Chapter Four

Rowe

Gently I bite down on her nipple, eliciting a cry of pleasure from her. She’s moving against my hand as I press two fingers inside her, loving how I’m driving her wild.

“Oh, God,” she moans.

Withdrawing my hand, I pick her up by the waist and carry her to the bedroom. Her legs are wrapped around me, her lips on mine as I stumble through her apartment.

I finally reach her bed and lower her to the mattress, kissing down her body as I go. With my lips and tongue on her lower stomach, I work her jeans and panties off. Then my mouth finds her most sensitive spot. Once her taste reaches my tongue, I’m gone. Nothing else exists but the beauty before me. Her fingers thread through the hair on the top of my head as she holds me in place while grinding against my face. Fuck, she’s amazing. She has attitude and knows what she wants.

My dick is painfully hard. I want to be inside of her in the worst way. Taking one final sweep of her with my tongue, I stand and remove my clothes. I grab a condom from my pocket before tossing my jeans to the floor. She’s sprawled out on the bed before me. Tattoos scatter over her arms, one on her hip, another on her opposite thigh. I fist my cock and pump it a few times while watching her. She pinches her nipples, her eyes on what I have to offer, making my strokes slow down so I can gaze at her watching me.

Letting go of myself, I open the condom and roll it on. With my body lowered over hers, I slip inside her, and fuck me, she feels as good as I thought she would. Her body wraps around my dick like a glove.

I take her hands in one of mine and press them above her head while I start to thrust. I push all the way in then slowly back out, but before I leave her, I push back in fast and hard. Each time I do this, she arches up in to me. Her nipples skim my chest. With the moonlight filtering in through a break in her curtains, I watch as her lips part and her eyes remain closed as I thoroughly fuck her.

“You’re so good, darlin’. So fucking sexy.”

Her thighs squeeze my waist and her lips meet mine. It’s taking every ounce of my control not to let go. Each moan, touch, and kiss, it all drives me closer to the edge. What I wouldn’t give to release in her and mark her as mine. No condom—no barrier. Just the two of us.

Hold on. What the fuck? I’ve never had that thought about any woman. Ever. Fuck me. I need to get my head on straight. I’m sleeping with her and then getting out of here. The longer I stay, the worse I fear I’ll get. I can’t allow this woman to get into my head more than she already is.

She sucks on my neck, bringing my focus back to her. Pulling out of her, I roll her over and spread her legs. Ashlyn raises her ass slightly so it’s on display for me. Silky skin meets my palm as I coast it along her curves. I’m buried back inside her in seconds. With one hand, I ball her hair in my fist, while I use the other to reach around and rub her clit. She needs to come so I can. I never get off first. I won’t until the woman I’m with is satisfied.

“Fuck, yes!” she calls out as her hands grip the sheet beneath her. Her body trembles as she rides wave after wave of climax. Damn, I love giving women pleasure. Seeing them come undone is one of my favorite things.

I keep making small circles on her clit, drawing out her orgasm for as long as she’ll let me. She eventually stills my hand to get me to stop. Now it’s my turn.

Pumping into her a few more times, my orgasm hits me hard. I spill into the condom. The thought is back in my head that I wish it was in her and not the thin layer of latex between us. I can’t push it away. It’s a nagging vision of how fucking wonderful it would be to claim her. I’m so screwed. I need to leave.

I don’t waste time. I can’t lay next to her and hold her. My head’s all messed up, and I will not let her get under my skin. I pull out and take off the condom, knotting it before tossing it in the garbage can. Walking back to the side of the bed, I kiss her on the lips as quickly as I possibly can and say, “Thanks for a great time.”

She narrows her eyes and props herself up on one elbow. “Fucking me and leaving? No cuddling?”

“You don’t strike me as the cuddling type, darlin’.”

She sits up, grabs my clothes off the floor, and tosses them at me with force. Is she pissed that I don’t want to stay? I didn’t peg her as the stay all night and spoon type of woman, especially after our initial meeting and her not wanting anything to do with me.

“Upset that you won’t wake up next to me in the morning?” I ask with a cocky smile.

“In your dreams, asshole. I’m trying to get you out of here faster. What the fuck is taking you so long, anyway? It’s just jeans and a t-shirt. Hurry this shit up.” Either she’s covering her feelings or this is truly what she wants. Either way, I’m gone.

