Night Fires (11 page)

“Alice,” he whispered as his lips moved across my jawline. My head felt light and my skin too sensitive, my hairs snapping to attention the farther along he travelled.

My fingers couldn’t feel enough of him as they ventured around his neck and then down his back, every outline of him mine to touch. He kissed me again, this time with a passion that took the beat of my heart and sent it crazy.

I tugged at his t-shirt, yanking it up so I could feel the heat of his skin under my touch. He moaned again as I ran my fingers down his delicious body, each of his muscles rippling with the tender contact between us.

His hands moved back to my hair and I gasped when he wrapped a length around his fist and yanked my head back so I was looking up at him. “I need to feel you beneath me. To fill you up until you can’t feel anything else but me.”

His words made my mouth dry, the intensity in his eyes making me squirm on his lap. I could feel the bulge of his erection throbbing against his jeans and I rocked over him. He growled, his teeth clenching as his other hand slid under my shirt and none-too-gently surrounded my small breast. The roughness of his grip over the thin silk of my bra caused a friction that I felt deep down in my belly.

“Christ, Carter.”

His teeth sank into the soft flesh under my ear and I was embarrassed by the choked moan that fell from me. He chuckled and deepened his bite, his teeth grazing me until I knew he would leave a mark.

“I need you naked,” he whispered.

I was dying. His words, his touch, his fierce gaze on me made every part of me tremble for him. I nodded, grabbing the hem of my shirt to lift it over my head.

We both jumped when we heard a faint cough from behind us. My heart slipped up my throat and a gush of air left me when Frank stood grinning sheepishly at me.

“Well, well. Alice Redman. It’s good to see you.”

My mouth fell open. I wasn’t sure if I was angry or relieved to see him. Carter moved in front of me, his angry glare on Frank making me quickly put a hand on his arm.

“Carter, this is Detective Frank Melia. Frank, my friend, Carter Andrews.”

Frank smirked and held his hand out. “Friend, huh?”

I scowled at him as he and Carter shook hands.

“Had a call from Edith across the road to say someone was here,” Frank explained. “I hoped it was you. I’ve been trying to get hold of you.” The look on his face told me everything.

“I can guess why.”

He grimaced and nodded. “Came out a couple of weeks ago. You should have forwarded me your new address, Alice.”

“Why? What’s the point?”

He sighed and nodded. “There’s nothing on him, Alice. He had lawyers that ripped the prosecution to bits. I’m sorry but there was nothing else to hold him with. I tried, really I did, but there was no evidence against him that stuck. It’s the law.”

“You and I both know he is guilty, Frank. He slaughtered my whole family! The law stinks!”

He held out a business card between his fingers. “Here’s my new number. Anything, you ring me straight away.”

I scoffed and shook my head as I walked away, leaving him talking to Carter as I slipped back into the car and waited.

I was so angry, although I had known he was free. How could they free a man who killed four people? He had killed his own child, a baby boy whose only wrong had been to dote on his daddy.

“I promise you justice, Billy. I promise you all justice,” I whispered as the ache settled in my gut once again.

I shivered when a trickle of ice drifted down my back. I spun around in my seat, my heart hammering in my chest as I looked for Niall. I narrowed my eyes, scanning the vicinity. A shadow across the road caught my attention. It was well shaded and I couldn’t see properly but I could tell it was a female, the elegant, tall figure watching me, unmoving and silent. As my heart started to gallop, I recognised the outline of her - the woman in my window.

I snapped open the door and climbed out but stopped in my tracks when she disappeared.

“Alice?” Carter shouted when I ran across to where she had stood beside Mr Werkowski’s garage door. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head, feeling stupid when I realised it had been the shadow of the tree in his front garden that had climbed up the garage wall. I was going crazy. “Nothing. I thought I saw something.”

He frowned at me, concern flashing in his eyes. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

I nodded. “Mack will probably have eaten my entire kitchen,” I mumbled as I slid back into his car.

“Mack?”

“The pup.” I smiled when Carter grinned.

“Suits him.”

I nodded and turned to face the window. I told myself I wasn’t hoping to catch the silhouette of her again and settle the unease in my head, but when my eyes moved to Mr Werkowski’s, I shivered at the sensation deep down inside. I had the weirdest feeling she had wanted me to follow her. But why? And who the hell was she?

B
OTH
C
ARTER AND
I stood with our mouths wide open at the destruction. My beautiful kitchen table lay on its side, two of the legs now just stumps; one of the cupboard doors had an air hole, and the pantry door hung off its hinges, potatoes from the sack that had been stashed in there half chewed and scattered everywhere.

“Perhaps he should have come with a cage,” Carter said.

“Or minus teeth.”

He cringed and looked at me guiltily. “It gets better.”

I quirked a brow, unsure whether to believe him or not. “You guarantee that?”

“Not really.”

I chuckled, I couldn’t help it, when Mack wagged his tail and a wet lump of potato shot across the room and stuck to Carter’s jeans. He jumped back in surprise and groaned. “Bloody dogs! I’m so sorry, Alice.”

I waved my hand at him. “It’s fine. Who needs a table with legs?”

He chuckled and left me to clean as he went to the nearest pet store and purchased a cage. By the time he returned, I had rustled up a quick lasagne, and the house was once again straight. Although we did have to eat on our knees.

Westlife played quietly in the background and I didn’t miss Carter’s grimace every time a new track came on. Chuckling, I handed him my iPad and told him to change the playlist. He didn’t argue.

“So, Frank,” he mumbled as he handed back the tablet. “Decent cop?”

I shrugged, placing my empty plate onto the table in front of us, and picked up my lemonade. “He seems so. He caught Niall quickly enough.”

“But he couldn’t hold on to him.” There was a tone in Carter’s voice that made me sigh.

