by CJ Ellisson
His gaze connected with Ramirez’s, who frowned at her last sentence. Trent’s next item on the agenda was finding out more about how she got her information. The dark circles under her eyes indicated she was exhausted, but her voice and speech were clear and concise. He had the urge to grab her and hold her. She looked so vulnerable, staring at the dead girl’s photo.
“We also know that Gina babysat for professors at the college on certain nights.” Ramirez bounced on the bed. What, was he four?
“Right,” Erica said, snapping out of her trance. “So what we need to find out is if any of those professors were linked with both victims. I know we have an ex-boyfriend we need to go question, but I want to know if there is anyone else the girls might have in common.”
Trent could see the wheels turning behind her tired eyes. If the killer wasn’t the ex-boyfriend, who else could have access to both women and have a motive to kill them?
“Alright.” Ramirez put the papers back in the files on Erica’s bed. Once he’d cleaned the bed of the multitude of pictures and notes, he placed the remaining documents on the chair by the stacked table. He walked to the door. “I’m going to go make some calls. Find out more and give Donovan a shout-out to see if she’s got anything on the social media side.”
Trent watched him leave. Once the door shut behind Ramirez, he turned back to Erica. She stared at Gina Torres’ photo. Because she’d been staring at it, Ramirez had left it behind on Erica’s bed when he’d cleaned up. Thankfully she hadn’t decided to touch the thing.
Trent took a deep breath and decided to ask the question that had been burning his tongue for the past two days. “So how exactly does it work?”
She lifted her gaze from the photo and blinked at him with a puzzled look. “How does what work?”
“Whatever it is you do to find out about the victims.” He saw her start to shake her head in a negative and continued, “I know it has to do with touching their things, but I can’t figure out what it is you see.” He grabbed the photo and placed it back in the corresponding file. Somehow he knew if he left it out she’d continue to stare at it.
She gulped and clenched her hands into fists. Finally after a few moments, she looked back up at him. The anguish he saw in her eyes made him go to her, grab her hands, and hold them in his own.
“Tell me.” He drew circles on her palms with his thumbs, hoping to help calm the distress he saw on her face. The scent of her anxiety diminished with each stroke of his thumb.
She took a deep breath. “It’s very simple, really. I touch something of the victim’s, and I see their last moments alive. It could be anything from how they got killed to who killed them. Whatever they saw, I see. If it’s a missing person who’s not dead, it’s usually their last lucid memory from a few hours past. I don’t see things in real time, which is why it’s so important that when I see someone still alive, we try to find them that way.”
He thought about what she said for a moment. “Do you feel their pain too?”
She jerked, turning back to him, and nodded. “Yes.”
Fuck. No wonder she’d been crying every time she touched the victims’ stuff. She was reliving their deaths in full color, complete with a side of physical and emotional torture.
“How long have you had this…ability?” He wanted to know more about the woman who fascinated him like no other ever had. He needed to get to know her before he bound her to him.
“Always.” She pulled her hands from his grasp and started to pace. He was sure she didn’t even realize she was doing it.
“Is that why people think you profile?” That was what Brock told everyone in the department. That Erica was the profiler in the team, and she led every investigation with whatever she pieced together. No wonder they depended on her so much. She knew what happened, but it came at a pretty hefty price.
She continued to pace to the door and back toward the bed, stopping only to look at him and then slowly turning away. “Yes. Only Brock knows what I can see. He’s…he’s aware I’m more than just a profiler.”
Jealousy made his blood burn. She was his. His woman. His mate.
“What’s the side effect of this…this ability of yours?” He knew sleepless nights were a given. She’d never looked as exhausted as she had in the past forty-eight hours.
Face scrunched in thought, she hovered by the bed. “What do you mean side effects?”
“What does it do to you to see what you see?”
“Well…”
It seemed she didn’t want to share, but he wasn’t stopping now. “I know you can’t sleep. So what else is there?”
Erica turned away from him and spoke while walking back to the door. “It’s not that I can’t sleep. It’s that I keep seeing the victims in their last moments over and over again in my dreams. It doesn’t make for restful sleep to keep seeing that.”
What the fuck? She wasn’t lying. Her words shocked him immobile. “You mean you don’t just see them that one time? You keep seeing the same thing over and over again?”
“Kind of. The initial contact, the first time I see while touching something is a crisp, clear view, almost movie-like, and it gives great detail, if that’s what the victim saw. But after that…” She bit her lip in thought before continuing. “…I guess we can call it first touch, the images become distorted, blurry, and blend together to form flashes of cries and pain. Almost like a compressed set of layers of the entire event. It can be tiresome to keep trying to make the view as clear as it had been in first touch, but all you have is indistinct and confusing images. It muddles in my mind and gives me migraines.”
He stared at her. Deep sorrow pierced his heart with every word out of her mouth. “How long do you see these visions for?”
“It usually takes days, sometimes weeks, for it to stop.” She creased her nose, still not looking at him. “So when I see more than one in a short period of time it…it’s exhausting. I feel their pain over and over, and it drains me. Trying to shut out the screams and the visions takes a lot out of me.”
