by Deborah Camp
“The psycho.”
“You know him? You recognize him?”
“No, but I sense him. He knows us.”
“I don’t get it.” A frown line creased his brow.
She surveyed the crowd, trying to find one face that arrested her. “I don’t understand it either,” she admitted. “It’s like when you were driving back from Miami that night and I could feel you.”
“Feel me how?”
“In my head.” She puffed out a breath of frustration. “This is new to me. I wasn’t sure I could trust it.” She continued to scan the crowd, hoping to zero in on one person. “I didn’t know what you were thinking, but I could feel your energy. I sensed your urgency and I knew it was about me and that it was you.”
“Okay.” He gripped her shoulders and bent his knees to bring his eyes level with hers. “And what are you sensing now?”
“His excitement,” she answered. “And his concentration. He’s watching us.”
“He is?” Levi straightened and slipped a protective arm around her shoulders.
“I think so.” She felt his chest give a little jerk and she glanced up to see his scowl. “What’s wrong?”
“I see that woman . . . the one I think has been following me.”
“Where?”
He gave a directive nod. “Over there by the jugglers.”
The jugglers tossed and caught bowling pins, hoops, and a bowling ball. Several women stood near them, watching and applauding, all except for one. She stared directly at Levi. There was something familiar about her—. Suddenly, sharp explosions split the air and Trudy nearly jumped out of her skin. She heard shouts and gasps and then Levi’s arms tightened like bands and she was hauled roughly and possessively against his chest. His body curved around hers, shielding her. In the next moment, she saw colors streaking across the sky and his hold loosened.
“Fucking fireworks,” Levi rasped.
She let out a sigh of relief and looked up at his frown. “We’re a little jumpy.”
He closed his eyes and let go of a short laugh. “We have reason to be. You’re sensing a serial killer is near us, watching us, and I just spotted a woman who appears to be following me and somehow pirated my cell phone number.” He opened his eyes and looked toward the jugglers. “And she’s gone.”
“So is the psycho,” Trudy said, only just then realizing that she no longer experienced the odd, brain-crowding sensation. “I don’t sense his presence any more. I’m not even sure it happened. It might just be a sinus headache coming on and—.”
“No, Trudy. Don’t doubt your feelings.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “You’re a gifted medium. Always trust your instincts. I do. Come on.” He pulled her with him toward a place at the sea rail. People lined it, but there was just enough room for them to squeeze in. His arms wound around her and he held her against him. “Let’s watch the sunset and forget all this other stuff.”
Trudy closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against the front of his shirt. He smelled delectable – Armani mingling with Levi – and his heartbeats were strong in her ear. When she opened her eyes again, the sun was dipping into the ocean and people applauded and cheered. She looked up to see if Levi was watching the spectacle and her heart stuttered when she saw that he was gazing at her.
His eyes were deep-ocean blue. He kissed her and his tongue delved past her lips. He framed her face in his hands while he continued to place soft, tender kisses on her lips.
“Look at that, will you?” he whispered into her hair as he embraced her again.
She turned her head to see the lowering sun flood the sky with bold swatches of colors – orange and gold, pink and blue, red and purple. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It is, isn’t it?” And then he let go of her and started clapping along with the other people around them.
Laughing, Trudy joined in, drowning in his smile, and she knew that she would never forget this moment in time when she realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was madly, gladly in love with Levi Wolfe.
###
They stopped at a seafood restaurant for dinner. Levi decided to try the seafood platter than included conch – something neither he nor Trudy had ever had before – and Trudy opted for salmon croquettes.
“How is it?” Trudy asked as Levi took his first bite of conch meat. She grinned as he chewed with exaggeration. “Tough?”
“Very.” He forked another piece of it and held it out to her. “Try it.”
She wrinkled her nose, but let him place the bite on her tongue. It was definitely chewy. “Not a lot of flavor.”
“Nope.” He shrugged. “These mussels and shrimp are good, though.”
