Unauthorized Return (Unauthorized Series Book 4) (7 page)

Aria woke and padded silently down the hall in her white lace panties, grunts of exertion meeting her ears, exactly like they had the day before. When she saw Coleton, her breath caught in her throat but she didn't stop advancing on him. He was on the floor doing sit ups, his muscles rippling and bulging. She walked straight up to him, stopping only when her feet straddled his legs, demanding with her eyes that he look at her. He dropped his hands behind his back to the floor, propping himself up and returning her lusty gaze with interest. Sweat glistened on his chest and she longed to touch the muscles that quivered there. She dropped slowly to her knees, the backs of her legs burning as they met his thighs. She pressed her barely-clad sex to the core of him and leaned forward, wanting only to finally taste his lips. A small smile crossed his features and he raised one eyebrow, as if to say,
What took you so long?

What had taken her so long? She didn't know. This was what she wanted. And so much more. She placed her hands on his shoulders and drew herself to his waiting mouth, diving in with abandon to the sweet taste of him. He took her weight easily, lifting his hips slightly, trying to create more contact between them. His tongue darted into her mouth, teasing it open wider, asking her for more, more, more. He raised one hand and slid it up her waist, creating a delicious friction, then cupped her breast through her shirt, savoring the heavy flesh there. He thumbed one nipple and she groaned into his mouth. She had to get her shirt off, now.

Aria groaned lightly on the bed, caught in the hazy space between awake and asleep. She
wanted
desperately to stay sleeping and take the dream to its inevitable conclusion - her sweet release and utter debasement. But she
needed
to stop it. To wake up and not go one step down that forbidden road, even in a dream state.

Aria wrenched her eyes open, her breath tearing in and out of her throat. Her body throbbed in time with her heartbeat. She felt a wetness between her legs, even though she was still wearing her jeans.

"Oh God," she groaned out loud.
She had a thing for him
. She was dreaming about Coleton Savoy. What was
wrong
with her? This could only end badly. He had wanted her sister. The first man she was attracted to since Jason left her, and it had to be someone she couldn't have, shouldn't have, didn't want to have! Why was life always so complicated?

"You okay in there?" came his voice from down the hallway. Aria sat straight up, eyes wide, absolutely mortified.
Had she been making noises?

"Fine! Just slept wrong. Stiff neck," she yelled back, wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole.

No such luck. Forty-five minutes later, she finally forced herself out into the apartment, willing her cheeks to stay cool. Coleton was in the kitchen, making breakfast.

Aria couldn't face him just yet. She headed to her backpack in the corner, retrieved a phone out of it, then sat down on the couch and eyed the phone. It was the one that assistant Chief Foley had given her.

"I'm going to call Assistant Chief Foley," she told Coleton through the open kitchen door.

He appeared immediately, with his shirt on, thank goodness. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

She picked up the phone and showed it to him. "He gave me this phone and said there was no trace on it. We're going to have to call in a few days anyway to make sure there's no change in the court schedule."

Coleton's eyebrows drew together, but he nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Aria dialed the number and waited. "Hello?" an eager male voice said.

"Who's this?" Aria said, immediately suspicious. It wasn't Assistant Chief Foley.

The voice boomed, and Aria's bullshit detector pinged wildly. "Sergeant Gale, this is Assistant Chief Harrison. How are things going? You guys are safe, yes?"

"Yes, we are safe. Where is Chief Foley?"

"He's out of town. He left his phone with me and gave me special instructions to take care of you. He said it was extremely important that he give me his phone, so that I could help you with anything you need. You are on our most important case right now. Where have you guys ended up?"

Aria shook her head to herself, not sure what was going on. "Chief Foley told me not to tell anyone."

"No, it's okay, this is a completely secure line. No one will know. He told me that he had told you that, but he said that was a poor decision. Once he thought about it, he realized that if no one knew where you were, you had absolutely no safety net. He didn't want that."

Suddenly, all Aria wanted was to get off the phone. She wanted time to think about this. Did she believe Harrison? And if she didn't, what did that mean?

She held the phone at arm's length. "Chief Harrison, hold on, you're breaking up. Let me just get past this big building ..." Before she could hang up, she heard him yell something. "Gale – wait, there's something you need to know about Chief Foley. I didn't want to worry you but you need to know -"

Aria pressed the end call button and quickly took the back off of the cell phone, pulling the battery from it. That way he couldn't call her back, or couldn't trace her if Chief Foley had been wrong about it being untraceable. Her heart pounded in her chest and she wondered if she had made the right call. He was about to tell her something about Chief Foley? But she trusted Foley implicitly, didn't she? What was going on?

She stared at the dismantled phone in her hand and tried to make sense of it. Coleton came in from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.

"That didn't sound like it went well," he said.

She shook her head. "It didn't. Foley didn't answer. Instead I got Assistant Chief Harrison and he acted ... weird."

"Weird how?"

"He wanted to know where we were, but Foley told me not to tell anyone, even him. When I acted like it was going to get disconnected, he started yelling, he sounded desperate and he said I needed to know something about Foley, something bad. I hung up before I could hear any more."

