“I hope you’re never in a situation like that again, but if you are, you’ll learn when to keep running, and when to stop and take cover. I simply helped with the take cover aspect.”
“I’m not sure Dubs has forgiven you yet for literally covering her with our bodies. She was complaining about being under us for hours. She said you should lay off the gym a few days the next time you’re going to land on top of someone on the sidewalk.”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” Holt said, looking amused. “I’m not even going to try and convince you the bomb isn’t your fault. Maybe you asked questions and someone got nervous, maybe it had nothing to do with that,” Holt said. “It’s just a reminder that at times, our job is dangerous. You’ve got to let that one go.”
“I’ll do my best,” Max said.
“Moving out from behind the computer wasn’t ever going to be easy. This is probably the hardest first test case I could have found for you. Give yourself a break. Keep talking to me. You’ll make mistakes. We all do. You don’t learn from them if you don’t talk about them and figure out what went wrong.”
Max took a deep breath. “I also kissed her.”
“You told me that. Undercover move. I think I’ve kissed Lola, Moose, Jose, maybe even Tuna, once.”
“Nope,” Max said. “In my room. No one else around we were trying to fool. She looked a little blue, and I guess I thought it would help.”
“So it was a pity kiss? A public service? How many ways are you going to find to kiss this woman that aren’t really kisses? I did warn you about just this thing, didn’t I?” Holt didn’t sound upset, but her tone was serious.
“Yes, you did.” Max barely stopped herself from adding “ma’am” at the end.
“Be careful, Max,” Holt said. “You said yourself you don’t know if you can trust her. For your sake, be careful. She’s valuable to what we’re doing here, and I’m starting to like her, but all of that will survive without her. I don’t want to see you in a situation where you won’t.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Max said, staring at her hands.
Holt smiled knowingly. “Women will do that to ladies like us. I could be wrong, but you seem a lot like me when I was your age. You want to be with someone badly and you’ll give your all to the person you’re with. That makes you vulnerable, though. Make sure you choose someone who will be good to you. We look tough, but we need care, feeding, and watering to keep us strong and healthy. Trust me, it takes a special kind of woman to put up with someone like me. I suspect you aren’t much different, in your own way.”
“I’ll be careful,” Max said. She really appreciated how much Holt looked out for her. She also felt like she wanted to do some kind of spastic happy dance when she thought of Holt seeing herself in Max. Max saw herself as a wafer thin computer nerd, not the female Adonis, superhero clone that was Holt Lasher.
First she had kissed Dubs, and now she was a baby Holt. Sure, each of those brought complications out the wazoo, but right now, life didn’t seem like it could get much better.
“Thanks for the chat, H,” Max said. “I’m going to get back to work. I want to be able to say I did a good job in my first field assignment.”
Holt nodded and headed to her office. “Go get ’em kid. You know where to find me if you need any help.”
Chapter Fifteen
Isabelle poured over the financial data in front of her. She had been sorting through it for weeks, but still couldn’t make sense of it, at least not in a way that would blow Holt’s case wide open. It was incredibly frustrating. She was used to working on something doggedly, but usually there was an end in sight. Right now, she wasn’t even sure what the end looked like. It felt like every time she pulled on one seemingly promising thread, it either tangled another section, or unraveled a week’s worth of hard work. Isabelle sighed.
Holt was by her side almost instantly. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
The loft wasn’t that large, but even for Holt, she had moved fast. Isabelle suspected she had been hovering, waiting for an excuse to come over.
“It’s problems at work,” Isabelle said. “I don’t think you’d understand.”
“Try me,” Holt said, scooping Isabelle up and carrying her to the couch. When she sat down, Isabelle was settled comfortably on her lap. “I can be quite understanding.”
“Is that so?” Isabelle asked, playing along. She repositioned so she was straddling Holt’s lap. She ran the fingers of both hands through Holt’s hair and left her hands framing Holt’s face. “Well, I’ve got a really, really sexy boss, who I’ve got the hots for. It’s very distracting. Makes getting any work done extremely difficult.”
