Chapter 5
—If everyone knew what I was thinking, I’d get punched in the face a lot.—
Skye stood with her hands on her hips as she watched Gage work his magic on his laptop. “So?”
“Don’t rush me,” he growled.
Skye hated being between jobs. It made her antsy and ready to run another ten miles. Considering she’d already run fifteen this morning, she feared that might be overkill. But the whole situation with Hadley really bothered her. Not enough to contact Brooks…yet. Because he was with his fiancée out of town on some sort of work thing for her. Some kind of wedding convention, Skye wasn’t really sure. And though she loved Darcy, she wasn’t really interested in anything to do with weddings.
“Come on.” Colt took her hand in his and pulled her out of the room into the hallway. At the moment, it was just the three of them at Redemption Harbor Consulting in their converted warehouse. Leighton was away on a small one-man job, Savage and Olivia were on their honeymoon, and Nova was gone for the day.
Skye wanted to snarl at her husband but didn’t because he’d done nothing wrong. She was just being edgy and annoyed and he didn’t deserve her acting like a crazy person.
He gave her a wicked grin that made her toes curl in her boots. “If you’re feeling edgy I can think of a way we can burn off some energy.”
“Dude, I can still hear you guys!” Gage called out from his office.
Colt tugged her down the hallway. They’d actually only gotten busy once here, in her office. It had been after a particularly rough job, and they’d had the place to themselves and she’d wanted to burn off energy. Okay, who was she kidding—she’d wanted to screw her husband’s brains out. Some days it was hard to believe she was actually married, much less alive. And she was so grateful to have him in her life. “This thing with her is just really bothering me,” Skye said even as Colt pulled her into the break room instead of her office as she’d expected.
He pointed to the table. “Sit. And I know. I think the real reason you’re bothered is because it’s Hadley that it happened to.”
“True enough.” There was no reason to deny it. Hadley was the half-sister that Brooks recently found out he had, and she was absolutely adorable. And Skye worried about the girl’s survival skills. Once when she’d asked Hadley how many exits were in the restaurant they’d been having dinner in, Hadley had given her a blank stare. Yes, they seriously needed to work on her observation and survival skills. “She’s like a little puppy.” Folding her arms across her chest, she frowned.
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration.” Colt pulled leftover pizza from the fridge and put it in the microwave. Yeah, he really did know her—and food was the way to her heart. “She put herself through college and was brave enough to reach out to her sibling and father, having no idea how they’d react to the news of her existence. She’s not like us, but she’s not a puppy.”
“Well she’s not answering her phone either. I called her and texted her earlier to check in and she said she was going on a date. A date!” After she’d been attacked in what Skye didn’t think was a simple mugging gone wrong. All the details were too strange and she did not like strange.
Her husband leaned against the counter and folded his massive arms over his chest. “And that’s a problem why?”
“If she’s dating, we need to check out any potential men.”
“You sound worse than Brooks.”
“I wonder if he knows about her date.” Skye pulled her phone out of her pocket but Colt—sneaky man—snatched it from her hand with panther-like reflexes.
“No,” he simply said.
“I wasn’t going to call him.”
“Yes, but you were going to text him and probably his father.”
She shrugged, not denying it. They both needed to know what had happened and lock Hadley down. At least until they could figure out what was going on.
Colt glanced down at his own phone as the microwave dinged. “Gage has something.”
After grabbing her plate, Colt shoved both his phone and hers into his pocket and they headed back down the hallway.
“Really? You couldn’t grab me anything?” Gage asked as they stepped inside, his gaze landing on Skye’s plate.
“Fine, have mine.” Skye set it on the desk next to him but he just eyed it with disdain and turned back to the computer.
“Pineapple does not belong on pizza,” he muttered, pulling up a couple different screens. “What I’ve found isn’t great. The power outage was localized to a very small portion of the college for a very short amount of time—right when Hadley was being attacked.”
