Long, Lean and Lethal

by O'Clare, Lorie

  Brushing her fingers down Noah’s back before she gave thought to how natural and good the act felt, she caught Steve watching her very carefully, his attention fixed on her hand that now rested on Noah’s arm.

  “Sounds like our locksmith might be here. Maybe you should go check and let me talk to Steve alone for a minute,” she suggested.

  “Like I’m leaving you alone with this fucking prick.” Noah’s charged anger wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

  “Trust me, darling. He tries anything and he’s going to wish it was you manhandling him. I’ll kick his fucking ass.”

  The glint that appeared in Noah’s eyes was amusement, or something else. Rain couldn’t say. But she wasn’t ready for him to lean forward and brush his lips over hers. In fact, it shocked the hell out of her, and if it weren’t for years of experience covering her ass to prevent exposing her cover, she was sure her jaw would have dropped in disbelief. Noah made a clear and very distinct statement with his kiss. When she had time, she would analyze that bit of knowledge more carefully. Right now, if she didn’t keep her mind better focused on every detail going on around them, she might miss the moment of truth. And she felt it in her bones, rushing through her veins. They were so close to learning beyond any doubt which one had murdered all those people and why, she could taste it.

  “If backup is here, I’m running out to the car for a moment,” he told her quietly. “Keep dipshit here in line and maybe I’ll let you play with my toy when I get back.”

  His double meaning wasn’t missed by her or Steve. Rain also tasted Noah on her lips when she licked them. She ignored Steve’s wary look when she nodded to the bed. “Sit,” she instructed, deciding putting him in his place physically would make a conversation between the two of them easier. It didn’t surprise her when he obeyed without hesitating.

  “You two really married?” he asked, sounding sincerely curious.

  “No.” She wasn’t sure why she told him that, other than it was the truth. She and Noah didn’t need to be married to feel how they did about each other. And if his kiss and the way he touched her, looked at her, and acted around her when anyone got out of line with her was all an act, then he was the best damned undercover agent she’d ever seen in her life.

  Which he might very well be.

  “How could you not know that your closet was locked?” she asked, studying Steve’s frazzled appearance and hoping he was distracted and bewildered enough that she might actually get some form of truth out of him.

  “I knew it was locked.” Steve shrugged and stared at the closet door. “Susie keeps this whole fucking house under lock and key. I’m surprised she hasn’t locked the refrigerator yet.”

  “She’s paranoid?”

  He shrugged. “She doesn’t trust anyone and everything is hers. I can’t touch anything or use anything unless she says it’s okay.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the kind of home life you would enjoy.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Then why do you stay with her?”

  He didn’t look at Rain and didn’t answer for a moment. “This is my home,” he finally said, as if he’d given the answer some thought. “I’ve got nine years of my life invested in this place. It’s not something I’d expect you to understand.”

  “Okay. But if she’s so possessive about everything that is hers, then why the swinging? It would seem to me that a couple who swaps would have some sense of trust established in their relationship. If Susie doesn’t trust you to the point where she locks you out of everything, how is she comfortable with you having sex with other women?”

  “Hell if I know, but she is.” He glanced at Rain, his gaze traveling down her quickly. “Seems to me that Noah is pretty fucking protective of you, too.”

  “Only when jerks get out of line and say things they shouldn’t.” She shrugged like she was used to it and could explain any action Noah performed with confidence. Maybe she’d confessed that they weren’t married, but something told her it would go better if Steve believed they were in a seriously committed relationship. “He’s very, very good at what he does. But for that matter, so am I. Steve,” she said, grabbing his attention and locking gazes with him. “Did you murder those people?”

  “You really do think I’m an idiot, don’t you?” He sounded hurt. “Just because I stay with Susie, and I have my reasons for doing that, none of which have anything to do with anyone being alive or dead, doesn’t mean that I don’t know that you can’t get away with murder.”

  “Five people are dead over three months. One might think they have gotten away with it when they weren’t nailed after the first murder.”

  “Have you been on this case all these months?” He ran his fingers over his black, gelled hair, pressing it back into place and then patting it until it once again appeared as it always did, waving back Elvis-style. “You must have started thinking you were dealing with a criminal who might be smarter than you.”

  Rain listened to everyone talking downstairs. Noah was down there but for whatever reason wasn’t hurrying back up here with the lockout kit or a locksmith to get them into the closet. She also noted that Steve didn’t answer her question. It did piss her off that she couldn’t say without a doubt that Steve was innocent. And it ticked her off even further that Steve, Susie, and Joanna all appeared equally guilty. God, what if all three of them were in on it?

  “That’s never crossed my mind,” Rain said calmly. “Anyone who kills in cold blood isn’t smarter than I am. Every one of those victims was approached, spoken to, and then shot without hesitation. They were killed without mercy, when they hadn’t done anything wrong, by a coward with such little faith in their firing abilities they had to be at very close range to ensure they hit their target.”

  Steve noticeably bristled. “Maybe they were killed at such close range for saying something they shouldn’t have. Or possibly each one of them did something so despicable that it was necessary to kill them.”

  She focused on Steve and listened to solid, steady footsteps coming up the stairs. “What could be so despicable?” she asked.

