Give Me Grace (20 page)

“Goddamn,” I growled, because there would be no punishment today.

Taking her hand, I pulled her inside the walk-in wardrobe and shut the door behind us. “This is crazy,” she breathed. “I can’t even be around you for a minute without thinking dirty thoughts.”

“Stop talking,” I ordered and
slammed my mouth down on hers before she could speak again.

My cock started hardening
the instant I thrust my tongue in her mouth and got a taste. She responded violently, grabbing at the belt of my pants with rough, urgent movements. I tilted my hips back while I kissed her, giving her easier access. She took it, yanking down my zipper and slipping her hands inside my boxer-briefs. I groaned deep in her mouth when they wrapped around my cock, feeling an ache of relief at her touch.

Grace pulled off my mouth with a gasp when
I grabbed at her shorts and shoved them down hard and fast.

Straightening back up, I slid
my hand inside her panties, skimming through all that delicious wetness until my finger was inside her. My body shuddered as she squeezed around it.

“Casey!” s
he cried out when I began to fuck her with it.

There was no finesse to my movements.
I was too turned on and she made sexy moans in my ear that only intensified my lack of control. Her hand tightened on my erection and her other one slid around my neck and up into my hair, grabbing and pulling at it as she jacked me off.

“Christ,” I
panted, in between nibbling her ear and sucking on her neck. “I need my cock in you so bad.”

Finding her lips again, I kissed her, my entire body screaming for release as she fisted me hard and fast. I
thrust my cock into her hand, adding more friction.

“Grace?”

We both froze at the sound of Henry’s voice, my finger stilling inside her and her hand freezing on my erection. I gritted my teeth with frustration.

“
Oh shit,” she breathed.

Oh shit
was right. I know I was all for telling Henry we were seeing each other, but catching us like this wasn’t how I’d planned on going about it.

I shoved away from her quickly,
snatching my hand from her panties. I felt the loss when her hand let go of my cock as we both began putting ourselves back together. Grace tugged up her shorts and started smoothing her hair haphazardly while I tucked my hard, aching cock back in my pants. After smoothing my shirt, I buttoned my pants and yanked up the zipper.

“Slim,” I whispered, trying to get her attention.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she chanted.

“Grace?” Henry
called again, his voice sounding closer. My heart pounded at the possibly of getting caught. Grace’s brother would rip my nuts clean off.

Gra
bbing her shoulders, I faced Grace towards the mirror so she could see her reflection. Her hair was wild, her tank top all twisted. Beard burn covered half her face because I hadn’t shaved this morning, and red marks dotted her neck where I’d sucked on it.

“We’re done for,” she
hissed to my reflection in the mirror. With a final attempt at smoothing her hair, she ordered me to wait there before disappearing out the door and shutting it smartly behind her.

“What were you doing in there?” I heard Henry ask.

“I was looking for something.”

“
Oh.” There was pause, and then, “What happened to your face?”

“
Nothing. I’ve just been out running,” she replied, her voice a touch too casual. “Why?”

“Because you look like you’ve just had wild sex.”

I bit back a groan. We would’ve been having it right now if it wasn’t for your timely interruption, I told him silently. Thanks for the cock-block, man.

“Don’t be ridiculous.
Who would I possibly be having sex with? I was out running and fell in some shrubbery.”

I heard him laugh at the same time I smothered my own.

“You could be a bit more sympathetic,” she snapped irritably. Grace was getting completely caught up in her little tale as though she believed it herself. My lips twitched because she was fucking adorable. “I even twisted my ankle.”

No! She did
not
just say that. I hoped she knew that she was now going to have to fake that injury for the rest of the week. I glanced at my watch.

Shit.

I pulled out my phone and sent Tim a quick message to say I’d be another twenty minutes before setting the ring tone to silent.

“Have you seen Casey?”

She’s seen a lot more of me than you’d like, Henry
.

“No, why?”

“Because his car’s out the front but I didn’t see him anywhere.”

“He’s in th
e bathroom.” That came from Mac, which meant she was on to us. Shrewd bitch, I thought affectionately. That woman didn’t miss a single thing. I owed her for having my back on this. “Henry, have you got a sec? I need you to check something on that new contract I was reading. From what I can see, it sounds like they’re trying to cut our royalties.”

“They fucking
what
?”

Their voices slowly faded and a
fter a moment of silence, my phone vibrated.

It’s okay to come out
. I’m out the back with John.

I tapped out a reply to Grace before I left the confines of her wardrobe.

I have to get back to work. You. Me. Wednesday night. I don’t care where the fuck it happens, but it’s happening.

It wasn’t until I was back in the car and heading towards the office that I realised the issue of my backseat hadn’t reached a satisfactory conclusion.
Tomorrow night
, I vowed. I would yell at her some more tomorrow night.

