‘So the shooter may have left some blood behind on the broken pieces?’
‘If he left anything behind, it was too small for Jamie to see. He saw the cookies all over the floor when he rushed to Phil’s side, but the jar was gone. The intruder picked up all the pieces. So there was probably blood on them, or he was afraid there would be. The guy never actually touched Phil, although Phil said he was holding a club – probably the one he hit Sam with. The doctor says it was likely a combination of the exertion of Phil fighting back and general fear that triggered the heart attack.’
‘But he’s going to be okay,’ Gwyn said positively. ‘The doctor said so.’
A small smile. ‘Yes, he did. Who was on the phone?’
‘The salon, the one that your old classmate owns.’
He frowned again. ‘You can’t keep that appointment.’
‘Why not?’ She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘And don’t even bother to say it’s not safe. I know it’s not safe. Which is why we have to make this thing stop as quickly as possible. It’s not like you can go in my place.’ She raked an appreciative gaze over his body. ‘No offense, but there’s no way you’d fit in at a salon like that.’
‘I could get a haircut,’ he muttered.
She laughed. ‘Baby, they’d take one look at you and a fight would break out over who got to put you in their chair. All the stylists would be stabbing each other with their shears and blood would flow.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Stop it.’
‘Why?’ She smirked at him. ‘It’s true. There is no fucking way I’m letting you anywhere near a bunch of women in a beauty salon. They’re worse than a pool full of piranhas.’
‘You’re not going in alone,’ he snapped.
‘Okay,’ she said quickly, chuckling when he realized he’d all but agreed she could go. ‘You can wait in the lobby.’
His scowl returned. ‘You can’t do this. What if Angie is connected with Tavilla in some way?’
She blinked at him. ‘That’s a leap.’
‘He got details from someone. The only people who knew about that damn key ring are either dead or too scared to talk to anyone. Now we’re down to the original cast of characters – Richard’s three friends and Angie.’
She thought about that and he was right. ‘There is a connection between Tavilla and somebody in your past,’ she agreed. ‘Detective Prew knew.’
Thorne frowned. ‘I’ve thought of that too. He was so helpful. Made me suspicious.’
‘Plus we gave him a road map of where we’d be yesterday. How else would someone know we were going to be at the EMT’s apartment?’
‘I know,’ he said, still growly. ‘I need to check him out. But don’t think you’ve distracted me. You’re still not keeping that appointment. We’ll get someone else.’
‘Who?’ she challenged. ‘Lucy? Stevie? Paige? They’re all new moms with babies. Maybe Ruby? She’s only seven months pregnant. No? That leaves me, unless you want to tell Hyatt and have him give the job to one of his female officers. And of course Hyatt will be so forthcoming with whatever they find out,’ she finished sarcastically.
‘Now you’re just playing dirty,’ he grumbled.
She smiled, knowing she’d won. ‘Poor baby. Little me, such a threat to big strong you. Should I make it up to you?’
He actually pouted. ‘We don’t have time. We have to get to Bethesda by five thirty.’
Pushing him onto his back, she rolled on top of him and slid down his body until she straddled his hips, her palms flat on his hard abs. She shivered as she rocked back and felt his very hard cock nudging her flesh. His hands gripped her waist, his eyes meeting hers, and her heart actually hurt with all she saw there. Desire, of course, but so much more. How could she have missed it for so many years?
‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
His brows crunched a little. ‘For what?’
‘For waiting for me.’
‘You’re worth it,’ he whispered fiercely, the second time he’d said the words. She had no doubt that he believed it with every fiber of his existence. Someday she might believe it too.
Until then, she’d show him what he was worth. Everything. He’s everything. And he always has been. She leaned in and kissed him slowly, luxuriously. ‘You are so beautiful,’ she murmured against his mouth. She licked his lip and his hands slid down her back to her butt. ‘I can’t believe you’re here. In my bed.’ And suddenly she found herself hoping that she really had been worth the wait.
He pressed his head back into the pillow so that he could see her face. ‘What?’
She scraped her teeth over her bottom lip, already a little swollen from their kisses. ‘Nothing,’ she said when the question in her heart wouldn’t form into actual words.
