Long, Lean and Lethal

by O'Clare, Lorie

  “I have an idea,” he said when he and Rain were again sitting in the rental, and pointed to the equipment in the backseat. “Pull it up and let’s see where Steve is right now.”

  “Okay. What are you thinking?”

  “That after so many murders life might just go on par for the course at this point.”

  “You think they’re together?” Her arm brushed against his when she leaned into the backseat, and her perfectly round ass bobbed in front of him when she stretched to get the equipment.

  Noah gave her rear a slight slap, unwilling to resist enjoying her when she was so close.

  “What are you going to do when one of these days I smack you back?” she demanded, her hair falling over her shoulder when she adjusted herself in her seat and placed the laptop on her lap.

  His insides hardened at the thought of getting rough with her. “Try me and find out,” he growled.

  Rain hummed but didn’t comment as she launched the site that would show them where the Porter vehicles were right now.

  “What do you have?” he asked while driving around the corner and then idling in the alley and glancing past Rain at the back side of Joanna’s quiet home.

  “Interesting.” Rain tapped the small monitor. “If I’m reading this right, Steve’s Miata is parked at Seventieth and Normal Boulevard.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “It’s Holmes Park.” She studied his face for a moment with a brooding expression. “Possibly a rendezvous point?”

  “Let’s go find out.”

  Rain navigated while Noah drove to the large park.

  “This is where our Fourth of July fireworks are held every year.” Rain played tourist guide for a minute when they entered the large park. “Fishing and swimming are over there. The monitor says he’s parked that way,” she said, pointing to the right.

  Noah kept at the 20-mile-an-hour speed limit and followed the road into the park and toward the lake. He glanced at the monitor, which showed the small solid circle. It wasn’t blinking. Steve was parked.

  “There he is.” Noah pointed over his steering wheel and felt a surge of adrenaline kick in. Joanna’s car was parked next to Steve’s.

  “Let’s go get her.” Rain reached for her door handle and opened the door before Noah had the car in park.

  He stopped his car behind both Joanna’s and Steve’s parked cars, leaving his running and at an angle, just in case he and Rain needed to leave quickly. Hurrying out, he reached her side, when both of them froze.

  Joanna’s and Steve’s silhouettes were easily seen in the front seats of Joanna’s car. But the gun that Joanna pointed at Steve’s head reflected the sunlight and damn near blinded Noah.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Rain unclipped her gun from her waist and rubbed her palm against her jeans before pulling her weapon free. Whatever the two of them were talking about inside the car, it had them so wrapped up they were too distracted to notice another car had pulled into the small parking lot. Or that Rain and Noah now stood on either side of the back end of it.

  “Backup’s in place,” she whispered.

  “Ten four. It’s your show,” Noah responded in her ear, and winked at her when she looked at him standing less than twenty feet away on the other side of the car.

  Noah held her gaze and nodded once. Rain took the signal, her heart pounding while a bead of sweat tortured her flesh between her breasts. This was it, the moment they’d been waiting for and the moment she’d craved for the past few months. Everything would be wrapped up in a matter of minutes. She acknowledged the high adrenaline rush peaking inside her and wiped her hands on her jeans, shifting her attention from Noah to the car. Rain stood planted where she was for another moment, just out of view from all car windows, and then made her move.

  “It’s over, Joanna,” she yelled, running to the car and grabbing the passenger door handle with one hand while aiming her gun with the other. “Put down the gun.”

  Steve screamed when Rain announced her presence. The two of them weren’t smart enough to have locked their doors, thank God! Rain yanked the door open on her side at the same time Noah pulled open the driver’s side door.

  “What the hell?” Joanna twisted in her seat, her red hair already tousled and flying around her face.

  Although not too surprised to see Joanna’s shirt completely unbuttoned, Rain focused her attention on the gun. Joanna lowered her right hand, which held the gun, and Rain grabbed that arm, dragging her backward.

  “Get out of the car, now!” Rain dug her grip into Joanna’s arm. As long as she kept a hold on Joanna’s arm, Rain prayed, no one would get hurt.