“I’m jealous,” Holt said. “Anyone I know?”
“Nah.” Isabelle moved forward until her lips were only millimeters away from Holts. “Just some lady. But all day long, she struts around in her jeans, and her T-shirts, and her boots. And she’s got these tattoos that peek out everywhere. And her muscles? Don’t get me started. I know what’s under all that clothing, so you can understand how hard it is for me to think about anything but getting it all off.”
“I don’t strut,” Holt said, looking a little offended.
“You walk assertively,” Isabelle said. “No complaints here.”
Isabelle moved even closer to Holt until she was pressed against her stomach. Holt ran her hands along Isabelle’s thighs, let her thumbs linger for a moment where her thighs and torso met, and then moved back and grabbed her ass, pulling her even tighter to her. Isabelle gasped at the quick, pleasurable sensation that shot through her as her center came in full contact with the hard planes and muscled lines of Holt’s midsection.
Holt flipped them over so Isabelle was lying on her back on the couch. Holt pulled off first her own shirt, then Isabelle’s and then both of their bras. Isabelle shimmied out of her pants and pointed to Holt’s, encouraging her to lose hers as well. Once their clothes were off, Holt kissed her way back up Isabelle’s body. She never made it as far as Isabelle’s lips. She stopped at her breasts, and Isabelle arched up to meet her. Holt teased Isabelle’s nipple. She kissed and caressed gently with her tongue, never quite getting close enough to allow Isabelle full ecstasy. It was making her crazy in a wonderful way.
When Holt finally did take Isabelle’s nipple in her mouth, it sent a wave of desire rapidly to her clit, the pulsating excitement of it so overwhelming it made her moan and dig her fingers into Holt’s hair, encouraging her to continue. She switched to Isabelle’s other breast and let her hand wander down Isabelle’s stomach until she reached the apex between her thighs. Isabelle wanted to force Holt to move faster, or slow down, or do something other than what she was doing, because she felt as if she was going to explode, but the feeling was so excruciatingly wonderful, she simply experienced it.
Holt ran her fingers gently through Isabelle’s wetness, but she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to heighten her arousal. She continued to tease her breasts, working back and forth, and then slowly ran her tongue along the underside of one, down her stomach, and along her thigh.
She moved off the edge of the couch and kneeled on the floor. She pulled Isabelle with her, to the edge. She ran both hands along the insides of Isabelle’s thighs, her thumbs meeting at Isabelle’s clit, once again sending shockwaves through Isabelle’s already sensitive system. Holt leaned forward and replaced her thumbs with her tongue.
It took excessive willpower for Isabelle to not come at Holt’s first caress. She knotted her fingers in the couch cushions on either side of her and threw her head back, wanting to focus on every exquisite wave of heat Holt was producing throughout her body. She wrapped her legs over Holt’s shoulders, and she grabbed her ass and pulled her even closer. That was all it took to send her over the edge.
When Holt moved back up her body to kiss her, Isabelle could see it was going to be a long night. She loved when Holt had that look of need. She kissed her deeply, letting her know they had
the rest of the night for each other. Holt half stood from her crouch on the floor, and scooped Isabelle off the couch, never breaking their kiss. Isabelle found it thrilling how physically capable Holt was. She enjoyed the ease with which Holt could carry her to their bedroom if she wished, yet she was still soft and curved in all the right places.
“What are you doing?” Isabelle asked, kissing Holt’s neck.
“Now I’m strutting,” Holt said.
“Feeling a little proud of yourself?”
“A little,” Holt said. “I’m also carrying the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’ve got a few reasons to strut.”
Isabelle kissed Holt as they tumbled onto the bed. Holt landed on her back. Isabelle took a minute, as she always did, to look over every naked inch of her. Holt’s tattooed body was a thing to behold, and she marveled every day that it was all hers.
