Worst Date Ever (Scandals #3) (18 page)

“Ambulance?”  I exclaimed.

Liberty looked like she was about to pass out, so Cody picked her up and carried her like a baby out of the room.  He called over his shoulder, “Will you look in the top drawer next to the stovetop and get some strapping tape and a large plastic bag.  Hold your breath while you put the pizza boxes in the bag, then seal it up real tight.”   

The serious tone of his voice made me act without question.  I followed his orders and made sure there was tape wrapped around the boxes and sealing the top of the bag before I hurried into the living room.  Cody had opened the doors and windows and turned the ceiling fans on to clear the air.  Liberty was lying on the couch, her head on a pillow.  She’d always had a light tan, but all color had washed away, leaving her deadly pale.

“What’s wrong with me?” Liberty managed to ask.

“I suspect the pizza had Cyanide on it,” Cody explained.  “Luckily, you didn’t eat any, but you must have breathed in the fumes.  The hospital is precautionary.  They’ll give you oxygen and some meds to counteract the effects.  Don’t be worried if they want you to stay all night.  They’ll want to keep you under observation to make sure there was no damage to your lungs or airway.”

Liberty’s eyes were frightened.

“Only forty percent of people can smell cyanide…the bitter almond smell.  That probably saved your life,” Cody added.

“What the fuck?”  I reverted to profanity when I was really upset.  “What kind of place is Mama Roma’s?”

“I order from them all the time...,” he answered.  “It had to have been added somewhere along the way…I called the cops, too.  What did the note say?”

I returned to the table, split the envelope open with a knife and shook it out.  Without picking it up, I held it open with the knife blade and read aloud, “
I told you to drop the case, Tulsa.  This isn’t worth losing your life and now you’ve put Cody in the cross hairs, too.
”

Cody blinked and nodded.  “Cross hairs…he doesn’t beat around the bush, does he?”

“No.  This is the fourth message telling me to back off.”

The intercom buzzed and Cody went to answer it. He stood in the doorway waiting, and within a couple of minutes two paramedics, pushing a stretcher, hurried in.

“You okay man?”  I heard one of the paramedics ask.

“I’m good Jason…my friend in there got a snoot full of cyanide, I think.” Before he could close the door two cops followed the paramedics inside.

“Cody?  What’s happening?”  The first cop asked.

The paramedics turned their focus on Liberty while the two cops stood with us. 

“Tulsa, this is Jason and Adam…guys, this is Tulsa Wiggins,” Cody made the round of introductions.  “She and poor Liberty there work for Scandals Investigations and have been working on a case. We ordered pizza and someone added an extra topping.”

“I sealed them up in plastic, and they’re on the island in the kitchen.”  I pointed to the note that was still lying on the dining room table.  “That was in the box, too.”

Adam used his pen to open the note and hold it open while he read it.  “Cross hairs?  Is this a joke?”

I pointed to Liberty being loaded on to a stretcher.  “I think someone seriously wants us to leave this case alone.”

“No idea who?”  Adam asked.

“None,” I answered.  “I want to go to the hospital with Liberty.”

Adam depressed the button on his shoulder mic.  “Dispatch…690.”

A moment passed. 
“690…dispatch, go ahead.”

“Dispatch, AFD has a 10-52 ready to transport one female, possible cyanide poisoning.  I’m bringing the evidence in to the crime lab, and the Vic’s friends are going to the hospital with her.  I’ll have them come in later and complete the paperwork.”

“Do you need crime scene there?”

“Negative.  The cyanide was contained in a pizza box and Cody, the firefighter, sealed it up immediately.”

“Hey Cody,”
the unseen dispatcher called out. “This is Charlene.”

“Hi, Charlene,” Cody answered back, leaning toward the mic.

“Stop in to see us sometime.  And bring us some cookies like you did last time.”

“Will do,” Cody promised.

Adam added, “We’ll be 10-24 in about fifteen. Case number…?”

“5019853.”

Liberty had been lifted onto the stretcher and was hooked up to a cardiac monitor.  Her face was partially covered with an oxygen mask, but her eyes were large and scared.  She reached out for me.

I took her hand, then looked up at the paramedic.  “How’s she doing?” 

“She’s stable.  We’ve started an IV of Nithiodote, and it should stop any further affects.”

“We’re heading over…,” I started to say, but Liberty squeezed my hand with amazing strength.  I winced.  “What?”

