Oscar
A t exactly eight twenty-five, Becca received a text from Briana.
Check your agency email.
I just sent the particulars for the divorce papers.
Great, thanks. I’ll get the paperwork completed and email it to both you and Colonel Shepherd.
She thanks you. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
She’s welcome. Good night.
Becca woke her laptop and brought the Summons Petition for Dissolution of Marriage/Civil Union document up.
Then she accessed her new Shepherd Security agency email account to view the one new email there.
As expected, it was from Briana.
Becca worked on it for about twenty minutes, filling in the new information Briana had obtained from the client.
Then she sent it attached to an email to Briana and Shepherd as she had been asked to.
After knowing she had to face her current employment situation, she logged into her work email, which she had been avoiding all day.
There was an email from one of the partners, replying to her earlier message.
Not knowing what she really wanted the reply to be, she opened the message.
It was one sentence.
Bradley and I will discuss this email and get back to you soon.
That was it, which left her feeling unsettled.
Did she want them to say no problem, take as long as you need?
Or did she want them to accept her resignation?
She already knew she didn’t want to return to the office every day.
And deep inside, she knew she didn’t want to practice estate law any longer.
She could afford to take some time away from working.
Maybe that would be the best thing right now; resign and spend a month or so figuring out what she really wanted to do.
She didn’t reply to Carl’s email.
After she scanned the remainder of new emails in the account, she closed it down, done with work for the evening.
Not knowing if Carter would be back, or when, she washed her face, brushed her teeth and put her pajamas on.
She had already shut off the television.
Then she settled into bed and turned the bedside light off, doubting sleep would come easily.
She hadn’t been in bed long and was not asleep yet when her text message chime sounded through the otherwise quiet room.
Grabbing her phone from the nightstand, she saw the message from Carter.
Are you still awake and if so, may I come by?
She sat up in bed and tapped out a quick reply.
Sure.
She turned the bedside light back on at the same time there was a knock on the door.
She figured he must have been standing on the other side of the door when he sent the text.
She jumped up and went to the door, opening it, uncaring that she was wearing her mid-thigh-length night shirt.
She embraced him, relieved that he was back.
“Carter, is everything okay?” she asked.
Then she stepped back, releasing him, and she looked him over for any sign of injury.
He grinned, pleased by her concern and her brief hug.
“Yeah, can I come in?”
“Sure,” she said, stepping back so he could enter.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
He closed the door behind himself.
“Yeah, it’s fine. It really wasn’t a big deal. The fiancé of one of my teammates hit the panic code on the alarm system, which notifies our Operations Center to send help. That was the alert I got to go assist. It was the same type of code I had Ops send out after I got your text last night that you were in danger. It turned out to be some unknown dude, high as shit, pounding on her door.”
“Did you take him on alone?” she asked.
“No, Madison, not sure you’ve met her yet, and Robinson also responded. He was the older black guy that came to your sister’s place the other night. Jackson was en route when we got it resolved, so we had Ops send him home. Robinson tased him to stop him as he wasn’t listening to reason. He was so high. We cuffed him for the local cops to arrest. Dahlia, Michael’s fiancé, was fine, just a bit shaken up. Michael is out of town for work.”
Becca stared at him, dumbfounded that for him it had not been a big deal.
“Did she overreact?”
“No, not at all. She did the right thing, hitting the panic code. This guy was huge, nearly seven feet tall. He was screaming and swearing, pounding on her door violently. He wouldn’t listen to reason, not sure what he was on, but he came after us and had Robinson not tased him, I’m sure we would have had to either pummel him into unconsciousness or shoot him to stop him.”
“Shit, that’s scary,” Becca said.
“That woman in the house had to be scared.”
“Yeah, she was shaken. Madison stayed with her while they tried to get a hold of Michael and will probably convince her to go home with her tonight. Michael is Madison’s brother-in-law, and I know she already considers Dahlia her sister-in-law even though they aren’t married yet. But Madison would do it for any of the wives or girlfriends of the team. You met Madison’s husband, Cooper, when you came in for your first appointment with us to consider if we’d take the case.”
“Yes, the blond guy? I remember him,” Becca said.
“Yeah. I’m glad Madison was home. She’s on the same team with Cooper and normally deploys with the team, but is assigned to HQ for the next month as a training officer.”
“She was in the military?” Becca asked.
“Yeah, a captain in the army.”
“Wow. That’s something. Briana told me she’d been an MP in the army, too. She told me how she came to be on this team recently.”
“Madison is her supervisory and training officer. That’s why she’s at HQ right now.”
