Ryker’s Justice (18 page)

Nicole
linked her arm through his. “I have an idea, Jude.”

“Tell
me on the way, then. See you all later.”

In
the truck he pulled her close and kissed her hard. Her lips melted beneath his
and he swore he could sense the electrical charges pulsing through her body.
“Ah, God, I needed that,” he said. He sat up, turned the key, and took off down
the street at a breakneck pace. “Where’s this steak place?”

“Noah’s
probably right. I haven’t heard about any steak houses or a café serving a
decent cut of steak, although Rick could probably scrounge one up if you
asked.”

“Not
an option,” he said. His voice came out gruff and she shot him an inquiring
look.

“Well,
okay. Is everything all right?”

Jude
resisted an urge to beat the steering wheel with his fist. He had never been
this transparent to anyone and it irked him more than a little. “Why wouldn’t
it be?”

Her
small hand rested on his thigh. “You’re so edgy. I’ve never seen you so
uptight, Jude. Won’t you tell me why?”

If
he did, it would stir up trouble. “I shouldn’t.”

“You
need to share, sweetheart. Something’s upset you and you’re worried.”

For
the first time, he cracked a genuine smile. “How can you tell? Are you a mind
reader?”

“Not
quite,” Nicole replied. “Your worry line is back and it’s deep. You can’t stop
frowning and you’re so tense. Your shoulders are tight and you walk
stiff–legged.”

“You
should be a profiler,” he told her. “All right, I confess—yeah, I’m worked up
and I’ve got every reason to be.”

“Tell
me.”

He
blew air though his nose. “I can’t while I’m driving. Thinking about it makes
me too damn mad and I don’t want to be distracted. I don’t want to talk about
it in public, so not over our supper, but when we get home I’ll fill you in. Since
steak doesn’t seem to be an option, what would you like?”

“I
don’t care but if you want steak, you should have steak.”

A
headache threatened somewhere behind his eyes. “I thought no one knew of any
good places to get one.”

“Your
kitchen will do just fine if you want to stop by a supermarket,” Nicole told
him. “I’d be happy to cook a couple of steaks, toss a salad together, and bake
a pair of potatoes. What do you think?”

“I
like it a lot,” he said. “Thanks, babe, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll stop at the
grocery store in the little town. If I ask you to do something else, will you,
without a hundred questions? Just do it and I’ll explain later?”

Nicole
kept silent as they passed through a series of traffic lights on the south edge
of town. Once the four-lane highway narrowed to two, she sighed. “You’re
scaring me to death, Jude, but yes, I’ll do anything you ask, except leave you.
That’s the one thing I won’t do.”

“That’s
one thing I won’t ask,” he said. “I need you, honey. If I take you to the inn
first, will you gather up all your stuff, check out, and come home with me?”

“Yes,”
she said.
“If you’ll tell me why.
Because you said
before it wasn’t a good idea and that it might be dangerous for me to stay with
you.”

Jude
wheeled out around a slow-moving car and passed it, then swung back into his
lane. “It would be more risky to stay at the inn,” he said. “I promise I’ll
tell you everything I know over supper or after, but Rick’s part of the ring. He’s
selling illegal moonshine and meth from the inn, honey.”

“
Rick?”
she cried. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,
honey. I hate it as much as you do, probably more. I’ve known them forever.”

Her
head swiveled from side to side. “Of course you’re certain, you wouldn’t say so
if you weren’t,” she said. “Oh, Lord. Yes, I’ll check out but what should I
tell them? I don’t suppose you want him to have any idea you’re aware.”

“No,
I don’t. I thought I’d tell him I’m taking you over to stay with Elijah and
Tania, to help with the kids, especially Nora. He probably won’t believe it but
he might. Neither of the
Cockrells
will like it much,
but it can’t be helped. I can’t risk having you there when the shit goes down.”

She
nodded. “All right, Jude. My mama was right.”

“About?”

“She
always said be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. I wanted to
come to your house but not like this. Rick and Mary are my friends, Jude.”

