Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (60 page)

Blackhawk took in the scent of his wife, and relished the kisses she was leaving on his neck and throat. What was left of the pain fell away as she held onto him. “I’m so sorry I wouldn’t let you comfort me before, baby,” he said into her hair. “I was just so angry.”

“Please don’t hate this child,” she whispered, starting to
weep. “I couldn’t live with myself if I ever thought you couldn’t love this baby.”

He turned her face to stare into her eyes. “Elizabeth Renee Blackhawk! Do you really believe I’d hate
Callen’s child?”

“You
just looked so angry,” she said softly.

Ethan put her back on her feet. “Listen to me. That baby is going to be loved just as much as CJ. I promise you that I won’t ever treat him any less than my own son. He may not be
one hundred percent genetically me, but he’s still mine here.” Blackhawk placed a hand over his heart. “I will be a part of his life and keep him just as safe. He’s CJ’s brother and that means everything to me. I may have been angry before, but Callen and I worked it out. I’m really okay now.”

Elizabeth gazed into his eyes and saw nothing but absolute truth. “I love you, Ethan.”

“Oh Elizabeth, I love you more than my own life,” he replied, slowly kissing his wife. When he finished the kiss, he stared down into her eyes. “How are you feeling? What can I do for you?” he asked, as he laid his hand on her belly, connecting them.

“I’m fine, handsome,” she replied, and then thought “Callen wants to name him after you, are you okay with that?”

Blackhawk laughed. “I’m more than okay with that. I love little EJ already. When he and CJ grow up, I hope they have an amazing relationship like I do with Callen.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Me too.”

Ethan wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs. “They’re going to be lucky, but I do have to say that I want more kids, Lyzee. After this, can we have more?” and by more he meant them together, but he figured she knew that.

“Absolutely.”

The famous Blackhawk grin was out. “I can’t wait,” he said, kissing her on the neck. There was the scent of her perfume and his brother’s cologne. It called to him and gave him comfort.

“Where’s Callen?”

“Picking up dinner and beer,” he said, running his hands up and down her torso. “Before we eat, you wouldn’t happen to have some time for me, would you?”

“Oh Mr. Director, I happen to have plenty of time for you tonight
. Want to join me up in my room? My boyfriend isn't home, and we’ll have to be quick.”

Ethan swung her up into his arms. “Oh well then I better hurry up and have my way with you. I hope we don’t get caught,” he muttered, kissing her roughly.

Elizabeth didn’t hear a word he said, she was too busy lost in the kiss and thinking about their little ‘celebration’.

                                *    *     *

He pulled off the condom and carefully disposed of the evidence. There was no way he was going to leave sperm inside her well used body. The FBI was at the club and that meant they were looking for anything to find him. Now he needed to be even more
diligent not to get caught.

This woman had been tough to use. Lulu fought really hard, to the point he had to knock her out again and tie up her hands. She’d tried to slash him a few times with her cat like claws, and leaving DNA under her nails wasn’t something
he wanted to happen. He’d watched enough TV to know the cops would look there first. An idea hit him, and he roughly pulled the artificial nails from her fingertips. He dropped the bloody acrylic into the same bag that held the condom and laughed.

After he’d knocked her out again, she was easy to use. It had taken him a while to get off with the woman. He preferred to see the look of fear in their eyes, before he took them. This performance was mediocre at best, and he’d actually been forced to think about the last girl. Then he had a plan, he pulled out another condom and slid it on, as his body went tight. Holding her hands down by the rope he’d used, he slapped her across the face a few times waking her up.

“Hey baby, are you ready for round two of the party? I like to get my money’s worth,” he grinned, sliding into her as she struggled to escape him. With his free hand he grabbed her around the throat, closing off her air supply. As her eyes went large, he pounded himself into her body, thoroughly enjoying it.

“Yeah Lulu, you’re going to die,” he muttered, close to erupting again. As the woman’s face went slack and her eyes rolled up into her head, he released her hands to place his other around her throat. He squeezed and slammed into her, enjoying the idea that he was stealing her life.

“Amazing,” he mumbled, as he rode her dying body. When he finally erupted in pure pleasure, he released her throat. Staring down into her dead face, he smiled peacefully.

“Now to just dump your body,” he stated. “
Why make the FBI look for you. I’ll take you right to them.”

                                *    *     *

Callen dropped the pizza on the living room table and placed the beer in the fridge. He’d also picked up some orange juice for Elizabeth after he Googled it online. Beside the pizza box was a salad for her, just in case. He believed he covered all his bases. This fatherhood thing was completely new to him, but he remembered the lunatic his brother had become over keeping her fed and safe.

Although Callen would like to say he wasn’t going to go that route, he probably would. Already he had the fierce desire to protect her and watch over her like a hawk. He looked up as his father strolled in carrying CJ in his arms. Wyler motioned to the stairs and then the sleeping child.

When he came back down, he hugged his son. “How are you, Callen?” he asked, taking a seat on one of the couches.

It just exploded from him. “I’m the father!”

It took Wyler a few seconds to figure out what his boy was talking about, but then he
stood and hugged him again. “I’m thrilled for you! Where’s Elizabeth?” he said.

“I’m right here, Dad,” she said, coming down the stairs towards them.

“Sweetheart, how do you feel?” he asked, hugging his daughter-in-law. He was genuinely happy for his one son. “How’s Ethan?” he asked, dropping his voice.

Elizabeth grinned. “He’s hopping in the shower and then coming down
to eat,” she said, going into Callen’s arms and kissing him. The kiss was sweet and protective and made her smile.

