Hot Pursuit (46 page)

At the moment he was high off of her incredible pussy. Her scent, so rich and fresh, and the knowledge that he would be her first, and her only if he had anything to say about it, were so intoxicating. He moved between her legs and nestled himself so he could taste her.

Ben had died and gone to heaven. She soaked his face. Her cream was thick, pungent, and tasted so good he might have feasted on her all night.

“Ben!” she cried, gripping the bedspread with both hands. Even her right hand was grasping the blanket as tightly as her left hand. “Oh my God! Wait! I can’t…” She trailed off.

“Yes, you can,” he told her, and continued licking, sucking, and devouring her wonderful smooth, wet pussy.

Zoey came off the bed, moving to a full sitting position as she grabbed his head. She was pushing him away and trying to move his face closer at the same time. One hand was shoving while the other held on. Ben wouldn’t have moved if his life depended on it. He drank from her, positive this orgasm was better than the first orgasm he’d given her in the cabin in Zounds. He got so damn hard with that knowledge he was barely able to breathe.

Before she’d come down from her climax, he came over her. Easing her up his bed, he basked in the flushed look on her face. Ben managed to reach for the small box of condoms he’d placed in his bedside drawer and ripped the box open. He tore the condom from its package and fumbled far too long putting it on.

In truth it probably took seconds. They were seconds he didn’t want stolen away from her. Soon he would discuss birth control with her, but for tonight, possibly their first few times, condoms would work fine. He just needed to learn how to put them on without looking away from her. There had never been a woman before who affected him the way Zoey did. Ben didn’t want to lose a moment of time with her. It didn’t matter that he planned on keeping her by his side forever. He wanted to enjoy every single minute of the rest of their lives with her.

As he began easing into her, Zoey’s soaked heat tightened around him. Ben moved slowly. It would kill him. When he realized his eyes were closed and opened them, Zoey stared up with an erotic fascination on her face.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to hers.

“Deeper,” she urged.

God! He was only a man. Zoey was young. It was her first time. And damn it, he wanted this to be perfect for her. But when she ground her nails into his shoulders, urging him forward, he plunged deep inside her.

“Oh!” she cried.

He stopped. It killed him. Blood boiled in his veins. His heart pounded too hard in his chest. His vision blurred.

“Ben,” she begged.

He wasn’t sure if it was from pleasure or pain. Ben had never had a virgin before, and he never would again. This needed to be perfect for both of them.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

Zoey shook her head. “Make love to me.”

“I love you,” he told her, the words coming so easily as he began moving inside her.

“I love you, too.”

Chapter Twenty

“Who was that?” Ben asked as he dropped his gear from his truck—his bulletproof vest and harness—on the couch inside the KFA office.

“Maggie O’Malley’s brother.” Zoey walked past Ben and flipped the
CLOSED
sign around on the door to the office, then pulled the Bluetooth from her ear.

“Maggie’s brother?” Ben peered out of the window at the small red Kia pulling out of the circular drive.

“Yeah,” Zoey said from behind him, not elaborating.

In the past six months, neither of them had talked much of their first meeting in Zounds or of Micah and Maggie. Ben had thought about Micah from time to time. He figured he always would. The way he saw it, no news was good news.

“What did he want?” He couldn’t imagine her brother seeking out a bounty hunter. Or if he did need such services, the last place he would come to was KFA.

“Well,” Zoey said, and walked behind her desk. “He dropped off this.”

Ben walked over to the desk and noticed the pile of paperwork that had been there when he’d left earlier that day was gone. Haley had been more than impressed with how efficiently Zoey ran the office. And Zoey had taken over the place as if it had always been her business. She was a natural at organizing and loved the job. Ben loved seeing her while he was working. Win-win all the way round.

“What’s this?” he asked, wrapping his arms around Zoey’s waist and resting his head on her shoulder as he looked at what she had in her hand. “A brochure for a bounty-hunting school?”

“Not just any bounty-hunting school,” she explained, and held up the front of the brochure. “It is the Maggie O’Malley School of Bounty Hunting.”

“Are you serious?”

