Rory: Finding His Match (Big 3 Security Book 4) Read online

  Reaching out to hand him Red's keys, he nodded, "Officer Paul Delhurst."

  "You're the new guy I've been hearing about."

  "Yes, sir. I've actually been on staff for six months now, but since I'm the last hire, I'm the new guy until someone else comes on board."

  Jerry stepped up to them, "He's largely working pms, but we're all now usually working doubles."

  "Welcome aboard Officer, I'm sorry I haven't met you before now."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Jerry tapped Paul on the arm, "Let's get cooking, we've got stuff to do before end of shift. Take care, Rory."

  "Thanks for the help guys. Keep your heads down and stay safe."

  The two officers climbed in Jerry's cruiser and Rory tapped the buttons to close both garage doors. Entering the house, he locked the entry door then sighed. Maybe he'd even get a nap in since they had to be locked down.

  Red met him in the hallway to the garage.

  "I'd like to get my overnight bag out of my car."

  Holding up her keys, he allowed his fingers to graze hers as they exchanged them. He saw that it affected her, her pupils dilated, and she swallowed. When she walked past him, she brushed against him and his brain couldn't get past the fact that she'd done that on purpose. There was plenty of room here, and now his cock was thickening, his heartbeat raced, and her scent still hung in the air. He needed another beer.

  Walking to the refrigerator he pulled a bottle from the shelf, turned and saw her empty bottle on the counter and pulled out another one for Red. Setting them both on the counter, he twisted the caps off, slid open the garbage bins, tossed the tops in the garbage and the empty bottles in the back bin. Slowly closing the door, he inhaled a deep breath and closed his eyes trying to remember Debra. All that came to his mind was shiny red hair and crisp green eyes. His heart raced. How could that be? How could he not be able to picture Debra?

  "Thanks for taking care of getting my car and my things here, Ace."

  Red turned the corner, her overnight bag in her hand. She froze as she looked at him, her head cocked to the right, her brows furrowed.

  "Are you alright?"

  Sliding a beer bottle across the counter toward her, he nodded once.

  "Yeah, Red, I'm fine."

  Picking up his bottle he took a long pull of his beer, then walked toward the living room when his phone chimed again.

  Stopping halfway there, he turned and said, "Groceries."

  He kept walking through the living room and to the front door, looking first out the side windows before opening the door to see Odie walking up the sidewalk with four grocery bags in his arms.

  "Odie, thank you so much."

  He met him halfway, snagging two bags and walking back to the house. Odie followed him to the kitchen, and he noticed Red was nowhere in sight. Likely upstairs freshening up. That conjured all sorts of naughty thoughts in his mind and his body responded. Shit.

  "Thanks for your business, Rory, and thanks for the tip. I'd stay and visit but I've got four more deliveries before I head back for more."

  He reached out his hand and Rory shook it, firmly, as he always had, rather sad that he couldn't visit with Odie after all this time, but happy that he had some time to himself to straighten out his thoughts about Red. Closing the door behind Odie, he twisted the deadbolt and reset the alarm. Then he heard the shower running upstairs and muttered under his breath as he walked back to the kitchen. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he read a text from Ford, short and to the point.

  "Reboot."

  Changing his direction, he walked to the office and woke up his laptop. Before rebooting, he opened his photos, searching for older photos of when Debra was alive. Finding an album labeled, Santa Fe he clicked it open to see pictures of their vacation to Santa Fe some ten or more years ago. There she was, her face shiny and bright, a big sombrero on her head, but her smile lit up the whole picture. He stared at her face, guilt crawling up his body because he'd failed to recall her in his mind earlier, his eyes watered slightly, and the shower shut off upstairs.

  Shaking the melancholy from his head, he closed the photo album, then rebooted his computer. Time to get back to work; he had a lunch to make, and then they had work to do pouring over the crime scene videos and evidence. No rest for the weary, or was that wicked? Either seemed to work at this juncture.

  Unpacking the groceries, he decided on making grilled double ham and cheese sandwiches and a salad. It was one of his favorite lunches.

