Chapter Thirteen

When Joseph heard Jenna had returned to work, he’d almost lost it. Leaving the bloodhound hunt, where the Snatcher’s trail led to nothing but a set of tire tracks, he barreled straight toward the flower shop.

After last night’s shootout with the Snatcher, he didn’t think Jenna should’ve left the protection of her home. Obviously, he wasn’t the only one. Three sheriff employees already lined the shop with another entering behind him. No one thought she was safe.

As soon as his gaze connected with Jenna, however, he forgot all about the lecture he had planned because he wanted to gobble her whole. Across the space crowded with people and fauna of all variety, they stared at each other, making his heart thump hard against his ribcage and his dick pulse to life.

Days ago, he’d been so sure having sex would settle his libido. But after sliding inside Jenna Daggert, he was hornier now than he’d been last week, maybe more than he’d ever been.

He started toward his woman, not sure what he was going to do when he reached her, maybe haul her into a back room and have his wicked way with her. But a departing customer caught his attention.

Doing a double take, Joseph narrowed his eyes. What the hell was this fucker doing here?

Without thinking, he veered toward the individual and stepped into the man’s path, blocking his way to the exit. Jerking to a halt, Court Lawson lifted his blond head, glanced around the huge plant he held, and finally saw Joseph. Joseph stared hard, wondering if he was looking at a murderer, at Jenna’s tormentor.

The Snatcher.

Lawson had a cool, detached stare that gave away nothing, except maybe a little annoyance over being waylaid. “Can I help you?” He rumbled out the question, his eyebrow arching when Joseph refused to budge.

“It’s Lawson, right?” Joseph said. “Court Lawson?”

Gaze growing alert and suspicious, Lawson pulled taut. “Who’s asking?”

“Joseph Morgan. I’m a deputy for the sheriff’s department.” He held out his hand, hoping the other man would shake with him so he could crush his fingers in a death grip.

His second eyebrow winging up to join the first, Lawson pulled back to scan slowly over Joseph’s form. He propped the plant on his hip, and a huge elephant ear brushed against his pale hair. “Another new deputy, huh?” Lawson let out a snort before murmuring, “Ronnie must really be getting desperate.” He moved to step around Joseph, dismissing him.

Joseph dodged into his path. “I see you’re limping,”

Lawson sneered. “Yeah, you’re an observant one, alright. I bet Ronnie’s just creaming his panties over finding a genius like you to join his goons.”

Joseph had never been a fan of dry, sarcastic smartasses. Jaw knitting with irritation, he managed to ask, “Where’d you’d get the injury?”

Without warning, Lawson removed one arm from around his plant and reached out to grasp Joseph’s wrist. He didn’t squeeze, just held on a moment, staring straight into Joseph’s eyes as if reading every thought in his head. Then he smirked and stepped back, dropping his hand.

“How’d I get my injury?” he repeated in a low, almost amused voice. “Well, see, I was hiding up in some trees, spying on this woman I wanted to kill, when some fucking idiot shot me.”

For a moment, Joseph could only blink, unable to believe what he was hearing. Then he stepped toward Lawson, actually reaching for him. If the other man hadn’t evaded him, he probably would’ve yanked the smartass’s hands behind his back and cuffed him.

If not outright killed him.

Lawson laughed out a harsh, bitter sound, making his plant’s leaves shimmer. “Jesus, what a douche. You were seriously going to hook me up, weren’t you? Take a joke, asshole. A stack of crates full of sodas slipped off my dolly the other day and bruised my hip. That’s why I’m limping.”

Joseph shook his head, his body stretched as tight as it would go. “I don’t believe you.”

“That’s because you think I’m the Snatcher and want my bruise to be a bullet wound.”

Joseph stepped ominously toward Lawson. “What would even make you say that?”

Lawson held up a hand to stop him from making contact. “Relax, Rambo. Nothing’s secret in this town. Don’t you know everyone’s already heard about Emily soon-to-be Daggert shooting up the Snatcher last night?”

“Fine,” Joseph growled. “Then show me the bruise. Prove it’s not a bullet hole.”

Disbelief echoed across Lawson’s face before he contorted his features into a scowl. “No.” He arched a brow as if challenging Joseph to do anything about his refusal. “Now, get out of my way.”

Clenching his jaw hard enough to bite through steel, Joseph growled. “Not until you prove it’s only a bruise.”

He reached for Lawson, but the jackass evaded him with a growl. “I’m going to shove this plant up your ass if you don’t move your—”

“Hey, what’s the problem here?”

When Joseph heard the sheriff’s voice come up behind him, he relaxed, letting his superior deal with the scumbag.

But Lawson didn’t look intimidated by Ronnie Green’s appearance. Instead he snickered. “Oh, thank the Lord. The big bad sheriff is here to save me. Nice minion you’ve dug up, Green. Special Order this muscle neck from Badasses dot com or what?”

