“You like it, Squirt? Good. Let’s see if I do.”
To her surprise he leaned down and kissed her. Running the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips, he murmured, “Open for me baby. I want to see what a couple hundred-dollar bottle of wine tastes like in the most beautiful mouth in the world.”
***
Much later, Sky woke up frightened, not sure where she was. Feeling the long mass of muscle lying next to her, she allowed herself to remember the remarkable scene before the fire. The haunting music, soft flickering candles and luscious food were almost too good to be true, more like a super-charged erotic dream than reality.
But the truly remarkable element of the sensual montage had been Jude. He was funny, commanding and excruciatingly sexy. He insisted that he make good on his promise to feed her. Explaining that there were “rules” such as sitting on his lap and keeping her hands clasped behind her back, he fed her sips of wine and morsels of delectable food. Upping the ante, he told her that he was also hungry and she would have to share the food and wine with him. Placing a portion of the morsel between her lips he used his mouth to bite or suck off a piece, ensuring that he thoroughly cleaned her lips and tongue with his.
That worked well with firmer foods like the spicy shrimp or butter-soaked pieces of lobster. But Jude was obviously partial to food that dripped, like the oily sauce on the tuna. When he purposefully dribbled it down her chest he insisted on licking every drop from her beaded nipples and aching breasts. When she didn’t think it was possible to be more aroused, Jude “carelessly” spilled a goodly portion of his wine between her legs. Laying her on the floor in front of the fire, he proceeded to lick off every drop of the fragrant vino from her heated folds, driving her to a series of wildly erotic climaxes she hadn’t known were possible.
Sky didn’t remember when Jude carried her to his bed. She only knew that nearly twenty–four hours without sleep had caught up with her and she’d literally fallen asleep with his face buried between her legs. Now lying beside him, Sky did her best not to wake him. She wanted to savor the moment for as long as she could. She knew from the gossip at the pub that most of the women Jude fucked didn’t end up his bed. She’d heard about his rules and requirements. They were the stuff of endless chatter among the lucky women he’d fucked and the wishful ones he hadn’t. According to those who would know, ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ described Jude’s customary post-coital behavior.
And yet, here she
was, in his bed. And leave it to her, she’d fallen asleep.
“Wanna tell me what’s going on in that Mensa brain of yours, Squirt, or do you want me to guess?”
Sky gave a guilty start at his fully alert query, wondering if she’d said the things she was thinking out loud. When she didn’t answer, Jude tugged her closer to him and ran a careless hand over her bottom. Afraid that he might minimize the life changing events of the last forty-eight hours, Sky blurted out the only non-sexy thing she could think of.
“It’s Blake.”
Jude rose up on one elbow and stared at her. “Blake?! What the fuck, Skylar!”
Hastening to make him understand, in a torrent of words she began to tell him some of the things she’d discovered in Blake’s financial information.
Jude listened to her stream of explanations and with a wave of his hand brushed aside her apology for not telling him earlier. Obviously surprised at her discoveries, he moved up against the headboard and pulled her up beside him. A deep frown marred his brow. Shaking his head, he exclaimed, “Jesus, Sky. You’ve gotta be kidding. Blake? Wussy, teary-eyed Blake?”
“Yes, I know, Jude, it doesn’t make sense, but in a way it does.” She mused, “But something is off. I need more information.”
Jude snorted. “Christ, possessive asshole that I am, I was going to insist you not have lunch with him, but now you definitely need to keep that date. And, invitation or not, I think I just might crash that little party.”
Glancing at the clock, he groaned. “Jesus God, Sky, we have a meeting in less than an hour. We’ll just have time to shower.”
When she started to move away from him, he grasped her arm and tugged her back. Seeing his serious expression, a wave of dread choked her breath. Forcing herself to suck in a lungful of air, she prepared herself for his announcement. She almost didn’t need to hear him say the crushing words—that last night had been a mistake, that he’d been angry or drunk—anything except what he actually did say.
Pulling her up next to him he forced her to look at him. “Baby, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I need to ask you to do something for me.”
Not wanting to let him off easy, Sky pretended not to understand. “I know. You want me to wear my contact lenses instead of my glasses.”
