Chapter Ten
Admittedly, Stefanie felt downright giddy as she drove onto Campbell’s property, taking note of the green, hilly acreage. She envisioned children playing and running across it merrily. Along with their doting parents watching their offspring with boundless joy.
Okay, so maybe I’m putting the cart ahead of the horse with this vision, Stefanie thought.
She took a breath. Best to let things play out naturally and not assume that she and Campbell were already a match made in heaven.
For now, it was just dinner—albeit a second date—and no guarantees of scrumptious desserts to leave a lasting taste in either of their mouths.
Stefanie got out of her car and approached Campbell’s farmhouse. With her hair loose, she wore a sleeveless indigo denim dress and black T-strap sandals. Campbell was waiting for her when she arrived at the front door.
“Hey.” He flashed her a mouthwatering grin.
“Hey.” She smiled back, taking in his formfitting terra-cotta piqué polo shirt, beige twill chinos and brown boat shoes.
“Come in,” he told her enthusiastically.
Stefanie stepped into his house and was even more impressed with the layout and rustic furnishings than she was with the land it sat on. Or at least equally so. “You have a beautiful place here,” she remarked sincerely.
Campbell smiled. “Thanks. It’s probably a bit much for just one person. Guess maybe I was thinking ahead—”
She grinned musingly, reading between the lines. “I see.”
“Food’s ready to be served,” he said. “I can give you the grand tour later.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hope you like fish?”
Stefanie picked up the scent of the grilled halibut. “I love fish,” she told him.
“Good to know.” Campbell grinned. “I added tomato vinaigrette to the halibut, to go with grilled vegetables, lemon-herbed rice and whole wheat bread. There’s red wine, fruit punch, water and/or coffee. Whatever suits your fancy.”
She smiled. “Everything sounds tasty,” she confessed. “I’ll have the red wine.”
“You and me both,” he said flatly. “So, make yourself at home and we’ll eat.”
They sat kitty-corner from one another in the dining room at an aspen log table on ladder-back chairs. Stefanie had to commend Campbell for the meal. “It’s really good,” she marveled, which was an understatement.
“Glad you like it.” He gave her a slanted grin. “Picked up a few recipes from my dad and his girlfriend, Sally. But mostly, I suppose the cooking comes naturally—if I’m motivated enough.”
She giggled, slicing a knife into the grilled halibut. “I guess you were,” she teased him.
“Yeah, I can certainly say unabashedly that I wanted to leave the right impression on you,” he said with a laugh, then bit off a piece of bread.
Stefanie scooped up some lemon-herbed rice. “You’ve succeeded.” She put the rice in her mouth, savoring the taste, and wondered what other tricks he might have up his sleeve.
Campbell tasted his wine. “So, I suppose Bella told you that I dropped by to talk about Mia O’Dell?”
Stefanie nodded. “I knew that Mia was the housekeeper of Bella’s father,” she told him. “But I didn’t realize that she was stealing from Stuart Reston and was fired as a result. Not that I would’ve known this. Still, it kind of came as a shock. Sad, too.”
“I agree on both counts,” Campbell said. “Especially if losing her job was what led Mia to join the Braison Family—which may have played a crucial role in her use of fentanyl that resulted in her fatal overdose of the drug.”
Stefanie’s brow creased. “That would be awful, if one bad thing led to another,” she stated soberly.
“Of course, whatever her own culpability was, Mia didn’t deserve what she got for the bargain.” Campbell stuck his fork into the grilled vegetables. “And neither did Lynda Boxleitner. The deaths occurred two decades apart—but under very similar circumstances…”
Stefanie gazed at him. “Do you still think that the two deaths are connected in some way to the Braison Family?”
Campbell sat back contemplatively, then replied with a catch to his voice, “My gut instinct says yes. But the facts, as they are currently, may tell a different story. I suppose I’ll just have to keep digging till the right answers surface one way or another.
In the meantime, I have someone else who’s occupying my attention these days… ”
Feeling the weight of his steady gaze, Stefanie couldn’t help but color as she asked playfully, “And who might that be?”
