Her surprised gasp and watery smile were overridden by a voice on the path.
“That’s quite a promise, bro, and I for one, am gonna hold you to it.”
***
Jared’s voice was laced with dry humor, but Jude caught the current of danger coursing through it. Jude knew his brother would never interrupt him at such a critical moment—for Sky’s sake as much as for his. Something was wrong, very wrong. Protectively holding Skylar in front of him, he looked over his shoulder and met Jared’s grim expression.
Jared took an audible breath. “Much as I hate to interrupt this X-rated porn fest, we got a problem, bro.”
“What is it, man?”
Jared sighed. “Car accident, drunk driver. DOA.”
“Who?”
“You’re not gonna believe it, dude. Charlie Berkley. Missed the curve on Pinetop and went over the cliff. Dead when he hit the ravine.”
Skylar’s shocked cry echoed the one Jude managed to swallow.
Chapter 17
“Now do you see why I wear cargo pants and a t-shirt on duty, Detective?” Sky’s scornful insinuation was clear as she scowled at Jude. He’d already made the mistake of telling her that she looked hot as hell wearing his five-sizes-too-big sports coat over her miniscule strapless dress.
Annoyance blanketing her face, Sky took his outstretched hand and allowed Jude to guide her down the steep embankment. She’d left her five-inch stiletto high heels in his car and was picking her way down the rock-strewn path in her bare feet. She growled and shoved at his hands when he impoliticly offered to carry her.
Her aggrieved mutter was barely audible, but he picked up on it. “Being a man who can wear whatever he pleases and still look like hot shit while on duty, of course you want the little women to traipse around half naked.”
Jude caught her as she stumbled, and chuckled. “Don’t misunderstand, Squirt. The only time I want you naked is when you are on exclusive duty with your boss. The rest of the time you can wear anything you damn well please, as long as it didn’t come from the Salvation Army store and isn’t eight sizes too big.”
At her annoyed grunt, he added, “Never thought I’d say it, Squirt, but you and I are going shopping tomorrow unless I can recruit Hailey for that mission. There’s gotta be somewhere in the Twin Ports cities where a curvy woman can buy casual clothes that are comfortable and flattering—something between an Ana Sui original and a Goodwill reject.”
Skylar stopped and glanced up at him, not hiding her surprise. “You know an Ana Sui original when you see one, Jude?”
He laughed and assumed a dopey expression. “Hey woman, jest ‘cuz I was raised in this here backwoods don’t mean I don’t know a fancy get up when I sees it.” He added with a grin, “Of course, it helps when you look at the label.”
Sky couldn’t suppress her snarky response. “That’s right, Detective. I forgot. You’ve had lots of opportunity to study labels on women’s clothes—on their bodies, and off.”
Seeing his emerald eyes harden, Sky wished she could take back her words. They’d managed to act almost natural after they left the garden to drive to the accident scene. She’d been grateful when Jude had started calling her Squirt rather than Skylar or, God forbid, ‘baby’. It made her feel it might be possible for them to go back to where they’d been before their torrential experience in the garden. She should have known Jude wouldn’t let her get away with throwing an unanswered stink bomb into their midst.
He reached for her arm and pulled her up next to him. In her bare feet, he towered over her. Jude chucked her under her chin and held it so she couldn’t look away. Pinning her with a narrow, emerald-hard gaze, he murmured, “Uh-uh, baby. You don’t get to throw a Molotov cocktail into the party and not expect an answer.”
Refusing to give in to him, she jerked her chin away and said with a dismissive sniff, “Really? Hmm, I’m not seeing anyone around who is going to stop me from doing anything I damn well please.”
He pulled her up close and slipped his hand under his jacket that hung to her knees, then slid it up her thigh and pinched her bare bottom. Ignoring her outraged squeal, he murmured dryly, “I dunno, Squirt. If you’re not seeing anyone who would not only stop you from throwing bombs, but would teach you a few hundred other things that happen to naughty girls, I think you better look a little harder. Or, maybe we’re gonna have to get you a stronger pair of Clark Kent glasses. Something is definitely off with your vision.”
Skylar was saved from answering when Jared came forward, meeting them at the bottom of the embankment. “We left everything the way it was until you two could get here. God forbid anyone should mess with a crime scene before the master and mistress of the universe get here to decode it.”
