Chapter 28
Sam tossed and turned. She dreamed about Peter, Quentin Johnson and Natalie Jordan, and for once she actually remembered the dreams when she awoke with a start, her heart racing. Glancing at the bedside clock, she saw it was just after three and realized Nick wasn’t in bed with her. Her eyes darted around the dark room and found him standing at the window, the glow of a street light illuminating his tall frame.
Taking a moment to appreciate his muscular back, she remembered him telling her he loved her and was filled with a warm feeling of contentment and safety that was all new to her. Then she remembered arguing with him over Noel and Natalie, and her stomach took a sickening dip. The soaring highs and crushing lows were just one reason why she’d stayed away from men since she broke up with Peter, who never would’ve been as civil as Nick had been during a fight. Even though they’d disagreed, Sam didn’t doubt for a minute that he loved her. That made him as different from Peter as a man could get.
She got up and went to Nick. Slipping her arms around him from behind, she pressed her lips to his back. “What’re you doing up?”
He rested his hands over hers. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“He’s not stupid enough to come back here. By now he knows we’re looking for him.”
“I think I could kill him if I got my hands on him. I really think I could. Not just because of the bombs, but all those years ago, too. All the years we could’ve had.”
“He’s not worth losing sleep over, Nick.” She turned him so he faced her and shivered with desire when he ran his hands over her while looking down at her with hot, needy eyes. Looping her arms around his neck, she gasped when he lifted her and carried her back to bed. “I thought you were mad with me.”
“I am,” he said in an unconvincing tone as he snuggled her against him and pulled the comforter up around them. “Try to get some sleep.”
She dragged a lazy finger from his chest to his belly and smiled when he trembled under her touch.
“Sleep, Samantha.”
“What if I don’t want to, Nick?” she asked, curling her hand around his erection.
“I’m sleeping,” he said with an exaggerated yawn. “And I’m mad with you.”
Laughing, she clamped her teeth down on his nipple.
“Ow! That hurt!”
“But you’re not asleep anymore,” she said with a victorious smile as she raised herself up to plant wet kisses on his belly while continuing to stroke him.
His fingers combed through her hair. “You’re going to be tired again tomorrow.”
“Then I’d better make it count.” She straddled him and teased him by sliding her wet heat over his hard length, her nails lightly scoring his chest.
He arched his back, seeking her.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said, stopping. “We should get some sleep.”
Growling, he surged up and entered her with a hard thrust that took her breath away.
“Mmm,” she sighed, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back in bliss. “All right, if you insist.”
“I insist. Sleep is highly overrated.” He brought her down to him and fused his lips to hers, his tongue flirting and enticing.
When she needed to breathe, Sam broke the kiss and moved with painstaking slowness, rising up until they were barely connected, and then taking him deep again. If his sharp intake of air was any indication, he liked it. A lot. So she stopped. “Are you still mad at me?”
“Yes.” With his hands on her hips, he tried to control the pace, but she wouldn’t be controlled. “Sam…” He moaned, his eyes closed, his jaw tight with tension. “Babe…” Overpowering her, he held her in place and pumped into her. “Come for me. Now.”
She rolled her hips, but the orgasm hovered just out of reach. “I can’t,” she whimpered.
Without losing their connection, he turned them over and gave it to her hard and fast, the way she’d told him she liked it, as he sucked her nipple into his mouth and flicked his tongue back and forth.
She cried out when she reached the climax that had eluded her.
Calling out her name, he went with her.
Her fingers danced through the dampness on his back. “You didn’t have to do that.”
He raised his head and found her eyes in the milky darkness. “Do what?”
“Wait for me.” Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, and she was grateful for the dark.
He kissed her. “I’ll always wait for you.”
“It doesn’t always happen.”
“It has with me unless you’ve been faking.”
She smacked his shoulder. “I haven’t!”
“I know,” he said, laughing as he rolled to his side and brought her with him.
“It’s been an issue…in the past.”
“It’s not an issue now.”
Reaching up to caress his face, she pressed her lips to his neck and breathed in the warm spicy scent she was quickly coming to crave. “I guess the right partner makes all the difference, even when he’s mad with you.”
“Especially then.” His fingers danced over her hip, sending a new shiver of desire racing through her. “Want to try for a two-fer?”
“That never happens.”
He eased her onto her back and kissed his way down the front of her. “Baby, I love a challenge.”
