Chapter Fifteen
While he kept watch out the window of Cully’s room at the Sunset Inn, Declan listened for any sounds coming from the bathroom where Cully was having a long soak in the tub. He was also waiting for Owen to return his call and give him any updates on, well, every damn thing.
There were a lot of moving parts to this investigation, and this latest fire had added another cog or two. Someone had managed to plant an incendiary device and maybe an explosive, too, in the short time Cully and he had been inside her house, and it had caused a serious shitstorm.
Cully and he were damn lucky they had escaped with only a few scrapes and bruises, but the attack hadn’t only affected them. No. Alice had gone into hysterics after the explosion and had needed to be sedated.
And taken away from the house.
Since the yard and street were now a crime scene, Cully hadn’t wanted her mom or them there with all the chaos going on. And Declan couldn’t blame her. So, they’d all come to Outlaw Ridge, where Cully and he had come to the inn after Alice had been admitted to the hospital.
Both Tansy and Hayes were with Alice, and in the morning, she would hopefully be well enough to be examined by a psychiatrist to see if she was capable of being interviewed.
If the shrink cleared Alice, that would possibly open up a whole new stressful situation for Cully and her. Especially since her mom was a suspect in the four murders. No way had Alice set either of the fires, but it was possible someone, like Harley, was trying to cover up for her.
His phone finally rang, and when he saw Owen’s name on the screen, Declan answered it right away. Obviously, Cully heard it, too, because she called out.
“I’ll be right there.”
Declan wished she’d continue that soak and he could give her a summary of what Owen said, but he also understood Cully’s need for information. This asshole had tried not once but twice to kill them, and he or she needed to be stopped.
“You’re on speaker,” Declan let Owen know. “And Cully is about to join us.”
Cully came hurrying out of the bathroom, still tying the inn’s terrycloth robe around her. Her hair and face were damp, and he cursed when he realized she’d been crying.
“I’m here,” Cully told Owen.
“Good. Because you’ll want to hear this. The device set under your car was basically a homemade firebomb, and it was set off with a remote.”
That didn’t surprise Declan, and he quickly processed what that meant. “Was Renee still in the hospital and Roscoe in interview when it went off?” he asked.
“They were. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible. They could have hired someone to do it,” Owen pointed out.
Yeah, they could have. In fact, that would have made more sense than doing it themselves. Everyone in the house would have recognized both Renee and Roscoe, but they might not have noticed a stranger driving by. The person could have simply made a quick stop next to Cully’s car, tossed the device beneath it and driven away. But Renee and Roscoe weren’t the only ones who could have been responsible for this attack.
“What about Noah and Harley?” Declan pressed.
“Neither have an alibi, and as you know, Harley was in the area just minutes before the device went off. He could have slipped it under the car, drove up the street and waited for Cully and you to come out.”
Cully groaned. “But why would he want us dead?”
Owen had a quick answer, which meant he’d already given it some thought. “My guess is to stop you from dragging Alice deeper into this investigation. In fact, both fires could have been set for that reason.”
After a few moments, Cully made a reluctant sound of agreement. “Did you get a chance to ask him about the blood my mom remembered seeing on his sleeve?”
“I did, and at first Harley claimed he had no idea what Alice was talking about. But when I told him that Alice was adamant about seeing it and that she believed that was around the time of the murders, Harley seemed to have a lightbulb over the head moment and remembered cutting himself.”
“Convenient,” Declan muttered. It didn’t mean it wasn’t true though. “How’d Harley react when he heard that Alice had told us about the blood being on his clothes?”
This time Owen wasn’t so quick with his reply. “I think he was pissed, and he might have thought of it as a betrayal,” he said, causing Cully to make a soft sound of concern.
“Do you think he’ll go after my mother?” she blurted.
“No. Because Hayes and Tansy are both with her in her hospital room. When your mom sees the psychiatrist in an hour or two, they’ll wait outside the door for the eval. They’ll never be far away from her.”
That put some relief on Cully’s face, but it wasn’t a hundred percent. And wouldn’t be, not until this threat was over.
“I just got back the DNA results from the lab,” Owen went on. “Jessica isn’t Roscoe’s biological child. I don’t have Noah’s DNA on file, but I’m betting he’s the father.”
Declan wouldn’t take that bet because he believed it as well. But had Roscoe known about this? If so, it could have made it easier for him to murder Jessica if he knew she was the child of his wife’s lover.
“Gotta go,” Owen said. “I’m heading to the hospital to try to get an update on Renee. Just stay put and keep security measures in place.”
Declan would do just that since the killer could try to get to them again.
Thankfully, the inn had an excellent security system since Owen had had it installed when the inn had been temporarily used as police headquarters. Not only did every room have its own alarm system, there were sensors around the windows in case someone tried to break in. Added to that, they’d get an alert if anyone came into reception. Then, Declan could use the cameras to determine if this was a threat or just another guest.
