Guilty as Sin (42 page)

When she turned around, she saw her father’s eyes were suspiciously wet. “She’s going to be okay,” Jackson said, and pulled her into a hug. Brooke closed her eyes and breathed in his familiar, comfortable smell. She’d been so busy pushing him away, pretending she didn’t need anyone after Mom died, she’d forgotten how good it felt to have her dad hug her. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she said for what felt like the dozenth time today.

“I told you, honey, I don’t blame you—”

“I’m not just talking about Tricia,” Brooke said, tilting
her head back so she could meet her father’s gaze. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch lately, after Mom—”

“It’s okay. We’re both having a hard time, and when we get home we all need to work on pulling ourselves back together. We already lost Mom. We can’t lose each other.”

Brooke stayed close to his side, his arm around her shoulders as they walked out to the waiting room, where Ben was. He stood up eagerly when he saw her.

Her heart shuddered in her chest as she returned his smile. When she’d first met him, she figured they’d hook up a couple times and that would be that. She’d never imagined that he’d end up being someone who’d stick by her unconditionally during one of the most difficult periods in her life.

“I was hoping Ben could give you a ride home,” Jackson said, his mouth quirking wryly as Ben eagerly reached out for her hand.

“No problem.” Ben nodded enthusiastically.

“What about you?” Brooke turned to her father.

“I’m going to stay here with Tricia. I don’t want her to be alone.”

“I’ll stay too—” Jackson lifted up a hand to silence her.

“You go have fun, get some rest. Tracy will be over at nine to stay the night with you. I don’t want you staying alone.”

“Sir, I’m happy to stay with Brooke,” Ben broke in. “There’s no need to bother Tracy.”

“Ben, you’re a nice kid, and I like you, but no way in hell are you and Brooke staying unchaperoned under the same roof.”

Ben’s hand dropped from Brooke’s shoulder and he jumped away from her like she was on fire. “I didn’t—I wouldn’t—” Hot color flooded his cheeks and Brooke felt her own cheeks flame.

“And Tracy will be there later to make sure you don’t,” he said, leveling what Brooke liked to call his drill sergeant look at them.

“Jeez, Dad, don’t worry.” She rolled her eyes. She leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Promise you’ll call if she wakes up or anything?”

Her dad nodded and she and Ben started for the door. “Hold on, I want to say bye to Kate,” Brooke said, looking around the waiting room for the other woman.

“She took off with Tommy about ten minutes ago,” Ben said, stepping out of the way to let a dark-haired man in a flannel shirt pass them coming the other way.

Her lips pulled into a knowing smile. “I thought they might be hooking up again.”

“What do you mean, again?”

Brooke lowered her voice. “You know how Kate’s brother was killed?”

“Yeah.” Ben grimaced. “By Emerson Flannery. You know Erin who runs the Mary’s? He was her uncle.”

“Well, the night it happened, Kate was supposed to be watching her brother, but she’d snuck off to fool around with Tommy Ibarra.”

Ben’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow, she totally doesn’t seem the type. She seems kind of, I don’t know, uptight. They both do.”

Brooke shrugged. “They were a lot younger then. Anyway, Kate told me her dad had kept all of that out of the press.” It occurred to her that Kate might not want that information to get out now either. “And I don’t think she wants anyone else to know, so don’t say anything to anyone, okay?”

“Promise.”

They’d reached the hospital entrance and Brooke paused
for a minute, bracing herself to run the gantlet of reporters milling outside. “No comment, okay? Sheriff Kovacs doesn’t want any of us talking to the press until he gets a chance to question Tricia.”

Ben nodded and tucked her protectively against his side before he activated the automatic door.

B
y the time Tommy got to his place, he was so keyed up he could barely key in the code to unlock his security gate. On the drive over, he’d tried to distract them both by discussing Tricia’s case and Kate’s plans for dealing with the press over the next few days. Several outlets were contacting Kate to comment on the case, but she wasn’t going to give an official statement until CJ was able to question Tricia.

But even speculating on the identity of a violent criminal who preyed on young women didn’t do much to take the edge off Tommy’s raging desire. He’d never felt anything like this with any other woman. This intensity that went beyond need, beyond lust.

Only with Kate.
Always
with Kate. He’d done everything in his power to keep it locked down, under control, convinced if he let it loose again it would be as disastrous as it had been the first time around.

But as she reached for his hand and let him help her from the truck, an eager glimmer in her eye, he couldn’t do anything but give in, give over to it. Being with Kate was as inevitable as the tides, and now that he’d stopped fighting, he realized nothing in his life ever felt as right as when he was with her.

He closed the front door and backed her up against it,
lifting her up so he could take her mouth in a deep, hungry kiss. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and eagerly parted her lips to take him.

He groaned at the first taste of her, sweet and spicy and better than anything he’d ever tasted in his life. His cock, which had been rock hard from the second he’d shut the door to his truck, strained against the fly of his pants until he thought he was going to bust through the seams.

And he hadn’t even undressed her yet.

He took a deep breath, willed himself to slow down, ease off. She was still injured, for fuck’s sake. He couldn’t go after her like a raging bull.

But God, it was hard to slow down when she sucked his tongue into her mouth and made those little high-pitched, needy sounds in the back of her throat.

“God, Katie, I need you, I need you so much,” he moaned against her lips.

“I need you too. I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you.”

