Dead.
That was the one word that kept repeating in her head, and Caroline didn’t think it would go away anytime soon. Nor would the images of seeing Scotty’s car smashed into that utility pole.
She hadn’t actually seen his body. Jack was responsible for that. He’d insisted on her staying in the cruiser while the backup and ambulance arrived. Caroline hadn’t fought him on that since she’d known in her heart that Scotty was already dead.
So was the gunman.
That didn’t ease her frayed nerves, though. She would still hear the sound of all those gunshots and remember the terror she’d felt when Jack stepped outside the cruiser. Yes, she would definitely recall all of that with every detail. And more. She’d have to deal with the worry that this didn’t put an end to the danger.
Even though they didn’t have an ID yet on the gunman, Caroline figured he’d been hired to kill her. Whoever had done the hiring had likely covered their tracks. Maybe there’d been mistakes made and some evidence or a money trail left behind, but the odds were this would go down as another attempt to get to her.
Caroline drew in slow, deep breaths as Raylene’s sister, Deputy Clarie McNeal, pulled the cruiser to a stop in front of Jack’s house. Jack had spent most of the drive from the sheriff’s office on the phone and keeping watch, but now that they’d arrived at their destination, his focus would be on her.
Or at least it would be once they were inside.
Caroline needed the long breaths not only to try to calm herself but also to try to level out the effects of the adrenaline. If she didn’t, Jack would see the panic that was just beneath the surface, and it would make him worry even more than he already did. And there was no mistake about it—he was worried.
It was Clarie who got out first, and ducking against the rain that was coming down hard, she ran to the door, unlocked it and did the security check to make sure no one had gotten inside. Then she motioned for Jack and Caroline, and they hurried in.
“No ID on the gunman yet,” Jack told Caroline as he locked the door and reset the alarm. “But we should know something soon. And there is some good news. Lily’s turning over the files from New Beginnings.”
Wiping the rain from her face, Caroline nodded. That was potentially good. Or at least it would be if Lily hadn’t managed to erase any useful information.
Going with that whole attempt to make him not worry, Caroline steeled herself and didn’t dodge his gaze when he looked at her. A wary gaze that was examining her for any signs of emotional trauma.
“I’m okay,” she assured him.
Judging from the burst of sound that he made, no way was he buying that. Apparently, she wasn’t as good at steeling herself as she’d hoped.
“All right,” Caroline amended, “maybe I’m not okay exactly, but we’re alive and unharmed. That’s better than the alternative. Better than Scotty got.” It would have been more effective if her voice hadn’t cracked on Scotty’s name.
Jack glanced at Clarie, who was in the kitchen, and he took Caroline by the arm, leading her to his bedroom. He shut the door, turned to her and started whatever he was about to say.
“You can’t blame yourself for any of this,” he insisted. He crammed his hands into his pockets, and he probably didn’t know that he had blood on his jeans. Not his blood, but Scotty’s.
“My guess is that Scotty hacked into WITSEC files,” Jack went on, “and the person who hired him to do that sent a killer after him today. We got caught up in it.”
She couldn’t disagree with any part of that; she had already come to the same conclusion. Scotty hadn’t deserved to die, but he’d obviously gotten involved with a very dangerous person. Caroline didn’t doubt the danger, either, because that same person was likely after her.
“When the cops go through Scotty’s files and his home office, they might find something,” Jack added. He was clearly trying to soothe her, but she was beginning to think that he needed just as much of that TLC as she did.
Caroline went closer to him. She didn’t touch him, though. Not with the powder keg of emotions already in place. Touching him, even for comfort, would fire up heat of a different kind.
“When I left the sheriff’s office to go find Scotty, I knew the risk,” she said. “But I thought that if we could get answers, it’d be worth it. It would have been,” Caroline amended, and she cursed when her voice cracked again.
Jack cursed, too, because despite her facade, she was right on the edge. He did reach for her, and he likely would have triggered that heat by pulling her into his arms. However, he didn’t get a chance to do that because his phone rang.
“Grace,” Jack grumbled when he looked at the screen.
Caroline definitely hadn’t expected a call from the woman, but maybe this was a good sign. Perhaps Grace would be able to tell them what’d happened.
Jack dropped any trace of the TLC when he jabbed the answer button on his phone, and he put it on speaker. “Why the hell were you on that road just yards from where Scotty crashed?” Jack demanded.
Caroline had no trouble hearing Grace’s sobs and broken breaths. “Scotty called me. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he’s dead,” Jack snapped. If there’d been an award for good bedside manner, he would have lost big-time. There wasn’t a trace of sympathy in his voice. “Now I want you to tell me who killed him.”
“I honestly don’t know,” Grace answered through another sob. Caroline didn’t think either the words or the crying was fake.
Jack didn’t approve of that answer, and he showed that by swearing. “You need to go to the sheriff’s office in Longview Ridge. As a minimum, you’re a witness to a crime, but I’m betting you know a whole lot more than that.”
“I don’t!” Grace practically shouted. “And I’m not going to the cops. If a dirty lawman is doing this, I’ll end up dead, just like Scotty. Maybe like Skylar and Nicola. Caroline might believe in you, but I don’t, and personally, I think she’s a fool to trust you.”
With that, Grace ended the call.
Jack tried to call the woman back, of course, but neither of them was surprised when Grace didn’t answer.
After he shoved his phone back in his pocket, his hands went on his hips, and his gaze fired to hers. Oh, the anger was there. A giant ball of it, and he didn’t seem to know where to aim all that dangerous energy.
“Do you really think you’re a fool to trust me?” Jack demanded.
