Defending Sophie Read online

  Tapping his phone, he then tossed it on the pile of clothing on the floor and swiftly rolled her to her back, climbing between her legs.

  "I only want to talk about this once, are you clean?"

  She smiled, "Yes. Are you?"

  "Yes. Are you on birth control?"

  "No."

  He hesitated a moment and saw the frustration float across her face. Wrapping her legs around his waist she lifted her hips, feeling the hardness against her clit and moaned at the glorious feeling it created. His body shook slightly. She opened her eyes and saw the indecision but she wanted him again. Badly. Raising her hips again she whispered, "You can pull out just before."

  His hips arched as the tip of his cock seated itself and he slid inside of her, causing both of them to moan. He took his time this morning, rolling his hips slowly in and out of her, the soft sounds of their mating, heavy breathing and pleasure swirling around making the most beautiful music.

  "Open your eyes and look at me."

  She did as he commanded, and what she saw in his eyes was intense. Bewildering. "Your body fits mine perfectly, Sophie."

  "I know." She arched her back then lifted her hips again driving him deeper into her. They both grunted. He reached back and lifted her left leg higher, wrapping her leg over his arm, as he drove into her deeper still. Her eyes closed at the beautiful intensity of having Gaige Vickers so deep inside of her she could cry.

  "Open your eyes." The gruffness in his voice told her just how much he felt right now. The green that met her was consuming. "While I'm in you, making you mine, you look at me. I want you to remember this forever." His hips continued to pump into her, but he was taking his time. Thrusting in deep he held himself inside then swirled his hips, grinding against her clit. She moaned and almost closed her eyes, but she didn't want to lose one second of that look on his face. "Watching your face while I give you pleasure is a dream come true for me."

  "Watching your face while I give you pleasure is better." She whispered.

  His speed increased, his muscles bunched and flexed and his skin grew damp as he worked to drive them both to a point they couldn't control.

  She reached down with her right hand, grabbed his ass and squeezed. Her left arm couldn't reach around because her leg was lifted so she lay her hand on his face, her thumb gently swiping his lips. He grunted as she touched him, he pushed his face into her hand, adding more pressure and her heart grew a hundred fold for the intensity in this moment. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.

  He rolled his hips into her clit over and over until she exploded, the speed of it numbing her mind. He smiled at her as he watched her come, then his speed intensified and he managed to husk out, "My turn."

  His face grew taught, his lips pressed firmly together as he spewed into her a low growl from deep in his chest the only sound he made. His eyes never left hers.

  Chapter 29

  Stepping from the shower he wrapped a towel around his waist, brushed his teeth, then walked into the bedroom he was supposed to be sharing with Hawk.

  Hawk lay on his bed, fully dressed, ear buds in his ears, scrolling on his laptop. He glanced up then pulled his earbuds out.

  "I've got the information from Wyatt on the location of the medical examiner. She had been stationed here. Perhaps coincidentally, she was transferred after Kate's autopsy. Now, she's on base in Maryland. Gavin is ready to fly us out there to interview her. Wheels up in an hour."

  "Thanks for taking care of that, Hawk. I'll be ready."

  Hawk swung his legs off the bed and stood. "What about Sophie? Will you be bringing her with us?"

  Wasn't that the million-dollar question? He wanted her around always, but they needed to make this a quick trip. But, he also worried about her staying safe here. Walking to his bed, and the duffle that lay on top of it, he pulled a clean t-shirt and khakis from inside as well as clean underwear and socks. He dropped his towel and began dressing, his mind rolling over all of his options.

  Hawk interrupted his thoughts. "I can go alone and you can stay here and deal with the car Kate was found in, Tommy's hair analysis, and Killian."

  Zipping his pants, he locked eyes with Hawk. "You gonna need backup?"

  "I shouldn't. No one will know why I'm there."

  Nodding Gaige grinned. "Thanks, Hawk. I'm a bit out of my element here. I promise I won't let this interfere with getting the job done, but this is...she is..." Holding his arms out, he shrugged.

