Stowaway (17 page)

“I’ll just do a Braille study of your scars without looking at them. Once I’m familiar with every inch of your body, you should trust me to see it in the light.”

She had no snappy comeback or arguments to wage. The feel of his tongue lapping her belly brought every nerve in her body to full attention. Her legs stiffened, toes and fingers curling as he slowly, thoroughly explored her midsection with his mouth. His hot lips made her flesh quiver. His kisses seared her flesh while healing wounds she hadn’t even known existed. His tenderness brought tears to her eyes.

Working his way slowly down her abdomen, he clasped her thighs in his hands.

“Scars here too?” he asked, his fingers finding the tiny ridges at the back of her legs.

“Skin grafts,” she explained.

No man had ever kissed her thighs. A shudder coursed through her when he pressed wet kisses over her skin. His tongue gently bathed the front with moisture while his fingers caressed the hidden scars. Tears overflowed her eyes.

She grasped his head with both hands and pulled him over her body. Looking at him through a shimmer of tears, she whispered, “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any man in my whole life.”

He moaned, low and long then made them one again.

They fell into a deep sleep, their bodies snuggled close wearing nothing but a sheet.

Keri woke a few hours later and carefully searched the bed for her shirt. After slipping it over her head, she made her way to the bathroom. A glance at the digital clock showed two in the morning. Still sleepy, she crawled back into bed and drifted to sleep with the sound of Nick’s breathing.

He woke her later when his hands began to caress her again. Lying on his right side, he pulled her close with her back to his chest, spoon fashion, and used the hand of his bad arm to knead her breast.

“More therapy?” she mumbled.

He rested his chin at the curve of her neck and teased her with his lips. “Amazing results.”

“Amazing,” she repeated drowsily.

“Why’d you go and put this shirt back on?” he grumbled.

She didn’t bother to respond. The shirt had hitched up to her waist, leaving her mostly nude and exposed to his caresses. It didn’t hamper him much at all.

His unselfish loving really was amazing, she thought a few minutes later when he expanded his therapeutic massage to the tender folds between her legs. He tickled and teased with his fingers, making her breathless with need. Then he filled her with hard, powerful demand. She moved against him with driving urgency until they’d both found complete, shuddering satisfaction.

Hot and sweaty again, they collapsed against the sheets and sucked in ragged breaths.

Nick finally spoke in a low, gruff voice. “That’s some great therapy,
mia l’angelo
.”

“Exhausting but restorative,” she agreed, and they shared soft laughter.

“It also requires a lot of energy,” he said. “You goin’ back to sleep?”

“Are you starving too?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do we have any food left?”

“Not much, but there’s a café down the street that serves the best breakfast in the city.”

“Doughnut shop?”

He growled and smacked her bare behind. Keri heard herself giggling. He had her giggling again.

“It’s still the middle of the night,” she argued.

“They open at five and it’s after four now. Fishermen need an early start and a hearty breakfast.”

“You get the first shower,” she said. “I’ll wait until the water heater has time to actually heat the water.”

Nick chuckled and pressed a kiss to her lips before crawling from the bed. Despite the dim lighting, Keri enjoyed the sight of his tight, naked, incredibly sexy tush. The man really had a great set of buns, she thought. Another giggle bubbled up her throat.

She hadn’t felt so happy and content for a very long time. Maybe never. Not knowing how long it might last, she decided not to worry, but just enjoy. After all, she was on vacation. What more could a woman want than a fabulous vacation fling with an incredibly gorgeous, sensitive lover? She also loved the gentle rocking motion of the boat.

Dragging herself from bed, she collected her pocketbook and was waiting when Nick exited the bathroom.
Head
, she mentally corrected. In nautical terms, the head meant the bathroom.

“Stupid name for a bathroom,” she told him.

“What? The head? It’s not stupid. There’s no bathtub in there so why would you call it a bathroom?”

“I’ll have to think about that for a while.” Meanwhile, she soaked up the sight of him bare-chested with a towel draped around his waist. There was still so much of his body she wanted to explore.

“Water’s warmer now. You want to borrow something else to wear?”

