Secrets and Lies (Crimson Romance) (17 page)

“You want us to hold the relic for safekeeping?” Steiger offered. “We can lock it up with the drugs in the police evidence locker.”

Charlie felt a chill. He didn’t know these agents—they could be dirty, or the sculpture could tempt them beyond resistance. If he gave them the sculpture, they might trade it and he’d lose any opportunity he had to use it against criminals.

“I don’t have it with me,” Charlie lied. Juliana jerked against his side.

“What?” Fuentes’s head snapped around. “I thought this was all about stinging Hessler with the relic.”

Charlie felt Juliana’s stare burning into him. “I couldn’t have gotten it through airport security. God, that would have been a nightmare, sprawled facedown on the floor with a dozen guns pointed at me. I would have been locked up for months trying to assure somebody I wasn’t a terrorist.”

“Then what did you do with it?” Steiger asked.

“I shipped it. What else?”

“Pretty smart.” Fuentes’s smile gleamed in the streetlights. “It gets the relic out from under Montgomery’s nose.”

“Yeah, I thought so. So, can you wire me for sound tomorrow when I go see Hessler? You never know what he might admit. And if you’ve got a bug you can spare, I’ll plant it for you.”

Fuentes looked at Steiger before replying. “We’ll see what we can do. Give me your cell number and I’ll call you tomorrow.” He held out a business card and Charlie took it. “That’s how you can contact me.”

The DEA agents dropped Charlie and Juliana at his apartment in Van Nuys.

“Home sweet home.” Charlie tried to envision the two-story converted single-family home from Juliana’s point of view. The style was modern, its slanted rooflines, skylights, and high windows being the closest he could come to his native Miami architecture. He liked the cedar shingles and the plentiful landscaping. A few of the deciduous shrubs lent a delightful piney tang to freshen the heavy LA air.

“I thought you lived in an apartment,” Juliana said.

“I do. Mine is on the right. The owners converted the house into a twinplex about ten years ago.”

Charlie unlocked his door trying to remember if he’d left anything lying on the floor. He opened the door, turned on the light, and waved her inside.

Juliana looked around with curious brown eyes. “It’s bigger than I thought.”

“The cathedral ceilings make the space deceptive. That’s why I chose it.” He closed and locked the door. She was here. He’d wished for this day, but never thought it would happen.

She wandered from his living room into his small kitchen and dining room. “No flower pots.”

“Sorry, no room.”

“I noticed every available space is filled with books and DVDs.”

“My former craft.”

“You’re very neat.” Juliana turned to face him. “You weren’t that way at my place.”

“I only thought of one thing at your place.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And you don’t think of it here?”

“Hell, yes, I do. My God, you’re living with me for who knows how long. But this is the first time you’ve seen my life here. I’m kind of . . . nervous.”

Juliana moved close to him and walked her fingers up his arm. His fingers curled in response. “You, nervous?”

“Yeah.” He smiled at her. “I want to make a good impression.”

“You don’t need to impress me, Charlie. ‘You had me at hello,’” she quoted.

Charlie smiled even wider. “Would you like to see the bedroom?”

“See. Do. Lead on.”

He took her hand and pulled her up the stairs to his bedroom. He had made the bed, thank God. The twelve-foot wall, topped by a row of windows, made a dramatic backdrop for the double bed and sunset-patterned comforter. He wished now for a king-sized bed. Another row of windows filled the side wall and looked out onto a sloping roof and grassy back yard.

“Women must be impressed by this room,” Juliana murmured as she took in the room’s details.

Charlie turned Juliana to face him. “No woman has ever been here. I moved here after Billy died.”

“Don’t your lovers wonder why you won’t take them home?”

“Juliana, I haven’t been interested in sex since Billy died. Not until I saw you in that hooker get-up. And then I could hardly think of anything else.”

Juliana frowned. “You haven’t made love for two years? But you’re so good at it. You don’t seem out of practice.”

“You’re mistaking desperate desire for experience.”

She licked her lips. “Well, that explains the last few days then.” Her smile spread across her face like the sun rising. His heart lifted.

