Chapter Ten
The syndicator counted down, Jo’s heart stayed steady until the red light indicated that the simulation was live. Her weapon out in front, her eyes wide open . . . she waited.
The first person she saw on the left side of the room was a civilian walking from an on-screen grocery store. A noise behind her brought her attention to the image of a car. Behind it, a man held a gun to the head of a hostage. The gunman shouted at the camera, which was meant to simulate a real-life situation, but Jo couldn’t talk the man down. This simulation was about gut instinct for when to shoot and when to hold back.
The victim in the image cried and attempted to lean away from the gun pressed to her temple.
The gunman suddenly looked to a place beyond where Jo stood, his attention diverted.
She refused to look behind her.
A split second later the gunman turned that gun toward her and the victim managed to move a half a foot away.
Jo took the shot.
The pretend gunman went down.
Only then did she look behind her.
The fictitious grocery store had several people running from it, all of them screaming.
Jo forced her heartbeat to quiet and she waited.
Gill stood beside Shauna as they watched Jo in the simulator.
“She’s good,” Shauna said, her arms crossed over her chest.
“I wonder if she knows how good she is?”
Jo grazed a bad guy, and took him out on a second shot. “I don’t think she’s ever tested herself until now. Fear is a great motivator to hone your skills,” Shauna muttered.
Gill glanced at his partner. “Fear of what? She makes River Bend sound like a TV sitcom from the fifties.”
Shauna never stopped watching Jo in the simulator, her eyes tracking Jo’s every move. “When her best friend’s daughter was missing, she was hyperaware of everything, her instincts and mind worked like a computer. Like any seasoned agent.”
“Don’t mess with kids.”
“Yeah.” Shauna’s gaze narrowed. “Then last fall.”
“What happened last fall?”
“She was convinced someone was stalking her.”
Gill stood completely still, his arms chilled.
“Stalking?”
“Watching her. We all have that sixth sense when someone is looking at us, but it sounded a lot more sinister than that. At least how she described it to me. And since Jo doesn’t scare easy, I’m guessing she was right.”
Gill moved his eyes to the woman in the room once again. “Nothing came of it?”
“I gave her a few tips about changing her routine, came down shortly after her call. She told me the eyes in the dark stopped after the holidays. Stressful few months for her.”
Gill didn’t like to think of someone watching her for that long. For any amount of time. “You think that’s why she’s here?”
Jo fired off several rounds inside the simulator, hitting three out of the five gunmen on the screen. She rolled on the floor to avoid the laser fire that would indicate she’d been shot.
From the ground, she managed to bring down the remaining bad guys.
When she did, the lights in the simulator went on, and Jo laid her head on the ground, her body heaving with deep breaths, her gun lax in her fingertips.
Several agents watching, and many of Jo’s classmates, met her success with applause.
Gill felt a strange sense of pride at her accomplishment.
Jo pushed herself off the floor, shook the hand of her instructor. Gill didn’t hear the conversation but knew Agent Gutierrez was giving equal amounts of praise and instruction. When she turned away, Gutierrez patted her on the back as she exited the room.
Later, when the final test had been taken and the last weeklong student was done, Gill kicked back with Shauna, Jo, and a much larger group of law enforcement from around the country in the same bar where he’d demonstrated his dart skills.
Unlike when they’d been there earlier in the week, the bar was packed. It helped that it was Friday, and the celebration was also the long good-bye to those who would most likely never see each other again. A band set up on the tiny stage, a small space in front of it would give some room for dancing.
Gill wondered if Jo danced.
A waitress in a tight mini walked by, a tray of shots in her hand. She stopped at the circle of people who joined Jo.
The noise level was too high to hear the exact words, but from the body language, it appeared that one of Jo’s classmates challenged her. All Gill saw was Jo waving a hand at the other person before she reached for a shot.
A cheer went up when she poured it back and set the empty on the tray before picking up another.
Laughter erupted by the time the third shots were downed.
Her partner quit, and she grabbed a bottle of water that sat on a table beside her.
Someone moved beside him, distracted him. “Looks like someone has your attention.”
