Naked Truth (Crimson Romance) (12 page)

“Kennedy. Kennedy. Wake up. Come on, baby, wake up.” He shook her shoulder. Kennedy finally blinked her eyes open.

“Jack? What’s going on? Why are you—oh my God, what happened to you?” She shot out of bed like a bolt, fully awake and inspecting his shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the knife wound.

“You’re injured,” she said unnecessarily. “And bleeding. How did this happen? Come in here, into the bathroom.” She led him across the hall and pushed him into a seated position on the toilet. She pulled the first aid kit out of the cabinet and began dabbing at his wound with a piece of gauze saturated with stinging liquid.

“Ow,” he complained. He jerked his shoulder away from her touch. She patiently stepped closer and continued to cleanse the wound.

“Stop being a baby,” she admonished.

“I sure am glad you aren’t a woman who’s prone to hysterics,” he said, only half-sarcastic.

“You need stitches,” Kennedy said, ignoring his comment. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“It’s going to have to wait. Cullen’s on his way over here right now.”

“Cullen?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh oh.”

• • •

Cullen was not pleased. Whether it was because his partner had been injured by the person who broke into Kennedy’s house, or by the fact that his partner was at Kennedy’s house in the middle of the night, was unclear. Probably both.

“Kennedy?” he snapped while he stood in the doorway to the bathroom after she had gone to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. “Fucking Kennedy?” And then he’d shoved Jack’s injured shoulder.

“I told you it was the same damn woman,” Jack protested as he gritted his teeth against the pain.

“You didn’t tell me it was my wife’s cousin. Her fucking best friend.”

Clearly, Cullen was more angry about the fact that Jack was sleeping with Kennedy.

“How about focusing on the fact that I was just stabbed? With a kitchen knife. And the attempt was from behind. If I’d been a fraction slower, you probably would be feeling guilty for being such an ass to me right now.”

“Probably not. I’d still be pissed, because then I’d have to comfort Kennedy. Because she probably fucking cares about you, and all you’re doing is using her.”

“Hey, screw you, asshole.”

But Cullen was already on to the next thought. “A kitchen knife?”

“From the block in Kennedy’s kitchen. I checked.”

“Do you think it’s connected?”

“Do I think the person who attacked me with a knife is the same person who has now killed nine different people in three states? With a knife? I think it’s a damned big coincidence if it isn’t.”

“Pack your shit,” Cullen snapped as he pulled out his phone. “You’re staying with Sabrina and me. Both of you,” he said as Kennedy walked up to stand next to him. “I’m not leaving you here alone.” He put the phone to his ear and walked away.

“Why do I feel like our parents just caught us making out in the driveway when you were dropping me off after a date?” she asked as she handed him a mug of coffee.

Jack laughed, and then winced in pain. “Cullen’s pretty pissed. He’s worried about you. Afraid I’ll hurt you.”

“That’s always a possibility, in these types of situations.” She picked up a fresh piece of gauze and pressed it to the wound on his shoulder. “You need stitches,” she reminded him.

“I’m sorry to do this to you. I know you have to go to work in a couple hours.”

“I might as well get dressed and go in now. With you. I’ll make sure you get prime medical care.” She flashed him a strained smile.

“Cullen wants us to stay with him and Sabrina until this case is closed.”

Kennedy shook her head. “I don’t need to go anywhere. They’re after you, not me.”

“They’ve killed one woman now. Arguably because she was sleeping with a stripper. Which we presume the perp thinks I am.”

Kennedy’s eyes widened at the news that she too might be in danger. Jack lifted his arm and wrapped it around her waist. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

She managed another strained smile. “That’s nice to hear.”

• • •

Sabrina called shortly before lunchtime. Kennedy was working her shift at the hospital after hovering over the doctor’s shoulder while he stitched up Jack’s arm earlier that morning.

“You’re sleeping with Jack?” No greeting, no preamble.

“So it would seem.”

“Are you sure about this, Kennedy?”

“Am I sure that I’m sleeping with him?” For the moment, the nurse’s station was quiet, and she was alone. But since she knew that could change any minute, she stepped away and into an empty room so she could have privacy for this call.

