Perfect Fit (13 page)

“We’ll figure something out later. Now come.” He patted his thighs.

She raised an eyebrow. “Condom, Mike.” Her voice sizzled with the same heat he was feeling.

“Shit.” He never forgot protection. Not knowing how he was conceived, the position pregnancy had left his mother in. The bedroom felt like it was miles away.

“But I’m on the pill,” Cara said, so quietly he almost hadn’t heard.

Relief rushed through him.

“I’m safe,” he promised her.

Her eyes lit up at his meaning.

“Me too. There’s been no one since y—”

He didn’t want to hear the end of the sentence, so he lifted her by the waist and brought her over his lap as she grabbed his shaft, placing it at her opening. Even with the light connection, he knew she was wet. Ready. Probably aching, he thought, just as he was.

Once she’d positioned her knees on either side of his thighs, he released her hips and thrust up at the same time she slammed down onto him.

“Oh God,” she moaned, the sound seeming to tear from deep inside her.

He knew what she meant. He felt her everywhere. “Ride me, baby.”

Her eyelids flew open. “Don’t call me—”

“Baby. Yeah, I’ve heard.” And he’d find out why another time.

Now he reached for her, sliding his hand over her shoulder to her neck, feeling her pulse hammering beneath her skin. “Ride me, Cara.”

He kissed her quickly and then she was off, lifting herself up and down, milking him in slick heat, her wet sheath contracting around him with each slide up and release. She clenched him tightly, taking him higher with every slide. When their bodies met once more, she twisted her hips, clearly searching for pressure he was only too happy to give.

He slid his hands between them and found the right spot. The slightest touch and she shook violently. A loving pinch and she lit up, exploding around him.

“Oh God, oh God, Michael.”

He thrust his hips upward, slamming home, lost to thought, to reason, to anything but the incredible sensations crashing into him harder and faster until he felt his release explode inside her body.

Seven

At his sister’s request, Mike headed into The Family
Restaurant, located on the edge of Serendipity, for lunch and a chat. Sam, he knew, had also been summoned. Mike made his way into the dinerlike restaurant, which had been in the Donovan family for generations. Macy Donovan, the hostess, a pretty woman with light blue eyes and dark hair, smiled at his entry and gestured toward his siblings seated in the back.

On the way, he passed tables of people he’d known forever and nodded in greeting, stopping at the Barron brothers’ table, where Ethan, the oldest; Nash, their middle brother; and Dare, his officer and the youngest sibling, were eating burgers.

“Hey,” Mike said, encompassing them all with a sweep of his gaze.

Ethan rose. “Good to see you, Mike.”

“Same.” He slapped his old acquaintance on the back.

Mike and Ethan were the same age, having gone to school together, and Dare and Sam, though a couple of years
apart in age, were also now close. Back in the day, Ethan ran with a troublemaking crowd, smoking, drinking, and generally raising hell until he’d gotten himself arrested, his parents died, and he’d subsequently bailed on his brothers and Serendipity for ten years. Mike’s high school friends had been tamer but no more interested in education than Ethan’s. They’d both gotten out of town and had that in common. Ethan returned to town a year or so ago, now a millionaire who developed weapons software the government paid big money to acquire.

“How’s Faith?”

Ethan’s always-hard expression mellowed. “Good, man.”

“Heard you were a dad,” Mike said, as shocked now as he was when he’d heard the news. He shook his head. “Ethan Barron, a father.”

Both his brothers grinned. “Can you believe it?” Nash, the lawyer, asked.

“Don’t know why you’re talking. You’ve got twins,” Dare said to Nash with a chuckle.

“Jesus.” Mike broke out in a sweat but had to admit Nash looked as happy as his older brother. And Ethan, well, he appeared calmer and more grounded than he ever had. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Congratulate Faith for me, okay?”

“Why don’t you come for dinner one night and do it in person?” Ethan said.

“Uh—”

“Bring a date. I’ll have Faith give you a call and set it up.”

Mike managed a nod. “Sounds good,” he said, even if dinner with the newly minted family man had Mike itching inside the damned suit he had to wear for work.

