Cloaked (7 page)

“Not if that person is considered a suspect in a case.”

A hand flew to her chest in an exaggerated manner, fingers splayed out. “Oh, I'm a suspect now?”

“Technically everyone related to the case is until we find who's responsible.”

“And it gives you the right to follow me?”

“I had this sneaking suspicion you were going to break the law.”

Beams appeared behind me from an approaching car. “So, you going to jump in?”

“Where are we headed?” Her head tilted to the side.

“Sam's Tans. Unless you have somewhere else in mind.”

Her lips curled upward, and she opened the door and climbed in.

I drove down the road and shut her window to keep the cold wind outside.

“Still can't believe you followed me. I'm not sure whether I should take it as a compliment or be creeped out.” Daciana buckled herself in and turned in her seat to face me.

“Well, I wasn't going for the creep factor, but now you've got me worried.”

“You don't trust me, do you? I simply planned to watch the store a bit and see if anything happened.” She shrugged. “For my own peace of mind.”

“Like you did last time?” I asked.

I met her genuine expression of concern. Shadows danced beneath her eyes, but as stupid as it sounded, I believed her story. Was I going soft, or was my cock now in charge? Neither changed the fact that I wouldn't want to be anywhere but alongside Daciana. She had me twisted up tight.

“Technically, the store is open to the public, so I wasn't trespassing.” Sarcasm marbled her voice.

“After hours it's not.” I merged the car onto the main road and accelerated. “Why are you so adamant that the owner is at fault?”

“Because I know what I smelled. If I hadn't left the keys outside the institute, maybe the cubs would still be safe.” Her next words were soft, almost a whisper. “Plus, my job is on the line if they aren't found.”

“Whoever took the cubs would have probably broken in and taken them with or without the key. The only difference is that you made it easier for them.”

She sighed. “Doesn't really make me feel any better.”

I reached over and patted her knee, but the moment we touched, I realized it was a mistake. My pulse shifted into high gear. As I drew my hand away, neither of us said a word. Yep, I'd definitely crossed the line.
Great move into creep territory, buddy.

When we reached the store, I parked a few cars down from the driveway. With my windows tinted extra dark, the likelihood of anyone seeing us was minuscule … Especially in this part of town with only industrial buildings around us.

I switched the engine off, unbuckled my seatbelt, and stared in the direction of the store. Night cloaked the land, and only the streetlights beamed across the front yard of the property. Everything else fell deadly still. Including inside the car.

Hell
. If Daciana had pushed Anton away, what made me think she'd be interested in me?

The clack of Daciana unlatching her belt echoed, then her hand was on my thigh. Those sizzling sparks of electricity shot through me again. Michaela had never had this effect on me. I turned to Daciana, and she scooted closer in her seat, leaning an elbow on the center console. We were barely an inch apart.

“I hope I'm not pushing my luck here … ” Her sassy tone had my heart pounding against my rib cage.

Without another thought, I leaned in.

Daciana's hand reached across, tracing the line of my jaw. Her fingers threaded through the hair behind my ear and drew me closer. Her lips grazed mine, softly.

My breaths sped up. I returned the kiss, and my hand moved to her shoulder, squeezing. I was desperate to draw her closer, but it was damn near impossible in the car. I sucked on her lower lip, and the mewling in her throat had me hard in a second flat. I shifted toward her for better access. My tongue surged inside her mouth. She hungrily accepted it, twirling hers with mine.

I blindly reached my hand down in front of my seat and pulled the lever. As the seat rolled all the way back, it gave me additional room to reach the minx whose hand was gliding down my chest.

Her hand slid lower to my stomach, and my pants tightened. I had to have her.

Gripping her hips, I coaxed her over the middle console and filled my hands with her perfect ass. She threaded a leg across my lap and leaned a knee on the edge of my seat. I guided her other leg over, and now she straddled my groin, half kneeling against me. She settled down on my hardness and smiled.