“Interesting that you call it a crime scene, bro.”
Jared scoffed. “Obviously, you haven’t noticed the expression on Ms. Hughes’s face, dude”.
Skylar startled and shook her head. “It’s nothing, Jared. I was remembering my conversation with Charlie. I think I may have been the last person to see Charlie alive. Maybe even the last one to talk to him.” She frowned as she moved toward the body crammed in the front seat of the smashed car.
Both Jared and Jude stepped back when she leaned in through the open window and put her face up next to Charlie Berkley’s shattered visage.
Jared groaned. “Jesus, Sky!”
Jude raised his hand and shook his head, warning his brother back.
Skylar put on the gloves that Jude handed her and carefully unlatched the crumpled car door. She leaned in and for several moments examined the battered body. She sniffed his clothes then once again put her face next to his broken, bloodied one. Stripping off her gloves, she turned back to Jude. She glanced at Jared and sighed. “You were correct, Jared. This
is
a crime scene. Charlie wasn’t drunk. He was poisoned.”
***
Skylar jumped when Jude tugged on her arm. She’d been so absorbed in studying Charlie’s body that she hadn’t realized Jude was talking to her. She turned to see Jared and Jude staring at her. Both of them looked serious, concerned.
Jude grasped her arm and pulled her off to the side. Jared followed them.
“Listen up, Squirt, I don’t doubt for a minute that you’re correct, but before we announce your findings to the squad we need to work thorough the implications. Right now, I want to take you home. You must be exhausted. At least, you sure as hell look like you are.”
He glanced at her unusual clothes and fought a grin. “Damn, baby, if anyone had told me that you could look more odd, or,” he added with a groan, “hotter, I wouldn’t have believed it.” He leaned down and murmured, “Gotta tell you, sweetheart, I might have to start dressing you in some of my clothes—only with nothing under them.”
It was the first time since they’d left the bridge that Jude had called her one of the sex-inflamed blandishments that he used when he’d confronted her there. Dealing with the shocking crime scene and knowing that they now had three murders to solve, Sky had almost been able to suppress the memory of their torrid coupling. But from her body’s raging reaction caused by just being next to him, it was clear that wasn’t going to be an option. If she shoved a wet finger into a 220 electrical outlet the shock that would race through her hyped-up body wouldn’t be more powerful.
Leaning against him to get her bearings, she allowed herself to feel his strength. It was a mistake. His sexy scent alone made her stomach pitch and her knees buckle. If that wasn’t enough, she felt the cool air wafting between her legs, reminding her that she was no longer wearing panties. Granted, her thong wasn’t much of a shield, but being completely bare under her dress was a new experience. She was glad that Jude had insisted she wear his jacket over her miniscule dress, until she shoved her hand in the pocket and discovered her missing thong. Not able to suppress a shocked gasp, she was horrified when he chuckled and captured her hand in his and unwound the strip of satin from her fingers.
Raising the lacy confection to his nose he breathed in deeply. “Uh-uh, little girl. This belongs to me now. Whenever I want to remember the glorious fragrance of your cunt I’ll have this to remind me. Until I have access to the real thing, of course.”
Shocked by his brazen taunt, Skylar ran to the car and practically dove in. She was grateful that the seat belts provided at least some protection from his overwhelming presence and that he was silent on the short drive from the crime scene to her apartment. Reliving the remarkable events of the evening, she didn’t know how she could explain to either of them why she’d given in to his outrageous and terrifyingly-sexy assault. Although the words
give in
didn’t begin to describe the way that she’d attacked him in response.
Truthfully, she was afraid he was going to apologize, say he hadn’t meant to do what he did. She needn’t have worried.
Pulling to a stop in front of her apartment, Jude hopped out, then rounded the car and yanked open her door. He reached in and scooped her up in his arms. Holding her tight against his muscular chest, he carried her to the door. Setting her down in front of him, he tipped up her chin.
Skylar closed her eyes, afraid of the emotion in his emerald gaze but he shook his head, forcing her to look at him.
“Uh-uh, Sprite. Look at me and listen up. No way we’re gonna pretend that what happened tonight didn’t happen, or that it was a mistake. Jesus God, darlin’, if that bridge railing wasn’t so damned narrow I might have taken you on the top of it, if not on the bridge itself.”
