“Thanks for coming, but I’m fine here. My folks will be fine at Damon’s for a few days, and I’ll lock up as soon as you leave,” I said with forced brightness.
“I’m not crazy about you staying here by yourself,” he said.
“I’m a grown woman and a cop, not some little kid,” I protested.
18
Brody
Some of the other officers showed up, and we had all the lights going. Every house up and down that street had the porch lights on and people coming out to see what was happening. We checked out her door and looked around for evidence. No footprints, tire skid marks, nothing. They didn’t have a security system or cameras because, hell, it was Rockford Falls. It was not the kind of town where shit like this happens. It was a safe, wholesome place to raise a family. No gang activity, no drug trafficking, mostly just shoplifting, domestic disputes and the occasional joyrider who boosts his parents’ car without asking.
What if she’d been in her car? What if she’d been just coming home when they came out of the shadows at her? I shut my eyes at the thought, of her being dragged away, a hand clamped over her mouth. They’d rape her—wasn’t that what assholes always did to women to shut them up? Maybe beat her up, dump her naked on the side of the road someplace miles from home. Scared and hurt and no way to reach anybody to help her. My chest hurt like I was dying just to think of it. To think of anyone hurting Laura. I couldn’t stand it.
I was seething inside. How dare this asshole punk threaten her? Go to her parents’ house in the middle of the night and mess up her car and leave a message that she’s next? I’d fucking show them who was next. I’d leave my badge at home and make that motherfucker pay. I left it to Carl to wrap up the investigation of the scene and helped Damon get his folks in his little pickup. It was a tight fit with all their stuff. I followed Laura back in the house.
She tried to brush me off, tell me she was fine and she’d lock up.
“I’m not crazy about you being here by yourself,” I said.
“I’m a grown woman and a cop, not some little kid,” she said, acting tough but with worry in her eyes.
“Pack your bag.”
“No way. At the risk of sounding like Dad, I’m not being driven out of my house by this asshole. I can handle this.
“I don’t care. You can go to your brother’s or you can come to my place. But you’re not staying here.”
“No,” she said, gearing up to argue with me some more.
“I’m supposed to be looking out for you, remember,” I said.
“I don’t need anybody looking out for me,” she shot back, squaring her shoulders for a fight.
“Maybe I want to look out for you,” I said.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m Damon’s baby sister and you need to protect me? Or I’m the new cop you don’t trust? Either way, I won’t like the answer, so just go on. Go home and get some sleep. I’m fine here on my own.”
I couldn’t come up with a decent response. Nothing made sense. Nothing but the ache in my body, the need to touch her, make sure she was whole and alive and okay. That they hadn’t gotten to her. That it was a warning. And we could find them and stop them before they could do anything worse. I was trying to reassure myself and try not to think about the sick horror that had ripped through my body the second Damon had called to tell me what was going on. Nothing could happen to her. It damn near brought me to my knees.
So how could I answer her? I couldn’t tell her what I meant about looking out for her because there was a lot to unpack there, nothing I could name, nothing I even had words for. My whole body was shaking like a rattlesnake got loose in my ribcage. So, I did the only thing I could do. I reached for her.
19
Laura
He kissed me. There was no beginning to it, no warning. I was all of a sudden in the middle of it, his lips hot and soft on mine, catching my lips between his, tugging them, tasting and licking until he was rubbing the back of my jaw near my ear and my mouth just dropped open for him. I sucked his tongue, all of a sudden on fire and unable to get enough.
The icy fear that had gripped me burned away. My whole body was alight. His arm was an iron band around my waist, anchoring me to him. His mouth slanted over mine, dipping his tongue in, claiming me. I moaned. It was embarrassing, but it was the truth. His tongue stroking in my mouth felt so damn good that I moaned louder than I ever had for any man. My heart hammered, everything behind my eyes was flaming red. My breasts were heavy and aching for his touch. He pulled me back toward the door, locked it and then moved me the other way, toward the stairs. I tried to break the kiss and turn around, scramble up the stairs ahead of him. He was having none of it. Once I was in his grasp, apparently there was no escape. He just grabbed me under my ass and slid me up his body, my legs going around his hips and holding on hard. I held him around his neck, his mouth going to my jaw and throat. He stopped halfway up the stairs and backed me into the wall and kissed me deep and slow, like he couldn’t take another second of sloppy half-kisses and he had to plunder my mouth. I took his tongue, stroked it with mine, my hands in his hair. Every part of me strained for him, urgent, wanting him closer. Wanting all of him.