Fatal Flaw (19 page)

“Are you okay to drive home?” Nick asked when they arrived at Sam’s car.

“Of course I am.”

“You say that as if you didn’t just fall asleep on your feet.”

Sam scoffed at him. “I wasn’t asleep. I was
relaxed.
”

When Nick rolled his eyes at her, Scotty giggled.

“You were
so
asleep, Sam,” Scotty said.

“I can see whose side you’re on.”

“He’s taking me to Fenway,” Scotty said with a teasing grin.

“Hey!” Sam cried. “Who got you the tickets?”

“Oh, that was you? I’d forgotten about that.”

Sam wrestled him into a headlock. By the time she let him go, Scotty was laughing hysterically.

“You think you’re
so
funny, don’t you?” she asked.

“I am pretty funny.”

Sam glanced at Nick and found him enjoying the show. His smile warmed her all the way through. “I’ll see you boys at home.”

“Didn’t you have something else you needed to do?” Nick asked.

Sam thought of her ex-husband and the conversation she needed to have with him. All she wanted at the moment was to be home with her new husband and the boy they wanted to make their son. “I can take care of it in the morning.”

Nick came into their bedroom, closed the door, locked it and leaned back against it. He wore a T-shirt with gym shorts and looked almost as sexy as he did in a suit and tie, which was Sam’s favorite look on him.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She most preferred him in nothing at all.

“If you’d asked me to bet on whether or not he’d sleep tonight, I would’ve said no way.”

“And?”

“Out like a light.”

“Oh good. I didn’t want him exhausted for his first trip to Fenway.”

He moved from the door to the adjoining bathroom. “You were so cute with him earlier. I love watching the two of you together.”

“Then you know how I feel watching you with him. I was lying here thinking about how he fits with us. He just fits.”

Nick finished brushing his teeth and returned to the bedroom.

Sam got to watch him peel off the shirt and shorts before he crawled into bed with her. “Mmm,” she said as he reached for her. “Best part of my day.”

“Mine too,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “I count the hours until I can feel you next to me.”

His hand never left her hip, but he managed to set every inch of her on fire using only his lips and tongue. “You’re so tired.”

“Not too tired for you.”

“You fell asleep standing up.”

“I did not.”

“Yes,” he said, kissing her again as his eyes danced with amusement, “you did.”

“Well, I’m wide awake now.” Sam kissed her way from his lips to his chest. Pushing him onto his back, she continued her trip south. When her hair brushed against his erection, he jolted.

“Sam.”

“Hmm?”

“We don’t have to… Oh
shit.
”

She took his cock deep into her mouth, stroking him with her tongue and hand, loving the taste and feel of him. “Mmm,” she said, knowing how the vibration of her lips against his shaft would drive him crazy.

His fingers tightened in her hair. “Come here, babe,” he said, sounding breathless. “Let’s do this together.”

Sam thought about finishing him off this way, but his offer was too appealing to be ignored. After a few final lashes of her tongue, she straddled him. His eyes were closed, his breathing heavy, but he rallied, cupping her ass and surging into her.

Nothing in the world could compare to the way he made her feel—desired, sexy, powerful and loved. Always loved. Even when he suddenly turned them so he was on top, even when he surrounded and possessed her, she felt his love in every look, every touch, every breath.

The orgasm that had been so unattainable in past relationships hovered just below the surface, waiting to overwhelm her with sensation. When he took her this way, with such utter abandon, she held back, wanting to prolong the moment rather than rush to the finish. But then he bent his head and sucked her nipple into his mouth. The combination shattered her control and sent her flying.

His arms tightened around her and his mouth found hers as he surged into her one last time, hot and deep and powerful. “Jesus,” he whispered against her lips. His head dropped to her shoulder.

Sam kept one arm tight around him while she ran the fingers of her other hand through his thick hair. “We’re going to ruin our unbroken streak of married sex tomorrow night,” she said after a long period of silence. The thought of spending a single night without him was nearly unbearable, not that she’d ever tell him that. He felt bad enough about taking this trip with her dad still in the hospital.

“Believe me, I know. I have half a mind to change our tickets to come home tomorrow night.”

