Enemy Outside (Unseen Enemy Book 2) (9 page)

He slid out of his bed, retrieved his boxers and jeans. He picked up the gun and settled back in to the chair again; he watched Olivia sleeping, and a sense of contentment and completeness washed over him, amazing him with its sweetness. She was so gorgeous, inside and out, and he was sure he’d never stop being grateful that she wanted him too. Dallas simply couldn’t believe that she had let him inside – in every sense of the word – and that she trusted him, looked to him to keep her safe.

Dallas got to his feet quietly and left the room. He checked every window, peered out to see if anyone was watching his house. He stood totally still for several minutes, just listening to the street outside, trying to see if anything grabbed his attention as odd. So much of what he did was based on pure intuition, and he’d learned to trust his implicitly.

All was silent and still, so he went back to the bedroom and looked out that window, too. Olivia stirred in the bed and moaned, and he turned and focused on her again. Her face wasn’t relaxed anymore, and his hands clenched. He wouldn’t be surprised at all if she had some bad dreams tonight.

He sat in the chair and watched her closely. She twisted suddenly, her fingers tightening on the sheets. Before he could do more than get to his feet, she sat straight up with a gasp, her eyes flying open. She gave a sharp cry.

“Hey,” Dallas said softly. “Hey, baby. I’m right here… it’s OK.”

Her eyes turned to him, wide and frightened.

He sat on the bed and held her. “Olivia? You awake, sweetheart?”

She nodded, clutching his upper arms. “I dreamed about him… that he was watching me.”

Dallas thought about his and Mark’s suspicions, and he dreaded the moment when he would have them confirmed. If and once they were, he knew he’d have to be the one to tell Olivia that her stalker had been hiding out in her home for what – days? weeks?
months
? – and watching her.

The fucking violation would be huge, he knew, and her imagination was going to run wild: had the sick fuck watched her shower? Had he gone through her underwear? Had he slept in her bed when she was travelling? He had probably done all those things and more, Dallas knew. He didn’t even want to
think
about what those other things might include.

He stroked her hair. “Shhhh, Olivia. He’s not here, he’s not anywhere close to you. You’re safe.”

She took a deep breath, willed her body to relax. “I know.”

They sat like that for several minutes, until she started to feel drowsy again. He felt her body slump a bit and he gently laid her down, then stretched out next to her. She sighed, her eyelids getting heavier, and she burrowed in to his naked chest.

“I’m so tired,” she whispered.

He kissed the top of her head. “Sleep, baby, just let yourself give over. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to take care of you.”

“Promise?” she said.

“Promise.” He touched her cheek. “Sleep, Olivia.”

And she did. He stayed awake for the whole rest of the night, holding her against him, just holding her close. Keeping her safe.

Chapter Seven

The next morning at just past six o’clock, Dallas stepped on to his front porch with a cup of coffee. He was groggy, but he’d stayed up all night many times for his job, and he knew that he’d be OK after two coffees.

Maybe three today
.

Dean stared over at him in shock, his breath steaming in the morning cold.

“What the hell are you doing home, man?” Dean asked. “I thought you were staying at Liv’s place until this whole thing was over. Does this mean it’s over?”

Dallas shook his head. “Not even fucking close.”

Dean studied his tense face. “C’mon over here. Talk to me.”

“I can’t. I can’t leave her alone even for one second.”

“She’s at your place?”

“In my bed.”

Dean grinned. “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before… Liv in your bed, you on the sofa.”

Dallas shuffled his feet and Dean stared over at him.

“Unless… unless this time she
stayed over
.” Dean grinned wider. “Did you finally make your move, man?”

“Uh. Well. Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

Dean launched himself over the porch railing then reached up to retrieve his coffee. “OK, I’m coming to you. I want an update.”

Despite his worry and exhaustion, Dallas couldn’t keep the smile from crossing his own face. Dean clomped up the steps and stood there.

“OK, Foreman,” he said. “Fill me in… what happened?”

Dallas huffed. “You think I’m going to kiss and tell?”

“I don’t mean about
that
,” Dean said. “That part’s between you and Liv, but let me just say how happy I am that you two finally got it together, because
goddamn
man, you took your sweet time. No, what I was asking about is the stalker. What happened that you guys are back here?”

Dallas glanced over his shoulder. “OK, I’ll tell you. But this is between us for now, OK?”

“Yeah.”

Dallas told Dean about the gift and the photo, and Dean’s face went still and watchful. When he heard that the current working theory was that the twisted fuck had actually been hiding out in Liv’s house, he felt the rage start to build in his chest, threatening to cut off his air and take away all his ability to engage in rational and calm thought. He just wanted to beat the shit out of this guy.

God, if
I
feel like this, how is Dallas holding it together?

“And she doesn’t know?” Dean said quietly.

“Not yet.” Dallas took a sip of coffee. “Mark and my team have been in her house all night, and he just texted me that he’s arranged for an infrared scanner to arrive at Olivia’s house late this morning. He also called in a few of our most trusted friends in the Denver PD. No way we’re handling this any farther on our own.”