  Gathering the items he needed, he pulled a frying pan from the bottom cabinet and set it on the stove. Pulling a loaf of bread from a grocery bag, he set it on the counter next to the stove, then pulled out the other groceries and finished putting them away. A blow-dryer sounded upstairs and he shook his head to keep thoughts of naked Red out of it.

  Slicing the cheddar cheese into medium slices, he lay a piece of cheese on a slice of buttered bread, then stacked the ham on the cheese, then added another slice of cheese, topping it off with a slice of buttered bread. Laying it in the frying pan, he turned the heat down low and put the lid on the pan. Beginning on the second sandwich he heard Red's light footsteps descend the steps and his heartbeat kicked up. He was acting the fool today with all of these ridiculous feelings for a woman he'd left behind years ago. Must be time to get laid again, but that would have to wait until Red was gone.

  "It smells fantastic in here."

  "Double ham and cheese sandwiches. There's more beer in the fridge if you need one and lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes."

  Walking to the stove he glanced at Red who stood at the counter, a pair of loose-fitting comfortable pants on, like pajamas and a soft looking flowing gray t-shirt. The bra she wore was definitely not padded and didn't need to be as she'd always been well enough endowed that she turned heads. But right now, her nipples strained through the flimsy material she wore, and it was fucking distracting. On top of that, she had a light gloss on her lips and her fresh clean scent wafted across the counter to him and his dick began noticing.

  His eyes locked on hers and she smiled, a perfect, beguiling smile.

  "Red?"

  "What?"

  Inhaling deeply, he let out a breath, gritted his teeth and lifted the lid on the pan. Pulling a spatula from the drawer he slid it under the sandwich, flipped it over and added the second sandwich to the pan.

  He could sense her walking toward him. The tiny hairs stood on his arms, his lungs struggled to fill with air and his mind was going south faster than a freight train.

  He turned when she leaned against the counter, her arms crossed just under her breasts, her left hip jutted out to touch the counter, oh he remembered those hips.

  "You can't...what are you trying to do here?"

  12

  "While I was showering, I thought we might as well enjoy ourselves. And, as I remember, something we were very, very good at was enjoying ourselves."

  "Aren't you married?"

  "No."

  "I thought you said you were married for four years."

  "I was. I've now been divorced for more than ten years."

  She'd missed him. She tried fighting it. Being angry with him earlier sure helped her not remember the things she loved about him, but then she got into the shower and realized a few things. He was going out of his way to make her comfortable. He was down here making them lunch. He was still so friggin’ handsome. He still smelled fantastic and when she watched his hands earlier today, she missed them. On her. All over her.

  Cooling the water down in the shower did nothing to change the direction of her thoughts and since they were here and both unattached, why didn't they just have some fun?

  "Oh. Why didn't you say that?"

  "I just did."

  "You know what I mean."

  "You didn't ask."

  "Fuck." He muttered softly under his breath.

  He moved away from her to the stove and pulled a delicious smelling sandwich out of the fr
ying pan and lay it on a plate. Quickly flipping the other one, he set the lid back on the pan and cut the first sandwich in two. Walking toward her with the plate he set it in front of her, looked into her eyes like it was the first time. And she looked into his. They said so much about him. She could see who he was by looking deeply into his eyes, he wanted her. He was a man who lived an orderly life, by the looks of his house, which was spic and span. She could see him wrestling with what to do so she made the decision and lifted up on her toes and planted her lips against his.

  Her tongue slipped out and slowly swiped along the seam of his lips, the taste of beer still on them. She palmed his face with her right hand, tilting his head slightly so their lips fit perfectly together. She felt his resolve, then she felt it explode as his strong arms wrapped around her body and pulled her tightly to the wall of chest she'd been admiring earlier today. She instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her legs to wrap them around his waist, which earned her a shove against the counter where she instantly felt his hardness push against her in the most delicious way. She groaned into his mouth and he reciprocated which made her nipples pebble so tightly they tingled.

