ToServeAndProtect (25 page)

“It isn’t the first poor choice I’ve made when it
comes to you.”

“What was the first?” She swallowed as he stalked
toward her.

“I don’t know. But last night and now this,” he
touched her breast, brushing his thumb over the wet nipple.

She took a step back, and he joined her in the shower.

Moisture flooded her pussy. Her mind dizzied and her
heart pounded. In bed, she hadn’t been able to stare her fill. Corded muscles
carved his shoulders and arms. A thin trail of hair divided his torso and
feathered along his defined abdominals. Two prominent muscles created a vee
leading to his cock. Dark in color, thick and surrounded by tight black curls.
Pulsing veins stretched the engorged length and pearly moisture seeped from the
slit.

Water sluiced over his sculpted torso. She swallowed
and her heart hammered against her ribs. She licked her lips and stared into
his eyes. Heat surged into her sex. Everything about the man made her tremble
with desire. “You’ll see. I’m good to have around.” Her fingertips followed
rivulets of water over his corded abdominals. Then lower.

His cock was thick and erect, thrusting toward her and
bobbing in the heated spray. McKenna leaned forward and laved his nipple.
Ripples chased across his flesh and his cock poked into her chest. Kissing
lower, she drew out the anticipation. Resting her hands on his lean hips, she
knelt in the tub.

With the first touch of her fingers, his balls drew up
tight in their wrinkled pouch. She cupped him gently with her left hand and
circled the base with her right. His crown was large and flushed with color.
Her lips wrapped around the ridge. Hot taut skin slid like velvet against her
tongue. She lapped at the slit and sucked the knob. Dustin groaned, braced one
hand on the shower wall and fisted his other in her wet hair.

Slick with the shower and her mouth, his cock
glistened, pulsed, and stretched harder. She devoured his flesh, running her
tongue the length then sucking the crown. Glancing up, her eyes locked with
his. Heat flared in the smoldering depths. Keeping her eyes on his, she fisted
the shaft, sliding the silken flesh up and down in a measured rhythm. Water
cascaded over her head. The encounter was wet and erotic. She sucked, teased,
and pushed him closer to ejaculation.

“Enough,” he said through clenched teeth. She smiled
and stood. “Turn around.”

“I love a man of authority.”

“Then turn around, put your hands against the wall,
and put your ass in the air.”

“Ohh and commanding.” She did as he asked, loving the
way his palms caressed circles into her buttocks.

“Does this mean you’ll listen to me now?” He whispered
the words near her ear. Shivers tightened her nipples at the dark, demanding
tone. His cock nudged her folds from behind.

“Yes.” She inhaled harshly as he thrust up her
channel. “Oh, yes!”

He banged into her pussy, stretching her walls and
hitting the deepest most sensitive depths of her core. Relentless lunges
bombarded her with overwhelming pleasure. She tensed as her orgasm robbed her
of breath.

“Oh, Dustin.” Her thighs shook from the sensation of
him filling her. Again and again. More heat pooled in her clit. Her mind numbed,
and the hot needles of water continued to stream over their joined bodies.
Steam filled the room, and he continued to plunge into her.

With a growl, Dustin exploded. She felt each pulsing
contraction of his release. A moment later, he slipped from her body and sagged
against the tiled shower wall. A lazy grin stretched his lips.

“You win. You can go.”

She stepped beneath the spray and rinsed her hair. Hot
cream trickled onto her thigh. Her body was replete. They had a lead to follow,
and she had Dustin’s hands on her hips. She couldn’t contain her own smile. “I
swear I won’t slow you down.”

“I know you won’t mean to. Now hand me the soap.”

A few minutes later, they were getting ready.

“You need to wear black.” He stood in the bathroom
doorjamb. Black jeans hugged his hips, and a black T-shirt clung to his chest.
She was reminded of the way he looked the first time she saw him in the
hospital. Then he’d intimidated her. Now desire thrummed through her system.
She was becoming Dawn. She couldn’t stop thinking about sex.