“You, Stefanie,” he said clearly and concisely.
Her cheeks reddened with satisfaction. “You’re occupying my attention just as much these days, Campbell,” she stated candidly.
He grinned. “Good to know.”
She thought this was as good a time as any to mention the gala to him.
“I’ve been invited by Bella to the Annual Reston Hills Charitable Gala on Saturday.
She’s organizing it to raise money for various local causes.
I’d love it if you could come as my guest…
” Stefanie paused. “I know that as a police detective you probably don’t have the luxury to plan anything too far ahead—”
Campbell interjected. “I’d be delighted to go to the gala as your guest, Stefanie. I’ll make the time. Having been to a previous gala for guard duty, more or less, it should be fun to attend recreationally, and it’s certainly a worthwhile event.”
“I think so—and thanks.” She showed her teeth, happy to have him accompany her to a public outing.
He echoed those thoughts, saying, “Glad to spend more time with you wherever I can.”
“I feel the same,” she assured him.
Before Stefanie knew it, they had leaned in to each other and started kissing. The powerful effect it had beyond her lips was instantaneous, causing her entire body to quaver.
Campbell pulled away from her swollen lips, and Stefanie, looking deeply into his eyes, asked in earnest, “Do you want to take this to your bedroom?”
“Yes.” His voice was raspy. “But only if you do?”
“I want to make love to you,” she responded point-blank. How could I not, with the way you make me feel? But she still needed to be responsible. She wasn’t currently on birth control. “Do you have protection?”
“Yeah, I do,” he assured her succinctly.
That was good enough for Stefanie as she rose from the table. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up toward her and uttered with anticipation, while knowing in her heart the timing was picture-perfect, “Then let’s do this…”
* * *
STEFANIE WAS ANXIOUS as she stepped inside the large primary bedroom.
She glanced at the hickory furniture before her eyes rested on the king-size copper-panel bed, with a dark green quilt coverlet and two large pillows.
Nice, she thought as her gaze shifted to Campbell, who hadn’t taken his own gaze off her, as though hypnotized. The notion turned her on even more.
He cupped her cheeks, and they began to kiss passionately, as Stefanie felt light on her feet. She felt the rigid contours of his body pressed against hers. Just as she had lost herself in the moment, Campbell pulled away.
“Be right back,” he said on a breath.
“Okay.” Stefanie watched as he went into the en suite bathroom. She started to undress, feeling strangely unabashed, while eager to see the whole of him, and to touch and be touched by him. In her heart, she knew that this was something that needed to happen—and she very much wanted it to.
When Campbell returned, he was holding a condom packet, tossing it on the bed. He peered at her and said desirously, “You’re gorgeous—from head to toe.”
Stefanie blushed. “You think?”
“Without a single doubt,” he doubled down on it, and began removing his own clothes. They fell to the parquet floor one piece at a time as she took in his flat chest, rock-hard abs, long legs and strong feet. In between, his full manhood was clearly ready for her. As she was for him.
“I need you,” Stefanie uttered, sotto voice, reaching out to him.
“I’m all yours,” Campbell responded, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to the bed.
“And I’m yours,” she told him, eager to proceed on that meeting of the minds with their bodies.
Lying on the cotton sateen sheet, Stefanie waited for him to fall into her arms, half atop her, which he did. Their mouths locked for more deep kissing, and she could hear the patter of his heartbeat. Or was it her own? Either way, the craving within her was insatiable.
This only built in waves as Campbell explored her body blindly with long, nimble fingers, their lips never parting.
As he stimulated her taut nipples and private parts, she nearly screamed with pleasure.
Instead, she simply lay back and enjoyed it for as long as she could, before her needs went beyond that.
“Make love to me, Campbell,” Stefanie demanded, stopping what he was doing, her own delight notwithstanding.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” he asked selflessly.
“More than ever!” Her voice rang with determination. She went a step further, grabbing the foil packet and ripping it open. Then she took out the condom and put it on his erection, leaving no doubt as to what she wanted from him. Now.
Heeding her call, Campbell took over from there.
