She giggled.“I’m glad you liked it after I slaved over a hot stove all day to make it.”
He chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, but Grace moved her head at the last moment, and their lips touched.He froze in shock for a second, then his body took over, and he deepened the kiss.She was so sweet, he didn’t think he would ever forget her taste.And he wanted more.
As her arms went around his neck, he put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.The moment her soft breasts touched his rock-hard chest, Grace jumped back as if struck by a jolt of electricity.They were both breathless, staring at each other with expressions of desire mingled with confusion.
“Um… wow.I… um,” Sean stuttered, then cleared his throat.“I’d better get going before I do something crazy like take you to bed.”
“Yeah,” Grace agreed, swallowing hard as she tried to slow her breathing.“That would be crazy… just?—”
“Crazy,” he finished for her, his voice low and husky as his eyes focused on her lush lips.With tremendous difficulty, he managed to convince himself he had to leave.As much as he did want to throw her onto a bed and fuck her silly, he knew it would be best to take things slowly.Tracing a finger along her jawline, he whispered, “Goodnight, Grace.”
Satisfaction coursed through him when she shivered.“Goodnight, Sean.”
“...and the Sheriff’s Department is not releasing any more information about the homicides at this time, but we will continue to keep the public updated.This is Jessica Daly for the Channel Four evening news.”
George Wallace hummed a silly tune to himself as the screen returned to the male news anchor, who moved on to some inconsequential story.So, he’d made the news.This was the first time, and he felt empowered and high about the publicity.It was about time his work was acknowledged, and soon people would figure out it was for the best.He was ridding the world of worthless women.Grinning, he went back to his dinner, thinking of future possibilities.Life was good—at least for him.
The next morning, Sean sat in the conference room trying to concentrate on the N-DEx program on his laptop, but his mind kept wandering to Grace and the kiss they’d shared—brief as it was.He’d been so wound up when he got home that he took care of his hard-on in the shower before climbing into bed.And yet his dreams of her had forced him to take a cold one several hours later when he awakened before sunrise.
It was obvious they’d both enjoyed the kiss—the flames in her eyes had told him she’d been as affected by it as he had.But now, he couldn’t help but think taking things further might ruin a longtime friendship.It had been years since he’d last seen Grace, but there was still a closeness between them.Yet, what did he really know about her?Fourteen years and transitioning from child to adult made a big difference in a person.And what would Bonnie and Uncle Dan say?Would they be happy about a budding romance between the two, or would they discourage it?
He was so engrossed in his thoughts he never heard his brother and Rafe enter the room.Brian crept up behind him and flicked his left ear, causing Sean to jump from his chair and whirl around, ready to fight.“Fuck you, asshole.Haven’t you learned yet not to do that to someone carrying a gun?”
His brother let out a deep belly laugh.“Been doing that to you since we were little, and I still get away with it.You make it too easy being in la-la land.What were you thinking about?”
If Brian only knew where Sean’s mind had been, he would be teasing him all day.“Nothing really,” he lied, taking his seat again.“Just trying to wrap my head around this serial.”
“What time is your profiler getting here?”Montoya asked.“I’ve never had the opportunity to work with one before, and I’m actually looking forward to it.Should be interesting after all the reading I’ve done on the subject.
“Around two, I think.Suki’s gonna call from the road when she gets closer.”
Rafe’s eyebrows shot up.“Suki?Interesting name.Asian?”
“She’s originally from Hawaii, but I think she once told me there was Korean in her family background.Oh, and do me a favor, guys, don’t fucking hit on her.”
“Ah, she’s hot then,” Brian stated with a smile.
Sighing, he shook his head.“Yes, she’s good-looking, but she’s also a good friend of mine and a respected federal agent with a doctorate, so show her some fucking respect while she’s here.Okay, asshole?”
“If you insist.”Despite his assent, Brian sat across the table from Sean with a silly leer on his face.He loved busting his younger brother’s chops.
Sean threw a pen at his sibling and then pulled his laptop closer.It was time to stop fucking around and catch themselves a killer.While the two state detectives started adding the information they’d learned yesterday to the whiteboards, Sean began to enter the case parameters back into the program, which was once again up and running.Hopefully, in an hour or so, they’d have a potential lead or two from the system.
After a daily morning briefing with the detective bureau’s lieutenant, Brad Lynch joined the rest of the task force.The men began throwing out ideas and theories, yet they were frustrated by how little they had to go on.It seemed like criminals were getting smarter every year, with shows like CSI and NCIS on television and websites all over the internet that demonstrated how to commit a crime and get away with it.
Just as the group was running out of ideas, Sean’s computer sounded an alert.It’d found a connection to his parameters.He quickly printed out the information and relayed it to the others.“We got a hit—a good match too.Last year in Philadelphia.Three female victims over a three-month period—July through September.All blondes in their twenties.Taken after partying somewhere.Found at least twenty-four hours later in public locations.”Looking up at the rest of the task force, he added with a combination of disgust and excitement, “And all had pennies left on their foreheads and ‘slut’ carved into their torsos.”
Brad’s eyes went wide.“Shit!I don’t remember hearing anything about that, and it’s not like Pennsylvania’s on the other side of the fucking country.Didn’t it make the news?”
“I don’t know, but there’s an FBI case file open on it.No viable suspects, though.I’ll call the lead agent up there—see if I can get my hands on the file and whatever info he’s got.Orshe’sgot,” he amended, glancing at the bottom of the page he held.“Says here, Agent Karen Winslow, out of the local office there.Why don’t one of you call Philly PD and try to find out what they have on it?”
Montoya pulled out his cell phone.“I’ll do it.I’ve got a few contacts up there.”
“Sounds good,” Lynch said.“The rest of us will continue digging into the victims’ pasts.See if we can find out how he’s choosing his vics.”He paused a moment, thinking over the information they’d just received.“You know, we might also have another problem on our hands.Is he killing three, then moving on?Is he done here?Or are we just dicking around until he kills another one?”
Those were hard questions to answer.On one hand, they hoped there were no more murders in their jurisdiction, but on the other, they wanted this bastard.If killing three victims and moving on was part of the killer’s pattern, he may have already left North Carolina for God-only-knew-where.
Sheriff Griffin stepped into the room, asking for an update.After they filled him in on the Pennsylvania connection, he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to the door.“All right.Let’s keep this quiet for now.I want everyone at this morning’s press conference at eleven unless something urgent comes up.We’ll give the fucking sharks the same info we gave them yesterday, just spin it differently so it sounds new.I asked the medical examiner to attend, but he won’t release much info either.As you know, the press already found out the first two victims’ names, somehow.I spoke to Daphne Jones’s father in Chicago around six last night after the local PD broke the news to the family, so we can release her name also.Everyone meet in my office at ten of eleven, and we’ll walk out together.”Without waiting for any responses, the tired-looking leader returned to his office.
