Intimate Desires (The Love and Danger Series) (14 page)

Sam,
Walker, Brock and Colt all nodded their heads.  At this point, they’d agree to anything just to get the guy who thought it was okay to kill someone and dump them in an alley.  A person’s socioeconomic status should have no relevance on their ability to breathe oxygen.

“Don’t worry,” Sam said to Hannah as he pulled her closer.  “A background check will only give us information if the person has done something illegal in the past.  And I promise, I won’t tell you any details so it won’t tarnish your lovely image of all your customers. 
Deal?”

She wrapped her arm
s around his waist and smiled.  “Deal.”  She thought about that for a moment.  “What if the person doing this hasn’t committed any crimes before?”

Sam squeezed her shoulders to reassure her. 
“It’s pretty rare for someone to go from being an innocent bystander to murdering three people.”  He pulled her out the door.  “There’s bound to be red flags somewhere in a person’s history.”

Hannah
walked with him out of the conference room, accepting that red flags would be have to be enough. 

Hannah handed the coffee to the next customer, her smile probably a bit forced.  She was exhausted and trying very hard not to give away the fact that Sam and Colt were sipping coffee near the cashier and relaying names to
Walker and Brock who were at the front of the store running background checks on those people through their license plate numbers. 

She had no idea what information they were coming up with, and she didn’t want to know.  But then again, she really did!  She was curious about everything and when they knew a secret, she wanted to know what that secret was.  Unfortunately, these guys had poker faces down to a science!  They gave nothing away.  She’d switched Sam and
Walker to herbal tea about four hours ago.  Colt and Brock were sipping ice water in coffee cups because they refused to drink her “sissy” stuff, although they said that with a smile and a wink to soften the blow. 

By the end of the night, she was exhausted and she could see the lines of fatigue on Sam’s face as well as frustration on the features of all the others.  As she locked up for the night, she looked back at the four guys, wishing she could do or say something that would make everything better.   But the only way to do that was to catch this killer.

“Discover anything?” she asked as she lowered the blinds so they’d have a bit of privacy.  She rarely lowered the blinds unless the sun was a problem, but in this case, she didn’t want anyone to see that there were four guys in her shop after hours. 

Sam stood up and stretched.  “It’s only the first day,” he told her. 

Which Hannah understood to mean they hadn’t found anything significant. 

“Let’s head out, get a rest.” 
Walker, Brock and Colt all nodded their heads as they too closed up their laptops and shuffled their papers together, getting ready to head out for the night. 

“We’re stationing a team
of police officers to stake out the alley tonight and for the next few nights.  There will be an officer at each end of the street, recording license plates of anyone that passes by.  If there’s another body, we’ll go through that data.  We should have done that two nights ago, but we didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

He led her out into the night, lifting her into his truck and closing the door for her.  “We’ll catch this guy, Hannah,” he promised her when he slipped into the driver’s side.

Hannah nodded, and was startled to realize that she was just assuming she’d go home with him.  It hadn’t been spoken, no suggestions made or declined or accepted.  She sat on her side of the truck, her mind whirling with this new realization.  What was she doing?  What were they doing?  And more importantly, what did she want to happen with this relationship?  What did he expect from her?

They pulled into his garage and, just like the previous night, sat there in the dim
glow of the overhead light for a moment. 

“I called your neighbor about your cats,” he said softly.  “She implied that the beasts hadn’t moved except to get food.” 

Hannah laughed softly, shaking her head at her lazy cats.  “Typical.” 

Another pause.
 

“What are you thinking about?” he asked
, breaking the silence.

Hannah thought long and hard about how she could answer his question.  “I have a lot of things going through my mind.  The biggest question probably is whether another body will show up today or tomorrow.”

“Probably?” he asked, and she could hear the amusement in his voice.

She laughed as well, feeling slightly silly but the point was valid.  “Okay, so that should be the biggest question in my mind.”

“But it isn’t.  What is?”

She took a deep breath. 
Then another.  And another.  Turning to face him, she looked into his wonderful, blue eyes, not sure what to say.  “What do you want from me?” she finally asked, unable to stop the question from coming out. 

He took her hand and examined her fingers, his own running along her skin and sending those delicious tingles throughout her whole body.  She couldn’t believe that just a week ago, she’d been afraid of those tingles.  Not anymore.  Not after last night.  She now knew where those tingles led to.  “Are you going to break my heart?” she asked the question that was foremost in her mind. 

