CHAPTER SIX #4
“Thank you for this,” I said before sliding one lubed-up finger inside his hole.
He groaned, and his hole squeezed my finger tight, and the way he clenched around me made me almost drool.
I worked him open slowly, adding another finger, then another, stretching him wide enough to take my cock. His moans were breathy and desperate.
I grabbed a condom, tearing the wrapper open with my teeth before rolling it onto my rock-hard dick. The latex clung to me like a second skin, and I slapped my cock against his asshole, watching him shudder at the contact.
“Fuck me, Declan,” he begged.
“Like I could stop if I wanted to?”
I lined myself up with his hole, pressing the head of my dick against that tight entrance.
I slowly pushed inside him, and the dirty little sounds he made were music to my ears.
I pulled out and pushed back in harder, and then I was inside him.
He bit the comforter, muffling his cries as his walls clenched around me like a vise.
I pulled out almost all the way before thrusting back in, setting a punishing rhythm that had him clawing at the sheets.
“Shit, Spencer.” I grunted, gripping his hips hard, and his words were incoherent moans as I fucked him harder, faster, deeper. I was ready to bust in thirty seconds flat. I hadn’t been kidding when I said I wouldn’t last long.
His ass tightened around me, his body trembling as he got closer to the edge.
I didn’t think he’d come again since he’d just shot a minute ago, but as I gave one final thrust, burying myself balls-deep inside him, his untouched cock spit cum onto the comforter.
I groaned as I emptied myself into the condom, his hole quaking on my spurting dick.
“Jesus, fuck,” I mumbled as my vision blurred and I finished inside him.
I gave a few more weak thrusts, breathing hard, and we collapsed in a sweaty heap. I knew I was probably crushing him, but my muscles were like wet noodles. After a few moments, I rolled off him so he could breathe better, my hand resting on his firm ass.
We both started laughing.
I mumbled, “Okay, now we can get ready for the day.”
“Was that actually any quicker than just taking a shower together?” he asked, still laughing.
I gave him a sheepish grin. “I don’t know. But if I’m late for work, it was worth it.”
* * *
Bree was already at her desk when I arrived. She had her laptop open and two monitors running. She looked like she’d been at it for a while.
She smiled slyly when I walked in. “You’ve never been late before, boss. Did you have a good night?”
My face warmed, which was insane. I was a thirty-five-year-old man, not some kid who got caught sneaking in after curfew. “Yes.” I didn’t feel compelled to give her any more details.
“Did you have another date with June?” Her tone was insinuating but amused.
I frowned. “How would you know about June?”
She laughed. “Pfft. Are you serious? Gossip is Coral Cove’s favorite pastime.”
I laughed gruffly. “I wouldn’t think my love life was that interesting to the people of this town.”
“Well, you’re dead wrong.” She grinned. “So is that why you’re late? You had a hot date with June last night?”
“Uh, no.” I avoided her gaze.
She wrinkled her brow. “No?”
I cleared my throat. “I’m probably not going to see June again.”
“Oh, really?” She blinked at me in confusion. “I thought you two were perfect for each other.”
“Why?” I laughed.
“Because.” She pursed her lips. “You’re both attractive and about the same age. You’re the Chief of Police, and she works at the courthouse. You two just seemed like you’d be a good match.”
“June is great.” I moved toward her desk to see what she was working on. “But I’m not really looking for anything serious right now. I got the feeling June was looking for commitment.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.” She seemed genuinely disappointed, and I wasn’t sure why. Was she friends with June?
“Anything interesting on the video?” I asked, leaning over her desk.
“Oh, right.” She swiveled back to her computer. “Well, as you know, a lot of the footage was grainy and hard to see. I asked the tech guys if they could clean up the bait shop footage like you asked. It’s still not great, but it’s usable now.”
“And?”
“Dale Pruitt shows up on camera at 9:47 p.m. He goes straight to his boat. You can see him working near the stern, bent over with what looks like the hatch open. He’s there for about an hour and forty minutes.
Leaves at 11:23 p.m. Doesn’t go anywhere near the main pier or any other boats. Just works on his own boat and leaves.”
I exhaled, feeling frustrated. That matched Dale’s story almost exactly. The timestamps, the duration, the location. That meant Dale was doing exactly what he said he was doing the night Eddie died. Fixing his float switch and going home.
“So Dale’s probably clean,” I said.
“Looks that way.” Bree hesitated. “But there’s something else. Someone I didn’t expect.”
I looked at her. “Who?”
“Craig Barlow.”
That got my attention. “Tess Barlow’s husband?”
“Yeah. He shows up at the harbor around 9:00 p.m. He’s on foot, comes in from the parking lot.
