Текст книги "Fatal Scandal"

Автор книги: Marie Force

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

Chapter Fourteen

Stretched out on Avery’s sofa, Shelby eyed her phone on the coffee table but made no move to reach for it even though she’d heard it chime with a new text. She who never let a text go unanswered couldn’t be bothered to even read this one. What did it matter?

He’d refused to take her home because he wanted to take care of her.

She’d lacked the wherewithal to fight with him.

Hindsight, she’d discovered this afternoon and evening, was an interesting perspective. So many things made sense now that she knew the truth. She thought about the time Avery had brought Sam home after Willie Vasquez’s murder. Nick had arrived while she talked to Avery outside Sam and Nick’s house. After Avery left, she’d talked to Nick about her desire to date the FBI agent. Nick had been all for it. Now she knew why. It wasn’t because he thought she and Avery would make for a good couple. It was because Nick wanted Avery to date someone else, so he wouldn’t pose a threat to Nick’s marriage.

More than anything she felt like a fool. Three people she was close to had kept the truth from her for months. They’d let her get invested in her relationship with Avery. They’d let her think that maybe this time, finally, she’d get her happy ending. But all the while they knew who Avery really wanted and couldn’t have.

She recalled how she’d asked Nick if he’d mind if she went out with Hill. “Hell, no,” he’d said. “Go. Have a great time. By all means.” She’d found that odd at the time because she’d already picked up on the fact that Nick didn’t like Avery—and Nick seemed to like everyone.

“So stupid,” she whispered.

Avery came into the room carrying a steaming mug of the tea he kept on hand for her.

Shelby had once been charmed when she realized he’d gotten her favorite tea. Now, like everything else about him, the hot tea left her cold.

With his offering in hand, he sat on the coffee table and held it out to her.

Shelby forced herself to sit up, to take the mug, to take a sip and to not look at him.

“I’m sorry, Shelby. I can only imagine what you must be thinking, but I promise you that what has happened between us had nothing to do with anyone but you and me.”

“So the fact that you were in love with my friend and employer had nothing at all to do with us?”

“I’m not in love with her. I was never in love with her. I was...infatuated.”

“Infatuated. How nice. And while you were infatuated with my friend, you decided to go out with me so you could stay close to her.”

“That’s not true. I see her at work all the time. I didn’t need to go out with you to stay close to her. Nothing ever happened between us. It was just a one-sided thing that is now in the past.”

“All this time, I couldn’t figure out why Nick Cappuano, who likes everyone, doesn’t like you. I mean, on paper, you’re his kind of guy—accomplished, athletic, charming. The two of you should’ve been the best of friends and yet you aren’t. I couldn’t figure out why. But now it all makes sense. He hates you because you want his wife.”

“I don’t want his wife. I like her. I admire her. I understand that she’s extremely married, and I’d never get in the way of that or cause trouble for either of them. It was a crush. Past tense.” He placed a cashmere throw over her lap and tucked her hair behind her ear.

She ought to tell him to stop touching her, but she liked when he touched her.

“The crush I have on you, on the other hand, is very much present tense.”

Shelby shook her head. “Don’t say that stuff.”

“Why not? It’s the truth. Do you think I would spend most nights with you if I didn’t care about you? Do you think I’d tag along on your dates with Scotty if I didn’t really enjoy both of you?” He leaned in to kiss her forehead and then her cheek. “Do you think I’d make love to you every chance I got if I didn’t truly want to?”

“I honestly don’t know what to think. I’m confused.”

“Nothing to be confused about. You and I are together, and we have been for a while now. She and I are colleagues. That’s all we’ve ever been, and all we’ll ever be.”

“Hypothetically, if she weren’t married anymore, would you still be interested in me?”

“Yes, I would. Do you think I’ve just been killing time with you while waiting for a perfectly healthy young guy to kick the bucket so I could move in on his wife?”

That glorious South Carolinian accent, those golden eyes, the cheekbones... She was crazy about him. Or she had been until she found out he was crazy about Sam.

“You’re blowing this way out of proportion, you know,” he said.

“How am I doing that? Three people I care about and trust have kept a very big piece of information from me for a very long time. I feel like a fool.” She felt like an even bigger fool when her eyes filled with tears. Again.

“I’m so, so sorry. I never wanted you to know that I used to have feelings for her, but I felt like I was lying to you by not telling you, and I didn’t like that either. My feelings for her were silly feelings compared to what I feel for you. Those are real feelings. She was a fantasy. You are real and amazing and funny and formidable and adorable and—”

“Don’t say cute. Don’t even think about it.”