Holy fuck. The woman was insane to keep her mouth shut all that time. He wondered if she was getting any time with the paranormal psychiatrist. Brock had made him go to therapy the time he’d tried to sink his claws into a predator who’d abducted a woman and kept her hidden from her family.
“You mean to tell me you’ve been dealing with this on your own and you didn’t think to share it with me? I could’ve helped.”
He was hurt that she suffered in silence. All the years they’d worked together and he had had no clue she had been going through that. It made him want to kick his own ass. If he hadn’t been so involved in trying to get into her pants, he would’ve noticed something sooner. Instead she’d always worked alongside Brock, and he, Ramirez, and Donovan had been the action team. It had never occurred to him that Erica was much more vulnerable than what she portrayed.
The image she showed the world of a tough, bitchy profiler was just that: an image. Underneath it all she was suffering, and it hurt him to know that. He’d decided the moment he met her that he’d allow her to come to him when she was ready. It was clear she was his in his mind, but he would never push her. He was done waiting.
She seemed confused by his anger. “How would you have helped?”
His heart broke for her when he realized she was genuinely confounded. She’d been dealing with this on her own for so long she didn’t think someone giving her a shoulder to lean on or emotional support would help her deal. She was his mate for crying out loud. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know it, he did. And he needed to let her see that he was there for her, always. He walked toward her in slow measured steps, and then he stopped when he was a foot away. Her eyes widened when he lifted a hand and curled it around her jaw. He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “I would have been there for you. I could have helped you deal with it. You didn’t have to do it alone.”
“But…I’ve always dealt with it alone,” she whispered, and hi
s heart cracked some more.
“You don’t have to anymore.” He lowered his face and stopped inches from hers. “Never again.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, their gazes locked in a tempestuous embrace. “I’m here for you, Erica. You can lean on me.”
He pulled her body flush to his in a slow move. And then he kissed her again. This time with enough passion to show her how much he wanted her. He hoped she could see that she meant more to him than any other woman ever had.
Chapter Five
Erica sighed into the kiss and allowed her lips to soften under Trent’s slow invasion. Sparks bubbled in her blood and fired her veins with each swipe of his tongue. He drew slow circles over her lips before moving into her mouth. Tingles coursed through her body, going straight to her pussy. Their tongues caressed each other in a sensual ritual that left her breathless and panting.
His hands moved under her top, tracing the curve of her waist and crawling up her sides. Urgency for him, the only man she’d been wanting for years, made her pull at his T-shirt. Her hands gripped the cotton material and lifted. He must’ve gotten the hint, because his hands left her body and he stripped off the shirt. And good lord was she happy to see him without the offensive cloth. She knew he was hot, like really fucking hot, but seeing all those muscles up close and personal made her want to purr.
She licked her lips while trailing each bulging bicep with her fingers. Her gaze darted up to meet his heated one.
“Your turn,” he said in that deep, sexy voice that made her want to beg him to talk dirty to her. The wicked grin on his mouth was pure sin. She grabbed the sides of her tank top and pulled it over her head. His look? Priceless. His eyes zeroed in on her breasts. She was no little woman, and when she arched her back his nostrils flared. Her body was full of curves, and she had no problem with it.
Their lips met again in another scorching kiss. A kiss that deepened the strange connection they seemed to have. All this time she’d felt the pull to him. She knew there was something strong between them. Her mind and heart told her she was delusional if she thought she could deny the deep connection to Trent, but her rebellious side refused to acknowledge it. Sex. Si. This was only sex, because she didn’t do relationships. Pushing the strange thoughts out of her mind, she wallowed in the feelings he aroused in her body.
He gripped her waist, and their bodies were once again flush. This time the long, hard, length of his erection pressed into her belly. It made her pussy quiver in need. His corded muscles rubbed her already-hypersensitive skin, and she dug her nails into his biceps. He trailed kisses to her jaw, and she trembled. Oh, but it got better. He moved to her collarbone and stopped at the valley of her breasts.
She lolled her head back and shut her eyes. Spiky hair met her fingertips when she moved one hand up to grip the short locks. He removed her bra. In an instant his lips were on her nipple, sucking her tight little bud over and over again. Her lungs constricted with each lick and suck. She moaned and bit her lip. It was hell to keep from begging. Sharp desperation made her shove her chest into his face. He’d bitten one of her nipples, and the sensation had been divine. She wanted him to do it again.
“Oh Dios…” Her breath hitched when she looked down. The hottest man she’d seen in her entire life licked, sucked, and caressed her body. He made her feel like she was the sexiest woman in the world. He looked up, and she almost came on the spot. He nibbled on her breast, and she groaned when he stopped and unlatched from her swollen nipple.
“I want you.” His voice was so rough she could barely make out the words. He gripped the waistband of her pants, but he didn’t unzip and open them. Instead, he watched her with expectation.
“I want you too.” She panted. “Now.”