  Hawk raised a hand to stave off any further words. "I get it. Sort of. Don't stress over it, let's just get her cleared of all of this bullshit. Tommy, too, and go home."

  "10-4." Tugging his t-shirt over his head he turned and walked out of the bedroom. The desk had been folded back into the wall and his laptop was not there. He turned to see Hawk grinning and pointing to the dresser across the room.

  "I didn't think we should leave that out last night and when you didn't come back out of Sophie's room right away, I took care of it."

  Not for the first time, or hundredth time, did he thank the Lord above that Hawk was on his team. The man was positively invaluable.

  "Thanks again."

  Chuckling he only shook his head, pulled his phone from his pants pocket and tapped a couple of times.

  "Gavin, it's just me; I'll be there soon." Tapping his phone again, he tucked it back into his pocket.

  "I hope you're all hungry. I have pancakes, sausages, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, and bacon." Gigi called from the kitchen stove. The aromas mingled together to create the smells of his childhood.

  "Smells great, Gigi, and thank you again." He walked to the kitchen as Gigi pointed to the coffee pot and the cups on the counter.

  "Help yourself."

  Next to the coffee pot on a tray were three coffee cups, each with funny sayings, a little container with creamer and one with sugar. He poured coffee into the three cups and handed the black cup with yellow writing, "Shut dah fah cup" to Hawk with a grin on his face. Hawk read the saying and chuckled.

  "Perfect."

  Adding creamer to his cup, he walked to Sophie's bedroom door and knocked. The door slid open and Sophie's shower fresh face greeted him with a smile. He leaned down and kissed her soft lips, earning himself a slight moan and her warm body pressed against him.

  "Morning," She whispered. Her cheeks tinted a pretty pink. "Again."

  He chuckled. "Morning. How do you like your coffee?"

  "Aww, you're sweet. Just creamer, please." Her hair was still damp from the shower but it was beginning to lightly wave as it dried. The dark richness of her long thick hair had been one of the first things he'd noticed about her. She always kept it shiny, though lately she'd worn it in a ponytail or a braid more often than not. "I'll be right out. I just need to braid my hair."

  "No. Please leave it down for a bit."

  She cocked her head to the right and looked into his eyes. "Okay." Her lips turned up into the most beguiling smile and her dark eyes sparkled.

  Stepping back for her to proceed him he only let her get two steps in front of him before taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. The kitchen wasn't more than twelve steps away, and Hawk had a bullseye view from his seat at the table.

  He pulled a chair out for Sophie to Hawk's right then went back to the coffee pot to put creamer in Sophie's coffee before bringing both cups to the table. Gigi joined them at the same time. The food had been set out and it looked simply amazing.

  Sophie read her coffee cup and giggled. "’Make today your Bitch’. I'm going to do just that."

  She leaned over to read his cup, "Coffee 'cause adulting is hard". Grinning she sipped her coffee but watched him over the rim of her cup. He could get used to waking up and looking at her smiling face after making love to her.

  Gigi urged them on, "Dig in before it gets cold. I'll eat quickly then I have to get to the bakery. If one of you wants to drive me there, you can use my car."

  He responded " Thanks, Gigi.
We can all take you. Hawk has to get to the airport for a quick flight out and Sophie and I have some investigating to do today. So, if you don't mind, we can drop you at the bakery, then drop Hawk at the airport, then swing by and pick up our new rental and we'll drop your car back at the bakery by late morning."

  She nodded. Sophie then asked, "You have a plan for us today?"

  "I do. Hawk found the medical examiner who was transferred to Maryland. He's going to interview her and see if she remembers anything about Kate's autopsy that can help us determine what really happened to her. You and I are going to see what we can find out about the car Kate died in and the DMV records.”

  "I found Kate's autopsy report on file last night."

  "We know. We have that. You fell asleep but we forwarded what you found to GHOST and Ford and Lincoln did some researching last night. That's how we found out the medical examiner had been transferred. If Killian's behind all of this, he's got a long reach."