  “If Susie killed them, then it could be something that wouldn’t make sense to you or me, like them accusing her of not being sane, or suggesting she wasn’t as important as she believes she is. If Joanna killed them, then she would have done it out of jealousy.”

  “Jealousy of whom?”

  “Of me.” Steve flashed Rain a toothy smile while shifting on the edge of the bed and puffing his chest out a bit. Or maybe he believed that repositioning himself made him look more appealing. God, like that was possible. He intentionally let his gaze travel down her body and licked his lips when he searched her face. “Joanna loves me and has for several years now. She tolerates Susie because she has to, but she would do anything to be in Susie’s place.”

  Rain shook her head, trying to appear confused, but spoke quickly when Noah and someone else carried on a hushed conversation out in the hallway. She lowered her voice, wanting it to appear to Steve she didn’t want anyone else hearing her. “Joanna is hot as hell. She’s super-nice. Why not leave Susie for her?”

  Steve cocked one eyebrow. “Because Joanna isn’t loaded and Susie is,” he informed Rain, and at that moment, without him realizing it, revealed to her the true side of his disgusting nature.

  “Susie came into your marriage with a lot of money.”

  “Some, not a lot. But she makes shitloads of money. She doesn’t know that I know, but I’ve seen her bank statements. She has accounts all over this country. I’ve been married to her for nine years and I’m not walking away without my fair share. That might take time, but believe it or not, I’m a patient man. I’ve endured what no other man could possibly have tolerated. I deserve my cut and am not walking away without it.”

  Noah walked into the room with another man behind him whom Rain didn’t know. He didn’t bother with introductions but pointed to the lock. The man walked up to it with a fingerprint kit and
dusted it quickly, then went to work lifting the prints off of the lock.

  “You better pray your prints aren’t on that lock,” Noah informed Steve.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Noah parked in front of Rain’s house and turned off the engine. Draping his forearm over the steering wheel, he took in the simple home that he’d been inside once, and that was simply to clean it out so that he and Rain could set up house keeping to snag a murderer. It seemed ages ago that he’d started this case.

  In fact, it was just over two weeks ago. Two and a half weeks that were a new life for him. If someone told him a couple weeks ago he would meet the woman who would make everything perfect in his life, Noah would have ignored them, believing it impossible. He studied the bungalow-style brick home, with its small front porch, unadorned front yard, and narrow gravel driveway that ended at the side of the house. She didn’t have a garage, and a small two-door newer green Toyota was parked in the drive. He knew so much about Rain, yet there were so many things he still didn’t know.

  Which wasn’t a bad thing, he decided. He’d been with Laurel for three years and didn’t know everything about her. Already, though, Noah knew enough about Rain to believe in his heart, his gut, and his mind that she was worth fighting for.

  The FBI was poring over the files found on the computers in the Porters’ bedroom closet. Steve was as ignorant as he appeared, even to the fact that he was an Internet porn star. Noah didn’t even want to dwell on that one. The Porters were damned near the most fucked-up couple he’d ever met. In spite of the fact that Susie did appear to show all signs of multiple personality disorder and Noah doubted a judge anywhere would make her stand trial in her current condition, she had pulled off laundering money and running more illegal Web sites without paying taxes or adhering to any existing Internet laws for over five years. For that alone she’d do time, if they could try her.

  Noah pushed his large frame out of the rental and walked around the car and up the paved walk to Rain’s house, glancing up and down the street at the other nondescript homes on her block. A simple neighborhood, with hardworking people who’d long since pulled out of their driveways and headed out to work.

  Rain wasn’t at work, though. She’d taken a personal day from what he’d been told by her chief, and Noah didn’t blame her. They still didn’t have their murderer. Every test, every interview, had been combed over again and again. Noah swore at times Steve, Susie, and Joanna were all guilty as sin.

  Worse yet, two days ago they had arrested a man in Dallas on charges of murder for all the deaths in that city. Last Noah heard, it appeared the man they had arrested traveled a lot from Dallas to Kansas City and possibly would be charged with all those deaths. Noah wasn’t surprised to learn the man had never been to Lincoln, Nebraska. He was to the point where he doubted they’d get a confession. But he would trap one of the three into admitting they had killed those who had died here in town. And when he did, Noah would bet he’d learn they’d copied the murders committed in those other cities. It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened.

  Climbing the front-porch steps, Noah found himself pulling open Rain’s screen door and letting himself inside without announcing himself. He couldn’t ignore the oddest sensation that he was coming home. Rain’s home. Rain was his woman.

  The screen door hit his backside when it closed, but he didn’t move. Rain lay on the floor facing him, her legs spread slightly, wearing spandex shorts that hugged her thighs and ended at her hips. A matching tank top stretched over her breasts, and her cleavage bulged when she raised her torso off the ground, her hands locked behind her head, and blew out a puff of air as she met his gaze.

  “FBI doesn’t know how to knock?” She didn’t sound mad when she closed her eyes and brought her forehead to her knees. Sweat clung to her body, dampening her outfit and making her hair curl in tight ringlets around her forehead. She brought her torso back down to the floor, completing her sit-up, in a fluid, tight movement.