He was silent for too long and she started to pull her hand away but he wouldn’t let her.  “I’m going to protect your heart as long as you’ll let me.” 

She could feel
aforementioned heart pounding in her chest frantically.  “And?”

“And I want complete and unequivocal rights to protect you and your heart for the rest of my life.  Would that be out of line?”

The happiness she’d been feeling for the past few minutes seemed to explode into a pulsating glow of sunshine.  “I’m shocked, Detective Jeffers,” she replied with a lilt to her voice.  At that moment, the overhead lights from the garage door opener clicked off and they were left in the darkness.  Of course, being the cop that he was right down to his marrow, he had a soft light right by the door that glowed invitingly, keeping them from being enveloped into complete darkness. 

“Does that mean you’re not averse to my offer?” he asked, pulling her into his arms as soon as they were inside the house with the door to the garage locked.

Hannah laughed, reaching up so that her hands were on his shoulders.  “I would love to be your woman,” she replied.  “As long as I can claim you as my man.”

He growled and lifted her into his arms.  They were halfway down the hallway when he stopped.  “Just to be sure, this means you’re going to marry me and have lots of babies and a dog
that will chase those lazy cats around so they don’t die of inertia, right?  We’re going to grow tomatoes and argue about how the Christmas tree should look and I’m going to win and you’re going to kiss me every morning and I’ll get to make love to you every night from here on out, right?”

Hannah had gasped at the first statement but all the rest of his requirements made her breath rush out in a whoosh.  “I think that might be a wonderful life,” she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

He laid her down on his bed and kissed her gently.  “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you, Hannah,” he said as he pressed himself down. 

She lifted her arms, her body eagerly reaching up to his.  “And I promise to have your back too, Detective Jeffers.”

Hannah woke up in a fright, sitting up in bed as something occurred to her. 

She was so startled by the thought, she didn’t notice Sam had already jumped out of bed and was holding his weapon, completely naked
as he searched for the threat. 

“
What’s wrong, Hannah?” he asked, his eyes scanning the room.

Hannah looked over at him and her heart melted.  “No threat,” she said, almost breathless with her suspicions.  “I just…” she thought back to her dream, her mind trying to wrap itself around the images.  “I think I might know who has been doing this!”  She glanced at the clock and saw that it was only five minutes before the alarm was about to go off. 

Scrambling out of bed, she grabbed his shirt and hurried into the shower.  “I have to get ready,” she said and turned on the water.  She was already brushing her teeth and grabbing her suitcase, but it was empty.  “Where are my clothes?” she asked him, looking around.  The pillows and most of the sheets were on the floor, pushed there overnight by their lovemaking and, during sleep, she found that she didn’t need anything other than his muscular arm or chest for a pillow and he gave off more than enough heat to keep her warm so she simply curled up against him.  Not that he allowed anything else.  She liked the way his strong arms held her close throughout the night, making her feel protected and secure. 

But the mess didn’t help her locate her clothes.

“I put them in the dresser,” he said, rubbing his face now that he realized that no one was threatening his woman.  “They’re in the top drawer.”

Hannah froze, feeling that
crazy sunshine warm her heart once again.  “You gave me a drawer?” she asked softly, her love for this man, not to mention his kindness and generosity, was almost overwhelming. 

“Of course I gave you a drawer,” he said, storing his gun back in the safe.  It was activated by his fingerprints so it was quick and secure.  “In fact, I’m going to start moving you in here tonight.  No more suitcases, Hannah.  I want you here. 
All the time.  Your cats will just have to find a perch here until we get a dog.”

She liked the sound of that.  “I love you,” she said and walked over to kiss his jaw.  When that wasn’t enough, he took over the kiss, being much more thorough.

But when his hands started to come into play, she laughed and stepped out of his arms.  “No time for that.  We have to hurry.”

Sam watched her step into the shower, his body already hard and aching for hers but he respected her time. 
Later though.  Tonight, he’d make sure she made up for her lack of attention from this morning. 

“I like yesterday’s wake up better,” he grumbled and stepped into the bathroom to start shaving.

Hannah laughed softly even while she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair.  “Poor baby.  Did I not take care of you last night?” she asked, poking her head around the door and smiling up at him.  Her eyes noticed that he was no longer thinking about last night.  He was now completely focused on the here and now. 

