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“Heard about that. Tough one. Good luck with it.”
“Thank you.”
The first floor was dark other than a single lamp in the living room. Sam headed directly for the stairs and tiptoed into her bedroom, trying not to disturb Nick in case he was sleeping for once. In the bathroom, she stripped out of her clothes and brushed her teeth. She took a minute to lock up her weapon and badge and set her alarm for six-twenty before sliding into bed, expelling a deep breath as she tried to shake off the disturbing night so she could get some sleep.
“I really hope you’re my wife, or I’m gonna be in big trouble when she gets home.”
Sam smiled and moved closer to him, letting him gather her up in his arms. “Mmm, I’ll take my chances with your wife if this is what I get in return.”
He nuzzled her neck. “I saw a thing about the drive-by shooting on the eleven o’clock news.”
“We had three of them tonight and reason to believe it’s not over yet.”
“I’m sorry, babe. That must’ve made for a tough night.”
“It was awful. One of them had just found out she was pregnant three days ago. They’d been trying for a long time. Her husband was there. He’d been on his way to meet her and came upon the scene.” Sam shuddered, remembering Joe’s awful grief.
“Naturally that hit you hard.”
“They all hit me hard.”
“But that was harder.”
“Yeah.” The tears that’d threatened earlier rolled down her cheeks, and she hoped he wouldn’t notice. Of course, that was wishful thinking. He noticed everything where she was concerned.
“Come here, babe.” He drew her in even closer to him, positioning her head on his chest and wrapping his arms around her. “Hold on to me.”
“Her husband was so crushed. It made me wonder what it would feel like...”
“Don’t go there. I’m surrounded by the best security in the world all the time. Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I never do, sweetheart. You know that.”
“I was so tired when I got home. But now...”
“What? Tell me.”
“I want you to make love to me, and I want it slow and sultry.”
His chest rumbled with laughter. “I can do slow and sultry.” Raising himself up on one elbow, he looked down at her in the glow of the nightlight they left on in the bathroom. “I hate to see you upset.”
“I was upset. I’m better now that there’s going to be slow and sultry.”
Smiling, he leaned in to kiss her with tenderness that rendered her defenseless. Not that she needed defenses with him. But after relying on them so thoroughly her entire adult life, it had taken a while for her to drop them when they’d first been together. Now she might as well have never had them, when he looked at her with more love than she’d ever known could exist between a man and a woman.
Sam reached for him and opened her mouth to the persuasive strokes of his tongue, not that she needed persuading either. She often joked that she was far too easy when it came to him, but he had no objections. As she kissed him and lost herself in his sweet tenderness, she tried not to think of Joe or Sridhar’s wife or Jamal’s mother, but that was easier said than done.
Nick broke the kiss and moved down to kiss her neck and throat on his way to her breasts, each of which he worshipped with light strokes of his tongue and gentle tugs of his lips on her nipples.
The sensations spiraling through her body reminded Sam of floating with him in the surf, riding the waves, one right after the other.
His lips left a trail of desire and need as he moved from her breasts to her belly and below.
With every nerve ending in her body on full alert, she might’ve never been tired for the way he made her feel.
Sam fisted handfuls of his soft hair when he raised her legs to his shoulders and took the slow and sultry theme to a whole new level with his tongue and fingers. He had her on the verge of coming within seconds but then backed off, making her groan with frustration.
He laughed. “All in good time, my love.”
“Only because I love you so much I’ll let you live.”
“Awww, that’s so nice of you.” He started over with soft dabs of his tongue and slow strokes of his fingers that quickly took her to the brink once again.
“Nick... Please...”
“What does my baby want?”
“You know!”
“My orders were slow and sultry. I’m just doing what I was told.”
Sam sagged into the mattress when it became apparent that he planned to follow her directions to the letter—not that she was complaining. Much. She forced herself to relax and go with his flow, which always led to her satisfaction even when he took his own sweet time.
Before him, she’d tolerated this act more than enjoyed it, but Nick made it impossible not to fully enjoy it.
He sucked lightly on her clit as he drove his fingers into her, curling them to engage her G-spot, which she hadn’t known she had until he had shown her exactly where it was.
Her hips lifted off the bed, trying to get closer to him, to the orgasm that grew and multiplied with every stroke of his tongue and thrust of his fingers. Then he upped the ante by pressing a wet finger against her ass, and she exploded.
“God, it’s so hot when you let go like that,” he said as he brought her down slowly, keeping up the movement of his fingers and tongue until the last of the aftershocks rocked her. Then he kissed his way up her body, paying homage again to each breast before he invited his cock to the party, giving her only the head at first.
Sam squirmed under him, looking for more.
“Is my impatient girl getting fed up with slow and sultry?”
“Yes! To hell with sultry. I want hard and fast.”
He drove into her in one deep thrust that made her come again. That had never happened before him. Groaning, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her fast, furious and frantic.
