and squeezed his.
“I’ll get the plates cleaned up,” she said quietly.
“I can help.” He let her stand first.
Rain bent to pick up Jan’s plate. She was so grossly preoccupied with stroking Joanna’s face and telling her she would never do anything to hurt her that she didn’t notice Rain move around her.
Sheila offered her plate to Rain and then smiled at Noah. “You have no idea how relaxing it is spending time with you two,” she said, sounding sincere.
“There’s no pressure. We don’t have to worry about being watched,” Richard added.
“I’m watching you,” Joanna said.
Jan jumped, almost spilling her fresh glass of wine, looking like she’d forgotten that anyone besides her and Joanna was there. Noah watched Joanna carefully, looking for that intensity he saw in her eyes earlier. It wasn’t there. Instead they glowed, almost glazed but nothing like Jan’s. Joanna shifted her attention to Noah when she caught him studying her and the corner of her mouth lifted as she slowly winked at him.
“Excuse me, please,” he said, getting up and moving around Joanna, brushing his hand over her coarse long red hair.
It wasn’t smooth and silky like Rain’s but instead was almost rough, and held in place with enough gel that a hard wind wouldn’t lift it off her shoulders. Ironically, the touch of her matched her nature. Joanna appeared the perfect seductress, almost pretty if you didn’t stare too long. But the truth he was quickly learning was that she possessed a biting cruelty about her. He knew that was what he saw when her blue eyes hardened and glared at him earlier.
“How are you doing?” he asked Rain, pausing next to her while she loaded the dishwasher with rinsed plates.
“Good, you?” She glanced up at him, offering a very professional smile, which told him a very different story from what she voiced.
“Curious,” he told her honestly, and then brushed his knuckles down her cheek.
Rain glanced past him at the group out on the deck. “They are all terrified of Steve and Susie,” she whispered, and then looked into his eyes. “I wonder why. It can’t just be because they’re bossy. Those are a relatively normal group of people out there, but two of them have lost their spouses and won’t share anything they feel with the police. What kind of manipulative behavior would it take for you to lose the love of your life and then do nothing to see their killer brought to justice?”
“We’ll find out and you’re right. It’s not normal behavior, yet it seems to be coming out of normal people.” He pondered the type of stimuli that would cause an individual to go against the grain of what they believed was right and wrong. He leaned against the counter, focusing on everyone lounging in their chairs, with Joanna and Jan once again kissing each other. “Unless of course, they’ve all redefined what they claim to be normal.”
“Do you mean because they’re swingers?” Rain closed the dishwasher and picked up her wineglass. “Have they shifted into a world slightly altered from what most deem as the accepted norm and therefore are able to tolerate what most would abhor and view as unacceptable?”
“I don’t think it’s because they’re swingers.” He focused on the moisture from her wine, clinging to her lips, and ached to taste her. “Swinging isn’t as abnormal as those who don’t swing wish to believe. It’s a silent society, so discreet that those who aren’t part of it don’t realize how many people actually swing.”
“You sound like you approve of it?” she asked, whispering and licking her lips while studying his face.
“I didn’t say that.” It sure as hell wasn’t for him. That much he knew. The thought of sharing the woman he loved with anyone made his blood boil. But he wasn’t closed-minded enough to not acknowledge others felt differently. His best man, Pete Compton, did his best to explain how he wouldn’t mind fucking Noah’s fiancée, but in no way would he do it without Noah’s blessing. At the time, Noah fought the urge to punch his best friend in the face.
“I could possibly buy into that theory. But what can we use to defend these people? As it stands now, every one of them is going to be accessory to a crime if they continue to remain silent when they know who killed their loved ones.”
“We don’t have proof on Steve yet.”
“You think he did it as much as I do.” She narrowed her gaze on him, searching his face, and brought the glass to her lips again. Then, placing the glass on the counter, she crossed her arms over her chest, causing her cleavage to swell and create a sight distracting enough to make it hard to focus on her next words. “I want to know more about Steve and Susie Porter. What do you say to having them over for dinner? Let’s see what makes these two so terrifying yet completely in control of the group they obviously have a stranglehold on.”
SEVENTEEN
Rain stared at the monitoring equipment. The screen glowed in the dark room, burning her eyes. She rubbed them and reached for her Diet Dr Pepper. Noah’s slow, steady breathing that she’d grown to know meant he was sound asleep called to her. She pressed her legs together, somewhat chilly after just waking up, and also willing the pressure that built inside her to go away. They had a lot to do today, typical Monday, and it would rock to start the day out with some hot and sweaty sex.
