by Shelly Knox
After she finished the message, she completed her walk to the Uber car. She tried the back door, but it was locked. She glanced in the front passenger window. The young woman didn’t lie. True to her statement, she sat in the driver’s seat, sound asleep.
Piper knocked on the side window. The young woman awoke without incident. After the driver unlocked the car doors, Piper jumped into the backseat with Tazz and settled her service dog beside her. She made sure she secured the seat belt around her dog and then Piper locked in her own belt. She pulled out her laptop and began to write her new article.
After a couple of hours, Piper reread her story. Asking Wyndon to print this as an opinion piece might be career suicide. As an investigative reporter, she wasn’t allowed to write about her suspicions. Printing accusations or possible explanations of events without proof to back up the story was forbidden. Opinion pieces had different rules. She needed to warn pregnant women and didn’t know how else to do it. Neither the Rangers nor FBI were taking the lead on protecting these women. Jax would be furious. In the end, she had to take the ethical and moral road.
And in this case, she believed the public had a right to know.
Chapter 49
The next morning, Piper awoke as the sun streamed through the opened drapes and right into her eyes. Last night she had gone to bed early; at least, before Jaxson returned to the hotel. When she opened her eyes, she squinted in the bright sunlight. “Did you open the curtains?”
He stood at the foot of the bed in full Texas Ranger attire. The muscles along his jawline moved back and forth. “I didn’t know of another way to wake you up.”
She propped a second pillow under her head. “Let’s see. I can think of kissing my neck and ears. Whispering sweet nothings to me. Telling me you love me and stroking places you haven’t touched in days, just to name a couple. Bright sunlight—not my favorite way to awaken.”
“I know. That’s why I did it.”
Piper straightened into a sitting position and stared at Jaxson. Then she noticed he held the Austin Statesman in his hands. “Oh, I’m guessing you don’t like my op-ed piece.”
After slapping the folded newspaper on the palm of his hand, he said, “You promised you were going to speak with Captain Lewis, my supervisor, before you published any of your suspicions, so it didn’t look like I slipped you information that wasn’t supposed to go anywhere.”
“I’ve waited a couple of days to do just that. I tried to get to you yesterday. I called and texted. You never called me back. And if I’m not mistaken, I called you over twenty times.”
“You called me thirty-four times.”
Her mouth dropped open and then she shut it and clenched her teeth. Tazz popped her head up from her deep sleep and let her gaze find her master. Finally, Piper said, “If you had called me over thirty times, I might have guessed that you had something important to talk to me about. I would have answered your call long before it reached ten calls. You ignored me all day. I had a deadline.”
“That didn’t mean you had to sink me. I wouldn’t have done that to you. Captain Lewis has already asked for me to meet him in his office at nine this morning.” He glanced at his watch. “I can see it’s time for me to go.” Jaxson headed toward the door.
Piper yelled after him, “Would it help if I came with you?”
“No.”
She rushed after him, grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back toward the bed. Tazz barked. She could smell the musky sandalwood and bergamot of his aftershave lotion.
“We’re not doing this.”
“Really. Wait and see.” Piper undid his tie and flicked his cowboy hat off his head. She unbuttoned his shirt without any resistance.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Mildly. I’m sure my pleasure will improve momentarily.” She pushed his shirt over his shoulders and off his arms. Then her fingers went for his belt.
He grasped her hand with his. He grabbed her shoulders and stared at her. “Seriously, I need to get to work. I don’t have time for this.”
“Make time.” She shoved his hands off hers and undid his belt, his zipper and then pushed his pants to his ankles. He wore cowboy boots, so she decided the pants could stay where they laid. She shoved him back on the bed. As she placed a knee on each side of him, she slipped her nightshirt above her head.
Jaxson reached up and with one finger, traced each scar he could touch with the tip of his index finger. He didn’t speak.
Piper knew her torture was the bane of his career. She grasped his finger, brought it to her lips, and kissed the tip with a gentle brush of her lips. “Don’t fret over the past.”
“They don’t take away from your beauty. I don’t know everything that Samuel inflicted on you, but I hope maybe one day you will feel comfortable telling me.”
“Not now. I’m trying to pleasure you here. Could you concentrate on the topic at hand please?”
She bent down and met his mouth with hers. They held their arduous connection as if neither wanted the link to the other to end. Finally, she swept her kisses lower until she reached his neck. She trailed her tongue to his ears and nibbled on his lobe. Moving to his shoulder, she bit him tenderly, followed with a stroke of her lips. His hard shaft pressed into her thighs and she decided not to torment him a moment longer.
She lifted herself to a kneeling position and guided him inside her. The canal was wet, and he slipped in easily. This time, she set the pace slow and deliberate. When he tried to speed their movements, she would stop him. She wanted to revel in their bond, in their oneness, in the love they were sharing. She leaned forward and held herself just above his chest.
