Chapter Twenty-Six

Alex gave her a hard kiss before moving off her. She closed her eyes, listening to him move across the room. She heard the shower turn on and, suddenly, he was back, lifting her off the bed. He stepped under the warm spray and lowered her to her feet, then closed the clear glass door. He gently lathered her body, taking his time as he cleansed her. Each touch triggered a wave of need. It burned her from the inside out. It caused a hot craving to pool between her thighs and her nipples to tighten. He lifted her breasts, moulded them with his hands as he soaped them, then pulled on the nipples making them a dark rosy colour. When she was covered in a thick soapy lather he pushed her back under the water until she was rinsed clean. Then he handed her the soap and let his arms fall to his side.

She enjoyed soaping his body, even though she wished it was his body she was touching. When she closed her eyes, she could still see him lying in the hospital bed, the hard strength in his arms and shoulders. See the rippled muscles of his stomach and the dark hair covering his chest and face. She opened her eyes as she lathered his back. Cade had a nice body too, but it was not Alex.

She turned him around and began soaping his chest and shoulders. Covered his arms and hands, stroked his palm and pulled gently on each finger. Moved to his hips and knelt down, running her hands down the length of each leg. When she cupped him, she looked up and watched his face. His only indication that he liked what she was doing was the flaring of his nostrils. She stood and nudged him under the water and rubbed at his body to help remove the soap. She moved her hand to his now hard cock and stroked the length of him. God, he smelt so good, clean and manly. She pressed her mouth to his chest, swirled her tongue over his wet skin. Oh man, he tasted good too. She glanced back up to his face, slowly pumping his shaft. His eyes were glowing but the lids hung low as he stared back at her. She licked at her lips, her mouth starting to water at the idea of sucking him into her mouth. He shook his head. She nodded hers. Then dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth.

He tasted good, so good. She couldn’t get enough. The need he triggered deep in her soul was heating her body up. She sucked hard, sliding up and down and received a growl for her effort. Then, she was lifted by her arms and Alex was crushing her mouth with his. He clasped her head between his hands and pulled back panting. “You make me…I want to…I don’t know how…” He stopped and took a deep breath.

Eve placed her hands on his cheeks and, in an effort to calm him, adjusted her voice, “I know. It’s the same for me.”

He shook his head, still confused and pulled her forward, crushing her against him. His mouth was hard and demanding. She allowed him to take whatever he needed.

He surprised her when he turned her away from him and placed her hands on the wall. His hands were all over her, cupping and stroking, gliding down her waist to her hips, then behind. Then, slipping his fingers between her legs, he parted her creamy lips. She groaned and rocked her hips back pushing her backside against his thick cock. She felt him drop his head onto her back as he toyed with her entrance. She rocked her hips again, not able to help herself.

“Fuck.” He groaned and, grabbing her hips, plunged deep.

She moaned from the sudden heat of his invasion. His hands never ceased their carnal torment, moving over her body greedily, squeezing and caressing, setting her skin on fire. He fondled her breasts, pinched her nipples, kissed her shoulders. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her back against his chest, his breath hot in her ear as he moved in long, so-slow strokes. He slid his fingers back into her slick folds and moved them in lazy circles. She came almost at once, grinding her hips back against him.

Alex grunted in frustration as he withdrew from her body. He grabbed her shoulders, turned her to face him and forced her hand to his cock. “Finish me, Eve.”

She understood immediately and gripped the slick length, pumping him hard and fast. He framed the sides of her head, kissing her. She tightened her grip and ran her finger over the sensitive tip with each hard stroke. He pulled his mouth away, but held her face next to his. She pumped a little harder, squeezed a little tighter as his hips bucked and he groaned into her mouth as he came.

After they cleansed each other again, they fell into bed. Alex pulled Eve next to him and kissed her forehead. “How do you feel old timer?” he teased.

Eve pinched at his arm. “Not funny.”

He grinned into the dark. “Sure it is. But seriously, you okay?”

“I feel…” She hugged him and sighed, “Mmmm.”

“I know what you mean.” He laughed. “I saw Dawn and Noelle again tonight.”

“You did?”

He smiled at her surprised tone. “They’re both good. There’s a very colourful picture downstairs from Noelle.”

“Really?” She tried to pull away but he held her in place.

“I’ll get it.”

