Chapter Twenty #2
Her words, words he didn’t feel he deserved after the things he’d said to her, moved him deeply.
Keeping his arms around her, he walked her backward toward their bedroom, and came down on top of her on their bed.
It had been weeks since he’d touched her this way, and all the love and desire he’d always felt for her came roaring back to life in a flashpoint of heat that left him breathless.
He’d been so numb, so broken, that it was almost painful to feel so much all at once. And then to realize what could’ve been lost forever… He dropped his head to her shoulder, breathing through the ache inside him.
She ran her fingers through his hair as she sprinkled kisses on his face. “Make love to me, Tommy. I’ve missed you so much. I’ve missed us.”
He pushed up her sweater and helped her remove it, then she did the same for him.
Reaching behind her, he unhooked her bra and pushed it aside, revealing sweet pink nipples.
As he bent his head to tease one of them with his tongue, it occurred to him that Arnold would never have this.
He’d never fall in love or make love to the woman he adored.
He’d never know the joy of fatherhood. He would never again have anything. Ever.
Those few thoughts were all it took to extinguish his desire.
Dropping his head to Christina’s chest, he fought through the tsunami of emotions that hit him every time he remembered what had happened to his partner.
“Tommy? What is it?”
“I…” His throat closed and his voice broke. “I can’t. I can’t do this.”
“It’s okay.” She tightened her arms around him. “We don’t have to do anything. I’d be perfectly happy if you held me for a little while.”
As he wrapped his arms around her, he felt like a total failure—as a partner to her and to Arnold, as a cop, as a father, as a man. Trulo had said those feelings would fade in time. He only hoped that would happen before Christina wised up and realized she could do a hell of a lot better than him.
The SUV delivered Sam to the West Wing entrance where Lilia waited for her wearing a classy red dress with a black blazer. “You look nice,” Sam said, grateful she’d taken the time to change before her trip to the White House. “I feel like an amateur next to you.”
Lilia laughed. “You look great as always. Come on in.” She said that so casually, as if she weren’t inviting Sam into the most famous house in the world. “How’s the suspension going?”
“It’s been eventful, as I’m sure you know. I’m headed to Knoxville this afternoon to follow a lead in the Hamilton case.”
“So you’re working the case even though you’re suspended?”
“Shhh,” Sam said with a grin.
“I should’ve known. The West Wing has been buzzing all morning over the death of Troy Hamilton.”
“What’re people saying?”
“They’re shocked. He was so larger than life and so well regarded.”
“Yes, he was.”
“The morning shows were one big tribute to him,” Lilia said. “People are stunned that someone like him could be murdered. It reminds me of how I felt when I heard Senator O’Connor had been murdered.”
“When someone seemingly untouchable is taken from us, it’s a reminder that we’re all mortal.”
“Yes, exactly. I hope you find the person who did it very soon.”
“I hope so, too.” As they reached her suite of offices, Sam’s phone rang and an out-of-state number appeared on the caller ID. Her heart leapt at the realization that the call was from Williamson County, Tennessee. “I’m sorry, but I have to take this.”
Lilia gestured to Sam’s office. “Please. Take your time.”
“Thanks, I’ll be quick.” Closing the door behind her, she flipped open the phone. “Holland.”
“Detective Watson from Williamson County.”
“Do you have news for me?”
“I do. It’s a match. We’ve had two independent experts confirm it.”
All the air left Sam’s body in a big exhale. While she’d expected the news, it was still a shock to have confirmation that the late FBI director had raised a kidnapped child as his own.
“As you can imagine,” Watson said, “we’re extremely eager to reunite Taylor with his family.”
“Yeah, about that… He’s, um… We don’t know where he currently is. We’re looking for him—”
“What do you mean you don’t know where he is?” Watson asked, his tone tight with frustration that Sam could certainly understand. She’d be fucking furious if she were him.
“After his father was murdered last night—”
“His father was murdered? Who was his father?”
Sam released her hair from the clip she’d secured it in earlier and ran her fingers through it, trying to collect her thoughts. “The man who raised him was FBI Director Troy Hamilton.”
“You’re serious.”
“Dead serious.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“I told you this case would be too hot to handle if the DNA was a match.”
“There’s hot and then there’s nuclear.”
“We were moving Josh Hamilton to a more secure location last night when he and one of my detectives were overtaken by three men with assault weapons. My detective was beaten and taken from the scene in a van. We were able to trace the plates on the van and recover my detective. Josh wasn’t with him. We’re continuing to search for him.”
Watson’s deep sigh echoed through the phone line. “Did you get the guys who took them?”
“We have three men in custody who are demanding lawyers before they’ll talk to us. We’re hoping to learn more from them today. I promise you we’re doing everything we can to find Josh.”
“If we’ve come this far only to lose him now…”
“We’re not going to lose him,” Sam said with more confidence than she felt. “We’re going to find him, and we’re going to give the Rollings family the reunion they’ve been praying for the last thirty years.”
“If it’s the same to you, I’m going to refrain from telling them he’s been found until we know where he is.”
“I think that’s a wise move.”
“It kills me to keep this from them.”
“I understand. We’re working as fast as we can to locate Josh and to figure out how he ended up in Hamilton’s custody.”
“His murder has to be related to the kidnapping,” Watson said.
“We’re operating under that premise. I’m heading to Knoxville later today to speak to a potential witness.”
“What witness?”
“I’m not at liberty to disclose that yet.” The last thing she needed was Watson beating her to the punch with the administrative assistant in the FBI’s Knoxville office. “I will as soon as I can.”
“The kidnapping is my case, Lieutenant. If you have information that I should be aware of, it’s professional courtesy to share it.”
“I’ll share it as soon as I have something. You have my word.”
“I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with that for now, but I’m not going to sit on this news for more than twenty-four hours. The Rollings family has a right to know their son has been found.”
“Agreed. I’ll be in touch.” Sam ended the call, her chest tightening with stress. No pressure much. Sam placed a call to Malone.
“Didn’t I just see you?” he asked.
“The DNA is a match.”
“Hot damn.”
“The detective in Williamson County is giving us twenty-four hours to locate Josh before he tells the Rollings family. It’s killing him to sit on it that long.”
“I understand. We’re doing everything we can to find him.”
“I told him that.”
“Let me get back to it. Keep me posted.”
“You do the same.”
Sam closed her phone, put it in her pocket and took a series of deep breaths to ground herself in the moment, to remember why she was in her White House office and what needed to be done before she left for Knoxville. She went to the door and opened it. “Ready whenever you are.”