Tension rippled down Skye’s spine. Nope. Not good at all.
“And the security feeds were erased as well, though if we break into the offsite company we could get them—if they haven’t been corrupted.”
“So we’ve got nothing basically.” Other than something that smelled like shit.
“I didn’t say that…” Gage pulled up another screen that showed a car pulling out of an entrance on the other side of the college. Four-door, generic-looking sedan, tinted windows and… It shifted to another screen and the front image of the driver was clear enough.
Not great. Man wearing a ball cap with a full-on beard was driving. Hands were gloved, which wasn’t that strange even with it being March. Winter was still clinging on because Mother Nature was in a bitchy mood this year. “And, I got this too,” he continued. Another screen showed the back of the car but the license plate was impossible to read because of mud smeared all over it.
Skye cursed again. “Damn it.”
“Come on, be patient.” Gage shook his head without looking at her.
Even Colt nudged her with his hip as he fought a grin.
“Fine.” But she knew what he was doing. Gage liked to show off his computer skills—which she really couldn’t blame him, considering how impressive they were. But still, if he had information on one of the men who’d been there last night she wanted to know right now.
“Say it,” Gage said without looking up.
“Say what?”
“How awesome I am. Then I’ll show you what I found.”
“How about I refrain from punching you in the throat? And then you show me what you found.”
Laughing, he said, “Fair enough.”
A new screen popped up with a grainy feed showing a…marina, she thought. “Where is this? What is this?”
“Since you’re being impatient, I skipped over all the other feeds I followed and I’m cutting right to the end. This guy is the only man resembling the description that Hadley gave you for the man who tossed her attacker in that trunk. Using what CCTVs and other video feeds I could hack into, I managed to track this guy—the vehicle, actually—to a local marina. And this is what I found. Keep watching.”
Skye watched as the man parked, got out, and bent over his trunk for a few minutes. From the angle of the video, it was impossible to see what he was doing inside. When he stood back up, he lifted a huge bag—looked like a military-issue sea duffel—and hoisted it up. Then he made his way to a dock and from there it looked as if he got into a boat. But the angle was too far off to tell. “Anything else?”
“Nope. Other than the fact that the guy hasn’t returned to the vehicle.”
“Think there was a body in that bag?” Skye asked, even though she’d already come to that conclusion.
“Offshore is certainly a good way to dispose of a body, especially if it’s weighted down,” Colt said.
“Want to go check out the car?” she asked.
He nodded. “I love our Friday date nights.”
Snorting, she clapped Gage on the shoulder once. “Thanks, man. That’s incredible work. You know you can go home, right? It’s freaking late.”
He just shrugged. “Yeah…I’ll get out of here soon but I’ll keep an eye on the feeds through my phone. Buzz me if you need backup.”
“Will do,” Colt said, and grabbed her hand as he headed to the door.
* * *
As she sat on the couch with Axel, Hadley felt nervous for a multitude of reasons. The dinner he’d cooked was great, but she’d only eaten about half of what she normally would have because of the butterflies in her stomach.
Everything about him was different than the boys she’d dated in college. Everything was different about him, period. Despite his youthful appearance, his eyes told a different story. He looked almost haunted, and apparently she was a sucker for that because he was drawing her in like a moth to a flame or any other bad analogy she could think of.
“So which one do you think?” he asked, nodding at the screen where he scrolled through the newer movies available to rent.
When he’d asked if she wanted to stay longer and watch a movie she’d readily agreed. Because spending time with him was no hardship. The thought of going back to her little home or even the ranch alone wasn’t appealing.
“The action one,” she said because the thought of watching anything with a ton of sex in it with him made her squirm.
When he slid his arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him. She inhaled that spicy scent and swore it went straight to her head, making her a little dizzy. She’d only had one glass of wine so she couldn’t blame her reaction on that at all. Not that she would. She was in charge of her own body and right now the last thing she wanted to do was watch a movie.
