Shotgun Justice (14 page)

But this wasn't just sex. This was his chance to explore every inch of her body knowing she wanted him just as badly. Her chest arched against his lips and he released her hands. Wanted to feel her touch against his skin.

Wanted her. Now. “Avery.” Her name felt like a prayer and he wasn't sure if he was saying it out loud or only in his head. He found her lips, kissed her as her hands gripped his arms.

He entered slowly and made her completely his. They quickened their pace with even strokes. None of their past would get in their way. Her hands gripped his arms as their bodies became one. Their bodies burned, climbed and met thrust for thrust. She wrapped her legs around his, opening to him, keeping him meshed with her.

With a few frenzied moments, they both cried out in fulfillment. Shuddering for real, he made a connection he'd never had. One that Avery might not understand.

The woman, the girl, the best friend, the partner-in-crime... She was his lifeblood. His for keeps. He loved her with his heart, body and soul.

Convincing her, on the other hand, was going to take careful planning. Or maybe for once he shouldn't censor himself, because it never seemed to work with her anyway.

Chapter Twenty

Avery flung her arms wide, one falling on Jesse's chest, patting him with the back of her hand. Totally, 100 percent exhaustingly satisfied...that was her.

“Oh. Wow.” She had never experienced anything so complete. “That was better than amazing.”

Who cared if she inflated his big ego? It didn't really matter. The truth was the truth. “I think I'm going to regret every minute we spent
not
doing this while we were stuck inside this house. Wow.”

Avery finally caught her breath and propped herself up on one elbow. Jesse remained flat on his back, his chest still visibly rising and falling. She drew circles in a perfect amount of chest hair and fell silent. She'd been the only one talking. He hadn't mentioned anything about it being the best sex he'd had.

Or how good she was.

Looking at him, at the sheer power she'd felt with each thrust of his hips, she wanted him all over again. Then the awkward “after” moment began. She rolled to her back, reaching for the sheet to cover her nakedness. And maybe his if she could manage it.

His arm crossed over her body, stopping her from moving.

“You taste like sweet tea,” he finally said.

“That's because you spilled it all over us with the first kiss in the kitchen.”
That
was all he could say?

Here she was, sharing from her heart about how wonderful he was as a lover, and he wanted to talk about the tea on her skin? He laced his fingers through hers, then pulled their hands to his chest.

“I love you.”

“Is that normal pillow talk? It's really not necessary if you want to do this again.” Did he think she needed to hear that to feel better about herself or them together? She didn't.

If the words had been true, he would have picked a better time to let her know. Or even looked at her when he told her.

“I thought—”

“Stop thinking.” She moved her lips to his chest. “You taste a bit like tea, too.”

She'd ignore this lie. It was probably just the heat of the moment. Something he thought she needed to hear. Jesse was just like every other guy. So what? They were still stuck here together and should enjoy the time.

“Avery, I—”

This time she raised a finger to stop his words. She was a grown woman and didn't need them. “Shh. There's only one thing I need to know. How soon can we do this again?”

* * *

T
HE
FLOOR
WAS
clean from the tea and broken glass. So was her skin after a long shower. Jesse seemed sort of quiet, though...even for him. They'd made love again. She'd imagined feeling this way.

Life had a strange way of making things happen. She and Jesse had been so close all these years. She'd been head over heels for him on so many occasions that she'd let other guys and opportunities pass her by.

Now this.

She was putting the mop away and heard banging on the door. Before she could run to the front, Jesse answered wrapped in a towel from his shower.

“What now?”

Kayden handed him a phone. “Major Parker's been trying to reach you.”

The phone was up to his ear. He stood in the open door for all her neighbors to see his bare-chested glory. Not to mention the look on Kayden's face that said he was slightly embarrassed.

Thin walls.

“I got it. We'll leave immediately.” Jesse returned the phone, acknowledged Kayden with a nod and shut the door. “Ready to get out of this town?”

“They're going with our plan?”

“Sounds like it. There's a plane waiting to take us to Fort Worth as soon as possible.” He didn't look at her.

