Chapter Eleven

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Slade read through a report on the monitor while Marise cleaned the cut on his head. Obviously, she was cleaning it with some kind of acid because it stung like the hottest fires in hell. He wasn't quite able to choke back a grunt of pain, or two, and he was definitely doing some grimacing.

"Letting Annalisa knife me might be less painful than this," he muttered.

Then, he had to fight back the image of the woman lunging that knife at Marise. That gave him a fresh jolt of anger over the attack, and while he should probably cut Annalisa some slack since she was a grieving widow and all, the slack didn't exist because of how close she'd come to hurting Marise.

Since the report currently on the screen was the latest from Ruby on Annalisa, Slade knew the woman had not only been arrested, she was in the process of having a psychiatric evaluation. What she wouldn't be doing was roaming the street with another knife, searching to avenge her cheating husband.

That was one less worry off this plate.

But there were three other big-assed concerns. Stephanie, Julian, and, of course, the dipshit Sonny.

Thanks to the info Jace had given them, the cops were now interested in talking to Julian and Sonny. The problem? Neither of them was responding to SAPD's attempts to contact them. Stephanie was the only one of the three who had bothered to return any calls and texts. Good thing, too, because now her fake meeting with the colonel was all set up for eight pm.

About four hours from now.

That way, it'd be dark enough for neighbors not to get suspicious of the unfamiliar vehicles and alert Stephanie. If they found blood in the office, then Stephanie would be located and taken to SAPD headquarters for questioning while the house got a thorough going over from the CSIs.

There was the possibility though that there'd be no blood. That's why they hadn't gone full out with cop and CSI involvement. If Rosa had hallucinated the attack, then they'd have to then try to figure out how and where Carlyle Hutton had been murdered.

He gave the voice command to switch the monitor to the internal camera in the hall outside the guestroom. Because the door was open, he could see Colonel Rosa exactly where he was a half hour earlier when Slade had checked.

Asleep on the bed.

Clearly, the man was exhausted and would hopefully sleep until it was time for them to leave.

Them.

As in Marise, too.

Slade had debated that. Oh, had he. Part of him wanted her tucked safely away, but there was no safe place where he was positive Sonny wouldn't be able to get to her. At least if she was with him, Slade could make it his priority to protect her.

The plan was for Marise, Rosa, and him to meet Jericho, Jace, and Jace's foster brother, Detective Angelo DeLuca, at the colonel's house. They wouldn't proceed inside until he had visual confirmation that Stephanie was all the way across the city at his townhouse. If Stephanie took the bait, then they'd go in.

"All right," Marise said, finishing up the torture cleaning by applying a fresh bandage to the wound. "Strip off your shirt so I can check the stitches in your arm and the bruises."

"Always happy to get naked for you," he muttered because he thought they could use the laugh.

But there was no laugh. Not really even a smile. Because, hey, that was so close to the truth that it bombed as a joke.

"Always happy to see you naked," she countered.

However, she was in full nurse mode, and as he peeled off his shirt, she was scanning his face for any signs of pain from the movement.

And there was pain all right.

"Just a little stiff and sore," he let her know.

She gave him a flat look. "A lot stiff and a lot sore," she amended on a sigh, and she got busy changing the bandage on his stitches.

Despite the arm being the worst of his injuries, it hurt the least, only a few twinges when he moved it. But if it came down to a physical fight with Sonny, some aches, pains, and twinges weren't going to hold him back from kicking the man's ass. Sonny might be out for payback for Bodie's death, but Slade had some payback of his own he wanted to deliver.

For his mother's murder.

Yeah, Sonny's day of reckoning was coming up fast. Slade just didn't want Marise to be the in the path of that particular shitstorm.

He felt Marise's hand on his back, and that yanked his attention back to her. She had gentle hands. Well, now she did anyway, and she was gliding her fingertips on his skin.

"Well, you are healing," she concluded. "A riot of bruise colors are popping up, but I don't see much swelling or anything else that needs to be stitched up or cleaned." She paused. "This is going to sound like an invitation for sex, but a soak in your hot tub would make those sore muscles feel better. Just keep your stitched arm out of the water."

He looked at her, their gazes colliding. "It's not an invitation for sex unless you're willing to join me in the hot tub." And that wasn't a joke.

In fact, his body thought it was the start of a damn fine suggestion. It wasn't. But just the thought of it started the fire inside him simmering.

She sighed. "Trust me, I'm tempted. Very tempted to pick up where we left off earlier," Marise emphasized. "Kissing you was… an experience."

Slade frowned, not liking the sound of that because it seemed as if she was closing the door on any future making out. He wanted that door wide open.

So, he stood and kissed her.

She responded in a good way with a satisfying moan of pleasure and a little hitch in her throat. He could feel her going soft and warm. Could feel her wanting him as much as he wanted her.

