26. Luke
Luke
Scarlett rolled off the couch wearing the same sweatpants and T-shirt that she had been in for three days.
She didn’t want me to talk to Chief Williams about the firing, so I hadn’t, but it was clearly affecting her.
We had been staying at her apartment for the last few days, and I wasn’t sure she had left the house once.
“What’s the point?” she asked when I gently tried to guide her toward a shower and a change of clothes this morning. She relented on the shower, but the sweats, apparently, were staying.
My heart broke for her. It wasn’t a tragedy; it was just a job, after all. But being blindsided like she was, it was hitting her hard.
After working all weekend and the federal holiday we had on Monday, I was finally off today.
My phone buzzed, but my gaze was glued to the wild mess of copper curls that I wanted to sink my fingers into as Scarlett stood at the counter, buttering her raisin toast. One of the few things that would get her to move off the couch: raisin toast, coffee, bathroom breaks, and string cheese.
She was a woman of interesting comfort food, but hey, who was I to judge.
Another text notification vibrated. I pulled my eyes away from her, looking just as sexy in those dirty sweats as anything else, and checked my messages.
Wyatt: Maeve and I have a babysitter tonight. Who wants to go out?
Seb: I’m in hand-raising emoji
Reid: Yeah, Claire and I will be there.
“Hey, the crew is going out tonight for drinks. Do you want to try to get out of the house for a bit and hang or just stay in?”
She didn’t say anything at first. I wanted to go out with the group. It had been a while since we all got together. But if Scarlett wasn’t ready for it or didn’t want to be around people yet, that was fine too.
“We can just stay in, baby. That’s fine,” I told her.
“No. I was just thinking. It’ll be good for me to have to get dressed in real clothes. I, um.” She rubbed her hands on the counter, wiping away nonexistent crumbs. “I haven’t told anyone about getting fired though.”
Shit. My stomach dropped.
My rounded eyes must have been a clue that I may have messed up.
“You already told them, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t know it was a secret. I should have asked first. I was just so pissed about the whole thing, and I was venting to them about it,” I admitted with a cringe. “Are you mad at me?”
I stepped into her space, tilting her chin up so I could kiss her .
She hummed softly against my lips. I parted her lips with my tongue, deepening the kiss.
I was only going for a quick touch of her lips, but Christ, I couldn’t get enough of this woman.
I couldn’t regret the decisions I’d made in life, because they’d brought me here, to this moment, but I couldn’t help but wish we could have gotten here sooner.
I thought I had forgotten what feeling in love felt like, but with Scarlett in my arms, I had to admit, it felt a lot like this.
She sank into my touch, her warm hand pressed firmly against my bare chest. I grabbed a fistful of her soft ass, and all my blood ran south.
“Are you trying to distract me from being mad at you?” she teased. She peppered kisses along my jaw and down the column of my neck.
“You don’t seem too mad right now, so I think it’s working.”
Her laughter lifted a weight I didn’t even realize I was carrying.
“I’m not mad. It actually makes my life easier.” She shrugged.
“Well, drinks aren’t until later. What do you think we should do to kill some time between now and then?”
“I’m sure we can think of something.”
I hauled her up by her waist and sat her on the edge of the kitchen counter. She tried to wrap her legs around me.
“Uh-uh.” I shook my head at her. With my hand on the waistband of her sweatpants, she lifted her ass in the air so I could drag them off her legs. “The only thing I want between these thighs is my face, Letty Girl.”
“Luke.” She breathed my name like it was a plea.
She had been down in the dumps for days, and she could take as long as she needed to process being fired and the injustice that I wasn’t being treated the same way, but if I could make her feel better, even for a little bit, I wanted to do that for her.
I nipped at the soft skin on her inner thigh.
She moaned quietly and shifted herself closer to me.
I let my tongue trail a line higher and higher up her leg, so close to her center but not giving her what she wanted just yet.
She rocked her hips again, seeking that relief.
I had every intention of teasing her, drawing this out until she was begging for my mouth, but the tangy, sweet scent of her was driving me wild.
My tongue circled her entrance, dipping into her sweet pussy.