Ben took the glossy brochure from Zoey and held it up, staring at the cabin-like structure set back on a large, grassy lot in the picture. Underneath the name of the school it said;
Let no man or woman go missing.

“Catchy.” Ben flipped open the brochure and glanced at the courses offered. “Greg King is teaching a class?” he asked, shocked.

Zoey inched closer to Ben. “I hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet. But that’s amazing. Of course they would want Greg to teach. He’s the best there is.”

Ben looked down at her and smiled. In the time they’d been together, Zoey had worked to learn everything about bounty hunting there was to know. She had no desire at all to get a private investigator’s license, in spite of Haley’s gentle teasing. But Zoey was a wiz in the office and wanted to understand every aspect of what they did at KFA.

“Are you up to taking a ride?”

“Sure. Where?”

Ben tapped the brochure. “Let’s do a drive-by. The O’Malleys obviously put up some money for this school. I know her family is distraught over her being a missing person, and are even more sick that they believe she’s dead.”

“You said that’s how it has to be,” Zoey said under her breath, staring at the brochure.

“Yes, it is.” He hugged her close. “I’m impressed they want to start a school to help men and women be the best bounty hunters they can be. Greg is an amazing teacher.”

“He made you a great bounty hunter.”

Ben could get real used to the look of adoration Zoey gave him. “I have a lot to learn. And if you’ll remember, I didn’t find Micah. He found me.”

It was mid-March and a beautiful night. Had they been in Zounds, it would have been freezing. But as they drove up the coast, it was perfect weather for a ride. Zoey was tucked in behind him, wearing her leather jacket, which was a miniature version of his. She fit on his bike as if the motorcycle had been built for both of them. His day had been long, grueling, and he was glad to be off work. As much as he loved his job, spending time with Zoey off work made his life complete.

And she loved his neck of the woods, so to speak. Zoey loved shopping in the mall. She loved walking barefoot on the beach. She loved making their townhome into a cozy home for two. Ben loved everything about Zoey, absolutely everything.

Zoey tapped Ben’s shoulder, and he nodded. Part of her job description was answering the phones for KFA, which was a 24/7 job. The phone was ringing, and she wouldn’t be able to hear or talk very well on the back of his bike. Ben pulled over and put the kickstand down.

“KFA,” Zoey said in her businesslike tone, which was soft and sultry. Whether someone needed a bounty hunter for good or bad reasons—there were all kinds out there—they always wanted KFA in their corner after hearing Zoey’s gentle, friendly voice on the phone. “Haley, hi,” Zoey said, the enthusiasm in her voice picking up as she spoke. “We’ve left the office. Actually, we’re driving out to this new Maggie O’Malley school.… You are?… That’s great! We’re almost there, I think.”

Ben nodded to confirm.

“Sounds great. We’ll see you there.”

She hung up the phone by tapping her earpiece as Ben turned in his seat to see her better. “Greg and Haley are heading to the school, too?”

“They are already there.”

Ben and Zoey pulled to a stop a bit later in front of a very large, rather old-looking home that looked as if recently it had been completely remodeled. Its Spanish architecture wasn’t uncommon. There were new red tiles on the roof and a wide, large porch that wrapped around the front of the stone-structured home. The two of them climbed off the bike behind the Kings’ black Avalanche. Ben searched the area, not sure where Greg and Haley were.

“Want me to call them again?”

“Let’s walk around a bit,” Ben suggested, taking Zoey’s hand and leading the way to the large home. He glanced up at a sign above the front porch that said: School of Maggie O’Malley Bounty Hunting.

“Someone put some money into this place,” Zoey commented once she and Ben had walked up onto the front porch.

“What I was thinking.”

Ben took in the new windows and noticed the porch had been freshly painted.

Along the side of the house were stairs leading off the porch. The two of them strolled to the rear of the house. Greg and Haley were standing behind the house talking and looked up at the same time as Ben and Zoey came into view.

“Pretty impressive, huh,” Greg said when the two joined them.

“Very,” Ben said, and sensed the apprehension in Greg’s tone but more on his face when they faced each other. “When does it open its doors?”

“They are offering a couple summer classes, then full-time this fall,” Haley offered.

Long shadows stretched off the backside of the house. Haley looked among all of them up at the large renovated home.