“This is such a foreign world to me, what you guys do. But I am so thankful you do it.”
He noticed that her mood became more emotional with that statement.
He reached out and caressed her shoulders, taking in the feeling of her soft cotton nightshirt.
“I’m glad we’ve been there for you. I’m glad I personally have been there for you.”
Becca gazed into his eyes.
His presence was comforting.
He was easy to talk to and proved himself to be both caring and intelligent.
His touch was soothing as well as something more exciting, something that created a yearning inside of her for more contact.
She pushed aside the thoughts in her head that told her to keep her distance from him.
Raising on her tiptoes, she pulled herself into him and laid her hands to his cheeks as she pressed her lips to his.
Although surprised by her actions, Tessman immediately returned her soft kiss, matching the gentle nature of it as he wrapped his arms around her.
He let his lips linger and didn’t escalate the kiss, didn’t turn it into the fierce response his body urged him to.
It lasted far too short for him, and he was left wanting a lot more when she pulled away.
He didn’t release her from his hold, though.
Still gazing deeply into her eyes, he ran one of his hands slowly and lightly up her arm, over her shoulder, and up her neck until he gently cupped her jaw.
Her skin was so soft he yearned to feel over other parts of her body, more intimate parts.
“That was nice,” he said.
She saw the small, boyish smile curve his lips, but it was the desire she saw burning in his eyes that was anything but boyish that made her breath hitch.
If offered, Carter Tessman would take her to bed, wanting it with a man-sized appetite that would probably stun her.
She appreciated that he hadn’t tried to escalate the kiss, hadn’t let his hands wander, and didn’t look disappointed that she ended the kiss where she had.
He was a gentleman, and this was just another way he treated her with respect.
“It was very nice,” she said in a whisper.
His thumb gently caressing her cheek was a distraction.
She wanted to tell him so many things.
She wanted to explain what that kiss meant and what it didn’t mean.
But no words came. Instead, she leaned back in and kissed him again, this time wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life.
As the kiss deepened and his tongue pressed past her lips, she knew that this was the last thing she should be doing.
But it also felt right.
She felt like the world was spinning out of control, and this was the only way to stabilize it.
Being held in his arms not only felt safe, but she felt energized, and empowered as she’d initiated the physical contact, and she felt wanted, something she needed to be right now.
She felt sexy and daring, like a woman who went after what she desired.
She’d always been reserved when it came to initiating physical, sexual contact with a man before a relationship was established.
She’d never had a one-night stand, not that she planned to tonight.
No, she wouldn’t have sex with him tonight.
As his hands kneaded her butt cheeks, pulling her fully against him, she felt his arousal and she wished she were the type of woman who could engage in meaningless sex, but she wasn’t.
She pulled away, slowly.
His eyes opened, revealing dilated pupils.
She felt flushed with excitement.
“I’d like to lie with you tonight and enjoy the feeling of our bodies holding each other, but I’m not inviting you to have sex. Just to be clear,” she said, watching him for a reaction.
He looked confused. “I like you, Carter, but I don’t,” she began, stumbling over her words, trying to pick how she wanted to describe who she was and how she felt about sex, how it had to mean something.
He silenced her with his index finger, gently pressing against her lips.
“I’d like that, and I promise, I won’t push for more.” He knew she’d been through a lot, and she was emotionally vulnerable.
He didn’t want to sleep with her as she later could regret it.
It would feel like taking advantage of the situation.
Then he removed his finger and pressed another closed mouth kiss to her lips.
His body was buzzing after the kiss, which he cut short, knowing he really wanted her.
He drew her by the hand to the bed.
She crawled to the middle of it.
He sat on the edge and took his boots off.
Then, watching her carefully, he removed his wallet, which contained his FBI badge, and his phone and gun, and he sat all three onto the nightstand.
Then he pulled the covers over himself and reached up to turn off the light.
He rolled into her and wrapped her in an embrace.
A tidal wave of emotions washed over Becca as she lay enveloped by Carter’s body and surrounded by his warmth.
For the first time since the murders, she felt at peace, and felt like it was okay not to focus on her grief, to allow herself to feel something else, something good.
And it did feel good.
She shifted her position and pulled herself more firmly into him, her head resting on his shoulder.
His erection pressed into her hip and she let herself imagine what it would feel like to be intimate with him.
“Sleep well, Becca,” he whispered.
“You too, Carter.”
She felt a kiss press to the top of her head.
She closed her eyes, knowing she’d get the best night’s sleep she’d had in a very long time.