Officer in Pursuit (29 page)

She sighed when he pressed his thumb
against her clit, moving it in slow circles. She tensed up too,
giving him an internal squeeze, hitting him hard with the desire to
come.

Her pussy was so tight. When he was
inside her, that heat and pressure consumed him, made him sorry
he’d ever wasted time doing anything but pursuing her. He couldn’t
imagine life getting any more pleasurable than this.

He could tell when she got close to
coming, mainly because his abs burnt where her nails were burrowing
into them. She’d probably leave marks. He couldn’t have cared less.
Anticipation gripped him like a fever, making him sweat as he
continued to work her clit.

He loved to see her come.

When she came, there was no trace of
the wariness that sometimes seemed to put up walls between her and
the rest of the world. There was only her, writhing on his dick, so
obviously not caring about anything else.

Watching her was like a high, one he
felt sweeping over him now as she cried out.

He went deep with each stroke,
watching her rise and fall. His fingertips were slick and her clit
was hot and swollen beneath them.

When she came, she pulsed around him.
He worked it, moving to the rhythm he could see and feel rippling
through her. By the time it stopped, he was on the edge of climax
too.

A few more hard strokes, and he
could’ve finished. But he wasn’t done with her yet.

He took it easy, savoring the hot,
slow slide of his shaft inside her. The feeling of her walls
gripping the sides of his dick was phenomenal. Tension pooled at
the base of his spine, white-hot and promising.

Just when he was getting himself under
control – going harder – she started to move with him.

Jesus. She was really bouncing now,
killing him with the impact that resulted from their combined
efforts, their rhythm. She was breathing harder too, whether from
the effort, pleasure or both, he didn’t know.

If she felt half as good as she
looked, she had to be burning up with bliss.

Like he was. Damn, he couldn’t take it
any more – no more pacing himself, no more holding back. His
willpower had been shot the moment she’d started fucking him
back.

He came hard, like he did every time
with her. He held her by her hips, breaking her rhythm, and poured
himself into her. Every second was deeper, harder, more intense
than the last.

The seconds afterward were intense
too. His heart was still slamming against his ribs when she climbed
down off his dick and sprawled across his chest, pressing her mouth
on his.

He kissed her like he’d never seen
anyone more beautiful, never wanted anyone more. Because he
hadn’t.

CHAPTER 22

Alicia walked into the room like she
was on some sort of mission. It was the first time Kerry had seen
her scowl.

“Sasha told me everything. I can’t
believe no one got in touch with me and Liam to let us know what
was going on!”

Kerry looked up from the long,
besequined length of tulle spread across the table in the makeshift
Halloween decoration factory she and Faye had set up. Sunlight
streamed through the mansion window behind her, illuminating her
work.

It was Monday, Kerry’s first day back
on the job. A week had passed since her wreck and the slice of
insanity that had ensued, but somehow, it felt like much
longer.

“You and Liam were on your honeymoon,”
Kerry said. “We didn’t want to ruin it.”

Alicia stood with her hands
on her hips, looking like a skinnier, brunette version of Sasha.
“I’d applaud your courtesy, if you hadn’t been
kidnapped
. My God, Kerry…” Alicia
hurried across the room, catching the toe of her shoe on a box but
managing, for once, not to actually trip.

“I had no idea,” she said, her voice
low. “About your ex-husband, I mean. That you’d even been married.
Why didn’t you tell us?”

Kerry shook her head. “I couldn’t
bring myself to do it. I didn’t know where to start. And to tell
the truth, I was ashamed.”

Alicia frowned as she settled on
Faye’s empty stool, pulling it close to Kerry’s side. “You
shouldn’t have been, you know. After what we’ve all been through
this summer, you could’ve told me and Sasha anything.”

“You and Sasha just have it so
together.” Words rushed to the tip of Kerry’s tongue, surprising
her despite their truth, despite how many times she’d thought them
before. “I’m not like you two, and I know it. You plan people’s
weddings and corporate retreats, and she’s a gourmet chef. I clean
up people’s messes. We’re different. But only I really knew how
different.”

