Lifting the Veil (17 page)

She grinned, loving her gun and what it represented even more. “The way you push me away and

pull me back, you’re giving me whiplash.”

“I didn’t want to like you. Hell, I didn’t even want to be your partner. You were my penance for

screwing up. You represented everything I hated.”

Her mouth slid open to protest, but he pressed his lips to hers and kissed away her reply. Heat

pooled in her loins as he pressed into her. The friction between them was setting her on fire. Their love-hate relationship turned her on even though it shouldn’t. He was the typical bad boy, with all the right moves, just what she didn’t need, but she was damned if she could fight the attraction between them.

“That didn’t come out the way I intended.”

Sophie licked her lips and reached for the hem of her shirt, lifting it above her head. “What way did you mean?”

“Um…” His gaze fell to her chest, his words forgotten. She reached behind her back and unhooked

the bra, letting it fall to the floor. “What was I saying?”

Unable to keep a straight face, she grinned. “You were telling me why you hate what I represent.”

He reached for her breasts and tweaked her nipples, making it hard for her to concentrate on

popping the button of her jeans.

“I can’t think straight.”

Her grin grew as she stepped back, sliding her jeans and panties down her legs, standing naked

before him.

“Damn, Sophie.” He reached for her but she stepped out of his grasp.

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” She walked toward her bathroom and glanced over her

shoulder to find him staring at her ass. “Let me know if you remember what you didn’t like about me.”

She walked into the bathroom and started the water before stepping under the spray. She started

counting as she wet her hair. She’d barely made it to five when Jack pulled the shower curtain back and got in with her. She balled her fist, driving her nails into her palms to stop herself from reaching for him.

“Did you remember what that was?”

He pulled her into his arms and turned her so her back was pressed to the wall. He raised both

hands above her head and held them together with one hand. His other hand landed on her breast, and he squeezed. “I didn’t like the pull you have on me.” He pressed a kiss to her neck. “The way you’re on my mind when you’re not around.” He slid his hand down between them and stroked his cock. “How

hard you make me.” He released his shaft and slid his finger through her folds. “I don’t like knowing how wet you are without me being able to touch you.”

He slid a finger into her and her head fell back against the tile. “I don’t like knowing how you feel when I’m inside of you. Knowing you aren’t mine to possess.” He pressed two more fingers inside of her.

“I don’t like wanting you.” He pulled his fingers out and lifted her. Sophie locked her legs around his waist. “Needing you.” He slid her down over his shaft. “Fuck, Sophie. I don’t want to let you go.”

He pressed her into the wall and started a quick thrust in and out of her, setting up a rhythm that quickly escalated to the orgasm she was after.

“Oh, Jack.”

He buried his head in her shoulder and thrust deep into her before sliding out. Her breathing

turned labored, her heartbeat quickened, and she did everything she could to hold off the orgasm she knew was going to hit hard. Her toes curled as he rammed into her again, over and over, taking what he wanted, what she needed. When this was over, it was going to be hard to let him go and watch him walk away. She was becoming addicted to him like a drug. He was her high, her low, and her in between. She shoved the thoughts out of her head and concentrated on the feel of him inside her. How he felt

between her folds. On the sensation that was building.

“I can’t hold out.” He growled, reached between them, and circled her clit, pressing hard on the

nub as he shoved into her again. Her walls contracted as she clenched him inside her, drawing out his orgasm as hers took hold.

One more hard thrust and she felt his warm seed coating her inside. He leaned against her as she

unraveled her legs and slid down his body. He held his arm around her waist, steadying her while she found her balance.

“You take a lot of showers,” Jack teased.

“Can you blame me?” She ran her hands down his body and cupped his balls.

“Sophie.” Her brother’s voice broke through the fog.

“Oh shit,” she whispered.

Jack’s head fell forward.

****

with her. Had it been anyone else, he wouldn’t have given a fuck, but damn…her brother….his boss. Shit.

“Tell him to hold on.”

“I’ll be out in a minute,” she screamed through the closed door.

“He has a key?” Jack whispered.

“Yeah, in case I ever get locked out.”

Jack climbed out of the shower, dried off, and threw back on his clothes. He reached for the phone in his pocket and noticed two missed calls from her brother. “Shit.”

He ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath before leaving the safety of the bathroom and

walking into the line of fire.

Max was pacing in the living room when Jack walked out. He turned toward Jack. His chief’s face

was red and his fists were clenched. “Are you fucking kidding me? Is this how you planned to protect her, to screw her every chance you got?”

Jack braced for what was coming next. He had it coming. He was a bastard and deserved every bit

of it. Max stomped over to him and got in his face.

“Go ahead,” Jack taunted. “You know you want to.”

Max was pulled away, and Sophie stepped between them, her back against Jack as she faced her

brother. “This wasn’t his fault. I seduced him.”

Max covered his ears. “I didn’t hear that.”

“Yes, you did,” she said louder.

“I assigned him to protect you….not play house, Sophie. There is a killer on the loose, or did your hormones make you forget?” Max pointed to Jack. “And you…when I call you, you better answer your

damn phone.”

Sophie took a deep breath. “Okay…everyone needs to chill out and sit down.”

Sophie sat on the arm of the recliner where Jack picked to sit. Her brother sat on the edge of the couch. “I was worried sick.”

“Why? You knew I was in good hands,” Sophie said, then regretted her choice of words when her

brother balled his fists again. “You know what I mean.”

“There was another killing.” Her brother rose from the couch and started pacing the living room.

“Same MO?” Jack asked his tone now serious.

“No. She was burned beyond recognition in the field where we found the others. I thought…” Her

brother leaned over, resting his palms on his legs and trying to catch his breath.

Sophie rose and went to his side. “You thought it was me?”