He came into the room and placed his palm on her neck.
His thumb stroked her cheek. She inhaled, calming the flutter in her tummy. The
clean scent of soap and shaving cream clung to him. “I still think you should
stay here.”

“No.” She backed up and tugged a black tank over her
head. “I’m going.” Then she fished in her suitcase for black jeans. She slid a
room keycard into her back pocket.

“McKenna—”

“Enough, Detective.”

“Dustin.”

“If you don’t want me calling you detective,” she
yanked open the hotel door, “stop treating me like I’m your assignment.”

He growled and ran his fingers through his hair. “You
are my assignment until this case is solved.” They stopped in front of the
elevator, and he turned to her. “Until then, you need to trust in my
decisions.” They stepped through the doors as the adjacent elevator opened and
two men walked past.

“I do trust you. Just hurry up and figure out who
killed my father. I mean Elliot,” she said a little more quietly.

“Easy champ, I’m doing my best. At least you’re
officially off the suspect list.”

“What?” McKenna’s head snapped around. “When?”

“The FBI decided you didn’t fit the profile for the murder
of Elliot, which I tried to tell them from the beginning. And then the Marino
brothers went looking for you.”

They walked through the lobby, out the double doors to
the car. The warm California sun cast long shadows across the parking lot.

“Do they think the Marino’s fit the profile?” Dustin
opened the passenger door, and McKenna slid into the vehicle and strapped on
her seat belt. He walked around the convertible, sat behind the wheel and keyed
the ignition. “In your investigation, wouldn’t you have discovered if more than
one person was in the house?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Too many variables at the
crime scene. I know I haven’t talked much about the evidence we collected from
the house. I couldn’t because I was still the only one involved with the
investigation who knew you couldn’t have done it.” He looked at her across the
console.

“You don’t need to explain. I understand.”

“Is there a reason all the evidence points to you? Who
benefits with your blame?”

She shook her head. “No one. I don’t have any other
family. Well, maybe now I do if I can find the name of my biological father.”
She raised her eyebrows. “How can I find out?”

“There are registers on the Internet. If your father
knows you exist, perhaps he’s searching.”

“If the Marinos don’t get us, I’m going to look for
him when this is over.”

“Think positive.” He laughed and patted her thigh.

They stopped off at the store for basic supplies
needed to break into Roslyn’s house. “There’s a great Mexican restaurant on the
way. At least it used to be great.”

“I could use a margarita. Until I got involved with a
cop, I was a law-abiding citizen. Now I’m a burglar.”

He chuckled. “The house is vacant. We’re trespassing,
not burglarizing. I’d still feel better if you were safe at the hotel.”

“Dustin, safe is boring.” She smiled in spite of
herself. Ironically safe is exactly how she’d been living until she met Dustin.
Now she couldn’t keep her head out of the sheets. When she wasn’t thinking of
Dustin and the investigation, she was thinking for how much she wanted back in
bed with him between her thighs.

The streets were quiet as they parked the car behind
Roslyn’s house. Dustin turned off the engine but left the keys dangling in the
steering column.

 “What’re we waiting for?”

“Always know your surroundings.” He glanced at his
watch. “We’ll enter the house through the backdoor. Not a sound until we’re in
and wait, listen, and be sure we’re alone. Don’t forget we aren’t the only ones
interested in Roslyn’s whereabouts. Inside the house, keep the flashlight
directed at the ground and don’t let the beam cross a window.” He grabbed his
bag and ripped open a package of hotdogs and took two out.

“What are those for?” She crinkled her nose. “You
can’t still be hungry?”

“No, but the dog in the neighbor’s backyard might be.
We’re going to be fast friends.”

“How do you know they have a dog?” She squinted into
the darkness.

“It was barking when we were here before.” He handed
McKenna a hotdog. “Small, yappy, and in a dog run on the right side of the
house. Hand him the hotdog through the chain link and let him get a good whiff
of you. Hopefully, he won’t have a short memory.” He put the rest of the
hotdogs in the duffel. “I’m leaving the keys in the ignition. If there’s
trouble, start this car and get the hell out of here with or without me.”