“I wouldn’t dare. I know better by now.” He caressed her face and disposed of her tears with a minimum of fuss. “I want to watch your belly get all big and round. I want to be there when you bring this little person into the world. I want to sleep with you every night and laugh with you and put up with you imitating my accent—badly, I might add.”

“I do a great Avery Hill.”

“Keep telling yourself that, darlin’. I want you to remember something else too.”

“What’s that?”

“I changed my opinion of the color pink for you.”

Shelby didn’t want to laugh, but a gurgle escaped nonetheless. He had, in fact, come around on the pink issue.

With a finger to her chin, he compelled her to meet the sexy golden gaze that had made her want to drool from the first time she ever laid eyes on him. “You forgive me?”

“I want to, and I hate myself for that.”

“Why do you hate yourself?”

“Because. This is the best relationship I’ve ever had, and I don’t want it to end. But I also want to be able to respect myself. You kept something big from me—something I had a right to know. That doesn’t happen again.”

“It won’t.”

“This isn’t the FBI, Avery. If you want me, really want me, I won’t put up with secrets and intrigue. That’s not what I want. I’d rather be alone than be with someone I can’t trust. I deserve better, and not just from you but from two people I consider my friends as well as my employers.”

“You’re right, I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry you were hurt because of me. Your knees and your heart.”

“It’s very evolved of you to actually use the word ‘sorry’. That right there makes this different from any relationship I’ve ever been in.”

“I promise I’m not just telling you what you want to hear, Shelby.” He leaned in slowly, his eyes open and fixed on her, and kissed her. “Kiss me back.”

“I’m not ready to.”

“When will you be ready?”

“I’ll let you know.”

Oh, that smile did crazy things to his sexy face. She was powerless against that smile.

He kept kissing her, subtle brushes of his lips over hers, teasing her with far less than he was capable of. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“How do the knees feel?”

“Not so good.”

He took hold of her hands, which were also bruised and scraped. Then he pressed gentle kisses to each palm. “I called in to work. I’m staying home tomorrow to take care of you.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It is to me.”

“I have to work tomorrow.”

“You’re going to call them and tell them you got hurt and that you need to take a sick day. And then you’re going to stay here with me, snuggled under this blanket my sister got me for Christmas. Then you’re going to let me make it up to you by torturing me with a full day of your favorite chick flicks.”

“You have no idea what you’re in for. Do the words Legally Blonde mean anything at all to you?”

“Not yet, but after tomorrow I’m sure I’ll be fully indoctrinated.”

He put his arms around her and Shelby leaned her head against his chest. After all these years of navigating the dating game, you’d think she’d have a better handle on whether or not she should give him another chance. That he’d sincerely apologized and assured her that whatever he’d felt for Sam was in the past now went a long way toward soothing the ache inside her.

But she’d have to talk to Sam and Nick about this situation at some point, and the thought of that made her feel sick. She loved them both. That they could’ve kept something like this from her surprised and hurt her.

“Let’s go to bed, darlin’,” Avery said.

When he slid his arms under her, intending to carry her upstairs to his bedroom, Shelby looped hers around his neck. She’d deal with her employers tomorrow.

* * *

Because the punch had broken bones in her face and around her eye, doctors decided to keep Elin in the hospital overnight. They gave her something to help her sleep and after she was settled in a room upstairs, she conked out. Freddie sat by her bedside, staring at her bruised and swollen face, seething over how it had come to be that way.

That she had kept something so important from him for a month made him crazy. A guy had been hassling her, and she didn’t think he needed to know? Just when he thought he had this relationship thing figured out, something happened to remind him he was in way over his head with her and had been from the beginning.

He could still remember the first time he’d laid eyes on her during the O’Connor investigation when he’d had to listen to her describe the kind of wild sex she’d had with the dead senator. He’d wanted her madly then and nothing had changed in the year since.

It was exactly a year today since he went to find her at the gym, thinking of New Year’s resolutions that had nothing to do with working out and everything to do with getting the incredibly sexy Elin Svendsen into his life and his bed. No one had been more surprised than he was that she was equally attracted to him. This woman who could have anyone actually wanted him.

A lifetime of abstinence had melted away in one life-changing night with her. He’d put everything on the line for her—his faith, his close relationship with the single mother who’d raised him and most important, his heart. It had been totally and absolutely worth it. Now they lived in an apartment they’d chosen together.

Freddie loved coming home to her every night. He loved sleeping with her and weekends with her and making love with her. So it killed him to know she’d been troubled and bothered by someone and hadn’t told her boyfriend the cop. What did it mean for them that she could’ve kept something like that from him for so long?