She reached up and pulled the oxygen mask off enough so she could say, “You’ve got to stay.  We can’t miss the transfer.”

“Maybe not.”

She shook her head.  “You can’t leave.  This is important.  I’ll be okay.”

I looked back at the paramedic, and he nodded.  “She’s going to be in ICU because she has to be constantly monitored.”

As much as I hated it, I had to weigh the importance of me sitting in a waiting room, unable to do anything, or staying with the scan.  I sighed.  “If you’re sure you’re okay with it…?”

Liberty relaxed, and I could tell she was relieved.   “I’m sure.  And catch the bastard!”

“I’ll call the mansion and let everyone know, so you probably won’t be at the hospital alone.”

Liberty smiled and replaced the oxygen mask.

“See if the hospital has a Frequent Patient program.  You’re well on your way to a free vacation in Tahiti,” I teased, trying to lift her spirits.

She managed a weak chuckle.

“You ready to roll?” the paramedic asked her.

She nodded and gave a thumbs-up.  I smiled and touched her shoulder as they wheeled her away from me and out the door into the hall.

“Thanks for jumping on this guys,” Cody told them.

“See you at the station.”  The paramedics pushed the stretcher inside an elevator, and the doors closed.

“We’ll get this evidence to the detectives.  Stop in tomorrow or the next day.  Show the on duty person my card, and they’ll get you the report forms you’ll need.  Nice meeting you Tulsa.”  Adam slapped Cody on the shoulder.  “You be careful dude.  Poison is serious shit.”

“I hear you.  You guys take care.”

Adam and his partner smiled and left.

As Cody closed the door, I realized I was shaking all over.  Without any discussion, he pulled me into his arms and held me in a tight yet tender hug.  I leaned against him, unable to step away.  This felt so good…so right.  In his arms I had a feeling of security I’d never had before.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I snuggled my head into the curve of his shoulder and sighed.  If I didn’t feel guilty enough for letting Liberty go to the hospital alone, now I was allowing myself to be distracted by my own personal needs.  Reluctantly, I stepped away, breaking the emotional tie and trying to ignore how much I already missed being held against his body.

“We’d better get back to work,” I managed to say, but my voice held no conviction.  Cody grinned, clearly able to read my mind and see the internal battle between duty and desire. 

“I’ll make us some grilled cheese sandwiches,” he offered.  “I guarantee they will be poison and threat free.”

“Sounds good.”  He had successfully eased the tension and moved us back into a comfort zone.  I returned to the computer and was relieved to see that no messages had come through.  The rows continued to scroll by at dizzying speed.  I took out my cell phone and dialed Christopher’s number and put him on speaker so my hands would be free in case I needed to do something quickly.

“I was wondering when you were going to call…everything get set up okay?”
he answered without a hello.

“The scan is up and running.  No hits yet.  Cody put my retina in his security system…I think it means we’re going steady,” I joked.

“Cute.  How’s Liberty doing?”

“Actually, that’s why I’m calling.  She’s on her way to the hospital.”

“What?”
  His shout came through the phone so loud I leaned back.
“What happened?”

“She inhaled some cyanide dust someone added to our pizzas tonight.  Stay away from Mama Rosa’s, by the way.”

“Is she okay?”

“She didn’t eat any of it.  The paramedics said it was probably a mild dose.  They put her on an IV drip for the antidote and gave her oxygen.  They said she’d probably be in the ICU all night.”

“Shit…I’ll have to call her mom again.”

“Liberty’s awake.  Maybe she’ll call her.”

“Are you going to the hospital with her?”

“No, she wanted me to stay and watch for the BOT.”

“Good idea.  We’re in a time crunch here.  We’ll go stay with her.”
  There was a long moment of silence. 
“What are you not telling me?”

I was amazed.  Damn, he was a good detective.  “How’d you know?”

“Never mind…tell me.”

“There was another warning note in the pizza box.  We gave it to the cops, along with the pizza.”

“Busy night…I’ll follow up with the detectives in the morning.”

“It’s case 5019853 if that helps.”

“It does…I’m going to see about getting you that bodyguard…good night.”

“She already has one,” Cody said over my shoulder.  “I’m not letting her out of my sight until this is over.”

“You’ve got your hands full.”
Christopher hung up.

“I wish,” Cody muttered, but when I twisted around to see his face, it was all innocence.  “Here’s your sandwich and a beer.”

