Excerpt One:
If only this were a double date. Taylor and Lana found themselves sitting across from Richard and Detective Cade Wills, in a booth at Marge’s Café down the street from their apartment complex.
Marge’s was a great little hole in the wall place Taylor loved. The sixties diner meets Planet Hollywood theme suited her perfectly. The black and white checkered vinyl floor, dark pink bar stools, and the disco ball hanging from the ceiling always made her smile. Hand drawn pictures of Hollywood stars adorned every inch of wall possible and each table had its own small working jukebox. It might not be the most fancy of restaurants, but the food was good and the people were extremely friendly.
The perfect place for a first date, if this were one.
Both of the men sitting across from them were handsome. Richard reminded Taylor of a brawny barbarian. He wore his shoulder length, sandy blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and he never grew an actual beard--it always seemed to resemble five o’clock shadow. He was tall, broad shouldered, with narrow hips, strong legs and he packed a gun, which upped his dangerous bad boy image loads. On top of all that, he was actually a very nice guy.
Upon inspection of Detective Wills, Taylor decided he definitely qualified for her hot and juicy award. He stood a few inches taller than her five-foot-four frame, not quite as muscular as Richard, but just as imposing. He made his presence felt in the room, which was apparent by all the females turning to glance and smile his way. Taylor gave him brownie points for ignoring the stares and giggles.
Detective Wills had short brown hair and piercing blue-green eyes. Although his handshake was warm and firm, he appeared hesitant to touch her. It was like he was afraid Taylor would do the Vulcan mind trick on him if he shook her hand.
Richard learned to trust her after all these months of working closely together to find missing kids, but Cade was meeting her for the first time. His put-out posture clearly stated he could find something better to do with his time. Obviously he didn’t believe his fellow police officer. Taylor prepared herself for the lack of trust and skepticism she’d become accustomed to.
“So Richard tells me that you’ve been having, um...visions...of my murder victims.” Taylor heard the sarcasm dripping off his tongue as he cut right to the chase.
She took a bite of the barely touched hamburger she’d ordered, chewed slowly, mentally counting to ten. She plastered on her best smile and replied with equal sarcasm, “Yes, I’ve had visions of the women that were killed. Seven, to be exact. Is there something you’d like me to tell you that wasn’t released to the press, Detective Wills?”
Lana placed a hand on Taylor’s arm and gave a gentle squeeze. She really didn’t need to piss the police officer off, but between the lack of sleep and her hormones going stir crazy at the nearness of so much wonderful smelling male essence, she was feeling completely drained of patience. Plus, she really couldn’t take being looked down upon like she was the sideshow freak at some traveling carnival anymore.
She felt Detective Wills’ hard stare all the way down to her toes as he glared daggers at her. She hoped he didn’t notice the dark circles under her eyes. The look in his blue-green eyes said she was off her rocker. Richard swore he explained everything to the detective about her abilities, but Detective Wills looked positively bored with the whole scene.
“Okay Ms. Cole, why don’t you tell me something that no one outside of my department should know.”
When her smile disappeared a grin split his gorgeous face showing off perfectly straight white teeth. Heat crept up her neck. She couldn’t tell whether it was her attraction towards the arrogant detective spiking her temperature or anger at being treated like a monstrosity. She shook her head. That grin meant he thought she would fall flat on her face with his question.
Trying to keep the emotions she couldn’t decipher out of her voice, she whispered, “He places their hands over their wounds and gives them a rose to hold.”
Cade’s jaw dropped to the floor. He sputtered, “I...I, yes, that’s right. How did you know that?”
Richard slapped Cade on the back and disintegrated into a fit of laughter. Cade looked from Richard, who could barely contain his laughter, to a smiling Lana then finally coming to rest on Taylor. His jaw worked up and down. Their eyes locked and Taylor felt her heart melt into a puddle of warm goo.
When Richard’s laughter finally died down Taylor continued, “He breaks in while they’re sleeping, ties their hands to the headboard, cuts their clothes off, then when they awaken he licks...” A light bulb sizzled to life in her head. “Oh my gosh. DNA!” Taylor suddenly had the urge to dance naked on the table. She had it, it had been niggling her in the back of her mind this whole time and now bam! there it was.
“What do you mean DNA? He licks what?” Cade all but growled.
Taylor turned to Lana, gripping her hands tightly as she began bouncing in the booth. She felt herself beaming with discovery. “I did it, Lana. I got him!” Turning back to face Cade and Richard, she blurted out, “He licks his victims’ cheeks!”
Several customers’ heads turned to observe the outburst.
Detective Wills shook his head as if he was trying to dislodge a distasteful thought. “Wait Ms. Cole, earlier you said seven victims? There have only been six bodies found.”
The smile slipped from Taylor’s face. All the joy rushed from her just as quickly as it had appeared. “I’m sorry, but you’ll find another one. Her name is Evita.”
Cade opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. Taylor watched as he muttered an apology then grabbed his phone from the holster on his hip and flipped it open, barking, “Detective Wills.”
Taylor watched the play of emotion on his face as his eyes clouded over and became unreadable. “What was her name?” He blew out a long breath and raked his hand through his hair. “Damn. Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Closing the phone and placing it back in his hip holster, he glared at Taylor.
“They found her.”
Those three words rocked her to the core, but nothing prepared her for what he was about to say.