While she’d been getting a CT scan earlier, he’d called HQ to find out the status of the man who’d hit her. He was in the cooler awaiting arraignment in the morning. Freddie kept telling himself his place was at the hospital with her and that he shouldn’t leave her for any reason.

But as her face continued to swell and the bruises turned a dark, vicious purple that matched the rage that had been festering inside him all night, he knew he couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing. Bending over the bed, he kissed her lips and waited to see if she would wake up. She never stirred.

“I’ll be right back,” he whispered as he kissed her again. “I love you.” After leaving her room, he stopped at the nurses’ station, where he recognized several of the women who’d cared for Sam after a car accident last winter. “I have to step out for a short time. If my girlfriend, Elin Svendsen, wakes up, can you please tell her I’ll be right back?”

“She shouldn’t wake up for a while,” one of them said. “We’ll keep an eye on her. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks a lot. I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll be here.”

“Thanks.” He headed for the elevators and cut through the emergency department to get to his car. The temperature had dropped significantly during the hours he had spent inside, so he zipped his sweatshirt and ran for his car, anxious to take care of what needed taking care of and to return to Elin. He ought to call Sam, but she’d talk him out of what he was about to do. He couldn’t let that happen, he decided as he reached his car.

The old Mustang fought back, and for a second he didn’t think it would start. But then it roared to life, backfiring as he punched the accelerator. A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot at HQ, parked in one of the spots reserved for visitors outside the main door and jogged inside. He nodded to the sergeant working the main desk and headed for the detectives’ pit, which was deserted.

Since officers never took weapons into the cell block out of fear of being overpowered, Freddie locked his gun into his desk drawer and then took the stairs down two floors to the cells where people were held while awaiting arraignment.

“Hey, Cruz.” Sergeant Delany was on duty. “You’re working late.”

“Yeah, it’s one of those days.”

“What can I do for you?”

“The guy who was brought in from the 16th Street gym...”

“Andre Elliott. He’s in number six.”

Freddie looked the sergeant in the eye. “He put my girlfriend in the hospital. I’d like to have a chat with him.”

After a long pause, during which Freddie never blinked, Delany said, “Go ahead.” He handed Freddie the key to the cell.

“Thanks.”

Delany nodded.

Freddie unzipped his hoodie and removed it before using the key to open the cell door.

Elliott was stretched out on the narrow cot, but sat up when Freddie came in. “Who are you?”

Raising the hoodie so it covered his face, Freddie hung it over the camera that was trained on Elliott. He was tall and muscular with a complexion that indicated mixed-race lineage. He had a jagged scar on his bicep and sleeve tattoos. The knuckles on his right hand were bruised and swollen.

“I’m Detective Cruz.” With his hands propped on his hips, his gold shield was visible to the other man.

“What’d you want?”

“The woman you hit at the gym today...”

“What about her?”

“She’s mine. She says you’ve been hassling her for a while now.”

“She lies.”

“No, she doesn’t.” Freddie took a step closer. Even though the guy was bigger than him and probably a whole lot meaner, Freddie was running on adrenaline and rage. He felt like he could kick the shit out of a raging bull if he had to. “Let me make myself really clear. Stay the fuck away from her, or you’ll be dealing with me.”

“You think I’m afraid of you?”

Freddie moved so fast Elliott never saw the knee to the groin coming. He cried out in pain as he went down hard. Without giving him time to recover, Freddie punched him in the face, in the same area where Elin had been hit. Then he took a handful of Elliot’s hair and forced him to look up.

Freddie brought his face down close to Elliott’s. “Stay the fuck away from her, or I swear to God I’ll fuck you up. Are we clear?”

“I’ll have your badge for this.”

“No, you won’t. We don’t think much of scumbags who hit women around here.” He pulled hard on the handful of hair. “Are we clear?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t hear you.”

“We’re clear.”

Freddie released his hold on Elliott’s hair and pushed him aside, leaving the man slumped on the floor, cupping his injured testicles. On the way out of the cell, Freddie walked past the camera before he pulled his hoodie off it.

At the desk, he handed the key to the Delany.

“Everything all right?” Delany asked.

“It is now. If you could forget I stopped by, I’d consider it a personal favor.”

“Never saw you here.”

“Thanks, Sarge. Happy New Year.”

“Same to you.”

Freddie went up the stairs two at a time, propelled by the same surge of adrenaline that had brought him here. He retrieved his weapon from his desk and was on his way to the hospital five minutes later. Only when he was back in Elin’s room, his hand swelling from the impact to Elliott’s face, did the adrenaline leach from his body, leaving him cold and shaky as he leaned over the bed to kiss her forehead.