“We were just discussing the conversation we had with the O’Malleys earlier today,” Greg said. “I was surprised they approached me to teach a class when the man they blame for the abduction of their daughter and sister worked for me.”

“If they are going to do this, it doesn’t surprise me they want to do it right,” Ben said.

“That’s just it,” Haley began explaining. “This wasn’t their idea. An anonymous donation was sent to them. Maggie’s brother contacted us a couple weeks ago, but at that time he wasn’t too friendly, and almost a bit more accusatory about having received the letter and money.”

“Money?” Ben questioned. “As in a check?”

“No,” Greg said slowly. “It was a money order. In fact, there were quite a few money orders, enough to total several hundred thousand dollars.”

“And,” Haley continued, picking up when her husband took a breath, “this house had already been purchased, with cash, again by an anonymous buyer. Everything had already been set up for the school to open.”

“Let me guess, this anonymous buyer and whoever provided the donations also had the name of the school picked out.”

“The boy’s quick,” Greg said, looking at Haley as he thumbed in Ben’s direction.

“Did I get the call from Maggie’s brother?” Zoey asked, her brow narrowed as she frowned at the ground between all of them. She looked up as she asked her next question. “You said he first contacted you a couple weeks ago?”

“Yup,” Greg confirmed.

Shadows descended around all of them, but none of them noticed. Ben already knew Micah was behind the donations and buying this huge old home. Greg and Haley knew it was him as well.

“Did he believe Micah had sent the money and bought the house?” Ben asked.

Greg and Haley both looked at him at the same time. When Haley started walking toward the house, Greg took her hand and walked with her. Ben and Zoey followed. It seemed sunset moved faster that night than usual. It was almost dark as the four of them started around the house.

“They were positive the money and home were because of Micah,” Haley said. She didn’t look over her shoulder as she spoke but at the quiet surroundings, with its variety of trees from sycamores to palm trees and sage scrub beyond the immediate grounds. “That’s why it took so long for Maggie’s brother to come to us.”

“How long did he have the money and know about this place?” Ben asked. He glanced up at the tall house as they walked alongside it. Numerous windows indicated it had at least four or five bedrooms, if not parlors and dens or other rooms not officially deemed bedrooms.

“Her brother was curt, to say the least, when he first called.” Haley laughed.

“But we insisted we meet in person,” Greg said, taking over the conversation. “We came out here with him yesterday, but he didn’t have a key.”

“We can’t get inside the place?” Ben asked.

“Wait a minute, when were the brochures printed? It says you’re one of the instructors.”

Greg glanced over his shoulder and grinned at Zoey when she pointed out what she and Ben had seen on the brochure. “I agreed to do that two weeks ago, before Maggie’s brother even wanted to open the doors to this place.”

“We knew the school would open,” Haley added, smiling up at her husband. “The O’Malleys just had to come to terms with the fact that this was what their daughter wanted. It’s Maggie’s way of showing her parents that she is still alive.”

“Or they could take it as Micah’s way of showing them that Maggie is dead,” Ben pointed out, taking the devil’s advocate role.

“Ben,” Zoey scolded.

They came around the front of the house toward Greg and Haley’s Avalanche and Ben’s bike.

“So we can’t go inside?” Ben asked.

“Ben!” Zoey demanded, tugging his arm and pointing toward the house. “Look. What’s that?”

“The front door is open,” Haley announced, excited as she let go of Greg’s hand and ran to the door.

Everyone was right behind her.

“But this.” Zoey kept pointing. “Oh my God, look!”

The two women raced up the front-porch stairs at the same time. It was Zoey who scooped up the baby rattle that was on the front porch, a light blue rattle.

“This wasn’t here before. I swear it wasn’t here,” Zoey announced, her voice shrill with excitement.

Haley was already pushing her way through the front door and running through the large parlor, although she stopped at the large doorway that led into a very spacious living-room area. She was looking around frantically, her eyes wide when she stared at her husband in the dark.

Greg pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight that he had on it. Ben did the same, and soon the women followed. Beams of lights chased one another around the interior of the front of the house, which didn’t make it any easier to see.