He propped up on an elbow and calmly positioned himself between her legs.
They locked eyes lasciviously as he slid slowly inside her.
Stefanie adjusted her body to him and they began to make love.
She planted her feet on the bed while urging him to go deeper and deeper.
As he capitulated to her wishes with abandon while fighting back his own urges, Stefanie climaxed, crying out.
Her body quavered wildly as she kissed him—breathing in his enticing masculine scent—she’d nearly forgotten how good it felt to react to a man’s intimate attention.
She sucked in a deep breath but knew this wasn’t over. Nor did she wish for it to be.
Wanting Campbell to reach his own heights of pleasure, Stefanie cooed to him, “Your turn. Let’s get there together—”
“All right.” Campbell sighed. He flipped her around so that he was on the bottom, and held on to Stefanie’s hips firmly. She moved gradually onto him and picked up the pace as he cupped one of her buttocks and they rocked and rolled their way toward his satisfaction.
When Campbell’s orgasm came, he let out a primordial grunt and his body shook.
He turned them back around so Stefanie was beneath him and experienced a second climax as they soared to sexual heights like eagles in human form, in search of something rewarding that they had seized upon in their mutual pleasuring.
Afterward, both spent, they lay side by side, collecting their breaths while coming back down to earth for a safe landing. Stefanie wondered how Campbell felt, physically and mentally, now that it was over. Any regrets?
As if to alleviate any concerns on her part, Campbell laughed and said sincerely, “Wow! You were truly amazing.”
Coloring, Stefanie breathed a sigh of relief. “So were you.”
“Some things in life are worth waiting for. This definitely qualifies.”
She chuckled. “I’d have to agree with you there. It was certainly a good thing to wait for this to happen—and then achieve the desired results.”
“Amen to that.” Campbell laughed, then kissed her shoulder. “Next time, though—now that the sense of urgency was met—I’d like to take it nice and slow so that we prolong the intimacy as long as we can while enjoying the pleasures of sex.”
“Mmm…” Stefanie tingled inside at the notion, that there would be a next time. “You’ll get no argument from me there.”
“Good.” He kissed the top of her head. “I hate arguing, especially where it concerns matters of the heart.”
“Me, too.” She liked hearing him think of sexual relations between them as relating to the rhythm of their hearts.
Stefanie also wanted to see this as the start—or continuation—of something special that had lots of upside for the future.
Maybe it was truly their destiny to meet the way they met, to lead to what just happened and could happen beyond.
Campbell took her into his arms, and she fell asleep on that sweet thought.
* * *
AS HE GOT up the next morning, Campbell could not deny that Stefanie had more than measured up to any fantasies he’d had about going to bed with her.
Beyond the hot sex, the chemistry between them in general was undeniable.
The fact that the two of them both seemed to be on the same page—now that they had gotten that first night of intimate relations out of their system—in forging ahead, gave him hope that he might finally have found someone that pushed the right buttons in what he wanted from a partner for the long term.
Stefanie had done just that in no time flat.
Campbell watched as she was still sound asleep—lying on her stomach beneath the coverlet, her face pressed sideways against the pillow while looking absolutely beautiful—no doubt needing some rest after their sexual escapades had worked their way into a second round that was even more frenetic and all-consuming than the first.
He was still in reverie mode when Stefanie opened her eyes. Yawning attractively, she looked at him and asked, “How long have you been awake?”
Campbell grinned and responded, “Just long enough to be able to appreciate how hot you look sleeping in my bed.”
Stefanie blushed. “You would say that.”
“I only tell it like it is,” he said truthfully, knowing that she was checking him out as well, still in the nude. “I was about to hop into the shower. If you need a little more shut-eye, I can wake you afterwards and make us breakfast.”
“I’m good,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Why don’t I join you in the shower and then we’ll have breakfast?”
“Okay.” He smiled, picturing them fooling around in the shower while putting the soap bar to good use.
This turned him on. As did much about her.
Even while in the back of his mind duty still called, as he tried to solve at least one case of a fatal OD under mysterious circumstances.
Which may or may not be associated with a similar incident that occurred way before his time.