“Thanks.”  I was hungry and the fragrance of melted cheese and grilled bread made my stomach growl.  Cody went back to the kitchen and returned with his food.  We sat at the end of the desk, a safe distance from the keyboards, and enjoyed our long overdue dinner.

“What’s that about Liberty being a frequent patient?” he asked.

“They probably have a bed reserved for her,” I answered wryly.  “It wasn’t that long ago she was hurt in a bomb blast.”

Cody was startled.  “Bomb blast?  You didn’t tell me anything about a bomb blast!”

“It happened in June, right after we all arrived.  She fractured her leg in that one.”

His eyes were worried.  “You guys play for real.”

I looked up at him and barely managed a smile.  “The world is full of nut cases.”

I finished my sandwich and the pile of potato chips he had put on my plate.  I wiped my hands and mouth on a napkin.  “That hit the spot.  And no paramedics required.”

“My guests don’t usually need medical treatment after eating here.”

“Tell that to Liberty.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the scrolling had stopped.  I swiveled around and stared at the screen where a single row of red letters, numbers and symbols blinked back at me.

“Holy shit!  It worked!”  I jotted down the web address, then clicked on the
Yukon King
icon so it would attach to the IP address. 

“Is that it?”  Cody rolled his chair closer until he was peering over my shoulder.

“That’s the web address of our hacker…I hope.”

I could feel him studying me.  “You sound surprised.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I hadn’t been totally confident about the program.  After all, this was the first time it had been tested.  But the fact that it had captured just one web address was reassuring.  I just hoped it was the right one. “I’ll feel better when we actually find the person’s computer so we can shadow it and figure out who’s behind all this.”

“What’s next?” he asked. He looked back at the screen that was now covered with the lazy, colorful spirals of a screensaver.

“It’s tracking the IP through the deep net.” I breathed a sigh of relief and felt a wide smile stretch across my face.  This was my program…my baby…and it was doing exactly what I hoped it would do.  I pushed away from the desk and stood.  I felt like celebrating. 

But I miscalculated how close Cody was and ended up falling gracelessly across his lap.  He tried to compensate, but the wheels of his chair rolled easily on the polished hardwood, and it skittered out from under him, dumping us both to the floor.

We landed in a tangle of arms and legs.  The startled expression on his face struck me as funny, and I started laughing.  His eyes crinkled and I could feel the rumble of his laughter vibrating through me.

“You’re a genius,” he gasped between chuckles, “but you’re dangerous.  I still have scars from our first meeting.”

“I told you I wasn’t athletic.”

“I don’t think standing up is considered to be a sport.”

I had no defense for my klutziness.  But the silliness of the moment made me laugh even harder.  Gradually, as we started trying to separate our limbs, I became very aware of just how close our bodies were to each other.  It must have dawned on Cody at the same moment because he grew still.  I turned my head and saw that he was staring down at me, his eyes dark with a heat that melted my bones. I, too, stopped trying to get away.

Maybe it was my excitement at my program’s success or possibly I was just exhausted from all the tension of waiting…but whatever the reason, when he leaned toward me and his mouth touched mine, I closed my eyes and let the sensation of desire sweep over me.  His lips were soft and hard at the same time.  Tentative at first, he gave me a chance to shut this down before it went any further.

To my shock, I didn’t want him to stop.  I threaded my arms around his neck and opened my mouth, returning his kiss with a passion I had never felt before.  There had always been something about him that attracted me, and the more time I spent with him, the more irresistible he became.  I knew this was a flash of lightning that would electrify my air for just a brief time.  But instead of being practical and walking away, I realized I really wanted it…even if he didn’t belong to me and never would.

His warm breath filled my mouth as his tongue slipped inside, tasting me, teasing me, sending tingles straight down to my hooha.  His kisses deepened and grew hungrier, more demanding.  He tasted delicious, and I wanted everything he had to give me.  I had far more experience stroking the keyboard than in making love, but my body knew what to do.  I pressed ever closer, moving sensuously against the growing bulge in his jeans, enjoying the obvious reaction he was having to me.

His fingers fumbled with the buttons of my blouse until it fell away.  I had to fight the urge to cover myself. My bra was plain and sturdy, and for the first time, I wished I owned something lacy and feminine.  I had developed early, which caused me a lot of grief when I was a teenager.  Even now, I chose clothes that would hide my curves rather than accentuate them.  As he pushed my bra up and freed my breasts, I waited anxiously for his response.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.