I licked a path through her slit, and when I reached the tight bundle of nerves, I sucked on her hard.
Scarlett’s head fell backward, and her hand gripped my shoulder. She made a sound that was part moan and part sigh. I licked her from her ass to her clit with the flat of my tongue.
“More. Luke, I need you. Fuck, please.” Her cries were making me light-headed with desire.
My dick was painfully hard, but I wasn’t letting up until I tasted her cum on my tongue.
I dipped one finger into her tight pussy, her hip thrusts pulling me as deeply into her as she could.
A second finger stretched her wider and had her riding my hand while my mouth continued to lick, and nip, and suck at her perfect clit.
I curved my fingers, changing up the spot they hit on her inner walls. “Don’t stop. I’m going to come.”
Fuck me. Her pussy clenched around my fingers as her arousal coated my hand. I lifted my eyes to hers so I could watch as she succumbed to her pleasure. A shot of pride tore through me.
I was the one who got to make her feel like that.
I was the lucky fucker who got to witness her fall apart.
I worked her through her tremors before slowly pulling my fingers out of her. I licked them clean as I stood before her. She was an absolute vision, her skin flushed pink, her breathing heavy, her muscles relaxed and sated. My lips pressed into hers.
“Hold on to me,” I growled, nipping at the sensitive spot below her ear. “I’m not done with you yet.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.
“Mmm. I feel so much better already, but I bet I’ll feel even better after you fuck me.”
Christ. My already hard dick was protesting the short walk from the kitchen to her bedroom. Scarlett tore her T-shirt over her head and pressed her tits into my chest.
I tossed her onto the bed without finesse and covered her body with mine. Scarlett rolled us over and straddled my hips, her warm, wet pussy rocking along my aching dick.
She lifted herself enough to line us up and sank down slowly.
She felt so damn good. Like nothing I had ever felt before, and I knew it was because this was so much more than sex.
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her how I felt, but we had only been together for a few weeks.
I held my tongue, but I could show her. With every kiss and every touch, she would know how I had fallen deeply in love with her.
* * *
What the hell am I reading right now?
After Scarlett and I spent all morning in bed together, she was feeling more like herself again.
She needed to get out of the apartment for a bit, get some fresh air, so while she was picking up our lunch from Downtown Diner, I was scrolling through my phone.
An email had come in from the Massachusetts State Forensic Laboratory with the report that I had requested a copy of.
It was hard to read on my phone, but they must have sent over the wrong document because this one was not deemed inconclusive.
I had seen the original document with my own eyes before it became a victim of the spilled coffee. It had definitely indicated that the results of the cigarette found by Alana’s body were inconclusive. My laptop was back at the station, and I couldn’t exactly show up there and use their printer.
The door opened, and Scarlett strolled in with our food in one hand and two bags of groceries in the other. I took the lunch from her and closed the door while she went to the kitchen to put her purchases away.
“Hey, baby, do you have a laptop by chance?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s in my desk drawer. Why?”
“The state lab sent me a copy of the file, but I can’t read it on my phone. Can I use your computer to check it out?”
I put the rest of the groceries away and pulled out two plates for our lunch while Scarlett went to grab the computer.
An ancient-looking brick was placed on the countertop. Scarlett powered it up, the whirling sound of the computer fan filling the space. I shot her a questioning glance, my brow raised.
“What? It works,” she laughed.
“When did you get this thing? In middle school?”
“Shut it. You’re the one who needs it, so who’s laughing now.” Her sky-blue eyes were bright with sass, her smile shining.
“Fair enough,” I conceded. She wasn’t wrong. Beggars can’t be choosers and all that.
I brought up my email online and downloaded the document.
The first place my eyes went was to the results.
Non-match.
I reread the top of the report to confirm I was looking at the right document.
Related to: Ryan Redmond
Crime: Murder
Forensic Case Reference: 2532CR000425
Investigating Officer: Officer Matthew Monroe
Examined: Cigarette
Results: Non-Match
Scarlett placed her hand on my back, nearly making me jump out of my skin. I wasn’t sure how long I stared at the screen, but it was long enough to make her concerned.
“What is it? What does it say?”