‘No.’ He brought his hands to cup her face so tenderly her eyes began to sting. ‘It’s not nothing. Tell me.’
‘I guess . . .’ She looked away, hoping the tears in her eyes would drain back to wherever they had come from. ‘I guess I just hope it was worth it. That I was worth it.’
He tugged her chin until she was looking at him again. ‘I just said you were worth it.’ His lips curved. ‘Weren’t you listening?’
‘Yes.’ She tried to pull away, to slide down his body and make him forget the question entirely, but he held her in place easily, one hand on her ass, the other gripping her chin.
‘Gwyn.’ Just her name, but said so sweetly that she blinked, sending the tears down her face. He wiped them away with gentle fingers. ‘Talk to me, love.’
Love. God. ‘I just . . . You waited a long time. For me. And I know you’ve . . .’ her cheeks burned and he swept his thumb across her heated skin, ‘experienced a lot of . . .’ She closed her eyes, too embarrassed to speak. ‘I need to get ready for my appointment.’
‘No. Talk to me. And look at me. Please.’
She forced her eyes to open and the words to leave her mouth. ‘I don’t want to disappoint you.’
He frowned. ‘You couldn’t.’ Then his eyes widened. ‘You mean in bed? You’re asking if I enjoyed it? Seriously?’
She wished she’d never brought it up. ‘I know you enjoyed it,’ she muttered.
‘Twice,’ he said smugly, and she laughed, which made him smile. ‘What’s this about?’ He squeezed the ass cheek he still held firmly. ‘If you can’t talk to me, who can you talk to? Come on.’
‘You waited for me for a long time. I just want it to be worth it.’
His smile became rueful. ‘If it had been any more worth it, I’d be sharing a room with Phil in the cardiac unit.’ He threaded his fingers through her hair, gently working through the tangles. Always gently. Even when he’d been angry with her, he’d been gentle. ‘Gwyneth Bronwynne Weaver, it was worth it. If I had to wait ten years more, it would have been worth it.’ He gave her hair a tiny tug. ‘Having said that, I’m glad I didn’t have to wait ten years more. I might have exploded.’
Her chuckle was watery. ‘You say the sweetest things.’
He pulled her down for another kiss that left her wanting more. She ran her lips over his jaw, down his throat, until his voice rumbled deep in his chest. ‘I hate to say this, but we really do need to be going soon if we’re going to make it to Bethesda.’
Her hand wandered down his chest to his groin, closing around him. He was still so hard. She squeezed and he groaned.
‘Dammit, Gwyn. Don’t be a tease. That’s not fair.’
She glanced at the bedside clock and did the math in her head. ‘I don’t have to do my hair. That’ll save at least fifteen minutes. If I put my makeup on in the car, that’ll save another fifteen.’ She grinned down at him. ‘I can do a lot with half an hour.’
Her only answer was another groan as she disappeared under the sheet and took him into her mouth.
Bethesda, Maryland,
/> Tuesday 14 June, 5.15 P.M.
The traffic gods had smiled on them, Thorne thought as he pulled into the salon’s parking lot fifteen minutes early for Gwyn’s appointment with Angie Ospina. The lot was filled with Mercedes, BMWs, a few Bentleys, and even a Maserati. Fire-engine red, of course.
‘Swanky,’ Gwyn murmured. ‘No wonder she took out loans. The rent in this neighborhood is astronomical, and she actually owns her place. I bet her mortgage alone is more than she’s been bringing in on average.’
News of Angie’s loans had come via Alec Vaughn just minutes before. Gwyn had been on the phone with him almost the entire time that Thorne had been driving them from Baltimore to Bethesda. Alec really was an IT whizz-kid. Clay was lucky to have him as part of his company and Thorne was grateful that he was sharing the young man’s remarkable hacking skills.
‘What exactly did Alec say?’ he asked.
‘That Angie took the first loan from Linden Senior ten years ago. Although a payoff seems far more likely than a loan. She took out a second mortgage with a local bank four years ago, then someone made her a private loan in the amount of . . .’ Her voice trailed off. ‘Holy shit, Thorne. Four hundred thousand dollars. That’s on top of the second mortgage.’