  “What’s going on? Stop it!” Joanna sounded more than bewildered and fell out of the car, hitting her knees on the asphalt.

  Rain waited for the pain to register, for Joanna to cry out. Her knees had smacked the ground pretty hard. But criminals come in all shapes and sizes, with all types of mental stability. Joanna jumped up, trying to twist Rain’s arm off of her own.

  “Let me go!” she hissed. “You have no right.”

  “Actually I do,” Rain said, but anything she said right now would fall on deaf ears. “Drop your weapon.”

  “It could break.” Joanna twisted again and almost elbowed Rain in the gut. “I tell you what, you drop yours and I’ll drop mine.”

  Joanna was ripped out of Rain’s hands so quickly she didn’t see Noah until he lifted Joanna in the air. With a quick, solid movement he slammed her against her car, sending Joanna’s gun flying.

  Rain ran over to the gun while Joanna flew into a wild rage, screaming and kicking while her red mane flew around her face. She was a mess of legs and arms, struggling furiously to get away from Noah.

  Two police cars and a third unmarked brown car pulled into the parking lot. Noah’s expression was fiercer than Rain had ever seen him. He barely moved while holding the hysterical maniacal woman but successfully pulled her arms behind her back and cuffed her with skills that put Rain’s to shame.

  “You’ve got the wrong person.” Joanna doubled over and started coughing furiously. “I’m hurt and you’re hurting me more,” she wailed.

  Rain gestured to Al when she hurried out of the patrol car. “Gloves,” Rain yelled, and tapped the gun with her foot.

  “Got it!” Al hurried toward her while pulling gloves onto her hands.

  “If you quit fighting, it will quit hurting,” Rain told Joanna when she reached Noah’s side.

  “Fuck you! I thought you were my friend.”

  “And I told you already that I can’t be friends with a murderer because they would be in prison,” Rain answered calmly.

  “I’m no murderer. He’s still alive, isn’t he?” Joanna straightened, tossing her head so that wild strands of red hair flew over her shoulder. Her blue eyes were demonic, filled with rage and hatred so strong the emotions charged the air around her.

  “What?” Rain asked, still keeping her tone calm and quiet and focusing only on Joanna and not on Noah, who continued holding her. “The others don’t count?”

  Joanna’s lips looked dried and cracked when she pressed them into a thin line and glared at Rain. “No one counts but Steve,” she hissed, barely moving her mouth.

  “I know now that you killed them,” Rain said, just as quietly. “It’s over, Joanna.”

  Joanna’s entire body deflated, her jaw dropping as she sagged against Noah. “They said the dead couldn’t talk.”

  “You’ve got the right to remain silent, Joanna,” Rain began. “Anything you say right now can be used against you in a court of law.”

  “And I have a right to an attorney.” Joanna looked over her shoulder to where Steve stood, talking to several officers. “Steve, I need a lawyer.”

  Steve wouldn’t look at her and, if anything, ducked his head and shifted, blatantly ignoring her as he continued speaking to the officers.

  “Steve!” Joanna cried out.

  “If you can’t afford a lawyer,
one will be provided for you.” Rain took Joanna’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  “You’re not any better than they are,” Joanna said, her tone relaxed and her red hair frizzy as she met Rain’s gaze with watery blue eyes. “You think you’re better than me just like they did, but when it comes down to it, you’re playing, too. None of the life you showed me about you was real. I bet Noah doesn’t even love you. That makes you so incredibly the same as everyone else.”

  “The same as who?” Rain asked.

  “As Steve and Susie, as Patty, Lorrie, George, Roberta, and Lynn.” Joanna allowed Rain to guide her into the backseat of Al’s patrol car. “We’re all playing a game, dodging reality to make life more pleasurable. The only difference is that some of us are better at it than others.”

  Rain leaned back in her office chair as her stomach growled loudly.

  “You did a damned good job,” Chief Noble said as he approached her desk and tugged at his tie. “I’m sure you know that, but I wanted to tell you anyway.”

