Chapter Sixteen

Billie felt herself being hurled through the air, and she landed hard on the ground, the impact robbing her of every shred of her breath. And then the pain came just as it had when a bullet had rammed into her vest.

Presley moved on top of her. Sheltering her, she realized, since there was debris flying from…some kind of blast. Then, she recalled that look on Presley's face when he'd put the key in the lock. She hadn't heard anything, but he clearly had, and his fast thinking had likely saved their lives.

Billie shifted a little, just enough so she could look back at the door. It wasn't there. It'd been blown to bits. So had the frame and the shudder on the window right next to it. There were now gaping holes in the fire station, and thick smoke was billowing out.

"Plastic explosives," Presley muttered, and somehow he got up and hauled her to her feet. "We need to get out of here in case there are more."

Billie cursed since she hadn't even thought of that, but he was right. And this was almost certainly something the kidnappers had left behind. Maybe to be certain any potential evidence was destroyed, but maybe they'd known Presley and she would follow the trail of information breadcrumbs to here.

Where they could die.

With the return of her breath, she got a surge of much needed adrenaline. Presley obviously did, too, because they were able to sprint back to the SUV. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken or sprained in her body, but she figured she'd have yet more bruises.

They got inside the SUV, fast, and sped away while he gave the voice command to call Ruby. His boss answered on the first ring.

"Long story short," he immediately said, skipping the greeting. "I met with my bio-father, Joe Malloy, and he's the owner of the old fire station where I was abandoned as a newborn. He gave us a key, and when Billie and I came here to check it out, the back door blew up."

Ruby muttered something that Billie didn't catch. "Are you both all right?"

Presley looked at her, no doubt assessing that, and Billie nodded. Though all right was a relative term. They were alive, but, man, she was shaken to the core. Added to that, their clothes were smeared with dirt, grass stains, and ashy like debris from the explosion. Some of that dirt was on Presley's face. A glance in the mirror confirmed it was the same for her. With the bruises from the ordeal at the creek, they looked as if they'd both had their butts kicked.

"No serious injuries," Presley said, "but now I need to do some mop up and get the fire department and bomb squad out here—"

"I'll take care of mop up," Ruby insisted. "Just get out of there now."

She ended the call, and with the conversation over, Billie could hear her own gusting breath. She tried to rein that in so she wouldn't hyperventilate. Thankfully, Presley had already done the reining in. He seemed super focused.

And pissed.

"You don't think your bio-father set that explosive," she said.

"No." There was zero hesitation. "I don't think he's in on this. So, either Ellis and Craig left it as a way of making sure to destroy any potential evidence or their boss did."

That was what she believed as well. She hadn't gotten any sense whatsoever that Joe had wanted to harm either Victoria or Presley.

"My place is closer than yours," he said. "Any objections to going there?"

This time, she was the one who didn't hesitate. "None."

They'd have to give their statements to the cops, of course, but that would have to wait anyway until the scene had been secured. It was possible the entire area would have to be evacuated so the grounds could be checked for explosives as well. Then after that, the CSIs would be brought in, and hopefully they would find something, anything, to make sense of all of this.

As Presley drove to his house, his phone dinged with not one text but two, and since they appeared on the dash monitor, Billie could see the first was from Angel and the second from Ruby.

Victoria's being released from the hospital , Angel messaged. Can't convince her to go to a hotel or to friends, so I'll be going with her to her estate .

"Hell," Presley muttered.

And Billie didn't have to ask why he was upset. Jesep would be there. Possibly Ari and Olivia, too, and since none of them had been cleared from involvement in the kidnapping, it would be like the woman walking straight into the lion's den.

"Angel won't let anything happen to Victoria," Billie said. At least, he would try to make sure nothing happened anyway.

Billie moved on to the second text. Mop up in progress , Ruby informed them. Stay put until you hear from me. Am forwarding a report you should read.

Within seconds, there was another dinging notification, and the report loaded. "It's from the crime lab," Billie commented, and she began to scroll through it. "Holy crap."

"What?" Presley asked, keeping his attention on the curvy road.

"The lab analyzed the recordings of the phone calls from the kidnappers to Ruby and us, and they cleaned them up enough to detect and analyze some background noise." She looked at him. "It's Hattie's voice in the background."

It wasn't surprise that flashed through his eyes but more of that anger. "They're arresting her," he stated. Not a question.

"Yes, SAPD is heading out to do that now." She paused, continued to read. And her heart and her hopes dropped. "The lab says they can't tell if the voice is live or a recording."

"Shit," Presley grumbled. "Her lawyer will use that as a way for her to worm her way out of it." He paused, cursed some more. "And she could actually be innocent."

Billie had to make a reluctant sound of agreement. She wanted all of this to end. She wanted some hard justice to be served to the person or persons responsible. But she also didn't want an innocent woman being charged so the real perp could walk free.

