Criminal Minds (Fox Meridian Book 4) (3 page)

Naomi let out a throaty chuckle. ‘I believe it’s actually in Proverbs. “And God made sure that one person in a tent will always grate them out like a bandsaw.”’

‘That is
not
in the Bible.’

‘Theology joke. We do actually offer some procedures to fix it if it’s really bad. Nasal cavity modifications, usually. Snoring is often considered unattractive in a sleeping partner.’

Fox shook her head. ‘Weird stuff we do… Mind you, I could have really gone for that in boot camp. I remember this guy four bunks down. Sounded like heavy machinery when he got going, but after that I never had trouble with live fire exercises. Cakewalk compared to trying to sleep beside Corporal Havering.’

‘I’m told I have a cute snore,’ Marie put in, blushing a little.

‘You do. More like a purr. It’s actually mildly soporific.’ There was a slight pause and then, ‘Of course, the thumb sucking is a bit noisy.’

‘I do
not
suck my thumb in my sleep! I’d… wake up with a soggy thumb.’

‘I assume from your awareness of Marie’s nocturnal sucking habits that you and her have been an item, Fox?’ Naomi seemed quite happy to continue the ribbing, but she probably had a purpose behind her question.

‘We… dated for a couple of weeks,’ Fox replied. She was a little surprised to find that her stomach still lurched a little at the mention of it. ‘I gave her up to Sam. Sort of a public service. Like you said, he’s never shown any signs of wanting anything outside work.’

‘And you moved on to Jason pretty quickly,’ Marie said.

Fox affected a sorrowful tone. ‘Consolation. I needed the consolation.’

‘Oh yeah, he’s
so
not a consolation prize. Tall, blonde, godlike,
and
he understands all the cop stuff.’

‘He’s the local UNTPP captain,’ Fox explained. ‘Kit pushed me into it.’

‘I did
not
push!’ Kit squeaked.

‘But it’s working out pretty well. We both understand work pressure and we’re not too worried about making it complicated. That just leaves the lecture theatres, right?’

Naomi accepted the change of topic with a smile. ‘That’s right. I assume you studied the floorplans. There are cameras in there, but they are rather specialised. They record lectures and student performance for later review. It’s not often easy to see what you can improve when you’re doing it, so we video and dissect.’

‘You could probably make a fortune marketing some of those vids.’

‘It would be a little too clinical for most viewers. We do market the best vids made for the advanced performance classes, but those are full productions for the final grading exercise. We take a cut, as with the brothel, and the performers and technicians get payment per unit sold. I wouldn’t say we’ve made any millionaires, but we’ve had some successes.’

Despite the fact that stairs were ‘killers in these heels,’ there were no elevators in the south wing. Naomi showed no signs of discomfort, or lack of grace, as she tripped down the stairs to the next floor down. Then she placed her finger to her lips and slipped through a door into a classic, sloping lecture theatre. Below them, a woman was standing at a lectern, in the middle of some sort of lecture.

Naomi patched through a private telepresence connection conferencing Fox and Marie into it. ‘This is a professional behaviour and ethics lecture. It’s not all perfecting fellatio and correct bondage techniques.’

‘I didn’t think it was,’ Marie replied. ‘I’ve been around Sam long enough to know he’s very ethical about his clients.’

‘He doesn’t talk about them,’ Fox said, ‘except anonymously. Well, there’s Felix and Isabella Bournville, but those are rather specific cases.’

‘Sam told me about Felix,’ Naomi said. ‘That was sad. You cracked the case, right?’

‘Yes. Not that the person responsible is locked up, but… August is under house arrest and Sam believes that’s good enough, given that August is pretty remorseful about it.’

‘Sam’s like that. He’s always been one of the most grounded men I know. After… When we were together, we were very much in love, but then I got the promotion. He told me I should go. That this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He would follow me when he could.’

‘So he did and…’

‘It took him ten months to move down from Boston, and then he was setting up and busy, and things had just… cooled off.’

Fox flicked a glance at Naomi. Maybe Sam had cooled off, but she had not. Back then anyway. The relationship seemed to be pure friendship now, but Fox doubted it had been the same ten years ago when Sam had moved to New York.