“I think we need to divest you of clothes and the sculpture so we can get busy christening this bed.”

“And the rest of the apartment,” he added, hope rising as well as his cock.

“One room at a time. Starting here.” Juliana reached for the large chambray shirt he had on over his T-shirt.

Charlie allowed her to remove it. She tossed it to the floor. Next they pulled his shirt over his head, uncovering the sculpture and all the rows of black electrical tape.

She pursed her lips and found one of the ends on the bottom row. Tugging, the tape came off as soundlessly as it had gone on. It pulled on his skin but didn’t hurt. She gave him the strip to hold and attacked the next row. His flesh itched where the tape had been and he noticed it left a red welt on his body. He held the sculpture while she removed the final rows of tape.

“Ow!” He’d tried to prepare himself to lose a few chest hairs from the last row, but that clump had hurt.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. At least I didn’t have more.”

When the sculpture was free, he handed it to her so he could rub at what appeared to be a bruise. Damn those Miami narcs.

“This thing has a bloody history,” Juliana breathed, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean a lot of people died getting this sculpture, stealing it, hiding it.”

“You can see it?”

She nodded, staring at the sculpture. “It contains echoes, powerful echoes. It’s old.”

“Then it really is a relic?”

“Yes. So many faces. Such greed. Such evil. I feel touches of good, but they don’t last long. A period of darkness that lasted until recently, when it must have been found. Charlie, every time someone evil had it in their hands, they believed it held power.”

“And that’s why the drug lord wants it? Because he believes what those others believed?”

“It must be.”

“Does it contain power?” Charlie couldn’t believe he’d asked that question.

“No. The power was in what the people who held it believed. And evil men can become very powerful with evil deeds.”

Charlie inhaled a breath to clear his head. “They believed, therefore they were?”

“Maybe.” Juliana shuddered and handed the sculpture back to him. “Too much blood. Too much death.”

He didn’t question her. He understood nothing about her psychic power beyond that she could find objects from photos. He laid the sculpture on his nightstand. For some reason, he didn’t want it far from the bed.

Juliana rubbed her arms. He touched her and felt her chill.

“C’mon, let’s take a shower. I need you to scrub this sticky stuff off me.” He herded her into the bathroom.

With eager hands, Juliana stripped off his khaki pants and underwear. He pulled off her knit top and jeans skirt. He took a moment to admire her matching peach underwear set. She looked delectable. He ran a caressing hand over her breasts, which made her nipples peak. She reached behind her and unhooked her bra, drawing it off to reveal those mouth-watering globes. He got both hands on them while she shimmied out of her underwear.

“Charlie,” she protested in a breathy voice.

Then her hands reached between his legs and, oh, God, that felt good. His cock responded to her caresses by growing firm and thick. He barely had enough brain cells north of the border to turn on the shower and adjust the temperature.

“Umm,” he murmured into her hair. He nipped her ear.

Juliana made her own relishing noises. She had nimble, eager fingers. He thrust into her hands. Her nipples were tight points between his fingers. He was panting. Being with her always did this to him.

“Into the shower,” he managed.

They shared the soap, kissing while their mingled fingers lathered. Then she slid her eager hands over his chest scrubbing at the tape marks. His soapy hands slid over her breasts, over the tight nipples. Her breath hitched. She lifted her lips for a kiss, and he complied.

As much as he desired to fill her and make urgent love to her, he also wanted to caress and kiss her all over, and have her do the same to him. He wanted to worship her in his home and let her know she was more than a sexual vessel here in California.

Juliana turned him to scrub at the stickiness on his back. He used the opportunity to take a deep breath and try to control the need he felt only for her. Her scrubbing was practical, necessary, it shouldn’t feel sexual at all. Until her hands slid down to caress his butt. There her caresses were anything but practical. His cock throbbed with need.

As though she knew how her touch affected him, her hands left his buttocks. He sighed with relief and regret. But then they slid around his hips to grip his cock. She pressed her warm, soft body against his back as she caressed him. Charlie threw back his head and gritted his teeth. Despite his iron control, his hips thrust, driving his cock through her soapy fingers.

“That feels so good,” he groaned.