I forced my gaze up to his eyes and realized he was looking at my face.  No one had ever said I was beautiful.  My heart actually ached at the thought that this man found me attractive.  I wanted to see him naked…to feel his flesh against mine…to have him inside me just this once so I could pretend that I could be his forever girl.

I grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up.  He quickly shrugged out of it, then unsnapped my bra and tossed it aside.  So much for me worrying about it not being Victoria’s Secret.  For a heated moment, he stared down at me, his gaze slowly caressing my body until it reached my breasts.  Instead of feeling embarrassed, I felt like the sexiest creature on earth.

He filled his hand with my left breast, holding it up so that when his mouth lowered, my nipple was ripe and ready.  His tongue swirled around it before he sucked it into the heat of his mouth.  With each tender tug, jolts of electricity shot through me, igniting a fire that I had never felt.  He moved to my right breast and teased it until both nipples were hard and throbbing with a pleasure that was almost painful.

Reluctantly, he pulled back long enough to unbuckle his belt and kick off his pants while I wiggled out of mine.  He left and quickly returned with a foil packet in his hand.  He ripped it open and rolled it down the length of his erection, an action I watched with interest and excitement.  There was no thought in my mind at the moment other than having him finish what we had started.  I felt the wetness flowing from me in anticipation, and I didn’t have to wait long. 

He levered his body over mine and lowered his hips until I felt the smooth rounded tip of his penis centering between my legs.  I waited, my breath caught in my throat, as he eased slowly, an inch at a time inside me.  He was large and hard, and I was swollen and ready to receive him.

A low groan escaped his throat when he was buried as deeply as my body allowed.  He froze for a few seconds, savoring the sensation of me enveloping him, holding him in my most intimate sanctuary.  Then he pulled back and thrust forward, leisurely at first, and gradually increasing his speed as our heart rates accelerated and our blood ran hotter.

At some point, I stopped thinking about the mechanics of our movements and allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the sensations that were streaking through me, from my head to my toes.  The gentle friction of him inside me was more intense than I could ever have imagined…and I didn’t want it to end.

My body, of course, had other plans, and even though I wanted to hold on to this moment, the coil in my stomach kept twisting tighter and tighter until it exploded in a blast of fireworks that sent me spiraling off into some strange universe where I was weightless and floating gently back to earth.  Some part of my consciousness felt Cody plunge all the way in.  I was only vaguely aware of him holding that position for several seconds as he reached his own orgasm.  The convulsions of my vagina stroked him and milked him until he collapsed, spent and exhausted on top of me. 

We lay there, our nerve endings raw and hypersensitive, our bodies still joined as our heartbeats and breathing gradually returned to normal.  Neither of us spoke, but I felt his fingers tenderly stroking my hair back from my flushed face.  He moved just enough to shift his weight off me, but he held me close, cradling me against him.  I snuggled into the curve of his shoulder and breathed in the delightful musky fragrance of his skin, a smell that was uniquely him…and one I’d never forget.

In spite of the hardness of the floor, I must have been comfortable enough to doze off.  I opened my eyes, and it took me a moment to realize I was nestled in the protective circle of Cody’s arms.  My back was cold from the air conditioning, but the rest of my body was toasty warm, absorbing heat from his skin.  I couldn’t see his face without moving out of his embrace, so I remained still.  From his slow, even breathing, I knew he was still asleep.  And while I knew this adventure would soon be over, I wanted to hold on for a few more minutes.

Lying like this, still sated from lovemaking, it was easy to fantasize about how wonderful my life would be with him.  He offered everything I never had but always wanted…security, protection, love, laughter and a feeling that I belonged.  Not that he had actually offered any of that to me…but it didn’t cost anything to dream.  I lay there, quietly savoring the moment, until the need to use the restroom became too uncomfortable to ignore.  I didn’t want to, but it got to the point where I had to.  I tried to ease out of his hold without waking him, but his grip tightened until I had to just break away.

As I stumbled to my feet, I had never felt more naked.  I grabbed my clothes as I hurried down the hall to the guest bathroom.  A few minutes later I returned, fully dressed and expecting to see his magnificent body still on the floor, but he was gone.

I sat down at the computer and was glad to see
Yukon King
was still hot on the trail.  I was a little ashamed that all the time I was rolling on the floor with Cody, I had completely forgotten about the job at hand.