“I have fresh underwear and yesterday’s clothes aren’t dirty, just a little wrinkled. They’ll be fine.”

“After breakfast, we can go shopping. Not that I mind having you naked, but we’ll need to leave the
Adrianna
occasionally, and I don’t really want anyone else seeing you that way.”

“I’ll have to go home shortly,” she reminded.

He frowned and moved closer. Cupping the side of her face in his hand, he brushed his thumb across her lips and then kissed her lightly. His gaze held hers captive.

“One night with me and you’re thinking about leaving? Why don’t you just stab me in the gut?”

She didn’t blink but held his steady gaze. “You know I can’t stay very long.”

His brows creased. “You’re on vacation. Nobody expects you home for two more weeks.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. Despite the desire to be together, to shut out the rest of the world, they still had serious issues to deal with in Tennessee. Most importantly, whatever Russ and his militia were up to at home.

“Isn’t your vacation officially over?” she asked softly. After another long few seconds, Nick sighed.

“Damn, sometimes it’s real annoying to be one of the good guys.”

“Obligations? Responsibilities? Annoying stuff like that?” she asked.

“We’ll worry about that later. I should hear something from Lieutenant Alexander by afternoon. Until then, we’re just a carefree couple enjoying vacation. Okay?”

She offered him a smile. “Okay,’ she agreed, and then slipped out of his arms.

Keri took a shower and dried her hair, thankful her short style didn’t require much attention. She dressed quickly and found Nick had dressed as well. He wore jeans and a dark blue T-shirt. The well-worn fabrics hugged his hips and waist and muscled chest with loving familiarity. Even though he’d dressed casually, he looked good enough to eat.

“Ready?” he asked.

“My hair’s damp, but that’s no big deal.”

He turned the key of a locked drawer, opened it and withdrew his wallet, badge and a small gun. He tucked the wallet and badge in his back pockets, and the gun into his waistband at the small of his back. To conceal it, he pulled on a lightweight sport coat, also blue.

“You need a weapon to get breakfast?”

“I’m still a cop, you know.”

She’d deliberately put that out of her mind. Knowing men were always ready to do battle, she still found it hard to get her pacifistic mind around the concept.

As they made their way off the
Adrianna
, Keri glanced at the now-peaceful docks. The hustle of the city’s nightlife had faded to dead-of-the-night quiet. A light fog drifted over the water. The air felt heavy and humid on her skin. Despite the warm temperature, it gave her goose bumps.

Nick put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. He chased away the chill and the eeriness she attributed to being in a totally foreign environment. As they moved across the parking lot to her SUV, she slipped an arm around his waist, but the bulge of his gun made her shiver again.

He clicked the remote to release the locks and opened the passenger door for her. Sensing her discomfort, he turned her in his arms and gave her a long, slow kiss.

“Stop thinking and worrying so much,” he ordered. “Trust me for a while.”

Keri relaxed and gave him a smile. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

In the predawn hours of the morning, Walt and Jack Merritt moved around their home in compatible silence. They took turns in the shower and making coffee. Both dressed in standard gray uniforms, a style the Thornsbury sheriff’s department had used for half a century.

Juice, toast and cereal sufficed for breakfast. Their morning routine didn’t vary much without Keri in the house.

“You got home really late,” Walt said as they sat down at the table.

“I stayed at the cabin until midnight and didn’t want to wake you that late. Keri wasn’t there.”

“Not there?”

“A note on the door said she’d gone to Knoxville.”

The sheriff frowned. “She said she might, but she didn’t mention staying overnight. Did anything look out of place?”

“In my sister’s typical fashion, she left the cabin super tidy and organized. Not a thing out of place.”

“But?”

“But something didn’t feel right. All my old spare clothes had been washed.”

Walt brushed that off and took a big drink of coffee. “She’s probably bored. The place has been empty for two years. I bet she gave it a thorough cleaning. Russ did say she’d baked pies. Hasn’t made time for that in a long while.”

Jack swallowed a mouthful of toast, and added, “She must have been really thorough because I could tell she’d cleaned the first-aid kit. The gun and handcuffs too.”