He seemed to be throwing some kind of emotional gauntlet, and she thought that maybe he wouldn’t be happy with any answer she gave him. So Caroline just stood there. Waiting. And watching the rising storm. Outside, the rain was now battering the windows. There was a crack of lightning. Thunder.
But the storm inside Jack seemed even more intense.
He turned away from her, but the temper had him whirling back around just as fast.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Jack jabbed his index finger at her. He wasn’t shouting or touching her, but it was close. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything or anybody. Hell, I love you more than anyone’s probably ever loved before. So believe it when I tell you that you can trust me. I wouldn’t let a killer get near you. That includes someone in my own gene pool.”
Caroline swallowed the lump in her throat. “You just called me an idiot.”
He winced and somehow managed to make that expression look hot. “You noticed that, huh? I was hoping all the I-love-yous would gloss that over.” His eyes went dark and serious. The color of storm clouds now. “Believe it,” he repeated, his voice a hoarse whisper.
She had no doubts—none—that the words came straight from his heart. “I believe it.”
And since there’d been enough words, whispers and shouts, Caroline grabbed on to a handful of his shirt, eased him to her and showed him just how much she loved him right back.
With a kiss.
* * *
JACK HEARD HIMSELF say Caroline’s name. It was more breath than sound, and he felt those tight muscles relax in his arms and chest. The relief came as his cheek pressed to hers with his mouth against her ear.
Of course, there would have been a whole lot more relief if she’d told him she loved him. But he could wait until she was ready. Believing in him was enough for now.
They stayed that way, standing there, for several long moments. He’d just taken her the night before, but the ache was already there as if he’d gone much too long without her. She was no doubt feeling some of that ache because she shifted, finding his mouth, and her kiss already had that hungry edge to it.
Jack understood the hunger.
He’d failed at being gentle with her before, and he could already feel a repeat of that. This time though, it was Caroline who was in the driver’s seat, and it didn’t seem as if she had gentle in mind.
“Your clothes are coming off,” she said like an oath.
He wasn’t about to argue with that, but he did have to get his eyes uncrossed when her hand slid down into his jeans and over his erection. He could hardly protest the maneuver since he’d done the same to her, but that bold move made him want their clothes off sooner than he’d planned.
Caroline pressed him face-first against the wall, like a cop making an arrest. “I can’t think when you’re kissing me,” she said. “Your mouth should be classified as an illegal substance.”
Jack got just a flash of male pride, which went to hell in a handbasket when she yanked off his holster. That went on the dresser. Not too long after that, his shirt landed on the floor.
Apparently, no area was off-limits for her, because Caroline’s mouth went to the back of his neck, trailing down to his shoulders. Jack had never considered those to be parts of him that he wanted kissed, but it added a heap of fuel to the already blazing heat.
When he started to turn, to take her into his arms, she held him in place, using the lower part of her body and pressing him even harder against the wall. He felt her moving around, maneuvering, and then the touching continued.
While she kept up those long, lingering kisses, she slipped her hands around to his chest. Her fingers were as thorough as her mouth, and she traced each muscle to his stomach.
Then, lower.
She didn’t slide her hand into his jeans this time. Instead, Caroline unzipped him, pushing both his jeans and the boxers off his hips, and she was damn clever doing it, too. And slow. Inch by slow inch. Her left hand skimmed over his butt while her right one took care of the front.
“Your body should be illegal, too,” Caroline said in a breathy whisper that hit against his shoulder.
No time for male pride this time. Her fist slid the entire length of him. Then, that fist got even tighter. Her mouth—and yes, her tongue—continued on his shoulder, making slow circles and those maddening kisses.
Jack gritted his teeth and swallowed a groan. As good as it felt, and it felt damn good, he didn’t want to finish things this way. He was about to tell Caroline that when she lowered his jeans and boxers and then used her foot to push them even farther down so that Jack could step out of them. The moment he did that, she took hold of his waist and spun him around.
Finally!
Or so he thought. But she dodged a kiss, stepping back from him. He could see the heat in her eyes. Hell, he could feel it. The air was firing between them like lightning bolts.
While facing him, she took hold of his hips, and walking backward, she led him to the bed. They stepped over his shirt, and that was when he saw her panties on the floor. He wasn’t sure when she’d taken those off, maybe right before all that sanity-robbing touching when she’d had him against the wall.
Caroline reversed their positions when they reached the bed, and pushed him onto the mattress. He landed on his back, and before he could even blink, she landed on him, straddling him.
The scalding kiss she gave him nearly had him forgetting that she still had on her clothes. Minus the panties. Jack got a quick reminder of it, though, when he finally got his hands on her, and he felt the barrier of her top and skirt. Her skirt had shifted up, though, so he could at least get one of his hands on her bare butt as he fumbled around to yank off her top.
But Caroline put an end to that, too. She levered up on her knees, and in the same motion, she took hold of him again. And then dropped so that he was inside her.
Jack didn’t swallow the groan that time. Hell, it was possible his heart had skipped a whole bunch of beats. Pleasure roared through him. Caroline made sure that wasn’t a solo thing, either. She shifted, riding him, taking everything he was more than willing to give her.
She found the rhythm. The right one that would wring out every drop of this, and just when she had him right at the brink, Jack reached between her legs to touch her, to give her a little boost to take her to climax with him. Before he could do that, though, she hauled him up to a sitting position so they were face-to-face.
The kiss came. It wasn’t filled with hungry greed this time. This was gentle. Soft.
And whispering his name, Caroline wrapped her arms around him and finished them together.