Dean nodded.

“Once I’m sure that the guy’s been there this whole time – or at least part of the time – I’ll tell Olivia.” He sighed. “I can’t imagine how she’s going to react.”

“Yeah. Me neither.”

Dallas glanced at his watch. “Mark promised to be in touch by eleven o’clock, and the scanner should arrive about an hour later. I should know more in a few hours.”

“What can I do?”

Dallas looked up, touched. “Nothing right now. But I’ll let you know, OK?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks for asking, man.”

Dean shook his head. “No problem. I adore Liv, as you should damn well know, and anything she needs, you just say the word. Consider it done.” He looked out at the quiet street. “I’ll keep an eye on your place for you, though, just to see if anybody’s hanging around.”

Some of the tension went out of Dallas’ shoulders. “And how’s Emma doing? I feel bad that I haven’t been there for you guys lately.”

Dean waved his hands. “Don’t you even think about that…Liv is your priority, and she should be. I’ve got Emma and we’re good.” He paused. “Two days ago, she had her first chemo session since the transplant.”

“Fuck, yeah.” Dallas leaned against the railing, berating himself for having forgotten about that. “How was she after?”

Dean sighed. “Sick as hell. She puked for a day straight, but she’s better. Still weak and shaky, but she’s getting some rest now.”

“She eating?”

“A bit yesterday. I’m hoping she’ll be better today.”

“I’m sorry, Dean. I should have called and checked in.”

“No, don’t worry. All Emma can talk about is Liv, I swear. She’s worried as hell, and just about the only thing that reassures her is that you’re involved. You just keep taking care of Olivia, OK? She’s your focus now. The rest of us? We’re cool.”

Dallas nodded. “OK, I want to get back in and check on her.”

“Yeah, I need to go see how Emma’s doing.”

The two men looked at each other and grinned.

“Fuck, man,” Dallas said. “Would you have
believed
even six months ago that we’d both have women in our beds that we give a good goddamn about? After all the years of one-nighters and morning-afters?”

“Nope.” Dean picked up his empty coffee cup. “But I wouldn’t go back to the way it was six months ago. Not for anything.”

Dallas thought about Olivia coming on top of him last night, her face alight with pleasure; he thought about how it had felt to be buried inside her sweet, hot body. He remembered how she had tasted, and all he wanted was to go to her right now and kiss her again.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, me neither.”

**

Two hours later, Dallas’ cell buzzed as he was rinsing out his coffee cup. He picked it up.

“What’s up, Selena?”

“Fuck all, boss.” She sounded pissed off.

“Nothing come up? All night?”

“Nothing. The canvas was a total wash, and Howard and Jill and the gang can’t find any evidence of any kind of external tampering to the security system. Just – just
nothing
, Dallas. Nothing to explain how the system was hacked from outside.”

He was silent. If his team wasn’t able to find anything, then there was simply nothing to find. That meant that he and Mark were probably right.

“Selena,” he said quietly. “I need you to do two things for me, OK?”

“Name them.”

“First, I need you to tell Mark that the team needs to refocus. They need to check and see if our theory holds…. he’ll know what I mean.”

Selena paused. “OK.”

“Second, can you please bring Olivia some clothes and a coat? We hustled her out of there so fast last night, the woman doesn’t have anything to wear except what she was standing up in.”

“No problem.”

“Thanks.” He exhaled, hard. “Any word on where Castell was last night?”

“Yeah, that’s the other thing that’s come to nothing – nobody can find the guy.”

Dallas closed his eyes. “What?”

“According to Nigel, Abe just fell off the planet a couple of days ago. They had an argument, apparently, and that was it. His phone’s been switched off, his boss says he hasn’t been at work, no activity on his credit cards or bank accounts.”

Because he may be at Olivia’s, hiding out, and now he’s stuck there with no escape. He may well be freaking out… and that makes him far more dangerous to everyone around him. Shit
.

“Does Mark know?”

“I was about to call him.”

“OK. Do that right now, please. And tell him to send Sully to Castell’s apartment to see if he’s there. If Castell doesn’t answer the door, Sully needs to get in and take a look around. You hear me?”

She paused again. “You mean…get in however he has to?”

“Yeah. Grease the superintendent’s palm, pick the lock, kick the fucking door down, I don’t give a damn. Just get in.”

She was silent. In her year of working for Dallas, he’d never made such a request before, always working with the police and waiting for them to get search warrants.

Dallas knows something more, and whatever the fuck it is, it’s serious
.

“Selena? If you’re not comfortable with passing this on, say so…”

“No, boss. I’m fine with it. I know you’re telling Sully to do this for a good reason.”

“I am.” He ran his hands through his hair. “And keep me in the loop, OK? Anything happens, Selena, you tell me. Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He disconnected and walked down the hallway to his bedroom again. He looked in at Olivia, saw that she was still sleeping. Right away, he was reminded of that first morning that she’d stayed with him, when he’d had the wild urge to crawl in to bed beside her. When he’d longed to kiss her awake and make love to her.

