Chapter Seventeen

“You’re staring.”

“Are you complaining?” Rene asked.

“No. I’m definitely not complaining.”

“Good. Because I like looking at you.”

“You do, do you?”

“Mm-hmm.” Rene turned her head and looked out the car window, her eyes narrowing as she watched Brian Reed drive away. “Do you think he’s the Mummy Man?” She said the words in a ghostly voice in an attempt to make him smile.

Turner still looked troubled, though, as if he carried the weight of the whole city on his shoulders, and perhaps he did. “What was your take on this guy, Rene?” He turned troubled eyes her way, hoping like hell she could give him some answers. More than once she’d given him reason to be optimistic when a case seemed impossible. They worked well together.

“Anytime somebody doesn’t want us looking in their trunk it raises red flags, but we need to not make assumptions. It could be that he just doesn’t want his privacy intruded upon. You know how quick people are to start shouting about their Constitutional rights when law enforcement gets involved. Personally, I just don’t see him as smart enough to pull off something like this. He struck me as an overly emotional, spoiled brat.”

“It would be one hell of a lucky break if we were just face to face with the man responsible for killing these women. Damn! Talk about fate working in our favor.” Usually they had to scratch and claw for every new lead they got in a case.

“Right now we can’t be picky. We’ve got to follow whatever leads we get. If he’s the killer, then I can promise you Black Rose will be following him too. We’ll do surveillance on both and if he’s our man we’ll find out. Speaking of Black Rose, how do you plan on handling him?”

Turner snorted as he tapped impatient fingers on the steering wheel, then abruptly put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot. “That’s a good question. I’ve spent years doing the right thing and where has it gotten me? There’s no loyalty in the Bureau anymore. It’s a sad state of affairs that in the course of my law enforcement career, I’ve bonded with a serial killer more than the people in my own department. So I don’t know how to answer that question, Rene.”

“Well, as they say, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Sometimes the most unlikely people work their way into our lives and before we know it they become an unintended but important part of the work we do. Strange.”

“I don’t understand it either,” Turner muttered. “All I know is that Black Rose is good at taking out the trash and shares my disdain for rehabilitation. You can’t rehabilitate evil—you can, however, kill it. I don’t want this guy loose on the streets. If we kill him, then we’re on Internal Affairs’ radar. If Black Rose kills him, then it’s just one less serial killer we have to worry about. I have no problem with that. You know the statistics. Serial killers don’t stop killing. They can’t. You know what? I hope Black Rose does get his hands on him, because if he does I’ll carry the secret to my grave. We both know guilt’s overrated.”

“Then I guess you have your answer. If Black Rose eliminates Mummy Man, we’ll both take it to our grave.”

Turner nodded but was quiet as he drove with a faraway, almost wistful, look in his eyes. “There’s something we’re missing. It’s like it’s right there in front of me but I can’t quite grasp it.”

“It’ll come to you. It always does.”

“You still believe in me.”

“I’m just stating what God loves.”

Turner turned weary eyes to his partner, giving her a small smile as they said it in unison: “The truth.”

They rode along in silence until Rene asked quietly, “Where are we headed? I thought we’d be heading back to the office.”

“Back to our place.”

“Oh. Do you need to get something?”

“Yep.”

Rene frowned and tried to think of anything he might need and couldn’t come up with anything. “But why”—

“We’re going home, Rene. And when we get there, I’m going to fuck you. I told you I didn’t like you putting yourself at risk this way, but you insisted on trying to connect with Louisville’s criminal element directly. I don’t like it. I have no doubt about your ability to defend yourself, but that was too close for comfort.” He snorted quietly. “Fucking door wouldn’t open from the inside. Shit. So when we walk in the door, you are going to strip out of your clothes and go to our bedroom and wait for me. Then you’re going to show me what’s mine. You’re going to suck me off and swallow me down so I’ll go to sleep tonight knowing that you’re lying next to me with my cum still in your belly. But before we go to sleep, I’m going to eat your pussy until you scream like a banshee. Then I’m going to pound you into the next room.”

