Read The Departed for Free Online Page B

didn’t think she’d ever seen him do.
    He took the rest of the day off, calling in for personal time.
    One very hot shower later, she was sprawled on the bed and he was sprawled between her thighs, her butt in his hands and his mouth against her pussy, his tongue stroking and teasing and making her so damn hot, she didn’t know if her heart could handle it.
    He tasted her, he tormented her, he teased her, and when she was sure she’d die if she didn’t come, he rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. Sensitive and sore, her body unused to the demands after a few years of celibacy, she bit her lip as she slowly sank down and took him inside.
    “I love looking at you,” he whispered, his voice raw, rough. So unlike the cool, collected professional she was used to. The steely blue of his eyes was molten and hot, stroking all over her flesh like liquid, living flame. His hands cupped her breasts, plumping them together, teasing her nipples until each light touch was like an arrow of fire shooting straight down to her crotch.
    Dazed, she rested her hands on his chest and rocked against him.
    He lifted his head and caught one nipple in his mouth and Dez shuddered, shook, clenched down around him. It made him groan and the vibration of it against her flesh had her shaking all over.
    Madness…she’d fallen into madness.
    Actually, though, it was more than that.
    She was insane and she was in…in something else that she wouldn’t even think about. Not right now. Bending down, she crushed her mouth to his, linked their fingers, and started to pump against him, madly. Desperate. Driving. So full of need, so full of hunger.
    She needed him—so much. The ache had lived inside her for so long and she’d ignored it for so long.
    The thick ridge of his cock twitched, swelled inside her, and he shifted, adjusting her weight so that when she moved, she was pressing against him just… there …
    She cried out against his mouth and went shuddering, shaking, and screaming into orgasm.
    * * *
     
    ALTHOUGH she wasn’t surprised by the distance between them the next day, it did hurt.
    She sat sipping her coffee and watching as he put his armor back on.
    That suit, a little wrinkled and worse for the wear, hid a body she’d held pressed against hers through the night and she decided she really did hate those suits. He used them to hide.
    And when his phone rang, she watched as he used that to put even more distance between them.
    But she wasn’t surprised.
    As he finished taking the call, talking in terse sentences, she shored up her defenses. She had feelings for the cold bastard, but she knew a one-night stand with him wasn’t going to change things…not for him. Maybe she’d hoped to get him out of her mind, and only time would tell if it worked.
    When he disconnected, she lowered her coffee and glanced up at him. “Missing child?”
    “Yes.”
    She nodded and asked, “Who do you think you’ll call in?”
    He tugged his tie on, tying it in smooth, efficient motions. “It was Taige Br—Morgan that called. She’s already tracking.”
    “Taige?” For the past few years, Taige had been mostly incommunicado with the bureau. Ever since that last injury. Although the injury wasn’t to blame. She’d gotten married, had a real life…finally. Dez was happy for her. Taige needed a real life, something outside the misery the other woman had known for most of her life. But if something was pulling at her, Taige wasn’t going to ignore it, she supposed.
    “Yes.”
    Recognizing the distance, and even more, recognizing the light burning in his eyes, she lifted her cup. “Then you’d better hit the road, boss. If Taige has a live one, it probably won’t take that long for her to track the kid down.”
    He came closer and, for a brief second, her heart stopped. But all he did was angle her chin up so he could scrutinize her neck. Jerking her chin out of his grip, she said edgily, “I’m fine. They wanted me to