She could feel Presley continue to stew as he drove, and Billie knew it was being fueled by what was left of the adrenaline and the hellish crap he'd had to deal with since he'd gotten news of the kidnapping. In that short span of time, he'd learned the identities of his birth parents and had nearly been killed twice.

"I'm okay," he said, and that's when Billie realized he'd noticed her staring at him. "How about you?"

"Fine, other than…" She nearly spelled out all the unfinished business, all the unanswered questions. But Billie merely added a weary sigh. That about summed up their current situation.

Presley matched her sigh with one of his own as he threaded his way through the winding roads of the Texas Hill Country to his house. Even though they'd stayed the night here, she hadn't noticed much about the place as they'd driven in. Hard to observe the scenery when you could barely stay awake. But she did some observing now. It was secluded.

And beautiful.

The white stone and log cabin perched on one of the limestone bluffs that dotted the area. The house was positioned to capture some amazing views. A far cry from her place in the city.

Presley gave the voice command to open a garage where she saw another SUV, a motorcycle, and a van. No doubt work vehicles that he used for the various ops. She had a similar set of vehicles in her own garage.

Billie grabbed her go-bag, which thankfully still had one clean set of clothes left. A set she'd have to use since it was hard to find a spot on her current outfit that didn't have dirt and, heaven help her, squashed bugs on it.

"Shower," she muttered, heading in the direction of the guestroom.

"Same." Presley went toward his bedroom suite that was just across the hall.

They stopped outside their respective doors, and their gazes connected and held for the first time since before the explosion. She saw exactly what she'd expected to see. A swirling mix of anger and frustration.

At first anyway.

That all changed in a blink, and they moved toward each other at the same time. He reached for her. She reached for him, their bodies meeting as his mouth came to hers for a scalding kiss that heated her from head to toe.

Billie forgot all about the dirty clothes. Forgot about the explosion. Heck, she forgot how to breathe and decided air was overrated. It couldn't hold a candle to Presley and his amazing mouth.

She didn't stay passive in the kiss. No. The need was already claiming her, driving her to make the kiss deeper. Hotter. So, that's what she did. She kissed and took. Then took some more, and she let him do the same to her.

In another blink, the urgency kicked up many notches, and the touching started. Not groping. Too many bruises for that, but at the moment Billie certainly wasn't feeling any pain, especially when Presley slid his hand beneath her top and touched her breasts.

She heard herself moan. Felt more of that hot pleasure. Felt a whole lot more of the urgency and need.

In the back of her mind, she did consider the lousy timing of this. It was likely adrenaline sex in the making, but her body didn't care about the reason. It only cared about the outcome. And thankfully, Presley seemed hellbent on giving her the outcome that would lead to release from this pressure cooker heat.

Somehow, despite the kissing and touching, she managed to take off her holster. Presley did the same, and without their weapons, they came together. Body against body, and she moaned again when he pressed against her center.

The ache grew. Demanding. Needing. Shouting for her to do something about it now, now, now.

She did. Billie went after his shirt, pulling if off over his head so she could slide her hands and then her mouth over all those tight muscles. Mercy, the man was built, and if the need hadn't been calling the shots here, she would have taken a lot more time to savor every inch of him.

Later, she promised herself.

Later, when they'd burned off some of this heat.

Presley wasn't in the later mode yet though either. He dropped his hands to her waist, and kissing her, he slid them to the floor. In the same motion, he rid her of her top, and like her, he did more touching and kissing.

She heard him mutter a curse, and she cursed too when he lifted his head. Billie followed his gaze and saw what had snagged his attention. The bruise from the gunshot.

"It's okay," she managed to say through her gusting breath, and she pulled him back to her.

Their mouths met for another of those raging kisses before they began to grappled with their clothes. Again, speed seemed to matter here so there was some jockeying for position along with rolling around on the floor.

Billie got him out of his jeans. Then, his boxers. While he did the same to her jeans and panties.

"Finally," she muttered.

But Presley only cursed again and started to fumble through the clothes they'd just discarded. It was probably only a couple of seconds but it felt like an eternity before he pulled out a condom from his wallet.

He got the darn thing on but still didn't start sating this roaring need. Instead, he repositioned them with him sitting on the floor, his back anchored against the wall, and with her on his lap.

Then, he slipped inside her.

"Finally," she said again, and this time, the frustration was gone, and in its place was pure pleasure.

Planting his hands on her hips, he thrust deeper into her, starting the strokes that fueled the fire even more. The urgency and need took total control. And Billie was fine with that. She was riding this hot storm, letting it take her to the only place she wanted to go.

And Presley was right there with her.

She felt the climax roll through her, claiming every inch of her body. Claiming her, and Presley gave her those final strokes to draw out every bit of the pleasure. When she was spent, when she could claim no more, Presley let himself go.