“Don’t do that. I think it’s important that you take him to Lowell on Saturday and show him where you’re from.” She’d seen the humble home he’d shared with his grandmother when they’d gone to Boston for Julian Sinclair’s funeral earlier in the year. “Let him see you weren’t born the successful senator you are today.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with me talking to him about coming to live with us when it’s just him and me? I keep feeling like that’s something we should do together.”

“It all started with the two of you, so it’s probably fitting that you take the next step with him. He’ll know it’s coming from both of us.”

“As long as you’re sure that’s the right way to handle it.”

Sam laughed at that. “I’m not sure of anything. We’re talking about
adopting
a child. It’s so huge.”

Stealing one more kiss, Nick withdrew from her and shifted to his back, bringing her with him. “It is huge, and I feel that too. Don’t get me wrong.”

“But?”

“Because it’s him, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming to me as it probably should. It feels meant to be.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not saying it right.”

“No, you are. I know what you mean, because I feel the same way. Like he belongs here with us, and the rest is just details.”

“Exactly,” he said, sounding relieved. “I love that you understand.”

“I love that you met this boy and you saw something in him from the first day and you nurtured it and brought him to me and made us a family.”

He turned on his side and cupped her face before kissing her softly. “Just when I think I can’t love you any more than I already do, you go and top yourself.”

Sam smiled. “My goal in life.”

“So about that unbroken streak…” He raised himself up so he could see the bedside clock. “It’s five after twelve.”

She smothered a yawn. “So?”

“If we get in another round now, we won’t miss a day, and the streak will remain intact.”

“You gotta be kidding me.”

He cupped her breast and tweaked her nipple between his fingers. “Does it look like I’m kidding?” For emphasis, he pressed his reawakened erection against her hip.

Sam moaned and then gasped when he replaced his fingers with his lips.

“It’s for the record, babe,” he said against her breast.

“Well, when you put it that way, I suppose I could be persuaded.”

“That’s my girl.”

“I don’t understand why
you
have to go to Cincinnati,” Michael said as he followed Jeannie into the walk-in closet. “Why can’t they send Will?”

“Because. This is
my
case. Sam assigned it to me.”

“Three days ago you wouldn’t leave the house, and now you’re going to Cincinnati? I don’t get it, Jeannie.”

“Are you mad at me because I’m getting back to my routine?”

Standing with his hands on his hips, Michael stared at her. “I am not
mad
at you. I’m confused about what suddenly happened that made it possible for you to not only go back to work but travel too when a few days ago I couldn’t get you to meet me for lunch.”

Unable to bear the confusion she felt coming from him she averted her gaze. “I can’t say exactly what happened. The lieutenant asked me to look into this cold case, and it’s caught my interest. It feels good to be interested in something again.”

“I’m worried.”

“About?”

“That you’re doing too much too soon. I don’t want to see you have a setback.” He crossed his arms and stepped closer to her. “What if something happens and you’re all the way out in Ohio? What if you need me, and I can’t get to you?”

“Michael…” She met him halfway and slipped her arms around him.

Returning her embrace, he held her close. “Let Will do the interview. There’s nothing you can do that he can’t do too.”

She drew back from him so she could look up at his face. “I understand what you’re saying, and I appreciate why you’re saying it, but I need to do this. I
need
it, Michael. I need you to kiss me goodbye in the morning the way you used to and send me on my way like everything is normal.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

She patted his chest. “Please try.” Turning away from him she began rifling through the clothes she had at his place, hoping to find something that would be appropriate for a day of travel.

“This one,” Michael said, reaching over her shoulder for a blue dress shirt that had gotten stuck between two other hangers. “Black pants.” On the top shelf he found a black sweater and handed it to her. “In case it’s cold on the plane.”

As he picked out the clothes, tears stung her eyes. “Thank you.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I know.”

“But I get it.” He turned her to face him and kissed her. “You’ve got a long day ahead of you. Let’s get to bed.”

“I’ll be right there.” When she was alone, Jeannie leaned back against the wall. Still grasping the shirt he’d chosen for her, she focused on breathing—in through her nose, out through her mouth. She could do this. She
had
to do this.

While she hoped she was ready to take the trip, she
really
hoped she was ready to deal with whatever she might learn there.

