Shock Advised (Kilgore Fire #1) (17 page)

He made me feel safe and alive…
loved
.

His attention, this time, wasn’t focused on me. It was completely on what was happening between our legs. His eyes were watching our joining so intently that I wasn’t sure he was paying attention to me at all until he finally looked up at me.

I inhaled sharply at the look in his eyes. Had I had any questions about his feelings for me before this moment, that look cleared them up

He was mine.

Everything he felt for me blazed in his eyes, and I now realized had been why he was looking down. He was trying to hide that from me, but I wouldn’t let him, not anymore.

I gave it right back to him, letting all that I felt for him shine in my eyes.

Letting him know without words just what he meant to me.

And he understood.

His eyes flared, and his thrusting slowed until he was moving in and out of me so slowly that I feared he was going to stop.

But, his three-word demand had me on the verge of something I could no longer deny

“Come with me,” he urged.

And I did, unable to hold back.

My back bowed arching over the seat, and I yanked down hard on the seatbelt as I came.

His belly tightened against mine, and he was coming, too.

Pouring his seed into the condom in long spurts that I swore I could feel, even through the thin layer of latex.

He leaned forward, placing his forehead against mine, as he softly spoke to me before the lights of the police car behind us suddenly flipped on, scaring the shit out of me.

“So fuckin’ beautiful.”

The loud
‘whiiiirp’
of the police siren had him pulling back abruptly and tucking himself into his pants.

My dress fell down and covered me instantly, but I just knew what we had been doing showed on my face even if my lower half was now covered.

I bit my lip as Tai turned around and glared at the cop car.

“You stupid fucker,” Tai said. “You scared the shit out of her.”

The cop laughed and that’s when I saw this was a K-9 unit. The same unit that Tai had introduced me to the other night.

The dog had her head hanging out the passenger side window, looking at us as well.

It took a few long moments while the two men spoke, but when it came, I nearly laughed.

Tai looked sideways over at me.

“What are you laughing about?” He asked.

I bit my lip, only then remembering the time this officer had spent at the hospital with his wife having their baby.

I’d thought that I’d recognized him the other day, but it didn’t click until just now.

Downy, looked over at me then, and his lips thinned.

He glared at me.

I held my hands up.

He pointed one long finger at me, and then got back in his car and left without another word.

“What was that about?” Tai asked.

I snickered.

“He passed out when his wife had their baby,” I answered. “He says he didn’t, but I saw his eyes roll back in his head when he got a look at his kid coming out of her.”

Tai’s mouth kicked up in a grin.

“Interesting,” he said.

I looked at him.

“You ready for dinner?” I asked. “I suddenly feel ravenous.”

He snorted. “Oh, you’re ravenous alright.”

I was dying.

I bit my lip, praying that I’d make it through dinner.

Ten minutes later, Tai finally handed over the cash to the waitress and stood, offering me his hand.

I reluctantly took it, standing up next to him and clenching my thighs as I walked stiffly at his side.

Once we were outside, I looked at his truck in dismay.

Tai chuckled and lifted me up, placing his hand right on my belly as he placed me in the seat.

I prayed once he shut the door that I’d make it.

My stomach was roiling, and my eyes were clamped shut.

“You okay?” Tai asked.

I nodded, biting my lip.

“I need to use the restroom,” I said.

And I did. Badly.

But he didn’t understand just how urgent my situation was.

It was more like, ‘if you don’t drive fifty in this thirty, I might have to have you pull over and allow me to go on the side of the road’ kind of urgent.

He sped up, keeping a pretty steady pace.

However, by the time we arrived at my mom’s place, I was practically in tears and, I swear to God, ready to do some things that wouldn’t be acceptable to do in front of anyone, …let alone the man I was hot for.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said quickly, smiling painfully as I shot out of the truck.

I lost one shoe somewhere in the yard, but I didn’t even stop to grab it.

By the time I made it into the house, I’d lost the other.

My mother didn’t even spare me a glance from where she was busy in front of her sewing machine; instead, she just kept working as I practically barreled into the bathroom and slammed the door.

I won’t get into the details of the next ten minutes of my life, suffice it to say that it’s not proper to discuss it.

However, when I was done, I felt about a million times better, and realized that I’d probably given Tai the very mistaken idea that I was upset over something.

I ditched my clothes in the bathroom and walked out naked, only to come to a sudden bone jarring halt as I realized that Tai was leaning against the wall directly across from where I’d just exited.

A wave of what I’d left in the bathroom followed me out, and I saw the moment the smell hit him.

His eyes started to water, and it took all his strength not to lift his hand up and cover his face.

My mouth dropped open in horror.

“What are you doing here?” I cried, covering my own mouth as the smell filled the hallway around us.

He couldn’t talk, only kept swallowing convulsively.

He didn’t even look at me in all my naked glory, and I realized just what I’d done.

Mortification filled my face as I ran to the bedroom I’d taken over and slammed the door.

I dropped onto the bed with a strangled cry and buried my face into the pillow.

“Oh God,” I breathed. “
God
.”

Had he heard me?

Smelling it was bad enough, …but hearing it was completely different.

There were things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy and having the stomach problem I had was one of them.

I should’ve known not to have that drink at the movies.

Mother of pearl!

A knock sounded at my door, and I shouted into my pillow.

“Go away!”

My mother ignored me and walked into the bedroom.

It never occurred to me, though, that it wasn’t my mom at all, but Tai.

Then hands that definitely didn’t belong to my mother smoothed up the bareness of my thigh, up further over my ass, to settle on my lower back before he took a seat on the bed beside me.

Then he leaned over until he could see the side of my face.

“You know I’m a paramedic, right?” He asked.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.

“Yes,” I muttered into the pillow.

