Vital Signs (8 page)

He yanked her head back. Her scream of excitement was exactly what he’d been hoping for—the reaction he craved. Swooping in, he tasted her throat and nibbled up to her jaw. She turned her mouth into his in desperation, and he took her lip between his teeth.

Her eyelids fluttered.

Damn, his sweet angel was a she-devil in bed. He wrapped his fist tighter in her hair until she cried out. The sound sent brand new need pounding his system. His cock leaked pre-come, the head aching to part her hot, tight walls and take what he wanted.

“I want in here.” He curled his finger around her clit. She moaned. “And here.” He eased his hand behind her to the string covering her pucker.

“Yes,” she said on a breathy sigh.

“First you come on my tongue.” He released her and stretched on the sofa. Her dark eyes flashed as she knowingly settled over his face. Her fragrance struck him hard, and for a dizzying moment he didn’t think he’d withstand the torment. He needed inside her. Now.

They’d both waited for this moment, though, and he was damn well giving her the experience of her life. In fact, the idea of other men ever touching her before him made him want to punch something. She was about fifteen years younger than him but that didn’t mean less experienced. She was a woman who knew how to get what she wanted.

He pulled her down and slipped his tongue over her soaking folds. Tasting her. Groaning, he sank his tongue deep, gathering all her release onto his tongue. She ground her hips, the action one of the most exotic things he’d ever known in his life.

Lapping a path up to her clit, he held her steady. She dragged in a deep breath but didn’t release it. At the same moment, he sucked on her clit. Applying enough pressure that he felt her full-body quake. His cock waved in the air. He looked up her body, trying to see her face as she trembled in his hold.

Sweet juices slicked his jaw. He released his suction on her clit and angled his tongue into her cavern. As he sank through her folds, they shared a primal noise.

“Corey, I’m going to come!”

“Mmm.” He encouraged her with small, short thrusts of his tongue. It only took two or three before she responded. Fucking downward on his tongue. Dammit, she was going to kill him. A woman who took what she wanted was a refreshing and unusual one.

When she stopped breathing again, he knew she rested on the verge of release. He wagged his head back and forth, lapping her whole pussy. Her clit seemed to swell on his tongue.

And then she was coming a second time, grinding, screaming his name.

If Corey walked away right now, he’d do so with enough fantasy fodder to last a lifetime. But no way was he walking away.

∙•∙

Sarita collapsed, her thigh muscles jelly and unable to support her. But she didn’t need them to because Corey had her in his arms, carrying her to her bedroom.

“Corey, you can’t lift—” she started to protest.

“You don’t weigh much. Besides, I’m healed. Just waiting for the damn doctor to sign the papers.”

She made a noise of assent. Anticipating their night ahead, she had the covers turned down and fresh sheets ready.

He lay her down, his eyes dark with want. “You’re fucking beautiful.”

“I need you.”

He kissed her, nudging his thick, lightly furred thigh between hers. She wrapped her fingers around the base of his cock and guided it where she wanted it most. When he broke the kiss and grasped her wrist, she understood.

He wants to take control.

“Spread your legs wide for me.”

Need whipped her senses. She parted her thighs far, her ankles reaching toward the sides of the bed. As he teased her clit with the tip of his cock, he stared into her eyes. “Look at me entering you. I want you to know who’s taking you.”

She let her gaze skitter over his handsome face to his chest where the pink-edged wound still healed, to his carved abs. His thick length nestled at her pussy lips. As he pushed it into her opening, her pussy clenched around him.

Need fired in her veins. Finally, she’d found the true Corey. The strong man who could take her to this place.

In one hard thrust, he joined them. She cried out. Their gazes locked, and he started to move. Twisting her hair in his fists and pinning her to the bed, his mouth bruising on hers as he took her with a roughness she’d never had and always desired.

Surrender.
Her mind gave up completely, her body trusting him to carry her safely to the moon and back. As he tangled his tongue with hers in a primitive kiss, she tasted herself and the earthy musk that was Corey. She scraped her short nails over his skull. When he grunted, she gave up a little more control and scored his shoulders.