Getting out of the office chair, she left the monitoring equipment in the small second bedroom and padded barefoot over the cool floors into the hallway. Since they’d installed the GPS devices on the two cars at the Porters’, there hadn’t been any surprises. Trips to the grocery store, a liquor store, and two visits to an office building over on O Stre
et. The car parked in the front drive didn’t move all weekend.
The cold hardwood floor added to the chill that rushed over her body. She paused outside the bedroom door where Noah slept, again enjoying the large comfortable bed by himself while she stubbornly endured the self-torture of the couch. Noah refused to sleep on it anymore, telling her he was too old to suffer the lumps and flat cushions. He argued they could both sleep in the bed and he wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to do.
That was the problem. She wanted it. Wanted it so damned bad that she possibly would be an ice cube right now if it weren’t for the raging need swelling from her womb and keeping parts of her way too warm. She stood where she was for a moment, focusing on the dark wave of hair that fell over one eyebrow. Long, thick lashes draped his eyes, and his pronounced cheekbones and long, straight nose gave him a regal, dominating look. There wasn’t anything about this dark, brooding man that didn’t appeal to her. No matter how hard she tried staying away from him, she was falling hard for him.
Almost two weeks. Two damn weeks. Rain never would have guessed herself the type of woman who would fall in love so easily.
It’s not love. Maybe a seriously dangerous case of lust and infatuation, but not love.
Rain turned away, forcing herself to focus on the case. A hot shower would help, more caffeine, and then checking in down at the station. Plus, soon possibly ballistics would confirm the gun confiscated from the Porters matched the bullets found at each crime scene.
Rain closed the bathroom door quietly and stripped out of her nightshirt she always slept in. Dropping it to the floor, she tried picturing Steve Porter working at a small printing press. It wasn’t the type of work she pictured him doing. It even surprised Noah when they verified Steve’s employment at Hardister Press, his title simply Production Supervisor.
Since Hardister Press was a newer company, having been in Lincoln less than three years, Rain didn’t know a lot about the business, other than no complaints existed against them. The business, registered as sole proprietor and not incorporated, didn’t strike her as the type of company that would enable the Porters to live as they did and drive the cars they drove. Yet another mystery about the enigmatic Steve Porter.
Rain stepped into the hot shower and hummed her approval as the pelts of water hit her shoulders and front. Turning around, she leaned her head back and soaked her hair, then reached for shampoo and lathered, scrubbing her scalp, and enjoyed the steamy water that quickly filled with the orange scent of her shampoo.
Rain blinked, her eyes instantly burning, when the shower curtain moved and Noah stepped into her space.
“What the fuck?” she hissed, turning around quickly and ducking into the stream of water.
“I just got a phone call,” he said, his voice deep with sleep.
“That’s nice.” She rinsed quickly, her heart suddenly pounding furiously.
How dare he violate her perfect shower and then stand right behind her, naked, and not touching her. Rain went to so much effort trying to keep her mind off fucking him and Noah wasn’t helping her a bit. She spit water out of her mouth and pushed her hair back out of her face.
“We’ve got a confirmation on the murder weapon. It matches the bullets.”
Rain turned around quickly, almost slipping. He grabbed her waist and she froze, blinking a couple times and then focusing on his face. His hair was slightly damp from the water that sprayed off of her and hit him, and it made the dark strands almost black in spots as it clung to his forehead. Tiny curls pressed against his muscular chest, too.
Goddamn, he was sexy as hell.
Her gaze lowered, and she closed her eyes, wishing she hadn’t looked. Noah was hard as stone, and her body responded to the view she had just inflicted upon her suddenly frazzled brain.
“You couldn’t have waited to tell me?” she asked, her voice cracking as need swelled inside her so painfully she doubted it would go away until he relieved her of the craving he had just instilled inside her.
“I thought you wanted to know.” He let go of her waist but then moved closer, his body pressing against hers as he reached over her shoulder and picked up her conditioner.
“Noah,” she sighed, needing to voice a complaint. Rain didn’t get how for years it was so easy to keep men at bay, but with Noah she didn’t even want to try. She could just imagine what her father would have to say. Not that she ever would have told him, if he were still alive, that she was being intimate with her FBI partner while working a case. Just thinking about it helped sober her a bit.