  Sophie took a deep breath. "Gaige, what if it isn't Killian?"

  "I don't know, Sophie. My gut tells me it's him. But Tommy can't remember yet and I'm hoping the longer he's clean the more his memory will come back and he'll remember a more thorough description of the man he saw raping Kate."

  Hawk then asked, "Sophie, was there anyone else that seemed to have a crush on Kate? Anyone who called her or asked her out or hung around a bit?"

  "No, she was friends with some of the guys but no one that seemed truly interested in wanting to date her. We are all like brother and sister . We've known many of these guys for years. So, no one stands out."

  Nodding, Hawk went back to his breakfast.

  A thought popped into his head. "Sophie, when you’re finished with breakfast, as we drive Gigi to work and Hawk to the airport, I'd like you to write down the names of all of the men in your unit. Maybe we can pull pictures of them from their records and see if Tommy recognizes any of them."

  "Okay. I sure wish I had my phone back."

  "That I can help you with. GHOST has someone who can obtain access to many things. Since he found your phone on base, I'll ask him to hack into your phone and pull down your contacts."

  Her smile was brilliant. "Do you think he can pull my pictures down, too? Oh, I'd so love to get those back. My last photos of Kate were on there."

  "I’ll ask him to pull them down as well."

  Chapter 30

  Having done their taxi duties for the morning, they finally picked up the new rental. Sophie pulled Gigi's car into the lot at the back of the bakery and put it in park. Undoing her seatbelt, she looked around the car before opening the door. Gaige jumped out of the white Tahoe Wyatt had rented and came to the driver's door. Unlocking it and pulling the handle, he swung the door open and held his hand out to her. Her tummy flipped a bit at his traditional manners and she warned herself to keep her heart in check. Today and last night had been simply wonderful, but she needed to keep her head on straight. After this was all over, he'd go back to the GHOST compound and she still had some contract time on her service she had to finish up. No telling if the distance would kill them or not. And, she thought they shouldn't play with fire while having sex, so she'd asked Gaige to purchase some condoms. He agreed, though she thought he hesitated before responding.

  He kissed her lips the instant she stood outside of the car and her heartbeat skipped. He was a fantastic kisser. His lips molded to hers perfectly. Soft, warm and supple and he seemed to enjoy kissing her, too. Bonus. Her ex-husband didn't enjoy kissing. He told her he preferred to get to the good stuff. What an ass.

  "Okay, let's be quick with this. We've got a ton of work to do."

  "Okay." She locked Gigi's car and led Gaige to the backdoor of the bakery. The back hallway was empty, which she expected, but so was the kitchen. She turned and spoke softly to Gaige, "Gigi must be out front with customers."

  She located a pad of paper on the small wooden desk in the corner and wrote Gigi a note. Laying the keys on top of the note, she then walked out of the kitchen, Gaige closely behind her. A male voice filtered out to the hallway.

  "Are you sure you haven't seen her? Her name is Sophie Turner. She's AWOL and wanted for murder. We're asking all of the business owners if they've seen her. Take another look, please."

  Her heart raced in her chest, but Gaige turned her to look at him. His forefinger held in front of his lips to signal her to be quiet, he took her arm and quietly led her to the backdoor. Silently opening the door, he ushered her out first, then followed closely behind. Brusquely walking to the rental, he opened the passenger door for her then gently pushed the door closed and made his way around to the driver's side. Starting the vehicle, he eased the SUV out of the parking lot and down the back alley to the street behind the bakery.

  "Okay, we knew they were looking for you, so this isn't a total surprise. But, we need to find you a cap to wear. And some sunglasses without looking obvious. Then figure out how to get into the impound yard to take a look at the car. I want the VIN off of it so we can run it through all the records.” Turning onto a back street he handed her his phone. “See if you can pull up the impound yard on my phone, along the way we'll look for a store to stop at."

