In Broad Daylight (19 page)

representative."

His foot hovered on the brake as they took the incline down. "He beat you?"

She was about to deny it, but what was the point? It was all part of her and fortunately,

in the past. "Sometimes."

Eyes on the twisted path, he spared her a quick look. "Where was children's services?"

"Servicing other children," Brenda quipped, then decided he deserved more of an answer

than that. "To get into the picture, someone would had to have called them."

He didn't see why no one would have. "Nobody noticed you had bruises?"

There were no bruises visible to the world at large. "My father was very good at hitting

me only where they couldn't be detected."

"How about the hospital?" It was the duty of doctors in the ER to report anything

suspicious when it came to children.

He was being incredibly sweet, she thought, worrying about the girl she'd been. She found

that enormously touching. Hormones again, she reasoned. But the effect was still there.

"He never broke anything so I never had to go. Besides, most of the damage he inflicted

was verbal." She sighed, reliving a moment. It had been just after her mother left. He'd

put the blame on her shoulders and almost succeeded in making her believe she was at

fault. "He did know how to run a person down."

There was a light at the bottom of the hill. Dax stopped there and looked at her. It was

as if she was talking about someone else's past. "You don't seem any the worse for it."

One side of her mouth rose a little in a half smile. "That's because I liked myself even if

he didn't. And I'd already promised myself that I wasn't going to turn into someone who

was bitter, someone who could only look for answers in the bottom of a bottle."

Her father had been a drunk and both verbally and physically abusive. No wonder she'd

run off with the first man who asked her. He found himself wishing that he had been the

one to come to her rescue. "You're a remarkable woman, you know that?"

Her smile widened then, with both sides of her mouth fitting into it. He could feel himself

becoming captivated. "Just your average, everyday survivor, that's all," she told him as he stepped on the gas again.

"Nothing average about you, Brenda York."

The sound of his voice danced along her skin, romancing her. Seducing her.

He was drawing her in. Little by little, she thought, he was drawing her in, making her

believe that maybe, just maybe, things could work out between them in the long run. That

he, Dax Cavanaugh, was the one she'd been looking for so long. The Prince on the White

Charger was actually a cop driving a navy-blue car, but the particulars didn't matter. What

mattered was that he made her feel the way she'd once believed she could feel. Wildly

giddy. Empowered. Wonderful.

And how was he going to feel once he knew she was pregnant? Assuming that he was

anywhere near feeling what she felt to begin with?

Which was a big if, she reminded herself.

Brenda tried in vain to shake off the thought. This was all transitory, she silently insisted.

It would be over before she knew it.

But before it was…

But before it was she wanted to savor it, to enjoy what she could. Because this was her

one shot. There was no question in her mind that it was. She knew that in her soul. Until

he'd come along, she'd almost given up believing it was possible to feel like this. Even if

that shot missed, she'd have memories and at bottom, that was all they all had. Memories.

"Hungry?"

She had a feeling that wasn't the first time he'd asked her just now. She focused her

mind and nodded. A change of subject to something nice and neutral was good. "How about

pizza?"

He was about to make the suggestion himself. "No more craving for French fries?" he

teased.

She looked at him sharply. Craving was just a word he'd pulled out of the air. "No," she teased back. "I've decided to switch cravings to pizza."

"Then pizza it is."

As he entered the early evening flow of traffic, he eased back on the gas. Taking out his

cell phone, he punched a single number and checked in with the two officers he'd left at

the bus terminal. As expected, they had nothing new or positive to report. No one in the

area remembered seeing a man in a Giants cap and jacket carrying two black bags. So much

for getting a description of a possible getaway vehicle.

Suppressing his frustration, Dax told the men to go back to the precinct and see if any of

the calls had yielded something for them to work with. He didn't hold out much hope

there, either, but you never knew. Some of the biggest cases had been solved by accident,

because of something that had nothing to do with the case in the first place. The pieces

were all out there, he just had to find them and place them in their proper order.

For the moment, as far as the case went, they were gridlocked. He had an uneasy feeling

there was something he was missing, a piece that wasn't fitting in with the rest, but for

the life of him, he couldn't see it from this perspective.

He needed his batteries recharged. Dinner might help.

Making a decision, Dax drove up to a restaurant that was known throughout the area for

its pizza. This was where you went when you wanted to indulge in some serious pizza-

eating. Pulling into the lot, he paused a moment after cutting off the engine and looked at

Brenda.

'To go?"

Eating dinner here would be safer. But she didn't want to be safe. Not tonight. Tonight

she wanted to be with him. Even more than she wanted the pizza.

She smiled in response to his question. "To go."

Forty-five minutes later, they were in her apartment, on the floor, the box with its hot,

bubbling pizza between them. To their credit, they ate some of it before other appetites

rose to push the thought of food far into the background.

As he took her into his arms, Dax realized that he'd been waiting for this from the

moment he'd woken up beside her this morning. Despite the case, despite everything he

knew should come first, thoughts of being with her, of making love with her, had hovered

in his mind through the course of the day. Another first.

Healthy, red-blooded with a finely tuned libido, Dax still knew how to put everything

extraneous, everything that didn't pertain to his case, on hold whenever he was working.

Up until now, it had all been compartmentalized. When he was working, those kind of

thoughts, those kind of urges, just didn't enter into his working world.

But now they had. Entered into it like Caesar marching intoRome.

