Chapter Fourteen

Hayes had waited until he was certain Jemma was asleep before he made a quick trip to his room to get his tablet so he could access all the reports that had come in when he’d been at the hospital with Jemma. He hadn’t been able to focus on them there. Way too much going on in his head.

Like how damn close he’d come to losing her.

But now that she was sleeping and wasn’t in as much pain, his mind was settled just enough that he could focus on work.

He hoped.

Still, parts of his brain did indeed want to dwell on the close call of this latest attack. Dwell, too, on how it would have crushed him to pieces if Jemma’s injuries had been more serious. Or even fatal. No, he didn’t want those thoughts in his head so he had to force them aside and not make any comparisons to Jemma and the other two women he’d lost in his life.

Jemma was alive, period.

And he could make sure she stayed that way by finding the killer and stopping him or her before they struck again.

Hayes eased back into a sitting position on the bed next to Jemma, and he pulled up the report on Hailey’s body, studying the photos of the damage to her skull. The ME believed it was a single blow with a blunt object, and since it was located on the left side of her head, her attacker had likely been right-handed and facing the person who’d ended her short life.

Was that Cordelia or Brooks?

Possibly, but he couldn’t rule out Duane or Royce. Hell, he couldn’t rule out lots of people since they didn’t know the motive for this particular attack.

Hayes went next to the reports on Duane’s former students, including Zander Emerson. While the info was thorough and then some, there was no proof that any of the students other than Zander had participated in the murders or the attacks. Ditto for there not being a link between Zander and Brooks. Or Zander and the first dead gunman.

So, where did that leave them?

“With squat,” Hayes muttered.

Still, he continued reading, digging through the backgrounds on each and every one of them. And since some of the students weren’t at the school at the same time as others, the sole link that they did have was with Duane.

Had maybe one of them killed to please their teacher, their mentor?

Obviously, Owen thought that was a possibility because the research team was now getting alibis on every single student. That wasn’t going to be a speedy process, but it was a necessary step to the elimination of suspects.

Hayes moved on to the preliminary report for Brooks’ death. He saw nothing in it that he hadn’t already gotten from Dr. Logan when she had been doling out those guesses at the crime scene. The autopsy though might turn up something.

Jemma stirred, and when Hayes checked the time, he realized she’d been asleep for over an hour. Probably not enough rest time, but her eyes popped open. It seemed to take her a couple of seconds to focus.

Then, she smiled.

She yawned and stretched, and while she still had to be hurting from that nasty bruise, she didn’t wince in pain from the movement.

“I’m glad you’re still here,” she muttered, sitting up and leaning against him. “I thought you’d tuck me into bed and then go back downstairs.”

He’d considered it. Then, dismissed it. “I thought you might have some nightmares,” he said.

She shrugged, looked at him. Smiled again. “Actually, I had a great dream about you kissing me.”

Hell. That gave him an unwanted punch of lust. He hadn’t dreamed about it since he hadn’t slept, but he’d sure as hell given it plenty of thought.

“Owen probably needs us back down there, huh?” she muttered, studying him. Still, with that little smile playing with her mouth.

“Probably,” he repeated. He wouldn’t mention that Owen likely wouldn’t want her up and about so soon, that he’d want her to take another hour or two.

No, mentioning that would sound like an invitation.

To stay here and have sex with him.

Even though Hayes didn’t voice anything about that invitation, he could see in Jemma’s eyes that she understood what he was thinking. What he was feeling. What he wanted.

And what he wanted was her.

She did something about that. Jemma reached over, took the tablet from him and set it on the nightstand on her side of the bed. Then, she moved in for a continuation of the kiss that’d started before she had fallen asleep. She pressed her mouth to his and just kept on pressing until the heat roared through every inch of him.

Hayes heard himself make a feral sound, but he resisted hauling her to him. He had to stay gentle here. Had to be mindful of her injuries.

Even if Jemma wasn’t.

She moved like an agile cat, easing onto his lap without even breaking the kiss.

Her center met his, and that amped up the fire even more to feel her against him. And she didn’t stay still either. She was already maneuvering and adjusting until she was pressed right against his erection.

That hard contact amped up the kissing a whole bunch of notches, and to stoke the fire even more, he took his mouth to her neck. Jemma rewarded him with a soft moan of pleasure.

And more of that center to dick contact.

Hayes tried to keep this at just foreplay, to stretch it out and savor, well, everything, but the need kicked up, driving everything up to the more, more, more level.

Jemma acted on that more by taking hold of his shirt and yanking it off. Then, she did the same to hers. Or rather to his shirt that she was wearing. Again, there was no signs of pain, only the intense heat in her eyes when he rid her of her bra.

Hayes groaned at the skin-to-skin contact. Her breasts against his chest. It was damn fine torture, and he had to do some tasting. Gently still. He lowered his head and took her nipple into his mouth.

She bucked against, pushing her center against his hard-on and nearly causing his eyes to cross. She didn’t stop there, either. She tongue kissed her way down his neck to his chest. To his stomach. She cursed though when she reached his pants.

“Please tell me you have a condom,” she said.

If he wanted to put a stop to this, he could have lied and said no. But he didn’t want to stop it, even if he knew it was a mistake. He figured some mistakes were just worth making.

“In my wallet,” he managed to say.

Jemma’s eyes brightened, and she went after his wallet as if she were on a mission. She unhooked his belt, lowered his zipper and only then reached into his pocket.

And she touched him.

Those bright eyes took on a mischievous glint as she brushed her hands and fingers against his dick, and it seemed to take minutes, maybe an eternity, before she came out with the wallet.

Hayes took the wallet from her, extracted the condom. Then, he went on his own mission. To get naked and to have sex.

Even though Jemma was continuing the torture by kissing any part of him she could get her mouth on, Hayes managed to get off his boots and his pants. Jemma went after his boxers while he went after the rest of her clothes.

Because they were still kissing and still touching, the heat was continuing to build. And it was pushing that need up, up, up. That made time the enemy. That meant there was an intense urgency that they just couldn't set aside.

They had to have each other now.

Hayes went with the now and stripped off her panties. Of course, even the urgency didn’t make him cut one part of the foreplay short. He kissed her bare stomach and went lower, tasting the sweet heat of her center.

Jemma cursed him, grabbed a handful of his hair again and let the kissing go on until she could apparently take no more.

She pulled him back onto the bed, moving onto his lap again while he put on the condom. Again, she didn’t make that easy for him because she just continued to torment him with her mouth.

Hayes did something about that. He pushed into her, watching the shock of the pleasure spread across her face. He gave her a moment to adjust, a moment to catch her breath. Then, he started the long, hard strokes inside her.

Jemma made those strokes even harder by moving with him. By sliding into the rhythm with him that would put an end to this all too soon.

He wanted to hang on, wanted to make this last, but it was Jemma who put a dent in the last of his resolve. Her climax rippled through, clamping onto him and making it impossible for him not to join her.

Hayes pulled her to him for that one last stroke, and they both went over the edge together.