“Are you sure you should be sleeping with him? I mean, I adore Jack, but he’s … he’s a player.”

“So you keep reminding me.”

“That’s not you, and you know it. You’re more of a relationship girl.”

“Maybe I’ve changed my ways. My last relationship didn’t exactly work out so well, as you’ll recall.”

“This is a bit extreme in the other direction, don’t you think?”

She shrugged, even though Sabrina couldn’t see the action. “Maybe he’s changed, too.”

“Oh Kennedy. I hope you aren’t pinning your hopes on that.”

She sighed. “I’m not. Trust me. Whatever we’re doing … It’s just sex, Sabrina. And I’m okay with it.” She hoped Sabrina believed her story.

“I don’t want you to get hurt. Again.”

“I can take care of myself.” Her phone beeped, indicating she had another call. She glanced at the caller ID and said, “Why is your sister calling me? Has she gone back to Dallas yet?”

She heard the wince in Sabrina’s words. “No, she’s still here. And I think she may have overheard when Cullen told me about you and Jack.”

“Great. This should be fun. I’ll talk to you later.” She pushed a button to switch to the other line.

“How dare you? You knew I wanted to hook up with him! You knew it!”

“Vanessa, aren’t you married? To someone else?”

“That is entirely beside the point.”

“Actually, that is exactly the point. And I promise you, I did not hook up with Jack because you wanted him. In fact, I didn’t really choose to do it at all. It just sort of happened.”

“I don’t believe you.”

She sighed. “Believe what you want, Vanessa.”

“I believe you deliberately stole Jack from me.”

“He wasn’t interested in you. Not even at Sabrina’s wedding. You aren’t his type.”

“Oh really? And what, precisely, is his type?”

“Single.”

Vanessa made a noise of irritation. Kennedy glanced out the door of the empty hospital room and saw that an elderly woman had walked up to the nurse’s station and stood there, holding a bouquet of flowers. There were no other personnel around to help her.

“Vanessa, I have to get back to work. Take my advice: go make up with your husband. It isn’t worth cheating on him. Trust me.”

“How would you—” Kennedy disconnected the call, so she did not hear the rest of that sentence. She hurried from the room and plastered a smile on her face.

The woman looked to be in her sixties. She had short, dark hair and eyebrows that were drawn onto her face with a brown pencil, and she had outlined the edges of her lip before putting on petal-pink lipstick.

“My daughter just had a baby,” she announced excitedly.

“Congratulations,” Kennedy said politely.

The woman studied her for a moment. “You look to be about her age. Twenty-five?”

This woman clearly looked older than she really was if her daughter was only twenty-five. She offered a polite smile. “Thanks, but I just hit the big three-o on my last birthday.”

The woman’s eyes dropped to Kennedy’s hands. “And you aren’t married? But you’re so pretty.”

Her smile turned tense. “Yes, well, I suppose it isn’t in the cards right now.”

“Surely there’s a man in your life,” the woman pressed. “Someone serious.”

Well, Jack was a man in her life, but was it serious? According to Sabrina and Cullen and probably everyone else who knew him, Jack was never serious about his relationships with women.

“You’re hesitating,” the woman said as she wagged her finger at Kennedy. “There is someone. Is the relationship new? It must be. Oh, look how you’re blushing. What’s he like? I just love to hear about new love.”

Kennedy chuckled and shook her head. “It’s too soon to call it that, I think.”

It was, wasn’t it? How was she supposed to avoid getting hurt if she was thinking in terms of love?

“What’s he like, sweetie? What’s he do for a living?”

“He’s, ah, in law enforcement,” she stuttered, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the woman’s attentions. “Did you need something?” she asked, needing to pull the conversation back to work, to the job, to an area in which she could feel steady, in control.

Whatever might be happening with Jack and to her emotions, there was no doubt whatsoever that Kennedy was not in control. No matter how insistent he was that she give her verbal consent before they did anything, he didn’t even have to ask. The answer was always yes.

The woman nodded, and ignored her question. “Law enforcement. Good career choice. Police officer?”

“Um, sort of. Can I—?”

“Police officers make good husbands. Solid, steady. Always stay on the right side of the law. You would do well to keep that one.”

