“Looks bad,” Caroline admitted.
“Bad for them. Good for us. I couldn’t believe it when he told me. I was furious. If it came out, our reputation would be destroyed. He’d be arrested. Not to mention what it would mean if people discovered there was a program that could make any protected data available to anyone who wanted it. It wouldn’t be long before the criminal element descended.”
“Why did he do it? Did this contract mean that much to you financially?”
Dominic paused obviously rolling the question around in his head. “Yes and no. We were doing okay. Taking jobs away from some of the bigger names in the industry. But this would have solidified us. It would have vaulted us from successful to the big time. But Denny doing anything for money doesn’t make sense. He didn’t care about the money. All he cared about was the work. The mental challenge of making something that nobody could beat.”
“Pride. He wanted to show off that he was better than anyone else at what he did.”
“Could be. But showing off usually entails two people. The person doing the showing and the person watching. I don’t think Denny had any intention of telling me what he did. It wasn’t until I pressed him that he caved first about the program, then about what he’d done.”
Caroline thought of another problem. “Where is it?”
“The program?” Dominic grimaced. “I don’t know. I know he wouldn’t have put it out there on the company network. He never went anywhere without his laptop. That had to be in the car with him, so I imagine it was destroyed in the fire.”
“Then the program is gone,” Caroline concluded.
“One copy of it, yes. Denny would have had a backup.”
“You’re going to look for it, aren’t you? That’s the other reason we’re going back.”
“Yes. I have to believe that his death and that software program are related. I need to know not just who killed him, but if he got his hands on that damn program.”
“Can I ask you if you’re more worried about somebody using it unlawfully or that someone might expose what Denny did?”
He rubbed his eyes quickly and then focused on the road. He didn’t say anything for a long time. “I wish I could tell you I’m some kind of hero and I want to do this to protect people’s private information. I can’t. That company is my life. It’s everything I’ve ever made of myself. I can’t watch it crumble. I won’t. I’ll find the program and destroy it along with any evidence of what Denny did. Then I’ll find Denny’s killer.”
Caroline wanted to ask what he would do once he found him but she didn’t.
“It’s getting late,” he said abruptly and pointed to an exit up ahead on the highway. “We’ll pull over for the night.”
The exit marked Radlytown consisted of a gas station, a fast-food restaurant and a one-floor motel that looked barely habitable. Dominic left Caroline in the car while he went to check in. He came back with a key and pulled the car around to the back of the motel so it couldn’t be seen from the single road that split the town. It seemed like an unnecessary precaution in such an isolated place, but he apparently wasn’t taking any chances.
They got out and Caroline stretched her legs and back, thinking a hot bath might help ease her tight muscles. When Dominic opened the door to their room, she immediately decided a bath was out of the question.
In a room that looked like this, even a shower might not be a good idea. Heck, she was pretty sure she would be better off using the ladies’ room at the fast-food restaurant.
“I’m sorry,” Dominic apologized, setting their bags inside by the door as he took in the accommodations.
“It’s all right.” Caroline pulled down the spread on the king-sized bed and examined the sheets. They were clean and smelled of strong laundry detergent. “It will do. But I am hungry.”
“I’m sure the convenience store has some microwave burritos. Or if you are looking for something a little more upscale, there’s a burger and fries.”
A chuckle bubbled up and out of her mouth. It was a joke. He’d made a joke and while it was a lame one, she still had a hard time stopping herself from hiccupping with laughter. Probably since it had been so long since she could laugh about anything.
“I’ll take upscale. I do have my standards.”
Dominic smiled. For a second she thought he wanted to say something, but he shook his head. “I’ll be back with the burgers and fries.”
“I am going to pray the shower head spurts out clean hot water.”
Dominic returned to the room with two bags of greasy food. He set them down on the single table in the room and stared at the bathroom door. The sound of running water told him she must have come to terms with the shower. He hoped for her sake it wasn’t too grubby. He didn’t like the mental image of her showering amongst the dirt. She was too good for that.
Too good for that, too good to be on the run with him. Too good for any of this. With a sigh, he sat down on the edge of the bed and for the tenth time wondered why he’d let her come with him.
Then he wondered what it would have been like to make this trip alone without her. Talking to him, pushing him to think, the whole time reminding him that he was in this with someone. A partner.
Dominic thought of Denny and how that partnership had ended. A swell of regret washed over him. It had been such a stupid trick of fate that had landed them together on the inside. Dominic had focused on maintaining his isolation. He hadn’t talked to anyone, no one had talked to him. Anybody who’d tried to give him trouble he’d been strong enough to beat off.
Not Denny. Denny had been a wounded zebra at a lions’ watering hole and the predators had known it. Bad timing had Dominic walking into a laundry room where Denny had been cornered by three thugs looking to do what predators did with the weak. There had been that moment, that split second where he had to decide whether to walk away and pretend he didn’t see anything or fight for someone he didn’t even know.