Thorne’s eyes popped wide. ‘That’s a lot of money to privately loan someone. She must be hemorrhaging money to need that kind of cash infusion.’
She frowned. ‘But that’s the weird thing. She’s not losing money. She’s making payroll and still putting away what looks like a small profit.’
‘Then why would she need a loan? Who made the loan?’ he added because the ‘why’ wasn’t a question either of them could answer at this point.
‘Alec can’t trace it yet. But the timing is interesting.’ She lifted her brows at Thorne. ‘The four hundred grand was deposited into her bank account a month ago.’
‘Tavilla could have been poking around a month ago, although it probably wouldn’t have been him personally. He generally doesn’t get his hands dirty. Always uses his right-hand men to do the blatantly illegal stuff. Definitely worth checking into.’
‘I don’t know if it was Tavilla or not.’ She was frowning at her phone. ‘But the loans – including the second mortgage – were all deposited at the same time of year. Actually in the same month, within a three-day window.’
That was interesting. ‘The anniversary of something?’
‘Makes sense to me.’ Gwyn checked the time on her phone. ‘I should be going in soon. You can come in with me, but it’s risky. Your photo is all over the news.’
He released his seat belt. ‘I don’t like you going in there alone.’
She didn’t really either. It was just a beauty salon, but if Angie was guilty of something and felt cornered, it could get dicey. Gwyn had a .38 in her girdle holster beneath her blouse and a knife in the thigh holster that was covered by her knee-length skirt. Watching her dress had been a conflicting experience for Thorne – both arousing and terrifying. He hadn’t come this far to lose her.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming text. ‘It’s Alec again,’ she said. ‘He’s asking me if I’ve gone in yet. I’m telling him no, and why. Hmm,’ she said a few seconds later. ‘He says he’s brought reinforcements and to tell you to drive to the McDonald’s one block north of here.’ She responded, voicing as she typed. ‘My appointment is in ten minutes.’ She chuckled. ‘He says, “This will be worth it. Thorne will be happy. We are in a white van.”’
Thorne immediately pulled away from the salon and began to drive. ‘I like to be happy, but call him. I want to make sure it’s him and that we’re not getting spoofed again.’
Gwyn did as he asked. ‘What’s up, kid?’ she said, putting Alec on speaker when he answered.
‘I’m busy,’ he snapped.
‘We needed to know it was you.’
‘Oh.’ His voice softened. ‘Didn’t think about that. Sorry. It’s me. Gotta go.’
‘There it is,’ Thorne said. ‘The white van. And there’s Ford.’ Taylor’s fiancé sat behind the wheel. The panel behind him slid open, revealing Alec, who waved Gwyn inside.
Thorne lowered the window so that he and Ford could talk. ‘He’s going to wire her,’ Ford explained. ‘We didn’t want you to tell her not to go in, in case we couldn’t get here in time, but traffic wasn’t too bad. Park your SUV and get in the van. We’ll park close enough to the salon that you can storm the place if you need to.’
Thorne breathed easily for the first time since leaving the safety of Gwyn’s bed. ‘Thank you.’
Ford grinned. ‘Thank Clay. This was his idea.’
‘Excuse me,’ Alec protested. ‘It was my idea. I just made Clay think it was his.’
Gwyn smiled at both young men. ‘Whoever had the idea, I thank you two for coming all the way out here.’
Alec was checking the connections as Thorne climbed into the van. ‘You have a tail, you know. Black SUV. Escalade.’
Thorne pulled the van’s door shut. ‘I know. Detective Hector Rivera. He’s a member of Joseph’s joint task force. JD introduced him to us when he dropped us off at Gwyn’s condo this morning.’
Ford glanced in his rear-view mirror. ‘You know you could have come back to Clay’s house,’ he said seriously. ‘They have lots of room.’
‘I know,’ Thorne said. ‘But I can’t help thinking that if I’m not there, they’re safer.’