Heat flared in her cheeks as she met
Alicia’s eyes. “You still didn’t know that I was just a teenager
from a little coal mining town when I married the world’s biggest
jackass straight out of highschool. And you didn’t know that
landing a housekeeping job here – my first job, ever – felt like
the biggest accomplishment in the world to me. But now you do, and
I still feel embarrassed. I can’t help it.”

“Kerry…” Alicia grimaced. “First of
all, what you do for a living has nothing to do with our
friendship. Second of all, Sasha and I both know how hard you work
and how much Faye relies on you. Third of all… Wedding planning
isn’t very glamourous. Half my clients boss me around like I’m
hired help… Which I am. Don’t tell anyone that though.”

Kerry smiled. “Thanks. But somehow,
I’d feel more like your equal if you hadn’t walked in on me gluing
a bowl of sequins to this stuff.”

“Halloween decorations?” Alicia
asked.

Kerry nodded.

“I’ll have you know,” Alicia said,
“that as event planner, this would’ve been my job if I’d been here
last week. So technically, you’re doing my work for me. I don’t
look so great on my high horse now, do I?”

Alicia grabbed a sequin and a bottle
of glue and started helping. “I don’t have to see any clients until
this afternoon. Looks like this’ll keep me busy until then. How
much more of this stuff is there?”

“I don’t want to answer that question.
I’m afraid it’ll crush your spirit too early in the game.” Kerry
moved the sequin bowl so that it sat evenly between them. “How was
the honeymoon?”

“It was amazing. Everything was so
different in the mountains – it was about ten degrees cooler than
here, and the leaves were starting to turn on the trees. We did a
lot of hiking. And a lot of… Well, you know. The cabin we stayed in
was gorgeous.”

“Sounds romantic.”

“It was, but I feel weird talking
about it when you’re sitting here looking like that.” She tipped
her head toward Kerry’s bandaged hand. “I keep thinking about what
happened and about how I was out having fun, oblivious. I feel
awful. I wish Sasha had called and filled me in.”

“I’m glad she didn’t. I’m glad you and
Liam enjoyed your honeymoon. What was the cabin like?”

She didn’t want to talk about what’d
happened, didn’t want to think about it. Fantasizing about a
romantic cabin at a mountain resort on the western side of the
state seemed like a lot more fun.

“Anyway,” Alicia said when she
finished, “if I did a weirdly good job describing it, it’s because
Sasha was merciless when she interrogated me about the honeymoon.
She even wanted to know what thread count the bedsheets
were.”

“Seriously?”

Alicia grinned. “Well, no. But she did
ask if there was a hot tub, and believe me, after that, the
questions got a little scary.”

“I can imagine.”

Alicia nodded. “Liam and I got back
Saturday night. We wanted yesterday to rest from all the hiking.
Anyway, Jeremy dropped by…”

Alicia’s grin was gone. “He told us
about your car. And that your ex-husband is still out there. I can
tell you don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t blame you, but I
know you’re worried. I just wanted to let you know that until he’s
caught, you don’t have to be alone. You’re welcome to stay the
night at our place anytime.”

Kerry raised a brow. “Didn’t Sasha
tell you?”

“What?”

“Grey’s been staying with me. And he
plans to continue.”

Alicia’s eyebrows shot skyward. “She
did mention something about you and him, but I thought she was
joking. You know how she is.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“I won’t pry. I’m sure Sasha will do
that and update me on the details as a matter of course. I have to
ask, though…”

“What?”

“Is it serious? Between you and Grey.
Or are you just, you know, having some fun?”

“I didn’t realize anyone
thought of me as the type to do
anything
just for fun, let alone
have a sexy fling.”

Alicia shrugged. “It occurred to me
that maybe Sasha had rubbed off on you.”