She started at Holt’s collarbone and traced her index finger between Holt’s breasts, straight down the line of her abs, and finally along the ridge of her hardened clit. Holt shivered under her touch. Isabelle moved further down and entered her. She used her thumb to keep steady pressure on Holt’s clit. Holt arched up under her touch and came quickly. When she opened her eyes, Isabelle was taken aback by the hunger in them.
“That was fast, baby,” Isabelle said.
“I was a little riled up,” Holt said. “It’s a good thing we have all night.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dubs was invigorated by her investigative success the day before with Moose. She was starting to enjoy the day-to-day work of Holt’s crew. She never thought she would say that. When she got out of prison and joined this group, actually catching bad guys wasn’t a concern of hers. She had started helping them as a condition of her getting out, but now, it felt different. She wanted to help. She wanted to catch these guys, and she was enjoying the process.
She knew a lot of it had to do with Max. Seeing the way Max went about her work, the dedication she applied to everything she did, was inspiring. If Max weren’t so adorably earnest about it all, it would be damned annoying.
Dubs looked around the main office. A few of Holt’s crew were working at computer stations. Max was at her desk, typing furiously and staring blankly at her computer screen. She had been running her hands through her hair for the past hour, so now it was sticking almost straight up in all directions. She thought about kissing Max. It had been so unexpected at first she hadn’t done anything but react to the pleasurable physical aspect. And it was quite pleasurable.
After Max had stopped the kiss from going any further, Dubs had done some thinking. She was glad Max hadn’t gotten as carried away as she had. She enjoyed their flirting and definitely the kiss, but she also liked not quite knowing where all of it was leading. She liked Max a lot. If they had slept together, it would have pushed them in a specific direction, probably awkward-friends-with-benefits territory. She didn’t want that. In fact, aside from really, really wanting to kiss Max again, she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted. If Max wasn’t who she was, and Dubs wasn’t Dubs, the answer would be a lot easier. But a car thief and a bad guy catcher didn’t really scream happy couple. Opposites might attract, but Dubs thought that combo sounded more like oil and water.
“You done daydreaming?” Moose asked, quite close to Dubs’s ear.
“Whoa, giant man. How is it even possible for you to sneak up on people?”
“You were pretty lost in thought,” Moose said. “Anything good?”
“Yes,” Dubs said, not willing to offer any other details.
“Okay then. Well, I got a call this morning from our favorite security officer at Walmart. He copied the tapes I asked for yesterday. You ready for some exciting feature film viewing with yours truly?”
“Are you going to serve popcorn? Can I be in charge of the remote? Do we get to watch on Max’s fancy big screens?”
“Yes, absolutely not, and of course,” Moose said. “Curtain goes up in ten. I’ve seen how much coffee you drink. Make sure you pee first. I’m not going to stop every five minutes so you can evacuate the excess.”
Dubs made a face at Moose, who seemed unconcerned. She ignored his advice and instead used her time to visit Max. As she walked the short distance to Max’s desk, she pulled her hair out of its ponytail. She got the feeling Max liked her hair better when it was down. For some reason that mattered to her right now. She realized she was slightly nervous, which felt silly, which then made her feel more nervous, because she started to question the original nerves. She thought about aborting, but Max turned around and saw her before she could make a move. Max’s smile when she saw her approach was all the confirmation she needed that she made the right move.
“What are you working on over here?”
“Still trying to come up with some kind of matrix that makes sense of all the data points we have for this case. I’ve got them all entered; now I’m working on a way to cross-reference them to look for patterns or overlap.”
“I would think someone was punishing you, except I can tell by the look of exhilaration on your face you actually think this stuff is fun. Seriously, it’s close to rapture.”
“We all have our things.”
“I think it’s adorable,” Dubs said. She leaned in and quickly kissed Max on the cheek. She wanted to kiss her for real, but she knew Max wouldn’t appreciate it in the middle of the office. In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure if Max would appreciate it at all.