In fact, he frowned, covered his eyes with his free hand—the hand that wasn't wrapped in the edge of the towel, keeping it in place. Was he worried about her seeing something? Hadn't they—

“Avery, about what I said earlier.”

“Don't think a thing about it. I didn't take you seriously, so we're good. Really. Don't waste any more time on it.”

Jesse shook his head. “I need to get dressed.”

Had she said something wrong? What was bothering him? She'd forgiven that he'd spoken honestly about their relationship before he became a ranger. She'd forgiven that he'd misspoken in the heat of passion.

She wanted to play it cool. She didn't expect anything from him.

“Are you upset because you broke your word to Garrison? I promise I'm not ever going to tell him.” She raised her voice a little so she could be heard through the door.

His reply was several curse words at himself. Not her...definitely himself.

“I have no idea what to do.” She wasn't certain he'd heard her or not. She walked away to sit on the arm of the couch. Her bag was packed. Things were put away.

The little house was perfect for her. Her life in Dalhart was good. Without Jesse living here with her, it would feel big here again.
And lonely.
But she'd manage.

Jesse was dressed this time and clean shaven. There was a nick on his chin where he'd cut himself. Probably the source of his four-letter-word vocabulary. He grabbed his bag and the files, pausing at the door.

“You really bringing your dad's shotgun?”

“You can transport it on the plane. Right? I'd really like it there.” If the State's Attorney's Office had approved the plan to try to trap Snake Eyes, she was a much better shot with her daddy by her side.

“That's not a problem.” Another simple nod to Wyatt and Kayden and they were on both sides escorting her to the car. Then they were the armed escorts on the drive to Amarillo.

After their afternoon, Avery was full of energy—exhausted, good energy. Why was it so different for Jesse? He put his hat over his eyes and pretended to sleep for the hour to Amarillo.

There was no way he'd stay asleep without relaxing a little. She'd witnessed it over and over during the past week. Nap-time features were totally different than the closed-off, tightly wound man next to her.

The newly topped road was smooth and steady. She made notes of things that could go wrong. Possible scenarios. The one thing that would help would be to know the location of the safe house. Then variables would be limited and she could present a finalized plan.

They arrived at a private hangar. Jesse even yawned a couple of times for show.
Smile. Please.
She wanted him to confess what was wrong. If he withdrew like this every time after seeing her naked, she was going to end up with a complex.

Calling on the fact that they were lifelong friends, she decided to speak to him before they boarded. “Stick out your tongue.”

“What?” He looked at her almost as strangely as after getting the call from Parker.

“Just do it.”

He hesitatingly obeyed.

“Dab your finger and wipe the dried blood from your shaving nick.”

He obeyed. “Why didn't you just say that to begin with?”

“You're welcome. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong.” They leaned on the car, waiting for the crew to tell them to board. “Drop it, Avery. You want to talk about Dalhart, your job, the long drive to nowhere... I can accommodate those subjects. But right now everything else is off-limits. Do you understand?”

“Of course. I understand English. I also understand that we're not supposed to talk about particular plans in a public venue or even on this private plane. I get it. What I don't understand is how you went from a very cool friend with benefits to a complete a—”

“Good evening and thanks for flying with us.”

The flight attendant had interrupted her at an appropriate time. They sat. They belted up. They took off and landed in silence.

* * *

J
ESSE
'
S
THOUGHTS
SHOULD
be occupied with their plan. Details, how to act, potential pitfalls. But no. He was staring at the woman across the table from him. In a room with some of the best law enforcement in the state—he could hardly hear them.

One hand mindlessly spun a ballpoint pen on the oak table. The other propped up his head, sort of like being exhausted from a long stakeout. Neither was true.

Maybe the answer was a very exasperating woman.

“Have we had any luck tracking down a mailing address for the contacts?”

“We have our people looking, but it's a long shot. Some of the companies are overseas. The field is so wide. We can't even narrow it down to one state,” Avery said.

They had been invited to participate in a planning session. A secret meeting in Fort Worth in some law offices he'd never heard of—a friend of one of the men barking out orders. Jesse half listened, slumped enough in his chair that he looked like an uncaring slouch.

