Loving Night: Dream Catcher Series ~ Book 2 (9 page)

“Sydney.” Chaz waited for her to
look at him. “I set up an emergency exit for her. Let’s hope she won’t need
it.” She nodded and the left.

~
~ ~ ~ ~

The safe house was quiet without
any monitors humming or people moving around. Chaz had an opportunity to sit
and digest everything that had happened.

Stephanie’s phone call confirmed
that Austin wasn’t a dirty cop. He’d been genuinely concerned about what was
going on in that private room that Chaz suspected was a safe cell. Austin was truly
interested in protecting the women, which he wouldn’t have been if he’d known
ahead of time what Paul Watkins was up to. Additionally, the fact that Austin
kept Jolette from being sequestered with the other women, or slipping away
unobserved, indicated they were not working together to help Watkins. One
uncertainty resolved.

There was obviously no way Damien
Granger expected Paul Watkins to make whatever move he had, which meant the two
men couldn’t have been working together to possibly jointly run the brothel.
No, this was Granger’s business and he wasn’t about to let Watkins swoop in
from Chicago and push him out. Not for the first time, Chaz wondered where
Granger’s venture fit in with the objectives of the Travis family that he
worked for. Maybe they were elevating him and the brothel was his to run
independent of them.

One thing was obvious: Granger
believed in protecting his investment. The fact that he’d gotten the women out
of the room in case violence erupted meant they could trust him to take care of
them. Getting any of them to talk against him would be difficult. The Kentucky
State Police would have to start identifying them and digging into their
backgrounds. Without something to hold over their heads, these were not women
who would turn into State witnesses against their employer.

Watkins had made a show of force
simply to see how Granger’s men would respond. The swift and nearly complete
lockdown meant Watkins would have to be creative in how he approached the
building. Granger’s security, electronic and physical, wouldn’t be easy to slip
past. This evening guaranteed that security would be even more observant for
the foreseeable future.

That wouldn’t mean much in the long
run. Paul Watkins was a persistent man who would either find or create the
opening he needed. Vanessa needed to know what they were dealing with, so Chaz
would have Roy get that message to her home office.

Chaz sighed. It seemed that
Stephanie was right again—this case might be over sooner than anyone had
anticipated. The undercover team would need to collect the last parts of their
data quickly. The only way to keep the team safe is to shut down the operation
before Watkins can make his move. Thankfully, the brothel part of the business
was ready to start.

Chaz made sure all access to the
suite was secure before settling down at his laptop to submit a report to Roy.
There would be two reports. The first would be to his supervisor that detailed
his personal perceptions and conclusions. The second would be a thorough
examination of the facts of the operation that would be shared with the State
Police and would complement whatever Austin and Chris would be submitting to
their handler. Chaz was neither naïve enough nor inexperienced enough to
believe that the police officers reported only to him and excluded their superiors.
It didn’t bother him as long as they respected his position and continued to
feed him comprehensive intelligence.

An hour later, Chaz turned off
everything on the lower level, locked himself in the loft bedroom, and made
notations in the journal he was keeping of his wife’s observations. Although
everything seemed obvious, a nagging voice in the back of his mind said that
there was a secondary and hidden importance that she was helping him to figure
out.

He returned the journal to its
hiding place and got settled beneath the covers. As he did every night, Chaz hoped
that Stephanie and the baby were doing well without him.

Pure exhaustion dragged him under
and he was sleep within minutes.

Yet, he was wide awake three hours
later. Something crossed his mind while he’d been sleeping.

How had those specific video
cameras been disabled? From the way Chris had explained the set-up that allowed
them to hijack the electronics at the club, he was good at his job. When Roy
had checked into his employment file, there were multiple letters of
appreciation and even an award that boosted his pay. But if he was this good,
who was better? Was it one of Watkins’ men? Or was it Brian Pleasant? Chaz
still didn’t have good feelings about the man.

Could Stephanie provide an answer?
Steve McDaniels had intended to feed her information to see whether doing so
could trigger useful dreams. Maybe this would be a good situation on which to
test that approach. After all, no classified information was involved.

A glance at his cell phone showed
that it was barely past 4:00. His wife wouldn’t be awake for another couple of
hours. He turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

It occurred to him that he wasn’t
really enjoying this assignment. Of course, he would do his best because he
never wanted to be less than that. But, as had happened when he and Stephanie
first met, he realized that the FBI was no longer the most important part of
his life. She had been the one to make him want more. Now, all he wanted was to
build a life with her that was safe, happy, and stable. Before her, Chaz
wouldn’t have believed that such a powerful love existed or that it was his
destiny to find it. Stephanie had changed all of that.

He was the luckiest man alive.

Flashes of memories from their time
together kept his mind occupied until it was late enough for him to call her.

~
~ ~ ~ ~

“Good morning.” He could hear the
smile in her voice.

“Hey, sweetheart. How did you
sleep?”

“Fine. I miss your arms around me,
but I’m getting used to it.”

“Don’t. I’ll never like being away
from you. This job is temporary, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” She sighed.
“Did things work out all right last night?”

“They did. You put my mind at ease
about one of my team members.”

“The stocky guy with the scruffy beard?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately, I’m still not
sure about one of my technicians. There was a problem with the security system
at the club that knocked out some of the cameras. I’ve been having bad vibes
about this guy and I’m hoping he had nothing to do with it.”

“Hmm. I hope not, too.”

“I’d like to try an experiment; I’d
like to see whether we can get your dreams to focus on a specific target.”

“How would we do that?”

“I’m going to send you an email
with his photo. That’s all. Then, we’ll wait to see what happens.”

