“Hello, Parker,” she said, crashing into his thoughts.
She zoomed in, then glanced over at him. “Check this out.” Parker was tending bar on L1 when a masked woman showed up. After serving her, she stayed at the bar. Emerson fast-forwarded. Parker spoke with the other bartender, then joined the woman. They moved to a quiet corner and talked. Fifteen minutes later, Parker returned to the bar and the woman left the club.
Emerson switched to an external camera, but the positioning of the cameras, paired with where the woman had parked, made it impossible to read her license plate.
“That doesn’t look like a Virginia tag,” Stryker said.
He ran the woman’s masked face through IDware, but she wasn’t a member. “Employees are comped two guest passes a month.”
Emerson jotted something in her notepad. “Be right back.” Pushing out of the chair, she headed toward the bathroom.
In the middle of the room, she pulled to an abrupt stop. As she hugged herself, she lowered her head. Rather than go to her, he waited. If she needed his help, she’d ask.
As if she knew he was watching, she said, “I’m good,” then continued on to the bathroom. When she returned, the triumph showed in her eyes.
“Nice job, Easton.”
She sat on his lap and kissed him. “I wouldn’t be able to push past it if it weren’t for you. Thank you.” As she gazed into his eyes, she ran her fingers over his beard. “I want to tell you something.”
“Okay.”
“It’s part of my prisoner fantasy.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Okay.”
“When I’m captive, my abductor does things to me.”
“Like what?”
“Sometimes I’m tied up, sometimes not. He forces me to blow him, he goes down on me, has sex with me. I even imagine he’s, um…he—” She stopped.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Not judging.”
“He comes on me.”
He nodded. “CNC. Consensual non-consent.”
Relief had her inhaling a calming breath. “It’s called something?”
He nodded. “You’re not alone.”
“I want to act those out with you,” she flicked her gaze to his bed, “naked and restrained on your bed. In my fantasy, I fight it, but in reality, I’m aroused as hell.”
Pausing, he considered her request.
“I’ll do it,” he said. How could he not? Making Emerson happy had become a priority for him.
Her searing kiss sent his blood rushing south. Emerson was a strong aphrodisiac. Her alluring scent, coupled with their intense embrace, had him stroking her tongue hard. But they had to stay focused, so he slowed the kiss down.
Her eyes were alight with energy. “I can’t wait.” Then, she eyed the laptops in front of him. “What are you doing?”
“I wrote code to get past the department’s firewall. While that runs, I’ll pull April’s cell phone records.”
“How? Nikki hasn’t determined which wireless provider April used.”
He shoots her a smile. “I got this.”
“Thank you.” She kissed him before returning to her seat.