Dominic wondered if he would ever tell Caroline how close he’d been to walking out and what kind of person that made him. But in the end he hadn’t. He’d stayed and fought and got the shit beaten out of him. Before anything else could happen, the guards found them and pulled everyone apart.
They’d been forced to spend two days in solitary, but as soon as Denny got out he’d tracked down Dominic and had pledged his everlasting loyalty. And he’d given it. Right up until the end.
“Who else did you tell about the program, Denny?”
The sound of running water was his only answer.
Turning toward the door, he thought about Caroline standing underneath a spray of hot water. His wife. He’d never believed he would have been the type to be so territorial, but one of the hardest things about being away from her was knowing she was out of his reach. Knowing, too, that at some point someone would have told her the truth about his name and his past, essentially forfeiting their marriage.
That thin tie, the connection that kept her linked to him, snapped with a few words, making it okay for her to leave him. But she hadn’t. She’d stayed there in his house waiting. While he’d been waiting in hers. So desperate for any connection to her that he’d read one of her books searching for her in between the pages.
He looked down at his lap and saw that he was hard. Just the idea that she was so close, naked and wet had been enough to set him off. He wondered what she would think if he opened the door to the bathroom, pulled aside the curtain and joined her there.
He could lift her around his body, sink her down on his erection, let the hot water pound against her skin, while his hot flesh pounded up inside of her. A low growl escaped his throat as his body tightened with anticipation.
It was always this way with her. She brought out something feral in him, something he thought he’d left buried in his cell the day he was released. His life was about control now. Over his work, over everything-his decisions, his plans, his designs.
But with Denny’s death, all that was go
ne, wasn’t it?
He’d started to fight her because she took things out of his hands. Like his desire and his emotions. He would have, in fact, divorced her because of it. But what was the point of fighting her anymore?
The control he thought he had over his life was an illusion. One he’d held on to for so many years. But illusions eventually winked out of existence and all you were left with was the truth.
And the truth was there was little he could control.
He wanted his wife and he didn’t care if he wanted her too much. He was tired of running, tired of worrying about what would happen if he let her get too close. He tossed off his shirt and toed out of his sneakers. When his hands reached for the buttons on his jeans, he saw that they shook.
Immediately, he stopped and took a deep calming breath. He wouldn’t take her against her will, and he wasn’t sure what her will would be, so he needed to get a grip. Shucking off his pants he made his way to the bathroom door. He opened it and the steam and heat surrounded him. He saw her silhouette behind the thin opaque shower curtain. She was still, her hands no longer moving the washcloth over her body.
He pulled the curtain aside and their eyes met. His body couldn’t hide its intent from her. There was uncertainty in her eyes and it cut him like a knife, but he moved forward. The spray of water hit his skin but he ignored it, instead focusing on her. Her body was wet and lush. It trembled slightly. He reached for her and brought her up against him. His sex pressed into her belly. Her breasts pushed against his chest. Her hands rested on his shoulders. He knew she still wasn’t sure yet if she was going to use them to push him away or hold him.
Please hold me. Please.
“Caroline,” he muttered dipping his head to take her lips, but she pulled away. Not her body. That was locked against him, his arm wrapped around her waist like a vise. Her eyes locked onto his and she seemed to be asking a question he didn’t know the answer to.
Again he lowered his head, using his free hand to cup her face and hold her in place for his kiss. His lips took hers with a ferocity he could barely contain, and silently he pleaded with her to allow this moment. His tongue plunged against her closed mouth and when she gasped for air, he invaded her. Her heat, her taste, were all his to take.
But he didn’t want to take so much as he wanted her to give.
He lifted his head and whispered her name again, barely heard over the sound of the water falling on their bodies.
“Let me,” he whispered.
Slowly, her eyes on his the entire time, as if she wanted him to understand what she was offering, she slid her leg up against the outside of his until it was wrapped around his thigh.
She was completely open to him. “Caroline,” he groaned with raw need.
With strong but unsteady hands, he lifted and turned her, pushing her back against the tiled wall of the shower. In one long firm motion he thrust his sex deep inside her. He could feel her shock, but she was slick and ready despite his lack of foreplay. He stilled his body until he felt her soften and succumb. Her legs wrapped around his waist and squeezed. Her heels bumped against his ass. For a second she squirmed against him as if she were trying to find some respite from the thick shaft that impaled her. But he gave her none and instead started to thrust hard.
“This is how I want you,” he growled into her ear. “Nothing held back. Are you ready for this?”
He wouldn’t withdraw, wouldn’t leave her, but instead would only make his body go deeper and higher.
“Tell me,” he urged.
Was she ready for this? No, she probably wasn’t, but she wouldn’t stop him. He was giving something to her. Instinctively, she knew that. Testing her in some way, too, to see if she could handle every element of who he was as a man.
She threw her head back against the shower wall and braced her hands against his shoulders. Her body was pinned by his. All she could do was feel. Every sense that she had was focused on the point of their connection. Heat radiated out from her center and began to make its way through her body at lightning speed. It was almost a difficult sensation-to feel so overwhelmingly aroused so suddenly.