  He moved them down the counter, her ass against the edge, then he broke their kiss, leaned over and turned off the burner, moved the pan off the hot spot then his hand grabbed her ass, tightly, he squeezed hard and she moaned. He still liked it a bit rough. Perfect.

  Kissing along his jaw to his ear, she latched on to his earlobe and nipped at it just hard enough to show him she still liked it that way, too. His large intake of breath excited her beyond reason and his second hand cupped her ass and both hands squeezed tightly.

  "Give me what you've got, Ace."

  "Fuck." He growled.

  One of his hands reached up to the waistband of her lounge pants and pulled it down over her ass exposing her skin to the roughness of his hand. He grabbed her cheek with that hand as the other mimicked the motion, pulling her pants the remainder of the way down her ass. His eager fingers didn't stop long, and he reached around as far as he could and explored her naked flesh, moving roughly past her asshole and further up, almost but not quite where she wanted him to be. Arching her back to give him more access the tip of his finger slipped inside of her and she whimpered.

  "More." She groaned into his ear.

  Before her head could register what was happening, he set her feet on the ground, spun her around, grabbed her pants and tugged, then quickly undid his pants. Soon he pushed gently on her shoulders to bend her over the counter and the tip of his cock was at her entrance.

  "You sure?"

  "God, yes."

  He thrust inside of her with a force that made her want more so that's what she asked for.

  "More, Ace. Harder."

  He obliged. Shoving himself into her again and again, with the strength she'd remembered, maybe more now that they were both grown. She shoved back as far as she could to take him all the way inside of her. She faintly realized she'd likely have bruises on her ribs, but she didn't give a shit as she held her right hand up to brace herself against the wall so she could feel him completely, he then pulled her back a bit and his delightful fingers found her clit and quickly circled, adding pressure after every couple of circles.

  Her breathing increased and her vision, well that was gone. Her heartbeat raced, the feel of his cock sliding in her, the best feeling in the world, the memories of the past now replaced with this one, which she would remember forever.

  "My God, Ace. Shit." She panted.

  He increased his speed, their pace rapid and wild and she loved it.

  "Ohmigod. Ohmigod." Her orgasm hit like a flood wall and he pulled out and growled as she felt the warm sticky ropes of cum shoot onto her ass.

  His breathing was ragged but he managed to huff out, "Fuck that's hot." And she knew he was watching himself cum on her. She lay her head on the cool granite of the countertop and allowed herself a moment to lock this memory away and catch her breath, in that order.

  13

  He finished cleaning himself up, changed his boxer briefs and his Khakis then walked out of his bedroom to the living room. Red was still upstairs, and his eyes floated to the second level where he could hear the water running. Taking in a deep breath his mind whirled at the speed at which things had happened today and he was trying to keep up. They'd always had amazing chemistry, even before he'd screwed up the nerve to ask her out.

  Continuing to the kitchen, he slid the frying pan to the burner on the stove and turned the burner on to once again heat up their sandwiches. His thoughts floated to Red, back when they dated so darned many years ago, what was it 15 or more years? How was it she was as sexy as ever and felt better than he remembered? So much about her dug into him and he could feel her taking hold. He had to stop that. As soon as they stopped this drug operation, they'd be once again facing her leaving and either not seeing each other again or a long-distance relationship. History had a way of repeating itself.

  Letting out a long breath as warm hands circled his waist from behind and slid sensuously up his abdomen. Her breasts pressed against his back, then her head lay against the back of his shoulder where she sighed.

  "That felt amazing, Ace."

  Slowly he turned in her arms, moving them away from the stove. Her head then rested against his shoulder and he lay his head on top of hers as he encircled her in his arms.

  "You felt amazing, Red."

  Her phone rang out the song Close to My Enemies. Her head popped off his chest, her brows furrowed.

  "That's Sergio's ringtone."

  "So, someone has his phone. But when they called you earlier today, didn’t they used a different phone?"

  "Yes."

  "Hmm, let's be smart about this and find out what game they're playing."