The dream returned with relentless disregard for Sam’s newfound happiness or her efforts to put the darkness behind her. Gunfire echoed through the rundown house where Marquis Johnson ran his drug operation. His young son Quentin wasn’t supposed to be there. In all the months Sam had spend undercover with the Johnsons, she’d never once seen Quentin there. So why now, on the night when they’d finally decided they had enough to prosecute and could raid the house, why had Marquis decided to bring his son here?

Every instinct in Sam was crying out to turn and run, to get out of there before anyone else got hurt. But her job here tonight was to arrest Marquis, to confiscate the evidence of his far-reaching drug ring, to close the case she’d devoted her life to for half a year.

But the shrieks of the crying child were all she could hear.
What was he doing here?
She almost called off the whole operation, but they were too far along to stop now. Doing so might cost the life of one of her people, which was an unacceptable risk. So she pressed on and ordered her officers to return fire. With her own weapon leading the way, she moved stealthily through the darkened house, following the sounds of the screaming child. All at once the child went silent, and the father began to scream. The sounds coming from Marquis were unlike anything she’d ever heard from him or anyone else for that matter.

Swinging around the corner into the bedroom where he’d kept the lion’s share of his drug stash, the first thing Sam saw was the blood. So much blood. Sitting on the floor, Marquis kept up the inhuman screams, but when she looked down to the bloody child in his lap, it wasn’t Quentin she saw. No. God. No.

Scotty.

“Samantha. Baby, wake up.”

Sam jolted awake, a scream dying on her lips as she realized where she was, who she was with and what had happened—again.

“I’m here, babe. I’ve got you. It’s okay. Just a dream.”

She couldn’t seem to draw air into her lungs. Every time she tried, her mind took her back to the scene in that squalid room, the broken and bloodied child. This time her child. Her son. The boy she loved.
Not just a dream.
Her greatest nightmare.

“Nick.”

He held her so close she could feel his heart beating in time with hers. “I’m right here.”

“What if…”

“What, honey?”

“If we take him in and we love him and something happens?”

His lips were soft against her forehead. “Nothing will happen. We’ll take such good care of him. We’ll keep him safe always.”

She took comfort in his words, but the nagging worry remained.

“You’re starting to feel like a mother,” Nick said.

A mother. After so many miscarriages, she’d given up on ever having that title attached to her name.

“Would he really be safe with us? Look at what’s going on with these damned cards. People are always threatening me. I can’t expose an innocent child to that kind of danger. We should think about this some more.”

Nick raised himself up. In the faint light from the street filtering in through the blinds she could see him well enough to know he was looking at her with concern. “Do you have any plans to take our son to a crackhouse?”

“Of course not.” The idea of it sent a shudder rippling through her.

“We’ll do everything we can to keep him safe. We’ll surround him with love and family and baseball and hockey and all the things he doesn’t have now. He’ll be fine, Sam.”

“But what if—”

Nick kissed the question right off her lips. “He’ll be
fine.
” He settled her head on his chest and kept his arms around her. “Now go back to sleep. You never have the dream twice in the same night. It’s okay to sleep.”

Sam blew out a deep breath, but the anxiety refused to let go. Her cell phone rang, and even though she was used to middle-of-the-night calls, they took on new meaning with her dad in the hospital.

Nick released her so she could grab the phone from her bedside table.

Her heart stopped beating for a second as she glanced at the phone and saw the number for dispatch. “Work,” she said for Nick’s benefit. “Holland,” she said into the phone.

“Lieutenant, we have a report of a possible homicide in Mount Pleasant.” The dispatcher rattled off the address.

“Got it. On my way.” Sam ended that call and rang Freddie. When he answered she passed along the information.

“Okay.”

“Are you awake?”

“What? Yeah. I’m awake. See you there.”

Since she was looking at another long day, Sam took a two-minute shower and pulled on jeans along with a long-sleeved T-shirt. In the closet Nick had made for her in one of the spare bedrooms, she topped off the ensemble with a Washington Redskins sweatshirt and running shoes.

Nick was sitting up in bed when she returned to their bedroom.

“Sorry to wake you before,” she said, sitting on the bed to tie her shoes.

“Don’t apologize for that. I hate the way those dreams plague you.”

“I do too.”

“Am I still talking to Scotty about the adoption while we’re on the trip?”

Sam thought about that for a second. “I guess so. I can’t let fear run my life, right?”