“And there are things that I’ve seen that would make a grown man cry,” he said. “So, certain bodily functions don’t bother me like they would a normal human being.”

I wanted to cry.

“You’re saying that would’ve bothered anybody else, but you?” I clarified.

He chuckled.

“Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”

I laughed.

There was nothing else that I could do.

“Shit,” I said.

He started laughing, too.

And just like that, Tai had learned my most embarrassing secret …and he was still standing here after the dust settled…or in this case, the smell.

Standing within a foot of an exceptionally well bearded man greatly increases the likelihood that a baby will fall out of your vagina nine months later.

-Proven Fact

Tai

I just need you to love me. Make me forget,” she pleaded.

Those words haunted me during my sleep.

My mind was a tangle of emotions. And they all centered on Mia, in my nightmares, and for once, not Cati, my sister.

Mia was rocking back and forth, holding her dead son in her arms, as she cried.

“Please don’t leave me. I need you. I need you,” she keened.

My heart started to pound, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get to her.

My fingers turned bloody as I clawed at my invisible cage.

Then I froze when my sister, with her long, beautiful black hair and long legs walked out from the clearing beyond Mia.

She walked slowly, keeping her eyes on me as she moved.

My breathing started to come in pants, and I tried harder to get out, knowing that this wouldn’t end well.

Nothing ever ended well when Cati was involved.

Cati didn’t have the best taste in men. She trusted too easily. She cared too much.

She was the one thing in my world that I tried to take care of, even when I tried my hardest not to care.

Cati reached Mia and carefully disentangled Colt’s lifeless body from her arms.

Mia cried out in alarm, trying to get up, but couldn’t.

The same invisible cage held her down, keeping her immobile.

Cati looked once more at me, then she took Colt and walked back towards the direction she came, not looking back once.

Mia’s head turned in my direction.

“This is all your fault. If you’d have just given me another baby, I would’ve never tried to get a bone marrow transplant,” she hissed.

She looked like she hated me, and I shrank back in surprise at the venom in her tone.

“I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry.”

I woke up to my body covered in sweat.

Nothing new.

It wasn’t the first time…and it wouldn’t be the last.

I got out of bed and squinted at the closed bedroom door when I heard the pots and pans going in my kitchen again.

This time, however, I knew it wasn’t Mia.

She had to work this morning, so it could only be one other person.

My brother.

I scrubbed my face and teeth clean, then pulled on a pair of jeans that were at the bottom of the bed before walking out the bedroom door.

I found my brother at the stove, cooking what I assumed were eggs.

My eyes ran over the table as I passed it, and I froze at what I saw on it.

My eyes focused on the paper, and I bent over the table as I stared in disbelief.

My stomach dropped at what I was reading.

Amelia Davis, a nurse at Kilgore Memorial, has been accused of blackmailing a prominent business man in this community
.
Detectives are still gathering evidence and confirming the facts but enough had been gathered for a judge to issue an arrest warrant. She was arrested last night at her mother’s home on extortion charges and will be arraigned later this afternoon.

My heart pounded.

“Did you read this?” I asked my brother.

My brother turned around, his brow furrowed.

“No, what?” He asked, dropping the spatula he’d been using to flip eggs and walking over to me.

I threw the paper at him, then ran back into the bedroom to grab a shirt and shove my feet into boots.

I was grabbing my wallet and keys by the time Jack had gotten through the entire article.

I glanced at my phone before I shoved it into my pocket but didn’t see any missed calls.

Jack jumped into the passenger side of my truck as I started the old girl up, and we rode in silence to the police station.

My mind was reeling.

Why hadn’t anyone called me?

What the fuck was going on?

“You do realize that there’s something seriously wrong here,” Jack said.

I tossed him an exacerbated look.

“Of course I know something’s fucking wrong here,” I said. “She didn’t do any of this.”

Jack gave me a look.

I started to get angry.

“Mia’s not like my ex-wife,” I said through clenched teeth.

He didn’t say anything.

God
, would he ever fucking trust me?

We arrived at the station in less than five minutes, and I parked the truck illegally right in front of the station.

None of the boys from the fire station, nor the police department, would have my truck towed. You don’t piss off your brothers.

Luke saw me the moment I walked in, and I saw the moment he realized I was upset.

His back straightened, and his eyes widened.

Luke was the assistant chief.

He was also a member of the SWAT team, and a very good friend.

Right now, though, I wasn’t liking him very much.

“Where is she?” I barked.

Luke’s brows rose.

“Where’s who?” He asked.

I clenched and unclenched my teeth.

“Mia Davis,” I said.

His head turned.

“The paper said she was here, that you arrested her for extortion,” my brother explained with a sigh.

Dawning awareness appeared on Luke’s place.

“She’s yours?” He asked.

I nodded stiffly.

“This whole fucking thing is weird as hell,” he said, looking at his watch.

I looked at my watch, realizing that it was five past six in the morning.

What the fuck was my brother doing at my place so early, anyway?

“What’s weird about it?” Jack asked.

“You mean other than he arrested an innocent woman?” I asked sarcastically.

Luke ran his hands through his hair.

“She’s not exactly arrested…she’s being
questioned
,” Luke explained, leading us through a maze of hallways, down into the bowels of the station.

He stopped at a plain brown door and opened it.

Luke went in, but I stopped in the doorway, taking in the scene in front of me with disbelieving eyes.

“What the fuck?” I asked.

Mia wasn’t in cuffs. She wasn’t being treated poorly, either.

In fact, she looked like she was better than okay.

She was laughing with Nico, of all people, looking at his phone as he swiped through picture after picture.

On the table in front of her there was a plethora of food and drinks.

A coffee from Starbucks and what looked to be the remnants of breakfast from McDonald’s.