“I
know, honey,” he said. “I understand. They were mine, too.”

He
used past tense, not present. There would be no looking back from here.

Chapter Seventeen

Steak
could wait. He needed sex and plenty of it. The moment they entered his house
laden with her luggage and bags from the supermarket, he tossed the perishables
into the fridge and the rest onto the floor. Before Nicole had time to blink,
he kissed her with impatient desire and increasing need. Her mouth yielded to
him, soft as velvet with the heat of a cayenne pepper. He tasted her lipstick
and the lingering flavor of something minty on her tongue. Her light rose scent
wafted upward to tantalize him. When she grasped the front of his T-shirt with
both hands, his cock reacted with immediate, intense interest.

Jude
lacked patience. He wanted immediate release and sought it. He deepened his
kiss,
then
inserted his tongue into her mouth. When
she wrapped hers around it, he almost came but held back. His hands fumbled to
unzip her jeans and lower them. He shoved her panties out of the way and used
his fingers to massage her mound. When she whimpered, Jude lost all restraint.

He
groaned as he rubbed harder and when her pussy radiated heat, he knew it was
time. In one swift motion he lifted Nicole until her ass rested against the
kitchen table and he managed to undo his jeans. His stiff dick escaped the
denim and headed for her slit like a pigeon to its homing. Before she had time
to gasp, Jude entered and filled the space. He thrust his hips hard and rocked,
each movement sending a rush of intense delight through his body. Each one came
stronger and sweeter but his cock ached for release.

As
he nailed her on the wooden table where at least three generations of
Rykers
had dined, Nicole moaned. Her cries fueled his intense
need and as he hammered her, he groaned out loud. Each wave of sensual pleasure
brought him closer and when it came, the release consumed him with blinding
heat and incredible sensations. As he spewed into her, his body bucking in
spasms with the force of his orgasm, his legs wobbled, and when he finished,
Jude lowered her from the table with his last reserve. Then he collapsed onto
the floor, legs spread out, spent but happy.

After
he recovered his awareness, he glanced up at Nicole, seated in a chair with her
head in her hands. “Honey, was I too rough?” he asked. Worried he might have
hurt
her,
Jude hauled himself up and touched her
shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Nicole
lifted her face and flashed him a radiant smile. “I’m way beyond okay,” she
said. “Dear Lord, Jude, I thought you were
gonna
kill
me but I loved it. I’ve never had it so intense or so hard but I’m not
complaining.”

Laughter
convulsed him, tempered with a flood of emotion. “I’m glad,” he said. “I needed
that, honey, so much. Call it stress relief or whatever but it was damn fine
for me, too.”

“After
that scene at the inn, I needed something myself.”

Jude
nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t expect them to be so worked up about you checking out.”

Mary
had been at the desk when they entered and she had greeted them with a warm
smile. It faded, though, when Nicole told her she would be checking out now.
“I’m going to stay with Tania and Elijah to help out,” she had lied. Mary
hadn’t believed it and had shouted for Rick, who glowered. By the time Jude
helped Nicole tote her suitcases and bags down the
stairs,
both
Cockrells
stared with hostile, stone faces, and
refused to speak.

Nicole
groped for her jeans on the floor. “I know. It went way worse than I thought it
would. Mary was really upset.”

He’d
thought so, too, but now when he reviewed the experience, Jude changed his
opinion. Mary’s flushed cheeks and the glint in her eyes hadn’t been concern,
he realized, or moral outrage but open anger. “It made her mad and I’d like to
know why. They have plenty of guests so losing one wasn’t going to ruin their
profits. I can see why Rick looked so pissed—he’s afraid of getting caught—but
not Mary.”

“She
must know what he’s doing.”

“Yeah,”
he said. There had to be more, he thought, and he’d figure it out.
Soon.
“I need a shower, then some food. Come with me?”

A
slow smile crept across her lips. “If I do, we’ll starve to death,” Nicole told
him. “How about you shower, I cook, and then I get a long soak in your big
old-fashioned bathtub later?”