‘Miss Bournville is my agent,’ Marie said. ‘Sam introduced us. She’s one of his clients, but he didn’t mention a name until he’d asked if she would see me.’

‘I know Isabella,’ Naomi said. ‘Good woman. Helluva sub. That’s confidential, obviously.’

‘Wait… Miss Bournville, who can cut you in half with a look, is a submissive?’

‘Quite a lot of strong-willed people have a desire to relinquish control at times. It’s a release valve. I do it myself on the rare occasion I find a woman I trust and respect enough to give control to.’

‘Not men?’

‘I enjoy men, but not for that. I’ve never found a man I trusted like that. Well, there was one, but he’s not inclined that way. We have another two theatres like this, and two which are used for group practical tuition.’ The change of subject was a little sharp. ‘Sam’s in one of those helping with a class. One of our main reasons for having lay brothers is to provide tuition with people we know we can trust, and who know what they’re doing, obviously.’

‘And, uh, I’d be doing some of those classes?’ Marie asked.

‘You’ll be doing beginners’ courses. If you’ll pardon the crudity, we assume that if you’re joining us, you know how to fuck. At least at the basic level and, frankly, if you’re with Sam, I’d imagine you’ve picked up a few things.’

‘I… might have learned a few things.’

Naomi pressed her lips together, fairly obviously to avoid laughing out loud. ‘I’d imagine so. He’s quite a good instructor.’

‘Uh… yeah.’

‘You’ll need to get over that hesitancy, Marie. Part of what we do is make sure our students are suitable for the job. Now, you aren’t aiming for the job, but your character is a professional.’

‘I think it’s just talking about it and, so long as I’m acting, I should be fine. Living in the same house as my lover and my ex-lover, I’ve mostly got over being embarrassed about sex, but I do tend to get teased some.’

‘Mea culpa,’ Fox said.

‘Well, there’ll be no teasing next week. Plenty of critical evaluation, but we take a dim view of teasing.’

15
^th
August.

Fox poured herself coffee from the jug Sam had made. She had spent most of Saturday going over legislation documents and they had been buzzing around in her brain until the early hours. She
really
needed the coffee.

‘Where’s Marie?’ Fox asked.

‘Studying,’ Sam replied. ‘You want me to get something to eat sent up?’

‘No, I just need coffee. About a boatload. And to never see another legal document. Ever.’

‘Think that’s likely?’

Fox fell onto the sofa, demonstrating her considerable grace and skill by not spilling a drop of coffee. ‘No. It’s not. Not until October. After that, it’ll be contract documents.’ Her tone turned to sobbing. ‘Legal contract documents through to January.’

Reaching out, Sam patted Fox on the shoulder. ‘There, there. It’ll all be over before you know it.’

‘I can feel the life draining out of me. If I turn into a zombie, you’ll shoot me in the head, right?’

‘It’s the least I can do.’

‘True friends know when to shoot you in the head.’ Fox drank coffee. Neurons fired. ‘What’s Marie studying?’

‘Naomi sent over a briefing pack on being a novice. They usually get a week of induction prior to donning the wimple, but Marie doesn’t have the time, so she’s doing the crash course.’

‘And then she’s going to need to have the script worked through before shooting starts. It’s a lot of work.’

‘Yes. She’s stressing over it, but she can do it. It’s important to her. If this works out, it could be a big break for her, and it’s fast. Maybe it’s a little too fast, but I think she’s grounded enough to handle it.’

Fox smiled. ‘She’s got you to fall back on. You’ll keep her feet on the ground. Or keep her standing if she falls.’

‘Thank you for your confidence.’

‘Sam… What happened with Naomi?’

Sam took a gulp of coffee and was silent for a long second. ‘We met in Boston when I began my training. I was nineteen, she was… forty, I think. She was sophisticated, strong, the older woman I watched from afar. I wasn’t the only one, but she was always the disciplined teacher; she didn’t form relationships with students. I got my licence in forty-nine, June, and I was a little surprised when she suggested some “additional training.” We had an on-and-off sort of affair for a year. It was all lust and hot sex. I’m not sure there was love, but there was affection. And then, in July of twenty fifty, her mother died.’

‘Oh.’

‘Annabel Lind. I met her once.’

‘Wait a minute. I thought I knew that name. She was part of the movement to have prostitution legalised.’