  “Just doing my job.” She dropped her pen on top of the forms she’d finished, wishing they would scan themselves and she could just go home. A hot bubble bath and her slippers sounded good. Seeing Noah sounded better, but she pushed that bittersweet craving to the back of her mind.

  “Tell me something.” Noble relaxed on the edge of her desk and studied her for a moment. When she finally looked up at him without saying anything he went on. “How much of it was a bluff?”

  Rain thought of the hours of interrogation she’d finished before starting in on the paperwork. She’d gone in alone with Joanna, and although it was hardball at first, Rain learned a few things in the time she’d spent with Noah. Pretending to have all of the facts oftentimes managed to get them all laid out before you a lot sooner.

  “None of it, Chief,” she said, leaning back in her chair again and ignoring her tummy when it growled. She laced her fingers behind her head and felt the muscle soreness that was setting in. “I admit it took us some time to sort out which one of them did it, but when we were ready for the arrest there wasn’t any doubt.”

  “Good to hear.” The chief stood and looked at the clock on the wall. “Where is that FBI partner of yours? He hasn’t headed out already. I thought I heard his flight didn’t leave until the morning.”

  If it weren’t for years of undercover work she wouldn’t have managed a straight face at his comment. “I’m sure he headed out to pack. Who wants to hang around for all of this fun?” she added dryly, tapping her pen over the forms she’d completed.

  Chief Noble pursed his lips, his watery eyes studying her before he looked away slowly and headed for the door. “Go get some sleep, Rain. It will be here for you when you come in tomorrow.”

  “Yes, it will,” she grumbled. And as much as that hot bath called to her, going home and being alone didn’t sound appealing at all.

  “That’s an order, Rain,” he added, and turned into the hallway, his heavy footsteps echoing slightly as he headed for the stairs.

  By the time she let herself into her dark, quiet, and very empty-feeling home, the bath had completely lost its appeal. Running her hands over her body, knowing Noah had touched her everywhere she would touch herself, was a bitter reminder she wasn’t in the mood to experience. She headed for her bed, kicking off her shoes as she entered and not bothering with the light.

  She froze when she reached for her blankets and focused on her bed for the first time, and the lump under the covers.

  “I’d hoped you would get undressed before crawling into bed,” Noah said, his voice gravelly.

  “What are you doing here?” Rain’s heart stopped, her ability to register excitement, or bitterness, that Noah would assume she’d want one last moment with him too much for her to dwell on at the moment. “You scared the crap out of me,” she admitted, her mouth almost too dry to speak.

  “You should pay more attention when you walk into a dark room.” He pulled back the blankets for her and revealed his bare chest while his dark eyes gazed up at her.

  “I guess I was a bit distracted,” she whispered, but then wondered why she told him that. It was too late and her brain too fried to get into a discussion over the relationship they didn’t have.

  “Then come to bed.” He continued holding the covers for her. “Without clothes,” he added, his dark brooding gaze traveling down her slowly. “I need you.”

  The way his tone dropped with his last comment sent chills rushing over her and at the same time created a flush of heat that settled deep in her womb. Her body responded to him even if she hesitated with the words.

  She needed a minute, just some time to get her head on straight. This was the last thing she expected when coming home and jumping into bed, into his arms. Being with Noah sounded better than sleeping, or the hot bath she’d already given up on.

  “Is this how you say good-bye?” She turned away from him to her closet and peeled off her tank top. Suddenly she was more nervous than if this had been her first time. And more than anything she didn’t want to hear that it was her last time with Noah.

  “No.” His one-word answer made her heart explode.

  But she needed to know more. Telling her he wasn’t saying good-bye didn’t tell her anything. She let her tank top fall to the floor, not even trying for her laundry basket. Strong, warm hands took her arms and turned her around.

  “I’m not saying good-bye, Rain. Neither of us want that.” He stared into her eyes only for a moment, long enough to show her the heat burning inside him matched the passion tearing her apart.