Frank strode into my office just after lunch on the Wednesday. His pace was rapid and his brows drawn, telling me he meant all business. He shoved a report under my face without any preamble and barked, “We got that lead on the Janie Berg case.”

Shoving all thoughts of getting my hands on Grace later that night aside, I read the page in front of me, my pulse racing in anticipation of closing this case quickly.

It held an address, the photo of a house, and a map where the house was clearly marked on the street. Frank had detailed all entry and exit points, including windows, along with the information of each neighbouring residence. I glanced up, meeting Frank’s fierce eyes.

Janie Berg was a six-year-old little girl, kidnapped from school on Monday. It wasn’t until the bell rang signalling the end of lunch that it came to light she hadn’t returned from the school playground. Teachers were supposed to be monitoring the playground where the kindergarten kids played, but reports indicated a five minute window during a teacher changeover when the area hadn’t been supervised.

Five goddamn minutes. That was all it took to bring someone’s entire world to a grinding halt.

The only witnesses were the other six-year-olds in the playground. As eager as they were to help with descriptions, the information hadn’t been worth the paper it was written on. All we managed to get was the kidnapper was male.

I snatched the report holding Frank’s meticulous information and stood. “Sure you still want that retirement, Frank?”

Frank didn’t answer the question, and I didn’t expect him to. The man never did anything without investigating every angle first, all but getting a NASA report before taking action.

Moving around the desk, I started for our equipment room at the back of the office. Tim glanced up from his desk as we strode out. “He’s going to have to call you back,” I heard him say as we continued
down the back hallway. Punching in the security code, I opened the insulated door, Frank following behind.

“Where’s Travis?” I barked, grabbing two bulletproof vests from the shelving.

“Already on his way in. Said he’d be—”

“Here,” Travis said quickly. Pushing past Frank, he grabbed two handguns from their box while I picked up
a box of ammunition from the shelf on my right. Travis handed one of them to me.

“Talk, Frank,” I ordered as I loaded the gun in my hand. The Janie Berg case was mine, but Frank needed to update Travis on the situation so he wasn’t walking in blind.

“The information was called in by a neighbour two doors down. Said she noticed movement inside the residence indicated. Last night she heard a kid screaming,” he continued as I passed the box of ammunition to Travis. Travis began loading his gun while Frank spoke. “When she got a good look, she rang the police, gave them a description that matched Janie. They rang us. We checked on the lead and it came through. The little girl is in that house.”

“Tell him what the police don’t know,” I grunted at Frank.

Frank’s eyes went flat and hard. “The kid’s dad was a former member of the outlaw biker gang The Sentinels.”

“Was?” Travis questioned.

“Dead in a drive-by three years ago. No arrest was made.”

“Shit. Is this random then, or is the MC involved somehow?”

My expression was grim as I tucked the gun in the back of my pants. “We don’t know. Sherry, the kid’s mum, says it has nothing to do with the MC but something’s not sitting right with me,” I finished as we left the equipment room, Travis pulling the heavy door shut behind us.

“Tim, hold all calls,” I barked as the three of us filed past. “Frank, I want you to get in touch with Det
ective Kerr. Give him an update on what we know.” I glanced at the page again. The house was in Blackheath. Frank had listed the estimated travel time as one hour and thirty-six minutes. “Get hold of Blackheath Police. Let them know what’s going on. Give them ours and Kerr’s contact info and also our ETA.”

I paused as we entered the car
park. Travis and Frank stopped with me. “We have to take your car,” I told Travis. “Mines full of boxes.”

His brows flew up. “Boxes?”

I shook my head, not having found the time to haul them over to document destruction yet. “Something to do with Jared nesting.” Travis opened his mouth to speak. I held up a hand. “Don’t even ask.” I turned to Frank. “Give Blackheath Police our vehicle info, too.”

“What about
Sherry?” Frank asked as we loaded the back of Travis’s Subaru.

I swiped a hand across my face. “Shit. Ring her. Tell her we have a lead and to remain on standby. If little Janie is there and alive, we want to have
Sherry brought in ASAP. If she’s not, we don’t want her there to see anything. See if we can get a chopper pulled in.”

Frank nodded as Travis and I both slid our vests on. “Roger that,” he said, and headed back inside the office.

Fifteen minutes later we were on the M4 and heading towards Sydney’s Blue Mountains, Travis moving swiftly between lunchtime traffic.

When Frank rang, I picked up the phone. “Yeah?”

“Blackheath Police on standby. They’ll be parking an unmarked patrol two houses down from the target residence. Detective Kerr has a team on its way. The mother has been notified. It’s a negative on the chopper at this stage.”

“Thanks, Frank.” I hung up the phone and gave Travis the update.