“Dammit, woman, you’re gonna pay for that.”

Excitement struck her belly and started a low flutter. He’d touched something deep inside her that was going to send her shooting into outer space.

He pounded into her with a vigor that scooted her up the mattress. She clung to him. But he reared back, withdrew from her body, and flipped her.

She lay on her stomach, stunned. He grabbed her hips, his fingers biting perfectly into her skin, and yanked her ass toward his cock. For a moment she thought he might claim her there, but in one fast glide, his cock stretched her pussy again.

She cried out. Churned her hips to bring him deeper. When his palm glanced off her ass, the crack sounded like thunder. Goosebumps broke over her, and she lay panting. More alive than she’d ever felt.

“Dammit, I marked your skin.” He caressed her globe where the heat of his handprint still lived. The warm spread along her skin to engulf her pussy.

She glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t stop.”

Her hoarse words made his eyes roll back in his head for a second before he got hold of himself and delivered five intense cracks to her backside.

She cried out with every one, rising to meet his hand.

Deep in her core, his cock twitched. “Hell, you like that, don’t you? You need it.”

“The stress. Yes. Please, Corey.”

He delivered two more sound slaps, one to each cheek. Then he gave a guttural grunt and began pounding into her hard. Drawing her back to meet his thrusts, sinking farther into her tight sheath with each motion.

His breathing rasped in her ear, his strong body blanketing hers. When he stiffened, her own body stopped her observations. She pitched and heaved on a white-capped wave—and came with a yell.

Hips churning, he shook with a roar of completion. Liquid heat filled her. His breath sounded in her ear as he pumped his orgasm into her. It seemed to go on forever, and he shuddered.

No matter what he said, she worried for his chest wounds. Had he broken them open again? The one on his back she hadn’t looked at for a while, and she had no idea if it was healed as well as the one high on his pec.

“Corey.” She grappled for his hand on the mattress where he braced himself.

“Hmmm.” The noise was music to her soul. Total completion. If she’d surrendered then he’d gone down after a long, hard battle. Her smile spread across the sheets.

He squeezed her fingers back and toppled into the bed, disjoining them and pulling her against his hard body. The perspiration on their skin mingled, but it was a pleasant, intimate feeling.

She rested her head on his shoulder. “Your chest?”

“Fine,” he panted.

“You’re not too tired?”

He cracked an eye and gave her a dirty look—one he’d perfected over the time period she’d known him.

“Okay, I’m nagging.”

He smiled and flexed his arms, drawing her closer. When their breathing fell into the same rhythm, she relaxed against him. “Corey?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“You weren’t kidding. I’m very satisfied.”

He brushed his lips over her temple. “Just very?”

“Very, very.”

He chuckled, the sound burrowing deep into her psyche. Whatever he’d been fighting to stay away from her had been vanquished. He didn’t seem eager to leave anytime soon.

After several more silent moments, his voice came, low. “You surprise me, angel.”

She started and twisted to stare into his eyes. “Why?”

He ran his hand down her body to her ass cheek. She winced, her tissues sensitive after the spanking. His touch softened and he stroked her into a melted puddle of gooseflesh.

It was as if she were the satellite and he the sky. She belonged with him.

“You surprise me because you enjoyed everything I did to you. Every bite, every spank.” His dark words thrilled her. Heat climbed her cheeks as he gazed at her. “Don’t be embarrassed by it—I’ve never been so turned on in my life. Seeing you responding to me…” He shook his head. “But what surprises me is your stress. I never would have guessed that your job leaves you feeling that way.”

She pushed onto her elbow to look at his face. “Don’t you feel that way too?”

“Of course. But you don’t let on. I never would have guessed, and that’s wrong of me. I should have asked you about your days, especially when you were coming to help me. And of course, I was just giving you the lion with a thorn in its paw act.”

She smiled. Maybe this was something that came with age—the ability to admit his shortcomings. It was sexy as hell, she had to say. Along with the silver in his hair and the few lines around his eyes and mouth. Those traits only pointed to his experience, and she’d just learned he was very capable.