Their rhythm reminded her of the gentle rocking of a ship at sea, only they weren’t lost in a vast ocean. They were here, together, and maybe taking a second chance with each other. His familiar scent of musk and sandalwood mixed with her floral perfume and created a new fragrance. It was heady and romantic and sexy. She guessed he’d reached his limit, because he grabbed her hips and pounded each thrust faster and faster until she greedily met him. She arched backward as his shaft rubbed her swollen and sensitive clitoris and every nerve ending in her body exploded. Her body trembled and tensed and tightened until he gasped in pleasure with her.
Tazz barked. Piper and Jax laughed.
“I’m not used to this being a spectator sport.”
She slapped his upper arm at his comment as she rested on his moist chest.
He kissed her forehead and added, “I really have to go. I’m late.” He scooted from underneath her as he grabbed his shirt off the edge of the bed. He stood and then pulled his pants up. After he finished dressing, he grabbed his holster and put it on.
He saluted and headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
She laid back on the bed and a chill shot through her nervous system, firing through every limb. She wrapped a blanket around her and hugged herself as she basked in their lovemaking.
Chapter 50
After Jaxson left, Piper made coffee, showered, and dressed for the day. She fed Tazz and took her for her morning constitutional. She wanted to attend the press conference and vigil the Alverez family scheduled for later this morning. Piper needed to attend, not only for any information she could glean for her next article, but also to support the Alverez family. Because if she was correct, the woman found in Norman, Oklahoma would be Louisa Alverez. She was just waiting to hear from autopsy, Jaxson, or her new source. One of them had to speak with her, although it appeared no one wanted to. She was officially persona non grata.
She used the app to schedule an Uber to pick her up at the hotel. She gathered her Tazz and her things and headed down to wait outside. A few minutes later, to her surprise, the same young woman who drove her around most of the day yesterday picked her up to take her to the Alverez home again.
The young twenty-something woman said, “I’ll have you there in less than an hour. Traffic isn’t bad this morning.”
&
nbsp; Jax was right. She had promised to wait. Even if it was taking too long to speak with his supervisor, she should have at least waited one more day so she could speak with him. The bottom line, though, was she was a reporter. He was doing his job and she was doing hers.
The Uber cab pulled to the curb in front of the Alverez home in under an hour, as promised.
“Here we are.”
Piper exited and asked the young woman, “Can we have the same deal as we had yesterday? I’ll pay you one hundred dollars to drive me around for the day.”
“I don’t know. I can’t wait here for you today. But I can give you my number and you can call me. I’ll be in the Plano area. I have places I need to be.”
“Okay.” She didn’t want to have to wait an hour to be picked up. “I’ll just take my chances and use the Uber app. Thanks anyway.”
The young Uber cab driver drove off in a huff.
Piper shrugged and arranged her briefcase and then Tazz’s leash before she waited in front of the Alverez home. There wasn’t much of a crowd, and only one local television station reporter, and she guessed the other person was for the newspaper. A few neighbors, possibly friends and family, gathered to support the family. She got as close as she could, which wasn’t too hard considering the crowd was small and she had her service dog. People moved to open up a space to let them walk through. A light breeze helped cool the already stifling air.
She arrived at the front of the crowd just as a middle-aged man with dark hair and gray sides stepped to the podium and mike. Tazz sat obediently beside her.
“Good morning. Thank you for coming. The Alverez family asked me to read a statement.
“Our daughter had an obstetrician appointment due to being late in her ninth month of pregnancy. We have not heard from her since that appointment. Dr. Woods indicated that she left the office right after her appointment, in which he told her she should have her baby within forty-eight hours. The staff corroborated his statement. Surveillance cameras followed her to the parking lot, but her car was out of camera range. Louisa’s automobile never left the parking area. The only auto that left was a dark, older model Toyota Camry ten minutes after she disappeared from the camera. The next vehicle exiting the parking lot was over an hour later and has already been cleared.
“The car that left ten minutes after Louisa was seen did not have readable license plates. The owner has not been found. If anyone can help with finding this vehicle, a reward of $10,000 has been set aside by the City of Denison. Now, Mr. Alverez will say a few words.”
The elderly man she met yesterday had sunken eyes with his skin puffy underneath. Impossible, but somehow his hair was grayer today, and his cheeks were sallow. He repositioned the microphone. Piper could see his hand shook. He began speaking in his thick, Hispanic accent. “Thank you for coming for Louisa. She was a beautiful young woman. All she wanted was to help people. She helped at the soup kitchen three times a week, helped with children at the community center, and helped at the hospital. She was happy for her baby due any day. And she was an angel to her mom and me.” Mr. Alverez let the other man take over.
The first gentleman replaced Mr. Alverez at the microphone. “If you know anything at all, please, please help us find Louisa Alverez. Louisa, if you’re watching, please know that your family will never give up looking for you. We all love you so much.”
Piper used her camera to take photos of the crowd to see whether she recognized anyone from Angela’s media events and vigil. She turned to move to the side and wait for the crowd to thin in case Mr. Alverez wanted to speak with her. At that moment, Piper observed Jon, Jaxson’s partner, heading to the makeshift podium. He whispered into Mr. Alverez’s ear and then the two men turned toward the door. Jon guided the man through the entrance with his hand on the elder man’s upper back.