Ronnie stepped between him and Joseph as he eyed each man’s face. “What’s going on, boys?”

“Your homo deputy here can’t keep his hands off me,” Lawson reported, juggling his plant back onto his uninjured hip.

Joseph flashed his teeth in a snarl. “Says he’s limping because he bruised himself during work. But he refuses to show it to me.”

Lawson growled. “I wasn’t aware I had to register with the Sheriff’s department every time I put on a fucking Band-Aid.”

“Court.” The sheriff’s voice was low and full of parental censor. “Simmer down.”

Lawson narrowed his eyes at the sheriff’s fatherly tone. “I’m not showing him my bruise. If he wants to jack off to the idea it’s a bullet wound, that’s fine by me. I don’t give a rat’s ass what he thinks.”

The sheriff’s jaw worked but he finally said, “Fine. Get on your way then.”

“What—” Joseph started, only for his boss to hold up his hand and shoot him a hard stare. “Leave him be, Morgan.”

Joseph obeyed but glared after Lawson as the man carried his plant out the front door and disappeared. “Prick needs an attitude adjustment if you ask me,” he grumbled.

Ronnie spun toward him with a glare. “You’d be belligerent too if everyone treated you the way they treat Court Lawson.”

What. The. Hell?

Why was the sheriff so eager to defend such a total scumbag?

“Yeah, well, maybe people would treat him better if he acted like a human being instead of a douche.”

“You know nothing about him, Morgan. You know nothing about what he’s had to live through. Leave the boy alone.”

Joseph narrowed his eyes, fed up with the papa-bear act. “What does he have on you?”

The sheriff’s eyes flared with surprise, but Joseph swore he saw a spark of unease roll across the man’s expression. “Not sure what you mean,” he mumbled as he turned away.

Joseph caught his arm. “The fucker has some serious beef with you, Sheriff. It’s obvious the two of you have history. Bad history. He kept mentioning you before you appeared.”

Gulping, Ronnie shook his head. “I don’t…I have no idea why he’d dislike me.”

Not buying it at all, Joseph pressed, “You mess him up a little too much one night when you were arresting him, or what?”

“Lawson’s never been arrested,” Ronnie claimed, shaking his head emphatically.

With a snort, Joseph arched a brow. “A guy with his personality? I find that hard to believe.”

“He hasn’t!” Now the sheriff sounded downright defensive, which only ratcheted Joseph’s suspensions up another notch.

“What the fuck, Sheriff, if you’ll pardon my language? But I believe you’re lying…sir.”

Eyes flaring with anger, Ronnie stepped closer, right up into Joseph’s face. “Son, I said leave it be. So leave…it…be.”

Molars grinding, jaw hardening, Joseph glared right back, but gritted out the word, “Fine.” As soon as he had a chance, he was looking deep into Lawson—and the sheriff’s—background.

“And don’t ever question my authority again. I told you I have no idea why Court Lawson would have any beef with me. But I do know he’s not the Snatcher, so shift your suspicions to someone else.”

“How?” Joseph demanded.

The sheriff blinked. “How? How what?”

“How do you know he’s not the Snatcher? You have his alibi for every time a girl went missing?”

The older man blushed a moment before he growled. “Did I just tell you not to question me?”

Joseph knew he should zip it, but the blood pounding through his system kept him yapping. “I know why you and every other off-duty deputy are here right now. Just like me, you heard she was working so you all came scrambling over here because you figured the Snatcher will show up as his real self. Well, he did, and he just walked out the goddamn door.”

He would’ve raged on, but from the molten-red flush to Green’s face, he realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere. So Joseph spun away from his boss, wanting to break something. He almost plowed into Jenna as she approached. The worry swallowing her gaze made him glance around to notice the entire shop had stopped in their tracks to gawk his way.

“Come with me,” Jenna murmured quietly, hooking her hand around his arm and leading him toward the back.

He followed her into a quiet work area, crowded with even more flowers, feeling strung tight, wanting to chase after Lawson and strip him naked until he found that fucking bullet hole. Ripping his hands through his hair, he paced the room, repeatedly passing the long work table where bits of cut flower stems and green leaves scattered across the surface. Jenna, bless her, leaned passively against the table, letting him silently stew and brood until he was able to calm himself.

When he finally blew out a breath, she offered him an encouraging smile. “Better?”

“No,” he muttered and strode toward her. He wouldn’t be better until he got his hands on her.

Gripping her hips, he lifted her off the floor and set her on the edge of her work table. “What the fuck are you thinking, going out into public and working? Five days ago, you were a bloody mess. Literally. You’re not ready for this.” He lifted one of her arms to show her how many green-colored bruises still spotted her skin.

She sighed. “I’m ready, Joseph.”

Okay, fine. Then he wasn’t ready to so quickly place her in the public eye. Lawson had already been into her shop, probably even stood less than ten feet from her. And where the hell had Joseph been? Not there, that’s where.

It made him want to seek the smartass out just so he could rearrange his face. His hand began to shake from the pent-up frustration.