‘Yes, she was. One of our little bonds was that neither of our mothers wanted us to follow their path. Naomi’s father died in a car accident ages ago. Twenty eighteen, I think. Annabel turned to prostitution to pay the bills and she wanted her daughter to have a better life, but with the legalisation going through and Naomi’s obvious talents… Annabel was not pleased, but she accepted her daughter’s vocation. Mine was more reluctant, but I won her over. Annabel and Naomi were almost more like sisters by the time I knew them. Naomi was devastated by Annabel’s death and it seemed like I was the only person who could get through to her. Lust turned into love. For six months we were… And then she got the Sister Superior position and had to move to New York. I encouraged her to go.’

‘She said you did, that you’d follow as soon as you could.’

‘I did, and I meant it. But my business was taking off. I got a job guarding the daughter of some businessman. The details aren’t important, but I saved her life, twice. I got a reputation for
all
of my skills and I focused on building it. I still had Naomi in mind when I decided to move here, but I admit that the job was starting to take its toll. I was young and, frankly, a little stupid. By the time I was in New York and my business was settled, we had been apart for a year and I just wasn’t interested in sex outside of work. I’d also convinced myself that an important, powerful woman like Naomi couldn’t really need me. Love turned to friendship.’

‘You know that wasn’t how she felt, don’t you?’

‘Not then. I’m older now, but that time is past. If I have any regrets at all, then Naomi is one of them, but we
did
manage to salvage a friendship out of it. Enough that she persuaded me to become a lay brother. She said she’d seen talent in me the day I started training and it would be a crime not to pass it on. And we share a desire to support our profession.’ Sam managed to pull together a smile. ‘I admit I saw her in Sheela Na Gig in the leather basque and some of the old lust stirred, but then I’ll admit to the same sort of feeling when you walked in.’

‘Huh. Coming from you, and comparing me to her, that’s a helluva compliment. I think you were ready to try some non-work sex again. Everyone changes. Marie was just lucky enough to be there when something pushed you over the edge. I’m kind of glad. Losing her hurt. Still hurts a little… But I value what we
have
and sex would have changed it.’

‘Yes,’ Sam said in a musing tone. ‘Yes, I think we have a good relationship. But if I have more than one regret, hurting you is one of them, and not going further with you is another.’

‘Don’t got soppy on me.’

‘Have you ever known me to be soppy?’

‘No, but there’s a first time for everything, and with all these weird urges to emotional ties…’

‘Weird urges?’

‘Ain’t neither of us is normal, Sam. Weird urges.’

Sam nodded, looking resigned. ‘You may be right.’

16
^th
August.

Raw sensation. Nerves tingling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, but definitely more of a burning somewhere in the middle. Fox had lost herself five minutes ago in the almost hypnotic motion, the rise and fall, the roll of hips. There was no sound, no light. She had found her way to her current, intensely pleasurable, condition by touch. She had no desire to leave it, but it was inevitable that it would end and, when the inevitable could be staved off no longer, she felt him swell within her, the added sensation driving her over into the blind, searing wash of climax which claimed her entirely for an eternity…

‘Thanks,’ Fox said. She still lay atop him, still straddling his hips with the thickness of him filling her, but now she was almost sprawled on his chest, still unwilling to leave. She had retained enough brain power to raise the lights a little and the warm red walls of her bedroom just added to her feeling of contentment.

‘I believe I should be thanking you, mon chérie.’

Fox looked down at the wide mouth, the sharply angled features, the cool blue eyes so full of heat. ‘I’ve spent the last couple of days reading legislative documents, and you let me sleep without dreaming about them. Thanks for coming over.’

Jason Deveraux, captain of UNTPP New York, developed a wicked sort of smile. ‘Any man requested to “come over and fuck my brains out” by you would be some sort of imbécile to say no.’

Fox grinned. ‘I did say that, didn’t I? And you did do it too. But… back to work. After a shower anyway.’

‘Alas, the same is true for me.’

She stroked a hand over his chest and fought the urge to persuade him to stay for another thirty minutes… ‘Hey! You couldn’t spare half an hour or so to talk to the Palladium board, could you?’

Jason raised a quizzical brow. ‘About what?’