She cut off a piece of one of the croquettes, dunked it in the mustard sauce, and held it out to Levi. “Here you go.”
He grinned and accepted the morsel. His brows lifted and sparkles flitted through his eyes. “Hmmm. That’s good!”
She nodded. “I know what I’m doing when it comes to food.”
“I’ll remember that.” He swallowed and drank some iced tea. “How old were you when you knew you were psychic?”
“Twelve,” she answered. “I sort of knew that some thoughts were in my head that weren’t mine before that, though.”
“Did the thoughts belong to someone you knew?”
“No. It was a man who had kidnapped a young girl and raped and strangled her. I woke up screaming and I told my mother about my dream and . . .” Her voice trailed off, her words stolen by the pained expression on Levi’s face. “What’s wrong?”
He averted his gaze quickly. “Nothing.” Staring at his plate, he pushed plump shrimp around with his fork. “What did your parents think about this nightmare of yours?”
He was playing it cool, but she knew she’d said something that had upset him and that he wasn’t going to discuss. He could be so infuriating! Sighing, she tried to resign herself to the shields he was so adept at erecting. “My parents comforted me and said I must have watched something on television that I shouldn’t have. But then two days later there was an article about the discovery of a girl’s body.”
“How old was the child?” His voice was low and tightly controlled.
“Four or five, I think.” As she watched, she saw a shiver of revulsion pass through him. This was an old wound, she thought. “They arrested a man a couple of weeks later. Her mother’s boyfriend.” She sat back, irritated with his refusal to trust her with his thoughts. “What is it, Levi?”
“I was just thinking about the child . . .” He set his jaw and swallowed hard. “And of you as a young, frightened girl, of course. Did your parents believe that you had tapped into the kidnapper’s thoughts?”
“No. But then it happened again and again and they sent me to a psychiatrist.”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “Did that help?”
“Not much. My nightmares continued, but then things calmed down when I was about fourteen. I only had one or two episodes for the next few years, so I thought it would end. It all came back with a vengeance a few years ago. I couldn’t sleep without nightmares and no one wanted to hear about my visions and the voices in my head.”
“That’s when you met Quintara.”
“Yes. Thank God for Quintara.”
“She’s a saint,” he agreed.
Trudy fell silent for a few minutes. Something about the child being kidnapped and murdered had opened up a wound within him. Something he flat-out refused to discuss.
“Are you all right?” she asked, dipping her head to snag his attention.
“Yes.” He dabbed at the corners of his wide mouth with the napkin. “Of course.”
“So, were you sent to a psychiatrist when you were young, too?”
“Not really. But I’ve been in therapy for the past six years,” he said, quietly, haltingly.
“You have?”
“Yes.” He looked at her as if challenging her to disapprove. “I have a degree in psychology, after a
ll. Therapy has helped me cope.” He issued a wry smile. “I’m a fucked up mess.”
She didn’t like the flinty expression on his face or what he’d said about himself. “How often do you see a psychiatrist?”
“Twice a month. I used to go at least once a week.”
“That often?”
“Yes.” His smile cooled. “Now you’re wondering if I’m a head case and if there’s hope for me.”
“You’re right,” she said, and smirked when her agreement wiped the smile off his face. “You can’t read minds because that’s not what I was thinking at all.”
He actually looked relieved. “Okay. So, what were you thinking?”
“That you have a lot of ‘No Trespassing’ signs pinned to you. You’re very closed off and hard to get to know.” She drank some iced tea, letting her words sink in and not surprised when he averted his gaze from her. “Trust is something you want, but you’re not willing to give.”
He looked out the restaurant window at the cars zipping past and his tongue moved inside his cheek. She could tell he was choosing his response to her carefully. Finally, he swung his attention back to her.
“You’re right. I trusted someone once completely and I regret it to this day.” He closed his eyes for a few seconds and shook his head. “Trudy, if I dump all my neuroses on you, it won’t help me or you. Can you please just back off?”