That's why he was confused when she stepped back.

"You're not physically ready for what you're starting here," she insisted.

"I beg to differ," he insisted right back.

Since she looked ready to launch into an argument he didn't want to hear, Slade just kissed her again. He got a similar reaction. A sigh. A hitch of breath. But this time, she didn't step back.

Progress.

So, he deepened the kiss and used his good arm to ease her closer and closer and closer until her sweet body was pressed against his.

Thankfully, his injuries cooperated. No pain. Then again, it was hard to feel pain when the fiery heat had already started to spread.

She lifted her arms, one at a time, easing them around the back of his neck, and Marise did some kiss deepening of her own. Her taste shot through him, making him want more.

He took more.

He slid his hand between them, cupping her breast, and he moved his mouth to her neck. This was all new territory for him. Learning her hot spots. Tasting her. Hearing her react.

And she reacted all right.

Her sigh turned to an impatient groan, and she did some touching of her hand, with her center brushing against him.

It was like setting off an inferno.

His dick immediately wanted in on the action, and Slade figured action would be seen, but first, he had to think of the logistics of this. The colonel would get an eyeful if he woke up and came in here to the main room. So, while continuing those neck kisses, he started backing Marise out of the room and toward the hall.

He didn't head to the hot tub, though that was a temptation with the image of the steamy water jetting around her soon-to-be naked body. Still, it was best for them to pick a more traditional place. Like a room with a lock on the door since he had a houseguest.

Slade kissed her all the way to his bedroom.

And she kissed him right back.

Part of him had always known it would come down to this. To the surrender of what felt like the inevitable. Friends, yes. But there had always been more. There'd always been the heat. And the heat was now skyrocketing until there was no turning back.

At least, he hoped there'd be no stopping.

They made it through into his room, and he used the heel of his boot to close the door. He could have stopped kissing her neck long enough to give Spock a verbal command to lock the door, but instead Slade did it the old-fashioned way. He reached behind him and fumbled around until he managed to get it locked.

Full speed ahead.

Well, a slow full speed ahead anyway.

Despite his dick's impatience, he slowed down, taking the time to slide his hand down the front of her shirt and to her waist. His mouth made the same journey, kissing her through her clothes until he could lift the top and get his mouth on her stomach.

Then, her breasts.

She was wearing a barely there bra that he just shoved down so his mouth could get better acquainted with her nipples. A wise move on his mouth's part because it got him another moan of pleasure from Marise and an urgent tugging when she went after his belt.

Slade didn't stop her. He just continued his journey by ridding her of her top and bra so he had full access to the top part of her body. He'd soon get to the rest of…

"Hell," he ground out when she got her hand in his jeans and boxers.

She wrapped her hand around his hard-on and gave him a squeeze that had him rethinking that slowing down part. That's why he didn't object when she led him by his dick to his bed.

Marise turned him, easing him onto the foot of his bed. She didn't waste a second getting on his lap and kissing the living daylights out of him. The woman clearly had a plan and that was to have sex happen in record time.

"You'd better have a condom in here," she said, standing for a moment and shimmying off her jeans. Off her panties, too.

It took him a moment to remember how to speak, and Slade thought he might have stopped breathing.

The woman had an amazing body.

"Condom," she repeated, and now butt naked, she went after his zipper.

"Nightstand drawer," he managed.

She hurried there, locating one and bringing it back to him, and Slade just let her take over since it was obvious she wanted to get things moving right along. She dropped to her knees in front of him, her body wedged between his knees, and she got off his belt.

Slade helped her with the jeans and boxers. And again, there was no pain. Only that humming throb of anticipation.

"I'm ready to come," she let him know. "So, I won't last. Sorry about that."

He stopped any further apology with a kiss. A long, hard, deep one. It gave him another jolt of that fire. Another slam of need, laced with the urgency of wanting to take her now.

Marise worked just fine with that now.

She got the condom on him with her clever nurse's hands, and she straddled him. No nurse image now. This was more of a warrior on a mission. And she got that mission started by lowering her body and taking him inside her.

The pleasure nearly took off his head.

In fact, it perhaps did. It was hard for Slade to tell because she started moving, creating the thrusts inside her that pinpointed his focus just to her. Just to this moment. Just to what she was doing to him.

And what she was doing was taking him on a wild, hot ride.

She'd been wrong about being so close to a climax. Marise managed to hold on, burying him deeper and deeper with each thrust. She locked gazes with him, grimacing and smiling at the same time.

Then, she said his name.

Just his name.

That sped them both toward the finish line. Slade managed to hold off, ladies' first for this. And when he felt her center contract, when he felt the pleasure of the climax ripple through her, Slade gave up the fight, and he joined her.

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