He sucked and nipped at her lips, savoring the taste of her, absorbing every detail. Her fingers threaded in his hair, sending bolts of electricity through his scalp and rippling down his spine. Her nipples were hard little points against his chest, and the memory of them, so pink and sensitive against his fingers, made his blood go thick.

Her hand curved around his neck, and he let out a surprised hiss as her thumb brushed over a long scratch he must have gotten bushwhacking while he was searching for Tricia.

The tiny jolt of pain pulled him back from the razor’s edge, reminding him that he’d spent hours today out in the heat, that his skin was coated in a layer of dried sweat and grit.

He cupped her ass in his hands and pushed away from
the door, his lips never leaving hers as he carried her down the hall.

Kate barely noticed they were moving until Tommy peeled her legs from around his waist and set her feet on the floor.

“I need to clean up,” he said, and gave her one last, hard kiss before he stepped away. She blinked, swaying a little as she realized they were in Tommy’s bathroom. He quickly turned on the shower and soon the room was filled with steam.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that in the state she was in, it would take more than a little sweat and dirt to put her off. Then Tommy peeled off his T-shirt and the words died in her throat.

She stared hungrily at every inch of flesh that was revealed. God, he was gorgeous, his skin so tan and smooth, stretched tight over muscles that coiled and clenched as he pulled the shirt over his head. And now that she knew how he felt against her, skin to naked skin…

His pants came next, and Kate’s mouth practically watered as she took in long legs, thick with muscle. And in between… God, he was so gorgeous he made her mouth water. Long and thick, so hard she could see his pulse beat in the long vein that ran down the side.

As she watched, his own fist closed around the thick shaft, stroking up and down, making her own fingers itch to do the same. She tore her gaze away and lifted it to his face. He met hers with a look so hot she thought she was going to burst into flame.

“You gonna join me?” he said in a thick, gravelly voice that sent a pulse of need straight to her core.

Kate nodded mutely and scrambled to take off her T-shirt, skirt, panties, and bra and join Tommy under the hot spray.

Like everything else in Tommy’s house, the shower stall was anything but ordinary. Over sixteen feet square, it had shower heads mounted at various heights so no matter where you stood hot spray hit your body. There was a wide bench on one end. Just in case showering became so tiring you needed to take a rest.

This morning Kate had marveled at the luxury during her quick shower. Now she realized Tommy’s shower alone was nothing compared to Tommy’s shower with Tommy.

He pulled her to him and ran huge, soap-slicked hands down her arms, back, and legs.

“Don’t let me hurt you,” he murmured as he ran a gentle hand down her bruised ribs.

Kate was too distracted by the feel of his palms closing over her breasts to even think about pain.

“God, Katie, you’re so beautiful,” he said as he bent his head and sucked one pink nipple firmly between his lips.

She squeezed her legs together as every lick, every nip, every lash of his tongue on her nipples intensified the pulsing between her thighs. She’d never thought of her breasts as remarkably sensitive, but right now she felt like she could come any second with nothing more than his tongue on her nipples.

“I love how your tits feel in my hands, against my tongue,” he groaned.

Kate gave an answering cry as her sex clenched hard and shuddered almost like a mini-orgasm. “Oh, God, Tommy, if you’re not careful you’re going to make me come before we even get started.”

He gave a low chuckle and backed her up a few steps. “Then I guess I better move things along.”

He backed her up, urged her down on the bench seat, and sank to his knees in front of her. The hot spray gently pummeled her sides and legs as he threaded his fingers in her wet hair and took her mouth in a deep, tongue-thrusting kiss.

His other hand went back to her breasts. He cupped and squeezed, rolled her nipples between his fingers in a way that had her rocking her hips up off the warm tile, her body yearning in a way she’d never felt before. Never come close.

She’d never experienced anything like this sharp, needy ache that had her begging for his touch, desperate for release.

Desperate for him.

“Tommy,” she gasped against his mouth, unable to keep the pleading tone out of her voice. “Tommy, I need… I need you…”

“And I need you too,” he groaned, and pulled his mouth from hers and slid it down her neck, chest, his tongue tracing the shallow valley between her breasts before he kissed his way down her belly.

Kate’s breath caught in anticipation as Tommy delivered a firm sucking kiss to the skin beneath her navel before he pulled her ass closer to the edge of the bench. She braced her weight on her hands, her sex throbbing in anticipation as Tommy hooked her knees over his shoulders.

The first touch of his tongue sent her cry echoing through the small chamber.

He parted her with his thumbs and took her in long, slow swipes of his tongue, teasing her clit before sucking it in between his lips in a way that made every cell pull tight in anticipation of pleasure.

She’d tried to tell herself she’d been imagining things the other night, that it couldn’t possibly have been as good as her memories suggested.

But, oh, God… Kate had enjoyed oral sex in the past—
what wasn’t to like?—but somehow it was like Tommy was connected to her body, like he knew exactly how to touch, lick, suck, knowing exactly what she wanted before even she did.

And it wasn’t just his skill, it was the way he touched her. Like he was starving for the taste of her. Like he could never get enough of her. Like he was feeling her pleasure almost as keenly as she felt it herself.

Kate was usually modest during sex, preferring to have the lights off and her eyes closed, but with Tommy she didn’t want to miss a single detail. Biting her lip, she looked down and gasped. She’d never seen anything more erotic than the sight of Tommy’s dark head between her pale thighs, his tongue buried in her folds as he groaned in pleasure.