He chuckled. “No, I’m kinda getting to like those nerdy coke-bottle lenses. They speak to your weird personality. They also keep the hound dogs away. You know, the shallow assholes like me, who rate a woman on her looks alone.” He shook his head and huffed a loud sigh. “No darlin’, it’s about your pussy.”
Sky gasped in shock.
He pulled her closer and a soft smile quirked his lips. “You see, baby, you might just have the most gorgeous cunt I’ve ever feasted on. But, Sky, I’m a visual guy. I need to see what I’m eating. I need you bare, honey. Not so much as a landing strip of hair on your gorgeous pussy. I want to be able to watch those intimate lips off yours get puffy and swollen, go from soft pink to a luscious rose color. And yeah, I want to be able to see the musky dew glistening on them. Hell, baby, if I had a razor I’d shave you myself. But tonight, when I bring you back here? We’ll go to work on that.”
By the time they pulled up in front of the precinct, Sky had concluded that for once the Internet wasn’t the answer. Having determined how to proceed, she breathed a sigh of relief. At their first break, she’d call Hailey
.
She’d know what to do.
Chapter 22
“I hope you don’t mind, Jude, but I turned some of the financial documents over to an accounting firm I’ve worked with in the past. They ride a thin line between legal and illegal and know as much about forensic accounting as I do. I wanted to check my findings with accountants who are accustomed to sophisticated scams but who don’t know the details of this case. I want their opinions on the financial issues without the prism of the murders or the identity of the victims.”
Jude looked up from the pile of documents he was studying and shook his head. “I can understand why you might want a second opinion, Squirt. If your conclusions are even close to accurate, our buddy Blake is in a shitload of trouble. Not only is he guilty of siphoning off a bucket of bucks from his family’s coffers, but it makes him worth a first or second look at why he might have been upset with his parents.”
Sky shot him a troubled glance. “Exactly, Jude. That’s what’s been bothering me all night.”
He snorted. “Well I guess it’s good to know that it wasn’t me who was bothering you. But I’d like to think that you had something else on your mind beside our murder investigation.”
Feeling her cheeks heat, Skylar remonstrated, “You know I didn’t mean that, Jude.”
He laughed. “I know you didn’t, Sky. I’m teasing you. Honestly, baby, the fact that you did have all of this on your mind and were still as
present
as you were with me last night, is a credit to the magnitude of your brain.”
“And to your prowess?”
He winked at her. “That too. And to the sexiest, most receptive woman I’ve seen in a long time. Fuck it, woman, I know I called you the damnedest woman I’d ever met. I double that. Honey, I know you aren’t an experienced lover. But Squirt, you are the most exciting and
damnedest woman I’ve ever known. God, the things that we can explore together, the places I can take you. Fuck that! The places
you
can take
me
!”
Sky wanted to believe him. Oh, God, how much she did. But the old tapes that her father had played into her head from the time she was four years old reared their ugly heads. Sky reminded herself as her father had repeatedly reminded her—she was a smart woman and smart women knew that men weren’t interested in women like her. Not in what he dismissively described as the non-intellectual, animalistic way. And if ever there was a man who looked at women though a non-intellectual lens it was the handsome, green-eyed detective who was gazing at her with a quizzical expression. According to her imperious father, if the man was impressed with her brain and intellect, he wouldn’t cloud that higher order relationship with base physical needs. The conclusion? Unless the man was as smart as her father, he wouldn’t be interested in Sky, which meant that one hundred percent of the men she met would not be interested in her. If perchance they were, her braininess would quickly disabuse them of that interest.
To her surprise, Jude pushed the pile of documents aside and shoved back his chair. He was at her side in seconds, and before she could stop him he’d lifted her out of her chair and pulled her up next to him.
She gasped and glanced at the door, knowing that at any minute one of the guys might walk in. “Jude what…what are you doing? Someone might see us.”
His frown and narrowed gaze frightened her.
“And what if they do, Sky?”
When she shook her head in confusion and tried to pull away, he held her chin, insisting that she meet his gaze.
“Let’s start with that issue, Skylar. The one about someone walking in and seeing what? Me holding you? Do you honestly believe that the guys we work with, who’ve been watching you bedevil me in every way possible, would be surprised?”
