by Radclyffe
One of the waiters dropped a tray of glasses that made her look as they cleaned it up, but that was as exciting as it got for the next hour. Aside from testing their equipment, this night was a total waste of time.
“But I’ll take that any day,” she said softly as she hummed along with the band’s next selection.
*
After another trip to the bathroom together, the Caseys joined in to serenade Ramon after he’d handed the representative from Susan G. Komen a check that’d she seemed overwhelmed by. Emma helped Cain clean her face of the mild adhesive that’d held her disguise in place, and Cain was finally glad to get rid of it.
“How much do you want me?” Emma said as they swayed to the last song they were dancing to.
“Enough that I can’t make it home.” Cain turned Emma around to greet Poppy and Julia Valente. “Good thing the owners are good friends and have lots and lots of comfortable beds at their disposal.”
“The suite you ordered,” Poppy said as she handed over the envelope with a slight bow. “And congratulations on the new addition.”
“It’s time to add to your brood, or so your mother tells me,” Cain said as Poppy took her hand.
“She’s finally found her niche for sure,” Julia said, touching Emma’s midsection. “Being a grandmother is her calling, and she’s trying to make it a full-time job. You’re giving me the itch, Emma. I’m jealous.”
“You know me, I’m ready for ten.” Poppy smiled. “You two enjoy the rest of your evening and have the staff call me if you need anything.”
Cain waved to their watchers as they got in the elevator and kissed Emma to celebrate that the work part of her evening was done.
“Don’t you love a good party?” Emma pressed Cain to the elevator wall.
“I do, especially when it’s for a good cause.” She clasped Emma’s hips as Emma slowly pulled her bow tie undone. “You, on the other hand, are very good at being bad.”
“Me?” Emma unfastened the three top buttons of her shirt. “If I am, it’s because I’ve learned from the master.” Just as Emma put her hand in her shirt, the doors slid open and Lou, waiting in the hall, cleared his throat. “Do you have something else to do?” Emma asked Cain in a way that would start a fight if she said yes.
“I have plenty to do, but they all have to do with you. The only thing on my mind is getting you alone.” Cain led Emma to the end of the hall and another elevator.
“I’m right below you if you need me.” Lou pointed to the door next to the elevator. “I already checked upstairs, so have fun and relax. Our exterminator went through it with me. It’s bug-free.”
“Thanks, and that’s all for tonight. Don’t open your door again unless the hotel is on fire. If you need me, use the phone.”
Emma followed her inside and Cain placed the key Poppy had given her in the slot to make the doors close. “Where are we going?” Emma asked.
“It’s my last surprise of the night.” The doors opened to the Carly Suite, which was really more of an apartment Poppy and Julia had lived in while their house was being renovated.
“This place is gorgeous,” Emma said as Cain led her to the master suite.
“We can sightsee later. I’ve got plans for you.”
“After a night of your driving me insane, I should apologize for all those nights I sent you home hard as rock.” Emma turned so Cain could start on the long row of buttons at her back. “How’d it go while I was dancing with Muriel?”
Her cousin Muriel Casey was the family’s attorney, and as far as Shelby and her team knew, she was in Las Vegas on business. “Did she blush when she turned on the recording in her breast pocket?”
“I probably blushed more than she did. She was more worried you’d punch her in the nose for holding me so close, but I told her I’d protect her.” Emma leaned her head to the side so Cain could kiss the spot where her neck and shoulder met. “You were gone and I was curious about your surprise. Spill it.”
“How long do you think it’ll take Shelby and her crackerjack agents to figure out Brent is missing in action? A few broken glasses shouldn’t divert your attention away from your target, but they don’t work for us, thank God.” Cain finished with the buttons but didn’t take the dress off yet. Ever since they’d stripped to get in the shower she’d been ready, but this was about Emma right now.
“Is Brent permanently missing?” Emma tugged on her sleeves and the dress came off her shoulders. “I did say it’s what I wanted for my birthday.”
“There are worse things than death, lass, especially if you’ve got a good imagination.” She pulled the dress down a bit more and unfastened Emma’s bra. Her breasts had swelled along with the rest of her, and while she knew Emma became self-conscious during the last months of every pregnancy—this was when she thought of Casey baby number four. “You are so incredibly beautiful.”
Emma, as she had the first time they’d made love, covered her chest with her forearm. “I’ll take your word for it since I can’t see much past this bulge.” She circled her stomach with her other hand.
The innocent gesture made Cain smile as she quickly stripped. “Believe me, I never tell stories when it comes to how I feel about you.” She moved behind Emma and pushed the dress completely down and out of her way. She cupped Emma’s breasts and smiled when her nipples came to full attention.
“I’m not sure how you can find anything remotely beautiful about me now,” Emma said with a short laugh.
“Let me show you.” She walked them back until they reached the bed. “When I asked Poppy for a room, she suggested this one.”
“I’m surprised she allows guests up here after you first told me about it.” Emma sat on her lap, facing their reflections in a large, ornate French antique mirror propped against the opposite wall.