“I’ll let you get back to your lunch,” Mike muttered, and headed toward his siblings, his mind on Ethan’s last suggestion.
Bring a date.

It was a week after he’d gotten home from New York City
with Cara, and Mike knew that request would be make-or-break. They’d seen each other this week at work, and, as if by mutual agreement, they hadn’t changed how they treated each other at work. No verbal or physical acknowledgment of the fact that they now had a relationship. But that didn’t stop the covert looks he gave her when nobody was looking or the heated ones she returned when she thought the same. He couldn’t help but admire the curvy body beneath the uniform or stop focusing on those bright blue eyes beneath the fringe of bangs.

Neither had had time to get together during the past week, but he’d called her at night, texted her on occasion, and found himself thinking about her at odd moments. Things he’d never bothered to do with a female before her.

Yeah, she’d gotten to him.

But going out on a real date with another couple, even at their house, meant going public, and he had no idea how Cara would feel about that. She’d made it clear she didn’t want trouble at work now or after he was gone. He understood. Yet he, the guy who didn’t do relationships, wanted people to know she belonged with him, and Ethan had given him an excuse to ask.

Sam mentioned they were going to Joe’s tonight—Sam, Cara, Dare and Liza, and the rest of their group of friends. Mike knew firsthand what happened when Cara went to Joe’s. Some guy ended up noticing and propositioning her, and that was something he wanted to avoid. Which meant it was time to talk.

“Hey, you’re late,” Erin said, tapping on her watch.

Her voice brought him out of his own head and back to his surroundings.

“We ordered for you,” she continued.

“No problem.” Mike didn’t care what he ate as long as he did. He was starving. “A phone call ran long and I stopped to catch up with Ethan Barron.” Mike settled in a chair next to Sam.

He glanced at his siblings. Since it was the middle of the week and a workday, Mike wore a suit. He’d spent the morning in meetings with the mayor—wasn’t she a pain in the ass—and then with other town officials who’d requested a face-to-face. Sam, who’d come back to work on Monday, was in uniform, back on patrol; Erin was also dressed professionally in a skirt and blouse.

“Not that I mind meeting you guys, but you sounded upset,” Mike said to his sister.

Erin’s hazel eyes met his. “It’s about Mom.”

“Mom?” Sam and Mike asked at the same time.

“Not Dad? I thought you’d be concerned about Dad,” Sam said.

Mike agreed.

“Except Dad’s doing well enough, all things considered. Mom’s jumpy.”

“Erin, honey, wouldn’t you be if you were her?” Sam asked. “Look at all she’s been through with Dad.”

“It’s more,” she said firmly.

“I think you’re overreacting,” Sam said.

Mike frowned at his brother. Erin was one of the most compassionate and insightful people he knew. If she said something was wrong with their mother beyond the obvious, he believed her.

“What makes you think there’s more?” Mike asked her.

“After she overreacted to the whole Facebook conversation last week at dinner, I tried to talk to her. She clammed up. Didn’t say she was fine, didn’t say she was overreacting, she just pursed her lips and said, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ That’s not Mom. At least, not how Mom is with me.”

“That’s true.” Ella was close to Erin and never shut her out. She rarely shut anyone out.

“Sam?” Erin asked. “You’re going to hang with Dad tonight, right?”

He nodded. “Can you talk to her? Or at least just keep
an eye out and tell me if you notice anything…different?”

“Sure,” he said, giving in, though from his tone of voice Mike could tell he thought Erin was nuts.

“How do you think everyone took the changes that I want to implement at the station?” Mike asked Sam.

Erin raised an eyebrow. “You mean changing everyone from partnering up to singles except on the night shift?”

“Word spread as far as the D.A.’s office?” Mike asked.

Erin shrugged. “We have to have something interesting to talk about.”

“Makes downtime more boring, but everyone’s okay with it,” Sam said. “Especially since we got guys retiring in June and you’ll be able to add shifts to the rookies’ schedules.”

Mike nodded. “Good.”

Before they could change subjects, the waitress came with their meals and they all got distracted, important subjects off the table.

No sooner had he arrived back at his office when his cell rang. A quick glance told him Lauren was calling. Hopefully she had information on the open case. Something that would put his father out of the running on any issues that cropped up. But Mike’s gut told him he wouldn’t get so lucky.