But Jenna’s miracle-working grin stopped him cold. She slid her fingers into his hair and palmed his head. “I’m happy to see you, too,” she murmured, drawing his mouth to hers.

He kissed her eagerly, desperately. She could’ve so easily been hurt today. Lawson could’ve reached out and touched her.

Joseph gulped from Jenna’s lips, kissing her hard and long. His hands framed her body, memorizing her, etching each detail into his brain. He needed her. Now.

Fumbling in his haste, he whipped her knee-length skirt up to her belly, gathering the cloth out of his way until he could wrap his fingers around the slim band of her panties. The elastic waist snapped under his touch. He looked down to find she’d already unzipped him.

As she tugged his cock into her hand and praised him for his sudden growth spurt, he freed a new condom from his wallet.

“You are so big and warm.” The gleam in her eyes approved, and her lips spread as she watched him roll on the prophylactic. “God, I love watching a man suit up for sex.”

“Then what do you think of this?” he asked, laying her back onto the table so he could grasp handfuls of her calves. Lifting both her legs up above his shoulders, he spread her wide. Joseph watched her lower lips swell and stretch apart. Moisture gleamed from her bare pussy, telling him she loved this, too. In response, a drop of pre-cum filled the tip of his condom.

“Touch yourself,” he ordered quietly as he continued to hold her legs up and apart.

Jenna’s smile was succulent as she slipped two fingers into her mouth, lapped them with her tongue, then slid them free. Keeping her eyes on him, she trailed the wet touch down until she caught the budding pink petals between the V of her two fingers and trapped them tight to rub them over and across her clitoris. As her hips worked to the rhythm of her own touch and a hum of pleasure vibrated from her throat, Joseph arched his own hips forward until he nestled the throbbing head against her now soaked opening.

Her eyelids slid almost closed. As she used her free hand to massage her breasts through her blouse, she smiled drowsily at him.

“Fill me, Joseph.”

Ramming home, he impaled her, his fingers biting into her calves as her channel constricted around him.

She gasped, her leg muscles flexing under his grip. “Yes, oh, yes,” she chanted. “Spread me wide.”

He split her legs farther apart without breaking rhythm, then bent his knees and lifted as he pumped back into her, entering her from a newer, deeper angle.

She gnashed her teeth and clamped the peak of one breast hard. Her fingers worked her clit with a frenzy and her body clasped his dick so tight, he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Jenna,” he gritted out. “Look at me.”

Through her quick, shallow breaths, she managed a glazy-eyed glance his way.

“Now come for me.”

She sobbed out a sound and heaved up her chest, straining her legs against his hands, biting her lip to keep from screaming aloud as she came.

He grunted, and tensed his own jaw to muffle the sound as he shot his cream, releasing not only all the tension inside him but all the cum that had been stored in his testicles.

Still draped across the table on her back, Jenna quivered a few times, laughing out a few chuckles that always preceded a satisfied sigh.

“Oh, Joseph. Damn, baby. You sure know how to fuck.”

Her compliment left him cold for some reason. When he let go of her legs however, she wrapped her luscious limbs around his waist so she could keep him inside her as she sat up. Her smile, as bright and beautiful as the first time he’d seen her in a photograph, made him ache until she grasped his head in her hands and skated her lips across his jaw.

The tender kiss sent a twinge through him, making him crave more, something intangible he wished he could get his hands on and hold tight, something inside her that was purely Jenna, purely magical.

When she pulled back, he wanted to weep and draw her closer again.

Pressing her forehead against his shoulder, she sighed. “When you’re inside me, it’s so easy to forget there’s a bad side of sex. All I can see is…wonder.”

And just like that, that illusive intangible something was his. She was his.

Looping his arms around her, he gave her a long, closed-mouth kiss, telling her with his body what he was too chicken shit to verbalize aloud.

He loved this beautiful, tortured survivor. He always would.

He pretended the tightening of her arms around him and the way she returned her cheek to his shoulder was her way of answering him, telling him she loved him back.

Sifting his fingers through her hair, he rested his cheek against her hair and glanced sightlessly across the room, until for some reason he focused on an arrangement of dead flowers nestled in a vase that had been sitting at the other end of the table. He couldn’t imagine any of the ladies who owned the flower shop would leave dead flowers with brown wilting leaves sitting out, even if they were back in their work space, away from the public.

As something off-kilter emanated from the flaccid bouquet, he squinted until he could read the name written in thick, block capitalized letters.

JENNA.

She must’ve felt his arms tighten around her because she lifted her head and squinted. “What’s wrong?”

Without answering, he pulled from her, detaching their bodies, and stepped to the end of the table so he could reach across the expanse to snag the envelope. Tearing the Pick-a-Posy’s business card from inside, he read the short message with a cold calm.

I don’t care what dumb pig’s cock you let inside you, you’ll still be mine. Until we’re together again. Love, Snatcher