“I’m afraid not. As for me and Grey…
He’s sticking with me through this nightmare with the wreck and…”
She waved her hand to indicate the rest, not wanting to mention
Grey and her ex-husband in the same sentence. “I’m sure it’s been
anything but fun for him, but he’s been amazing. Any woman lucky
enough to know him would be an idiot to cast him aside after a
fling.”

* * * * *

“Well, what do you boys think?” Tanya
stood in the middle of the living room, decked out in one of the
ugliest outfits Brad had ever seen. Her dress was a bright hunter’s
orange and rode up too high on her wide thighs, while her white
vinyl boots looked like hooves. She’d teased her hair up into some
kind of mane above a matching orange headband.

“I’m a go-go dancer,” she
said.

“Ain’t that just another word for
stripper?” Brad took a long drink of the lukewarm beer he’d been
sipping on for the past half hour while he watched college football
on Michael’s TV.

Tanya frowned. “No. It’s a 60’s thing.
Don’t you recognize the boots?”

“You look great, baby,” Michael said.
“I know what a go-go dancer is. Brad’s just got his panties in a
bunch ‘cuz he’s been in the house for so long.”

A bolt of irritation shot through
Brad, and he gave his brother a hard look.

Michael didn’t even meet his eyes,
just kept staring at the screen.

Brad didn’t give a shit about Tanya’s
Halloween costume, but Michael was right about one thing: Brad had
been cooped up inside for so long, he was about to lose his mind.
It’d been two weeks since he’d showed up at Michael and Tanya’s,
and he was tired of living like a rat in a cage, staying inside all
the time and keeping his truck hidden in the garage.

“Come to the Halloween dance down at
the fire hall with us next week,” Tanya said. “If you’re really
worried about the sheriff breathing down your neck, just wear a
mask.” She giggled. “Or I could help you with some
make-up.”

Brad raised a hand to his face, ran
his fingers from one jowl to the other. His healing wounds were
like gravel beneath his fingertips; they didn’t feel like part of
his face.

“Shit,” Michael said. “You don’t need
any make-up. Just squirt some fake blood on your shirt and go as a
zombie.”

“You know what, Mike? You can shut the
fuck up.” In that moment, Brad hated Michael and Tanya. They
thought it was funny – fucking funny – that his face looked like a
goddamned Halloween mask now. The only thing they took seriously
was the idiotic dance some old timers’ club was putting on down at
the fire hall.

“Fuck you,” Michael said. “Tanya’s
right – you should come to the dance. I’m tired of you prowling
around here like an angry cat with a stick up its ass. You need to
get out of the house. Hell, maybe you’ll meet someone to take your
mind off that bitch you’re so obsessed with.”

“That bitch is my wife,” Brad mumbled,
tired of Michael, tired of the game. Tired of being pent up in the
house, just like they’d said. He hated that they made him feel like
he was somehow defending Kerry.

Defending her. The thought was as
messed-up as his face.

“You’re divorced,” Michael said,
“forget about her. She isn’t worth it. She isn’t worth shit, from
the sound of it and the look of your face.”

Everything inside Brad got hot, felt
twisted and full of broken glass. “Mind your own fuckin’ business
for once, would you?”

“Maybe I would, if you weren’t living
in my house. When are you gonna go back to work Brad, back to your
own place?”

“You know the sheriff’s been showing
up at my door. I haven’t paid the rent in three months anyway, ever
since I lost my fuckin’ job, which you know all about. Don’t act
like it’s my fuckin’ fault!”

Natural gas and mountaintop removal
had fucked local miners over, hard. Brad wasn’t the only one out of
a job.

“I’ll put in a good word for you with
my supervisor down at the plant. You gotta apply,
though.”

“Goddamn it.” Brad threw his empty
beer can down on the floor. “I got the police knocking on my door
and looking in my windows, and you think I can just stroll into a
factory and ask for a job? You out of your damn mind?”