Sagging into the chair next to the bed, he accepted that he’d risked his hard-won career by going to the jail. But he’d do it again to protect the woman he loved.

* * *

Sam and Nick waited an hour after Scotty went to bed before heading up to their loft on the third floor. On the way up, Nick went into Scotty’s room to check on him. He was asleep with most of his covers on the floor, so Nick covered him up and shut off the bedside lamp.

When he got upstairs, Sam was on the phone, apparently with Gonzo.

“We do have some threads, and we’re pulling them. Carlucci and Dominguez are working on Lori’s financials tonight, and we’re looking at the church she belonged to. They protest at veterans’ funerals, among other unsavory things. I’m going on TV with the chief tomorrow to talk about Springer, and I’ll take advantage of the opportunity to direct the heat off you.”

Nick lit the beach-scented candles, turned on the music they’d loved on their honeymoon in Bora Bora and shut off the overhead lights. He sat next to her on the foot of their double lounge chair, put his arm around her and kissed her neck. He was fine with starting without her. She’d catch up. She always did.

She leaned into him. “I know,” she said to Gonzo. “It totally sucks that people are saying that, but the people who matter know the truth. Just remember that. I’ll check in tomorrow, and I’ll keep you posted. Try to get some sleep.” She ended the call, then tossed her phone aside. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem. I managed to entertain myself.”

Laughing, Sam began tugging at his shirt.

He put his arms behind him so he could watch her push up the shirt she’d bought him to replace the ratty one she hated. “What’s this about TV?”

“Oh. You heard that, huh?”

“Yep. What gives?”

“So, things with the chief are bad. The press is doing a number on him. I suggested he go out there and tell his side of the story.” When Nick pulled the T-shirt over his head, she trailed her finger from his neck to the waistband of his jeans, sending all the blood in his body to his cock, which surged against his zipper.

“How’d you get roped into it?”

Sam bent to kiss the same path. “I might’ve offered to use my, you know...” She waved her hand. “What do you call it?”

“Your stature as the wife of the vice president of the United States?”

“Yeah, that.”

Laughing, Nick fell back on the bed. “You are so funny, you know that?”

“How am I funny?”

“You don’t even know how to play the game, do you?”

“What game?”

“The fame game. You’re famous, Samantha. Everyone in this country knows who you are now. Go out there and use that to square things away for your chief.”

“Use it.” She bit her lip the way she did when she was thinking. “Isn’t that kind of...unethical?”

“Not at all. It would be unethical if you asked me to get involved behind the scenes to make it go away. If you go on TV and take advantage of the interest in us to change the conversation then that’s not at all unethical.”

“It feels icky.”

“Welcome to politics, babe.”

She unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. “I don’t want to talk about politics.”

Twirling a lock of her hair around his finger, he said, “What do you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about how sexy my husband, the vice president, is and how every woman in America would like to be me right now.”

“Sure, they would.”

“Speaking of not knowing how to play the game.”

“I don’t want to play this particular game with anyone other than my beautiful wife.”

“Spoken like a true politician.”

“Or a smart husband.”

“That too,” Sam said with a laugh. She kissed a path from his belly to his chest, ending at his lips.

He wrapped his arms around her to keep her there, losing himself to her kiss and the way she made him feel. Her mouth opened and her tongue tangled with his. God, he could kiss her forever and never get tired of it. As he kissed her, he pulled at her clothes impatiently, breaking the kiss only to tug her top over her head. The scent of lavender and vanilla filled his senses and made him greedy for more of her.

Nick released the clasp on her bra and pushed the straps down, gasping at the exquisite feel of her breasts pressed against his chest. That was one of his top five favorite things in life. As he pushed her jeans down, he uncovered one of his other top five favorite things—her gorgeous ass. Truth be told, he loved every incredible inch of her, and the way she responded to him was a constant reminder of how damn lucky he was that she loved him.

And then she broke the kiss and reminded him all over again why he was so lucky. She pushed him onto his back and kissed a path straight down the front of him.

He drew in a sharp breath when she took him into her mouth, sucking hard enough to make him see stars. Goddamn, she was good at that. “Samantha.”

“Hmm?” She knew the vibration of her lips against his shaft made him crazy.

“You’re going to end this before we get started.”

“Let me have my fun.”

Her idea of fun was his idea of heaven. He gathered her hair so he could watch, which was almost as sexy as what she was doing with her lips and tongue. Then she took him into her throat and nearly finished him off with the tight squeeze. “Sam.”

She released him slowly, taking her time and circling her tongue over the head.