The
idea appealed. “Sure, honey—if I get to watch.”

Nicole
grinned. “You can wash my back.”

Despite
the incredible sex, his mind refused to relax in tandem with his body. In the
shower, Jude had a revelation somewhere between soaping his torso and
shampooing his hair.
How did Nicole hear
about the inn in the first place? Why did she pick it out of all the places in
the Ozarks she might have gone?
If she ever mentioned it, he had forgotten.
He had no notion why but it seemed important. Jude came close to bolting from
the shower naked and wet to ask but decided he could wait.

His
kitchen smelled of melting butter and frying beef. The strip steaks proved to
be delectable, tender as any he’d had in the finest restaurants. Nicole had
tossed together a salad with romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, a purple onion,
and fresh mushrooms. The simple vinaigrette dressing complemented the
vegetables, and the baked potatoes, laden with butter, filled his empty
stomach.

Conversation
remained muted and although preoccupied, Jude thought they were in harmony. The
quiet spaces between them were easy and comfortable. After he finished his last
bite of steak, he asked the question he’d been holding. “Honey, why did you
pick Cockrell’s Country Inn? I’m glad you did or I might never have met you,
but I wondered what brought you to it instead of someplace else. Most people
from far away coming to the Ozarks are drawn to Branson or Eureka Springs or
someplace, but you ended up off the beaten path.”

An
odd frown darkened her features. “Why, Jude? Does it matter?”

A
weird dread crawled along his spine. “It might. I don’t know yet.”

Maybe she saw a website online
somewhere. Or her best friend or cousin or neighbor recommended it. I know the
inn’s been written up in a lot of places. She could have seen an article about
it in the
Memphis
paper.
Jude
hoped but he doubted.

Nicole
swallowed a bite of steak as if it almost choked her. She laid down her
silverware and cleared her throat. “Simon used to come here,” she said. Her
voice came out cracked and reedy. “He would have sales reward weekends for his
insurance once or twice a year or training sessions. Sometimes he came with
friends, supposedly to go fishing, but Simon was no sportsman. I never came but
it always sounded like such a beautiful place. I always wished I could but I
wasn’t invited. So after the divorce and the hell of the last few years, I
decided to come. Since I use my maiden name now, I knew no one would connect me
with my ex-husband or Norris Consolidated Insurance Providers.”

His
mind began to drop facts in place, one at a time. “Why didn’t you ever tell
me?”

Color
faded from her face. “I didn’t know it mattered, Jude. What’s the deal? I don’t
understand.”

“I’m
wondering if your former husband might have been involved somehow,” he told
her. “I know you’re not, honey, so don’t look at me like I’m the big bad wolf. I’ve
already figured whoever’s behind this moonshine and meth operation has to be
from somewhere else and have money. From what you told me, Simon was all about
illegal shit, running scams.”

She
nodded. “Yes, he was. He screwed the parent insurance company and did almost
everything anyone could imagine. Jude, I swear if he was any part of this, I
had no idea. I kept away from his business as much as possible.”

Her
agitation concerned him but he took her hands in his. “I believe you,
darlin
’. I think I’m about to make the breakthrough I’ve
been looking for but I need your help. If he was involved, he wouldn’t be the
key person behind it. For one, with him in prison, he wouldn’t still be running
the show. Some cons do, sure, but he’s not in that kind of league. It would be
someone he knows, worked with,
ran
around with.”

Nicole
bit her lip. “He socialized with half of
Memphis
,
Jude. I don’t know.”

His
mind raced at breakneck speed. God, he wished he had a profiler around to
expedite things. Exhilaration that he might be close to cracking the case
warred with distaste that he had to use the woman he loved to gain the
information. “It would have to be someone high-profile, a wealthy individual
but crooked too. They would live a lavish lifestyle and network everywhere. He
or she would probably be the kind of phony person you’d hate, Nicole, because
you would see through their bullshit.”