  She snagged her phone from the counter where she'd left it, looked at the readout, turned the phone to him and he saw the name Twitch. She mouthed Sergio and he nodded.

  Taking a deep breath, she tapped the green answer icon and quickly tapped the speaker icon.

  "Who am I speaking with?"

  "Well now, Hightop, who do you think it is?"

  "I'm not in the mood to play games. What do you want?"

  Her green eyes narrowed, and her lips tightened. Scared or mad she could look fierce. Her quick temper rose but he knew it would dissipate just as fast.

  Laughter from the other end of the phone could be heard. Quickly pulling his phone from his back pocket, he tapped the record icon and lay his phone on the counter. Red's eyes met his and held.

  "I just wanted to see how you were doing since you saw what a great job I did on Sergio or what is it you called him? Twitch?"

  "If you don't have anything productive to say, I'm ending this call right now."

  More laughter and his temper started to rise. This asshole wanted to play cat and mouse with her.

  "I simply wanted to offer you an invitation."

  "An invitation to what?"

  "I thought you and me should have a sit down. Since I know you were paying Twitch, I thought maybe you'd like to pay me something to go away."

  "Huh, you think the Indiana State Police will pay you to go away from Indiana? Then what, you'll set up shop in a different state? Or come back in a few years and do it again?"

  "Look, Hightop, I think we can make a great deal here. You get what you want, we move our operation out of the state, and I get paid to move said operation. It seems like we both win."

  He shook his head no. She was not going to meet with this asshole. She would not make a deal with them. They didn't buy off criminals to make their problems go away, they put them in jail where they ceased all drug operations.

  She looked away from him and his heart began a rapid cadence.

  "Where do you propose this meeting take place?"

  No. No. No.

  He wrapped his hand around her right upper arm to get her attention, but she shrugged him away.

 
"Glad to see you might be interested. I'll call you in one hour to discuss this further."

  The line went dead and she grabbed her phone and ended the call. He stopped the recording on his phone, both angry and bewildered at the lengths she would go to get this operation off the streets.

  "Red, you cannot be thinking about meeting with him? It'll be a set up and you could end up dead."

  "I'm going to explore all of my options, Ace. I've been working on this case for more than two years. I'm getting close. Last night told me that. This morning confirmed it. They know I'm getting close too or they wouldn't have gone to such lengths. And to offer to move out for money, that's a new one. They must be getting nervous.”

  She tapped a few times on her phone then held it to her ear. "Plus, I'm up for promotion next month, I want it."

  She tapped her phone a couple of times put it to her ear then waited, "Ben, they’ve made contact and want to meet to discuss me paying them off to move from Indiana."

  His guts twisted; she could not be considering this.

  Moving back to the stove and flipping the sandwiches into the hot frying pan he braced himself for the inevitable. Then it dawned on him, this is what bothered him about her all those years ago. Her confidence scared the shit out of him because it was easy to be too confident. Being too confident got people killed.

  His eyes glazed as he watched the cheese on their sandwiches begin to drip down the bread and onto the hot pan, then bubble and brown. Flipping each sandwich over, the aroma of his favorite sandwich wafted in the puffs of steam that rose from the pan. His stomach growled then tightened as he heard Red end her call with, "I'll wait for your call."

  14

  She was close, so close. Once she finally brought down this drug syndicate, she’d get that promotion. Then she could have her pick of other jobs, either within the DEA or FBI, where she’d be an FBI Special Agent until the age of 57. She could really set down some roots. That's all she really wanted. All her years in the service she'd moved from base to base. Then she left the Army and went to college so she could join the DEA. After her training in the DEA, she was transferred as Special Agent to a few different Divisions over the years. Once she'd gotten her position in the Chicago IL DEA Division and was assigned to the Indianapolis District Office, she thought she'd finally have a place to call home base. But in the three years she'd been in Indy, she'd been on one assignment or another, either with her District’s teams or on her own helping law enforcement agencies more than she'd been at the District Office. She knew this would be her life when she joined the DEA, but she was growing tired of it all.