Chapter Twenty-five
Honey blinked more than once after seeing who she felt sure was Luke in the crowd. She’d almost started toward him except that whoever it was had turned away so fast that she thought she’d been mistaken. But it rattled her until she pushed it from her mind and concentrated on the questions being drilled at her.
By the time the police had everything they needed, Honey knew the torture a twisted conscience went through. “I’m so sorry Mom, bringing this kind of trouble to you.”
“Don’t worry, Honey. Bernie was here to help. He thinks he scared off the other girl, but to tell the truth, I figure when her friend dropped, that made her run.”
Mel, who’s head was resting on her arms on the table looked up. “So, Bernie spent the night with you? For shame, Anita.” Her teasing voice broke the tension, and while Anita flushed, Honey giggled. “Mom, you’re old enough to have sleepovers. Just make sure to take precautions.”
This statement had Melanie breaking into peals of laughter, but her mother held back, her pretend shock obviously put on.
“Honey Bolder. I’ll have you know that we have not slept together. After all, I’ve only known the man for six months.”
Now they all laughed. Their forced merriment soon became real, and it broke the strain that had formed from recent events.
Once they’d satisfied her mother’s need to make them coffee and some toast, they headed back to Honey’s new apartment where Mel gathered her belongings and said goodbye. “You sure you’re okay alone?”
“Of course I am. Besides, didn’t you say that you and Jess had plans later? It’s his day off, right?”
“Sure, but I’d break them if you need me.”
“Nope. As much as I love you, I’m fine to be alone. Soon as you leave, I’ll be heading for the bedroom and intend to sleep for hours.”
And it was exactly what she did. Well the first part anyway. She cozied up on the king size bed with a soft blanket covering her and her head on the large feather pillow. But sleep couldn’t be coerced.
Her mind spun with all that had happened recently. Experiencing so many conflicting emotions at once, she gave in to her misery. Thinking about the young girl who’d lost her life earlier started a buildup of fluids in her mouth. Sickness roiled until she ran for the bathroom to relieve herself of everything in her tummy. Returning to her nest, her control broke, and she cried for all the messes that had suddenly attacked her normal sublime lifestyle.
Her mind traveled back to the face of the man in the crowd of lookie-loos who’d turned away from her, and she cried harder. Had it been Luke? Why hadn’t he come to her? More tears fell. Taking deep breaths to control the maddening release, she blew her nose and tried to concentrate on anything else.
She thought about her past. And it dawned on her that ever since she’d been called to the FBI office and heard the latest information they’d shared about Katrina; her whole world had been off kilter and messed up. Who was she kidding that she could gather information on a murderer?
The thought of her shortcomings brought on more tears, making her wail like she had when overcome with grief about missing her sister. It had been years since she’d let her emotions rule so strongly and yet it seemed she had no off switch.
When her phone pealed she ignored it. When a knock on the door sounded, she didn’t hear it. Too immersed in her heartache, she just sobbed.
When a certain male voice sounded from the bedroom doorway, it only made her weep harder. But when strong arms gathered her close, and a sympathetic man rocked her, she finally succumbed to a peaceful slumber and knew no more.
Hours later, when her eyes eventually opened, her first thought was – where the hell am I? Then she felt the warm body cuddled next to her and almost yanked away before she suddenly knew there was nothing to worry about. The man was Luke, and he had come to take care of her.
As if he sensed her being awake, he mumbled in a soft tone, “You okay now, Honey?”
She pulled away from his body and sat up to look down on him. “How did you get in here?”
“I called first and when there was no answer, it didn’t feel right. So I came up and knocked at the door. Again, you ghosted me, and I got worried. You know… ahh, Jess told me about the threatening texts you’d been getting lately. I came inside and found you crying. I couldn’t stand seeing you that broken up.”
“So you slept with me?”
“Actually, what happened is… in my defense, you wouldn’t let me go.”
Vaguely remembering her begging him to stay, she backed off from that line of questioning. “Did you hear what happened earlier?”
“A little bit. I ran into Mel, and she told me most of it before she let me in.”
“Mel let you in? I never heard you.”
“We stepped into the hallway and kept the door open a little so I wouldn’t get locked out. We were there for a while. Are you feeling better now?”
“I guess. It all seems like a bad dream. That young girl’s body. The police. All those questions.” She caught his eye on purpose. “You know, I imagined I saw you there at the crime scene.”
“Is that right? Thank God Mel stayed over and was with you.”
He reached for her and scooted back to lean against the leather backrest, holding her against him like she was a fine piece of porcelain. His hand stroked her hair away from her face, a gentle caress one wouldn’t have imagined Luke would perform. Having this as a distraction, she forgot her earlier remarks and let herself relax.
She’d accepted his hard edges as being a part of the man, and when this sudden gentleness appeared, it had her leaning in, opening to him in a way she’d never experienced before. When his hand came near her mouth, she turned her face to kiss his palm.
That brought his head down to place a kiss on her hair. Feeling him so close, she twisted so she could give her mouth to him. And he took it ever so carefully, as if not sure of her intentions. When her body angled into his, he gathered her up and the kiss turned into pure hot magic.
Their tongues met in a soft dance of welcome on her part and begging on his. Their playfulness lasted until she heard him moan. Then she pushed closer, her hands skimming his wide shoulders to wrap around his back, clinging with a wantonness she never knew she had in her.
Emotions peaking, their kisses ignited the seriousness of the moment, and both were entangled in helping each other remove unnecessary clothing. His murmurs of appreciation made her tingle with anxiety to pleasure him, and soon she had her lips on his naked chest, his nipple playfully being tugged. Unaware that he’d stiffened, she snuffled the abundant chest hair and kissed his body purring like a hungry kitten.
