Vindicate (Recovered Innocence #1)(61)
He knows how to touch. In no time at all I’m close to coming, but I won’t do it like this. I won’t let him get away with chickening out again. I bite the inside of my cheek. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. Behind me, Leo’s movements are hurried. He hooks his finger in such a way that every time it brushes over some undiscovered spot inside me it makes me whimper.
I start to rise, but he reaches around and tweaks my nipple. That’s all it takes. I can’t hold back. My orgasm barrels through me. Behind me, Leo thrusts between my cheeks and his hand. He holds me to him as he too, climaxes, that deep growl reverberating off the tiled walls as his hot cum shoots onto my back.
Goddamn it. I pound my fist against the tile. Not again.
Wrapping me in his arms, he rights us. He holds me tight against him, my back to his front. He presses his lips to my shoulder and murmurs something against my skin. His touch is tender and gentle as he moves us into the spray of the shower, letting the water run between us as he rinses away the only evidence of our coupling. He turns me and kisses me, cupping my face in his hands. And then he reaches for the soap. Covering me in lather, he washes me, taking his time with the parts of my body he especially likes. I do the same to him, luxuriating in all of the ways his body is different from mine. The hard planes of his stomach, the coarseness of the hair on his legs, the way his muscles bunch and flex when I hit an especially sensitive spot, and the way his penis reacts to what I’m doing.
Before I know it, he’s got me plastered against the shower wall, his hands and mouth doing wicked things to me. He hooks my leg over his shoulder and uses his mouth on me. I didn’t think I could come again, but I should know him better than that by now. When I can finally stand without falling over, I go down on my knees in front of him. He tries to wave me off, but I ignore him and take him into my mouth. He coaxes and teaches me how to do it the way he likes. Slapping his palm to the wall to steady himself, he comes in my mouth, gently massaging the back of my head in encouragement.
Somehow this act feels more intimate than anything else we’ve done. I feel like we’ve reached some kind of compromise with it. This is the only line we’ll cross. I won’t push for more.
Not yet.
Chapter 28
Leo
We’re supposed to leave to meet my dad in ten minutes. It’s barely enough time for Cora to fire up Mike’s desktop, access her cloud drop box, and print out the part of LeFeaux’s testimony where he talks about Cassandra’s neighborhood. We compare it to a Google image we find that was taken about six months after the murder and months before they brought the street through. It’s not much. Hell, it’s a shot so long we’ll be lucky if LeFeaux doesn’t laugh my dad out of the place. On the other hand, after reading LeFeaux’s testimony he doesn’t strike me as an exceptionally smart guy. I’m putting my money on this plan working.
I pop another prescription pain pill when Cora’s not looking. Our shower sexcapades did me in. I took the splint off to take a shower not expecting Cora to join me. If she finds out how bad it f*cking hurts right now she’d feel guilty. The last thing I want her to feel about what we did in the shower is remorse. She seems to have accepted the boundaries I set. And if the shy, wicked smiles she keeps sending my way are any indication I left her satisfied, wanting more. Hell, I can hardly stop grinning like an idiot even with the pain.
We meet up with my dad at a coffee shop down the street from the office. He wanted us to meet him at the house, but there was no way in hell I wanted her to go through with my mom what she went through the last time they met. That shit was seriously f*cked up. I don’t know how Cora lives with that kind of judgment from people who don’t know anything about her except that her relative was convicted of a heinous crime. I’m going to have to find a way to straighten things out with my mom about Cora.
Right now my dad is walking through the door with my old laptop under his arm and a frown so deep it nearly drags on the floor. What the hell happened now?
He slides into the booth across from us and passes me the laptop. “Call your mother.”
“Any news on the fire?” Cora asks.
“They’re sure it’s arson. I’m going to be up to my eyeballs in insurance forms for the next twenty years.”
No surprise there. “Do they have any idea who did it?”
“The power outage caused the security cameras to go down too.” Dad’s frown deepens. “Whoever did it knew what they were doing.”
“I’m so sorry,” Cora says. “This…all of this is because of me and Beau’s case.”
Dad puts a hand up to stop her before I can. “None of this is your fault. I don’t blame you any more than I blame Leo. Now tell me what you’ve been working on.”
The waitress appears at the table and takes our orders. As soon as she’s gone I fill my dad in on the things we’ve learned, including the inconsistency in LeFeaux’s testimony. I show him the printouts we brought.
“Nice work,” he tells us both, then to Cora, “I’m impressed that you thought to back up your files. You’ve got the instincts of a great detective. If I had the budget I’d hire you on at the agency in a minute. If there’s an agency at all by the time the insurance company gets finished.”
Cora looks like she’s going to apologize again, so I put my hand on her knee and change the subject. “We also might have a lead on the downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Wheeler. If we can find her it just might be the piece we need to blow this whole case wide open.”