He leered at her through the glass doors.  “Woman, if you’re going to tease, I can retaliate in a much
more effective manner,” he warned.

Hannah saw that he wasn’t making an idle threat and pulled back into the water, but she felt giddy all over, knowing that this enormous, strong and amazing man felt those things for her. 

She finished her shower in record time, dried herself off and pulled on a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt today since the temperature was going to be warmer than normal.  “Hurry,” she urged when he stepped out of the shower right behind her. 

He grabbed her by the waist and held her still for a moment.  “You’re going to tell me what’s going on, right?” he asked. 

She nodded, placing a hand on his chest to reassure him.  “Absolutely.  Can I explain in the car?”  She grabbed a black tee-shirt from his drawer, handing it to him because she loved the way the color and fabric looked on him with all those bulging muscles stretching the material. The black color just gave him more of a touch of danger and she sighed as he automatically pulled it on.  When he strapped on his holster and shoved his gun into place, he winked at her, knowing what was going on in her mind.  “Let’s hit it,” he told her and grabbed her hand. 

Hannah had her purse over her shoulder and she was rushing out the door.

When Sam was backing out of his garage and on the way towards her coffee shop, he glanced over at her.  “Okay, start talking.”

She shook her head. “I think you should call
Walker to be there as well.  Just to be safe.”

Sam glanced at her again, seeing something in her eyes.  He didn’t question her.  Just pressed a button on his steering wheel and made the call.

Amazingly, Walker answered on the first ring.  “You’d better be dying, man,” his gravelly voice said over the car’s speaker system. 

Hannah stifled her laughter, letting Sam do the talking.  “Hannah had a thought but she says you need to be there at her shop.  How fast can you be there?”

Hannah heard him moving in the background.  “Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be out the door.”

“Make it ten,” Sam said and clicked off.  “Okay, talk to me.”

Hannah’s smile disappeared and she looked out the front window.  “Remember we were thinking that the person might be a gardener?” she started out. 

“Yes.  What did you think of?”

She bit her lip, hoping she was wrong.  “My very first customer, almost every morning, is an older gentleman by the name of Luis.  He’s very kind and sweet, and he’s an avid gardener.  He comes in for coffee each morning, does his crossword puzzles, then spends the rest of his day in his garden.”

“Do you know if he has a hothouse?”

Hannah thought back, her mind going through the many conversations she’d had with Henry over the years.  “I think he’s mentioned something about one.  He talks about gardening even in the winter, so I would assume he does.”

Sam absorbed that information for a moment,
then pressed another button on his steering wheel.  

Brock grumbled even worse than Walker had. 
“You’d better have a damn good reason for calling me at this hour.”

“Can you be at Hannah’s shop in the next,” he glanced at his watch, “ten minutes?”

There was a moment of hesitation.  “You got something.  What is it?”

“Just get to Hannah’s shop and give Colt a call.” 

Brock groaned.  “You just don’t want to die by calling Colt yourself,” he accused.

Sam laughed, then relayed the information Hannah had thought of overnight. 

While Sam talked, Hannah could hear the rustling in the background, including a sleepy, feminine voice.  She cringed, thinking she’d interrupted something important.  Or at least she hoped it was something important.  She liked Walker.  As well as Brock and Colt for that matter.  These guys watched out for Sam and that made them the good guys.  They were all big and muscular.  All had that same, dangerous look about them that made women take a second…and third, look.  She’d seen it when they were working in her shop and had been amazed at how some of the women’s jaws dropped as they passed by. 

“You think I’m right?” she asked
, suddenly nervous that she was on the wrong track.  She didn’t like the idea of accusing someone as sweet and kind as Luis, but something inside of her knew that it all made sense.

Sam nodded silently. 

She sighed and looked down at her fingers on her lap.  “What’s going to happen to him if it is Luis?”

Sam didn’t want to say.  “Let’s just get more information, okay?”

Hannah accepted that he was more focused on catching the killer than worrying about what might happen to him later on.

They arrived at the shop at that moment and Hannah was surprised to see Colt pulling up a moment later. 
Walker and Brock both were pulling into the parking lot while Hannah was unlocking the front door.

“Go check the back first,” she whispered,
worried about what might be out there.

Brock stood to her right while Sam walked to the back
alley.  “There won’t be anyone back there, Hannah,” he assured her.  “We’ve had two officers watching both sides of the street.  There’s no way someone could have gotten through.”