He ended the call with Owen and looked at Cully. Then, he sighed because he could see the worry all over her face.
“Nothing’s a hundred percent,” she murmured. “Any of our suspects can still get to my mom and us.”
Declan nodded, went to her and pulled her into his arms. “Yeah, but we’ve done everything we can. Hayes is good,” he added. “He’ll do everything possible to keep your mother safe.”
He hoped she didn’t hear any doubt in his voice. But there was some. Yeah, Hayes was indeed good at his job. That didn’t mean though that the killer wouldn’t find a way around him.
“You don’t have to sugarcoat anything for me,” Cully said. “I’m not fragile, and I won’t break.”
Declan eased back enough to look her straight in the eyes. “Cully, you’re a lot of things, but fragile isn’t one of them. And, no, I won’t sugarcoat. If there’s a threat, we’ll deal with it.”
He’d meant the physical threat from the killer, but it sounded like so much more than that. Maybe because he was still holding her. And she was so close he caught her scent. The soap and shampoo that smelled like lemons. Cully’s own scent stirred beneath it.
Stirred him, too.
But then just thinking about her did that.
Soon, very soon, he would need to tell her that he was falling hard for her all over again. For now though, that would only add to her stress.
Or so he thought.
Declan had to reconsider that when she leaned in and kissed him. It wasn’t some cautious, testing the waters kind of kiss either. This was the real deal, a jump straight into foreplay.
“Don’t think about this too much,” she muttered with her mouth still against his, and she dived back in to make the kiss French.
He figured that was shitty advice, the kind that spurred people to do things they could end up regretting. And Cully just might end up regretting this, but Declan decided to deal with that later.
For now, he just went with it.
Declan tightened his arm around her, hauling her even closer to him. The kiss got even hotter. Hungrier. Yeah, common sense and good decision making weren’t going to be playing into this. This was all about heat and need and this ache he had for Cully.
She seemed to have an ache for him, too, because Cully started doing a whole lot of touching to go along with the kiss. She slid her hands down his back and to his butt, shoving that particular part of him so that his dick landed against her center. His dick, and the rest of him, very much approved of that, and it was his green light to notch this up even more.
Declan slipped his hand inside her robe, and the notching up soared. He hadn’t forgotten that she’d rushed from the tub when Owen had called so he’d figured she was naked beneath.
And she was.
He couldn’t see that because the kiss was raging on, but he felt it. First, her breasts. Then, lower to her stomach. Then, lower still.
Cully gasped in pleasure when he slipped his fingers inside her. She was wet, slick, and ready for a whole lot more than touching and kissing. So, Declan notched that up, too.
While he stroked her, he backed her toward the bed. Thankfully, it wasn’t far, and the moment they reached it, they tumbled onto the soft feather mattress. He landed just right, on top of Cully, between her legs.
She made that sound of pleasure again and lifted her hips, welcoming those strokes with his fingers. Declan was pretty sure she was close to a climax.
But she stopped it.
Cully caught hold of his hand, pushing it aside and going after the zipper of his jeans. “If you don’t have a condom, we’ll finish things another way.”
“I have a condom,” he assured her and managed to take it out of his wallet.
Cully’s next sound was one of relief, and seeing the condom seemed to add to the urgency of this foreplay. “I want you naked,” she insisted, tackling his shirt.
Declan helped her with that since it meant taking off his shoulder holster first. He placed that on the floor next to them, along with his phone so he’d be able to hear if there was any kind of security breach.
“Jeans off now,” Cully pressed.
Declan obliged, but she didn’t help him with it. That’s because she got busy with her clever mouth, and she seemed to be on a mission to kiss every inch of him.
Every. Inch.
As he shimmied down his jeans and boxers, Cully ran her tongue over his dick and damn near finished him then and there. Clearly, he was also primed and ready so more foreplay would have to wait.
Declan eased her back on the bed, shoving open her robe. While he put on the condom, he took a long look at her body. All those curves. She’d been amazing even as a teenager, but as a woman she had soared well past the amazing stage.
“Don’t make me wait,” she murmured.
He wouldn’t. Correction, he couldn’t. Because he couldn’t stall this even if he tried. And he didn’t want to stall. So, he pushed inside her.
There it was. That explosion of pleasure that only Cully could give him. That hadn’t changed, and if anything, it had gotten a whole lot stronger.
Declan moved inside her, the long, slow strokes turning to hard, deep thrusts. Cully welcomed every one of them, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, lifting her hips to meet those thrusts.
The pleasure continued, racing through him. Demanding release from this pressure cooker heat. Later, he could take his time and just savor her. But later wasn’t now. Now was about finishing this.
He kept up the thrusts until he felt the climax ripple through Cully. She made that sound of pure pleasure and whispered his name. That did it for him. No way for him to hold back so Declan just gave in and let Cully finish him off.