Blake
Silky hair spilled over my chest and shoulder, tickling my skin, and I shifted the sleepy woman in my arms. Victoria let out a soft grumble and I smiled into her hair. I trailed a finger over each of hers, across the back of her hand and up her arm to her shoulder. Victoria shivered at the contact as I brushed the tiny wisps of hair at the base of her neck and she turned her head, burying her nose against my chest. I pulled her more tightly to me, relishing the feel of her as she snuggled close.
She wiggled as she came awake, and I bit back a groan as her thigh brushed my cock, straining and eager to sink inside her again. I blocked her knee as it came up, then adjusted myself. “Time to get up, sweetheart.”
“Mmm.” She sighed contentedly, groping blindly for the sheet.
I chuckled and caught her hand in mine. “C’mon, sleepyhead.”
Her face scrunched up in consternation as I extracted the sheet from her questing fingers. “What time is it?”
I quirked a smile. Victoria was not a morning person. “Almost ten.”
Her eyes flew open wide as she tore herself from my arms and bolted upright. “Ten in the morning?”
“That’s usually how it works,” I teased, reaching for her.
She evaded my hands and, realizing she was naked, grabbed up the sheets and held them to her chest. “I never sleep in this late.”
“You were exhausted, and it looked like you needed the rest.”
She’d fallen into a deep sleep as soon as she curled against my side, and I’d lain here for the last three hours, alternately dozing and watching her until she woke up, not wanting to abandon her. I’d spent the time enjoying the feel of her next to me and thinking—about the past, about the future, the things I wanted to do, the places I wanted to see… the things I couldn’t live without. Victoria was slowly making her way into that last category, and I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that.
I’d only known her for a couple of weeks, but there was something about her that called to me—more than protectiveness, stronger than just simple attraction. Some inexplicable force had pushed Victoria into my path, and I’d be a fool to ignore the signs. The more I was around her, the more I liked her, the more I wanted her to become a permanent part of my life.
I wanted to know all about her, wanted to be the person she turned to, not just for help, but for everything—comfort, passion, reassurance, and everything in between. I wanted to sit across the table from her each evening and talk about everything and nothing, and I wanted her to fall asleep in my arms every night.
The Victoria in my bed was a far cry from the Ice Queen I’d met that first day at the healthplex. I loved the way she’d come out of her shell, and I wanted to learn everything about her.
“Do you have stuff to do today?”
“Not particularly. I wanted to go see Kate, but other than that…” She trailed off with a small shrug. “What did you have in mind?”
“For starters…” My eyes skated over her body and a grin split my face. “I want you to get your butt back over here.”
I ripped the sheet away from her, and she let out a soft cry of distress. “Hey!”
I rose up on all fours and she held up a hand as I crawled across the bed toward her.
“Blake…” She let out a shriek of laughter as I rolled her under me, peppering her face with kisses. “Stop, please!”
I braced myself over her with a grin. “Give me one good reason.”
“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s hardly a good reason.”
“It is! Did you know that poor dental hygiene can lead to all kinds of things, including heart disease? It’s even been linked to erectile dysfunction.”
My brows drew together and I relaxed my stance, leaning backward to rest on my heels. “Is that true?”
“I don’t know, but it sounded good!” Victoria rolled away with a spurt of laughter and raced to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
I couldn’t believe I’d fallen for that. With a grin, I heaved myself off the bed and padded across the hallway to the bathroom.
“I was hoping you might show me around a bit today if you have some free time.”
The door cracked open and she peeked out. “Really?”
“I thought you could show me some of your favorite spots. We’ll grab lunch and just… relax.”
Preferably in bed—after we’d made love again—but she’d figure that out soon enough.
She studied me for a moment. “I was going to stop by Kate’s house today to check on her. Do you want to come with me?”
“Of course. I’d like to see how she’s doing anyway.”
The sweetest smile lit her face, and she stared at me as if I’d hung the moon. I just barely refrained from barging in and sweeping her off her feet, taking her back to bed.
“I’d love to.”
“Perfect.” I grasped her chin and kissed her once, hard. “We’ll stop by your house real quick so you can change, then we’ll head out.”
Just under an hour later, we stepped through the front door of Victoria’s house. She turned automatically to disarm the system, but silence hung heavily in the air.
“That’s strange,” she murmured.
“Is something wrong?” I automatically glanced around, but nothing jumped out at me.
“I must have forgotten to set the alarm. I remember being in a hurry because you had just shown up, and…” She shrugged. “I must’ve walked right out without arming it.”
“Do you want me to look around?”
“No, it’s okay.” She waved off my offer. “I’m sure it was just me. I’ve been a little sidetracked lately.”
“I can see how that’d happen.” I pulled her in for a quick kiss. “Go on up and change, sweetheart. I’ll be right here. Unless you’d like some help. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand. Or two.”
I hooked a finger in the waistband of her jeans and she pushed me away with a laugh. “You stay right here.”
“I don’t even get to watch?”
She stretched up on her toes for another kiss. “Maybe if you’re nice, you’ll get to see me tonight.”
She threw a saucy smirk over her shoulder, hips swaying with each step as she disappeared from view. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and sank onto the couch with a grin. Damn woman was going to be the death of me.
I’d stopped by the QSG office yesterday and told Con about Victoria’s assault back in Ohio. I suspected her captor had been trailing her for years, but the question was—why target her now? She’d changed her name, done everything right to cover her tracks. Since she’d been a minor at the time, her record was sealed. Or, at least, it should have been. Had someone managed to find the original file, or had the killer just now found her by sheer luck? Con was doing some digging into the case and would let me know what he’d found. So far, I hadn’t heard anything.
“Blake?” Victoria’s voice floated down the stairs, and I called back to her, eyes never leaving the phone.
“Yeah, babe?”
“Blake.”
Her voice was soft, deceptively calm, yet I could hear the tension hovering just below the surface. I was already rising from the couch, stowing my phone away when I caught sight of Victoria. She’d paused halfway down the steps, face white as a sheet.
“What’s wrong?”
She lifted a shaky hand to point over her shoulder. “Someone was in my room.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded silently, and I slipped my hand into hers. After all she’d been through, there was no harm in making her feel overly secure.
“Is something missing?” I watched her face as she spoke.
“I can’t tell.”
I lifted a brow at the strange statement. She’d only been up here for a minute or two, how could she have possibly…?
I turned my gaze toward the bedroom and jerked to a stop. “Goddamn it!”
The room had been massacred. Whoever was responsible had spent an inordinate amount of time taking their rage out on her bed. The pillows were shredded, and her mattress had been hacked literally to pieces, most of which littered the floor like a fine layer of snow, covering everything underneath.
“Fuck!” Rage rippled through me and I clenched my fist to keep from putting it through the nearest wall.
Admittedly, I hadn’t really taken her claim seriously, thinking she’d just been stressed out and reading too much into things. Turning to the woman in question, I noted her remarkable calm. She was scared, I could see it in her eyes, but she assessed the situation with a steel spine.
Unable to control my rioting emotions, I hauled her against me. “Thank God you weren’t here.”
She allowed me to wrap my arms around her, but her eyes never wavered from a spot on the wall across the room.
“What’s wrong?”
She lifted a shaky finger and pointed. “That necklace.”
It hung from the blade of a knife that’d been driven into the drywall just to the right of the bed. “Is it special to you?”
“Not to me.” She licked her lips. “Leah. She was wearing it the night she was murdered.”