In the week since she’d been home from the city,
Cara’s life had returned to normal. Normal meant she worked, she visited Havensbridge when she could, and she didn’t see Mike unless they were at work. When they acted completely professional at all times.

Unless she thought no one was paying attention. Then she studied him, her mind taking her back to that night in Manhattan, and she wanted nothing more than to be with him that way again. But she was busy, so busy she barely had time to think. Until tonight when she was off for another
two days. First Joe’s, and then she hoped she’d see Mike. Her place or his, she didn’t care.

Lost in thought, she was startled when Mike’s assistant called out that she was wanted in his office. She glanced around the room. Everyone was either busy at their desks or changing shifts, so there were a lot of people coming and going, and nobody seemed surprised that the chief had summoned her.

She headed for the private room in the back corner, pausing in the doorway for a calming breath. Hard to be calm when Mike sat at his desk, wearing a charcoal-gray suit and a deep lavender tie, looking sexy as ever.

Then his dark eyes lit on her. “Come in and shut the door behind you.”

Cara did as he asked and remained standing, not comfortable that he needed a word now. Here. “Something you need, Chief?”

“Have a seat,” he said, in a serious voice that made her stomach pitch uncomfortably.

She gripped the sides of her chair. “What’s wrong?”

He muttered something under his breath. “You think something has to be wrong for me to talk to you?”

“Well…We’re at work. So I figured it’s work related and something’s up.” They hadn’t discussed the case they were working on, and she’d figured he hadn’t had any word from his contact yet.

His cell rang and he frowned. “Hang on.” He glanced at it and held up one finger. “I’ve been expecting this,” he said, and took the call.

“Good to hear from you,” Mike said, looking pleased. He paused, obviously listening. “You two sure work fast.” His deep laugh rippled through Cara, bringing back memories of the two of them having fun together in New York, laughing, having sex…

“I’d love to,” Mike said into the phone. He listened, then,
“Sure.” Some more listening, and he replied, “Am I bringing someone?” He met Cara’s gaze and held on tight. “Yeah, I am.”

Her stomach knotted with the intensity she saw there.

“Thanks. See you then and looking forward to it.” He hung up and shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Sorry about that.”

Cara shrugged off the apology.

He rose and came around his desk, propping himself on the edge, close to her chair, and leaned forward. “As it happens, I have news on the case we were working on. Lauren called.”

Cara leaned forward in her seat. “What did she find out?”

“Nothing helpful. All she knows is that at the time the Serendipity Police Department turned the information into the feds, six months had passed since the driver of the car with the drugs and the cash had been arrested there and released on bail.”

“How did that happen?” Cara asked. “Who gave bail to a guy with a carload of drugs and money in the trunk?”

“Judge Marshall Baine.”

Cara turned the name over in her head. “I don’t recognize the name,” she said at last.

“He’s retired now. But the guy must’ve skipped and nobody did anything about it. By the time anyone in Serendipity realized and contacted the feds, the perp had been hauled into jail in the Bronx for transporting cocaine over state lines. He was all too willing to make a deal in order to save his own ass and turn his suppliers over to the cops.”

“In other words, the feds had no interest in pursuing a small-town case,” Cara muttered.

“Exactly. Then somehow, the case went cold here, nobody dealt with it, and the money remained in the evidence locker in Serendipity.”

“So we talk to the guy who was arrested back then and see what he remembers,” Cara said, rubbing her hands
together in anticipation. It was rare she got her hands on an old case that involved digging into the past. Despite its possible connection to Mike’s father, she found it fascinating.

“Can’t.” Mike burst her bubble of excitement. “He was doing twenty-five to life and was shanked by another inmate five years ago.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

“But there is someone who might be able to help us. We can talk to the judge who gave the guy bail,” Mike said.

“Okay, cool. I’m up for that.”

He nodded, eyes laughing at her response. “I figured you would be.” He grew silent, and Cara could tell there was something more.

“What is it?” she asked.

Mike met her gaze. “Sam asked to be let back in on the case since he’s back on the job.”