Arching his back, he finally pushed away the last of his clothes and they were both naked. Now he took over his attack. While she’d been making love to his chest, he’d been kissing her throat, stroking her body, and pretty much letting her find amusement with his.
Showing her he had needs too, he finally took control. His face was soon buried in her chest, nuzzling her breasts in the same way she had done to him. He licked and pulled at the hardened peaks all the while breathing heavy.
She loved his hands on her body, the warmth of them as they incited her to heights she’d never believed possible. With her swollen nipples sensitized and sending electricity through to her lower zones, her senses swirled in delight. So this is what it’s like to have sex with a man who excites one beyond reason.
Back to kissing her lips, she felt him moving over her, and she purposely writhed in passionate, greedy acceptance. Wrapping her legs around his thighs, she opened to him trustingly, her hands probing, searching behind her head for something to cling to. His hands found hers and covered them.
The throbbing sensations grew with every touch and demand of his mouth until she succumbed to the waiting intense gratification of having him inside her. When she felt his first hard plunge going deep, she cried out with thankfulness.
Now she would finally know what it felt like to be pleasured by the right man.
Now, she could reach the heights she’d only ever read about.
Oh God, now her ravenous body would finally know true satisfaction.
Just when she thought he’d reached his endgame, when her own body peaked, he drove into her again… and again. Each push feeling deeper and harder. It made her cry out. As if being affected from hearing her express her explosive climax, he joined in with a long groan of her name while his own body convulsed.
With contentment oozing inside every pore of her satisfied body, and with tiny fissions of electricity still beating in her satisfied lower regions, she lay against the man who’d thrilled her completely.
***
Luke had never before known this kind of satisfaction. This feeling of powerful attraction that had held him in its clutches since he met her. His heart accepted that he’d found a precious gem and now his body knew the truth. Life without her would be unimaginable.
She’d turned his world upside down from the first moment he’d seen her walk into Nudies… so alike the woman he’d contributed to having saved his life twenty years ago. Okay, maybe in those first few seconds he’d had them muddled. He accepted that might have been the case.
But since he’d gotten to know Honey, she’d quickly become her own person. A loveable, kind-hearted female he could fantasize living with for a lifetime. As she snuggled into him after their lovemaking, he gathered her close and blessed the world for sending her to save him from being forever a hard-assed, lonely man.
They both napped for a short while, wrapped together in a way he could picture them spending the rest of their lives doing. When he woke for the second time expecting to feel her warmth next to his, only emptiness drifted in until he sprang up… suddenly wide awake.
A sixth sense let him know something wasn’t right. An instinct he often felt…. and had learned to accept.
Pulling on his jeans, he went searching for her and found her in the kitchen, her bag next to her feet and his bluish-gray hoodie mangled in her hands. The one he’d bought at Nudies and that had a small insignia on the pocket. The same one he’d worn earlier that night when she’d looked at him across the body of a dead girl.
“You lied to me. It was you there. You walked away.”
Goddammit! How pathetic his earlier happiness seemed now.
“Let me explain.” Did his voice break?
“Don’t bother.” She threw the garment at him, picked up her things and stomped to the door. There she stopped, her back still to him. He heard something hit the floor before she closed it behind her.
He stared at his key fob while shards of pain attacked his frozen body. Legs weakening, he dropped to the floor, his back against the wall. No way he could follow her and say what… he was working undercover? An agent trying to capture the creeps responsible for the death of so many like the dead girl tonight.
The same girl who had been at her mother’s door to beat up on her and exact revenge for a spoilt, sick individual who had no boundaries.
Fisted hands pounded his knees. Son of a bitch! Son of a fucking bitch!
No way did he have the right to bring her any deeper into this mess where she could be in mortal danger. Boundaries firmly replacing desires, he pulled out his phone. Staring back at him were the shocking threats he’d read earlier. The same ones he’d found just before meeting up with Melanie who’d been on her way out of the apartment and had discovered him in the hallway. “I’m glad you’re here, Luke. Honey’s in a bad way tonight.” Melanie’s voice had been firm, her understanding of her friend unquestionable.
His eyes returned to the disgusting text.
You got some stones bringing Wendi here tonight, bro. And calling in the cops. You’re on my radar now, you slimy shit. You won’t see it coming!!
How did they even know he’d been involved? What the hell had Wendi told Jay when she’d bought the drugs at the place in the Gulch earlier? He wouldn’t put it past her to have been bragging about hanging with the lead singer performing at Nudies.
Obviously, the idiot hadn’t liked her sharing their location and since the SWAT guys arrived soon after to break up the lab, he must have correctly attributed it to her visit.
To give the devil his due, Luke had expected the FBI to have gathered up all the lawbreakers when they shut down the facility. Somehow, they must have missed the boss… the Jay that Wendi knew. The one who’d contacted him. Now, he had no choice but to take these threats seriously – for his own safety and for Honey’s.
A breath so deep it hurt his lungs stopped the sob he’d fought to control. If only he hadn’t come here tonight. After what happened at her mother’s house, any fool knew she’d be upset, and he was no fool. He’d known better. But like an uncontrollable toddler reaching for the shiny object, he’d stifled any misgivings and followed his craving to be with her.
Even still, after seeing the text, he’d hesitated at the apartment door, almost talking himself into leaving for her own safety. Christ knows, he should have left after reading the threats on his cell. His bad luck had been when Mel had seen him before he could turn away.
And… she’d said the one thing guaranteed to keep him there.
“I’ve never seen Honey like this before, Luke. She needs you.”