Home Is Where the Heat Is (37 page)

“Mmm….” She sighed and arched as he slid into her, gently rocking their entwined bodies.

Slow, searing heat fused them together, melting one into the other as he stroked her full-length, refusing to let even a breath come between them. Sweat slicked their skin, but JT held his love tight as she squirmed beneath him.

“Ahh shit,” she moaned. “Sorry, this is supposed to be sweet.”

“It is.” Even vile words sounded like poetry to him when they came from her lips. He sank in deep, drawing more curses from her. He pulled out slow and got smacked on the ass, then he slammed in hard and she gasped.

“Give it to me, fucker!”

He laughed and slowly withdrew while she hissed and writhed. “I guess sweet and romantic isn’t our style.”

“Define romantic.”

“Now?” He drove back in and rendered himself incapable of coherent thought.

Claire sucked in her breath. “Displaying or expressing love.”

“Someone’s been doing her research.” He ground down on her hot mound.

She shuddered and dug her fingernails into his shoulders. “Oh God, you bastard! It means fucking dirty is our romantic.”

He nipped her neck then swirled his tongue in her ear. “Then I’ll fuck you as dirty as I know how.”

“Now that’s sweet.” She kissed him, drawing his tongue into her mouth like it belonged to her. He’d give her that. He’d give her anything she wanted, any way she wanted it.

He planted his knees on the bed and slipped his hands under her ass. “Hang on, Rebel. It’s about to get real romantic in here.”

“Fuck yes.” She wrapped her legs around his hips as he pounded into her.

As she came in a hail of vulgar words, JT realized the thing he’d been missing was the same thing she craved—
someone who gets me
. No one had ever known him as well as Claire did—and she loved him! That thought shattered him to the core, but she held him together all night long, bound in her arms and legs, both of them breathing as one.

***

Claire wrapped her hands around the coffee mug, seeking warmth. She could’ve gotten dressed, but sitting naked in JT’s living room held an appeal she couldn’t deny. Crisp morning sunlight filtered through the huge picture window, bringing light but little heat. As she flipped through the channels, she caught a local news story about JT’s arrest, and clicked the remote to another station.

JT wandered in, wearing a t-shirt and jeans and carrying a steaming mug. He plunked down on the couch beside her and kissed her cheek. “You’re up early.”

“Habit.” She sipped her coffee.

“Yeah, me too.” He yawned and blinked at her. “You’re naked.”

She leaned back and stretched her arms out. “It’s so freeing! I do this at home all the time, but it’s much more fun with an audience.”

His gaze stuck to her puckered nipples and he sucked in his breath. “Yeah, it is.” A breaking news alert caught his attention, and he scowled at the reporter rehashing his case. “Anything new?” He draped his arm around her and stroked her bare shoulder.

She curled up against him. “All speculation. No facts. They have little information, so they’re making stuff up.”

“You read the file. What do they have on me?”

“Not much.” She searched her memory for the details. “But if they keep digging they might find something to use against you—”

JT’s arm stiffened and he sat up straight. “What could they possibly find? I didn’t do it!” He leaped to his feet, dumping her on the couch.

His hands shook as he dragged them through his hair. Then he whirled and started straight at her, the dark circles under his eyes stark against his pale face. “Do you believe me?”

She stood and put her hand on his heaving chest. “Yes. I believe you.” The tension seeped from his muscles and she pulled him close. “As I was saying, they might find something to use against you whether it’s true or not.”

“Shit.” He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head. “What am I gonna do?”

“Do you have a lawyer?”

“Yeah, but I can’t sit here and wait for someone else to decide my fate.” He pushed her back and strode down the hall.

She followed him. “That’s how the system works.”

“No. I gotta
do
something.” He opened the closet door and pulled out his jacket. Panicked, he clutched the front of his shirt. “Where’s my arrowhead?”

Again?
She thought he’d figured out he didn’t need that old rock. “I think it’s still in the kitchen.”

JT strode straight to the island where the silver chain lay discarded. He palmed the chiseled stone and stroked it with his thumb.“I want to believe I don’t need this anymore, but I can’t let it go.” He offered it to Claire. “Will you hold onto it for me?”