  What was so damned impressive was that she was shaking and trying super hard to not freak out and he seemed perfectly calm and onto the next thing as if this was his daily life. Which she supposed it was.

  "Hey, look at me."

  She turned her head and looked into his eyes. "I'll keep you safe, Sophie. It's not unusual that someone would have grunts out looking for you to keep them busy and Canyon Creek is only ten miles from Riverton. Okay?"

  Nodding she replied, "Yeah. I guess I wasn't expecting it, though I should have been. I just feel so safe with you that I forgot for a while that I'm still wanted."

  He picked up her hand and tugged it to his lips. Kissing her fingers briefly he chuckled. "You're wanted for sure."

  Her eyes began tearing up and she shook her head and closed her eyes reminding herself to stay strong. He let go of her hand and she inhaled, then began looking for the impound yard on his phone.

  Forty minutes later they'd stopped at a dollar store and found a pink ball cap with a rhinestone heart on it and a pair of sunglasses. She'd braided her hair and tucked it under the cap. Glancing in the mirror on the back of the visor she giggled. "I don't look any different. Not really."

  Gaige chuckled. "You're always beautiful, but at this point we can only hope they solely have grunts out looking for you and they won't be all that observant. Looking just for long dark hair and such. Unless you want to get radical and cut and dye your hair, this is what we've got to work with."

  She scrunched her face and glanced out the window. Shrugging she finally replied, "I'll do whatever I need to do to prove my innocence and bring Kate's rapist and killer to justice."

  Gaige turned into the driveway of the impound yard which actually looked like a junkyard. A tall chain-link fence surrounded the large area. Junk, dilapidated cars, and trucks were lined up, in some semblance of order, she supposed made sense to whoever owned or ran this place. They pulled up to the door of the office, which looked like a gas station from days gone by. The faded red stripe around the top of the building still shown through years of dust and sun bleaching. The glass doors were covered with fliers and signs taped to the inside in a haphazard manner.

  "Okay, stay in the truck, doors locked. I'll be right back out." Gaige locked eyes with her and raised his brows when she didn't respond immediately.

  "Okay."

  "I'm just going in to inquire about a Pontiac Grand Prix that was stolen from me. Since this is the place where shady characters come first, I'd prefer you weren't seen. You never know if someone paid off our clerk in there to call them if they see you."

  Nodding, ‘cause he had a good point she pulled her lips between her teeth and said nothing. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "You have the phone Hawk gave you?"

  "Yeah."

&nbs
p; "Okay, if you need help call me, text or whatever, but I won't be in there long. If someone pulls into the lot, duck down or look like you're sleeping. Capeesh?"

  Smiling she replied. " Capeesh."

  He exited the vehicle and strode to the glass door. Tall and broad, he was an easy man to admire. He'd managed to stay in shape over the years, though in his line of work, it was most likely a necessity than anything else. In her case, she had regular PT exams she had to pass, so it was also a necessity for her.

  He turned briefly and winked at her before disappearing behind the dirty front door. Damn, she hoped this worked.

  Chapter 31

  "Hi, I'm looking for a black Pontiac Grand Prix. It was stolen from me a couple of months ago and I've been checking places like yours out here and there to see if I can find it."

  The clerk behind a grimy counter stacked with dirty papers and miscellaneous pens, paperclips and other items turned at the sound of his voice. He appeared about five foot ten inches tall and wearing a grubby baseball cap the color of faded blue or maybe that was black, it was hard to tell. The loose hanging mechanic's shirt offered no hint of a shape and upon closer inspection, the clerk was a woman. The look she landed on him was one of boredom or irritation more than anything else.

  "Are you now? I think we've got a few of those out back." She pulled a dusty three ring binder from under the counter and slapped it on top, creating a small dust cloud. Opening the cover, her faded blue eyes locked on him. "Gotta VIN?"

  "No, I didn't think to bring that."

  "Really?" She shifted to a stance of disbelief. "You've been looking at places like this and no one has asked you for a VIN?"