“And if nothing happens?”

“You’re already helping me in ways
that no one else can. I won’t be greedy.” He shifted in the bed. “Let’s talk
about something else.”

“Such as?” The smile was back in
her voice.

“What are you wearing?”

“Seriously?” They both laughed.
“Chaz, you can’t come up with a better line?”

“Should I? I want to know whether
you’re wearing one of those flowing nighties that drive me crazy, or one of my
t-shirts that always rises up and shows off that beautiful behind, or nothing
at all—which I obviously like best.”

“Actually, I’m wearing your
Cincinnati Bearcats football jersey. No panties. ” She laughed when her husband
groaned.

“Take it off. This is probably the
only morning I’ll have where no one else is in this suite with me. I want to
have phone sex with my wife. Hold on while I get undressed.” He set the phone
down and turned on the speaker. Stephanie could hear the sheets rustling and
the bed creak as her husband moved to take off his clothes. She pulled the
jersey over her head and also turned on her phone’s speaker.

“Baby, you can’t possibly imagine
how much I miss touching you. Have I ever told you that I absolutely love how
soft and silky your skin is?”

“Nope. I don’t think you have.”

“Well, I do. That’s why I’m always caressing
you. It’s why I always hold you when I’m asleep. I can’t get enough of how your
skin feels against mine.”

“Wow,” came out as a whisper.

“Close your eyes, baby, and think
about my hands on you, sliding up your thighs, across that firm ass, up the
sides of your stomach, and finally stopping at those magnificent breasts.” He
paused. “Hold them the way I do. Run your thumbs back and forth over the
nipples. Are they hard?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“They always turn me on. I love
sucking on them, too. Do you like the way it feels when my lips close around
them?” He chuckled at her sigh. “Yeah, squeeze them like my mouth does. I
always know when you get lost in that feeling because you start squirming. And
right about then is when you start running your fingernails across my back.
Damn, that makes me so hard.” His voice was softer and raspy when he said,
“Tell me what you like, sweetheart.”

“Hmm. I like when you’re kissing my
neck and squeezing my breasts at the same time. I like feeling how hard you are
when you rub up against me.”

“Are your eyes closed? Can you
imagine me doing that right now?”

“Yeah, Chaz.”

“That drives me crazy, too—the way
you sigh when you say my name.”

“That’s because you take my breath
away.” There was a long moment of silence where they each enjoyed the soft panting
on both ends of the phone. “You know I’m really wet for you, right now, don’t
you?”

“I bet you are.” He chuckled again
at her soft moan. “Are you touching yourself? When I get home, I’m gonna watch
you slide your hand across your belly and push your fingers inside that hot,
tight, wet softness that I can never get enough of. I’ve never watched you do
that before. I’m rock hard just thinking about how delicious it will look.”

“And will you stroke yourself while
you’re watching?”

“I won’t be able to stop myself.”
Another pause while Chaz savored the images in his mind. “I want to be inside
you so bad.”

“I want you here. I guarantee you
that I’ll make you feel good enough to make up for this time apart. You always feel
so amazing inside me that I can’t help but squeeze around you and match every
way you move. And, it’s heaven when your tongue is moving in my mouth the same rhythm
your cock is. Mmm. You know, you have amazing rhythm.”

“Do I?”

“Mmm hmm.” Her breathing got
heavier.

“Yeah, baby. Stick another finger
inside and rub it like I would. Make that hot little nub get tight and
swollen—just like my cock is right now.” He let out a ragged moan. “Ooooh, Stephanie.”
His fisted hand pumped steadily around his shaft.

“Can you feel me? I’m wrapping my
legs around you and grabbing your thighs to pull you closer and deeper. Oh,
god, Chaz! I’m gonna come.”

“Wait for me, sweetheart.” Her
shaky breathing was driving him over the edge. Moments later, her high pitched
moan matched his deep one. Only the sound of harsh breathing eventually slowing
filled their bedrooms.

“I love you,” Stephanie whispered.

“I love you too, baby.” The words
sounded sad.

“Soon, Chaz. You’ll be home soon.”
She laughed. “After this, plan on me jumping you the second you walk through
the door. We might not make it out of the mud room. You can take me right on
top of the washing machine.”

“Promise?” Stephanie could tell he
was smiling.

“I promise. Now, I need to take a
shower and get dressed for work. Thank you for this little talk; I needed it.”

“Me, too.”

“Talk to you later.”

Chaz thought back to the first time
he’d been alone with Stephanie. They’d had dinner at her apartment. He’d
realized then that she was a beautiful and totally unexpected distraction, and
he laughed now because nothing had changed. His wife still could take his mind
completely away from whatever he needed to be thinking about. He grabbed his
clothes and tossed them onto a chair. A cold shower was in order.

Next, he had a couple of things to
check on before Brian arrived at 9:00.

~
~ ~ ~ ~

Stephanie loved her job at Renito
Investments Solutions. The task of deconstructing a financial portfolio was
more challenging than anything she had ever dreamed of in her previous job. That,
coupled with researching and presenting revised investment options, brought to
life the ambition that had been lacking whenever she’d felt stuck in a career
working with numbers. The scope of her new responsibilities provided such a
sense of fulfillment that she could see herself with this company for many
years.

After the stimulating morning
conversation with the man of her dreams, Stephanie hummed along with the music
playing softly in her office while she determined public utility stocks for the
low-risk element of a plan she would recommend later in the week. Not smiling
was difficult when she knew how much her husband missed her. Chaz was normally
a very patient man, but he was restless about this case and ready to come home.
To her.