“No. But I guess that’s not his fault. I’m not even sure how they managed to put him away in the first place if there was no evidence.”

“You didn’t go to his trial?”

I shook my head, glancing at Carter when his phone rang and he plucked it from his pocket. “Frank was really good. I couldn’t bear to look at Niall so they allowed me to give evidence via video link.”

I could tell he hadn’t heard me when his body appeared to vibrate by my side. His eyes were fixed on his phone screen. The air around us became tight as Carter seemed to suck the oxygen from it.

I took a sneaky glance at his phone and frowned. His ringtone continued and Carter stared at the name
Cary
. When it stopped he still stared at it like whoever had called him was going to burst through it.

“Everything okay?”

His head snapped around and he stared at me like he was unaware I was sitting beside him. He didn’t answer me, just stuffed the phone back in his pocket. The silence that fell crushed me nearly as much as the fury and emotion pouring from him. I didn’t know what to do or say so I just sat uncomfortably, sipping my pop.

Mack came bouncing in and I was glad to have his attention as the awkward quiet grew even worse, and leaving Carter to his own thoughts, I got up and went to wash up. It was obvious he was battling with something, and I wasn’t close enough for him to share with me. I didn’t like how much that hurt me.

“It was my brother.”

I jumped at the sound of Carter behind me. Grabbing the towel, I dried my hands and turned to him. He was looking at me but I wasn’t sure if he was actually seeing me.

“On the phone,” he clarified as if I hadn’t understood him. “Cary, my brother.”

“You don’t get on with your brother?”

He pulled in a long breath and shook his head. “No.”

A pain pulled at my chest as I struggled to comprehend the look on his face. “That’s a shame.”

“Is it?” His face darkened as his teeth grappled with his bottom lip and his eyes dropped to the floor.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Billy was seventeen when he died.”

Carter’s gaze lifted up to mine.

I smiled softly at the thought of my younger brother. “I was ten when he came along. And I absolutely doted on him. He was so clever, so full of life.” I leaned back against the counter and sighed. “You have no idea how much I would pay to hear his laugh once again, to see his gorgeous happy smile. To watch him play football, or to even hold him when he cried.”

Carter was staring at me, his eyes misty as tears fell from mine.

“I… I miss him, Carter,” I whispered as my heart refused to allow my voice strength. “Your brother is alive. You shouldn’t…”

I quietened when he walked towards me. Lifting his hand, he gently slid it along my cheek. His eyes were so fixed on mine that I couldn’t look away from him. He had every bit of my attention as he slowly leaned down and kissed me. My heartbeat burst into a new rhythm when Carter slid his tongue against mine and the press of his warm lips took my previous thoughts and eased them.

I whimpered when his hand ran upwards and into my hair, his fingers playing with a thick lock of my curls as his body pressed mine against the worktop. He was hard, his stiff cock forced against the softness of my belly in a none-too-subtle way, causing me to kiss him harder.

I was on fire, desire and need throbbing heavy in every fibre of me as Carter moved his arms around me and his large hands curled around the back of my thighs, encouraging me to lift into him. He hoisted me up until I was able to wrap my legs around him, and then, as he continued to kiss me, he turned and carried me through the house.

My bed was suddenly breaking my fall when Carter fell with me onto it. His small but rough groans were making me rub against him. I was dry humping his body like a goddamn slut in withdrawal, and the next moan that left me was due to pure shame, but Carter seemed oblivious to my embarrassment as he drove me higher and higher with every touch. Heat flushed my skin as his mouth ventured down the centre of my throat and his hand came up to caress my breast, his fingers kneading roughly through the thin fabric of my shirt.

I couldn’t speak properly, everything I tried to say came out a jumbled mess, but as if he could read my mind, Carter lifted my t-shirt and yanked it over my head. The cool air made my nipples stand on end even more but as soon as I shivered at the sensation, Carter enveloped one with his mouth and his teeth grazed the sensitive flesh through my bra.

Reaching behind me, the action forcing more of my boob at Carter, I flicked the fastening and unhooked my bra. Carter chuckled but didn’t remove his attention from my breast, his teeth now catching skin and making me gasp.

I pulled at his shirt and lifted it over his head, hating that he had to remove his mouth from my nipple so I could take it off him, but taking advantage, he moved his mouth to the other nipple and started another round of gruelling torture.

My hand slid over the skin on his back, the smoothness making my fingertips itch to feel more as I tucked my hands into the waistband of his jeans and smiled to myself at the rock-hard muscle that greeted me. “Shit, you have the firmest arse ever,” I mumbled, wincing at the lack of filter from brain to mouth.

“Thank you,” he mumbled back, making me giggle.

His eyes lifted to mine when I grinned down at him. But then his mouth took on a new journey and I stiffened beneath him.

His eyes narrowed and he tutted at me but I closed my eyes and forced myself to let him go with it.

“Look at me, Alice. Open your eyes.”

I took a breath and then did as he asked, opening my eyes and looking down at him as his soft lips tenderly brushed over the first of my mangled skin, the disfigurement ugly and insulting to my own eyes.

“This is beautiful,” he whispered. “It’s your life. Your fight. It shows your courage, and the intense love for your family.”

“It’s the evidence of my failure,” I argued quietly.

I was surprised when a small smile touched his lips and he pressed a kiss to another bit of mutilated flesh. “No. It’s grief in its most physical form.”

Before I could answer, his mouth moved further down my stomach as his fingers played at the button of my jeans. Beckoning me with a tap to my hip, I lifted my bottom off the bed so he could remove the denim from me. I felt exposed when he yanked my knickers down with them, but the way his eyes blazed with heat and a puff of air came from his nose made my eyes widen. I can only liken the sound to that of an angry bull; the sound it makes when it’s after the matador and is determined to hit its goal.