by Chase, T. A.
Mac didn’t think the carving would be able to help them that much, but Tanner was the profiler, and if he believed it would help find the bastard, Mac would let him draw that fucking design over and over.
Checking his watch, he saw it was closing in on eleven. Somehow they had spent several hours digging through the files, and they had one thing to show for it, which was better than they had earlier. They’d found the connection between the victims, and while they still didn’t know why he picked them, they at least knew where he found them.
“Time to call it a night,” he said as he slid his arm around Tanner’s waist and tugged the man close to him.
Tanner turned into his embrace while slipping his arms over Mac’s shoulders. “You really want to go home and sleep? Or do you want to find a way to make you so tired you won’t dream tonight?”
“Mmm…I have to say I’m not looking forward to driving home to an empty bed. Maybe I should take you up on your offer to tire me out enough to sleep.” He nuzzled Tanner’s jaw, leaving wet kisses along his chin to the soft skin behind Tanner’s ear. He placed a sucking bite there, and Tanner shuddered.
“Trust me. I’ll make it very good for you.”
Chapter Six
Tanner threaded his fingers through the hair at Mac’s nape and drew the man’s mouth to his. Yeah, he’d do his best to wear Mac out. He wanted the detective to sleep well. Violent dreams and nightmares would haunt Tanner’s nights until the case was over or longer, until they slowly faded to join the others he’d worked.
He mentally blocked all those thoughts and sank into the kiss. He let Mac take control, not fighting when Mac led him from the living room to the bedroom. Ah, a man after his own heart.
They stripped in comfortable silence, no discussion needed on where this was going. Tanner pulled the lube and rubbers from the nightstand and tossed them on the mattress before he climbed on the bed. Lying on his back, he spread his legs.
“Is this how you want me?” Tanner grinned and stroked his cock while Mac caressed every inch of Tanner’s body with his heated gaze.
“At some point tonight, but I think I want your mouth around my dick at the moment.” Mac leered.
“Okay.” Tanner scrambled through the sheets for the rubbers. He tore one from the trio and tossed it at Mac. “Put that on and get up here.”
A low growl filled the air as Mac did as Tanner ordered. Settling back, Tanner let Mac straddle his chest, placing his knees in Tanner’s armpits and bracing his hand on the headboard in front of him. Tanner grabbed Mac’s ass and urged him to lean forward.
Mac positioned the flared head of his erection at Tanner’s mouth and slowly sank in. Tanner relaxed his throat and swallowed as much of Mac’s length as he could. Mac didn’t stop until his balls hit Tanner’s chin and Tanner’s nose was buried in the curls around the base of his shaft.
He raised his gaze and met Mac’s dark eyes. Something gleamed in them, but Mac blinked and it disappeared. He tapped the firm muscles in his hands, giving Mac the signal to move. Mac wrapped both hands around the top of Tanner’s headboard and started sliding back.
Tanner applied suction, making sure to tease the heated flesh in his mouth with his tongue when he could. While Mac plunged in and out of his mouth, Tanner played his fingers over the warm skin of Mac’s ass, dipping between the cheeks to rub over the man’s puckered opening. Mac shivered and pushed back, giving Tanner the impression he wanted more. Not wanting to breach Mac dry, Tanner removed one of his hands from Mac’s body to search for the lube.
Mac protested, but when he figured out what Tanner was doing, he snatched the slick and popped the top. He gestured for Tanner to hold out his hand, which Tanner did. A generous amount of lube squirted into his palm, and he began to coat his fingers with it. With that taken care of, Mac began fucking Tanner’s mouth again. Tanner wished he could taste the salty skin currently covered by the condom. Maybe someday, if their relationship lasted beyond this case and beyond all of Tanner’s secrets.
He pressed his finger against Mac’s hole, and his lover pushed back. They both moaned as Tanner invaded the tight ring of muscle, sinking in up to his middle knuckle.
Yet Mac didn’t stop, even if there was some discomfort. He rocked between Tanner’s mouth and finger.