“She said it reminded her of all the blessings in her life, and she knows what a blessing you are in mine.” Cain took Emma’s hands and moved them out of the way to expose her nakedness in the reflection. “Poppy found love and tragically lost it when Carly died.” When she leaned back slightly, Emma went with her and spread her legs. “The loss made her feel lost in return.” She braced herself up with one hand and squeezed Emma’s breast gently with the other. Too much pressure was painful now, so she was careful.
“I don’t know how she survived it. I’m not sure I could,” Emma said.
“We survive the pain and loss by taking a chance on happiness again.” She rubbed her hand slowly along Emma’s belly until she reached her thigh. “Poppy’s new love has brought her back from the hell she was in and given her a life she adores now.”
“They’re as lucky as we are, then.” Emma took her hint and opened her legs wider. “Because of you, I love my life too.”
“Put your knees outside mine.” Emma was completely open to Cain, and even in the dim light, her wetness was easy to see. “So I thought this room would be a good place for me to show you how beautiful you are to me, in a way that’ll prove it to you.” Cain spread Emma’s sex open, making Emma moan softly. “While I can’t wait to welcome our baby into the world, this is what I was looking forward to the most when we got pregnant.”
“What?” Emma squeezed her arm as if to make Cain touch her where she needed her.
“You like this?”
In answer, Emma covered Cain’s hand with hers and encouraged her to squeeze her breast harder than she would’ve dared to.
“I see you with our baby growing inside you, and it turns me on.”
“Me too,” Emma said as she massaged her other breast herself.
“You look so lush that I have to control myself.” Cain put her finger at Emma’s opening and dipped it in to the knuckle. They both stared at her hand and Emma encircled her wrist. “But tonight I don’t want to hold back.” She glided her wet fingertip over Emma’s hard clit.
“Please, baby.” Emma leaned back against her as if to bring her body into full view. “I need—”
“
Keep your eyes open. You’re mine and I love you, but right now I have to have you.” Cain slid from Emma’s entrance to her clit in fast, hard strokes until Emma closed her eyes and screamed as she came. The orgasm didn’t seem to soften her clit or her desire, but Emma pulled her hand away anyway.
“We need one of these suckers at home,” Emma said to Cain’s reflection in the mirror. She turned and carefully got on her knees. “I know you love me, and you know I belong to you, but what about you? Who do you belong to?”
“All yours.”
Emma blew on Cain’s sex, her cool breath a fire starting in Cain’s groin and shooting to the top of her head. She’d never craved anything or anyone as much as she did Emma, and it only increased with time.
Emma put her tongue at the base of Cain’s clit and licked upward with a flat tongue, starting a rhythm that’d make her come fast if she didn’t ease up. Cain dug her toes into the rug and gripped the edge of the bed, but never took her eyes off the reflection of Emma’s ass and the back of her head.
“Fuck.” The word spat out of her mouth when Emma changed her tactic and sucked her in, plunging two fingers deep in a fast move that caught her by surprise.
“You want my tongue or do you want me to suck you?” Emma gazed up at her with a sweet expression that didn’t really match the question.
“You decide on technique,” she said, about to go mad that Emma had stopped.
Emma sat back on her heels, watching her fingers go in and out as she caressed Cain’s clit with her thumb on every downward stroke. “If seven months of pregnancy turns you on this much, I’ll be ready again at the end of the year.”
Thankfully Emma sped up her hand and sucked her in until the orgasm started and raged through her, extinguishing the ache that’d built for hours.
“We’re getting one of these mirrors for sure.” Emma laughed and rested her head on Cain’s thigh.
When she took her fingers out, Cain was ready to go again, but she had to get Emma off the floor.
“Thank you,” Emma said.
“For what?”
“I believe you.” Emma reached for Cain’s hands and brought them to rest on her belly. “You make me feel beautiful, and no matter how much I protest, I really do love being pregnant.”
“Enough to try again?” She laid Emma down and hurried around to the other side of the bed.
“Why not? Getting pregnant with you is fun, and being pregnant with you is even more fun.” Emma pouted when she didn’t seem to be able to stop the yawn at the end of her sentence.
“Let’s get some sleep so we can see how the magic mirror works in the daytime.” The phone rang as she said it, and Emma groaned. Cain listened to Lou for a minute and laughed. “Tell her she can come up if she promises not to move five feet past the elevator.”
“Who picked the short straw?” Emma asked as Cain got up and put on a robe.
“Shelby the mighty is on her way up. She told Lou it was important.”
“They noticed their lost lamb is gone already?”
“If he was a lamb it’d have taken days, but he’s a loud, obnoxious jackass, so the sudden silence must’ve tipped them off.” She tied off the robe and kissed Emma. “Keep my side warm. This won’t take long.”
*
Shelby appeared annoyed but she stayed quiet. Cain really was surprised they’d noticed Brent’s absence this quickly, and she hoped it wasn’t because Lou and Merrick missed a surveillance camera in the ballroom. That worry died as quickly as it came since there’d be a team of smiling agents behind Shelby if they had taped evidence of her kidnapping Brent from the party as Muriel traded places with her on the dance floor. Besides, Lou and Merrick really were that good.
