Safe From the Dark (10 page)

Tom
disappeared upstairs with Deirdre, and Evie turned to go.

“I
need to take a look outside,” Evie said, and Colin got up from the couch.

“You’re
not going alone.”

“I
have a gun. You have a concussion.”

“I
don’t care.”

They
glared at each other until Jocelyn breezed past them toward the door.

“Someone
can walk me to my car. Colin, I’ll stop by tomorrow.”

Evie
fumed as Colin smirked and hurried to escort the good doctor outside. She
watched from the porch as Jocelyn drove away, and then flicked on the flashlight
on her keychain.

“What
do you think you’re going to find out here?”

“I
don’t know. That’s why I’m looking. Quit crowding me.” Evie elbowed Colin in
the ribs and he fell back a step, quiet as she examined the gravel, the
driveway, and the discarded two by four near the addition to the house.

“Think
you’ll get any prints off of that?” Colin asked.

“The
wood is pretty rough, but we can try.” Evie grabbed a roll of plastic sheeting
that was leaning against a wall and used her keys to cut a large swath,
carefully wrapping the wood to protect any evidence. She packed it away in her
trunk and resumed her exploration, all the while aware of Colin’s eyes on her.

“How
long have you been a cop?” he asked.

“A
few years.”

“Ever
deal with an arson case?”

“Once.
A drug dealer set a rival’s walk-up on fire.”

“You
don’t really think someone’s trying to kill Deirdre, do you? Who would do
that?”

Evie
turned on him, shining the light into his face.

“I
don’t know, do you?”

“What?”

“I
just got here. I don’t know anyone. You’re the town’s golden boy, so you tell
me – who has it out for your girlfriend? Did she screw someone over?”

Her
voice was harsher than she meant it to be, and Colin scowled down at her. Abruptly,
Evie lowered the flashlight.

“As
far as I know, Evie doesn’t have any real enemies. At least nobody that would
burn down her house or try to actually harm her.”

He
paused, scanning her face in the moonlight.

“Evie,”
he said gently, “I didn’t sleep with her tonight.”

“It’s
none of my business,” Evie asserted, but swallowed the sudden lump in her
throat as she hurried toward the addition to the house.

Colin
didn’t comment, but followed.

They
found the animal laid out on a workbench. Ripped to bloody shreds, it might
have been a raccoon or a badger at one point, but it was impossible to tell. There
was no mistaking it for an attack by another animal, because scrawled in blood
next to the remains of the poor creature was a single word.
Sin.

“It’s
a terrible prank,” said Colin, though he sounded unconvinced.

“This
is far beyond a prank,” said Evie, “Someone’s trying to kill your girlfriend.”
And she whipped out her phone to call Tony, swiftly explaining the situation.

Colin
argued with her as she photographed the crime scene with her camera phone. He
argued with her as Zeke appeared to take the night watch, and he argued with
her as she climbed back into her car.

“It
just doesn’t make sense,” he insisted.

“Crazy
doesn’t have to make sense,” she retorted. “You’d better get to bed. It’s late
and I’m sure Deirdre is getting cold.”

And
she shut the door.

“Wait
a minute.”

Evie
didn’t wait, but took off, arriving at the cabin a few minutes later. She
didn’t want to argue anymore, she didn’t want to prove a point. All she wanted
was to catch a few hours of sleep and tackle this whole mess in the morning. The
parting jibe had been thoughtless, but she was cranky and annoyed, both with
Colin and herself.

A
spurt of gravel and Evie looked up, surprised, as Colin’s truck skidded to a
halt behind her car. He jumped out and slammed the door behind him, stalking up
to the porch, where she hadn’t even had a chance to get her key in the lock.

“You
think you’ve got me all figured out,” he said, “I’m just a spoiled rich kid who
grew up to be mayor of a small town where everyone kisses my ass and the women
fall at my feet, is that right?”

“I
think you have no idea how dangerous the world can be, and you live in secluded
little bubble.”

Evie
squeaked as Colin grabbed her and hauled her close.

“Maybe
I’ve managed to keep my nose clean, but that doesn’t mean I think the world is
all sunshine and gumdrops. And yes, I’ve had a series of casual relationships,
but that doesn’t mean that whatever this is between us hasn’t knocked me on my
ass, same as you. And if I have to say it a thousand times, I will. I did
not
sleep with Deirdre tonight, and I doubt I’m going to any time in the
foreseeable future.”

Don’t
ask don’t ask don’t ask.

“Why
not?”

Evie
cursed internally, but strained to read the answer in his face in the dim glow
of Gram’s porch light.

I
don’t want to know.

She
really wanted to know.

The
answer was so simple, so stunning, and so utterly delicious as he lowered his
mouth to hers, not in the frenzied carnal encounter from earlier, but in a kiss
so sweet and seductive that Evie moaned into his mouth.

Colin
deftly unsnapped her holster and set her weapon down on the porch railing,
never losing contact with her lips, his tongue stroking hers, hot and wet,
demanding a response with every deft lick.

She
was barely aware of the move as he eased her down to sit on the porch swing and
knelt on the porch between her legs, pulling her pussy snugly against his
torso. Evie held him tight, exploring the muscles of his shoulders, pulling her
mouth away to taste the hard edge of his jawline and then cruise back to find
his lips. She managed to pull herself out of the sensual stupor when she felt
him undoing the buttons of the shirt under her open jacket. Evie pushed on his
shoulder.

“We’re
outside.”

“Mmm-hmmm.”
Colin kissed the skin he exposed at the base of her throat as he undid another
button.

“Colin,
I don’t know about this.”

“I
do.”