Noah’s gaze met hers as he opened the bottle and poured an ample amount into his hand. “Figured I’d put myself to use since I’m in here.”
“You joined me to put yourself to use?” She hated how her voice sounded husky. Every inch of her shook with the amount of need coursing through her.
“Why? Is there something else you want?” He pressed his hands to her scalp, and then slowly massaged the conditioner into her hair.
“Umm, this is good,” she breathed as he gathered her hair off her shoulders and worked the conditioner until suds dripped over her face.
His hands left her scalp and blocked the water behind her briefly. He was close, so damned close, with his muscular arms on both sides of her head and his chest brushing against her nipples. She couldn’t open her eyes, but she didn’t need to. Seeing him wouldn’t help matters at the moment. As it was, every inch of her tingled and she fisted her hands on either side of her, determined not to lift them and touch him.
His fingers touched her face and she jumped; then confident hands held her while he wiped soap from her eyes. She blinked, and found herself staring into his eyes.
Noah’s gaze smoldered with so much heat she couldn’t breathe. Her heart hurt as she continued holding her breath when his focus dropped to her mouth.
“It’s supposed to feel good, Rain,” he said, his mouth barely moving.
She wasn’t the only one suffering here. Somehow, that bit of knowledge eased the pain inside her a little, but not very damned much.
Noah reached for the soap, but there wasn’t any way she’d be able to handle him touching her everywhere. She tried grabbing it and he raised an eyebrow at her.
“Don’t want to be cleaned?” he asked, sounding too damned innocent.
“I can clean myself.”
“Fine.” He handed her the soap but then grabbed her, crushing her against him while he switched positions with her and completely blocked all water. “You do that.”
He let his head fall back and soaked his hair until it pressed against his scalp. The curve of his Adam’s apple, the tendons stretching in his neck, and the broad length of his collarbone appealed to her as much as his rippling chest. Muscles bulged everywhere as he made quick work of shampooing his hair and then rinsing.
Rain watched suds stream over his chest, around his belly button, and lower, catching in the dark curls that surrounded his still rock-hard cock. She didn’t realize she gripped the soap so hard until it squirted out of her hand and fell to the shower floor.
“Shit,” she hissed.
“Lose your soap?” he asked, blinking water and looking down with her.
Rain didn’t answer but squatted and reached between his legs to grab the soap. He was so close to her, so damned close. She licked her lips, the steam in the shower only adding to her already-overheated system. Noah’s fingers brushed over the top of her head, and she closed her eyes, losing the soap again.
“This isn’t fair,” she whispered, blinking soapy water out of her eyes and searching again for the soap.
“It’s not fair for either one of us.” His voice was gruff.
And his fingers moved over her head, pressing, encouraging, until she raised her lashes and let her gaze travel up his body. She didn’t get far, not with the length of his shaft thick, swollen, and hard so close to her face.
“Don’t talk like that,” she complained, forcing her heart back down her throa
t and lowering her head while searching the bathtub for the soap.
Noah grabbed her, sliding his hands under her armpits and lifting her before she could react. “Do you think I don’t know why you’re stubbornly sleeping on that godforsaken couch? You can’t get near me. And darling, when you do, the need radiating off of you is so charged it makes it damn hard to focus on anything other than burying myself deep inside you.”
“Maybe you should request another partner?” she said, clenching her teeth and willing herself to hate him—hate him for being right—and hating herself for her inability to camouflage her emotions better around him.
“I wouldn’t have guessed you a quitter.”
“I’m not the quitter. You just said you can’t handle working with me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
The smoldering need in his eyes erupted into something darker, more dangerous and predatory. She barely had time to focus on a small twitch that started in his jaw when he, once again, moved faster than she had time to react.
His arms were like steel and his body harder than stone when he pulled her into an embrace that damn near suffocated her. Before she could complain, or acknowledge the need inside her swelling to the danger point, his hand tangled in her wet hair, tugging her head back, and he claimed her mouth.
The craving that threatened to explode inside her a moment before erupted with a ferocity that made her weak in the knees. Noah growled into her mouth while his fingers pressed into her spine and then created trails as he stroked her flesh down her back to her ass.
Wherever he touched her, fire ignited yet again until she was more than sure that she would burn alive, keel over from simply a kiss. In spite of the part of her brain that managed to hold on to a bit of rational thought, she couldn’t master the strength to make him stop. Worse yet, not only did she not want him to stop; she also wanted more.
The hell with that. She needed more.
Long, Lean and Lethal Page 27