Dangerous Lines (15 page)

Head back, she arched even higher as a fourth
orgasm ripped her to shreds. Only then did she feel Vincent shuddering against
her, heard him calling her name. Then, and only then, did his weight come down
over her, wrapping her up in his arms.

Holy fucking hell.
Rhonda couldn’t speak. She could barely think. Somehow she managed to
get an arm around his neck, to hold him close. She was shattered, completely,
totally, forever. “I love you,” she whispered.

She felt his jolt of surprise. Yeah, she was a
little surprised too. Talking about her revelation would have to wait though,
since she slipped into sleep before he could say anything at all.

****

When she came to sometime later, everything rushed
back in. The multiple orgasms, the look on his face as he knelt between her
legs, the fact she’d told him she loved him. Shit.

She did love him, had for a while, but hadn’t been
ready to admit it. She had though, in the heat of the moment. Maybe he wouldn’t
hold it against her. Yeah right. Rhonda rolled her eyes.

Taking stock of the situation, she found herself
draped over Vincent’s chest. He was awake. She could feel him stroking her hair
even though his breathing and heart rate suggested sleep. He’d been a trained
soldier though, so he likely had a few tricks up his sleeve for feigning
slumber when necessary.

Rhonda knew, were she to lift her head, she’d find
his eyes open. She would, lift her head that was, in a couple of minutes. First,
she needed to get her head on straight and figure out what to say. Dropping the
L word in the midst of sex wasn’t exactly what one would call smooth after all.

“I love you too, Rhonda,” Vincent said. His voice
was a rumble under her ear. “Had you actually stayed awake long enough, you’d
have heard it then. Hell, I realized I was in love with you weeks ago, not that
I actually clued in until we were back in the city. But, fuck,” he grumbled.
“You tie me up in knots, woman. Always have, likely always will.”

Rhonda liked that. It made her smile. She didn’t
say anything. He knew she was awake and listening, so she’d let him keep
talking, if he was of a mind to. Turned out he was.

“Tamara figured it out,” he muttered.

Huh? What the hell? And she hadn’t fucking told
Rhonda? Narrowing her eyes, Rhonda made a mental note about payback.

“She also tried to get me to tell you, sooner than
later. I knew I couldn’t tell you before the op. You needed a clear head, no
worries beyond Moreau, and telling you I loved you would just fuck up your
balance.”

No shit, she thought with a wince. And with his
declaration going around in her head, she wouldn’t have been as aware.

“At least Tamara saw the wisdom in that. She was
even giving me tips on how to ease you into the whole thing. Not one of which
involved making love to you until neither of us could see straight, but I won’t
mention that to her. Then she threatened me.”

Rhonda jerked her head up at that, staring at him.
“What?”

He nodded, a grin playing around his lips. “She
fucking threatened my life if I hurt you. I believe it went along the lines of
immeasurable agony for the rest of my life. She’s scary when she puts her mind
to it.”

“No shit?” she asked. She was still trying to come
to terms with
Tamara,
sweet and wonderful Tamara,
threatening a guy that was bigger, trained, and outweighed her by a lot.

“No shit. She got this evil look on her face as she
laid out the terms. Then, quick as could be, she was all perky and cheerful as
she skipped off into the hall.”

“Damn,” she breathed out. Grinning, Rhonda shifted
so she could put her head on his shoulder and see his face. “I’ll have to ask
her to replay it for me, see if she’ll admit to it.”

“Doubtful, she’ll likely just get that innocent as
could be look on her face.”

“Good point.” Sounded like Tamara, too,
which made it all the more credible.
Rhonda just couldn’t
believe her friend had actually threatened Vincent. Of course, turnabout was
fair. Rhonda had ensured that Shawn knew not to fuck around with her best
friend either. Not that Shawn had likely admitted that. Maybe he had though.

Brushing it all aside, she lifted a hand to stroke
a finger over his jaw. The roughness of his stubble was a sensual sensation.
“Vincent,” she said softly.

“Hmm?”
He cocked a brow,
his eyes watchful, hungry.

Smiling slightly, she pushed up, threw a leg over
him, and settled on his lower belly. His hands came to grip her hips as she
leaned in to nibble on his strong jaw line. “I need you,” she whispered.
Pressing her breasts to his chest, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Again?” he asked. He was laughing. She could feel
it through her pussy against his belly. “You are insatiable aren’t you?”

“Mm, that won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Hell, no.”
His lips caught hers. In one moment to the next she was tucked under
him, his hard cock rubbing against her thigh. “No problem at all.”

“Good.”

Epilogue

As they sat in Shawn and Tamara’s house two weeks
later, Vincent stroked Rhonda’s hair while she leaned back against his chest.
They were cuddled up in a large armchair while the other couple snuggled on the
couch. They’d just enjoyed a great barbecue, most of the food compliments of
Mallory, and a bit from Tamara.

Picking up Rhonda’s left hand he stroked a finger
over her hand. She grinned up at him, and wiggled her fingers at him. She was
quite enjoying being cast-free finally. Her hand and arm were weak but getting
stronger each and every day.

“Oh, here’s the news piece,” Mallory said. She was
stuffed into another large armchair across the room with her fiancé Trent.
Trent managed to keep her from falling out in her enthusiasm, kissing her
soundly enough that she melted back into him.

Chuckling softly, Vincent nuzzled Rhonda’s neck
while the reporter introduced the piece. The screen changed, going to a shot of
the courthouse that another reporter stood in front of.

