Before That Night: Unfinished Love Series: Caine & Addison, Book 1 (14 page)

“Besides, I don’t sleep all that much anyway, remember? I’ll probably just nap on the recliner for a bit before jumping on the computer to do some work.”

“But—”

“No more talking. You must be exhausted. Just sleep, sweetheart. I’ll hold you until you do. Though I admit, it’s for selfish reasons. I want to hold you until you fall asleep so I know you’re in a bed, in a home, and safe.” He pressed his lips against her temple. “Is that okay?”

He had her at sleep. All the rest of it just sounded like angelic singing after that point.

She settled into his arms more—mostly because he dragged her closer until not even a breath of air could pass between their bodies.

That’s when she noticed it. Or was it a ‘him?’ Did guys really refer to their, errr,
man parts
as if it were living like they did in some movies?

“Um, Caine?”

“It’s fine,” he muttered, sounding far more relaxed than the current state of ‘it-him’ would lead her to believe.

And his use of ‘it’ just then was
not
a definitive answer to her question.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Again with the double possible usage of the word.

And was he serious with that suggestion? How in the world could she
not
worry about it-him? She was basically exercising all the restraint she possessed not to poke back at the thing.

“It feels…”
Hot. Hard. Way too big to realistically fit in me. “
Painful,” she concluded finally. “It feels painful.” She gasped. “For
you
, I mean.”

Great, now all she could think about is how it would feel for
her
.

Hot. Hard. And assuredly a whole bunch of other foreign-to-her adjectives she suddenly really, really wanted to apply.

He shrugged. “Lately, I’ve been like this damn near all the time when I’m around you. I’m used to it. I told you, it’s fine. Just don’t think about it and let’s just rest.”

Okay, so they were going with ‘it.’ Glad she got that all cleared up.

Now on to the other matter at hand.
Rest? Like this?
How ironic that the one time she was finally not sleeping in her van, there would be a big parking brake pressed against her back.

Not that she was complaining.

…Especially not when she did an experimental shift that rubbed her back firmly against his front.

He groaned. A thick pause passed before he commanded in a deep, feral,
hungry
voice
,
“Woman, behave.”

God, how good would it feel to
not
behave for a change?

“While you’re at it, stop with all those dirty thoughts,” he grumbled. “I can practically hear you thinking, and it’s making me harder.”

Lordy, was that even possible? And was she totally evil for wanting to do something utterly reckless and decadent to see if it was?

He trailed his lips up her neck before skimming them against her earlobe as he rasped, “Keep making all those cute little sexy noises and I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

She sighed. But not in a bad way. “Honestly, Caine, I’m not going to get any sleep at this rate.”

His lips stopped moving. “Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“God, no!”

She felt his lips curl up into a smile. “Try counting sheep.” He sifted his hand through her hair and whispered with another smile, “Or try counting all the things you find adorable about me. Because I know there’s lots.”

Her shoulders shook in soft laughter. But she went and tried out his tongue-and-cheek suggestion anyway. After going over about a dozen items on the admittedly long list, her lids felt far too heavy to open to check the time like she normally did every half hour in the van.

Her brain shifted to neutral when she landed on one of her favorite things about Caine. How over-the-top overprotective he was, of both her and the kids.

That’s when she came to the sleepy confirmation that there was no turning back now. She was officially and without a doubt, head over heels for the man.

Not because he was her savior or protector, or anything like that. But because he was the man who cared so much about her that he hadn’t been able to let go of her hand for more than a few seconds at a time since the country club.

And so she slept, finally.

With her hand still entwined with his.

Non-yielding parking brake hard against her back and all.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

AT FOUR IN THE MORNING
, Addison’s inner alarm clock woke her up, just like it always did.

Then, just like she always did each morning, she immediately began stretching to get her normal sleeping-on-a-dollar-raft-in-a-van muscle kinks out. But to her shock, she found her body didn’t have its usual aches and complaints.

And that definitely wasn’t the cup holder pressing into her hip.

“Go back to sleep,” rumbled the sexy, sleep-heavy voice next to her ear.

She snuggled into the covers more, taking just a teeny bit of enjoyment over hearing him hiss when she rubbed up against him unintentionally. Okay,
semi
-intentionally. “I thought you don’t sleep.”

“I usually don’t. Which is even more reason that you should go back to sleep,” reasoned Caine, muttering drowsily. “That way I can, too.”

She really wanted that for him. Truly. But nature was calling. And from the sound of buzzing sound coming from his nightstand, someone else was too. “I think that’s your phone.”

Caine shot up in bed like a canon. “Can’t believe I slept through that. That’s never happened before.” He frowned in bewilderment as he checked his caller ID.

An unreadable mask then settled on his face as he hit the redial button.

“Marco? Sorry I missed your call. I was asleep.”

Pause. Then: “No worries. You’re right, I don’t normally sleep so it was fine you called. What’s up?”

He listened in silence and all the while, Addison was trying not to imagine the worst. Unsuccessfully. She didn’t even have to go the bathroom anymore, she was so on edge.

Caine took one look at her face and said into the phone, “Hey Marco? Hang on, I need to take a leak. I’m going to put you on speaker. Keep going though, I can hear you.”

Then he clicked the phone onto speaker.

And motioned for her to be silent.

