Dangerous Kisses (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

He felt his cock, still partially erect, stir and tamped down the urge to sink his shaft inside her once more. Another bout of fucking like they had just done again so soon and he was liable to kill them both.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“Asleep is when you drift off to a state of unconsciousness,” she said weakly. “Fainting, on the other hand, is when you take a speed boat to that state.” Her lips unfolded in a slow grin. “I think it’s safe to say I passed out.”

Drake felt his lips twitch. “Should I apologize?”

She lifted a brow. “Would you?”

He let the smile come. “No.”

She giggled. “Good thing I wasn’t expecting it.” She stretched languidly, her sultry moan moving over his flesh like a band of silk. “That was amazing.”

“You’ll be sore for a while,” he predicted, his gaze landing on the slight welts his belt had left behind on her pussy lips. She would have a few more on her ass, and her nipples would likely be tender for a day or so from the clamps. “How do you feel?”

“Deliciously used and abused. Give me a few hours, and I’ll be ready to go again.”

Drake laughed and shook his head. The woman never ceased to astonish him. “Do you want something to drink, something to eat?”

“Yes to both.”

“Anything in particular?”

“Surprise me.” She rolled onto her side, curling into a ball. “Would you bring my purse in here with you when you come back? I’m going to take a cat nap while I wait for you.”

Drake chuckled again as he headed for the door. “Sure.” He glanced back at her before he walked out. She had already drifted back off to sleep. He raked a hand through his hair and expelled a hard breath from his lungs as he walked down the hall to the kitchen.

Face it, man, you’re a goner.

Yeah, he was well and truly gone over her. It surprised him that he didn’t mind it much. He would tell her later, make sure she realized he had no intentions of letting her go. He had told her once she stepped into his house she would belong to him. What he hadn’t told her was he meant that in a forever kind of way.

* * * *

Megan felt the mattress shift behind her, but she didn’t open her eyes. She hadn’t gone back to sleep. She had simply laid there while the events of the night since she had knocked on Drake’s door replayed in her mind. She hadn’t been lying when she told him she felt used and abused, but in the most wonderful of ways. She didn’t bother to question herself on how she could have enjoyed being invaded by sex toys, spanked until her body wept for more, then fucked until she freaking passed out. She knew some women got off on being taken that way, on submitting to men like Drake and, no doubt about it now, she could definitely put herself among those “some women.” She had loved it and couldn’t wait to do it again.

She smiled. After she had a chance to recover.

She felt him lean over her. He planted a kiss on her shoulder, and excitement shimmered through her.
Oh, no. Not again yet.

“You’re smiling.” Amusement laced his tone, his breath fanning the side of her neck. “Either that’s some dream you’re having or you’re ready to eat.”

Megan opened her eyes, turned her head slightly, looked up at him, and her grin widened. “Drink. Food. Sleep.” She flattened a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back as she rolled over and sat up. “What did you bring me.”

He reached for the nightstand and handed her a glass. “Sweet tea, for starters.”

“Perfect.” She took the glass and drank deep, gulping down half of it before she handed the glass back to him.

Laughter danced in his eyes and he lifted a brow as he glanced at what remained in the glass. “At least you know how to share.”

“Of course I do. Lucky for you my half wasn’t at the bottom.”

He chuckled. “Otherwise, you would have had to drink my half to get to yours. Nice one.” He snagged a plate from the nightstand and set it on the mattress between them. “I hope you like fruit. For the next course, we have strawberries, cantaloupe, peaches, and bananas.”

“I love fruit.” She picked up a strawberry and drew her bottom lip thoughtfully between her teeth before she took a bite. “You know, if you hadn’t worn me out so good, I could come up with some creative ways to use this.”

Heat sparked in his expression as he picked up a slice of peach. “So could I.”

Megan polished off the strawberry and went for a slice of the cantaloupe. “We’ll put that on our to-do list. Did you bring my purse?”

“I set it on the floor. Did you need something out of it?”

“No. I just wanted to keep it close so I would hear the phone if it rings.”

He nodded slowly. “In case Cusack calls.”

She shrugged. “Never know when we might get a break.”

“I’m glad he’s keeping you in the loop even though you aren’t officially on the case.”

“He isn’t thrilled about doing it, but I didn’t give him much choice.”

“Yeah, I saw the two of you arguing in the tank room yesterday. He looked like he was reaming your ass pretty good.”

“He knows about us.”

Drake swore under his breath. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” Megan hesitated, choosing her words carefully, and went for the truth. “I had my suspicions at first. I’ll admit there have been moments when I’ve wondered myself if you killed Paul.”

“I know. I could see it when you looked at me. Every time the suspicion has crossed your mind, it’s been there in your eyes.”

Pain moved through his gaze. Her lack of trust had hurt him. She felt an echo of that pain in her chest, twisting with a thread of guilt around her heart. “The detective in me was looking at the facts, Drake.”

“I know that, too. You don’t have to explain yourself.”

“Then I assume you also know the woman in me didn’t believe you were a killer.”

His gaze fell to the plate and lingered there for a heartbeat before meeting hers again. “What else does the woman in you believe? What is she feeling?”

Megan’s belly fluttered as her heart flipped in her chest. She knew what he was asking, what he wanted her to reveal. Should she go with honesty, tell him that she was falling in love with him? What if this was his way of making sure she hadn’t allowed that to happen? What if she told him the truth and he put an end to their relationship to prevent her from being hurt?

Music started to play from her purse on the floor, the generic ringtone she had set for unknown calls, and she pushed her questions and his aside. “Could you hand me that, please?”

He sighed, the sound one of obvious frustration, as he leaned over and snagged her purse from the floor. He handed it to her, and she dug out her phone, instinctively glancing at the screen even though she knew it would read unknown before she answered it.