Walt set his coffee cup on the table and stared at his son. “She never touches that gun. You know she hates it. What else?”

“I snooped around in the trash. She’d burned everything in the barrel, but I found a couple bits of gauze. Looked like blood stains on it.”

The sheriff held his son’s gaze. “She could have cut herself. Maybe just a finger prick and nothing serious.”

“Well, since I had time to poke around, I also checked out the safety hatch in the bedroom closet. It’s been used recently too. Lots of disturbed cobwebs and dust through the whole passageway and the trap door’s been opened.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her to clean down there.”

Jack shook his head. “I couldn’t make out all the footprints, but there were definitely two sets of prints, one male and one female.”

“Damn!” Walt whispered softly.

“Yeah, I’m thinkin’ Lamanto never really made it out of the county.”

“Why do you think Lamanto?”

“The footprints in the bomb shelter looked more like fancy Italian loafers than sneakers or boots. Maybe his lieutenant didn’t lie to us when he said he hadn’t heard from him. My guess is he’s been holed up at the cabin with Keri.”

“Double damn,” swore Walt. “You think she deliberately sneaked him out of town?”

Jack frowned and took a sip of his coffee. “That’s what I can’t figure. She didn’t seem too taken with the guy, and she’s always gotten along well with Don. I don’t know why she’d have helped Lamanto.”

Walt’s voice went grim. “Maybe he forced her.”

“She passed me at a check point outside of town. I ran a quick flashlight through the SUV but didn’t notice anything out of place.”

“He could have highjacked her somewhere along the way. Then again, we did find a blood trail, and she’s always been a sucker for a wounded animal of any sorts.”

“He could have flagged her down later or just stood in the road and dared her not to stop.”

“Whatever happened, she took him into the bomb shelter.”

Both men understood the implication. “So she trusts him.”

“At least we know she’s not his hostage.”

“They’ve been up there for almost a week. How the hell did they pull it off right under Russ’s nose?” wondered Jack.

“Just outsmarted him. Keri’s been doing that since kindergarten.”

“Well hell,” added Jack as he rose from the table and cleared their small amount of dishes. “It’s bad enough having her near the compound, but if Lamanto’s in any condition to snoop, he might stir up a whole hornet’s nest of trouble.”

“We sure don’t need any more trouble.”

Gathering their guns and jackets, they shut off lights and headed out the door. Both went quiet as they left the house and climbed into the sheriff’s SUV.

“Want me to go back up today? Or send Dwayne to check on her? Maybe she took Lamanto to the nearest bus station and went back to the cabin.”

“I’ll try to track her first with the GPS on her phone and car. No matter where she is, she may not be willing to cut her vacation short and come home. You know she hates being told what she should or shouldn’t do.”

“I’ll tell her Don is asking to see her since he regained consciousness.”

“Is he?”

“He asked if she was working. He denies it, but I think he’s pretty hung up on her.”

“Good idea. I don’t like not knowing exactly where she is. I want her safe at home.”

“You think it’s time for combat?”

“It won’t be long now.”

Nick and Keri shared a leisurely breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall café with surprisingly good food. Next they hit a twenty-four-hour superstore for a few items of clothing she needed. She argued about him paying, but he reminded her that a personal credit or debit card purchase could be traced.

“Do you want your family and the entire Thornsbury sheriff’s department homing in on our location?”

“A rhetorical question,” she replied tersely.

He paid for their purchases and they returned to her car, arms loaded with plastic bags. Once they’d stashed them in the back seat, Keri promised to repay him.

“Do you ever let anyone do anything for you? Just because?” he asked, drawing her slowly into his arms.

She lifted her hands to his chest and gazed into his eyes. “Because why? Because I’m a woman? Because I’m single? Because they want something in return?”

“Stubborn woman,” he argued, dropping a kiss on her lips. “Just because I enjoy doing things for and with you? Is that so hard to accept,
mia l’angelo
? Do you always have to be the one doing the giving?”

Keri smiled slowly and arched her hips closer to his. She enjoyed the swift reaction of his body and nudged him harder. “If you really want to do something for me, why don’t you take me back to your floating bachelor pad and seduce me in your big, comfortable bed?”