“More,” Mac demanded, and Tanner figured he meant more fingers, so he added another.
Within a few minutes, Tanner had three fingers inside Mac’s ass, stretching the puckered opening, because he planned on riding the man hard. He angled his fingers and nailed Mac’s gland.
“Fuck!”
Mac jerked, and Tanner grinned around Mac’s cock as the man shot a glance down at him.
“Stop.” Mac shifted, sliding out of Tanner’s mouth and away from his fingers.
“But.” Tanner grabbed for him.
Mac shook his head. “We’re getting a rubber on you, man, and you’ll fuck me. I want to come on your cock.”
No way was he going to argue about that. He tore open a foil package and rolled the condom on without delay. How fast could he get inside Mac? Tanner pushed the man over onto his back and wedged his hips between Mac’s thighs. His lover brought his legs up to his chest and spread them, giving him more access to Mac.
“Are you sure?” He met Mac’s intense gaze.
“Just fuck me, Tanner. Don’t overthink this shit.”
He nodded and slammed home, burying himself balls-deep in Mac’s ass. Mac threw his head back and bit his bottom lip. Tanner froze, not wanting to move until Mac told him it was okay. After a few seconds, Mac’s inner muscles contracted around Tanner’s shaft, and Tanner gasped as Mac gripped his ass with rough hands to jerk Tanner toward him.
“I need you to move, man. Move fast, hard, and soon.” Mac snarled at him.
Tanner bit back a laugh and did just as Mac demanded. He reamed Mac good and hard, thrusting in as deep as he could get before pulling back. They moved together to the best music in the world: grunts, groans, and skin hitting skin. The air grew hot around them, coating their skin with sweat and filling the room with the scent of sex.
He became lost in the rhythm of their lovemaking. Rough yet soft skin covering the hard muscles flexing under his hands as he held Mac’s hips. The way Mac’s breath caught in his chest every time Tanner filled him. How Mac closed his eyes right before he came.
Tanner’s eyes rolled back in his head as Mac clamped down on his cock and massaged the entire length, demanding Tanner’s climax. His balls drew tight to his body as all the pleasure rocketed through him and he flooded the condom.
Their bodies trembled together as the aftershocks raced through them. Tanner collapsed onto Mac with a muffled apology. Mac patted his butt lightly.
“I’ll clean us both off when my brain sends signals to my muscles again,” he muttered, burying his nose into the crook of Mac’s neck.
“No big deal. Maybe we both can stumble into the bathroom and take a shower. It’ll be quicker.”
Mac’s suggestion sounded good to Tanner, so he made a concentrated effort to roll over. Mac groaned and winced a little as Tanner’s softened cock slid from him.
“Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Tanner rested his hand on Mac’s chest.
“No. I’m fine, but I’ll definitely be feeling what we did tomorrow.” Mac yawned. “Let’s get the shower done quickly. I’m about out on my feet, kind of.”
Tanner managed to get to his feet without falling to the floor. He held out his hand and helped Mac up. They wobbled their way to the bathroom, where they disposed of the condoms and took a quick, hot shower. After drying off, they wandered back to bed and slipped under the covers.
Mac fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Tanner snuggled close to his lover, arm over the man’s waist, but he didn’t sleep right away. He stared at the wall, his mind racing. What would happen if Mac ever found out the truth about Tanner’s family? Would the cop in Mac take over and decide it was a security risk to
date Tanner? Or would Mac trust Tanner enough to realize Tanner would never sabotage a case because of family loyalty?
Sighing, he closed his eyes and decided to worry about it later. His concerns might be unfounded, because Mac had never said anything about them dating after the case was over. Maybe their fucking was simply a result of the emotional loss Mac had suffered, and when the killer was captured, Mac would turn away from him. Tanner cleared his mind and tried to relax. Soon his exhaustion caught up with him, and he drifted into slumber…
* * * *
The precise swirls whirled around Tanner’s head, drawing closer and closer with each twist. He tried to duck, but he couldn’t move and the sting of a blade slicing into his chest shocked him. Warm liquid trickled down over his pectoral muscles and dripped to the floor. He hung from something, but when he opened his eyes, it was dark.