“She lived in your apartment building, Ms. Cole.”
*****
Excerpt Two:
Taylor felt the scream build up in her lungs. She was caught in someone’s embrace. They held her so tight she couldn’t move.
Had he found her?
Was she in another dream?
She opened her mouth, ready to let loose the loudest scream she could muster considering that her lungs no longer wanted to draw breath.
“Don’t scream, it’s just me.”
The whispered voice sent hot molten lava straight to her nether lips. The chills she felt tickling the hair on her arms wasn’t from horror or disgust, but from excitement and pure, heated lust. Cade held her tight against him. His warm breath feathered across her neck. A small smile tilted the corners of her lips.
“You were having a bad dream when I came home. You cried out and I couldn’t get you to wake up, so I tried this instead. It seemed to calm you down.” He drew in a quick breath as she snuggled back against him, firmly cementing his groin to her rear end.
“Did I hurt you?” She grinned even as she asked the question. The presence of his arousal against her backside confirming her suspicions of why he sucked in a breath.
“You know very well what you just did, so don’t play Miss Innocent with me.”
He sounded mad, but she couldn’t make her smile fade no matter what she tried. He felt good pressed against her backside. Being held in his arms felt better than anything she could ever remember. Giggling, she wiggled her butt closer to the throbbing heat that was quickly solidifying behind her.
“Whatever do you mean, Detective? I’m not aware that I did anything to you.” She added one final wiggle.
His hand grasped her hip in an attempt to still her movements. “Taylor, if you continue to do that, you’re going to embarrass both of us.”
Now she was completely confused. “What do you mean?” She turned her head to look into his eyes.
He laughed at her look of utter bewilderment. “Let’s just say I’ve only come in my pants once in my life. I was a teenager, a virgin and a voluptuous lady brushed by me in a store, grazing my groin and whoops, there I went. So unless you are prepared to help me clean up my mess, I suggest you quit moving that delectable bum of yours against me like that.”
The crimson color that crept up into her face was so beautiful. It would be almost worth it to embarrass himself in front of her if he could just hold her against him for a little longer. He got the feeling though that she was about to bolt. His meaning had fully dawned on her and she wasn’t too comfortable with it if her body slightly tugging away from his was any indication.
She quickly turned her head away from him when she noticed he was staring at her. “I’m sorry.”
“No you’re not you little vixen.”
Taylor whipped her head around so fast she damn near broke his nose. Good thing he had quick reflexes.
“Who are you calling a vixen?” She exclaimed with a small hint of sarcasm tinting her words.
“You! Admit it. You were curious what I felt like. I bet you’re thinking about me naked right now. Aren’t you?”
“You, sir, have an ego that is a little too big.”
He ground his groin into her backside causing her to jump. She might have come off the bed had he not been holding her so tight. “My ego isn’t the only thing that’s big, baby.” He laughed at her horrified gasp.
*****
Excerpt Three:
“Want to play a little poker?” Cade waved them under her nose as if issuing a challenge.
“What, you want to play with me? Aren’t you afraid that I can read minds and will beat the pants off of you?” Taylor giggled with delight as she watched his brows raise in question. She had him actually wondering whether she could or not.
Finally, he released a long, slow breath and ran his free hand through his hair. He whispered, “God, I sure hope you can’t.”
That got another bout of laughter from her. If he knew how much she wished she could read his mind she would be in deep trouble. If only to know what he wanted from her. She wanted him, there was no mistaking that, and from what had happened in the truck, she surmised that he was attracted to her too. But was a romp in the bed all he wanted? Could he possibly be interested in a little more than a one-night stand?
After clearing the coffee table off, they took their respective sides. Taylor watched Cade shuffle the cards. If he played half as well as he shuffled, she was in big trouble. He did the bridge without one single card flying loose, then he fanned the cards out on the table, and then magically made them all stand up and fan out again.
She was in big trouble!
“So, what’ll it be, my dear?” He raised and lowered his eyebrows in an attempt at some lecherous, evil look.
She giggled, then sobered immediately at the look of pure, unadulterated lust in his eyes. “Well, strip poker is definitely out of the question.” She laughed at his crestfallen face. “How about we play five card stud.”
Reaching around behind her, she grabbed one of the decorative pillows off of the couch and placed it behind her back. Leaning against the pillow, she snuggled back into it, making sure she was comfortable. Cade’s eyes followed her every move.
“Are we going to just play or are we betting?”
It seemed as if Cade was in a trance. He stared straight at her as if he hadn’t heard her speak. Then abruptly, he shook his head, grabbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger and pinched.
“Are you okay?” Taylor reached across the table and grabbed his wrist, tugging on his arm trying to dislodge it from his nose.
Looking up at her, his eyes alight with mischief, he said, “Yeah, I’m okay. I just had a vision.”
Taylor’s hand dropped immediately. Was this stuff catching? Her hand flew to her chest. “What?”
“I had a vision.” He paused so long Taylor wondered if he was going to tell her what it was he saw. “I saw you...in my kitchen...cooking.”
Taylor was going to strangle him that’s all there was to it. He was going to rue the day he ever made fun of her. “Oh, did you now. Because I could have sworn that I had a vision of you waiting on me hand and foot. Oh and speaking of feet, you were giving me a darn good foot rub.”