Jamie Hill Triple Threat (8 page)

He hesitated. He knew the right thing to do, and kissing her was definitely
not
it. But the tears that continued to run down her cheeks pierced him like arrows through his heart and he was miserably torn.

“Please, Jack. Don’t make me beg.” She traced his lip with her finger.

“Don’t beg,” he answered gruffly, and caught her hand in his so he could kiss her fingers lightly. He let go of her hand and used his thumbs to wipe the tears from her face. Their height difference was palpable as Jack leaned down and lifted her toward him in one motion. Her mouth met his. His tongue nudged her lips gently, and she opened her mouth to him hungrily. Their tongues darted back and forth. Jack pressed the small of her back against his rigid body. “Oh God, please don’t beg,” he murmured, his mouth on hers.

Crystal
ran her hands through his hair and tugged at him. He felt her neediness like an ache. She wanted as much as he could give her. Right then, in that moment. He kissed her again, his tongue delving into her mouth deeply as hers caressed him in return.

A little moan caught in the back of her throat and he swallowed it. But her whimpering brought him to complete arousal.
Crystal
pressed herself into him again and he groaned. She had to be fully aware of the effect she had on him.

With great reluctance, Jack pulled away from her. They both panted for breath. He knew what she wanted and gave her what he could. He wished it could have been more. “
One minute
,” he reminded her.

She pressed her lips against his again and murmured, “All right, I lied. Two minutes. Five minutes max.”

His lips curved upward in a smile and he sank back into the kiss. He let his hands slide down her back until they cupped her bottom securely.
Crystal
squirmed and pressed her body closer to his. He could feel her breasts crushed against his chest. As much as he wanted to, he knew he didn’t dare touch them. Once he started he'd never stop, and it was far too early in their relationship for that. He had already overstepped his boundaries. It was no secret to either of them that his rock-hard erection was pulsing against her belly. He could tell by the way she gyrated against him that she was enjoying it.

But they had to stop.

He pulled back slowly from her. They didn’t look at each other, and didn’t speak as he gathered up his paperwork and shoved it in his jacket pocket. He was putting the jacket on when they heard a car alarm sound from the street.

He swore and raced to the door.

“Yours?” she assumed. He nodded as he headed to the stairwell. “Call me!” she yelled after him, and Jack was gone.

He was sucking wind when he reached the front door to the building. He slammed it open and saw his truck, intact at first glance. He pushed the button on his keychain to stop the alarm. He walked around the truck and didn’t notice anything out of order. He leaned down with his hands on his knees until his breathing evened out.

Something caught his eye in the shadows and Jack spoke up. “Hey, Ralph.”

“I scared them off for you, Detective Dunlevy,” he murmured.

Jack pulled out his wallet and removed a five-dollar bill. He took a step closer to Ralph, cringing slightly at the smell, and extended the bill. “Thanks, Ralph. I appreciate it.”

Ralph snatched the money. “Yeah, sure, Detective Dunlevy. Anytime. Thanks, Detective Dunlevy.” He disappeared back into the gloom.

Jack unlocked the truck and got in. It started fine. He felt under the seat for his gun. It was stupid to leave it out here in this neighborhood, but he didn’t think he should wear it into the apartment with the children. He’d have to figure that one out. He drove, thinking he'd need to get Dave’s phone number to call
Crystal
at the apartment when his cell phone vibrated. He whipped it out and looked at the number: 
Unknown
.

“Dunlevy,” he wheezed into the phone, his breathing almost but not quite back to normal.

“Your truck okay?”
Crystal
asked nervously.

“Yeah. It’s my heart that’s questionable. I thought I was in better shape than that.”

“Seem like you’re in pretty good shape to me,” she murmured seductively.

He chuckled. “Yeah, well…Sorry I had to rush off.”

“Maybe it was for the best. I’m sorry about tonight.”

“What part? Polishing off the fries that I wasn’t finished with?”

“No,” she laughed softly. “The part where I kissed you, even after you said you didn’t want me to.”

“I never said I didn’t
want
you to. I said I couldn’t.
Shouldn’t
. There’s a huge difference.”

“Explain it to me.”

He scrunched up his face. With his left hand on the steering wheel, he used his right—still holding the phone—to scratch his head. Putting the phone back to his ear, he heard, “Hello? Hello? Never mind…”

“Crys,” he began quietly, “I have a job to do. If I start thinking about you…say for instance, how beautiful you are and how much I’d love to yank that clip out and run my hands through your hair…Well now, see, that might be a distraction.”

She chuckled softly again. “I’m glad you haven’t thought about it, then. I wouldn’t want to distract you.”

“No, we wouldn’t want that,” he agreed.

“I haven’t been thinking about you, either,” she said demurely. “I haven’t been thinking about kissing your earlobes and working my way down to your toes.”

Jack’s erection immediately sprang back to life. He groaned into the phone. “My truck is trying to turn itself around. I’m having a hell of a time fighting it. But the one thing that’s saving me is this. I’m not doing anything at that guy’s apartment. I don’t care if you change the sheets from now ‘til the cows come home.”

Crystal
snickered. “Lucky for us my place is right next door. We’ll figure it out, Jack. We’ve got some time yet.”

“A little added motivation for me to solve this case.”

“Little?” she teased.

He pictured the swell of her voluminous breasts and groaned again. “No, not little at all.”

Her laugh was seductive and driving him crazy. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Probably for the best, he thought. “Good night, Crys,” he said tenderly, and disconnected the call.