He reached for her and pulled her up to him, their mouths coming together in a clash of tongues and teeth and lips. He couldn’t wait one more second to be inside her, so he turned them and plunged into her. Surrounded by her heat, her scent, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his hips, Nick took a moment to enjoy the sheer bliss he found with her every damn time.

Then she began to move beneath him, needing more. He raised his head to look down at her swollen lips, the clear blue eyes that looked up at him with love and desire and the hint of vulnerability that she saved only for him. She let herself go with him, and he loved that she gave him that.

“What’s wrong?” she asked after a long moment of quiet during which he pressed deeper into her, but made no move to speed things up.

“Not one damn thing is wrong.” He framed her face with his hands and kissed her softly. His Samantha liked it hard and fast, but tonight he wanted to take his time. He wanted to savor her. He started with her neck, kissing and nibbling while she squirmed beneath him, trying to break his control.

Cupping her breasts, he sucked on her left nipple, drawing it into his mouth and running his tongue over the tip.

She grabbed a fistful of his hair and tugged as she tightened her legs around his hips. Her internal muscles rippled and squeezed his cock, testing his resolve to go slow.

“I know what you’re doing,” he said.

“What am I doing?”

“You’re trying to take control.”

“I’m trying to get you to move.”

“I will. When I’m good and ready to.” He laughed at the frustrated face she made at him. “You may be the boss at work, but here,” he said, knowing he’d probably make her mad, “I’m the boss.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“I never agreed to that.”

He withdrew from her so quickly, she gasped.

“What the hell?”

“Turn over. I want you on all fours, head down.”

“Nick.”

“Do it, Samantha.” He got up from the lounge. “You’re not in charge right now.”

Nick caught the glare she directed his way, but she did as he told her to do. Taking direction was a challenge for his wife, but he was determined to do this his way. He crossed the room to get what he needed and returned to the lounge and the incredible sight of his wife’s delicious ass raised in the air.

“Spread your legs some more.”

Hesitantly, or so it seemed to him, she did as he asked.

“What’re you doing?” she asked.

“No talking.”

Her deep sigh was so filled with annoyance that he had to hold back a laugh. She was adorable and he loved her madly, even when she was willful and determined to get her way all the time, even in bed.

“I love you like this,” he said, cupping her buttocks and squeezing.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to talk?”

“You’re not. I am.”

“Not fair.”

He bit his lip to keep from laughing. “Shhh. Just relax and let me love you.”

“But I want to—”

He silenced her with a spank, a quick pop of his palm against her cheek that made her shudder. Discovering that his sexy, gorgeous, willful wife enjoyed being spanked had been one of the highlights in a year of incredible discoveries. Always careful to keep the focus on pleasure and not pain, he did it again and again and again, until her bottom was pink and her moans were all he could hear.

He spread her cheeks apart and bent to lick from her anus to her clit, sucking on the tight bundle of nerves as he sank two fingers into her. She came instantly, crying out from the force of her release. It was all he could do to hold back his own need to come as she let go so completely.

Taking himself in hand, he removed his fingers and replaced them with his cock, pumping into her and catching the end of her orgasm. Damn, she was amazing and tight and hot and so wet. He picked up the tube he’d placed next to him and squeezed out a dollop of lube that he spread over her back entrance.

She reacted immediately, gripping him with her internal muscles and gasping as he pressed two fingers past the tight ring of muscles. With his other hand he reached around to her clit.

“Jesus,” she whispered, making him smile with the knowledge that he’d succeeded in emptying her mind of everything other than what was happening right here and now. He gave her his fingers and his cock, alternating so she was filled at all times while he pressed rhythmically against her clit. He loved her like this, completely at his mercy and accepting the pleasure she deserved.

The only thing that would make this better was if he could see her face, which he knew would be flushed and rosy from desire. He picked up the pace, hammering into her until he felt her come hard, her entire body seizing from the release that took him with her, surging into her until he was completely drained.

He withdrew his fingers and wrapped his arms around her, his face pressed against her back.

Sam’s arms gave out and she slid to the mattress.

He went with her, still buried deep inside, feeling her muscles twitch in the aftermath of her release.

“You should not still be hard after that,” she said after a long moment of silence.

Chuckling, he said, “I can’t help it if once is never enough with you.”

“You almost killed me with that one. Not sure I’ve got a second round in me tonight.”

“I bet I can change your mind.”

“I have no doubt that you can and will change my mind.”

He cupped her breasts and toyed with her nipples.

“That was incredible, babe,” she said softly.

“For me too.”

She grasped one of the hands he had under her. “I love you.”

He hugged her tightly. “I love you too.”