He went downstairs, got himself a glass of water, and emptied it before reaching for Cade’s phone. He shouldn’t have brought it here, there was a tracking system built into this phone, which meant as soon as he called out or answered a call, Miles would have his location. It was a guarantee that Miles knew Trevor would give it to him, just like he knew Trevor had no idea that this particular phone was standard issue for all Project members and that it wasn’t Cade’s actual phone.

Holding it in his hand, Alex was tempted to turn it on just to see how long it would take to get a call. He had the urge to let Miles come to him, he wanted this over and done with, but Eve was here and this place was a sanctuary, he couldn’t risk having it discovered. He left it turned off, but it would certainly come in handy tomorrow when he turned it back on.

Refilling his glass, he grabbed Noelle’s picture and went back to Eve. He handed her the water and she drank half before giving it back. He turned on the bedside lamp and slid under the covers. He watched her, a slight smile pulled at her swollen mouth as she looked at the picture lovingly. His chest became tight as he watched her. She made him feel…loved. And she loved him, he was certain of it now. Her reaction when she had thought he was Cade was the outcome he had prayed for. He hadn’t meant to frighten her but he had got what he wanted and more. Much more. She hadn’t said she loved him but she certainly didn’t like the idea of him saying goodbye. His heart sank at the thought. Knowing what he did, that she loved him, how in the hell was he ever going to let her go?

“What’s wrong?”

He focused on her face and faked a smile. “Just trying to figure out what Noelle drew for you here.” He looked at the picture. “Are those flying turtles?”

Eve giggled. “I think so.”

“Okay. What do you plan on doing with that?”

“I’m going to give it to you.” Eve handed him the picture.

“No. Noelle made that for you.” He pushed it back at her.

“But your name is on it too.” She pointed to the top left corner.

He could just make out the printing in different size letters. For Mom and Alex LOVE Noelle Sinclair. He was touched, the unfamiliar feeling crushed down onto his chest. Shit. These women weren’t going to make it easy, were they?

“Why did she put her last name?” He asked, accepting the picture.

Eve rolled onto her side and giggled again.

“Because, if you can believe it, there is another Noelle in her class.” She pulled the covers around her. “She was so beautiful when she was born and it was Christmas, I wanted to give her a name that was unique.” She shrugged. “Guess someone else had the same idea.”

Alex carefully put the picture on his bedside and switched off the light. He pulled Eve up against his chest and kissed her neck. She had no idea that she had just described what Alex saw when he looked at her. Beautiful and unique.

* * * *

As Miles closed the door to his youngest daughter’s room, the cell in his pocket rang.

He checked the caller ID before answering.

“Sir.”

“Detective Taylor’s partner has given him the phone. I assume everything else is already in place.”

“Roger.” Miles confirmed. He had spoken to Mike, made sure he understood that he was to be contacted first before all others.

His CO sighed into the phone, “I don’t like you going at this alone. And if I feel the situation is getting out of your control, I’ll send in another team to assist. Clear?”

“Roger.” Miles squeezed his fist. He had to get this mess sorted out and fast.

“Good.” The line went dead.

Miles clenched his jaw as he went back downstairs to his wife, silently cursing Taylor. Turn on that damn phone.

* * * *

“Eve,” the deep voice called. A hand touched her face and she slapped it away.

“Eve. It’s time to get up.” The covers flew off her and she suddenly felt cold. There was a slap to her behind.

“Ouch!” She opened her eyes to see Alex walking away. “What time is it?”

“Ten.” He kept walking as he called over his shoulder. “Breakfast is almost ready. You have ten minutes.”

Because she was starving, she washed her face, dressed, and was downstairs in record time.

“Hungry?” Alex asked, setting a knife and fork in front of her.

“Starved.” She took a sip of the coffee he sat in front of her and wrinkled her nose.

“Too strong? Here put milk and sugar in it.”

“Wow. This stuff tastes like lead,” she teased.

Raising his eyebrows, he pointed to the milk and sugar before turning back to the stove. Eve watched him flip what appeared to be an omelette and put two slices of bread into a toaster, then turn back to her. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her, a knowing look on Cade’s tanned face. After a while it became too much and her face began to heat up.

“What?” Why was he staring at her like that? What was he thinking? Alex wasn’t an easy person to read.