She held his gaze for a few heartbeats before looking down at her plate. She didn’t want to tread all over his feelings, but she was also getting tired of running into roadblocks. “I can do that,” she said, quietly, grudgingly. “I do it all the time.”
The waitress approached their table. “Anyone want dessert?”
Levi arched a brow at Trudy and she shook her head. “No, thanks. Just the check, please.” He handed her a credit card.
“Okay. Be right back.”
“Don’t sulk,” he said after the waitress was out of earshot.
“I’m not,” Trudy said. “I’d like to know you better, that’s all.”
“I’d like that, too. And you can get to know me without dredging up all my hang-ups and screw ups. Leave that to my psychiatrist. She gets paid very well to hear it and try to help me make sense of it.”
“She?”
“Yes. Dr. Althea McClain. I’ve been seeing her for two years.”
“Two years and whatever it is still haunts you.”
“She’s very good and I’ve made a lot of progress since I’ve been her patient. Look, I’m not unique. I had a screwed up childhood. Lots of people do.” He turned toward the waitress, taking the credit card and receipt from her. He added a tip and signed it before giving it back to her. “Thank you.”
“Sure thing. Y’all come back and see us.” The waitress flashed them a smile and hustled off to her other diners.
“What kind of progress have you made with Dr. McClain?” Trudy asked.
He shook his head and glanced around, effectively ending the conversation. “Ready to head back to our luxurious accommodations?”
“I am if you are,” she said, placing a lightness in her tone she didn’t really feel.
“Tell you what . . .” He reached across the table and captured her hand. “I’m willing to let you trespass all over me tonight.”
She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face. “I just bet you are.”
He shrugged. “That’s just the kind of guy I am.”
###
Somehow they ended up in the RV with their clothes scattered from the door and all the way into the bedroom. Trudy had shut the bedroom door to keep Mouse out and Levi had drawn all the curtains around the windows, making a dark cocoon for them. He had switched on a lamp to cast a glow across the room.
In the space of a minute or two, they were on the bed, their naked bodies touching, their mouths clinging, their hands roaming.
“Where are my jeans?” Levi said, lifting away from her.
“Why? Do you think you’re going somewhere right now?”
He chuckled. “No. I have some condoms in my pocket.” Finding the jeans on the floor, he shoved his hand in the pockets until he located the strip of packets. “Are you on birth control?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I haven’t . . . needed any lately and I didn’t renew my prescription.” She shrugged, then made a face at him when he grinned. “I’m not as promiscuous as you, Wolfe. I’m much more particular about who touches me.”
“And I’m grateful for that.” He climbed onto the bed and crawled up her body, kissing strategic places on her as he went. “But it would be nice if you got on birth control. It would be so much more fun.”
“You don’t like condoms?”
“I’m glad we have them, but I don’t particularly like them, no.”
“They prevent STDs,” she reminded him.
He raised his head from her breast and frowned at her. “And you’re worried about that with me? Don’t be. I always use a condom and I just had a physical a month ago.”
“But you just asked me to get on birth control, so how could you always use a condom?”
“Right. I asked you to get back on birth control.” He stared at her, waiting for her to understand him.
Trudy held her breath for a moment, weighing his words and not sure what to make of them. Was thinking long-term with her? She arched a brow, silently asking him.
“Do you think I’m going to stop wanting you when this case is over?” he asked in a chiding way. “Really? You feel this?” He nudged her belly with his iron-hard erection. “This won’t go away when the psycho is caught and put in prison.”
“You’ll be in Atlanta and I’ll be in Tulsa. Will this . . .” She reached between their bodies and clamped her hand around him, making him suck in his breath and his eyes grow larger. “. . . stretch that far?”
He laughed and rested his forehead against hers. “There are things called airplanes, Trudy. You should hop on one sometime instead of rolling around in this big tin can of yours.”