Shauna nudged his arm.
He did a double take to find her wearing a halter top, one that showed cleavage. And while he knew she had that, he’d never noticed before. Her hair was down, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she wore more makeup than he’d ever seen on her face.
“What the . . .”
She stood back, did a little spin.
Along with the skimpy top were skintight jeans. Apparently Shauna’s divorce was helping her remember she was a woman again.
“Someone is on the hunt,” he said without censure.
“You can’t be the only one hooking up.”
“Who says—”
Shauna stopped him with a look that reminded him of his mother, the one where she extracted a confession about the missing cookies with only a stare.
“That’s what I thought,” she said.
The band started to play a few notes, making conversation even harder in the crowded bar.
Once the music started, several couples moved onto the dance floor.
Gill moved toward Jo without thinking. He paused, looked over his shoulder. “You need backup, just holler.” His eyes swept Shauna again before he winked.
“Go.” She pushed him away. “You’re cramping my style.”
Gill knew he was too big a man for people to ignore. Several gave him room as he made his way toward Jo. When the people closest to her parted, her eyes lifted to meet his.
“Agent Clausen.”
She was tipsy, he could see that from the rose color in her cheeks to the shine in her eyes.
“Sheriff.”
“Little Miss Mayberry knocked it out of the park today, eh, Clausen?”
“She sure did.”
If Jo was offended by the title she’d been given, she didn’t show it.
Someone to her left started to ask something, but Gill ignored them and reached for Jo’s hand. “How about a dance?”
One of the women on her right did a low whistle, and someone pushed her from behind.
Jo smiled. “Since you asked so nicely.”
Catcalls followed them as they walked away from the crowd.
The music was fast, but the dance floor was small, so he was able to keep a hand on her while they found the beat of the music.
She moved to the music and placed her hands on a part of her body that made him salivate. This was the Jo he’d met in DC. The one who didn’t hold back. He couldn’t help but wonder just how loose she would be if given half a chance.
The music changed and they kept dancing. By the third song, he pulled her off the dance floor and over to the bar.
“Not bad moves for a guy as big as you.” Jo’s half compliment had him grinning.
He leaned close and spoke in her hear. “I think you gave at least three guys out there a hard-on.”
She turned around to see who he spoke of.
Gill twisted her back his way and handed her a beer. He put a possessive hand on the small of her back and led her away from those clamoring for drinks.
There wasn’t a quiet corner, just one with a little less crazy going on so they could talk.
He lifted his bottle to hers. “To a successful week.”
She clicked hers to his and drank.
“Are you glad you stuck around?” he asked.
Jo shifted on her feet. “I am. I learned a lot, even if I won’t use any of it.”
“We all hope we never have to use it.”
“I guess.”
“When does your flight leave tomorrow?”
“Eleven. Had to give myself time to drive into DC.”
He wasn’t leaving until Sunday. Having given himself an extra night to see Lee and Consuela.
“I’ll be back in Eugene on Monday.”
She sucked on her lower lip before drinking.
It was his turn to shift in order to make more room in his jeans.
He lifted his hand, palm up, her way.
“What?” she asked, looking at it.
“Your cell phone.”
When she didn’t move to get it, he reached around, let his fingers linger on her ass before he lifted the slim device from her back pocket.
He was surprised to see there wasn’t a lock screen. Then again, she did live in Mayberry and carried a gun. He couldn’t imagine anyone jacking the information in her phone.
Gill put his number in, along with his name, before returning it to her pocket.
Jo leaned forward, her lips close to his ear. “Was it good for you?”
He laughed, and instead of letting her back away, he held her hip and pulled her against the length of his leg and the heat of the erection she was provoking.
The playful grin on her face slid, and her nose flared.
Awww hell. He’d wanted to wait . . . wait for them both to be away from Virginia, away from the place of temporary and back in their home state. But her blatant stare, the way she pressed into him . . . the smoldering huff of her breath cracked his resolve.
Gill set his beer down, took hers from her hand, and dropped it beside his before using both of his hands on her hips to guide her out a back door of the bar.