He turned back to the stove when the toast popped up. While he filled two plates Eve sat back holding her lead coffee. She really liked this place. It was cosy and stylish for a single guy. “This place wasn’t issued to you was it?”

“No it’s mine. No one knows about this place, including Miles.”

“It’s really nice, not a bad place to be locked in for the day,” she reminded him again.

His response was to grin while placing a white plate, filled with omelette, toast and hash browns in front of her.

“Wow, this looks really good.”

“It is. Eat up. You’ll need it,” he said before sipping his coffee.

“How come no one knows about this place?” She tasted the eggs. “Mmm. Delicious.”

“I needed a place where I could go that wasn’t touched by my job. So I would come here on my time off and fix it up.”

“You did all of this?”

“Most of it.” He shrugged. “I contracted out when I needed to.”

“I like it, much nicer than the other apartment.”

“Even though there’s no view?” He smirked.

She nodded. “It’s not always about the view and that place felt cold. This place is warm and inviting. I really like it.”

He pointed to her plate. “Keep eating, I don’t know when we will be able to eat again today.”

She swallowed hard. “Oh!”

He watched her from across the table. “We’re going to Jillian today.”

She set her fork down. “Okay. When?”

“As soon as you eat your breakfast.” He began eating.

Eve stared down at the nice breakfast Alex had made for her and wanted to throw up. She had known this was coming. She had agreed to help Alex in case Jillian needed it. But it had come so fast and she wasn’t ready to leave this little piece of heaven that Alex had brought her to.

“Eat.”

She nodded and picked up her fork again but couldn’t seem to touch the food. Their time together was coming to an end faster than she thought it would. Soon he would walk away from her and not look back and she would be alone, missing a small piece of her soul.

“Eve, you have to eat.”

She looked up, hearing his concerned tone. His brow was wrinkled as he stared at her. Well, at least he was a little concerned for her. Would he be that way once everything was done and Jillian was safe? Would he worry then? She stared back at him. She honestly didn’t know.

“I can make you something else.”

“No.” She shook her head, lowering her eyes to the plate. “This is fine.” She jabbed a potato and quickly shovelled it in. It went down better than she thought it would and she ate as much as her turning stomach would allow.

An hour later they were on the road. Alex had loaded her bag of clothes and medical bag into a Jeep she had no memory seeing the day before, while wandering around his firehouse. He had the nerve to laugh when she asked if he had stolen it.

“No. I didn’t steal it. That would be too much trouble. I bought this a few years ago.” He looked for oncoming traffic as he pulled out onto a main road. “This is what I take when I go north. I need the suspension for the dirt roads.”

“So we’re going north?” she asked looking at him. “Into Quebec?”

“Yes.” He looked in his rear-view mirror before continuing. “I sent Jillian to my cottage up north. It’s very isolated, a good place to lay low.”

She turned to watch the other cars. “How long will it take to get there?”

“About five hours. Once we are out of the city it’s two lanes straight there. But if we had left earlier we could have missed all the traffic, this will add on that extra time.”

She was the reason they’d left late, she was the one who had slept in. “Sorry. I didn’t know we were leaving today, or I would have got up sooner.”

He shifted gears, picking up with the pace of the traffic. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t decide until this morning. And you needed to sleep. We had an interesting night last night.”

Eve nodded silently, looking out the side window. What the hell was the matter with her? The second he told her they were leaving to go to Jillian, she became distant, almost withdrawn. It wasn’t like he’d suddenly surprised her with a road trip up north. This was the goal after all, to help Jillian and her baby. And if he was lucky he’d get a chance to even up the score with Miles too.

He looked at her again. She was sitting straight with her hands jammed tightly in her lap. He reached out before he could stop himself and slid his hand in between hers, weaving their fingers together. She was nervous, that much was clear, about what though? He would never let anything happen to her or Jillian.

“Everything will be okay,” he reassured her. When she gave no response, he wiggled the hands gripping his. “Hey”—he hardened his voice to get her attention—“Look at me.” When he saw her turn her head, he made himself perfectly clear. “You will be safe. Do you understand me? You concentrate on helping Jillian and I’ll take care of everything else. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Good.” He rubbed his thumb over her fingers. “Now try to relax. We have a long way to go and there aren’t many places to stop until we get to Montcalm. This is why I wanted you to eat before we left.”