But she’d never made the first move or put any sort of moves on a man. She wasn’t a virgin, but she also wasn’t swimming in experience. And he made her nervous on so many levels. She was pretty sure he was attracted to her, but he was hard to read.
Somehow, from the time the opening credits started to before the characters had uttered a word of dialogue, she found herself tugged into his lap as he slid his fingers through her hair, cupping the back of her head. Oh, yes please.
Normally she pulled it up so that it was out of her way but she was glad she’d left her hair down tonight because she loved the sensation of him running his fingers through it. Everything about him was larger than life. Sexy, dominating and toe-curling. That was Axel.
Leaning forward slowly, he gently brushed his lips over hers, the sensation sending little pings of pleasure out to all her nerve endings. His lips were softer than she’d imagined and she wanted more than gentle right now. Her entire body felt as if she was coming apart at the seams with the need for…something more than this.
She wanted to straddle him, but she wasn’t that bold. If anything, she felt out of her depth with him. Instead, she squeezed her legs together, hopefully subtly, as he nipped at her bottom lip. The effort did nothing to ease the growing ache between her legs. Apparently he had all the time in the world because he was taking his time kissing her, savoring it.
She slid her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders. She wanted to dig her fingers into him but resisted. He seemed so relaxed and she was trying to retain some semblance of control—and not pounce on him like a starving animal.
His other hand made its way down to her hip, where he held on to her with more pressure than necessary. And every part of her being liked it. He was holding on to her as if he didn’t want to let go.
Good, because the feeling was mutual. And she wasn’t going anywhere. Not right now anyway. She thought he might shift lower and push her dress up, but he continued teasing her tongue with his, his kisses sensual and expert.
The ache between her legs grew as he increased the intensity of his kisses.
Giving in to her earlier thought, she shifted and did straddle him, feeling a little out of control even as she moved. When she did, he let out a tortured-sounding groan and grabbed onto her hips as he rolled his against her. She had on panties and leggings under her dress but nothing could hide his erection. She shifted over his hard length, moaning at the feel of his erection teasing her clit. He groaned again, his grip on her hips tightening.
His chest rose and fell harshly as he pulled back, his eyes crystal clear as he watched her. “Stopping is the last thing I want to do, but I think we need to,” he rasped out, sounding as tortured as she felt.
He wanted to stop? A hint of embarrassment slid through her. She wanted to ask why, but again, she wasn’t that bold. Not yet anyway. And they were moving really fast. Even if she thought she might want a one-night stand, she wasn’t completely sure, so yes, stopping was probably a good idea. Even if she really, really wanted to see where this led to.
In response, she nipped his bottom lip once and slid off him.
She loved that he groaned again, adjusted himself as she sat next to him.
Just like that, their surroundings came back into place and she realized the movie was still playing. She hadn’t even heard the sound as they’d been making out, as she’d been grinding her body against his. She’d been too focused on his teasing tongue and the way he made her feel.
Not so subtly, he grabbed a pillow and put it over his lap as she curled into him. She giggled lightly but didn’t say anything else as they settled in to watch the movie.
She wasn’t sure what it was about him, but everything about tonight felt kind of perfect, even if she was still unsatisfied. But maybe that was a good thing, because she wanted more of this. More of him. And deep down, she was pretty sure she wanted more than one night.
She’d expected him to take her somewhere fancy and then maybe a movie afterward. Technically they’d done dinner and now a movie, but she liked this intimate atmosphere a lot better than if they’d gone out. Their conversation over dinner had felt more real than small, fake chitchat. Normally she didn’t even open up to people because of the way she’d grown up, but with Axel she felt freer to be herself. Which was strange in itself. And for once she wasn’t going to overanalyze why.
She settled her head on his shoulder and tried to pay attention to the movie instead of focusing on the sensation of his muscular body against hers. It was damn hard when she had a feeling that if they did get naked, it would be incredible between them. Maybe after the movie he would want to continue what they’d started. She could hope.