“Don’t feel bad about it. It’s my job and I do it gladly. I enjoy helping people, but at times it’s hard.” Like today, she’d spent twenty minutes resuscitating a patient who could not be revived. Finally being forced to give up and let the patient go was a terrible feeling and one that was hard to shake.

“I know how you feel, angel. C’mere.” He drew her head down to rest on his chest again. “You know that I’ll always listen to you, right? Talk to me about your day, Sarita.”

A smile spread through her heart and reached her lips. She turned her mouth into his salty-sweet skin and pressed a kiss there. “I’m here for you too, Corey. You can tell me what’s going on at work.”

“Not much so far, as I haven’t been there for weeks.” She sensed the strain behind his words.

“Soon, though.” She waited for him to mention the arson investigation but he remained silent.

“The only good thing about not having shift work right now is I can spend all night making you scream my name.” Without warning, he rolled her onto her back again and hooked her legs over his shoulders. She squeaked as he nuzzled her inner thigh and worked down to her wet center.

She’d definitely take the all-night loving, but she couldn’t help but feel he was distracting her from his true worries. When would she get him to confide in her—if ever?

He lowered his mouth to her pussy and she stopped thinking for a long time.

Corey flipped between pages of a report on burn rate and ran his fingers through his hair. He was getting antsy to do more on this investigation—but he was also in need of a hot and spicy woman. He hadn’t seen Sarita in two days.

She’d taken double shifts and had only shot him a text before falling into bed with exhaustion. He’d known she was a hard worker but he couldn’t help but think something else was going on with her.

Like she’s avoiding me.

He didn’t for a minute believe it was their night of mind-blowing sex keeping her away. He’d been certain she was satisfied. Hell, he’d had to peel her off the ceiling several times.

No, she was just working hard to get extra money. Her goal to bring her family to America was a noble one. He couldn’t allow his feelings of neglect to come into play here. He was beyond proud of her decisions and hard work.

He’d just throw himself into this case. After poring over files and reports, he had a niggling feeling that he was on the verge of discovering something. He almost tasted it—right there on the air. But what it was, he couldn’t yet see. All he could do was keep digging through the trash until he landed on the clue that would make all the tumblers roll into place and unlock the secret behind the arsonist.

With only support from the chief, he hadn’t gotten as far as he’d like. Sure, he’d come up with some names but they mostly seemed like dead-ends. Warehouses that had stored the chemical compound or someone who had purchased it. Not enough to go on. But one thing kept popping up—the number of fires in a certain part of town over a twenty-year span was huge. He’d drawn a red circle around the part of the city on a map, but what was significant about it?

He suspected the arsonist lived there or was from that section of the ’hood.

The materials used to start the fires were very similar in many of the old cases versus the new. Toilet paper trails leading through the homes with piles of flammable items at each end.

What if the arsonist had just gotten more refined in the way he laid the trails? Rather than toilet paper, he’d used this chemical compound.

Corey sat back in his chair and stretched, feeling his healing wounds stretch. Almost a little uncomfortably, but he needed to stay limber.

Chief walked into his office and stopped as he saw Corey. He’d given him permission to use his space for the investigation, so he shouldn’t be shocked. But something on his face told Corey that his chief was about to convey some information.

Sitting forward, Corey said, “What is it?”

“What you found yesterday…it’s a valid lead.”

Chief had given the information to a cop friend of his with the orders to investigate this on the down-low. The person who looked deeper into this mess needed a touch of finesse. And several cop cars blaring up in front of a house and pounding on the door with warrants wasn’t going to get them the answers they needed.

Excitement slithered through Corey. He half rose from his chair but Chief waved him back before plopping into his own desk chair. “The information was verified?” Corey asked.

Chief gave a solemn nod. “The woman you found is in fact the mother of that boy who’d set fires in alleys in the nineties.”

A rough breath escaped Corey. He chafed a hand over his face, stunned that he’d made a link that actually meant something in this case. “The guy’s almost thirty now. Where is he?”