Deadly Fear (Deadly #1)(50)

His lips closed over her breast just as her climax ripped through her. Her sex contracted, milking his length as she came—

And he came, erupting, within her. “Monica!” A roar that burst from him.

So long. The pleasure wrung through him. Every muscle, every cell. So. Fucking. Good.

Their breaths panted out. His heart pounded like a freaking drum. And he could taste her.

Her sex trembled around him. So good.

But when the waves of release began to slowly ebb, he was left with a memory. Not of wild heat, or of a lust that couldn’t be sated.

One of fear in desperate blue eyes.


“You know, some folks like to sleep at night,” Kenton said, his voice gruff as he held a steaming cup of coffee real close to his face. “I mean, damn, you know—sleep, sometime, right?”

Monica blinked and vaguely remembered a sleepy voice shouting, “Keep that crap down.”

Oh, she was screwed. “Just where’s your motel room located, Kenton?”

One brow rose and he stared back at her. “I’m Room 103.”

And she was 102. Perfect.

He took a quick sip of the coffee. “Freaking rabbits.”

“Don’t.” Luke’s voice. Vibrating with fury. He’d come up silently behind Kenton, and yeah, he’d heard everything. Just like Kenton had last night. “You don’t even want to go there,” Luke warned.

“I did.” Kenton’s gaze cut to her. Monica held perfectly still. She kept her eyes open, and her expression clear. “Lucky bastard.” His lips thinned. “How’s that arm, Davenport? You didn’t… ah, do any more damage to it last night?”

She’d all but forgotten her arm. “It’s fine.” She needed to breathe. How could I have forgotten about him? Those walls were paper-thin. Of course, Kenton had heard them. He’d go back to Hyde and tell him about her and Luke.

She sucked in a deep breath. Didn’t matter. She’d planned to tell Hyde as soon as she got back to D.C. Luke was right; she had a lot of rules in her life. Rule number one—the only one that she always followed—she didn’t keep secrets from Hyde. Never had. Never would. Luke was on his team. Hyde would know.

“Get a different room tonight,” Luke advised him, as a muscle flexed along his jaw.

“Aw, come on, that is just—”

Her cell phone rang. She glanced down, not recognizing the number but immediately identifying the Jasper County area code. Oh, hell. In that instant, Kenton was forgotten. “Hello?”

A whisper of breath. Soft laughter. “Did you really think I’d eaten my gun?”

Same distorted voice. She waved her hand in a cutting motion, and Luke and Kenton shut up. “No, I didn’t think that at all.” It’s him, she mouthed.

Luke immediately pulled out his phone and started dialing. She knew he’d be calling Sam at the SSD and trying to get a lock on the call.

“Good.” A sigh. “I don’t want to be disappointed in you.”

Luke’s gaze scanned the motel parking lot as he murmured into his phone.

“He still doesn’t know yet, does he?”

Monica stiffened.

“Really, after all that f*cking, I would think he knew you better.”

“I don’t want to play your stupid games!” she snapped. “Innocent people are dying so you can—”

“Is anyone ever really innocent? Jones wasn’t, but I still offered him a chance. Maybe I’m getting soft.”

What?

Laughter. “Maybe I’m not.”

“Listen, you—”

“I guess you were innocent once though, weren’t you, Davenport? But that was so long ago…”

Bastard. How did he know? How?

“You’re like me, aren’t you? Deep down, underneath the skin?” And she could almost hear pleasure in that grated voice.

“No, I’m not.”

“We’ll see. I’m watching you, Davenport. Learning all about you.” Softer now. “And I think I know—”

“What?” Her fingers were about to break the phone. “What is it that you know?”

“What scares you.”

Click.

Silence a moment, thick and hard. Monica pulled in a slow breath.

“What did he say?” Luke asked her.

He still doesn’t know yet, does he? That bastard’s voice. Playing his game.

She would have to tell Luke sooner or later. Because she wasn’t going to let this freak jerk her around.

You think you know what scares me, *? Come on—let’s find out.

“Is Sam on the line?” she questioned instead.

“She’s gone. Kim’s running the check.”

Monica took the phone and rambled off the number on her cell. Bastard.

The moments ticked by in silence, then Kim’s voice came across the line. “It’s coming up as registered to a Sally Jenkins.” A pause. “That was… she was one of his victims, right?”

Yes. The bastard had taken her cell, just like he’d taken Laura’s, and probably Patty’s, too. Why? Had he really been planning this all along? Planning to call the cops and taunt them? Or planning to call her? Had he known the SSD would get involved when the murders were connected? Her unit had been in the papers so much recently with their other cases.…