Just in case he’d decided to stop, she moved her hands to the waist of her pants, unsnapped, and unzipped them. Then she watched him pull them and her panties down her legs. The sudden indrawn breath he took made her smile.
“You’re so fucking hot.”
He glanced up, licking his lips. Her pussy throbbed at that moment. Any thought not related to Trent licking her heat shut down in her mind.
“I swear I could look at you forever,” he whispered. His gaze roved over her naked body.
He stood, kissed her again, and lifted her into his arms. She wound her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. His hands went straight to her ass cheeks and ground her to his cock. She whimpered and released his lips. Passion licked at her skin. She moved her mouth to his jaw. Biting down on the scruffy flesh turned her on like nothing ever had. She wondered if she had a vampire complex, because licking, sucking, and biting him made her aroused beyond the point of rational thought. She dug her nails into his naked arms. He moved with her in his grip, and soon she found herself on her back on the mattress. It was hard to breathe. She watched him strip off his pants with unwavering interest.
His body—and what a body it was—was defined with muscles and bronzed skin, made her lick and bite her lip in expectation. She mentally caressed down his big frame his long, thick cock. A shiver ran up her spine, and she gripped the sheets under her hands.
“Like what you see?” He smiled wickedly.
“Si, I do. But do you know what to do with that?”
It was time for him to put up or shut up. And she really wanted him to put up.
“Baby…I don’t have protection.”
“It’s ok, I’m on the pill, and I’m clean.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” He frowned. “We can wait. I wasn’t expecting this to happen now between us. I had hoped, but I hadn’t expected. I’ve never been with any woman without protection.” He cleared his throat and a soft blush colored his cheekbones. “I want you to know that I’m also clean. I don’t get human diseases, but I still get tested. One can never be too careful.”
She grinned. He was truly concerned for her choice to go without a condom. “I’ve never been with anyone without one either. I’m ok with this. Now, show me what you’ve got.”
He grabbed her ankles and pulled her body down to the edge of the bed. She could only stare while he got down on his knees and placed her legs over his shoulders. Air froze in her lungs. He wrapped his arms around her thighs and lowered his face to her pussy. At the first swipe of his tongue on her clit, she bucked.
“Oh my god,” she moaned and refused to follow her body’s command to shut her eyes.
He lifted his head from her throbbing core and smiled. “No, sweetheart. It’s Trent, but you can call me god if you want.”
Before she got a chance to give him a sarcastic reply, his tongue dipped into her entrance, and she was lost to the bliss he was imparting on her pussy. He licked around her waxed lips and proceeded to fuck her with his tongue. She panted and ground her hips down, closer to his face.
“Please…”
She whimpered when he did a slow trail around her clit with his tongue. He flicked it twice, and then she felt his fingers rub up and down her pussy, wetting them with her dripping heat. Feeling his calloused fingers over her sensitive flesh turned into a new point of pleasure. After a moment he dipped wet fingers into her. She groaned and tightened her hold on the sheets. Her hips rocked on his face involuntarily.
He sucked on her clit while his fingers curled and thrust in and out of her. It took very little for her to go over the edge. Her heart pounded in her ears, each beat a fierce, wild gallop. Tension unraveled inside her, pushing her headfirst into an all-consuming orgasm. She screamed when a wave of pleasure rushed through her.
Panting like she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs, she blinked the haze of happiness away and looked down to see one sexy Trent jerking his cock; beads of liquid seeped from his slit and slid down the sides. She scooted up on the bed and kept her legs wide open for him. Some kind of non-verbal communication happened. Her insides melted at the blazing look he gave her.
“Fuck me.” That had not been what she’d planned on saying, but i
t worked just as well.
“Baby, what I’m going to do to you is way more than fucking.” He grinned and crawled on the bed, stopping once he’d kneeled between her thighs. He trailed a finger around her pussy, dipped it into her wetness, pulled it out, raised it to his lips, and licked. Blood fizzed and popped in her veins. The man certainly knew how to add kindling to her fire.
While she watched, he gripped his cock, rubbed the tip on her pussy lips, and coated his shaft with her moisture. He slid into her in a deliberate, drawn-out move. She groaned at the slow torture. She contracted around his thick length with every inch he went deeper inside her. He was big, and he stretched her in a way that made her feel every nerve ending in her pussy sigh in bliss. Once he was fully embedded in her, he lowered, his arms bracketing each side of her and caging her in. Without waiting for his command, she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, locking them in place behind his muscular ass.
Emotions she wasn’t familiar with filled her when he gave her a soft look. He lowered his head, and their lips meshed in a wet tangle of tongues. While he kissed her senseless, he pulled out of her and slammed back in with so much force she was glad she was holding on to his arms. Again he withdrew and thrust into her hard. And she loved it. A fine sheen of perspiration coated their skins and allowed him a smooth glide over her body. In and out he went. She pulled her lips away from his and moaned. Her nails dug into his shoulders while she hung on to him for dear life. The sound of skin slapping, grunting, and moaning filled the room with an erotic melody that increased her pleasure. The musky scent of sex overpowered and incited her body’s arousal.