It’s a dream, his mind warned him, but the pain made it feel real. The sharp knife carved the design into his skin, and Tanner bit his lip to keep from yelling. It’s a dream, he kept telling himself, wanting to struggle and get away but knowing he wouldn’t be able to.
Suddenly the tip of the knife bit deeper in the middle of the design as the killer carved something there. Just as Tanner believed. There was something hidden inside the swirls and circles, yet even his subconscious directing this dream hadn’t figured it out. He winced and jerked…
* * * *
His hands broke free, and Tanner awoke as his body plummeted from the wall it hung on. He hit the floor beside the bed with a thud. Standing, he grimaced and rubbed his ass. Mac didn’t react, saving Tanner from acute embarrassment. He dug out a pair of sweats and slipped them on before leaving the bedroom.
After turning on the light over the dining table, he stood for a second, staring at the carvings. He wished there was a way to get pictures of it from every angle. Maybe he just wasn’t looking at it the right way. Tanner put a teakettle on in the kitchen since he knew he wouldn’t be going back to sleep.
It was four in the morning, and his mind had decided he needed to be working on the case. Something else bothered him about the killings. Mac had been right. There weren’t any other unsolved crimes like this one in the database, but there were several killings scattered across the Southwest committed by the same person, or so the authorities believed.
They were definitely done by a person with an affinity to knives, but the local LEOs attributed them to drug killings. A drug mule or dealer getting full of himself or skimming off the profits, and the cartel sent in an enforcer to take care of the problem.
Yet none of the crime scene or ME’s reports said anything about a design carved into the victim’s body and a single slice across the throat killed all the victims. He sat down at his laptop and brought up his e-mail. Contacting the investigating officers from the different cases might get him more information or even photos from the scenes. While nothing about the female victims suggested they had anything to do with drugs or the lifestyle, Tanner wasn’t willing to dismiss any possibility. Who was to say the perp in the drug cases hadn’t graduated to being a serial killer?
Drug enforcers were serial killers in their own way. Most of them didn’t have rituals in their violence, but they killed without guilt or fear. Drug killings were often violent and bloody to send a message to anyone thinking about double-crossing the cartels.
He sent out several requests, but it could take a few days to hear back from them. Tanner wandered into the kitchen and made a mug of tea before returning to the photos. Something else bothered him. Why kill them at one place before moving them to another? Why take the risk of being seen at any point during the whole process?
There wasn’t any evidence in the warehouses where the bodies were found to suggest he killed them there. No other rooms in the buildings were found used by anyone other than squatters. Where did he kill them? Was where he killed them part of his ritual or was where he dumped them? Did it even matter? What if the most important part of the whole killing was the carving on their chest and everything else was stupid shit to throw the investigators off the scent?
Tanner gathered all the crime-scene photos, not including the ones of the bodies, and went to curl up on the couch. He’d looked at the actual body photos enough for now. It was time to look at the rest of the room. Maybe something would stand out and he’d be able to add more to his profile.
When he heard movement from his bedroom an hour later, he glanced up to see Mac leaning in the doorway of the living room. One shoulder braced against the wall, Mac wore his pants and nothing else. Tanner licked his lips at the picture of sheer sensuality his lover made, bare-chested and rumpled from sleep.
“How long have you been up?” Mac shuffled over to the couch and dropped on it, picking Tanner’s feet up and laying them in his lap.
Tanner rested his cheek on the back of the couch and studied Mac’s face. “About an hour or so. Had a nightmare and knew I wouldn’t be getting back to sleep anytime soon. So I figured I’d come out here and try to get some more work done.”
He didn’t worry about looking weak in front of Mac. The ranger probably had his own nightmares to deal with from past cases.
“Why didn’t you wake me? I would have been happy to take your mind off your dreams.” Mac ran his hand up Tanner’s calf to his knee and back, massaging as he went.