“If I get stuck at the matinee all day, I’ll see you at home later,” Dubs said.
Max seemed to try to hide it, but she smiled widely at Dubs’s innocent comment, and her face softened at the mention of their current shared dwelling. On the way to the conference room, Dubs felt like she was having an out of body experience. She was insanely happy at Max’s reaction to her characterization of Max’s apartment as their home, and yet the fact that she was so happy was so unexpected, it was as if she were watching someone else experiencing the moment. It was unnerving.
She glanced back over her shoulder, hoping to be subtle. Max was watching her walk away and caught her eye. So much for subtle. She spun back around quickly, just in time to trip over an office chair. She heard Max chuckle behind her, but she didn’t dare turn back again. She let out a huge sigh of relief when she made it safely to the conference room. Moose looked at her sideways, but didn’t say anything.
Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the text message. “Enjoy the matinee.” It was from Max.
She wrote back. “Pretty Girl, you’re killing me right now.”
“I can see you from here. You look very much alive.”
“Oh yeah. How’s my hair? Do I need to freshen up my lip gloss?”
“Probably, since half of it’s still stuck on my cheek.”
“Just a little something to remember me by.”
“How long are you expecting your surveillance video viewing to last exactly?” Max wrote back.
“How am I supposed to know? I’ve never done this before. But I do know you’re taking me to dinner afterward. I’m already hungry,” Dubs replied.
“Deal. Now stop texting me before Moose smashes your phone to bits with his pinky finger,” Max wrote.
Dubs looked up for the first time since she sat down. Moose was drumming his fingers on the conference room table, waiting impatiently for her to finish. “Whoops. Just finishing up here. Max had a question.”
“Good call, Pretty Girl. See you soon.” Dubs put her phone in her pocket.
“Let’s get this to-do started,” she said. “I feel like we’re about to watch something really dirty. Maybe it’s the black-and-white, Big Brother feel of it all. Do you feel that way? You probably don’t. You do this all the time. It’s weird for me though. Clearly, I’m excited. This is going to be fun.”
Turns out, it wasn’t that much fun at all. It was more like trying to find a specific needle in a stack of needles. They would locate the guy the
y were looking for on one camera, in one section of the store, but finding him again on another camera, even one that seemed like it was the correct time and store location, wasn’t as easy as it should have been. To top it off, the guy they were tracking really liked to shop. He was all over the store.
Dubs wanted to just watch the front entrance video and see when he came in the doors, then go to the parking lot video, but Moose insisted they piece together his time in the store as well. It was possible he bought something before going to get the cell phone. And what if he used a credit card for that purchase? The logic was sound, but the sitting still for hours on end was nearly impossible.
Eventually, they saw their guy making another purchase. However, he used cash for that transaction as well.
“I can see you need a pick-me-up,” Moose said. “You watch the front door video. I’m going to get some coffee. Don’t wander off, and don’t miss him coming in. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course, Big Guy. I got this.” Dubs appreciated the confidence Moose was showing in her. Either that or he was getting tired of her constantly shifting positions and twitching legs. Either way, she wouldn’t let him down. This part might not be quite as fun as running around town with Max, doing clue gathering and bad guy chasing, but she could see the value.
“When you find him, make note of the time. Then you can switch to the parking lot tapes if I’m not back yet. Start a bit before our guy walks through the front door. And hope he didn’t sit in the car on the phone for an hour.”
“Hilarious,” Dubs said. With the way this guy had wandered around the store, he just might have done that. She hoped not.
Moose headed out, and Dubs settled in with the remote and endless security tapes. A lot of people came through Walmart every few minutes. They all started to look the same after a while. She had only gone back about twenty minutes before she expected to see the man she was looking for walk in, but even in that time, hundreds of people entered the store. By the time the man she was targeting did enter, she almost missed him. He snuck in behind a group of teenagers, almost as if he was hoping to avoid being seen by the cameras.
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