Hannah wasn’t so sure, but she breathed a sigh of relief when Sam came back with a shake of his head.  “Thank goodness!” she said and all four men silently agreed with her.

“Here’s what Hannah thought of this morning,” Sam said and filled the other three in on Luis, his gardening proclivities and some of the comments she’d relayed to him.

“Sounds like a good suspect.  Why didn’t we catch him yesterday?” Brock asked.

“Because he’s the first guy in each morning.  We hadn’t gotten set up by that point yesterday,” Sam explained.

The four of them came up with a game plan while Hannah preppe
d the store for opening.  By five o’clock, she was unlocking the door, looking back at Sam and Colt who were sitting by the cash register while Walker and Brock sat by the front, prepared to catch the license plate number as well as stop the man if he tried to leave. 

Sure enoug
h, right on time, Luis walked in with his usual smile.  The smile faded slightly when he noticed that he wasn’t the first customer to arrive.  “Am I later than usual?” he asked as he stepped to the counter for his coffee and breakfast.

“Of course not,” Hannah replied, handing him the cup of coffee with a forced smile.  “
The guys just got here earlier.”

Luis
looked at Sam and Colt, both of whom were looking down at their newspapers, pretending to read and sip coffee but they were actually listening to Hannah’s conversations with Luis as well as waiting for Walker and Colt to run the license plate and do a fast background check on the older man. 

Hannah knew the exact moment when
Walker came back with something on Luis.  The tension in the shop grew so thick, she felt almost sluggish.  Or maybe it was her fear clogging her senses.  Had this man killed someone?  Surely Luis couldn’t be the killer.  He was too kind, too gentle.  And he was older than most of her customers!  He was just a good, kind man who liked his crossword puzzles!

But she knew.  Hannah had no idea how, but deep
down inside, she knew that Luis had done these horrible deeds.  “Why does a seagull fly over the sea?” she said to Luis, keeping her eyes on him carefully. 

Luis
stopped, his eyes widening and then he smiled.  “Why?” he asked, leaning against the counter as if he were settling in for a chat. 

“Bec
ause if he flew over the bay, they’d be called a bagel.”

Luis
chuckled at the corny joke, but the amusement didn’t enter Hannah’s eyes.  Luis saw her tension and his smile faded. 

“George Clemons told me that joke the last time we talked.” 
Hannah’s eyes were sad as she looked at Luis, noticed the narrowed eyes, the tense hands.  “Why did you do it, Luis?” she asked softly.  “Why all those men?”

Luis’
eyes snapped back to hers and she could actually feel the evil coming back at her.  Cringing, she stepped back, her hands gripping the metal counter behind her. 

“You can’t be
near them,” he growled.  “They aren’t pure!”

Her mouth fell open and her heart felt like it might just pound out of her chest. 
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sam and Colt move behind him, their hands on the butt of their pistols.  She wasn’t as aware of Brock or Walker, but she knew they would be finding a place where they could protect her as well.

“What do yo
u mean about being pure Luis?  They were just kind old men, just like yourself.”

H
e almost spat with disgust.  “They were homeless!  They were filthy!  They rarely bathed!  They weren’t worthy of your attention!”

That was shocking.  “My attention?” she asked, not sure what he meant.  “I gave George coffee.  He was nice and kind and told me jokes.
”  She shook her head, denying that George had done anything wrong.  “He didn’t deserve to die.  None of them deserved to die.”

His face was now mottled with rage. 
“They hung around you, distracting you.  They didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”  His eyes started to beg her to comprehend his point of view.  “You have to understand, Hannah.  You’re one of the good people on this earth.  You’re the kind of person that needs to be protected because you’re pure and good.  The filthy people in the world can’t be allowed to touch you.”

She was horrified by his attitude,
disgusted that anyone could really think like that.  “How many have you killed, Luis?” she asked.

He was shaking with rage, his coffee spilling over his hand but he didn’t even realize that the hot liquid was scalding his skin.  He was too far gone to even care.  “You mean besides those three, useless boars?” he asked.  “Anyone who needed to die!” he growled.  “We need standards!  We need to fix the world so that only the productive people are allowed to live.  And none of them can touch you, Hannah!”  He looked behind him and noticed Sam’s pistol already drawn.  “And this cur shouldn’t be allowed to touch you either!” he yelled out.