Keep him? Hell, Kennedy wasn’t even sure he had him at all to make that choice. She was so conflicted, she was going to end up with high blood pressure if this roller coaster of a relationship kept up much longer. The man had been wounded badly enough to require stitches, while protecting her home, and she was afraid to question his motives, ask him for clarification on whatever it was they were doing?

When she looked at it from that perspective, her fear, tiptoeing around the situation seemed silly. Maybe it was time to woman up, to roar. She gave the elderly woman a blinding smile.

And then she chickened out.

• • •

When Kennedy walked into the house eight hours later, Jack greeted her in the foyer. “How was your day?” he asked as he handed her a glass of chilled white wine.

It was
déjà vu
.

“How are you?” she asked instead of answering his question.

He touched his shoulder. His shirtsleeve hid the bandage from view. “Fine. I’ve had worse. We found a wig, couple houses down from here. Hopefully it’s the perp’s and hopefully it’s custom-made. If all the stars align, we might be able to close this case soon.”

“That’s good.” What would happen when he did close the case? Would that signal to him that it was time to end their relationship? She presumed that FBI agents, unless they were working undercover, worked daytime hours, which meant he would no longer have a use for her key. She wanted to ask if he intended to return it, but she was afraid of his response.

“Come on, sit down. You look …” He appeared to struggle with finding the right word.

“Stressed?”

“Yeah, that’s about right. You still shaken up about what happened this morning?” As he talked, he snagged her free hand and led her into the living room. He sat and pulled her down next to him, then lifted her legs into his lap. He massaged her calves, and Kennedy let her head drop against the pillow perched on the couch arm.

“I can’t even think straight when you do that,” she murmured, her eyes closed.

Jack chuckled and shifted his hands lower to massage her feet. She groaned.

“Did you talk to Sabrina today?”

She lifted her head and opened her eyes, but he found a particularly tingly spot on the ball of her foot, and she gave in to the sensations and let her head fall back again.

“I did.” Her voice was breathy.

“How’d she take the news?”

“That you and I are sleeping together? Better than Cullen thought she would. But if you’re asking, she certainly isn’t thrilled. Seems to believe we are too different.”

“She should talk. She and Cullen are as different as night and day.”

“I talked to Vanessa too. She yelled at me.”

“Why?”

“She seems to be under the impression I leapt into bed with you just to spite her.”

“As good a reason as any, I guess. What are Sabrina’s specific concerns?”

“Oh you know—you’re a player, I’m not. You’re just looking for a good time, and I’m going to end up hurt. The typical. God, that feels good. Have I mentioned that my feet are a giant erogenous zone?”

“Oh yeah?” Jack shifted in his seat so that he was kneeling next to her. He held a foot in each hand and continued to massage as he leaned down to kiss her. She murmured her assent and grabbed his hair with the hand that wasn’t holding a glass of wine.

He released one of her feet and plucked the glass out of her hand. “We don’t want this to spill.” He cupped her foot again and pressed her knees toward her shoulders as he continued to massage the pads of her feet. She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled him toward her for a hot, wet, open-mouthed kiss.

The kiss turned frantic. Kennedy tugged at his shirt; Jack ripped the seam of her scrub top in his zeal to get it over her head. He stood up, pulled a condom out of his pocket, and shed his jeans. Before kneeling on the couch again, he pulled off her pants.

He knelt between her legs. She leaned forward and sheathed him with the condom. He grabbed her feet again and began to massage. Kennedy sucked in a breath and stared up at him as he slowly, slowly pressed into her without pausing in his foot massage.

She made a strangled noise as her orgasm began to crest almost immediately.

“Jesus,” Jack gasped as she arched and bucked beneath him, squeezing him with her inner muscles, pulling him, forcing him to rush over the edge and catch up with her.

A few moments later, he lay on his back on the couch, with Kennedy, lightly dozing, draped across his body, and continued to massage her right foot.

“You weren’t kidding,” he murmured.

She startled from her doze and smiled without opening her eyes. “Keep that up and I’m going to expect a round two.”

“I’m happy to oblige, but we should probably eat something first.”

“Mm-mm.” She made no move to climb to her feet. He chuckled and slid out from under her, leaving her sprawled on the couch.