She ran her thumb across the wet tip of his penis and he tensed all over. She grinned.
“You think that’s funny?” he asked, a little breathlessly.
“I think I’ve got you right where I want you . . . almost . . .” She pressed a hand into his shoulder and pushed. “On your back, Wolfe.”
He followed orders, his brows knitting and the foil packets falling from his hand onto the mattress. “What are we doing?”
“I believe we’re having sex . . . and I’m having you,” she murmured. “Or, at least the parts you’ll let me have.” She smiled when a frown tipped down the corners of his wide mouth, and she was glad she’d made her point. Now to make another point . . . she laved her tongue across the wide crown of his penis and he shuddered. The next lick drove his head back into the pillow and gritted his teeth against a growl.
Delighting in her sexual prowess, Trudy imagined a Key Lime ice cream cone as she let her mouth slide over him until he nudged the back of her throat, then she swirled her tongue around him as she pulled him back out, sucking hard on his length.
“Jesus!” he groaned, every muscle in his body tightening and his cock growing even harder in her hands. “That feels way too good. I don’t think I can stand it.”
“Try,” she said, taking him back into her mouth to trace the thick vein running the length of him with the flat of her tongue.
“Harder, Trudy. Suck harder,” he whispered, roughly.
“Nobody asked you for instructions, Wolfe. Zip it.” For once, she wanted to do something in bed with him that didn’t require him telling her what to do and when to do it. “I’m in charge here.” And just to prove it, she fisted him and began stroking him, hard and fast.
“Oh, God!”
“No, it’s just me,” she said, smirking, and getting a glare from him. She pressed quick kisses on the tip of his shaft as she continued to fist him, stroke him, fire him up. His breathing grew
labored and choppy. When she took him in her mouth again, she tasted him on her tongue and knew he was close. Very close. She tightened her lips around the head of his cock and sucked until her cheeks caved in. Then she let her teeth scrape lightly along the silky, hot length of him as she gently cupped his scrotum. Something sweet and salty dribbled from him onto her tongue.
“Fuuuuck! Get a condom,” he gritted out between clenched teeth. “Get one now or get ready to swallow.”
She let him slip from her mouth and massaged the head of his shaft with her thumbs, feeling him lengthen and thicken. He narrowed his eyes to smoking slits and his breathing became choppy. After another minute, she grabbed one of the foil squares. Ripping it open, she pinched the end of it and slid it over his straining member. Excitement showered through her like a downpour of fireworks. To bring him to such a quivering need elated her, made her want him with a fever pitch. He clamped his hands on her waist and would have shoved her onto her back, but she wouldn’t allow it.
“Uh-uh,” she said, shaking her head as she tightened her thighs against his hips, straddling him. She rose up, poised over him as she gripped the base of his cock and then directed him into her. Slowly, she drifted down onto him. He felt incredible . . . full to bursting. He sucked in a huge breath as his glassy-eyed gaze held hers before lowering to her breasts. His hands followed, lifting the globes, his palms rubbing against her diamond-hard nipples, making her wetter so that the slide of him was like satin.
He shook his head and managed a tight, tense smile. “It feels like your body was made to fit mine.”
She couldn’t respond with words. The feel of him stretching her, throbbing in her was all she could concentrate on. Plunging down on him again and again, she wiggled against him, and he bucked up into her. It was exquisite and she let out a cry that was almost a scream of pure ecstasy. His hands moved down to where his body joined hers and his clever fingers found her swollen, throbbing nub and pinched it.
Trudy thought her head would explode as her climax trampled through her. “Levi!” His name split the air, following by her sobbing groans as the orgasm shook her tenaciously and then, finally, tenderly. She felt him buck beneath her and she opened her eyes to see him bare his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut as he came. His chest heaved up and down and she could see his heart thumping beneath his skin. It was one of the most savagely beautiful sights she’d ever experienced. More beautiful even than a Key West sunset. She wanted to applaud.