“Hey,” he brushed the tear that lingered in the corner of my eye, “are you all right?”
I smiled and tugged him to my lips. I didn’t want to talk. I wanted to feel him instead.
He shifted to move over me, and one hand removed my panties while the other held his body weight. Urging my legs up, he positioned himself at my opening and waited for me to meet his eyes.
“Let it all go, Spencer. It’s just you and me.” Before his words registered, he sank all the way in, and I let out a deep, primal sigh.
Yes, this was what I needed.
I blinked in the dark to try to clear the fog from my vision. Something had caused me to stir. I listened hard, only to hear the ever-present wind that sent snow now mixed with freezing rain against the window.
Blake’s arm was wrapped around me, and I enjoyed the warmth it brought me. I lifted my head a little.
“Bri?” I whispered to the empty room.
Nothing.
I lay back down and willed my eyes shut, but something nagged at me to get up. After a fifteen-minute battle, I gave in and gently slipped from under Blake’s arm and slid the blankets back. I threw on my hoodie and sweatpants. With a bitter mutter, I trudged to the living room. Once I was reassured no monster lurked in the house, I flipped on the fireplace and opened my laptop and allowed myself the release to sink into my fictional world.
My earphones were on, but a scene came to me quickly, so I didn’t have a moment to find a song. Instead I wrote with muffled sounds around me.
The keys on the keyboard danced under my fingertips while my mind raced a mile a minute on the first murder. I imagined that the woman was walking home with an armful of Thai food, and just as she rounded the corner with her house in sight, something caused her skin to prickle. Sometimes you just could feel someone’s presence lurking on the outskirts of your mind, warning you evil was about to show its ugly face. Her pace quickened along with her heartbeat. She fumbled with her keys, but just as she started to retract the lock, she saw a man’s reflection in the glass of the door. She tried to scream, but he covered her mouth, snagged her around the waist with his arm, and twisted his body to pop the door open, then they disappeared inside.
Bang!
I jumped out of my skin, and my laptop fell to the floor as I whirled around to find myself alone.
“Jesus,” I whispered. That was the downfall with writing suspense. You were always jumpy.
Lloyd meowed and pounced on the counter, looking for food.
“Friggin cat.” I tossed my headphones down and headed in his direction. Just as I went for the fridge, I caught sight of my calendar, and something hit me.
If he was targeting women who came into the police station…I paused with that thought as I tugged the file free from Blake’s bag. I laid their photos and police reports next to the police reports from their deaths out in front of me on the counter. I opened the drawer and pulled out a highlighter. I bit off the top and spat it aside before I started to cross-reference the dates to when the women came in versus when their actual murders took place.
It didn’t take long to see the pattern.
“Holy shit.” I raced down the hall and into my room. “Blake!” I shook his arm. “Blake, wake up.”
He jolted awake and grabbed my arm. “What? What is it?”
“Can you access something for me?”
“What?” He leaned back and rubbed his head. “What time is it?”
“Four.”
“Why are you awake?”
“I was working.”
“Okay.” He yawned. “That’s not what I want to be doing.”
“I know. Sorry, but,” I set his laptop on his legs, “I need you to get me into the police database.”
“Are you planning on hacking the system?” he joked while his eyes slowly began to close.
“No,” I huffed. “I think I might know who the next victim is.”
That made his eyes pop open. He listened with his brows pinched together, then he thought over what I said. Slowly, he shifted to lean back against the massive headboard, allowing the sheet to sag down, and I found my gaze following the fabric.
“Okay, you have my attention.”
Yeah, me too.
I shook the naughty thoughts back and crawled onto the bed with the paperwork.
“I think I found something.” I handed him the papers and tapped the Hue icon on my phone to turn the lights on. His eyes swung left to right while he examined my findings.
“Jesus.” He flipped the papers over and kept reading. Suddenly, he looked up, and his eyes lightened. “I’m seriously impressed.”
“If we cross-reference their appearance and when they came in, we might actually be able to figure out who his next victim is.”
The corners of his mouth curved as his gaze dragged down my front.
“You’re so fucking sexy right now.”
I smirked and felt proud of myself as I tilted my head to study how delicious he looked under my deep red sheets.
Moving to my knees, I crawled on top of his lap and settled over his erection.
“Bri is two doors down.” He palmed my hips and ran a finger along the edge of my panties.
“I’m not really into women, but if you insist.” I leaned over and hit my speaker as he smacked my ass playfully.
Bellyache by Billie Eilish filled the silence in the room and set the tone for what was about to happen.
Half his mouth drew up in a sexy grin as he moved his hands up the sides of my stomach to run across my bare breasts. He pinched one of my nipples while my hands explored the grooves of his stomach, and more importantly, the V that trailed down to his excitement. He hissed when I grazed over the silky fabric of his boxer briefs.
“Unclip your hair,” he whispered. I obeyed and let it fall all around me in big waves. He shot forward, grabbed the back of my head, and sealed his lips over mine. He swiped the inside of my mouth twice before he pulled away and locked eyes with me with the most intense gaze I’d ever seen.
“What?” I huffed, wanting him on me everywhere he could be.
“Kiss me again like that.”
I didn’t have a moment to think; he was back inside my mouth taking command. My palms pushed into his shoulders as I lifted and pressed my front closer to his, and when he went to rub his erection against me, I lifted to tease him.
He growled and tried it again, but when I tried to lift, he was ready and held me in place while he stroked my throbbing clit.
“Mm, you’re wet.” he purred against my lips while he rubbed my spine. My skin felt feverish, my heart beat to the drum in the song, and my body hummed with anticipation.
With Blake, I could turn off and not worry about how he felt because we were both there in the moment. I could be selfish at times and let him roam over my body without a care.
He wiggled my panties off and pushed the sheet out of our way so he could free himself. He gave it a few strokes, preparing for my slickness.
“Come here.” He lifted me and lined himself up with my opening. With his arms wrapped around my center and hooked onto my shoulders, he dove inside me to the root.
I cried out in bliss, back arched and hair tumbling behind me. His lips went to my neck, and he nipped at my collarbone. Heat burst through my skin, chasing away the goosebumps. He completely took me over mind, body, and heart. I was his.