“Pontius,” she said by way of a greeting.

“Megan, it’s Debbie Norman. I, um, I’m sorry for calling so late, but…”

The girl trailed off, and Megan sat up straighter. She looked at Drake and held a finger to her lips. “It’s okay, Debbie.” Drake’s brows winged up at the name. “What can I do for you?”

“About Friday night, when Paul was killed…” Debbie’s voice wobbled with nerves, and she trailed off again.

Megan pushed her hair behind her ear and waited. When Debbie didn’t continue, she said, “What about Friday night?”

“When you came to Robert’s apartment the next day, I could see you thought I was lying about why I was still at the aquarium Friday.”

“I didn’t just think you were lying, I know you were,” Megan said bluntly. “I know how the inventory procedures in the gift shop work. I also checked the computer after we talked. There’s no sign the inventory was ever started.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Debbie whispered.

“Do you want to tell me what you were really doing there and why you felt the need to lie about it?”

Debbie took a deep breath and let it out hard. “I was waiting for Robert.”

“Robert was already fired by that time. Why would you have been waiting for him?”

“He asked me to. He came to me after Paul fired him. He said he was going to give Paul some time to cool off, then come back after everyone left and talk to him about getting his job back.”

Megan angled her head and drew her brows together. Beside her, Drake sat watching her, studying her expressions, listening to her end of the conversation with complete attention. “Why would he need you to stay?” She had a gut feeling she was being lied to again, but she kept it to herself.

“He was going to tell Paul the truth.” Debbie paused and, when she spoke again, Megan heard a catch in her voice, heard the tears she was attempting to hold back. “All the times Paul got so pissed at Robert for not being where he was supposed to be, for not doing his job—”

“Like Friday when Drake discovered the water temperature in the tanks was too low and went looking for Robert, but couldn’t find him?” Megan interjected.

Debbie sighed. “Robert was with me. I took a break Friday and we went outside the building where no one would see us. That’s where Robert was when Drake was looking for him.”

“Why keep your relationship a secret? Nobody would’ve cared if you and Robert were dating.”

“Paul would have cared. Robert was really trying to do right. He didn’t want to let Marie down again. He didn’t want to let Paul down. He thought if Paul knew about us, then Paul would figure us working together would cause Robert to slack on his job and Paul would have either fired him or me. Most likely me, because he wouldn’t have had to deal with any fallout from Marie.”

Megan expelled a disbelieving half laugh. “But that’s exactly what happened, Debbie. Robert wasn’t doing his job because he was sneaking off with you.”

“I know.” Debbie sniffled. “And Robert got fired for it.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this at Robert’s apartment? Why didn’t you tell Sergeant Cusack when he questioned you?”

“I couldn’t! Both of you would have immediately decided Robert killed Paul and that I was in on it. Don’t you see? Robert was supposed to come back, not to kill Paul, but to talk to him. I was afraid you and the sergeant wouldn’t believe that he never showed up. Robert told you the truth. He got drunk at the downstairs bar in his apartment building, got kicked out, and passed out in his apartment. That’s why he never came back to the aquarium that night.”

“So you lied to protect yourself and Robert.” Megan glanced at Drake and saw the muscle ticking in his jaw. Just from her end of the conversation, he was obviously putting two and two together. “Why tell the truth now?”
If you really are telling me the truth, which I highly doubt.

“Guilt,” Debbie whispered. “It’s been eating at me. I don’t know how the truth will help you find Paul’s real killer, but it wasn’t Robert. I know that. He would’ve never killed his uncle.”

“Thanks for calling, Debbie. I’ll be in touch.” Megan hung up the call, her mind reeling and gut churning. After several moments, she looked at Drake. “Did you get that?”

“Enough to piece it together.”

“She’s lying. She trying to cover her tracks with another lie that’s only getting her in deeper.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Megan thumbed through the contacts on her cell phone. “I’m going to call Cusack. We need to bring her in, question her in a setting where we can break her. There’s more to her involvement than what she’s confessing to. She was in on this, Drake. A part of me knew it before, but I’m certain of it now.”

Drake raked a hand through his hair. “It still doesn’t add up for me. You didn’t see her Friday night, Megan. I did. She was as frantic as I was to get Paul out of that tank. An accessory to a murder wouldn’t have desperately tried to save him.” He slid off the bed, found the shorts he had been wearing earlier, and pulled them on, his movements jerky. “It wasn’t an act. The girl was terrified and not for herself, for Paul.”

“Drake, I—” Megan broke off when the phone in her hand started to ring. The screen read Cusack, J. “Well, that’s perfect timing,” she muttered and answered the call.

Cusack didn’t give her a chance to speak. “How soon can you get to the station?”

The fine hairs on Megan’s nape prickled. “About twenty minutes. Why?”

“Where the fuck are you, Gulfport?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” she answered curtly.

“At Drake Allen’s place,” Cusack spat. “Well, you’ll be happy to know your boyfriend is no long a suspect in the murder of Paul Colton. Robert Warren was arrested about two hours ago. He’ll be charged with the murder of Paul Colton as well as the attempted murder of Paul’s wife, Marie.”

“What?” Megan bolted to her knees, her grip on her phone tightening as her eyes widened in shock. “What happened to Marie?” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Drake whirl around to face her.

“She was shot, Megan.” Cusack’s tone softened marginally. “She took a 32-caliber bullet to the chest at close range. She’s in ICU at Biloxi Regional. There’s no word on her condition yet.”

Megan closed her eyes. “Oh my God.”

“Robert Warren was found at the scene. The pistol used is registered to him. I haven’t questioned him yet. I thought you would like to be here when I do.”