“—Dude, I’m touched that we’ve reached that level of friendship,” chuckled Marco over the speaker. “Anyway, like I was saying, that David guy called in quote, unquote ‘anonymously’ talking about your girl. He was saying some crazy shit, and throwing out some bad allegations. Since it’s on record, we need to respond, but since he’s also been stalking her, I figured I’d check with you first on how you want to play this. We all know Addison; none of us believe the crap that guy is saying, but we still need to respond to the call. On the plus side, this will add to the case against him because the guy is a serious whack job. So yeah, how do you want to proceed with this?”

“What exactly did he say when he called?” asked Caine, expression grim.

The sound of computer keyboard clicking filled the phone line for a few seconds. Marco made a disgusted noise. “Okay, the operator classified it as a case of suspected child neglect. According to the report, he said he saw a lady shove two kids in a van with Addison’s license plates, just like he had the night before. Then he went on and on about how the kids were crying and a lot more bullshit like that. Then he said that the van was parked at Joe’s Diner and that we ought to go check it out tonight.”

Caine snagged Addison’s gaze. He looked worried.

Now, she was officially panicking.

“How’d you know it was him that called? We don’t trace our tip lines.”

“Because the idiot called the station, not the tip line. And he called from his cell phone, which showed up on the caller ID. The minute he said, ‘Joe’s Diner,’ the operator took the phone number down. We all remember what Joe did to our shakes and burgers last year.” The sound of a shudder echoed over the speaker.

Caine’s voice reached a new level of calm that Addison had never heard before. He was in full cop mode now. “Sounds like he’s getting desperate and trying anything to find her.”

“That’s what we were thinking. We don’t want to waste resources by sending someone down there to write up a report that just proves he’s nuts, but we have to respond to the call. Captain said we can work it into our schedule for one of the uniforms to handle today or you can take care of it tonight on your shift.”

“Thanks. Tell him I’ll definitely handle the follow-up. Only thing is, Addison’s van isn’t going to be at Joe’s tonight. It’s sitting in our underground parking lot at the station, and it’s going to stay there for the time being.”

Marco clicked a few more buttons on his end. “Shit, did you put that in the report?”

“No. I didn’t confiscate the van. It’s just way too noticeable so I told her to leave it in our lot, then I drove Addison and the kids to my place.”

“When did all this happen?”

“At the end of my shift. I found Addison at her Aunt Bernadette’s getting ready to take the kids to a hotel because she was scared out of her mind over David finding them.”

“Damn. Is she doing okay?” Marco’s voice was filled with concern. “I hate it when these sick bastards terrify women and kids, man.”

“Me too. That’s why I brought her to my place to crash for the night. I’m going to talk with Addison and the kids when they wake up to come up with a plan. I know we can’t get surveillance on a stalking case, but I was planning on getting my brothers on this, and maybe even ask Lia to stay with Addison and the kids until we’re able to bring David in.”

Marco whistled. “Wow, you’re bringing in the big guns. You’re really worried about her, aren’t you?”

“You didn’t see that guy the other night. He was totally unstable.”

“Freakin’ A, I really hate the crazies. Okay, well, I’ll let Captain know. Do you want to handle the report or do you have your hands full? Since it was a suspected child neglect call, there’s all that extra paperwork. I can take care of it for you if you want, or at least go down to the lot and take photos of the vans and stuff to get started.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll do it all when I come in for my shift.”

“Sounds good. Seriously, some of the stuff these freaks lie about is just plain stupid. Tell Addison we’re all here for her. We’ll catch this fricker.”

That’s when Caine’s all-cop mask faltered a bit. “That’s the thing, with these cases, there’s almost nothing we can do until the victim becomes a victim.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. The law is messed up when it comes to stalkers.”

Fear.
That’s what it was, Addison realized. It was
fear
that she was seeing on Caine’s face right now.

And she wouldn’t stand for it.

“Use me as bait,” she said loud enough for Marco to hear.

Dead air greeted her suggestion over the speaker.

A split second before Caine erupted, “Are you friggin’ insane? I’m not letting you anywhere near that psycho. You saw him, Addison. You know he’s not right in the head. Hardened criminals, at least you can sometimes talk some sense into. The ones who are mentally off? You can’t reason with them. And you can’t predict what they’ll do.” Unadulterated rage slashed across his features. “He could walk up to you and slice out an organ before you even get a chance to call for help. Do you get that?”

“I do,” she said softly. “But what’s the alternative? Live in fear every day until he decides to strike? Let him sit there and stew and get even crazier in the meantime?”

“Caine, buddy,” broke in Marco, “she’s got a point, man. Maybe if we draw him out now, we’ll be able to catch him off his game. Before he’s had time to plan something more insane.”

When Caine remained silent, Marco directed his attention to her. “Addison, what’s your idea?”

“Simple. I just go to work like usual, only I’ll make sure not to bring the kids with me. I don’t want to risk their safety.”

“But you’ll risk yours?” snarled Caine.

Addison kept her eyes on him, but kept right on talking with Marco. “Then I’ll just park the van in the back like usual. Close the diner up like usual. He’ll come. Maybe not today, or tomorrow. But he’ll come. Even if I have to borrow something slutty to wear to smoke him out.”

Both
Caine and Marco hissed over that one.

“Don’t antagonize him,” growled Caine.

Progress.

“So you agree this is the route we should take?” she asked.

Margo suggested gently, “We can’t have uniforms on her, but I know the guys, we’ll all take turns off duty and watch her around the clock when you can’t, man. I promise you that. You know we’ll all do that for her.”