He began to drive into her, this time pulling away a little more so he could push deeper. She felt branded. Stretched beyond her limits. She didn’t know how it was possible to want him to stop yet equally powerful to want him to continue.
His hands gripped her butt and his fingers kneaded deep into her flesh. But the ache only added to her pleasure. Her body writhed against the slick wall at her back and she could hear herself crying and moaning.
He changed the tempo of his motion and slowed slightly so he could withdraw almost completely before thrusting back inside her. She screamed each time he did and the hands that clung to his shoulders she now used to dig into his muscles.
“More. Faster,” she screamed.
“No. My way.” He pulled out, letting the rounded head of his cock rest barely inside her passage, then flexed the muscles in his ass sending his shaft ripping through her.
“Ahhhh,” she screamed again. Tears ran down her face, unnoticed against the streams of water that washed over them. Never before had she been so aware of her body. Its physicality. Never before had she felt each nerve, every muscle, the beat of her heart. She was being taken ruthlessly against a shower wall and her body sang in a delicious joyous celebration.
She was his, completely and utterly his.
And he was hers, completely and utterly hers. She wondered if he knew that.
Instinctively she tightened her inner muscles, grasping at his sex each time he tried to leave. She heard him groan, which only made her body clench harder.
“Don’t,” he growled, his face a picture of tortured pleasure.
“Then faster,” she bargained. She felt the smile on her face and had the devilish thought that she wished she could see this, see what he was doing to her. Watch his hips flex and know what it felt like on the inside.
Instead, she looked at him and saw the power of his need. His lips were tight, his cheeks flushed. His eyes…so hard. It should have frightened her, but it didn’t. She would never be afraid of him. She would never be afraid of this. He was out of control, out of his mind with wanting her, but he would never hurt her.
His hands moved up and over her buttocks wrapping around her back, bring her into total contact with his body. He spread his legs to gain more balance against the wet bottom of the tub and leaned against her, pressing her more completely against the wall.
Their eyes were centimeters apart. Their mouths were open, their breath mingled.
“Don’t close your eyes,” he ordered her.
“I won’t,” she gasped as she felt him begin to move again, this time more quickly.
It was hard to obey, but watching him was intense. She saw so much of who he was, his vulnerability and his pain mixed with his strength and fortitude.
And so they both kept their eyes open while he rode her hard and fast, snapping his hips and pushing her beyond mere pleasure. Then something inside her exploded and she was overcome with a wave of heat so intense she feared she might melt from within. It shook her to her very core. Then her body opened in a deep yawning stretch that sent pleasure coursing first through her womb, then her limbs.
She heard him shout, felt the pulse of his orgasm filling her deep inside, then his body was crushing her against the tile, his strength and his ability to hold her upright seemingly gone.
“I love you,” she whispered against his shoulder as her head dropped forward. “There are times I don’t want to, but I can’t stop.”
She felt him jerk, but he said nothing. He reached out and turned off the water, then carefully lifted her against his body and took them both out of the shower and to the bed.
She was draped across his body, her head resting on his heart, feeling it beat beneath her ear. A soft sound stirred her and she lifted her head so that she could hear it better.
“Please don’t stop. I don’t want you
to stop.”
Chapter 14
Nora pulled her rental car off the road along the winding route that led up the hillside to Dominic’s residence. Lucky for her, a neighbor farther down the road was having a party, and the street was lined with cars. Hers would not stand out. She got out of the car and stared up at the hill.
There was still some distance between her and Dominic’s house and it wouldn’t be an easy hike, but she couldn’t risk getting any closer. She knew that patrol cars still passed the house a few times a night, and she didn’t want to do anything that would alert them.
Rather than stick to the road, she headed into the under-growth, which would provide cover, and made her way through the trees and bushes. The climb wasn’t so steep that she couldn’t handle it, but by the time she reached his house she was winded.
Taking a minute to catch her breath, she decided that it had been too long since she’d been to the gym. She was starting to become one of those out-of-shape computer nerds whose only exercise was manipulating a mouse.
“As soon as I get back,” she promised herself. Her breath restored she made her way to the enclosed pool.
She studied the sliding glass door that led from the patio into the pool area. The catch lock was simple and easily handled. No doubt the house was wired for security, which meant she was only going to have a few seconds to get inside and deactivate it. She reached for the small tool kit she’d tucked away in the fanny pack attached to her waist. She slid a slim flat-end screwdriver in between where the door met the glass wall and flicked up the latch.
As soon as she did she could hear the alarm inside begin its insistent chirping counting down the time she had to turn it off.
Moving quickly she circled the pool, slid another glass door aside, this one luckily unlocked, and entered Dominic’s study. The alarm box was on the wall behind his desk. Instantly she removed the plastic covering that protected the system, and went to work on it with a small pair of wire cutters. She sliced first one and then a second connecting wire, which killed the battery and cut off the signal to trigger the alarm.
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