Coleton shook his head and his face grew contemplative. "That is bad. If Harrison is the one we're worried about, then we're practically screwed. He's up there at the very tip top."

"I was afraid he was going to tell me that Assistant Chief Foley was the one on your dad's payroll."

Coleton looked at her sharply, his eyes boring holes in her. "Do you think that's true?"

Aria shook her head, but slowly. "He would be the last one I would suspect."

"How about Harrison?"

Aria dropped her head back to the couch. She threw her hands in the air. "I just don't know! If you would've asked me an hour ago I would've said no way, but after that phone call I feel very suspicious. But what can I do? The only one over his head is Chief Powell and I don't have his direct line. As far as I know, Harrison is in charge of everything right now. If we can't go to him, who can we go to?"

Coleton stared at her, not answering her question. Finally, he said softly, "I guess we're on our own."

***

Coleton gathered a plate of fresh fruit and placed it next to the French toast he had cooked. His thoughts spun. He had suffered from anxiety as a child, but hadn't felt the ravages of that in more than fifteen years. Now though, it was all coming back to him. It seemed like everything was against him, and now it wasn't only him in danger, but this brave and competent policewoman he had dragged into this with him was also in the line of fire.

Guilt ate at him from the inside out. What if they were found, and she were killed or injured because of him? He didn't know if he could stand it. Even if he were gunned down a second later, that second would be agony like none he had ever known before.

Coleton worked on his breathing and tried to figure out what to do. Maybe he should just take off. Just run and leave the state. He could take his chances on his own. But another part of him didn't want to do that. His best chance was with this smart and capable woman. She knew what she was doing, that much was obvious. If she could just keep him alive until the day court started, maybe he could request a different police officer then. When things got even more dangerous. He could request a whole battalion of them, and then maybe be shot in his bed as he slept, since he didn't know who he could trust and who he couldn't.

Aria walked into the kitchen and almost smiled at him, her eyes alive and bright. Another arrow of guilt shot through his system, and then he pushed it away. He would think about this later. For now, he would eat.

Coleton took the two plates to the table and set them down. "French toast and fresh fruit," he told Aria, watching her face carefully.

"Mmmm," she moaned, closing her eyes in order to better take in the scent of the dish. His mind imagined her, with that same look of delight and enjoyment on her face, underneath him, her body moving in time with his, her soul and her will belonging to him for at least a short while.

She opened her eyes and gave him that small, partial smile again and he looked away quickly, afraid she would read his inappropriate thoughts in his gaze. Afraid the way he was beginning to feel about her was showing on his face.

He dropped his eyes to his plate and began to eat, almost choking on the first bite, especially when his thoughts continued to play their cruel tricks on him and showed him a picture of what her face would look like when he made her come. Eyes shut, mouth wide, hands fisted, body tight and tense, then softening with release. Coleton shook his head and barely restrained himself from hitting the heel of his hand on his forehead with every ounce of strength that he had in order to dislodge the thoughts. He needed to get ahold of himself!

They finished breakfast in silence and Coleton realized his anxiety had fled, for now.

Aria picked up their dishes and washed them in the sink, even cleaning his pots and pans. When she finally returned to the kitchen table he was able to look her in the eye again. "So what now?" he asked.

She smirked. "Now we wait. By the time Tuesday gets here, you will never want to see the inside of this apartment again."

Coleton laughed at her statement and she gave him that tiny smile again. He wanted to see what she looked like when she smiled fully, when she really was happy and joyful. He wanted to make her laugh.

"We should play a game," he said.

She did laugh lightly, but it was cynical. He wanted appreciation, joy, fun.

"What? Truth or dare? We don't have any games to play," she said.

"What's your favorite card game?" he asked.

"Are you teasing me? We don't have any cards."

I would never tease you
, he thought.
Unless I had your clothes off and your clit under my tongue. Then I would tease you until you thought you were going to die.

Coleton waged war with himself internally. Then he gave up. He wanted her, there was no way around it. There was no use trying to pretend he didn't. He might as well face that fact and try to function anyway. Because he knew he would never get her. He would just keep his fantasies to himself.

"I bought cards," he said. "At the store while you were looking for sheets and pillowcases."

Something shined hard and solid in her gaze but he couldn't tell what it was. Finally she nodded. "Spades is my favorite game, but we need two more people."

"You've never played spades with just two people?"

She shook her head. "I didn't know it was possible."

He smiled widely and left the room for a moment. When he came back in, he had the cards in his hand. He waved them at her. "Okay, we play just like normal, but first we have to prepare the deck."

He took out a deck of cards, discarded the jokers and the instructional cards, then shuffled quickly. He placed the cards between them and began to explain. "You will take two cards, but only look at the first one. Decide if you want to keep it or discard it. If you want to keep it, don't look at the second one and put it in the discard pile. If you want to discard, you do, and then you keep the second one. Then I will do the same until we go through the entire deck. Then we can play."