Sam clung to him, taking everything he had to give. She wrapped her legs around his hips and met every deep thrust of his cock with unbridled enthusiasm. Only he could make her forget the horror of the last few hours. Only he could transport her out of the insanity of their lives to a place where nothing else mattered but them and the love that sustained them.
At the beginning, she’d expected the passion between them to wane. She’d wondered if they’d survive if it became any more intense than it was then. But it was so much more now, and she’d come to crave the connection she always found with him.
“Samantha... I wish you knew how much I love you.”
“I do. I know. I love you just as much.”
“They haven’t invented a word big enough to describe it.”
She tightened her hold on him and held on until she felt him falter and then go tense as he came deep inside her, reminding her of what she’d wondered earlier and if it could possibly be true. They’d had so many disappointments. She wasn’t sure she could handle another one.
“What do we think of slow and sultry?” he asked after long minutes of contented silence.
“We love it until we want fast and furious.”
Sam felt his lips curve into a smile against her chest and continued to run her fingers through his hair. She was completely addicted to his thick, beautiful hair.
“You can always have whatever you want from me.”
“I know, and that’s what makes me completely unmanageable.”
His soft laughter went a long way toward fixing what had broken inside her earlier. He raised his head and looked down at her before he kissed her lightly. “I like you just the way you are, even when you’re completely unmanageable.”
“Good thing, because any other husband would want to shoot me most of the time.”
“I don’t want to picture you with any other husbands. You’re stuck with this one.”
“There goes my plan for a quickie Dominican divorce if Nelson is forced to resign.”
He stared at her, seeming stunned that she’d joke about such a thing. “That feels rather premeditated.”
Sam laughed and shook her head. “Just a joke. I swear.”
“Now you’ve got me worried.”
“Nick, come on. What would I ever do without you to keep me sane and sated?”
“I do keep you rather sated,” he said with a smug grin.
She brought his head back to rest on her chest. “You certainly do. I never knew it was possible to be so completely sated until I had you.”
“I don’t want you completely sated. I want you always hungry for more.”
“I believe my wanton behavior in the first year and a half of our marriage is indicative of my endless need for more.”
“You said indicative.”
She snorted with laughter. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“This. All of it. The laughter, the slow, the sultry, the fast, the furious. You were just what I needed.”
“I always want to be just what you need.”
“You’re doing a great job so far.” She patted him on the head. “Keep up the good work.”
“I’ll do my best, Lieutenant.”
She fell asleep with her arms wrapped around him and a big smile on her face.
CHAPTER SEVEN (#u99104933-900c-57d2-b8bc-cf29aa606eb5)
SAM WOKE TO the phone ringing shortly before her alarm would’ve woken her. “Mmm, Holland.” She tried to shake off the cobwebs. Her body would’ve liked five more hours of sleep, but the vacation was over, and it was back to reality.
“Are you awake, Lieutenant?” Malone asked in a booming voice that told her he’d already had several cups of coffee.
Sam hated morning people. “I am now.”
“We had another shooting overnight. I wanted to give you the details before your shift.”
That news had her wide-awake. Nick slept right next to her, on his back, arm thrown over his head. She tore her gaze off his gorgeous face, got out of bed, put on a robe and took the phone across the hall to her closet, closing the door so she could focus on what the captain was telling her without disturbing Nick.
“This one was in Woodley Park.”
Sam gasped at the mention of Freddie and Elin’s neighborhood.
“Twenty-six-year-old Caroline Brinkley was picked off on Woodley Road Northwest at about three-thirty this morning.”
“Any witnesses?”
“None. She was alone, and no one else was on the street at that time.”
“Where was she coming from? Do we know?”
“Detective Cruz is at the scene trying to find out more.”
“I’ll meet him there.”
“And then come back here. We’ve got to get our heads around this before the shooter has a chance to strike again. The press is clamoring for information.”
“I can only imagine. I’ll see you soon.” Sam took a fast shower and got dressed in shorts and a lightweight top, preparing for another long, hot day pounding the pavement. She put her hair up in a messy bun and slathered on sunscreen.
Fifteen minutes after she ended the call with Malone, she had kissed her sleeping husband, retrieved her weapon and cuffs from the bedside drawer and was on her way downstairs. She was surprised to find their assistant, Shelby, in the kitchen with her newborn son, Noah, attached to her in some sort of elaborate harness thingie. She’d rescinded her earlier resignation and returned like nothing had ever happened, which had been a relief to Sam and Nick.
As always, the sight of a baby did funny things to Sam’s insides, and reminded her that she needed to procure a pregnancy test without alerting the world to her suspicions. Difficult task, that.
“What’re you guys doing here?” Sam asked Shelby while taking a second to play with the baby’s foot. He had a light dusting of blond hair and pudgy cheeks. “You’re supposed to be on leave.”
“We were awake and feeling kinda cooped up, so we decided to come see what’s going on over here. You’re up early.”
“I’m going to work.”
“I heard about the shootings and wondered if they’d called you back.”
“Yep, I went back yesterday.”