He knew this was a time he should be impressive with knowledge and skill. If he hadn't known it when they walked into this conference room, the darting glares from Avery were stressing that he appeared like a kid who didn't want to be in church.

The chatter at the front of the room became more and more about the traditional way to fend off an attack on witnesses. Escorts. Routes. Secrecy. Limited resources.

“The hell with this.” The pen bounced across the wide table right into Avery's breakfast roll.

“Do you have something to say, Ryder?” the lead prosecuting attorney asked.

“It might get me kicked out of this room, but this isn't the plan I was told we'd be executing. You're asking Avery—Deputy Travis—to put her life at risk again for—”

“Hold on, Jesse. You don't speak for me.” She spoke on top of him, even after his own glare at her to keep quiet.

“—for nothing. We've already been toe-to-toe with this bastard. Don't you think we know a thing or two? You had a profiler look at some pictures. I gave Snake Eyes a bloody nose and stabbed him with a rake.” He pushed the rolling chair a little too hard when clearing the table to stand.

“We get the picture, Jesse,” Parker said from behind him.

“I don't think they understand this killer at all, sir. He's nothing like what we've encountered—”

“Enough.” The major said the word softly and laid a hand on Jesse's shoulder.

It took the steam from his actions and put his brain back in control. Avery sat straighter in her chair, fingers over her lips. When she caught his eyes, she silently shushed him.

He shook his head. “I won't be quiet. This guy is everything your profiler says but more. He's calm in a fight. Things went wrong and he didn't panic. He didn't yell. Didn't run. He's a planner, not a reactor. It was like he had a contingency for everything.”

“This procedure has been proven to draw out threats,” one of the men said. “Especially assassins.”

“And that's exactly why it won't work with Snake Eyes,” Avery spoke out. “I—we—respect how you're drawing your conclusions. But this man isn't just an assassin. He's more like a serial killer who's learned how to make money at what he loves.”

“Good description, b—Deputy.” He'd just come very close to ruining their credibility by calling her “babe.” “He's got a plan.”

“And we believe we figured it out,” she added.

“What do you think, Major Parker?” the lead guy asked.

“I think they're right. We have a possible way to catch this guy. The information these two have given us over the past week has connected at least eleven murders from different states. And those are just the victims we discovered.” Parker relaxed against the wall, totally at ease, arms crossed. “You should hear them out.”

Jesse took note of the major's relaxed, authoritative posture while the men argued at the front of the room. Jesse was normally the laid-back guy, but these men hadn't stared into the eyes of a soulless reptile. It was more than that. The bastard had held a gun on the woman Jesse loved. He'd electrocuted her until her heart had stopped.

Looking at her now, no one would know that she'd died for a few seconds a week ago. She was a confident, strong Amazon. If she wasn't carrying a badge and gun, they might have taken her for a model. But there was a badge. More than one gun.

God, I love her. How can I make her see that?

“Major, we need to keep our witnesses alive. Understanding that the outcome rests completely on your shoulders, what plan do you want us to hear?”

“Go ahead, Ranger.” Parker nodded.

“Right. We know Snake Eyes had a backup plan to discover the location of the witnesses being held in protective custody,” he began.

“We also know that your state office computers were breached three weeks ago,” Parker said, taking a seat at the table.

“No one told us about this,” the attorney blustered.

“We didn't know until the attack on Travis and Ryder.” Parker nodded to Bryce Johnson to distribute material. “Their abduction prompted a check of the system.”

“That might have been his original plan B that he mentioned. Security was tightened and he's punting.” Jesse caught the pen that skidded across the table from Avery. He also noted the tilt of the corner of her mouth.

“This is all just a theory.” Came from the front of the room.

“Supported by the fact that Snake Eyes hasn't been seen or taken any action since our confrontation.” Avery was a professional who knew her facts. She could handle the lead attorney. “So we asked ourselves, what did the man want? To kill? He'd just killed four people in two days. So no. It was pride.”

“Ego. Serial killers can be caught through their egos,” said one of the analysts who worked for the state.

The attorney's palms were flat on the table. Then he began tapping his fingers. Was he waiting for a pause in their explanation to respond or a flaw in their reasoning?