“We’ve just received word that Gabriel Moreau will
be going to trial on all charges. These include kidnapping and torture of a
SFPD officer, drug trafficking, money laundering, and several counts of
coercion of city officials. Those same city officials are also now under
investigation by the DA’s office. Charges are pending in all cases. Moreau’s
trial is set to begin in three weeks’ time. Back to you in the studio…”

Shawn turned the volume off and looked toward them.
“There you go, Rhonda. He’s a goner,” he said.

She nodded, relaxing even more against him. “Only
thing now is that I’ll have to testify.”

“It’ll all be closed off to the press right?”
Mallory asked.

“Yeah, it will be. Because I’m often undercover, it
has to be. It’ll be all done in the judge’s chambers, taped, and then played
for the jury with my face fuzzed out and my voice modulated. Not even Moreau
will know it’s me.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he’ll know it’s you,” Shawn
said. “Given you were practically in his face when Adam tossed him down, and
cuffed him.” He chuckled softly as Tamara smacked his arm.

“I know, but he’s not going to be able to do much
when he’s in jail. Not with the restrictions the DA plans on slapping on him.
Besides, there’s a lot of testimony that will be laid out at trial. He won’t
ever see the light of day. Hell, with how this reflects back on the Colombians,
he’ll be lucky to live longer than a few days inside.”

Vincent stroked his hand over her arm. She was
right. The Columbians would not be pleased to have their operation getting any
sort of attention. Of course, that also meant that
Yancy
Barrows likely wouldn’t
walking
around for long
either.

He didn’t feel bad about it either. Vincent likely
should, but he just couldn’t dig up any sympathy for the man.
Yancy
had placed Ro’s life on the line, unacceptable in his
mind, so whatever happened to him was his own doing and deserved.

“Did your captain ever find the mole?” Mallory
asked suddenly.

Rhonda gave a nod. “It was one of the file clerks.
It’s amazing what they see, and hear down there or when they are moving through
the building. She had a thing going with one of Moreau’s enforcers. When they
had a falling out Moreau threatened her family, and sweetened the deal with a
large bonus for each piece of information as long as she kept it coming in.
From the sounds of things she was getting off on living the high life, even
with the possibility of being found out. One of the other detectives told me
she burst into tears when she was arrested. Then when that didn’t seem to be
working in her favor went all cold, and demanded her union rep and a lawyer.”

“Makes sense,” Shawn commented. “They are
everywhere, and no one thinks anything of it. Did she ever give up anything on
you in particular?”

“Oddly enough, no,” Rhonda said. “I’m not sure of
the specifics, but so far the captain’s only said that she was giving up
information on warrants, and police movements that had been issued pertaining
to a certain criteria of Moreau’s. No specifics on what the criteria covered,
and no idea why Moreau was interested in that stuff specifically. We may never
know either. She’s facing some serious charges by the time this is over so
she’s really not talking a whole lot. Probably a good plan since it would only
dig
her a
damn deep grave. Well, some pretty hefty jail
time depending on what Internal Affairs uncovers about her actions at the very
least.”

“Nothing less than she deserves,” was Tamara’s
verdict on the matter.

Pressing a kiss to Rhonda’s temple, Vincent urged
her up. “Thank you for dinner you guys, but we have plans,” he said.

“We do?” Rhonda asked, blinking at him.

“Yup, we do.” Urging her toward the door, he paused
long enough for the
hugfest
that ensued. Rolling his
eyes, he fought the need to look at his watch. Once all the goodbyes were done
he hustled her into his truck and got moving.

“So, where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he said.

“Huh, so, what was the reason for the bum rush out
the door? They are our friends you know. It was a bit rude.”

“They will get over it, trust me.”

He could hear her flicking a nail against a tooth,
and could feel her eyes on him. She was trying to figure it all out. Not that
she would. Not right away.

For the twenty minutes it took him to get where he
wanted to go, Rhonda stewed. He knew she hated being in the dark. It drove her
nuts, which was fine at the moment. It would make the surprise all the better.

Pulling up outside the house, he put the truck in
park before hopping out. Humming under his breath, he went around
to let
her out. She was looking around at everything like
the excellent cop she was.

They weren’t all that far from Shawn’s place. He’d
just taken a roundabout way to get here so she wouldn’t realize it right off.
Though, in time, she’d likely clue in.

“Come on,” he said. Wrapping his arm around her
shoulder, he led her to the front door and hit the doorbell. She looked
confused, which he knew wouldn’t take long at all to shake off.

The door opened and the realtor grinned. “Mr.
Bradley, good to see you again. Come on in.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“I’ll give you two a few minutes; just let me know
when you’re ready.” The man nodded to Ro before stepping out onto the front
porch they’d vacated.

“Will do,” he assured him. Closing the door, he let
Ro loose and headed deeper into the house. It was empty, beautifully redone,
open concept and roomie. “So, what do you think?”

“I think it’s a big empty house.” She eyed him
suspiciously. “Either you’ve brought me out here to knock me off, which means
taking out the realtor, or you’ve got something planned.
So,
what the hell, Vincent?”

“Really?
You think I’d knock
you off?
Ro, sweetheart, hardly.
Come on, let me show
you around.” He took her through the rooms on the main floor, showing her the
huge windows off the family spaces and the kitchen that looked out over a small
lake. Most of which was on the property, he told her. Upstairs, he led her
through the master bedroom and bath, which was top notch like the rest of the
house, and then the four other bedrooms and home office.

Downstairs once more, he leaned against the kitchen
island as she looked around, even more confused than before. “So, what do you
think?”

“It’s my dream house,” she said softly.

Which he knew.
They’d talked about it one night as he tried to figure out how to get
her to move in with him. It had taken a lot of work to find something even
remotely close to what she wanted to one day have as her own. There were a few
things they’d need to change to get it perfect, but overall it was pretty damn
close.