EVIE
WASN’T WEARING A bra. The discovery made Colin feel like cheering, and he
wondered how he could have missed such an important piece of information when
she stomped over earlier that night. It must be the blow to the head, he
reasoned as he pulled the edges of her shirt back to expose the creamy mounds. Round
and plump, and crested with perfectly shaped nipples. Colin’s mouth watered.

Evie
had gone still under his hands, clearly trying to decide whether to flee or
stay.

Oh
stay, baby.

Colin
leaned forward to nuzzle a path between the generous globes. He had a real
thing for breasts, and while Deirdre’s were impressive in a structured, manmade
way, Evie’s tits were full and soft and the very best that Mother Nature had to
offer. He licked his lips, his cock already pounding behind the zipper of his
jeans.

She
pushed at his shoulder again, but it was less of a push and more of a caress,
and then he felt the bite of her nails as he sucked one luscious berry-shaped
nipple into his mouth.

“Colin!”
she gasped.

He
didn’t answer, but words were beyond him anyway. Her nipple was velvety smooth
in his mouth, swollen and sweet as he laved and suckled, plumping and kneading her
other breast in his hand, his head full of the heady scent of Evie and the
vanilla lotion she used.

Her
fingers threaded through his hair, rasping erotically against his scalp,
careful to avoid the tender lump. Colin pulled back slightly, wishing he could
make out the color of her nipples in the soft glow of the porch light, but it
was too dark. He could see that they were drawn up tight, whether from the cold
or his mouth he didn’t know. He licked one, nipping it lightly with his teeth,
savoring the hitch in her breath.

“So
sensitive. Think I could make you come just by sucking your tits?”

“I
don’t – ” She couldn’t finish the thought, and he grinned against her breast,
sliding a hand into the dip at the back of her jeans, caressing the small of
her back and lower, to the very top of the sweet cleft that separated the
cheeks of her ass. She shivered.

Her
pussy was pressed tightly against him, the heat of her meltingly good even
through her jeans.

With
a last leisurely flick of his tongue against her nipples, Colin started kissing
his way down her torso.

“We
shouldn’t be doing this out here.” She sounded nervous, as though she had just
remembered that though there wasn’t anyone around for miles, she was half-naked
on her front porch, letting him play with her bare breasts.

I
wonder what else you’ll let me do
,
thought Colin, and he murmured, “I want to taste you.”

She
tensed against him, froze as he undid the button on her jeans. For a moment he
thought she might pull away, so he slowed down, nuzzling her navel and the
delicate skin under the open waistband. She relaxed a fraction and he let out a
breath, and then made sure she was watching as he gripped the zipper of her
jeans in his teeth and slowly drew it down.

“Seriously?
That’s one of your moves?” she choked out, and her voice was amused but
gratifyingly breathless, “What, do you moonlight as a gigolo in your spare
time?”

“Would
you hire me?”

She
snorted in derision as he yanked her jeans to her ankles and settled between
her knees again, noting that she’d switched the lacy little things for another
pair of bikini panties, white in the darkness.

“You’d
make a terrible gigolo. You always have to be in charge.”

“Says
the woman who agonizes over anyone ever doing anything for her, ever.”

“There’s
nothing wrong with being independent.”

“There’s
nothing wrong with letting someone take care of you once in a while, either.”

“It’s
none of your business.”

They
glared at each other.

“Fuck
it,” he snarled, and surged forward to capture her mouth in a brutal clash of
teeth and lips, his tongue in her mouth, his frustration rolling over him in
waves. She gasped into his mouth when he grabbed a handful of her panties and
jerked, the material shredding like paper.

She
was tense and angry, and Colin wanted her soft and yielding, giving him
everything he wanted. He hadn’t realized how her stubbornness would push his
buttons, turning his natural urge to be in control into something hot and
driving. He wanted her to surrender, to let him pile the pleasure on any way he
wanted to until they were both drowning in it.

Slow
, he ordered himself.

He
kept his fingers gentle as he learned her pussy for the first time, his anger melting
away, no match for the wet heat and delightful surprises he discovered with
light strokes of his fingertips – the small patch of soft hair at the top of
her mound, the delicate bare folds, and the sweet bud of her clit, already
swollen for him.

His
cock was going to tear free of its confinement and strangle him, but he would
make this good for her, he vowed. It was already
spectacular
for him. Colin
swallowed her whimper and then tore his lips away to trace a path down her
throat as he tested her opening, teasing but not entering with one slick
finger, while the scent of her made his mouth water.

“I’m
going to lick you, right here. You’re going to let me, aren’t you?”

Arousal
made him hoarse, but he forced himself to wait for her response, though heat
coursed through his veins like wildfire.

Evie
gave up all at once, her fingers digging into his shoulders, clinging as though
she couldn’t help herself. The ghost of her lips against his temple set off a
small quake in the vicinity of his heart. Evie had a sweet side, though she
tried like hell to hide it.

Colin
pushed her knees wider, his hands splayed on her thighs, and used his thumbs to
expose her core. Although her plump folds were in shadow, he caught the glimmer
of wetness in the soft glow of the porch light.

“Hell,
yeah,” he muttered, and lowered his head for a taste.

THIS
ISN’T HAPPENING
,
THOUGHT Evie
.
There was no way she was letting Colin Daniels eat her out
on the front porch of Gram’s house, bare and spread for him, the squirrels, and
God knows what other woodland creatures were watching. All it took was one hot,
wet lick and her rational brain went away, along with any inhibitions that
would prevent her from accepting any and all sexual pleasure he wanted to give
her. Evie didn’t like it, not one bit. She was independent, she was in control,
she was –