Her hands tugged at my shirt, pulling it free from the waistband, and her touch was fire against my stomach. I ripped my shirt off and yanked hers up, revealing a lacy, black bra. Her waist tapered inward to a flat stomach, but my sight was focused on something else. I closed in and left a trail of kisses along her collarbone and down to the tops of her soft breasts, which bounced each time she moved. My hands were already unlatching the back strap, and I inhaled her coconut-vanilla fragrance.

She slid the bra straps off her shoulders, revealing gorgeous breasts spilling out of my hands. The dark, rosy nipples beaded against my palms.

“You're beautiful.”

I latched onto one of her breasts, my tongue flicking the bud as I sucked. Her groans escalated.

“Harder,” she purred, and fuck if I didn't comply.

I squeezed her other nipple between my fingers, and her moans were rhythmic, driving me insane.

My pants constricted me. Her hips rocked back and forth, her heat rubbing against mine. Clothes had to go. I didn't care how, but I craved to bury my face between her legs, tongue-fuck her until she came, then pound her like crazy.

I devoured the other breast and flicked open the button on her jeans. Nothing mattered, except Daciana and me.

“Connell.” Her sultry voice had goose bumps coating my arms. I broke my hold on the nipple and glanced up. Heat flushed her cheeks, and I adored the pure sexiness in her eyes. “I don't know how much longer I can hold on.”

“Babe, I'll do whatever you ask, but first we're finishing this.”

The way her mouth curled upward into a wicked grin had me so hard it ached.

“I'll meet you in the back seat.” She climbed across me, but not before my tongue swept a path across one of her breasts. With her butt in the air and the front half of her body leaning into the back seat, I grasped her hips. “Don't move.”

She obliged. I curled my fingers over the top of her jeans and pulled them down, along with black panties, to just above her bent knees, which balanced on the middle console.

She moaned her approval.

Her perfect ass was porcelain white, and I took a mock bite of a butt cheek. My fingers slid down to the apex between her thighs, which were parted slightly, enough for me to reach the burning hot, silky mound. Her intoxicating scent fogged my head.

I slid two fingers inside her, slowly at first. Her groans intensified, while her hips wriggled. Then I pushed them into her faster, harder. Her excitement filled the car, and my balls were so tight. Fuck, I yearned to eat her, but the space didn't permit it. I would soon enough.

“Come for me, babe. Come now.”

Her walls constricted around my fingers, tighter, but I never relented with the thrusting. She cried out with pleasure. Was that a faint growl? Hell, I loved it. Spasms shivered down her legs. When she grew silent and only her heavy breaths sounded, I withdrew my fingers, loving the glisten coating them. She was beyond hot, and I doubted I'd ever be able to stop fucking her.

I pulled her jeans back up her thighs, and she climbed the rest of the way into the back seat. I adjusted my pants and cock, ready to release him and party.

“Hurry back here.” The adorable rumble of her laughter made me hornier. How was that even possible?

The moment I reached for the door, prepared to meet her in the back, car lights beamed from the tanning store's driveway. Then a van appeared, and my insides curdled. It was white. Similar to the one on the video from the zoo.

Daciana's head popped forward between the seats. “Oh shit. We have to follow them.”

A part of me died on the inside at the idea of not finishing what we'd started. Talk about cock blocking. Atrocious timing.

In the rearview mirror, I watched Daciana fix her bra, tucking away her gorgeous breasts and tugging her hoodie back on. I buckled into my seat as she climbed into the front, bumping my shoulder in the process. My initial reaction was to take hold of her, kiss her, and start all over.

Instead, I edged the car onto the road and sped up behind the van, which had already turned right at the end of the street.

“Well, that was unfortunate.” Daciana offered me a smile, and beneath the streetlights we passed, her cheeks blushed. Just the memory of her screaming with pleasure had me so hard, I thought my pants might pop at the seams.

I took her hand and kissed it before placing it on my thigh. “Sorry, I got carried away.”

