Hold Back the Dark (24 page)

T
hey rode to the condo in silence. Aimee’s throat hurt and talking was a strain for her, so Josh put his hand over hers as he drove. She looked over at him, smiled, and let her head lie back against the headrest. Josh felt something unspool inside him, some tightness that he’d held on to for so long that it had become a part of him.

Aimee directed him into her spot in the underground garage and they rode the elevator, in silence. He put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and he felt as if he might stop breathing.

Inside her condo, she locked the door, then turned to him, put her arms around his neck, and looked up into his eyes.

The pull that Josh had felt in his gut the first time he’d looked into Aimee’s eyes moved to his chest. He knew that he would kiss her. He would kiss her because he wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to solve this case, more than he wanted to be a cop, maybe more than he wanted to breathe. He dipped his head and his lips met hers.

Aimee angled her head back and her body molded against his. The heat in his chest threatened to turn into an inferno, and he kissed her until he thought his lips might catch on fire.

She put her hands against his chest and pushed him away, but only to take his hand and lead him to her bedroom. There she stopped in the doorway and kissed him again.

Damn. What that woman could do with her lips.

“I thought you were tired,” he said. His throat felt tight. His heart pounded in his chest.

Aimee reached up and brushed his hair off his forehead. “I almost died tonight, Josh. I got lucky, and it’s not the first time. I want this, Josh. I want
you.
I don’t want to miss a second more of my life.” Her voice was a husky whisper.

At the foot of her bed, Aimee undid the buttons of his shirt one by one, caressing his chest as she went. Her fingers were tantalizing and light as they brushed through his chest hair, down to the waistband of his jeans.

She slid the shirt off his shoulders, running her hands up and down his arms, tracing the muscles of his biceps. He bent to kiss her and her mouth, wet and hot, opened to him. Her tongue swept his and he pulled her tighter against him, his erection against her belly.

Last night she had been so sweet and soft, he’d felt like he was melting against her. Tonight she was setting his blood on fire.

Aimee broke the kiss to unbuckle his belt, sliding her hand down to cup him through his jeans. He closed his eyes, savoring the warmth, wanting more. She flicked her tongue against his nipples and he hissed at the jolt to his loins.

He fumbled with her top, pulling it over her head. His hands brushed over the smooth skin of her stomach and she moaned.

Her fingers were at his zipper now, releasing him. His cock sprang free and into her hand and she stroked him. Once, twice, her fingers cool against his heat. Then she slowly sank to her knees, slid his boxers aside, and flicked his tip with her tongue.

He tried to retain some control as the heat raged through him. His fingers twined into her thick hair, urging her on as she closed her mouth over him. She slid his length in and out of her hot, wet mouth and he thought he might explode. His hands roamed down her back, finding the clasp of her bra and releasing it. As her bra fell to the floor, he lifted her to her feet and relished the feel of her hard nipples as they brushed against his skin.

He kissed her lips once more before he laid her back on the bed and slid her jeans and panties off her slender legs. Her hands reached up to him, her arms pale in the dim bedroom. He kicked his own jeans aside and knelt between her legs.

She was hot and wet and slick with desire. He slid one finger inside her and she ground down against his hand in response. And then he lowered his head to taste her.

Aimee arched her back and almost screamed, the sensation that raced through her was that strong. Her desire spiraled down inside her, focusing in on Josh’s hands, Josh’s lips, Josh’s tongue. She gasped his name. He urged her on, first one finger and then two inside her, his tongue swirling across her clit. She climbed higher and higher until the lights burst behind her eyes and she plunged over the cliff of desire, free-falling.

She was still shuddering when he entered her, rocking her in the same rhythm that he’d used to bring her to orgasm. Before the shock waves of the last climax completely faded, she came again. He stilled for a moment, letting her catch her breath, kissing her forehead, her eyes, her mouth.

She ran her hands up his arms, caressing his biceps and his shoulders, loving the feel of his hard muscles under her hands, knowing he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She rocked her hips against him, and he let out a low growl that made her smile.