“Yes, it does.” She caressed his length. “I love your cock, how silky and strong it feels, how it feels when your first thrust enters me, how it feels as you move inside me.”

“You’re killing me.”

Her grip tightened as she stroked back and forth. “How it feels when you come.”

“Don’t.” His hands gripped hers on his cock. “I want to be inside you when I come.”

He gentled her grip and her movements and then lifted her hands away, turning in her embrace. He grabbed the soap and lathered his hands. Hers joined his on the soap. He lowered his head to give her a long, languid kiss. Their tongues touched, stroked. Her hands massaged his chest. He broke the kiss at last and held her away from him so he could slip a hand between her soft thighs.

He found the tight bud of her clit. As he stroked, she inhaled. He soaped her channel next, opening her body for the loving to come. Her hips thrust forward.

When no more soap remained, he undid Juliana’s French braid and massaged shampoo into her hair. She hummed her appreciation. Quickly he washed his own hair. Then he turned off the water and dropped to his knees in front of her.

Charlie looked up at her as water drops slid down her body over her full breasts, slender abdomen, and feminine hips, all the places he wanted to lick. With her hair wet, she looked like a water nymph here to share sexual delights with him.

“You’re beautiful.”

Her eyes were dark with desire. “So are you.”

“Lean down.”

She did and he took her breast into his mouth to lick off the drops of water. Her breathing increased as he paid tribute to her wonderful nipple, licking it as he knew she liked. When that breast was fully loved, he took the other one into his mouth. Juliana slid her hands into his wet hair and gripped his head in place. She needn’t fear he was leaving this feast.

He bit gently on her nipple. She made appreciative sounds deep in her throat. With reluctance he let her breast slide from his mouth. She had other delights he needed to explore. He sucked moisture from her abdomen, kissing her hickey, probing her naval, and then licked south.

He dipped his head between her legs to lick her clit. She gasped. He laved the sensitive nubbin, loving the jerks her body made in response. Then he began to suck. She rewarded him with groans that shortened as she came in his mouth. Her knees gave out.

Charlie opened the shower door and laid Juliana on the bath mat. He grabbed a condom from his pants pocket and sheathed himself. She watched with a languid gaze. He knelt, spreading her legs, and licked her channel. He teased her pussy, tasting her sweet essence, until he brought her to the peak once more, and she came again.

As she moaned, he mounted her and thrust into her body. Her body gripped his, the rhythmic clamping of her orgasm caressing him even as he thrust. She cried out, her hips lifting to take him deep inside her. Charlie strained to hold back his orgasm. He wanted to experience all the wonders of Juliana’s body.

With rough, urgent thrusts he plumbed her depths. Juliana was just as urgent, even though she’d come twice already. He gripped her bottom and pulled her into a deep thrust, coming hard inside her. He held her to him. How had they waited this many hours to be joined like this? He ground his body into hers.

Charlie needed to let Juliana know she should have been here with him all along. He had more than a decade of emptiness to make up for.

They collapsed to the floor. He kissed the side of her face. “Welcome to your home away from home. I’m glad you came.”

“So am I. I’m also glad I’m here.”

“Naughty.” He bit her neck.

“Not yet, but I will be later.”

“Juliana . . . ” He stumbled over the magnitude of what he felt for her.

“What?”

“I could do this with you forever and never grow tired of doing it.”

“I feel the same.”

“Why is it only with you?” he murmured.

“Because we were meant to be together?”

“We
are
a perfect fit.” He was still hard. He wanted her again, but he wanted to let her have her way with him first. He withdrew slowly. Then he kissed her hard. If only he could keep her. If only he deserved a woman like her.

Juliana reached between his legs and felt his cock. “Ready to go again I see. What room do you want to christen next?”

“Do I get to go with you to meet Jordan Hessler?” Juliana asked when Charlie hung up the phone.

Charlie wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her into his lap. “I think he’ll speak more freely if I’m alone. We want him to give himself away.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to face him alone.”

Charlie kissed her. “You’re a good woman.”

Juliana laced her arms around his neck. “I’m good for you. You should keep me around.”