“I see you brought me dinner,” she said, pointing at the pizza.

“I also brought you orange juice, because it’s full of folic acid and good for our child. Then I wasn’t sure if you could handle pizza, so I got you a salad.”

Elizabeth grinned. “Oh boy, here we go again,” she snickered.

Ethan laughed from the steps. “Here I was getting used to stealing food. I guess that’s over and done with.”

“Thank God!” exclaimed Elizabeth.

Wyler hugged his other son, seeing absolutely nothing but peace on his face. “You okay?” he asked, patting his boy’s cheek.

“Yeah Dad, I’m more than okay,” he replied,
going to his brother, hugging him. “Beer?”

“Yeah, in the fridge,” stated Whitefox, releasing the man
and once again checking his eyes and face for truth.

Elizabeth opened the pizza box and grinned. “No meat. I think I may fall even more in love with the men in my life.”

Callen opened her salad and pointed at the couch. “Off your feet, eat your salad and Ethan has your juice.”

She laughed
at how over the edge he was already. Generally, he was the laid back one. “Works for me.” She took the salad and tucked her legs up underneath her. “It’s a good thing your brother broke me in with CJ, or I’d be bitchy.”

“I’m immune to bitchy,” answered Blackhawk
, handing her a glass of orange juice.

Elizabeth lifted a brow and gave him the look.

Wyler laughed. “I think I’m going to enjoy watching all this.”

“I’ll ignore you all, since I’m too damn happy right now, but as always, I could snap and hurt all the men around me at any second.”

Callen leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I don’t mind, angel. Hurt me,” he teased, winking. She sucker punched him in the ribs. “Hey!”

Now she giggled. “
You walked into that one again,” she answered.

Blackhawk sat on the opposite side of her and grabbed a slice of pizza. “Want to tell me about the files?” he offered.

Elizabeth broke the no death at the table rule for a couple reasons. Technically they were on the couch, and she did need to work on the assignment for a while.

“I went through
them all and pulled out two that just didn’t seem to fit for me,” she said, reaching into her bag and pulling them out. She handed one to Callen and one to Ethan and waited for them to scan the file and then swap.

When Ethan had read both of them, he looked over at Callen. “Tell me about them Cal, and what makes them not fit the assignment.”

It wasn’t like Ethan to quiz him. “Great, I love a surprise test.”

Blackhawk laughed. “I’m just teaching you how I do my job. You always say you want to learn it all
, and see which part of the team you tend to be more like. This is how I teach- hands on.”

Callen understood now and relaxed.
“I doubt the first file had anything to do with it. I’d think more of a party that got out of hand, or a fire a bunch of kids couldn’t control.”

“I agree,” stated Ethan. “How about file two?”

Callen flipped open the file as he took a sip of beer. “The owner of the building later found things missing. It looks like someone played burglar and then maybe got nervous and torched the place.”

Elizabeth leaned over. “My my, Mr. Whitefox. You certainly are learning fast.”

He grinned. “I have the best to learn from.”

“Yeah, Ethan’s not too shabby either,” she said, catching him off guard. He started choking on his beer
, and she patted him on the back.

“Elizabeth!” Ethan
shook his head.

“Anyway, I then decided to put the files in chronological order of events and discovered something.”

Blackhawk leaned forward for another slice of pizza. “What?” he asked.

“I personally believe our killer has been at this for a while. I don’t think the women were his first victims. I think he’s been
escalating for some time. You said that arsonists perfect their crimes and sometimes do this for years and hundreds of fires, right?”

He nodded. “Yes, most serial arsonists rarely go big first time out. They get off on the control of destroying
, but like to see how far they can push it with each try.”

Callen must have had a blank look on his face.

“It’s like theft. You start small, say as a child. A kid steals candy, to see if he can get away with it. When he does, maybe he gets bored with the little things and tries a pair of jeans.”

Elizabeth picked up for him. “After the jeans, Callen, he may try breaking into a car to steal the contents.”

Callen thought about it. “We never did the petty stuff as kids, we went right to stealing the cars,” he grinned.

Wyler shook his head. “And you both got caught. That was a testament to your theft skills.”

Elizabeth began laughing. “I've used Callen for breaking and entering. I have no comment.”

Blackhawk grinned. “We weren’t
kleptomaniacs. Callen and I did it to piss off the Natives and get the ladies.” Once he said it, he blocked his side in case there was a sucker punch coming.

She ignored him, and gave Callen a look. “Anyway, the arsonist in the files is escalating and practicing his craft. I really believe this could be his work.”

“What did he do?” asked Callen, pointing at the other
papers, sitting in a pile.

Elizabeth told them what she’d found. “He started with abandoned buildings for the first three. He was tentative at first. Six months to a year between each one, and then he escalated. The next set of three were with ritualistic animal killings inside the fires.”

“That fits the criteria for serial killer combining with serial arsonist.” Ethan leaned back against the couch. “So we have a killer that’s been escalating for five years.”

“I think so,” answered his wife.

Wyler didn’t like any of this. “Please be careful, sweetheart.”

She smiled gently. “I’m fine,
Dad. I’m not even close to the killer’s ideal target. Makes me glad I’m not a stripper.”

Blackhawk started laughing. “There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear my wife say in conversation over dinner.”

Callen grinned. “Is it wrong that I wished she was for a few brief seconds?”

The pillow clocked him right in the side of the head, except it wasn’t Elizabeth that threw it at the man.

It was
courtesy of Wyler.