After shifting gears and changing lanes, he glanced at me. “The unmarked is going to go with our lead?”

“They will if they know what’s good for them. I don’t want them interfering in something we’ve ha
d specialised training to deal with.”

Exhaling heavily, I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, feeling a cold sweat break out across my brow.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, opening my eyes and focusing on the passing scenery. “Just
… brings it all back. Every damn time.” Travis glanced across at me again, concern furrowing his brow. “Stop fucking looking at me like that. I’m fine,” I lied, because I wasn’t. I was exhausted. I had the sudden urge to wrap my arms around Grace, bury my face in her neck, and just breathe her in. Five and a half weeks. That was all I had left of her. Taking a deep breath, I emptied my mind and forced a smile for Travis. “This is why we do this job, right?”

“Casey—”

My phone rang then, cutting him off. Thankful for the interruption, I answered without checking the screen. “Yeah?” I barked.

“Casey,” Morgan replied. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. You’re a busy man.”

“Sorry about that. Look, now’s not a good time. We’re—”

“Listen. I’ve got some information for you.” I sat up in my seat, suddenly alert and unable to breathe. “Let’s do dinner. Tonight. It’s been too long since I had my hands on you. We need to remedy that.”

I wanted to repeatedly smash my phone against the dashboard of Travis’s car. Tonight was my night with Grace. It was all I’d thought about since Monday morning.

“Casey?”

“That sounds like a plan, but I’m heading out to an undisclosed location and I don’t think I’ll be back until late tonight.”

“That’s perfect. I’m working late. Come over when you’re done, doesn’t matter how late. I’ll cook.”

“Sure,” I forced myself to say while I scrambled internally. What the fuck else was I supposed to do? She had information I’d been trying to get my hands on for ten damn years. I couldn’t just throw that out the window.

“You don’t step out on women?”

“No. I don’t.”

Shit. Just
… shit.

I closed my eyes, rubbing a hand across my brow. I’d do dinner, let Morgan know that whatever this was, it was over, and t
hen hope like fucking hell she was still willing to give me the information anyway. “Thanks. I’ll let you know a time when I have more of an idea.”

“You remember my address?”

“I do,” I replied.

“Great. See you soon, Casey.”

“Later,” I murmured and hung up.

Travis checked his mirrors before returning his gaze to the road. “Who was that?”

“Morgan.” Knowing I may as well get it over with, I added, “She has information.”

His brows flew up as he glanced at me quickly. “She does? Well, fuck. Maybe I overreacted about you and her,” he admitted. “I thought you were chasing a dead end. What information does she have?”

“Don’t know yet. She wants to do dinner tonight.”

After a minute he replied, “Well that’s good, right?”

I sighed deeply and stared unseeing out the window. “Yeah, it’s good.”

Picking up on my flat mood, he frowned. “You do like her, don’t you?”

“She seems okay,” I hedged as I sent a brief text message to Grace, disappointment leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

I can’t make it tonight. Sorry.

A year ago I would have been pumped at finally getting a lead, but now I just felt empty. If this lead turned into a dead end, then I needed to find a way to let go of the past. I couldn’t keep going the way I was because the guilt was killing me.

Grace’s
reply came back ten minutes later.

Okay.

That was it. Nothing else. Just …
okay.
She didn’t even question why. God, she was so fucking beautiful and perfect and I was an asshole. I would see Morgan tonight, have dinner, get the information, and end it there. Whatever happened, I couldn’t keep leading Morgan on, and hurting Grace was out of the question.

I tapped out another message while Travis drove silently beside me.

Reschedule for Thursday night?

She replied instantly.

No can do, Batman. Friday is also out. We have a show.

“Are we doing security for Jamieson this weekend?” I asked.

“I think so,” Travis replied. “Friday night. Nothing Saturday and Sunday. Jared and Coby are taking care of it. Why?”

“Just checking,” I murmured.

I sent a message to Coby.

Take your Friday night security shift?

After reading his reply of “
Fuck yeah. Owe you one,”
I sent another message to Grace.

I’m doing your Friday night security. Come home with me.

I waited another twenty minutes for her response.

How would I explain that?

The sneaking around had to stop. After Friday night, I was telling Henry, consequences be damned. Grace and I were both adults. She could make her own decisions and he needed to trust that she was safe with me.

I sent a quick reply.

Make something up. I don’t care. I need to see you.

Travis was just turning on
to the street Frank had marked out on the map for us when he rang again.

“You have to pull out.”

“What? Why?”

“The elderly couple
who own the house? Their nephew is a member of The Sentinels. It looks like the place is used as a safe house. You were right, Casey. Janie’s abduction wasn’t as random as we thought.”

“Janie’s mother said she no longer had ties to the MC.”