A broad smile broke over Aria's face and she nodded excitedly. It was the first genuine and unrestrained smile he had seen. He thought it made her look like a goddess. Coleton opened his heart to her, because that was the only way he knew how to function. He knew if he wasn't careful, he would leave this tiny apartment completely in love with her, but he also knew that could happen even if he was careful. He fell in love easily, and was hurt easily. But he would push forward and drive on after she broke his heart like he always did. If he was still alive.

They worked through the deck until they each had a hand of cards to play with. Aria caught on quickly. She made her bid the first hand, plus two bags, but he had bid more and was winning. She seemed to genuinely enjoy the game and he was glad he had suggested it. They started a second hand and he vowed to try harder this time. He knew she would do better.

"You are good. When did you learn to play spades?" he asked her, wanting to know more about her.

"At the FBI National Academy. Before I made Sergeant, I took vacation and attended the twelve week course they put on for law enforcement leaders. It's only supposed to be for lieutenants and above, but my parents got me in. I stayed in the barracks and played spades most weekends and some nights."

"Your father was in the FBI?"

Aria shook her head. "My father was the chief of police in Westwood Harbor nineteen years ago. My mother was an FBI agent. "

Coleton looked at her, dumbfounded. She was the product of a police chief and an FBI agent? There was no way he would ever have a chance with her, his father being one of the biggest criminals in the country. His heart fell just a little bit as he realized that he had been holding on to hope that maybe after this was all over, if he were still around, there could be some sort of a chance between them. But that was blown away like smoke. People like her barely acknowledged people like him.

Coleton excused himself for a moment and headed to the bathroom to wash his face. Once again, his father was the bane of his existence. He gathered himself together, pushed the thoughts of ever knowing Aria on a more intimate level away, and returned to the kitchen.

Aria smiled at him when he sat down and he immediately forgot his intentions. He was glad to see that she was becoming more comfortable with him. He picked up his cards and proceeded to take her next trick.

"Sucker," she hissed under her breath.

Coleton chuckled. "What's the matter? Overbid, did you?"

Aria bared her teeth at him and threw out her next card. He laughed and responded in kind. They were neck and neck until the last four books when she sucked out the last of his spades with the ace and queen and then threw a club. He was out of clubs.

He was the one who had overbid. She set him.

"Ha!" she screamed, triumphant. She flipped the last of his cards off the table with her cards, then put her right hand to her forehead with her index finger and thumb extended. "Loser!" she yelled and turned in a small circle.

Coleton watched her, amused. When she came all the way back around, she dropped her hand quickly and her eyes widened. The look on her face showed absolute shame.

"Oh my God. I can't believe I did that. That's the way we treated each other in the Academy. I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry."

Coleton laughed. "I get it. Don't be sorry. You set someone, you have to razz them. It's the law. My buddies and I treated each other the same way." He stopped speaking for a moment, and then recited, "Know that a word suddenly shot from the tongue - is like an arrow shot from the bow. O tongue, you are an endless treasure. O tongue, you are also an endless disease."

He recited the poem lightly, thrilled that it had come into his head. He had missed the poems during the months that they were gone. He had been reading poetry daily, so he knew that wasn't the issue. It was the running. The anxiety. The dead way he felt inside. Aria made him feel alive again in a way he couldn't keep hidden. She might think it was weird - he always ran that risk - but if she did, he needed to know that now.

She cocked an eyebrow at him, her face relieved. "You did it again."

He smiled. "Did what?"

"Said something ... beautiful that changed the moment."

Coleton's smile widened. She still might think it was weird, but if she also thought it was beautiful, that was ok. "I do that sometimes."

She studied him closely, and again he had the feeling that she was filing that fact about him away, possibly to be brought up at a later date, possibly not. He could see by her facial expressions how guarded she was, and he thought she was probably holding back, not wanting to get very close to him. The thought saddened him. He wanted to get close to her emotionally and physically. Even in this inappropriate setting.

Aria sank back in her chair, turning her questioning to less intimate matters. "Where did you learn to play spades?" she said in a small voice.

"In the Army."

Her eyes widened. "You were in the Army?"

Coleton pressed his lips together. "Well, yes and no. I joined the Army at seventeen, wanting to get out of California and away from my father and not having any other way to do it. He had cut me off from any financial support and made my aunt throw me out. He thought it would force me to come crawling to him. Instead I tried to go to school, but I couldn't afford it, so the Army was my only other option since there was no way I was going to ask my dad for help. I made it through boot camp and then was shipped off to my AIT class for advanced training for the job I was going to have."

"What job were you going to have?"

"98X-ray," he said with a hard and humorless grin. "Military Intelligence."

Aria's eyebrows rose. "I've heard that's a very hard job to get."

Coleton shook his head. "People think you have to be super-smart to get it, but you don't. You just have to have an affinity for languages and communication."

Aria nodded her head. "And you do?"

Coleton shrugged. "I guess. I passed all the tests."

Aria flapped her hand at him.
Go on.

Coleton thought for a moment and then spoke. "The school for military intelligence is the longest in the Army. It can take over two years as you learn a new language. They send you off to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey Bay and that's where you stay until you are done. I was nine months into my training when it happened."

Coleton scooched his chair out from under the table and pulled up his pant leg, showing her his scars.