When she tried to twist away he held her chin more firmly. “No, baby. You’re not allowed to look away, any more than you can pretend that you don’t want me as much as I want you. And sweetheart, I’ve never wanted a woman more than I want you. There’s no turning back, Skylar. I
am
going to take you, and, baby, when I do, you’ll be begging me for more.”
Still holding her chin, he leaned down and kissed her. At first he was gentle, his lips softly probing. When she couldn’t suppress a soft moan, he groaned in response. In seconds he was grappling with her, touching her everywhere: her breasts, her thighs, clasping her naked bottom in his big hands.
When she cried out, unable to hold back the violent sensations coursing over her, he pulled her up on his knee against his raging arousal. “Can you feel that, sweetheart? Feel my cock pressing against your weeping pussy?” His rough query shot sparks across her core.
Her agonized moan at his explicit question wasn’t enough for him. “Uh-uh. Tell me, sweetheart. Tell me what it feels like…in words!”
Skylar didn’t know how she was able to answer him. It was challenging enough to breathe. Somehow she managed to whisper, “You…
it
…feels…big…hard…and
scary
.”
Jude’s low, sexy chuckle vibrated against her ear, sending a shower of sparkling sensations across her thighs to her admittedly damp pussy. “Good, darlin’. That’s exactly how it should feel.”
He relaxed his hold somewhat. “You have to be exhausted, Squirt. I’ll pick you up in time for the 7:00 a.m. meeting.”
“No, don’t, Jude. Jared already said that he would bring Hailey and me in to work.”
“Hmm. Okay. But, Skylar, when you come in tomorrow? Bring an overnight bag. And one more thing, baby—no underwear. On second thought, wear another one of those thongs. I’ll add it to the collection I’m starting.”
Chapter 18
“I was likely the last person to see Charlie alive, except perhaps, for his murderer.” Sky knew she was blushing, but good God, given the fulsome praise heaped on her by Jared, Jake, and Solly, you’d have thought she had singlehandedly found the evidence that could convict O.J. Simpson.
Jude leaned back in his chair at the head of the table. He winked at his two brothers and shot her a narrow, languorous gaze. “And that was the moment you knew he’d been poisoned, Squirt?”
Knowing that he was teasing her, she lifted her chin and shrugged. “No, I assumed his angry outburst and unsteady gait as he stormed out from the party was the result of too much alcohol. I thought he was intoxicated.”
Jude nodded and glanced over at Solly, who had been the only member of the first responder team whom he had invited to the private meeting. “Which is what we were supposed to think, right, Sergeant?”
“Damn straight, Jude. Sure as hell what I thought, until you called me and Jake in and Sky enlightened us.”
Jake shook his head and didn’t hide his amazement. “One more time, Sky.Honest to God, you
smelled
it on him?”
When she just nodded, Jared chimed in, his voice filled with admiration. “Solly will tell you, bro. No one on the scene picked up on it. The DUI was too obvious.”
Skylar murmured, “Hmm, too obvious to be true.” At Jared’s frown, she added in explanation, “Sherlock—or to be precise, Arthur Conan Doyle—is one of my heroes.”
“Jesus, Sky, now you’re quoting the master detective?” Jared grinned at Jude. “Better watch out, Detective, our intelligence analyst is soon gonna be relegating you to the back bench behind the water boys.”
Jude cocked a brow and huffed, “Fortunately, I never presumed to have logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, as Specs here does.” He added, “Besides, bro, I’m learning that there are more layers to our bespectacled pixie than a five thousand-year-old bristlecone pine tree has rings.”
Praying that her cheeks weren’t as red as they were hot, Skylar sought to put her findings in perspective. “Actually, the fact that Solly and his men found Charlie when they did helped immensely. My understanding is that it was sheer luck that hikers spotted Charlie’s car at the bottom of the ravine. The murderer probably thought it would be days before he was found. By that time, I might not have picked up on the acetone smell.”
Jude guffawed. “Don’t sell yourself short, Squirt. Doc Evans said your sussing out the acetone was a brilliant stroke. Apparently the reason it’s such a clever weapon is because of the way it mimics alcohol. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time the victim would be written off as intoxicated. And yeah, we’re lucky we found him when we did, but none of us had a clue about poison, Skylar. Even Doc Evans said that he wouldn’t have tested for acetone in a million years.”