Should she stay or leave? She’d bet anyone that Jon had gone inside to tell him they had found Louisa. She decided to leave. Turning around too quickly, she ran into Jax’s strong chest muscles.
Chapter 51
She glanced up into his face. The pain that had gripped her soul since he’d left burned in his face.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to disrespect you or hurt you. I honestly tried to get in touch with you yesterday to let you know what I’d found and to describe the op-ed piece I was writing. I even spoke with Jon, although, to be honest, that conversation didn’t go well. But I thought about it this morning and I should have waited.”
“Piper, stop.” Jaxson placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her to his SUV. As he opened the door for her and Tazz, he said, “It’s my fault. I should have answered at least one of your calls. I was just so busy and afraid if I spoke to you, I would let something slip we were told not to repeat. Then Jon handed me your article. That and you figured it out without me hurt more than anything.” He closed the passenger door and headed to the driver’s side.
Once Jaxson had made his way into the vehicle, she said, “Is that what you really think? That I figured this out without you? No way. I could never have conceived what was in that piece without you. All our brainstorming over the entirety of this case helped me analyze and determine that scenario. I did not do this on my own.”
He let out a long, hot breath. “You’re being very generous right now.” Sweat dripped from his brow. He pulled his handkerchief from his front pocket and dabbed his face. He turned on the car and cranked the air conditioner to high. He started to pull away from the curb at the Alverez house.
“Where are you going? Don’t you have to wait for Jon?”
“No. He has his own vehicle.”
She glanced out the window. The crowd didn’t move. They waited for news. “It was Louisa Alverez, wasn’t it?”
“The DNA evidence won’t be in for a while, but the blood type is the same and she had a tattoo on her lower back that matched hers.”
She stayed quiet for a moment, and then returned to their previous conversation. “I’m serious about not working this without you. Do you know how scared I’ve been? Did you even guess that this was the hardest thing I have done since my attack? If not for you and Tazzie, I couldn’t have made it through these last few days. Please, believe me.”
He met her stare and his mesmerizing blue eyes melted her into a puddle of goo.
“Where do we go from here? I want to make things right between you and your supervisor.”
He raised his eyebrows in two quick movements and his eyes twinkled mischievously. “I may have exaggerated that a little bit.”
“Are you kidding me? I have felt awful all day because of that.”
“After your article, I thought you deserved a little feeling bad.”
Piper laughed. Then punched him in his upper arm playfully. “That’s so mean.”
Chuckling, he said, “I know. It’s harsh but I really meant it to be educational. I can’t stand you putting yourself in danger like you did with that article. You all but stated you knew the identity of the killer—and you don’t, do you?”
“No. But I think I’m close. I have the parameters of the case down pat—I know I do. Now all we have to do is find who fits the situation.”
“That’s the hard part, you do realize that?”
Piper rolled her eyes and turned the right corner of her lip down. “Of course I do. But now we have a place to begin.” She stroked the left side of his cheek, then feather stroked under his chin. She rubbed his dick through the thickness of his clothing and his arousal grew quick.
“Stop. I’m driving. You want me to crash this thing?”
Piper ceased her playful strokes and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Right. Let me ask for your help.”
“Anything.”
“When we get back to the hotel, let’s brainstorm this together.”
“I had other plans.” She reached for his groin again and he brushed her hand away. Laughing, she said, “Whatever you want.” Piper rested her head against the seat and the gentle
car movements rocked her to sleep. Before she could even begin dreaming, she heard Jaxson’s voice in the distance.
“Piper wake up. We’re here.”
She opened her eyes. “Damn. Did I fall asleep again?”
“What’s new? You always fall asleep in the car.” He opened his door and headed to the passenger side. Piper was already getting out of the front. Jaxson opened the back door and unhooked Tazz’s seat belt. The three headed to the room.
She couldn’t wait to get upstairs to their room. All she wanted to do was ravish him.
When he took her hand, she whispered, “Jaxson Wyatt, I love you. I never stopped.” He squeezed her hand and they hurried into the elevator.
Finally standing in front of their hotel door, Piper let them both inside. She was ready to express their long-hidden feelings. She hoped she wasn’t the only one who missed that connection. Plus, the rush of endorphins wouldn’t hurt.
Jaxson’s mouth opened slightly and then closed. Then he said, “Piper Morgan, I have loved you since the first time my eyes set on you all those many years ago. It didn’t matter what your sister told me. I never stopped loving you. I’ve never touched another woman or even had a desire to since we split. My heart will never belong to anyone else. It has always belonged to you. It always will.”
A commotion sounded outside. Doors slammed. Raised male voices overshadowed the softer female voices, which could only be heard if you strained to listen. He pushed Piper into the closet and closed the door.
Jax drew his weapon and faced the door as someone forced open the door to their room.
Jon waited behind the door, his hand on his weapon, his expression set, his stance ready to conquer whatever waited.
“Do you have a fucking death wish? Do you know how close you came to getting your head blown off?”