Well, now you can, man. What are you waiting for?

He shed his clothes and slipped in to bed next to her. He pulled her naked body to his hard chest and she moaned as she felt his erection pressing in to the curve of her ass. She pushed back against it and he nibbled on her neck.

“Open those gorgeous eyes, baby. I want to kiss you.”

Olivia smiled. “I hope you want to do more than that…”

Dallas ran his hands down her back, over her butt, between her legs. She gasped as his fingers found her pussy and started stroking her from behind. He kissed her shoulders, felt her body heat up under his hands and mouth.

Gently, he turned her over to face him. Dallas’ fingers returned to her lower lips, stroking and pressing. Her back arched.

“You know what I want to do to you?” he asked.

She shook her head and grinned. “Not specifically, but I can probably guess the generalities.”

“Well, ain’t you sassy, darlin’?” he drawled at her.

“Sometimes.”

“Huh.”

“So, what do you want to do to me?” she reminded him.

“I want to taste you properly.” He lowered his head and nipped her mouth. “Last night I just got a teaser… but I want to put my lips on your pussy, Olivia. Make you come like that.”

She gasped. “Oh, God. I want you to.”

He kissed his way down her body slowly, taking his time, making her wait for it. He worshipped her curves, ran his lips and tongue over her smooth skin. His fingers ran over every inch of her, tracing her shoulders, her breasts, her hips. When he finally settled between her thighs, she was almost halfway to orgasm already. Dallas’ tongue found her hot centre and he licked the length of her before lapping at her clit in long, slow strokes that made her whole body tremble and twist under him.

“Dallas… oh, my God. Please …”

He ran his tongue over her hard nub again, felt her whole body tense. He touched her slick entrance now, slid his finger inside easily. Slowly, he moved his finger deeper and sucked on her hard bundle of nerves. Her pussy pressed and released on his finger, her clit swelled and expanded under his lips.

Dallas felt her body tightening and tensing, and he looked up at her. “You’re close, baby… you’re going to come for me, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she groaned, her head pressed back in to the pillow. “I’m going to come…”

“For me.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “For you, Dallas.”

“That’s my girl,” he said and lowered his dark head again. She clutched the sheets in her fists, opened her legs wider to his probing mouth. She felt the wave building and growing, the pressure increasing. He took her entire clit in to his mouth and sucked hard, and that was all it took. Her body exploded and Olivia thought she’d be washed away by the intensity of it as she shook wildly. She gave a final cry, a last shudder, and she lay limp on the bed, her pussy still contracting.

Dallas wiped his mouth on the sheets and rose up on her trembling body right away. He took her in to his arms, kissing her forehead, brushing her hair back off her face. Her eyes were bright as she gazed up at him, sated and flushed. He thought he’d never seen her so fucking gorgeous.

“Goddamn, Olivia,” he said. “You taste like heaven, sweetheart.”

“I do?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, tracing her lips with his thumb. “Sweet and hot and perfect. And if I recall correctly, being inside of you
feels
like heaven.”

She smiled at him. “Want to go back to heaven, babe?”

“You know I do.”

Dallas pulled her up until she sat on his body, settled her over his hips. She looked down at him, watched his eyes darken as she rubbed herself against him. Olivia held his gaze and slowly reached between her legs, ran her fingers over her soaked pussy. Her fingers came away glistening with her own moisture, and she delicately brushed the tip of his cock with her juices. He pulsed against her hand, his hips jerking under her, and she grinned at his reaction.

"My God," he breathed. "You're so bad in such a good way."

"Yeah?"

"Touch yourself again," he said. "Let me see."

His eyes were fixed on her fingers as she ran them over her clit. His chest rose and fell as his breath sped up, deepened. When she slid her finger inside, he gasped and threw his head back.

"You want to be in here?" she asked him, her finger moving in and out now. "You want to be inside me, Dallas?"

"Fuck, yeah," he ground out. "Now. Right now."

"I'm waiting, babe."

He growled and reached for a condom. He rolled it on with shaking fingers, barely holding on as she continued to play with herself. He groaned her name as she took his cock in her hand and stroked her entrance with it. Back and forth, teasing him.

"Olivia, please," he managed to get out. "I want you... please, baby."

"Well, I
do
hate to see a grown man beg," she murmured.

She spread her knees wider and lifted herself above him. His whole body clenched up in anticipation for that first contact, and when she lowered herself and took him fully in to her heat, he reached out blindly. He just needed to hold on to something – to anything – to ground himself before he flew right the fuck off the bed. His fingers rested on her hips, pulled her down deeper.

"Oh, God..." Olivia's lips parted, her head fell back. "Dallas, you feel so good."

"Move on me." His voice was almost harsh with his need for her. "Take us both there, baby."

She rose and fell on him, her lower lips stetching tightly over his hardness, her pussy muscles pulling on him as strong as hands. He ran his fingers over her neck, her breasts, her ass, and Olivia rode him, her back arching, her breath coming faster and harder. Dallas met her plunging hips, pushing up and in to the heart of her, wanting to be as close as he could.