Authors: Morgan Hannah MacDonald
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Hard-Boiled
His mouth found her ear, nibbled and was rewarded by a soft sigh. His lips slid down her body, trailing kisses as they went. His tongue slipped into her navel. She lay down on the table, wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed her pelvis against him. Her rust-covered mound was wet and ready for him. As much as he wanted to take her right then, he wanted to taste her even more.
He got down on his knees and lifted her legs up on his shoulders. She circled her legs around and clasped them behind his head. The moment his tongue found its mark, she moaned and arched her back, pressing herself firmer against his mouth. He smiled in satisfaction and slipped a finger deep within her.
He sucked, nibbled and caressed her firm little knob with his mouth while his finger worked on her from the inside. Before long she cried out, arched her back and screamed out his name.
He quickly stood up and slid deep within her, then held himself rigid. He bit his cheek and clenched his eyes. His body trembled while he concentrated on pushing his orgasm back. Meagan clasped her legs around him and held tight. When he thought it was safe, he began to move in and out, slowly. Very slowly. It felt too good. He wasn’t sure how long he could last.
Without warning, she lifted up, grabbed his butt with both hands and pulled him even deeper. That was more than he could bear. His rhythm increased. He slammed into her with the force of a steam engine. Her moans of pleasure increased tenfold, her muscles squeezed around his cock. When she came, his own orgasm overtook him. He threw his head back, yelled his release. His body shook with aftershocks.
He gazed down at her and laughed, she laughed along with him. He leaned over, brushed a wet curl from her forehead and then kissed her. “You’re really something, you know that?”
She simply smiled up at him sweetly.
Thomas picked her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to his bed.
***
Meagan opened her eyes and found Thomas standing over her. He wore his faded jeans, the top button undone, his chest bare, and two mugs in his hands.
“Morning, babe. Sleep well?”
“Mmm, yes.” She yawned and stretched, then sat up pulling the sheet over her modestly. She grabbed the mug he offered, took a sip, then looked outside.
“Did I sleep all the way until the next morning?”
“You sure did.” He sat on the bed beside her.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Because you looked so adorable. Besides, you needed your rest. That’s when your body does the best healing.” He took a sip of coffee.
As they drank their coffee, they chatted awhile. It was so comfortable, as if they’d been doing it for years. Then Meagan’s mind started to wander. She must have frowned, because the smile fell from his face.
“What?” his voice was suddenly serious.
“I want to ask you a question, and I want you to promise you won’t get mad.” She started to fidget.
“I can’t promise you that. You’re so unpredictable I never know what’s going to fly out of your mouth.”
“Come on, Thomas, promise.” She nudged him with her leg.
“I’ll try,” he mumbled.
“I was wondering about the phone calls. How was Jordan able to disguise his voice?” She waited for him to erupt.
“Oh, no, not this again. Haven’t you heard enough?” His voice was much calmer than Meagan expected.
“I just want to understand, that’s all.”
“Fine.” Thomas set his empty mug on the nightstand. “Okay, we found a gadget in his car. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s used for the hearing-impaired. You hook it up to the phone, type what you want to say, then the machine speaks your words into the receiver with that mechanical voice you heard.”
“That’s why his words were so drawn out and broken up,” Meagan replied.
“Right, it pronounces each syllable almost as quickly as you type. It’s brilliant, actually. You see, if he’d just gotten one of those gadgets from Radio Shack that modifies your voice, we would have been able to adjust the modulations from any tape and heard his actual speaking voice.”
“I guess that explains just about everything.” She looked down, then up again. “Wait, how did he know I was at your house?”
“That was a mystery, until we learned that one of the uniforms from my small task force, Charles James—”
“Charlie, his best friend?” Meagan couldn’t believe it. She’d met Charlie only once, but Jordan accused her of flirting with him, so she’d never seen him again. She hadn’t known he’d become a cop. The last thing she’d heard, he was a security guard.
“Yeah. Obviously, we didn’t know he knew the suspect. He should have taken himself off the case, but he couldn’t believe his buddy was guilty, so he kept his mouth shut. He said, that way he could watch out for him, make sure he didn’t accidentally get shot by some overzealous rookie.
“He was feeding the guy information, unwittingly. Supposedly. That’s how he knew every step of our investigation, as well as where you were at all times. We figured Jordan was the one who called Cooper and told him to take you home, then waited until he knew you were alone. James came forward and confessed once the evidence started piling up.”
“Oh.” Meagan set her empty coffee cup next to his, then scooted closer to him. He opened his arms, pulled her to him, then kissed the top of her head.
“You all right?” he asked.
She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. “Yeah, it’s just that…”
“Uh-huh?” He stroked her hair.