Sam skipped through her morning routine with far more energy than she should have had. Multiple orgasms had multiple benefits. Who knew? With one last glance at Nick sleeping on his belly, she went downstairs in desperate need of a soda. As the first blessed mouthful cruised through her system, she realized she had no way to get to HQ.
Laughing softly, she called Freddie and asked him to pick her up. Since her dad wasn’t up yet, she decided to wait for Freddie on the front porch. She surveyed the quiet street, wondering if Peter was out there somewhere watching her and waiting for his next opportunity. They would’ve called her if they’d found him, so she knew it was possible he was watching her.
“Come and get me, you bastard. You won’t catch me off guard a second time.”
As she took another long drink of soda, Freddie’s battered Mustang came around the corner with a loud backfire.
“Gonna wake up the whole freaking neighborhood,” she grumbled.
He pulled up to the house and leaned over to unlock the passenger door.
“Do I need a tetanus shot before I ride in this thing?”
“What’s that they say about beggars and choosers?”
She battled with the seatbelt. “I’ve got to requisition a new ride.”
“I’ll take care of that for you, boss.” He offered her one of the powdered donuts from the package on his lap.
With a scowl, she took one and turned so she could see him. “You’ve done some good work on this case, Cruz. Damn good.”
His face lit up with pleasure. “Thanks. So after I got home last night, I was kinda wired and couldn’t sleep, ya know?”
“Uh huh.” Her face flushed when she thought of how she’d worked off her own tension.
“I got to thinking that maybe there’s some sort of connection besides the sexual kind between O’Connor and one of our people of interest.”
“What kind of connection?”
“A domestic—cook, caterer, cleaning lady, gardener.”
“Possible. Where you going with it?”
“I know this is way out there, but what if one of the domestics found out about the kid, Thomas, and told someone who’d be infuriated by it?”
“Worth looking into.”
“You think?”
“When are you going to start having some faith in yourself and your instincts?”
“I don’t know. Soon. I hope.”
“So do I, because you’re starting to piss me off.”
“You know what pisses me off?” He took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at her. “Your scumbag ex-husband. He pisses me off.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Me, too.”
“It’s all over the papers.”
“I knew it would be.”
“I have it there. In the backseat if you wanted to…”
Her stomach twisted in protest. “That’s all right. Thanks.”
“He had pictures of you all over his place. It was totally creepy. There were shots of you from a distance working crime scenes, and he even had a police scanner.”
Sam’s stomach took a dive at that news. “I should’ve known he wouldn’t just give up and go away. I should’ve known that.”
“This isn’t your fault,” he said fiercely.
“So Natalie Jordan paid us a visit last night,” Sam said, anxious to change the subject. She relayed what Natalie told them and went over their visit with Noel. “I don’t think he did it, but I want to get him on a polygraph today. Will you set that up?”
“Sure thing. I don’t see Noel for it, either. Nothing about him screamed ‘murderer’ to me. Natalie, on the other hand, she’s a cool customer.”
“Nick said she’s lying about Noel, but he’s never liked her.”
“He’s got good instincts, though,” Freddie said.
“Do me a favor when we get in, ask Gonzo and Arnold to check out this address.” She gave him the slip of paper with Natalie’s parents’ address. “And have them go by Noel Jordan’s house in Belle Haven. Get me a couple of hours of surveillance on him before you bring him in.”
“Got it. Will do.” As they pulled up to the last intersection before the public safety building, he said, “Shit.” He pointed at the street leading to HQ, lined with TV trucks bearing satellite dishes.
“Goddamn it.”
He scowled at her choice of words. “Let’s go in through the morgue.”
“Good plan.”
They parked on the far side of the building, entered through the basement door and took a circuitous route to the detectives’ pit where Gonzo and Arnold waited for them.
“We’ve got Terry O’Connor in lockup. He’s lawyering up.”
“Figured.”
“They filmed us bringing him in,” Arnold said. “It’ll be the lead story this morning.”
Captain Malone burst through the door. “The chief just got off the phone with a very angry Senator O’Connor. He’s threatening to call the president.”
“He can call anyone he wants,” Sam said. “His son had motive, a key and can’t produce his supposed alibi. If he was anyone else, we would’ve had him in here days ago, and you know it. I need to rule him out.”
They stared each other down for a long moment before Malone blinked. “Get him into interview and either charge him or let him go. And do it quickly.”
“Yes, sir.” To Gonzo, she added, “Bring him up.”