When I glanced across to Daciana, the expression in her eyes was adorable … Soft, sexy, and somehow innocent all rolled up together. “Don't be. I wanted this to happen. I want us to happen outside your work.” She reached up and placed a hand on my arm. Her touch was on fire. “If you're interested.”

Was I ready to move on? It had been months since I split from Michaela, but there were many days where the wounds still felt fresh and raw, the pain real. I sighed. “Look, my life, it's kind of messed up right now. I want us to spend time together, but I had a bad breakup recently and need to know this isn't me rebounding. That wouldn't be fair to you.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm not sure. Maybe I want to take it extra slow, become friends, trust each other first.”

“Oh.” And then she drew her hand away, falling silent for the rest of the trip.

My chest splintered at pushing her from me, but until I signed the divorce papers, I wouldn't drag Daciana into my life. If she and I were to give this a real shot, then I intended to start fresh and be open about everything. But, obviously, I had no control, or I would have stuck to that plan from the beginning.

After half an hour, the van turned onto a one-way street—straight into the woods. The same road I'd used to visit the institute.

“He's going to hunt more animals.” Her voice was soft and stoic.

I didn't say a word, but pulled back, cut the lights, and parked at the end of the adjacent street, not turning in yet. The van floored it toward the forest and, before long, drove over the curb and into the open entrance. With no cars nearby, I swerved onto the street and followed the van, my lights still off.

Once in the woods, the dirt road stayed straight for a while, so driving slowly and using only the moonlight glowing on the path did the trick. But once the path started winding, I flicked on the low beams.

“There's only one road this way with a few short deviations,” I said. “We'll find whoever is in the van.”

Daciana simply nodded and rolled down her window, allowing a rush of freezing air into the car. She leaned against the door and stared into the darkened woods for a long while. I swore she sniffed the air. In that split second, I almost burst out laughing. She reminded me of a bloodhound trying to pick up the van's tracks. Nah. Must be my lust-addled brain making me delusional.

We jostled around in the car along the bumpy track. When we passed the institute, there was no sign of the van. The dirt road was often used by hikers because several parking lots were farther up ahead. We passed them. Still no sign of the van.

“The road splits into two,” Daciana said. “Turn right.”

“How do you know where the van's gone?” She obviously knew this track better than me, but then again, I rarely traveled beyond the institute.

She didn't look my way as she spoke but stared out of her window. “I thought I glimpsed taillights through the woods in that direction.”

Concentrating on the path to keep the car steady, I didn't ask questions.

Half an hour later, we hit a T-intersection and no sign of the van. Shit. Had we lost them? But there weren't many places for them to go up here. The dense forest wouldn't allow the van to leave the road. Up ahead, several deer sprinted back into the woods along with a wild boar.

“I think the van went right,” I suggested. “The road looks worn in that direction.”

“Turning right will bring us to a dead end at the forest ranger's post. Nothing else in that direction. I think there's some old shack to the left I saw ages ago when I was in this part of the woods.” Daciana glanced over her shoulder at me with a strange expression on her face, as if ready to jump into an argument if I disagreed.

“I'm sure the forest ranger won't want to be disturbed in the middle of the night, anyway,” she added. “Let's go left.”

“Well, if we don't find anything, we might need to pay the ranger a visit. I guess I can always question him tomorrow. We go left.”

We drove up the next slope and spotted an old wooden shack shrouded by trees. The white van was parked outside. Killing the low lights, I let the car crawl closer before turning the engine off.

What was this place?

I kept my voice low. “Stay in the car while I scan the place. Lock the doors once I've left. If you see anyone, duck down. If anyone tries anything or I'm not back in ten, use my radio to call for help.”

She didn't say a word at first but kept her gaze locked on the house. “This place is perfect for hiding cubs. No one would hear them cry.”

“If this is the right place, then we'll get those responsible. But don't get your hopes up. It might simply be a holiday home for someone working at the store.”

Neither of us spoke further. We both stared at the shack in the distance with a faint glow of light from the side window. Despite my words to comfort Daciana, I couldn't help but wonder about the coincidence of the white van just like the one on the zoo video footage.