“Think positive. And I wouldn’t leave without you any
more than you would leave without me. Besides we’re not going to have any
trouble.”

Dustin took her hand. “The Marinos won’t think twice
about disposing of me to get to you. Nothing is outside the realm of
possibilities when they want information.”

“I get it!” She pulled her hand away. “I believed
Elliot to be my father when they killed him.
If
they killed him. Shit,”
she said, pulling her hair into a black baseball cap. “I don’t need you to
scare me.” She looked over at him. “I’m already afraid.”

Slinging the duffel bag over his shoulder, he said,
“Okay, let’s go.”

Chapter
Sixteen

Dustin crept stealthily along the side of Roslyn’s
neighbor’s house with McKenna close behind him. The backyards bumped up against
each other. The furry black mutt yapped and ran in frenzied circles as they
approached. Drool dripped from his jowls. Dustin hurried to the chain link and
poked a hotdog through the fence. “Take the fucking hotdog and shut up,
Skippy.” Crouching close to the ground, he wiggled the limp treat, but the dog
jumped on top of his doghouse and howled.

“Move over.” McKenna stepped around him. “Here puppy,”
she cooed. The dog stopped barking and wagged his tail. “Good boy.” The mutt
took the hotdog and sniffed her fingers.

“Good boy.” Dustin stood up. The dog dropped the
hotdog and started barking again. His menacing growl vibrated his furry body.
“What the hell?”

McKenna laughed. “Stay on your knees and crawl past.
Don’t say anything to the dog. He doesn’t like mean detectives.” She wiggled
her fingers in the fence and the dog licked them.

Dustin hurried past and she followed. The dog did two
circles and lay down on the roof of his plastic house and choked down the two
hotdogs.

“Keep watch,” he whispered. Dropping his duffel at the
back door, he quickly took out his pen-sized flashlight and held it to the lock
for a moment. Then he worked in the dark with his picks.

Kneeling next to him, she continually scanned the
backyard for movement. The lock clicked, and she turned around and gave his
shoulder a squeeze. “You did it,” she whispered excitedly.

“You had doubts?” He gave her a quick kiss and slowly
opened the door.

They were in a small mudroom. Hooks along the wall for
coats, a box for shoes on the left, and a mirror with three small key hooks
hung on the right.

Dustin put the duffel bag on the ground and handed a
flashlight to McKenna. “Remember, keep the light on the ground.” He put the duffel
back over his shoulder and shined his flashlight down the hall. The bite of the
barrel of his gun digging into his back gave him a small degree of comfort, but
he was still unsure of their safety. He could almost feel the breath of a
Marino on his neck.

“Feel this.” She took Dustin’s hand and putting it to
her chest. “My heart is racing.”

“Mine, too. Let’s look around and get the hell out of
here.” Dustin crisscrossed the living room with his light. A couch, loveseat,
and rocking chair, but otherwise void of any personal touches, Roslyn’s home
reminded Dustin of a decorated model home in a new subdivision.

McKenna followed him to the rear of the house. In the
first bedroom, the bed was stripped of its sheets and the drawers in the
dresser were off track and askew. “Definitely a woman in a hurry. She must have
dumped her clothes into boxes.”

Dustin searched the closet. A gum wrapper, a price tag
on the floor, and a few empty hangers hung on the rod. “Nothing here.” They
made their way to the back bedroom.

Dustin immediately went to the desk and pulled open
the center drawer.

“She had a computer.” McKenna ran her latex covered
finger through the dust smearing the clean spot left by the monitor.

“I’m beginning to think this is a waste of time.”
Dustin closed the drawer. “The desk is empty, the garbage cans are empty, and
in fact, the house is empty except for the few pieces of cheap furniture. She’s
not coming back.” He picked up the duffel bag. “We should be at the moving van
looking through boxes.”