All he wanted was to be with her in every manner possible, make love with her until he

couldn't draw a steady breath into his lungs.

Maybe even after that.

"I like the taste of pizza served this way," he told her, savoring it on her lips. He licked his own, then ran his tongue along hers again.

Her heart continued hammering. The deep kiss had almost sent her over the edge. It had

certainly done a number on her pulse. And managed to blot out all thoughts of everything

but him. The word "more" urgently echoed in her brain.

Her body quickening, moistening, she smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Another serving coming up," she promised just before she pressed her mouth to his.

She could feel the urgency in his body, the desire that took hold of him instantly and

gloried in the response she felt in her own. She could feel her body humming with

anticipation, heating even as all he touched was her back as he pressed her closer to him.

And eagerness seized her, laced with a measure of fear.

What if last time had been an anomaly? What if it was only a one-time thing, heightened

by her vulnerability and her need to be wanted?

But even as she worried, she could feel Dax working his magic, could feel the fear

loosening its bonds from around her. In her heart, sheknewhe wouldn't disappoint her.

The man was a wizard, casting spells on her with his hands, with his mouth. With his body

as it pressed against hers.

She couldn't wait.

Eagerness seized her, spurring her on. The moment he began to undress her, her fingers

began to work the buttons out of their holes on his shirt, tugging it out of her pants. All

the while, as she worked, their lips hardly broke contact and when they did, she was quick

to reintroduce the connection again.

Her head was spinning and she loved it.

Loved him.

The single thought vibrated in her mind. She buried it immediately, afraid of what it

might mean. Of where it could lead her.

Better to live for the moment.

He made her feel beautiful. As his fingers strummed along her skin, touching, caressing,

fondling, he made her feel beautiful, like some exquisite piece of art fashioned just for

him. Admired just by him.

She knew it was all an illusion, but he made her feel loved and for the space of a tiny

eternity, she clung to it.

And as she did so, all the feverish sensations speeding through her body intensified. She

realized that it was as if last night with him had been a dress rehearsal and now this was

the real thing.

This was show time.

She could barely catch her breath, but even so, she wanted more. More of the wild rush

she felt as he took her from one climax to the next, accomplishing it in a variety of ways

she hadn't thought possible.

Dax found places at the side of her neck, in the hollow of her elbow, along the slope of

her belly. Over and over again, the explosions came, seizing her in their grasp, making her

sob his name. Tossing her between agony and ecstasy.

Next time, she promised herself, next time she'd make him go out of his mind. But right

now, he was doing it to her. Rocking her world, transforming it into a fourth of July

celebration. It seemed that his primary concern was that he brought her pleasure. She

adored him for that, too.

But what if, a tiny voice whispered in her head, there wasn't going to be a next time?

What if this was it, the last time they would make love together?

The thought, the fear, spurred her on.

Summoning strength from some nether region she hadn't known she had access to, Brenda

managed to flip their positions. The surprise on his face was worth the superhuman effort

it had taken her.

He'd barely kept himself in check. Twice he'd wanted to enter her, to savor the ultimate

moment with her, and yet he'd held off, wanting to please her. Wanting to blot out the

memory of every other man she'd ever been with from her mind just as she'd blotted out

the memory of every other woman from his. He didn't know where this was going, told

himself to take it as it came, but in his heart, Dax knew that this was different. She was

different. She mattered.

He held on to her hips as she fitted herself over him, then bit back a cry as she began to

move them in a timeless rhythm that seized him.

"Damn, but you're beautiful," Dax murmured as he filled his hands with her hair and drew her down to him. He wanted the taste of her lips on his when the ultimate rush came.

And when, in the next heartbeat, it did, he knew that he didn't want it to end. Didn't

want to ever have to let her go.

The realization scared him, but at the same time, he knew that it felt right. That she felt

right.

«^»

He didn't know he could be this happy.

As far back as he could remember, barring some momentary crisis or other, he'd always

been a happy person. It was a natural state of being, coupled with the optimism that

seemed a given within most of his family, immediate and extended.

But he'd never been happy, reallyhappywith a capitalHbefore.

It was as if wild bursts of sunshine went off in his bloodstream at unannounced moments

and all he could do was sit back in awe of it, never knowing when the next one would hit. He

was powerless to divert it, powerless to initiate it. But he could enjoy it.

And make love with Brenda again. Which he did. With all the passion and tenderness he

could muster.

After the euphoria had settled deep into his bones the second time, Dax struggled to

rouse himself rather than to give in to the very real temptation of staying the night with

Brenda, holding her in his arms. The struggle was made more intense by the fact that his

cell phone hadn't rung, which meant that none of the people working on the task force

under him had anything they thought important enough to share with him.

A lazy contentment threatened to spill out through his body, claiming him. The scent of

her hair seeped into his senses, seducing him. Dax dug his knuckles into the mattress,

forcing himself into a sitting position. He had to get up before his resolve became the

consistency of a fruit pop left out in the sun.

"Don't go," Brenda whispered, wrapping her fingers around his arm. Surprising him.

Dax laughed softly and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. "I thought you fell

asleep."

She allowed herself a soulful sigh, making him think of a cat who had just eaten a saucer

of cream. "Just resting." Her mouth curved as she looked up at him. Another salvo of

sunshine went off in his veins. "Trying to get my strength back for another go 'round."

This time, the laugh was louder as he shook his head in wonder. "You're giving me a hell of