“Yes?” she said, ready to do more dancing than she’d already done that night.
“Do I really need to spell it out?” Shelby lifted her hands and let them drop.
“Even if I knew what you were talking about, the answer would be yes.” Shelby looked better than the last time they’d talked, as if she was more relaxed despite her late-night visit. “You should save time by deleting that question forever.”
“I like you, Cain, but I can’t save you from killing a federal agent.” Shelby stayed as close to the elevator doors as Cain had asked.
“I killed a federal agent?” Cain smiled as she laid her hand on her chest. “In case you’re recording this, that last statement was in question form, not to be confused with a confession of any kind. What special federal agent was it? And I don’t really understand why you include the word ‘special’ in the title. From my perspective, there’s very little special about all but a few of you.”
“I understand that about you, but your witty sarcasm won’t make Brent reappear, will it?” Shelby crossed her arms and glared at her. “Before you get defensive—I’m not accusing you of anything. We’re questioning everyone at the party.”
“And I’m touched you started with me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do, and if you tell me why you and your merry band of idiots were here tonight, I’ll answer your question.”
“You know why, Cain, and you know we’ll play this game until you lose. For surveillance to work it has to be constant and unrelenting, and because it is, you’re guaranteed to lose.”
“Then refer to your notes. I was helping my good friend and his family celebrate his birthday. I danced with my wife a little, I flirted with her a lot, then I came up here.” She mirrored Shelby’s stance as she tapped her bare foot on the cold marble floor. “I noticed you and Agent Simmons. If anyone else was there, and they didn’t have a good excuse to beat me without cause, I didn’t see them.”
“Do you think I believe that?”
“You don’t? Does that mean you don’t like me anymore?” Cain laughed and headed for the bar. After a night of champagne and finger foods, she was thirsty for a sparkling water. She opened one without offering Shelby anything. “Do you ever ask yourself what’ll come next if I ever do lose our little game?”
“After, as in after the big party we’ll have when you’re locked up, you mean?” Shelby finally smiled. “I’ll move on to the next egotistical thug who thinks they’re smarter than everyone who works for the FBI.”
“Be careful, Agent Daniels.” Cain drained the bottle and placed it in the sink. “The world is a dangerous place, so perhaps you should heed a very old Irish proverb.”
“Which one?”
“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. You have nothing to fear from me, and in this case neither does Cehan, if that’s who you’re missing. The next devil that comes along might not be so nice.” Shelby flinched when Cain walked toward her and pressed the call button. “You have my word I didn’t kill Cehan or anyone else tonight.” And technically that was true. It was a godsend when the FBI always thought the worst of you—there was no reason to lie.
“You didn’t see anything?” Shelby asked when the soft ding of the elevator cut through the silence that followed.
“Nothing that comes to mind except how good Emma looked in her costume.” She pointed to the open door, then waved. “Everything else I didn’t care about.”
“I might have more questions.” Shelby put her hand on the elevator door to keep it open.
“You always do.” She removed Shelby’s hand from the door and waved as it slid closed. “You’re a devil I know too,” she said when she was alone.
“Only you’ll always be better than all of them together,” Emma said from behind her.
“I don’t like to rub their faces in it, lass.” Cain laughed.
“Come on, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah, tonight was Ramon’s night, and tomorrow is Brent’s coming-out party.”
*
The next morning Cain and Emma had breakfast at the outdoor café at the Piquant. Lou and Merrick sat at the table next to them. Joe Simmons and Claire weren’t too far away, appearing pissed. None of them
loved Brent Cehan, but he was one of them and he was missing.
“Those stares should keep your coffee hot,” Emma said as she put her juice down.
Cain turned and stared back. Shelby called this a game, and while that was true, the rules had changed when Brent had cuffed her on a bullshit charge, then beat her. She didn’t often feel bone-deep fear, but the seizures from the blows to her head had scared her. The terror had stayed with her until they’d finally subsided, but the fear was still not totally erased. The doctor couldn’t promise that the seizures were gone for good, so she’d thought of a way to return the favor to Brent.
“Those looks are about to cool when their human scavenger hunt comes to an end. Only it won’t be pretty,” Cain whispered directly into Emma’s ear.
“You did take the hotel’s security into account, right? I don’t want to insult you, but I also can’t recreate last night with a thick sheet of Plexiglas between us.”
“Brent made it to a room with a nice lady from out of town who’s in the entertainment industry, and he’s been there ever since. Like Lou’s, his door will show that it hasn’t been opened except when his companion left.”
“Did the nice lady entertain him?”
“Even I’m not that cruel, lass. She tucked him in and gave him a gift that I’ll tell you about later. Right now we’re expecting a guest about the evening’s shenanigans.” She kissed Emma’s cheek.
“Someone you invited?” Emma threaded their fingers together and leaned back.
“Shelby isn’t someone I want to keep to myself, but she keeps turning up.” Cain pointed to the door that opened to the lobby.
“Can I speak to you a minute?” Shelby stood close enough to be heard, but far away enough to not appear intimidating.
“You may speak to us, but any more than that and we might have to charge you.” Emma pointed to the empty chair across from her.