Tanner’s eyes closed as he savored the warmth of Mac’s fingers on his body. “Didn’t see the point of both of us losing sleep, even though having sex with you would have been great. I know you’ve been running on less sleep than me, and didn’t want to disturb you. I was going to get you up soon anyway.”
“Yeah. I’ve got to head home and change before meeting Billingsley and briefing him on what we figured out.” Mac didn’t seem in too big a hurry to leave.
“He should be happy you have new leads to work on. Oh, by the way, I’ll be coming to look through all the physical evidence you took from the scenes at some point today. I want to make sure I’m not overlooking anything that might help add to his profile.”
Mac nodded. “Give me a call before you come, and I’ll make sure the boxes are available to you. I think the ME’s going to release Marissa’s body today. I told the Levistons I’d call them when they could have the funeral home come get her.”
Tanner took Mac’s hand and squeezed. “I know it’s going to be difficult. You know my number, and you can call me anytime to talk or just to bitch about how bad the Texans are playing.”
Mac’s rough chuckle rippled over Tanner’s body. “I know it, and I’ll probably be calling you to meet me at a bar, so I can get rip-roaring drunk tonight.”
“Ah, but I know better. You won’t get drunk again until this case is over and the bastard’s been caught. When that happens, we’ll go out and I’ll buy the first round.” He entwined their fingers and let their hands settle on his shin.
“I like the fact you said when and not if.” Mac closed his eyes and leaned his head back.
“Do you really think there’s even a remote possibility you won’t find who did this?” Tanner shook his head. “Mac, you won’t rest until the man who killed Marissa is behind bars. I might not have known you for very long, but I think I understand how tenacious you are when it comes to cases. You wouldn’t be where you’re at in the rangers if you didn’t solve a lot of your cases.”
“And you wouldn’t be where you’re at if you weren’t good at your job,” Mac remarked, opening his eyes to meet Tanner’s gaze. “Between the two of us, we’ll bring the fucker down. He might kill another woman, but it’ll be his last. I’m not letting him hurt another person after that.”
Tanner brought Mac’s hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss on the man’s knuckles. “I wish there was a way to save this last one, but unless we get a miracle, I don’t see it.”
“I know, yet with each murder, he risks screwing up. No one’s perfect a hundred percent of the time, and we’ll catch him.”
“Why did you become
a cop in the first place?” Tanner shrugged when Mac looked at him. “I don’t know why, but it’s not the first career choice I’d think of for you.”
Mac’s smile looked more like a smirk. “What do you think I should be doing?”
“Don’t know for sure, but my instincts tell me if José hadn’t gotten to you, you’d be on the other side of the law. Probably not a mule, though. You’d be in charge of whatever criminal activity you chose.”
He burst out laughing as Mac shoved him onto his back and loomed over him. He spread his legs, letting Mac’s hips nestle between them. Reaching up, he smoothed the rumpled hair falling over Mac’s forehead.
“You’re right; even after José adopted me, I was still rather wild. Then I met a cop who used to come into José’s store. We’d talk, and he convinced me police work was interesting and, at times, could be exciting.”
“What did you do when you found out he exaggerated about how fast paced and exciting a cop’s life could be?” Tanner trailed his fingers down Mac’s nose and outlined his lips.
Mac nipped Tanner’s finger. “By the time I figured it out, it was too late. I’d already graduated from the academy. Plus he knew what made me tick deep inside and what would make me a good detective.”
“What was that?” Tanner murmured, losing a little interest in their conversation as Mac ground his erection against Tanner’s.
“I like puzzles and solving them. I like getting all the pieces, putting them together, and getting the final picture. That’s what makes me a good investigator. I can’t stand not knowing. I’m always digging into things, even stuff that doesn’t concern me.”
Tanner stiffened slightly. What if Mac decided he wanted to know more about Tanner? What if he dug deep into Tanner’s past? He’d never really worried about someone finding out about his family history. Not even when he joined the bureau. His mother had told him they were safe, and he accepted her word for it.