I don’t bother to look back as I throw my clothes on and make my way to the door. I’m not sure what comes over me, but the thought of not seeing her again does something to me—something I’m not ready to analyze. At the last minute, I decide to drop my business card on her counter. It has my work numbers on it—desk and cell. Maybe it’s a foolish thing to do. Only time will tell.

“And you’re saying you haven’t seen her in two months?” I ask.

The guy rubs the back of his neck. “Something like that.”

“How do you know this woman was the one who took your checks?”

“Well, I don’t for sure, but I have a suspicion.”

“And this suspicion would be?” I’m writing all this down while I talk to him, not sure any of it is accurate.

“I haven’t seen her since I fucked her in the office of my hotel. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to get ahold of her. I’ve called and texted, but nothing.”

“It never occurred to you that the woman you slept with, and didn’t have an actual relationship with, gave you a false number?”

“Of course, but why would she do that? I rocked her world.”

“Uh huh. Sure you did. Okay, I’ll get this filed and be in touch.”

“You’ve got to catch her,” he pleads. “I want my money back.”

“We’ll get on it. You’re not the first one to report missing checks and money gone from your bank account.”

On the way back to the station, I run the last few cases through my head. All victims were male and all said a woman stole their checks. All men slept with the woman. But that’s where the similarities end. The woman doesn’t always take multiple checks. Sometimes it’s only one. Like with this guy. One check and it was cashed at his bank, which makes sense. The bank that holds his money would be the one to cash the check so she gets the money right away.

I’ve got footage from the other banks. The woman in question has different facial characteristics in each video. She must be using fake noses to change her appearance. Her hair is vastly different in the videos than from the descriptions we receive. This guy said he’d give us all the footage from his office, but my guess is there will be numerous women he’s fucking, and even when he points her out, she has her face strategically turned from the cameras.

Whoever this is isn’t new to this life. She has skills and knowledge. She’s also a thief and needs to be caught, but how do you catch someone when you have no idea who their next target will be? I would say all wealthy men, but she hit up a middle-class guy a few weeks ago and cashed out two grand from his account. It wasn’t a ton, but it was still theft.

With the way she operates, she never hits the same bank twice. It just so happens that the reports we’ve gotten have been wealthy local business owners who have money at big, main branches. If this woman moves on, we’re going to have to work with other jurisdictions to be sure to stay on top of this.

I sit and study the images I received from the banks. The video, the photographs, there’s something very familiar about the woman, yet I have no memory of meeting anyone who looks like this. The common factors in all the pictures are her high cheekbones and the way she walks. Everything else is different. Her clothing ranges from conservative to sultry.

Rubbing my chin with my thumb and forefinger, I try to piece it all together. It’s a puzzle but one that is missing more than half the pieces. There’s no way to put it together without those, but it’s my job to do so. I hate not being able to figure out cases. I’m much better at the cut and dry ones. You know what happened, get the perpetrator, and it’s solved. This, this will keep me up at night. Especially since there’s this part of me that’s whispering I’ve seen this woman before. There’s also the logical part of my mind saying that a lot of women walk the same.

“You okay?” Rider asks as he takes a seat beside my desk. He’s the other detective on our police force.

“Yeah, this case is just bothering me. This woman…” I hand him the pictures. “There’s something about her and I can’t put my finger on it. It’s right in front of me, but I’m not able to see it.”

“She the one who’s been stealing checks?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you better figure it out and soon. It seems the guy you interviewed earlier is the mayor’s stepson, and he’s not too pleased to hear he was robbed.”

“Fuck.” I don’t need this added bullshit. It’s bad enough I can’t solve this case; now I’ll have the mayor breathing down my neck. “Maybe he needs to tell his stepson to keep his dick in his pants and not fuck random women where he leaves everything out. This guy is a moron. Truly.”

“You’re right. Doesn’t change shit, but you’re right.”

Rider stands and claps me on the shoulder. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

“Thanks for jinxing my fucking case, asshole.”

“No problem, man,” he says, smiling. Fucker.

I sit at my desk a few hours longer, trying to work out this case. My desk phone rings. It’s the chief and he wants to see me. Great. The mayor must have spoken to him. I don’t need this fucking shit. What I need to be doing is solving this case and getting this woman off the streets before she finds her next victim and steals even more money.