When she honestly looked flabbergasted Jude softened his hold. Christ, the little munchkin probably wasn’t aware of the way the guys, particularly his brothers, had been openly placing bets on how long it would take him to get his head out of his ass and confess that he was ass-over-elbows crazy about her. He reminded himself how little experience Sky likely had with men and knew he needed to cut her some slack. But what upset him more was that pained expression he’d seen before, the one that made the bright, intuitive mastermind look like an orphaned child who’d lost her one and only friend.
“I need to understand, Squirt, what caused that expression to cross your face.”
“I…don’t know what you mean.”
“Uh-uh, baby. You don’t get away with that. In addition to your powerful brain, you have instincts and analytical abilities that are on the genius side of miraculous. What did I say that upset you? Out with it.”
For a minute he thought she might talk to him, tell him what he’d said that made her look like a puppy dog whose master had taken away his favorite toy and banished him to the garage.
Unfortunately, at that moment Bernice poked her head inside the door. “Uh, sorry, Detective Justice, I—”
“What is it, Bernice?” Jude let Sky step back, but kept one arm around her shoulders.
“Uh, it’s a call. Actually it’s for Skylar. Blake Parker is on the line. He said he didn’t have your cell phone number, Sky.”
Jude looked at Sky. “Do you want to take it in here, Skylar?”
When she nodded, Jude looked at the telephone console on his desk. “Which line, Bernice?”
“Line three.”
Jude listened to Sky’s end of the conversation. After Skylar confirmed that she would meet Blake at Philippe’s at noon, she threw him a questioning glance and pointed to him. Jude shook his head. He’d decided that Sky needed to meet with Blake first to soften him up, lay the groundwork. Then he would drop in on them as if by happenstance. Of course, Blake would know that Jude never did anything by happenstance, which would raise the stakes higher.
After she hung up, he explained, “Sky, I think you will be able to get more out of him if I’m not there. He’s clearly interested in you. Not only because you’re appealing, but because you’re investigating the financial aspects of the case. I’ll join you after you’ve had a chance to disarm him. My presence will confirm that he has our attention.”
Seeing her cheeks flush and her eyes flash when he called her appealing, he realized she thought he was making fun of her. Beginning to understand what had upset her earlier, he decided to confront her.
“Listen up, Squirt. I’m not finished with our earlier conversation. You and I have some issues to resolve. And we
are
going to resolve them.”
Jared rapped on the door as he entered. “Good, you’re both here. Sky, there are some shady looking men waiting for you in the conference room.” Glancing at Jude he chuckled. “No need to worry bro, these guys look like accountants.”
Sky gave him a semi-smile. “They’re from the Larson, McClellan firm. I wanted to talk to them outside of Mr. Larson’s purview. Even though he’s supposedly given me access to all the documents, there are some missing pieces that his assistants may unwittingly provide.”
Jared whistled admiringly. “Damn, short stuff. You’d think by now that Lars Larson would know by now that there is nothing going on in those finances that you haven’t figured out.”
Sky shrugged. “That presumes he’s given me everything I’ve asked for.”
Jared threw Jude a puzzled look. “Wow. Lars is holding out on us, bro? I thought he was smarter than that. Christ, the Judge uses their firm. You’d think that Lars wouldn’t want to do anything to upset the Justice family.”
“Yeah, one would think so. But thanks to the squirt, it appears that the Parker money speaks even louder than the Justice holdings.” Jude nodded when Skylar moved to the door. “Go ahead, Sky. You go disarm those unsuspecting men who haven’t yet learned that they are dealing with a reincarnated Auguste Dupin. I’ll bring Jared up to date.”
After she left, Jude laid out her findings for his brother.
“Jesus Fucking Christ. Blake? I don’t know what to say, dude. I’ve known the guy all my life. If ever there was a person who seems too unsophisticated, frankly, too gutless to have a secret life, it’s Blake Parker. My sense was that he was totally controlled by those sisters of his. But stealing? From his family? Gambling? Connections to the mob? C’mon, Jude. Get real. We both know what a pussy Blake is.”