She did it again.

His face was tense, and a sheen of sweat covered his shoulders as he slid out of her and plunged in again. She arched to meet him, urging him on. She caressed his back, her hands roaming down to cup his ass and pull him more fully against her.

He plunged into her again, sending shivers to her very core. Her hands found his hips as he found his tempo, rocking hard and fast until he released inside her in a hot rush.

Josh collapsed against her, murmuring her name.

He sat in the car and wrapped the cord so tight around his wrist that his hand began to turn purple. He had failed. Failed! How could it have happened?

Granted, he hadn’t time to plan, but that hadn’t stopped him before. With Orrin and Stacey, he’d only had seconds to make his decision and act. If he hadn’t made his move precisely when he had in the precise way he had, it would never have worked.

So what had gone wrong this time?

That damn psychologist continued to ruin everything. It was her meddling that had made everything fall apart. It was actually
her
fault that he’d had to kill Orrin and then Stacey.

If she hadn’t been pressing Orrin to think about something that had happened to Taylor years before, Orrin might never have put those pieces together.

Orrin wouldn’t have had anything to hold over his head when confronted about the fake subcontractors and the missing money. He couldn’t let Orrin continue to bleed the company dry to cover his idiotic investing schemes. Nor could he let Orrin tell the world what had happened to his daughter all those years ago. Neither option was tenable.

It had taken only a split second to come up with a third option that night, and less than that to put it into action. It had all gone beautifully.

And then Aimee Gannon had shown up with Taylor’s drawings.

He knew what those drawings meant. He knew what Taylor had seen. He even had an inkling of how it all tied together, just the way Dr. Gannon suspected. Once she figured out what the drawings meant, everything would come crashing down.

But when he’d tried to stop her, it had all gone wrong. She’d managed to make her car alarm go off, and the rent-a-cop with the pimply face had come running around the corner. Good thing he’d worn the balaclava. He could have been recognized by the little creep.

He wrapped the cord tighter around his wrist. Running it through his fingers no longer soothed him the way it had right after he’d killed Stacey. Maybe it was time to get rid of it.

But not yet. It still held power. He could feel it surge through him every time he ran it through his hands, smooth and strong and flexible. He’d keep it for a little while longer.

Aimee opened her eyes and for a moment had no idea where she was. Waking up with Josh beside her totally changed her perspective on her bedroom. When had she made everything in here so bland? It needed some color, some life.

She’d almost lost her own life last night, and that had shown her that she hadn’t really been living it.
That
had certainly changed. She had never felt more alive than when she was making love to Josh. She struggled to sit up, her neck throbbing with pain. He was there next to her. She was safe.

“Good morning, sunshine.” He opened one eye. He looked rumpled and exhausted, and Aimee wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone look better to her.

“Back atcha,” she croaked. Her voice was a little stronger than it had been last night, but not much.

“You okay?” he asked, reaching out to caress her arm.

She nodded, her hand straying to her throat. “Still a little sore, but not too bad.”

“We need to figure out what you said or did that scared someone enough to attack you.” He caressed her thigh and sent a shiver running through her.

She put her hand over his. “After a shower and some coffee?”

He smiled and pulled her toward him. “Sure. Later.”

She let herself be pulled into his arms and settled her cheek against his chest. She listened to the reassuring measured thump of his heart in his chest and snuggled in closer, hoping to hold on to that feeling of safety.

While Aimee was in the shower, Josh lay in her bed, savoring her smell and remembering the feel of her in his arms. His feeling of contentment was shattered when his cell phone buzzed in his pants pocket.

He fished his pants up off the floor, grinning as he thought of how fast he’d shucked them off and the urgency that Aimee had clearly felt as he’d kicked them away.

“Wolf.” He looked over at the clock: eight-thirty. Shit, he should have been in the office half an hour ago.

