Page 61 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

And he wasn’t about to walk out of hers.

Chapter Twenty

Eric sat in one of the chairs on his back porch while Tiger ran around the yard, his tail swaying back and forth as he sniffed the grass. As much as he loved having a dog for a partner, he also got a kick out of watching the big shepherd enjoy life, as every dog should.

At seven in the morning, the air was still crisp and clean, the grass sparkling with dew that hadn’t yet evaporated in the hot summer air. He glanced up at one of the windows on the second floor—Tess’s bedroom—where he’d reluctantly left her sleeping while he fed Tiger breakfast then took him outside.

With the blinds open, the early morning light had made her hair shimmer like copper and her smooth skin glow. After making love, they’d slept for a few hours then made love again, slower, sweeter, until she’d clung to him and cried out in his arms. Then, they’d fallen asleep, limbs entwined, while his hands caressed her bare back and buttocks.

He grinned like an idiot. Skimming his hand over her body was something he fully intended to resume the second Tiger finished his business.

His dog trotted along the fence, shoving his snout into a clump of ferns and scaring up a rabbit that he playfully chased around the yard, zigzagging after it, yet not really trying to catch the animal.

He repositioned the laptop on his knees then pulled up his email and scanned the twenty or so new messages. There were several reports from the teams of agents standing watch over the drums, one team via the real-time camera feed from inside the barn, and the other staging nearby in the school parking lot. He’d have received an immediate phone call if anyone so much as twitched in the vicinity of that barn. The only two emails of note were regarding the hit they’d gotten from facial recognition on the other two men with Pritchard yesterday, and one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Charles Fenway and James Ruffalo had minor records relating to unpaid taxes. Ruffalo was a commercial truck driver who’d lost his license for smuggling large quantities of liquor across the Mexican border. Fenway was an assistant manager at the Excelsior Hotel in Newark. Turned out the barn property was owned by Fenway’s family, although it hadn’t been a functioning farm for decades.

Both men were known by local police to be associates of a loosely organized local sovereign citizen movement, one that had never gained a foothold in New Jersey and had never caused any real problems for law enforcement.

Until now.

The mere fact that Fenway and Ruffalo had been with Mark Pritchard at the barn was a bad sign. Pritchard’s close association with Harley Gant meant that Gant’s filthy fingers were all over this mess.

When Eric had been assigned to the Birmingham office, he’d never known Gant to set foot outside Alabama or to stick his nose in another sovereign citizen chapter’s business. Then again, there was a first time for everything.

Gant didn’t know it, but Eric’s boss had reached out to his ATF counterpart in Birmingham, advising them of the operation in New Jersey. There were currently several teams of ATF and FBI agents searching for Gant to verify his location. What worried Eric was that no one could find the man. Trash like Gant didn’t just vanish into thin air.

The email from AUSA Julie Chang was better than he could have hoped for. The U.S. Attorney’s Office considered the controlled delivery a success, and in exchange for Tess’s cooperation, no charges would be filed against Jesse. The kid’s record would remain clean, which meant he could still pursue a career in law enforcement. Eric looked forward to putting the kid on the right path to making that a reality. He liked Jesse. It was a gratifying opportunity to be a role model to someone who’d also grown up with a lousy father.

Tiger trotted up the stairs then sat by the chair, extending his paw and holding it motionless for Eric to shake.

“All done, buddy?” He clasped his dog’s wet paw. Tiger dipped his head down then up several times, as if nodding. “Good. As much as I enjoy watching you chase bunnies, I’ve got better things to do this morning.”

Like shuck his shorts and get naked again with Tess.

After going back inside, Tiger trailed him up the stairs. Along the way, he continued scrolling through his email. He was about to push open Tess’s door, but the last message indicated the audio and video recordings from the controlled delivery were ready for his review at the office. Which meant he’d have to get in there before his four-to-midnight surveillance shift at the barn kicked in.

He pushed open the door, and when Tiger would have bolted to the bed to give Tess a proper, sloppy canine wake-up, Eric stopped him. She lay on her back, near the side of the bed closest to the door, with the sheets twisted around her ankles. With every breath she took, her small, perfect breasts rose and fell, reminding him of just how sweet they tasted, and how crazy turned on he’d gotten closing his lips on the tight little buds and sucking them into his mouth.

“She is so beautiful,” he murmured. Now, it was obvious. He should have stayed in Springfield to find out what could have happened between them.

What is happening between us?

He still didn’t know. Whatever it was, he liked it.

“C’mon, boy.” He pushed from the doorway. “Let’s wake her up.”

Snorting with happiness, Tiger shot ahead to the side of the bed, stretching to give her a sound licking on her chin and cheeks.

As she woke, her face wrinkled. When she began giggling, his heart squeezed just a little.

“Okay, okay. I’m awake.” She shoved at the dog’s head, but he wasn’t having any of it. More to the point, he thought it was a game and rose gracefully to rest his paws on the mattress, giving him a better angle to keep slobbering all over her face.

Laughing more, she turned on her side, giving Eric a tantalizing view of the round globes of her buttocks.

“Tiger.” Eric snapped his fingers, indicating playtime was over. Tiger’s playtime. Mine’s about to get started. “Platz.”

With a huff that carried with it a distinct you’re-no-fun undertone, Tiger found a spot on the floor where he circled twice before lying down and aiming pouting amber eyes at Eric.