  His mouth captured hers and he pressed his naked body into her, forcing her back up against the wall. Noah was rough, demanding, and determined as he devoured her mouth. There weren’t any soothing caresses or soft kisses. Nor were there affectionate, reassuring words.

  Noah grabbed her arms, pushing her backward so that her back pressed against her cool, hard wall, and then impaled her with his tongue. The fever rushing through him filled her, burning her alive, and making the need that had simmered inside her all day and evening swell to a point where she swore she would pass out.

  His fingertips rubbed hard into her flesh when he cupped her breasts, growling into her mouth while continuing to kiss her. Noah pinched her nipples. Sparks ignited in her, then took a fiery path straight down her body to between her legs. Again he didn’t hesitate, didn’t offer slow, soothing touches, but took what he wanted with an aggressive nature that turned her on more than she ever thought it would.

  He pressed his bare leg between her, pushing hard-packed muscle against her pussy and damn near making her come. Rain twisted her head to the side, needing to breathe, fighting desperately to regain control when she felt herself slipping further and further into a warm pool of lust and desire that seemed to be bottomless.

  Worse yet, she wanted to surrender to him. It made no sense. There wasn’t any ignoring the overwhelming urge to allow him to take her, respond to his demands and submit. Doing so went against everything she was, her nature, how she’d been trained and raised. My God, her father would roll over in his grave. When she’d finally come to terms with her father liking Noah, which made it so damned easy to fall in love with him after that, accepting behavior her father would raise a holy fucking fit over didn’t set right inside her.

  “I want your clothes off,” Noah demanded, dragging his fingers down her front and grabbing the waistline of her jeans.

  Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about her father, or anything else. Noah demanded every ounce of her attention. He twisted her pants at the waist, forcing the top button to unbutton. She wasn’t sure whether he popped it off or not but knew if she didn’t assist, the zipper would be broken in the next moment.

  Noah scraped his teeth down her neck, grabbing her hair with one hand while attacking her zipper with the next. Rain intervened, pushing her hands underneath his determined fingers, and pulled down the zipper. Immediately he tugged hard enough that she almost stag
gered to the side.

  Instead of helping her regain her footing, Noah stepped backward, leaving her breathing so hard she felt the room shift to the side. He pushed her pants past her hips and let go when they fell in a pool around her ankles. She tried stepping out of them, but Noah moved quickly, straightening and pulling her jeans free of her body.

  “Turn around,” he insisted, moving her as he spoke.

  “Noah, I can—” She tried saying she could undress herself, but he flipped her around so her back was to him and grabbed her panties at her hips. “You’re manhandling me.” She didn’t quite pull off the right tone to make it sound like a complaint.

  “I’m handling you.” He shoved her underwear down her legs until she stepped out of them. Noah lifted her into his arms, his hand sliding down her back as he carried her to the bed. “And I don’t plan on stopping.”

  She sunk into the rumpled blankets, feeling the warmth from his body wrap around her as the covers pooled against her.

  “If this isn’t good-bye, then what is it?” She needed to understand.

  As much as she loved the attention he gave her, craved more of it with every breath, she needed to know the reason he attacked her like a starving man. And as she contemplated in her mind every reason that might exist behind his motives, her heart swelled, a mixture of pain and excitement creating a strange sensation inside her.

  Noah bent over her, his cock swollen and hanging low between them as he parted her legs and then ran his hands over her flesh to her face.

  “This is me loving you.” His face was so close to hers when he spoke that she saw slivers of green streak through his dark eyes.

  She opened her mouth, shocked at his choice of words and scared to put meaning behind them. He pounced on her, pressing their lips together, and once again sent her over the edge with a kiss.

  He was loving her. His words. They repeated themselves in her brain like a mantra.

  Noah leaned on his side, pulling her up against him. So many rock-hard muscles pressed against her, from her toes to the tips of her fingers. One hand was firm against the middle of her back, with his fingers stretched and his warm, confident touch searing her flesh. His other hand gripped her chin, keeping her face at the angle he preferred so that his tongue could dance with hers.