“Wanna know why the name Thomas Barlow was so familiar?” Elise asked. “The kid whose dead puppy Kyle Porter was toting around town?”

“Lay it on me.”

“He’s Sean Walter’s stepbrother-to-be. Somehow Kyle Porter got hold of a dead puppy from the Walter place, and left it on Aimee Gannon’s doorstep.”

Josh sat bolt upright. A connection between Porter and Walter? Where the hell had that come from? “What does Porter say about it? Did he kill their dog?”

“Porter says he’s not saying another word to anyone but Aimee.”

“That’s not going to happen.” There was no way he was going to let Kyle Porter anywhere near Aimee. Josh sat up and set his feet on the floor.

“Careful before you say never, partner. One conversation with her, and we could know how Kyle even knew the Walters existed. It could take us days to figure it out without her help, and based on what happened to her last night, we don’t have days. I think this thing’s breaking loose. If we don’t figure out how to catch all the pieces, we could end up looking like idiots.”

Everything Elise said was true. Josh didn’t care. “I said no.”

“Who are you saying no to, and about what?” Aimee asked from behind him.

“It was Bingo?” Aimee blinked back tears. She didn’t know why. She barely knew Thomas Barlow, but all she could think of was the little boy coming in from another fruitless morning searching for his dead puppy. It broke her heart.

Josh stared at her over his coffee cup. “How did you know the dog’s name?”

“I was at the Walters’ yesterday. I wanted Carl to look at Taylor’s drawings.”

Josh set his cup down so gently that it didn’t make a sound. His deep chocolate brown eyes went wide for a moment and then his gaze settled on her, steady and even. “You were where?”

Aimee didn’t understand his reaction. “I took some of Taylor’s drawings over to Carl Walter’s house. I thought maybe he would have a clue as to what they meant and why she might have drawn that symbol on the walls. I’m sure the murders are connected with what happened to her when she was just a kid. Carl is one of the few people who knew her as a child that I hadn’t asked.”

Josh closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, and asked, “What time did you decide to go to see Carl Walter?”

“After I stopped by Whispering Pines and Marian Phillips threw me out.” Aimee didn’t want to look at his face, but she made herself.

His eyes flew open. “Marian Phillips threw you out of Whispering Pines? For what?”

“For trying to press Taylor about her drawings. She wants to talk to us, she just needs some encouragement.”

Josh shoved his chair back and looked her up and down. “What happened to staying out of trouble?”

Keeping busy had been her antidote to the fear that Kyle had brought back into her life. “I was trying to help my client.”
And me.

Josh got up and started pacing the kitchen. “Was Carl Walter the only person you saw at the house?”

“No, the whole family was there. Sean, the fiancée, and the stepson. I don’t think the little boy saw the drawings, but Sean and Sarah both did.”

“Did anybody have any clue what they meant?”

She shook her head. “No such luck. Did Kyle say how he got Thomas’s dog? Or why?”

He sat down again across from her and took his hands in hers.

“The only thing that Kyle Porter will say is that he won’t talk to anybody but you.”

Aimee sighed, then shoved her chair back. “So why the hell are we sitting around here?”

As they stood outside the interrogation room, Josh couldn’t stand it. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. You can walk away right now and never see this sick bastard again.”

“That’s about the fifteenth time you’ve told me that,” she pointed out. “Josh, I
need
to do this.”

He loved her for being so determined, but the thought of her forcing herself to confront Porter made his teeth clench. “We can get Kyle to talk some other way,” he tried.

“This will be faster. I’m a big girl, Josh. I can handle this.” She turned to Elise. “Can you get him to shut up and get out of the way?”

Elise smiled. “Rarely.”

Josh held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.” He opened the door to the interrogation room, and Aimee walked through it to face Kyle Porter directly for the first time since the day he’d been sentenced.

Kyle shot to his feet the second Aimee walked in, and it took all of Josh’s will power not to backhand him into the wall.

“Aimee,” Kyle breathed. “You came.”