He stood up and pulled his sister into his arms, hugging her. “Sophie, you have to go away. I don’t care if you take Jack with you. I want you out of town while we hunt this bastard down.”

Sophie looked up into her brother’s eyes. “I can’t do that.” Her legs turned weak and her vision

blurred. She reached for her brother and whispered, “Not again.” Those were the last words she

mumbled before she passed out.

Jack was out of his chair and grabbing Sophie before the chief had any idea what was going on. She collapsed into his arms. Her eyes slid shut but her breathing was steady.

“What the hell is wrong with her?”

Jack lifted her into his arms and laid her down on the couch. He went to his knees beside her,

holding her hand in his. “She didn’t tell you because she didn’t want to worry you.”

Max sat on the coffee table next to him. “What didn’t she tell me?”

Jack pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and covered her before walking into the kitchen to make them all a pot of coffee. Max followed behind him but kept peering into the living room.

Jack spent the next thirty minutes filling his chief in on what was happening with Sophie: her

visions, her guide, how she knew things, and the fact that she did know things. He tried his best to explain, as well, what he understood about the dead people she could hear and see when she slipped under into her dreams. Max’s mouth was parted and he remained quiet while Jack told him everything, catching him up on what they’d found today. The bank records, the mayor’s payments, the knife in the flowers. He came clean about it all…all except his feelings for Sophie which he was still trying to figure out.

Max sipped his coffee, remaining silent when Jack was finished. “She could have told me. I would

have believed her.”

“She didn’t believe it herself.” Jack sipped his coffee and glanced over to his boss. “How do you

explain something you don’t understand?”

“She told you.”

“Yeah, she had no choice. She knew things and I got suspicious. When she was hell-bent on solving

Valerie’s murder, I had to coerce it out of her. I told her I wouldn’t help unless she came clean. With you…I think she was embarrassed and didn’t know how you would react.”

Max glanced back into the living room at his sleeping sister and love reflected in his eyes. Sophie was crazy for thinking that her brother would react any other way than to worry about her, just as he did.

****

going down for the count again and, this time, in the presence of the one person she wanted to keep her secret from.

“Not again,” she whispered before the darkness took hold.

She blinked her eyes against the raging sun. Her hands drifted over the familiar grass she’d visited earlier today. She knew where she was without having to look around. She was on the dumping ground, where this sick bastard liked to dispose of the bodies after he’d made his kill. She was almost afraid to sit up, afraid that she’d see the person he’d killed, and she would be burned from head to toe.

A shadow fell over her face, shielding the sun from her eyes. The shop owner from Mystic stared

down at her. Relief swelled in Sophie’s chest, not because the shop owner was dead but because she wasn’t burned and in pain.

“What are you doing here?”

Sophie sat up on her arms. “Visiting you, I guess.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Sophie sat all the way up and held her head, waiting for the strange feeling to go away. “I know.”

She glanced over at the woman. “How did he get you?”

“I closed up shop and was walking to my car when someone grabbed me from behind.”

“Did you see his face?”

She shook her head. “No. He had on a mask and we fought. I’m sure I scratched his wrist pretty

good though.” She looked down at her fingernails as though she was confused.

Sophie took her hand and squeezed. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at Sophie’s face. “I recognized his voice. I don’t know his name,

but he’s been in the shop before.”

“Probably hunting victims.”

The shop owner swiveled around and looked over toward the country road. “You have to go.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all tell me when I visit here.” Sophie chuckled.

The shop owner’s lips tilted into a smile as she lifted her face to the sky. “I’m going home now.”

Sophie swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Um…okay.”

The shop owner shifted her gaze to Sophie and held out her palms. “You’ll find him here.”

Sophie nodded, unsure what to think, just as a bright light formed at the other end of the field. The shop owner started walking toward it.

Sophie stood, shielding her eyes from the white light as love radiated, encompassing her body, a

love she felt in her entire being. Sophie had started walking toward the warm, radiating embrace when she felt arms wrap around her from behind.

“That isn’t for you,” Will whispered into her ear.

Sophie couldn’t speak. She could only watch as the woman disappeared into the light, her body no

longer a shadow. The light encompassed her, taking her home. Sophie’s heart ached when the light

disappeared, taking the love and warmth with it.

Will released his hold and she swiped at the tears falling from her eyes before she turned around.

She wanted to go home, every fiber in her being now knowing the kind of love that waited for her when she died. Her heart ached for the feelings it created. The disappearing light had left a void like nothing she’d ever experienced before.

“You still have things to do.”

She spun on her heels to face him. “I don’t think I’m strong enough.”

He clasped his hands behind his back. “You are.”

Sophie started walking through the field toward the road.

“Why me?” she yelled at him.

“Why not you?” He stormed over to her and pulled her to a stop. “You were meant to do good

things, and you will. You just have to trust in yourself.”

She yanked her arm free of his hold and shook her head. “Just….leave me alone.” She pointed to

where the light had been. “I could have gone my whole life without knowing what I was missing. How am I supposed to deal with that now?”

He touched his hand to her forehead and stilled. “Sophie. You weren’t meant to feel that.”

“But I did.”

He nodded. “I can make it go away. Just tell me what you want.”

Sophie swallowed around the lump lodged in her throat. What did she want? If she had to live, with knowing what she was missing, she wasn’t sure she could continue. Her life was being wasted; her heart was elsewhere. “Make me forget.”

He nodded, and she immediately felt a rush of heat travel from Will’s palm into the top of her head and down through her body, encompassing every core of her being. The surge rushed over her, making her legs feel like spaghetti noodles.

“I’ve got you.” Will caught her before she fell. He lowered her to the ground and brushed her hair from her face. “Just rest.”