* * * *

The breakfast rush was over when
Crystal
spotted Jack entering the diner the next morning. “Well, hey.” She smiled. “You’re out and about early.”

“Yeah.” He looked uncomfortable. “Can you take a quick break? We need to talk.”

She cocked her head at him, wondering why he was being so serious. Something occurred to her and she blurted out “Oh God. Dave?”

“No, no, no.” He touched her arm. “But it is important. Can we sit?”

She looked around the almost empty diner and nodded. “Sure, I guess. Grab a booth. Want some coffee?”

“I would love some coffee.” He pulled out his notebook as he slipped into the booth.

Crystal
asked Dinah to cover her for a break, and brought two cups of coffee with her to the table. “So what’s up, Detective?” She eyed his notebook as she slid into the booth across from him.

“What time did you leave Dave’s apartment this morning?”

“Excuse me?” She wasn’t expecting this line of questioning.

He looked at her and repeated slowly, “What time did you all leave the apartment this morning? It’s important, Crys.”

She blinked and thought back. “I guess it was about seven-fifteen. I dropped the boys at school and got here about seven-forty-five. Why, Jack?”

He continued to look at her. “I got over there about eight-thirty. The door was open, which I found very strange, but what I found inside was even worse. I told you I was going to turn the place inside out? Well, somebody beat me to it. The apartment is trashed. The sofa and mattresses were slashed, drawers and cabinets dumped out. The whole place is generally one hell of a mess.”

She looked at her coffee as she digested what he'd told her. She looked back up and there was anger in her eyes. “Why? Who would want to do such a thing?”

He shook his head. “Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I called in a team to go over the place for evidence, but the damned apartment is going to be crawling with fingerprints. Yours, mine, the two boys'…damn.”

“Their clothes?” she wondered absently.

“All over the floor, but seemingly intact. After the techs are finished, I thought I’d go back in and do the search I had intended to do. I’m not sure our friends this morning were looking for the same things as I plan to look for. They left a message on the bathroom mirror:
Where is it
?”

“That’s what it said? Where is it?”

He nodded and sipped his coffee. “Who’s on first? Yep, that’s what it said.”

“Where is
what
, Jack? What could they be looking for?”

“My first reaction is that it's drug-related. Maybe Dave was doing a little funny business on the side, and either got on somebody’s bad list or pulled a little double-cross and got caught.”

Crystal
shook her head. “I don’t understand any of this. Honestly, I never thought I was a stupid person, but this business is totally foreign to me.”

He smiled at her. “Good. I’m glad it is. I’d like to keep it that way, if possible. But I’d also like to check your apartment and make sure everything’s okay before you and the boys go back there today. Can I have your key?”

“Sure.” She reached in her pocket and pulled the key out. “It’s my only one.”

He finished his coffee, stood and took the key from her. “I’ll be back here to pick you three up after work. What time do you get off?”

“By the time we eat it’s usually—”

“Don’t eat. We’ll make dinner after we go to the store. It’s payday, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah.” She looked up at him. “Four o’clock?”

He leaned over and put a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll be back at four.” He tossed a five on the table.

“Coffee’s on the house,” she told him.

He winked. “I liked the service. See you later.”

“Yeah, see you.” She watched him go, and then gazed behind the counter at Moe, who'd been watching. She gave him a small smile, pocketed the five and cleaned off her booth.

Her day passed with agonizing slowness. She kept expecting Jack to return and tell her that her apartment had been equally trashed. She didn’t know why. Whatever it was, the mess didn’t involve her, yet she had a bad feeling about it. She was relieved when the boys arrived from school at three-thirty, and even more relieved to see Jack at four.

“Jack!”
Devon
hugged one leg and Mark the other.

He smiled down at them and ruffled their hair. “Hey, guys. How was school today?”

“Okay,”
Devon
answered. “I didn’t have any homework, but
Crystal
made me sit here and study my spelling words anyway.”

Jack reached across the booth to where three uneaten brownies remained on a tray.  He pinched off the corner of one and popped it in his mouth. “Pure torture,” he commiserated with
Devon
. The boy smiled up at him with a milk mustache, and Jack laughed.

* * * *

Moe and Crystal leaned against the counter, watching the display. He commented, “The children seem to like him.”

“He’s very good with them,” she agreed.

He looked sideways at her and back at the man. “You seem to like him, too, if the look on your face is any indication.”

Crystal
grinned at Moe. “That obvious, huh? Oops.”

He waved his hand. “It’s the same look he has on his face when he sees you. He tries to hide it, like it’s not natural for a young man to be interested in a woman as beautiful as you. But who’s he trying to fool?” Moe looked at her again and smiled. “If I were thirty years younger…Oh hell, twenty years younger…he wouldn’t have a shot at you.”

Crystal
laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re too good for me, Moe. Don’t I always tell you that?”

“Yeah,
Crystal
, you always do.” He smiled and shook his head.

She sauntered over to the guys and nudged her hip against Jack’s. “Hey.”

He turned and gazed at her. “Hello there. How are you?”

“Fine, I guess. How are things?” she asked almost nervously.

He squeezed her hand. “Everything’s good. I thought we’d hit the store before we went home. Unless you’d rather go change, first.”

She glanced down at her uniform. “Nah, I’ve worn worse than this to the store. I’m ready.” She looked at the boys. “You two are a chocolate mess. Come on, let’s go wash up.” She led them around the counter to the back room.