‘I don’t think that’s true,’ Alec said. ‘I think this Tavilla asshole is going after the people who are important to you. Whether you’re there to see it or not seems immaterial.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Thorne admitted. ‘But I still don’t want to paint targets on their backs any more than I have to. We need to go now. It’s almost five thirty.’ He sat next to Gwyn on the middle seat and Alec moved up front with Ford.
Alec waved his hand. ‘Make it so, Number One.’
Ford snorted. ‘You are such a geek.’
‘And proud to be.’
Gwyn grabbed Thorne’s hand. ‘I’m glad he’s proud to be a geek, because he knew how to wire me up.’
‘Me too.’
They pulled back in front of the salon with a minute to spare. Gwyn grabbed Thorne by the tie and pulled him down for a hard kiss. ‘It’s going to be fine.’
Love you, he wanted to say, but he held it back. ‘Be careful,’ he said instead.
She winked as she got out of the van. ‘Count on it. We have unfinished business.’
He watched her saunter away, then glanced at the two younger men in the front seats. Both stared at him open-mouthed.
‘Wow,’ Ford murmured.
‘That was . . . wow,’ Alec echoed, then he grinned. ‘You’ve been holding out on everyone, Thorne. Just think of how excited the ladies are going to be over this news. I can’t wait to tell them.’
‘Too late,’ Ford said smugly. ‘Just texted Taylor. Everyone will know in about three seconds flat.’
Thorne wanted to be annoyed. He really did. But he was too damn happy. Giddy. Like a damned teenager.
Then Alec waved his hand. ‘Gwyn’s in the salon. I’m recording this, but if we’re quiet, we can hear.’ He connected his phone to the processor he wore behind his ear, then put the phone on speaker so that Ford and Thorne could hear too.
And that fast, Thorne’s giddiness turned to dread. She’d better be careful. They both had too much to lose.
Seventeen
Bethesda, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 5.30 P.M.
Gwyn glanced around the reception area of Angie’s very upscale salon, taking in the displays of expensive cosmetics and hair products, all high-quality stuff. It was good she’d given a fake name, she thought wryly. She had enough cash for the salon service itself, but she would have been tempted to splurge on the makeup, and her credit card clearly said Gwyn Weave
r.
Interspersed among the product displays were several framed magazine and newspaper articles, many with Angie’s photo, so at least Gwyn would recognize her on sight. Angie had received ‘Best Of’ awards for the salon and ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ awards from the local chamber of commerce as well as several women’s professional organizations. She’d achieved success and the respect of her community.
Gwyn really hoped that she wasn’t in league with Tavilla. But if she is, I’ll help take her down. No way was this woman going to hurt Thorne. Not again.
‘Amber Kelly,’ she chirped to the woman behind the desk. ‘I have an appointment with Angie.’
The woman smiled wanly. She was young, pale, tall, pencil thin, and dressed all in black. ‘You’re our bride-to-be. Congratulations. Would you like some champagne?’
‘Please,’ Gwyn gushed, bouncing on her toes, which in four-inch heels was harder than it looked. ‘This has just been the perfect day.’
And it had been. She still wore the glow of sex with Thorne, although that last time had seemed like so much more. She’d been more than content to give him pleasure, but he’d wrested control only a few minutes into her efforts, rolling her to her back, sliding into her . . . reverently. She’d held his gaze the entire time, and even though she’d had to crane her head back to do that, it had been worth it.
Worth it, worth it, worth it. Those had been the two words he’d uttered over and over as he’d taken her, each roll of his hips as gentle as a slow wave. Bracing himself on his hands, he’d held his body high over hers, careful with her, like she was fragile and precious.
She’d felt precious. And even though they’d tried positions where she was able to feel his skin with every slide of his flesh into hers, this one seemed far more intimate.
When she’d come, it had been so hard she’d seen white lights twinkling all around her. And when he’d come, it was with a silent intensity that made her shiver all over again.
‘Wow,’ the receptionist murmured. ‘I am so very jealous of you right now.’
Gwyn blinked to find the woman holding out a flute of champagne. She accepted it with a polite but puzzled frown. ‘Why?’