Wow
. Her heart fluttered as he draped the cold chain around her neck. “I’d be honored.”

“You don’t have to wear it. I just wanted to see it on your bare skin.” He dangled the arrowhead between her breasts and whistled. “Looks a lot better on you.”

She laid her hand over the charm and pressed it against her heart. “We’ll get through this. If you want to do something, I’ll help. You’re not alone.”

“Thank you.” He folded her against his chest, and their racing heartbeats matched.

“Let me get dressed, and then I can think straight.” She retrieved her scattered clothes and gathered her thoughts, following the strategy Alex had taught her. Eliminate reasonable doubt. If the suspect says he didn’t do it, ask “Who did?” She poured two more cups of coffee and handed one to JT. “Who has a reason to hurt you?”

He took a drink, scowling into the mug. “I told the cops about Martin Perkins, a guy I fired for incompetence, but they didn’t do anything about it.”

“We’ll start with him. Do you have any employment records, incidents, anything to document what happened?”

“Everything is on my computer, but the cops have it.”

“Too bad we don’t know a hacker.”

His eyes lit up as a devious grin curled his lips. “I do.”

Claire’s hands trembled and she gripped the mug tight. “Kurt?”

JT grabbed his phone.

Chapter 31

Kurt sighed and booted up his laptop.

They’d met at a secure location, the old library downtown with a surprisingly strong Wi-Fi signal. Claire had showed up, too, hovering close to JT and touching him with gentle care and affection.

Damn it, they’re back together.

“So you think this ex-contractor could be the guy behind the fires?” He and JT sat at a private table set up in a remote wing of the building. They’d seen only one other person wandering the stacks, but they’d still kept their voices low.

“We need to find enough evidence to give the prosecutor reasonable doubt.” Claire paced behind the guys gathered in front of the computer.

“Alex is the prosecutor?” Kurt glanced at JT.

“Yeah.”

Kurt stifled a laugh. “You’re screwed.”

“No shit.” JT scowled and nodded at the monitor. “Work your geeky magic.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “It’s not magic. It’s a simple matter of connecting one computer with another.”

“So get to it.” JT jabbed at the keyboard.

Kurt grabbed the gambler’s hand and shoved it aside. “I need to know which computer to connect to.”

“Perkins’.”

“But how am I going find his IP address? I can’t just look it up in a phone book.”
God, what an idiot.
And a lucky bastard. He’d won Claire over. Or maybe she’d run back to him as Kurt had predicted. Either way, his connection to her had shorted out.

Focus.

“Did you ever get any electronic communication from him?”

“Like what?”

“The best thing is an email. I can trace that back to his personal computer.”

“I only got one, but I deleted it. Shit!” JT slapped his hands over his face.

Kurt smiled and flexed his fingers over the keyboard. “Nothing is ever deleted.” Now he’d get to test his hacking skill… and show off a bit.

JT shook his head. “But I emptied the trash folder. It’s gone.”

“Maybe to a commoner like you. I’ll find it. Let’s just hope your computer is connected. If it isn’t….”

Claire braced a hand on Kurt’s shoulder as she gripped the front of her thin sweater and rubbed something underneath it.

JT sat up. “Okay, Genius. How are you going to find my computer’s IT address?”

“I
P
. Internet Protocol, moron.” He typed in a few commands and waited for a reply. “The police have it, right? So I just have to hack the Denver PD network and look for your machine.”

“You’re hacking the cops?”

“Shh!” Kurt ducked and covered his head. “Do you want us both to go to jail?” He glanced around then typed another command. A prompt popped up. “I’m in. What’s the name of your network?”

“It has a name?”

Jesus Christ.
Kurt searched the available directories. “Here’s something. JTL713.”

“That’s my initials and birthdate.”

“How original. You couldn’t make it any easier to break into?” He clicked on the username and a dialog box popped up. “What’s the password?”

“A password stopped you? What kind of low-rent hacker are you?”

“I could get around it, but it’d be a lot faster if you’d tell me.”

“Malzoe456. My nephew and niece and some random number.”

“At least you didn’t use a real word.” Kurt went straight to the email. “Is this you?”

JT leaned over to look at the files on the screen. “Yes. You did it!” He slapped his friend’s shoulder.