“Oh.” Rene’s voice was subdued but her eyes twinkled. As she watched Louisville pass by outside her car window, she silently mouthed, “Oh, goody.”

~~~

When the relationship had started between Turner and Rene she had been his Mistress…his Domme. Somehow the pain she inflicted had been what he’d needed. She had made him feel again. After years of wallowing in the death and decay of the criminal underworld, he’d been so consumed by his job that he had felt dead inside. Rene had helped him heal. He was a better detective and a better man because of her.

Over the years, the sexual aspect of their relationship and become more fluid, with them falling naturally into whatever balance of power would serve a particular need or just scratch an itch. Lately Turner had taken the lead, exerting his dominance effortlessly, much to Rene’s delight.

Tonight Turner was bristling with tightly leashed sexual energy and Rene could hardly wait. They slipped into their D/s dynamic the minute they entered the small, nondescript rental house that served as their home base when they were in Louisville.

He tossed his keys onto the console table by the door, then tilted his chin toward the stairs. “Strip. Leave everything at the bottom of the stairs. Lie across the bed. On your back, with your head toward the door. Pull your knees apart.”

Rene felt each stern command practically ripple across her skin. She made a meal of the act of undressing for her lover, taking every opportunity to sinuously arch and stretch to show off her curves to their best advantage. Nude, she reached up and gathered her auburn tresses over her left shoulder. She ascended the stairs slowly and cast a heated look over her right shoulder as she stepped across the landing and into the bedroom.

When Turner entered the room, he saw his lover laid out perfectly before him. Rene was on her back, her legs bent to her sides as she held her knees wide apart. Her shoulders rested on the edge of the mattress, her head leaning back as her glossy hair tumbled to the floor. Nostrils flaring, he unzipped his pants and approached the bed.

She couldn’t see the handcuffs he’d tucked into the back of his pants, but her nipples pebbled as she recognized the unmistakable metallic clink that accompanied every slow step he took. She barely suppressed a smile at the telltale sounds that brought a flush of heat to her core and thoughts of the wild West to her mind. Well, howdy, Sheriff…

He stood with his feet apart, close to the edge of the mattress and Rene’s waiting lips. He palmed his cock, breathed in deep, and waited.

Rene’s tongue was warm at the base of his shaft before she dipped lower to suck each ball into her mouth. When he pressed the head of his cock against her lips, she was ready for him. With her neck arched over the edge of the mattress, she could take him deep. As she worked him over, his hands roamed over her torso, leaving trails of fire along her silky skin. He worshipped her breasts, knowing exactly how to touch and knead her firm flesh. As her arousal grew, her efforts to milk his cock went into overdrive and she reached back with one hand to grip his thigh to pull him closer.

His hips didn’t break their steady rhythm as he tugged her hand off him and efficiently cuffed her wrist to her ankle. He followed suit with the other wrist and ankle. With her fully restrained, he picked up speed, pumping his cock into her eager mouth. When the orgasm took hold, he thrust forward and pressed hard against her mouth, his muscles clenching as he sent a load of cum straight down her throat.

He pulled out to let her catch her breath while he undressed. He wasn’t much of a talker during sex, preferring to let his actions speak for him. His hands slid over her skin, caressing her as her breathing calmed. He stroked her bare pussy, lazily sliding the length of his finger up and down over her clit as she bucked and writhed beneath his hand. He tugged her smooth pussy lips apart and sucked her clit into his mouth. Her back arched off the bed as she groaned.

There was nothing solicitous or gentle in his touch. This was ownership. This was control. With his mouth latched onto her pussy, he used his lips, tongue, and teeth to bring her sensory overload to a fever pitch. When she came, he clenched his hands around her ass cheeks and held her in place, licking and sucking until she stilled beneath him. He loosened the cuffs around her wrists and moved them up, fastening them just above her elbows so she was laid out like a frog for dissection.

Without missing a beat, he flipped her over onto her stomach and grabbed her hips to yank her back to the edge of the bed. “Down,” he bit out before pressing his lips into a hard, flat line. He moved quickly, pressing her head down. With her cheek against the mattress, he placed his hand between her shoulder blades and pushed. Not content with her supine pose, he spanked her ass and she raised it high into the air.

He entered her pussy on a hard thrust that stole her breath. When he began to move, he started talking, pausing with each pump of his hips. “You put yourself at risk when you got in that car… I couldn’t get to you… You were out of reach… He could have touched you… You will never…ever…put yourself at risk beyond my reach again, wife of mine.”

He paused then, his chest heaving as he fought for control, fought against the primal urge to flood her with his cum and mark her the only way he knew how. But he still wasn’t done. He still needed to make his point.

He pulled out and rubbed his hand along her drenched sex. His fingertip trailed back to her rear entrance, which he slathered with her cream. He gripped his shaft with his fist and pressed forward slightly, notching the broad end just inside her puckered hole.

Rene jerked at the intrusion and swallowed hard, her heart thundering in her chest as his intention became clear. She rubbed her face against the bedspread and clawed at the fabric, readying herself to hang on for what would surely be a brutal and altogether gratifying ride.

Without warning, Turner pulled her onto his bone-hard cock, impaling Rene’s ass with the full power of his masculine possession. She grunted harshly at the penetration, pushing her hips back to meet him stroke for stroke as she cried out incoherently, “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…yes yes yes…”

~~~

Turner looked down at the serenely satisfied redhead whose curves were draped languorously across the bed. With the handcuffs scattered across the floor, her arms were resting comfortably by her head. He licked the corner of his lip as he studied her face. “Something about marrying you has awakened the caveman in me.” His eyes narrowed and he frowned. “Too much?”

“Uh-uh.” She shook her head and skimmed a fingernail over his pectoral. “Loved every second of it. In our line of work, there’s so much we can’t control. You needed to take control every bit as much as I needed to surrender it. We’re perfect together.”

He kissed her shoulder, his lips lingering against her skin as he nuzzled her neck. “If I could crawl up inside of you to be one with you, I would. You’re the only good thing in my life, Rene.”

He pulled her close and pressed her head to his chest. They stayed there, locked in a loving tangle of limbs, until the sun came up and it was time to get back to work.