Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(9)

THUS FAR, ITALY had been about three things for the new Mr. and Mrs. Cruz—great food, great wine and great sex.

Late afternoon in Rome, and the newlyweds hadn’t made it out of bed yet. Thank goodness for room service, Freddie thought, the best invention since coffee.

He ran his hand over Elin’s soft, silky skin, feeling more relaxed than he could ever recall being. No work, no murders to solve, no demands on his time or hers, no nothing but him and her and endless hours to fully wallow in the magic of marriage.

“We should’ve done this a long time ago,” he said, breaking a long, contented silence after yet another round of lovemaking. He couldn’t get enough of her and was beginning to realize that a lifetime wouldn’t be long enough to spend with her.

“Done what?”

“Gotten married and stayed in bed for days at a time.”

“What we should’ve done is stayed in a hotel in DC since we’ve barely seen a thing since we’ve been here.”

“We’ve got another week to sightsee.”

“You think we’ll do it?”

“Oh, we’ll do it.” His dirty tone made his wife laugh. His wife. He’d never been more thrilled by anything than he was to have the extraordinary Elin Cruz as his wife. “We’ll do it and do it and do it.”

“We’ve already done that. I want to see the Colosseum and the Vatican.”

“Tomorrow. We’ll get up early and put in a full day. I promise.”

“Tomorrow.” Her hand slid down to encircle his cock. “Or the next day. Whenever.”

Her touch made him instantly hard, something that still amused him almost two years after meeting her. Hell, all she had to do was look at him with heat in those dazzling blue eyes of hers, and he was a goner. Having two full weeks to focus exclusively on her and them made this the best time in his entire life.

“I love being married.”

Elin laughed. “You love having nonstop sex. You’re still making up for your first twenty-nine sex-free years.”

“It’s going to take decades to work off all that pent-up desire.”

“Dear God. What’ve I gotten myself into?”

“Too late to turn back now, Mrs. Cruz. You’re stuck with me and my out-of-control libido.”

“Somehow I’ll make do.”

He kissed her, lingering on the sweet taste of her lips, which were swollen from hours of kissing and other delightful things. This might go down as the best day of his life, even better than their wedding day, which had been magnificent. “PS the nonstop sex is awesome, but I love being married because I get to have nonstop sex—and everything else—with you.”

“I love being married too. Best thing I ever did.”

“You really think so?” Sometimes it still amazed him that a goddess like her had chosen a regular guy like him.

“Freddie… How can you ask me that? You know how much I love you.”

“That makes me the luckiest guy ever.”

“We’re both lucky.”

He kissed her more intently as she stroked him until he was hard and aching for her all over again.

“Freddie.”

“Hmm?”

“I think your phone is ringing.”

“Ignore it.”

“Babe…” She pulled back from him. “The only way anyone would call us while we’re here is if something was wrong.”

Not wanting to think about anything being wrong when everything felt so right, he said, “Whatever it is will keep.” He went back to kissing her, focused exclusively on her, groaning against her lips when the phone rang again. Dropping his head to her chest, he took a deep breath and got up to retrieve his phone and see who the hell had the nerve to intrude on his honeymoon. Cameron Green. What the hell?

“Hey.” He tried not to sound annoyed or freaked out but felt both those things. “What’s up?”

“I’m so sorry to bother you, but I thought you’d want to know that Skip Holland passed away this morning.”

At first, Freddie wasn’t sure he’d heard his colleague correctly. And then, as the words registered, Freddie dropped into a chair, his legs going weak beneath him.

“I’m really sorry to do this to you, bro, but the LT said you’d want to know. She also said, quite emphatically, to tell you not to come home. She said to tell you she’s fine, and she wants you to enjoy the rest of your trip. She was very clear on that.”

One thing Freddie knew for certain—there was no way on God’s green earth that his best friend and partner was “fine” after losing her beloved father.

“What happened?”

“He died in his sleep.”

Imagining the shock and dismay of Sam, her sisters and stepmother, all of them like family to him, made Freddie hurt for them.

Tuned in to disaster unfolding across the room, Elin sat up in bed. “What is it?”

He put a hand over the phone. “Skip Holland passed away.”

“Oh no. Oh, Freddie.”

“I’m really sorry to drop this on you,” Cameron continued, “but Sam said you’d want to know.”

“Yeah, of course. Thanks for calling, Cam. Do me a favor and keep me posted?”