  “Knock, knock,” he murmured, moving to her feet and then kneeling, pressing his hands over her shoes when she came back up for another sit-up. “Who do you think our murderer is?”

  Rain increased her pace, blowing out her breath when she came up and touched her forehead to her knees. Her blue eyes were bright against her dark hair and flushed complexion. “I’ve been thinking about something that Steve said to me the other night.”

  “What’s that?” Noah wrapped his fingers around her bare ankles, holding her in place when she came up again.

  “He told me that Joanna loved him.” Rain remained in a sitting position, her breathing coming hard, while a bead of sweat pooled at the rise of her breast. “I belittled the murderer, commenting on how their shooting skills probably weren’t that good since they shot at such close range. And that they were a coward for killing defenseless people who’d done nothing wrong.”

  “To see if you’d get a rise out of him.” Noah nodded and brushed his fingers up her legs, instantly growing hard as he enjoyed her smooth, warm skin.

  Rain nodded, dropping her gaze to his hands and chewing her lower lip. “He noticeably bristled at the comments. But I don’t know if it was due to defense or because he took what I said personally.”

  “Defense?”

  Her thick lashes fluttered over her gorgeous baby blues.

  “I think he knows who is committing the murders. He’s protecting them.”

  “Who do you think it is?”

  She studied Noah a moment, her gaze traveling over his face while she nibbled her lower lip. He craved doing the same thing. In fact, it took more strength than he wanted to exert to not push her backward and take her right here on her living-room floor. Blood rushed from his brain, draining down his body and straight to his cock as he struggled with the desire.

  Rain closed her eyes and lowered herself back to the floor. “Who do you think it is?” she asked, coming back up and this time bringing her elbows to her knees.

  “My gut says it’s Steve or Joanna, or maybe both of them, but damned if I can prove it. I’ll admit it, princess, this one has me stumped.”

  She froze, her eyes darkening for a moment as she stared at him. But then as he watched, they softened, turning milky until she let out a sigh and shifted her attention to the other side of the room.

  “Steve didn’t do it,” she said, her voice rough with emotion. “Joanna fought too hard to create a forged receipt for a gun that she claimed to buy. Her only mistake was not actually buying a gun that could have been used to match the barrel on Steve’s gun.”

  “So he’s protecting her.” Noah watched Rain continue to do her sit-ups, while giving the matter some thought. “It would make sense. If she loves him, and maybe if he loves her, they would confide in each other.”

  “That’s what they say people in love do,” Rain said offhandedly.

  “Yes, it is, princess.”

  Noah remembered her getting upset about being called princess. It was her father’s name for her. He was obviously a man she adored and loved more than anyone else in her world. But her father was gone now, and he was here. Rain was his princess.

  “I want to talk to you about the case.” He gripped her chin and turned her face toward his. “But it’s not all I came over here to discuss with you.”

  “Oh?” she asked, her voice cracking so that the question came out a whisper. There wasn’t a more gorgeous sight than the way her dark hair frizzed from her workout and fell in thick strands, clinging to her neck and brushing over her chest. Not even the clasp at the base of her neck could maintain the thick hair, any more than her stubborn nature could conceal the many emotions that raced across her face while she waited for him to elaborate.

  “You might have been your father’s princess,” he began, suddenly feeling shaky waters. Proposing to Laurel had been so easy, like it was simply the next step in a long process called life and not something he gave much thought to other than that. But with Rain, stating how he felt,
showing her what she meant to him after just a couple of weeks, meant so much to him he would risk his heart to do it. “When I call you princess, it isn’t out of disrespect for him.”

  “I know.” Her long, thick black lashes hooded her sultry blue eyes and she licked her lips before trying to lean back and pull free of Noah’s grip.

  Noah stretched his fingers down her neck, keeping his hold on her. Then cupping her cheek with his other hand, he leaned in and kissed her. Her full, moist lips parted, greeting him willingly. And he couldn’t help but feast like a starving man. There was no getting enough of Rain.

  He dipped his tongue inside her, tasting her and feeling every inch of him harden as need coursed through him at a maddening speed. Tilting her head so he could go deeper, Noah brushed his fingertips over her hair, loving the thick silky texture and imagining it stroking his bare chest while she rode him until she collapsed.

  “Noah,” she whispered, turning her head slightly and allowing him to kiss and lick her neck. “Noah. God.”

  Noah growled and then pulled her into his arms, forcing her to her knees before dragging her over his lap and then grabbing the strap of her top with his teeth. He pulled it off her shoulder, then sucked and nipped at her flesh, his cock swelling painfully while more blood drained from his brain until he swore the room tilted to the side.

  “Damn it,” she hissed, dragging her nails down his arm and creating a fire inside him that immediately burned out of control. “If this is good-bye, then please stop. Noah …”

  He lifted his head and watched her lashes flutter over her heated gaze. “Does this feel like good-bye to you?”

  “No.”

  “Good.” He ran his finger over the swell of her breast. Her nipple hardened, puckering and trying to poke through her top. “I’m not stopping, Rain.”

  He needed her to understand that. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in him when it came to Rain.