“Well, you know.”
“Know what? Talk to me.” He started rubbing her back in circles.
Meagan talked into his chest. She didn’t want him to see her face, she was afraid she’d start to cry.
“The whole thing is just too fantastic, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Here you think you know someone. Live with them, love them, then one day you find out you didn’t know them at all.”
“It happens all the time in my line of work.”
“But how could I not have known I was living with a psychopath?” The tears finally burst forth.
He gently rocked her back and forth.
“I know this whole thing is a shock, it will take some time to wrap your mind around, but don’t beat yourself up. There was no way for you to know. My brother, Wyatt, he’s a forensic psychiatrist, he described him as a ticking time bomb. Anything could have set him off. It just so happened that the trigger was you dumping him.
“I called my brother about the case, sent him all the information we’ve dug up. He wrote up a case file for me. What I couldn’t figure out was if you were the catalyst, then why was he killing blondes, instead of redheads?”
She wiped her eyes and gazed up at him. “What did he say?”
He kissed her forehead and she lay back against him.
“When Roberts was only four years old, his mother left. His father told everyone who inquired that she’d ran off. Her own family hadn’t heard from her. They were certain she died at the hands of her husband. Her parents passed away years ago, but she still has a sister. She told us she would never have left her son like that.
“They tried, but failed to get the sheriff’s department involved. They said there was no evidence of foul play. Remember this was back in the eighties. We did finally find her though.”
“You did?” She perked up at that bit of news.
“Yes, buried on the property.”
“Oh.” She lay back down.
“The condition of her body was not much different from that of Roberts’s wife. He must have witnessed the murder of his mother and suppressed it all these years. We also found the bodies of seven other women, all victims of Jordan, his first by what the ME has said.
“Anyway, to get to the point, his mother was blonde with blue eyes. Wyatt thinks that while he was suffering from the pain of rejection from you, that it triggered an even more upsetting time in his life when a woman he loved and relied on, left him. It was his hurt, and finally his rage, that led him to kill
her
over and over again.
“He literally forgot the entire tragedy. So as long as he felt loved, taken care of, he was safe to be around. But once that was threatened, the walls he had built to protect his sanity came tumbling down. So in essence, the man you lived with wasn’t really a psychopath.”
“No, I just drove him to it. I feel so much better, thank you.” Meagan gazed up at him and frowned.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” he said emphatically. “If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. Like I said, a ticking time bomb.”
Meagan stared at him in silence. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. “Now come on, I’ll help you get dressed. I’m going to take you out for a big breakfast. You must be starved since you didn’t eat last night.”
“I am!” She threw the covers off and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The second he got a look at her naked body, a look came over his face and he pulled her to him. He kissed her so thoroughly she felt it down to her toes. She pulled away and giggled.
“I guess I could wait a little longer to eat.” Then she pulled him down on top of her and returned his kiss with fervor. She had to show him she meant business.
Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading SANDMAN. If you enjoyed SANDMAN, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book, too. Lend it. This e-book is lending-enabled, so please, share it with a friend. Recommend it. Please help other readers find this book by recommending it to friends, readers’ groups and discussion boards. Review it. Please tell other readers why you liked this book by reviewing it on Amazon. If you do write a review, please send it to me in an email at
[email protected]
. I’d like to gift you a copy of my next book as a way of thanking you.
Morgan Hannah MacDonald
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First I would like to thank my mother for putting up with me through the long arduous task of getting this book published with grace, patience, love and support. Love you mom!
Next I would like to thank Trish McCallan, for if not for her this book would not have been published. Thank you, Trish, for graciously sharing your journey and insights with me and many others. You are a true inspiration.
To my friends and family. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you. Thank you so much for your love and support. I love you all!
I’d like to thank my first readers:
Barbara Kenton
Kathy Wilson
Jana Murphy
Tracy Mangold
If I forgot someone I apologize.
To my critique group extraordinaire; Lethal Ladies for keeping me on my toes and making sure I didn’t get lazy. You helped to shape this book and make it better. Many thanks.
To IRI. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge. You guys are the greatest group!
To Trisha Wilson. Thank you for your wonderful proofreading as well as getting the job done so fast!
And a special thank you to Owen Moody for the fantastic cover and webpage. You are an amazing talent.
About the Author
Morgan Hannah MacDonald writes Romantic Thrillers that are Not for the faint of heart. She has always been interested in writing and serial killers, but it wasn’t until she found that she had actually dated one herself that a true writer was born. She belongs to Romance Writers of America, the San Diego Chapter, as well as the Kiss of Death Chapter. She resides in San Diego, California where she is busy working on her next novel.
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