Once they broke free of the noise, he pulled her around the side of the building and pressed her against the bricks. His lips were on hers with the same heat and passion they’d shared that first night.
Only this time, it was so much better.
Her hands were on his chest, his hips, his ass. All the while Gill explored every inch of her mouth until they were both breathless and panting.
He broke away. “Not here.”
“My hotel,” she said.
Gill kissed her, briefly, and pulled her toward his ride.
Unlike the previous times on the bike, this ride proved erotic. Jo didn’t rest her hands on his waist to hold on, she let them linger lower, her fingers stroking him through his jeans. He pushed through a few stop signs and broke a few speed laws as he drove the short distance to her hotel. Once there, he followed her until she stopped at a door and fished out a key from the wallet she kept in her back pocket.
Gill let her get through the door, let it shut before he reached for her. “C’mere, sweetness.”
Jo moaned in his embrace as she clawed at his clothing.
He pinched her breast through her shirt, felt her knees give just enough to know she liked it. Then he lifted her in his arms and walked the short steps to her bed.
He followed her down, her legs wrapped around him like a snake holding on to a limb of a tree. The way her hips moved to his, even fully clothed, pushed his limits. “You’re the most passionate woman I’ve ever known,” he told her as he ravished her neck and the top of her breast.
“I need practice,” she said, her hands moving to the fly of his jeans.
He saw stars when her hand reached for his bare flesh. “I’m in trouble.”
She laughed, lifted one leg over his, and used a move he’d taught her to have him on his back.
“Big trouble,” he repeated.
Jo leaned over him and pulled out of her shirt, unfastened her bra, and tossed it to the floor.
Gill’s mouth watered before he let his tongue seek her flesh. Her breasts fit his hands perfectly, and tasted like sugar. Or maybe that was the shots of whatever it was she’d been drinking before leaving the bar. He grinned into the thought and teased her nipple with his teeth. Either way, she tasted divine, and he wanted more.
Her hands were everywhere, and she had too many clothes on.
Gill rolled her around, took the dominant position, and unbuttoned her snug jeans. Jo lifted her hips and helped kick them free.
She slid a free hand into the elastic of her panties and he stared. When she reached farther down, he pulled her down the bed by the backs of her knees and slid his hands up her thighs.
“Too much staring, not enough doing,” she complained, her voice husky.
He unwrapped her, tossed her panties across the room, and dropped to his knees. He started at her knee, a nibble, a kiss, and as slowly as he could, worked his way up. He teased with the tickle of his beard, the heat of his breath.
Jo tried to push closer and cussed under her breath.
Still Gill took his time until it was he who couldn’t hold out any longer.
Sugar and sex hit his senses, and Jo’s moan had to be doing a good job of waking her neighbors. He wanted to know her, learn what she liked, what drove her wild.
Like any map, he studied and learned by the signals she gave, until finally her hips rose from the bed, her short pants and words telling him not to stop when he’d found her spot.
He smiled into her when she cried out the loudest and sensations became too much to bear and she pushed him away.
Gill looked up the length of her body, her head to the side, her hair wild on the bed, the smile on her face as radiant as any satisfied woman he’d ever seen. He leaned over, took a swig of the water she had sitting by her bedside, and found a condom in the back of his wallet.
“Let’s do that again,” he suggested.
Jo spread her hand over her stomach before helping him with the latex and pushing him onto his back.
His sex strained toward her, and she didn’t make him wait.
Jo took control, and he let her. Only when she begged him to finish did he let himself go.
Once they were both breathing normally and Jo rolled off to snuggle into his arms did she say, “We’re really good at that.”
He kissed the top of her head. “We are.”
Half an hour later, when he’d slipped out of Jo’s arms after she was fast asleep to use the restroom, stared down at her lax body and realized how much he liked the woman.
He slid under the sheets, pulled them up over her shoulders, and pulled her close.
For a woman who claimed to always sleep alone, she had no problem seeking the heat of his body. Gill made himself comfortable, knowing that if she wanted to wake alone, he would be the one that would have to leave.
And he wasn’t going anywhere.