He kissed her and kept plunging. Ignoring the pounding drive of the water, he sank into the warmth of her sex. Over and over. Thrusting hard and plunging deep.
Like nothing else. Nothing. Else.
Her sex held him tight, the flesh a greedy squeeze on his cock. Tight. So tight.
In. Out.
His groans filled the air. Mixed with her moans. The driving water caught them both.
She’d come again, he knew she would, and he’d be with her.
Her fingers latched onto his shoulders. Her claws bit into the skin.
Deeper. Harder.
Her legs were clamped around his hips, her heels digging into his ass.
“Again, Jude, again!”
His thrusts were wild now as he shoved into that slick paradise. Again, again.
She bit him. Erin caught him at the curve of his shoulder and sank those sharp teeth into his flesh.
Jude erupted inside of her, coming on a wave of white-hot release that gutted him. His knees trembled, his spine prickled and his se**n poured inside her.
Mate.
Her cry filled his ears and she came again, squeezing him so tightly with her legs and arms and sex. He loved that—loved the way she held him, loved the sounds of her pleasure, the hot clasp of her body.
Loved her.
And he didn’t even realize he’d whispered the words until Erin’s head snapped up and she clipped him in the chin. “What?”
Ben Greer stared up at the antebellum house on St. Charles Avenue. Erin wasn’t there. He shouldn’t have been surprised, really, but he’d thought he might be able to catch her.
And apologize for being an ass.
He exhaled and turned away from the house. She was probably with that other ass**le, the one with the icy blue eyes.
Eyes that only warmed when they were on her.
That guy—Jude—wasn’t going to be letting Erin out of his life. And he wasn’t going to be too keen on an ex-lover paying her a visit.
Too bad. Because he would see Erin again. The news she’d told him and the things he’d seen since then, yeah, they’d made his head spin and ache like a bitch, but he was trying to play catch-up, fast.
And trying to figure out just what else he’d been missing in this world.
His cell phone rang. He glanced at the number. Officer Langley. He answered the call even as he climbed into his car. “You got the clear on the Harper house?” He’d called his captain as soon as he’d gotten the go-ahead from Antonio. They’d needed to search the judge’s house and see just what surprises were waiting for them.
“Captain Henderson’s already inside.” Disgust there, anger. “He didn’t want to wait for you to get back.”
No, Henderson wouldn’t. The guy would want as much glory as he could get.
“You wouldn’t believe this place!” Her voice rose with excitement. “The guy kept freaking diaries, journals of his kills.”
Kills. The fingers of his left hand tightened around the steering wheel. “How many are we looking at?”
“Henderson says maybe ten, could be fifteen. The guys aren’t even halfway through his place.”
He exhaled. How had they missed this? For all these years?
The judge had been good at pretending, and, apparently, killing.
“When are you coming back? Henderson thinks we can close some old cases—”
Yeah, they’d probably be closing almost all of Lillian’s unsolved crimes going back for the last twenty years, right to the date when good old Harper had first appeared in the city. “I’m on my way.”
He’d have to pay a visit to Katherine. Let her know that she and the boys were safe.
Then there would be other families to visit. Explanations to be made.
Explanations that wouldn’t include a story about a man who could shift into a wolf. Not that anyone would believe that, anyway, not without proof.
Those dog hairs. They’d been all over some of the vics. He’d never even suspected the truth about them.
“I’m on my way,” he said again and ended the call.
His eyes darted once more to Erin’s dark house. He’d be back. Erin had meant too much for him to just walk away with things shot to hell between them. They wouldn’t be together again. Donovan would see to that. And so would Erin. The way she’d watched the hunter— never looked at me like that.
The car’s engine purred to life.
Maybe, maybe after this case, it would be time for his life to take a change. Maybe a new start. A new city.
Hell, maybe Antonio needed a new detective—one who was learning the real score.
Werewolves. Who the hell would have thought those bastards were real? And sitting on court benches?
She’d wrapped a towel around her body. After Jude’s big confession, Erin had finally managed to snap her jaw back into place and now she paced next to the bed, trying to figure out what to say.
“Erin?”
Her gaze flew to him. He hadn’t dressed. Ah, damn but he was sexy. Those broad shoulders. That chest with the rippling muscles and light covering of golden hair. Erin gulped as she stared helplessly at that flat stomach—and that huge cock. Already fully erect again and so close. Hers for the taking if she just would reach out and touch—
Focus!
She sucked in a deep breath. Okay, she’d killed the wolf shifter tonight. She could handle this. Right? Right. “Did you mean it?”
His hands were on his hips. His narrowed stare never left her face.
Okay. The knot she’d hooked between her br**sts seemed to dig into her flesh. “You said you loved me.” Sure, lots of men were known to get a little wild and chatty during sex, but Jude wasn’t most men. “Did you mean it?”
He took one long, gliding step toward her. Another.
She didn’t retreat, and in seconds, he was right before her. “Hell, yeah, sweetheart, I meant it.”
And that lump in her throat—the one that appeared pretty often when he was near—came back with a vengeance.
“I think I’ve loved you since that first hellish night at your place.” Since then? “You were standing there, with the blood on your walls, and your chin was up and you were holding onto your control as tight as you could with both your hands.”
She swallowed so she could speak. “My first instinct was to call you that night.”
“You knew you could count on me.”
Should have been impossible. She wasn’t the trusting sort, never had been, but, yes, she’d known he’d help her.
And he had.
Erin wet her lips. “There’s something you…need to know about the judge.”