He goes to one of the smaller boats tied up on the east side.
Not his regular boat, a smaller skiff. He takes it out.
” She turned her laptop to show me a grainy but visible image of a large man climbing into a small boat.
The timestamp read 9:04 p.m. “He doesn’t come back until 1:07 a.m.”
“No shit?” I raised my brows.
“That’s what the video shows.”
I stared at the screen. Craig Barlow had been on the water the night Eddie died. Out for four hours in the middle of the night on a boat that wasn’t his primary vessel. That was a window that overlapped entirely with the estimated time of Eddie’s death.
“Do we know whose skiff that is?” I asked.
“Not yet. It’s not registered to Craig. Could be borrowed, could be one of the community boats the fishermen share.”
“Hmm. We can probably pin that down pretty quick.”
“Yes.” She tapped her pen on the desk, looking uneasy. “There’s something else too. It’s not anything on the video, but it’s about Craig.”
“What is it?” I frowned.
“Well, I was getting a latte this morning at Driftwood Coffee before coming to work.” She cleared her throat. “The owner, Lena Castillo, pulled me aside and said she’d heard some gossip about Tess Barlow and Eddie. That they were sleeping together.”
I squinted at her. “Tess and Eddie?” I remembered what Spencer had told me last night about Tess and Gil flirting at the Rusty Anchor. Now she was supposedly also having a thing with Eddie? “You sure that’s who she said Tess was fooling around with?”
“Positive.”
“Who told her that?”
Bree bit her lip as if recalling her conversation with Lena. “It wasn’t that anyone took her into their confidence. She said she’d overheard Craig bitching about how he was going to fuck Eddie up for messing with his wife.”
My heart sped up. “He said those exact words?”
“Apparently he did. He was talking to some guy he works with on the Blue Whale. They were having coffee about a week before Eddie died. The guy was trying to calm Craig down, but Craig is such a hothead, he wasn’t listening. He just kept saying Eddie was going to pay for sleeping with his wife.”
“Well, shit.” I met her gaze.
“I know. If that’s true…”
I put my hands on my hips. “Looks like I need to go have a cup of coffee and a little chat with Lena. I need to hear what she has to say in person.”
“I figured you would.” Bree nodded.
“Why didn’t Lena come forward with this information sooner?”
“She said she just couldn’t believe that Eddie’s death was anything but an accident.” Bree sighed. “But that conversation she overheard was eating at her. When it took so long for you to rule Eddie’s death an accident, she finally decided she had to say something.”
“Better late than never, I guess.” I sighed. “I need to get a fresh notepad out of my office. Then I’ll head over to talk to Lena. Depending on what she says, and if she seems credible, I’ll need to bring Craig in later today. This might be just the break I needed to get this case moving.”
Bree murmured, “It’s been stagnant far too long.”
“Agreed,” I said, heading down the hallway to my office. When I got inside, I grabbed a new notepad out of the top drawer. When my phone buzzed, I pulled it out of my pocket and saw a text from Spencer.
Smiling, I sat down in my chair to read it. I could hardly walk today thanks to you, Chief.
I couldn’t help laughing and I felt a little lighter just seeing his text.
I responded. I’d give anything to be able to get out of here and grab dinner later. Unfortunately…
He typed, Hey, that’s how it is when you’re the big-shot Chief of Police. Me? I get to go home tonight, have a beer, and maybe watch some porn.
I grinned. I don’t need porn. Not when I have memories of you.
Aww. That’s sweet. Kind of. In a pervy way.
I was smiling at my phone like an idiot when Bree opened the door. I quickly set my phone on the desk, face down, and she gave me a funny look.
“Yes?” I asked in a tight voice.
“Uh, I have a call in with Ray to see if maybe he gave Craig permission to use one of the community boats. He wasn’t in. He’s getting a haircut.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me know.”
“No problem, boss.” She glanced at my phone and smirked. “Were you sexting the new woman you’re seeing?”
“No,” I said indignantly.
It wasn’t a lie.
She nodded, looking like she didn’t believe me. “Okay, boss, whatever you say.”
Once she was gone, I reread my text exchange with Spencer, smiling.
Spencer was fun. Playful. I really liked that about him.
I hadn’t had enough of that in my life since moving to Coral Cove.
I’d been fully focused on the new job. And while that was important and I wanted to excel here as Police Chief, I didn’t want to make the same mistakes I’d made in the past. I’d need to find a balance between my job and my private life.
I wasn’t looking for anything serious, but neither was Spencer. He’d be the perfect distraction from a stressful job. I looked forward to more sexy sleepovers.