Claire exhaled and resumed her pacing. “If your computer is connected to the police network, that means they’re searching it for evidence.”

“Right now?” JT turned to watch her.

“Maybe not this instant, but they’re actively investigating.”

Kurt pulled up a message. “I found the email you supposedly deleted.”

JT spun and gaped at the screen. “That was fast.”

“Now I just need to connect to Perkins’ computer.” He pulled up another prompt and typed in the IP address. The reply came with a request for more information. “Damn it. He has a password too.”

JT leaned on Kurt’s shoulders. “But you can still get in, right?”

Kurt shrugged him off. “Give me a few seconds.”

“Seconds?”

“What are we looking for?”

Claire stopped and laid her hand on Kurt’s back. Her touch electrified him, so he didn’t shake her off. “Search his email, personal documents, maybe he kept a journal, something that shows how he felt about getting fired and if he did anything about it.”

Kurt glanced at JT. “When did that happen?”

“End of November.”

Claire tapped her cheek. “We need documentation with JT’s name on it.”

Kurt sorted the files by date then searched for JT’s name, but found nothing in Perkins’ My Documents folder. He opened up the email and spotted over a dozen draft files. “That’s odd.”

“What?” Claire and JT hovered over him, staring at the monitor.

“Space please.” He waited until they backed off, then explained. “Most people have an empty draft file. But there are ten or more emails in here that have never been sent. And they’re all addressed to JTLuck789—” He arched an eyebrow at the gambler. “Really? At hodgeco.com.”

JT cuffed him upside the head. “Quit nitpicking my usernames and read them!”

Kurt clicked on the subject line:
I won
.
“Your Luck has run out. The cops arrested you. I got away with it. I’m gonna enjoy watching you go down in flames.”
The rest of the emails documented Perkins’ emotions like a diary of his life since JT had terminated him. He spelled out what he wanted to do, then gloated when his plans succeeded.

“Send these now.” Claire instructed. “The police are looking at JT’s computer. When these emails show up, they’ll have to investigate Perkins.”

Kurt gripped the mouse, but he held it still. “Won’t it look suspicious if they all arrive at the same time?”

“Will they question that?” JT asked.

“Alex questions everything. Crap on a cracker.” Claire drummed her fingernails on the table. “Can you fix that?” she said to Kurt.

“Possibly… with a little luck.” Kurt searched his laptop’s files for an old software program he’d created in college to change a friend’s grades. His dick stiffened slightly as he remembered her thank you kiss… and more.

The program took a few minutes to load, and he hoped it still worked, but once it opened, it carried out his commands in seconds. “I’m altering the dates so it’ll look like the emails were sent in the past. Let’s just hope the cops aren’t looking at JT’s computer when they arrive.”

“How can you do that?” Claire peeked over Kurt’s shoulder at the screen.

He hunched over the keyboard and blocked her view. “You shouldn’t know too much.”

She backed off. “Oh, right.”

“Now,” Kurt typed while he spoke, “All I have to do is send them.”

JT sat up. “It’s that easy?”

“Yes, it is.” Kurt clicked send on each email.

JT let out a huge whoosh and collapsed in his chair. Then he slapped Kurt on the back and nearly shoved him onto the table. “I owe you big, Genius. You saved my life.”

Claire slipped her arm around Kurt’s neck and planted a fat kiss on his cheek. “You’re amazing! I can’t believe you hacked the police.”

“Shh! Stop saying that!” But the praise made his head swell, and Claire’s kiss inflated something else…. “We should get out of here.”

Both JT and Claire designated the office pub as too dangerous, so they chose a bar on the north side, far away from places that could be connected to them.

“Can I buy you a beer?” JT pulled up a chair next to Kurt.

He needed to get back to work, but a beer—or four—might calm his nerves and help wash down the unappetizing aftertaste of his lunch break activities. “Why the hell not?”

The gambler ordered a round for each of them, then scooted close to Claire and nuzzled her neck.

“Told you she’d come back.” Kurt wished he’d been wrong, but the two gushy lovebirds looked so happy he wanted to puke into his glass.

Claire reached across the table and squeezed Kurt’s hand. “I guess you know I figured out what I wanted.”