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Her words brought him back to reality, drawing him away from the precipice of the desire building in his gut. Replacing it with that simmering sense of rage he’d felt earlier.
“Well, at least Karim is back in custody,” Nico replied, voice gruff.
Karim hadn’t been able to come up with a solid alibi for his whereabouts during the time of the attack. He’d told the officers sent to check on him he’d been out walking, trying to clear his head after finally getting bail. He’d needed to get away from his family’s constant worried diatribe; he couldn’t think straight with them jabbering in his ears all the time. And he’d wanted to go to the vigil for his girlfriend, but had been warned by various people that he might become the target for the less tolerant people in the community. The ones who already blamed him for Rania’s murder. But Karim denied he’d been anywhere near Nico’s house. He argued he had no mode of transport, and he surely hadn’t walked to Boat Harbour and back to Burnie in that time. Which, sadly, made a lot of sense. But stranger things had happened. Karim could’ve had an accomplice. Or perhaps stolen a car—although no reports of a stolen vehicle had come through tonight—or he could’ve borrowed one.
Nico wondered if what Karim was saying was true, and he hadn’t actually been responsible for the attack on Lacey. If so, had he really been wandering the streets alone, like he said? Nico found it hard to believe. Easier to believe that perhaps he’d been out trying to score a hit of cocaine. An equally bad idea in Nico’s books.
“We’ll review CCTV footage around town and see if we can pick him up during his nightly wanderings,” Nico added. If they could, they might be able to rule Karim out as the assailant.
“Mmm hmm,” Lacey replied. “I’ve been thinking about it. And I don’t believe the guy who attacked me was muscular enough to have been Karim,” she said thoughtfully. “Much as it gives me the shivers, I keep replaying those seconds when he was holding me down, with his body on top of mine, trying to see if I remembered anything. Even the smallest detail.” Lacey shivered then, and he pulled her closer.
“You’re a very brave woman, and you continue to astound me,” he said, without a hint of irony. Instead of pushing the traumatic attack out of her mind, she’d been actively reliving it, so she could get her facts straight. To help the case. And to give him something more to work with.
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, dismissing his comment. Which made him a little sad. Why couldn’t she see what an amazing woman she was? He wished there was some way he could help her to restore her faith in herself.
She continued with her evaluation of the man who’d attacked her. “But while the man was much heavier than me—and let’s face it, most men are—he wasn’t solid. I’ve seen Karim. He must work out in the gym lifting weights, because he’s a big guy. I mean I’d guess that one of his biceps would be bigger in circumference than my thigh. Would you agree?”
He nodded. Her assessment was pretty spot on.
Her left hand was resting lightly on his chest. She made circles with her index finger, running lightly over the curling hairs. Her touch set off a vibration somewhere deep inside him. He had to force himself to tune back into her words.
“He had on bulky clothing, but that didn’t stop me from being able to get an idea of what was going on underneath when he was lying on top of me. And I’d have to say the guy was of medium build and medium height. Personally, I’d rule Karim out as a suspect,” she finished.
Okay, that was interesting. “I’ll take your judgement into consideration,” he replied. And he would. But he certainly wasn’t ruling Karim out just yet. If the guy was capable of murdering his own girlfriend—and that was still a bigif—then he was definitely capable of trying to hurt Lacey.
Nico hadn’t forgotten there might be a serial killer in the vicinity. Could that same person have killed Rania? But if they had, why go against his previous MO? Maybe he’d got sloppy. The lust for the kill overcoming his need to be careful. Had that same serial killer come after Lacey as well? Could Karim be that serial killer? There were so many facets of this investigation. He just wished he knew how they all fitted together.
“What about this Floyd guy, what does he look like?” Lacey was still trying to deduce who attacked her.
“Hmm?” He was only half concentrating on her words; her touch was still distracting him. “He’s small, around your height,” Nico answered. “You might call him weedy. With shifty eyes and a bit of bum-fluff on his chin that might pass as a beard.” Nico had taken an immediate dislike to the apprentice; there was something about him that reminded him of a weasel, but he couldn’t tell Lacey that.
“I don’t think it was him,” she replied after a few moments of consideration. “This guy was definitely taller than me. Anyway, that’s enough picking over the facts. I came in here because I didn’t want to think about it any longer.” Lacey’s finger stopped tracing circles. “And do you know the one thing that helped me to forget? About the assault tonight? And about Rania dying?” She levered up onto her elbow so she could look down on him.
“No. What?” But his stomach quivered at the hungry light reflected in her eyes.
“Kissing you.” She never moved, just locked her amber gaze onto his. Inviting him in. If he wanted to take the bait.
Lunging upward, he caught her around the waist and flipped her over onto her back, so that he lay on top of her. Yes, he did. He gave in to temptation. How could he not? She was sexy as hell. Like an intoxicating drug, igniting his desire with a searing flash of heat. He’d been prepared to deny himself, to keep himself under control. But now she offered herself to him, he couldn’t deny her.
“I can certainly do more kissing, if that will take your mind off things. I’m here to help. To serve and protect.” He tried to make his tone light, to give her one last out, if she wanted it. But she shifted, wrapping her long legs around his waist and grabbing a handful of his hair in her fist.
“I like that you’re here to serve and protect me,” she replied huskily. God, she was making him so hard with just her words.
“Me too.” he agreed. “But there might be more than just kissing if you keep looking at me like that.”
“I’m okay with that,” she said.
Any more comments were lost when she drew him down by his hair so she could claim his mouth. He gloried in the feel of her lithe body beneath his. Let himself sink into her. Sink into her soft curves and soak up the feeling of lying with a woman.
It’d been a while since he’d got naked with a woman. Back when he’d first started this job in Burnie six years ago, Sally-Ann had flirted outrageously with him. But when it became clear by his polite but firm rejections that she wasn’t the one for him, she’d started a one-woman quest to find a suitable partner for him instead. Sally-Ann had introduced him to Claudia two years ago, and he’d had a long-term—by his standards anyway—affair with the lady for around six months. Claudia owned a pilates studio in town, and had been sensuous and uninhibited, with warm, brown skin, and a supple body that could do so many interesting things. Claudia had ended it because she said he’d stood her up one too many times, and she needed a man she could count on to be there when he said he would. He hadn’t tried to stop her, because it was true, he put the job over her, every time. Sally-Ann still liked to throw him to the wolves now and then by inviting him out and then subtly turning up witha friendin tow. But none of them stuck. He was too engrossed with his job to give time to a woman. Especially a woman who didn’t understand why the job was so all-encompassing. It was why Sally-Ann was so happy to see him let Lacey stay at his house. She lived in eternal hope that one day Nico would find his match.
And maybe he finally had.
Lacey wriggled beneath him. “I have too many clothes on,” she said, struggling to grab the hem of her T-shirt and pull it over her head. He was more than happy to help, and the shirt was off in seconds. Lacey lay back on the bed, letting him take in the glorious sight of her naked breasts, the light sneaking in through his partially open door just enough to make out the details.
“Mmm, beautiful,” he whispered, tracing his index finger down in a line from the hollow at the base of her throat, over her sternum, and between her breasts. They were small, but pert and flawless. He’d never been a man interested in big breasts. And Lacey’s were perfect. He cupped one breast in his hand and then lowered his tongue onto the nipple, tasting and sucking.
She arched into him, murmuring, “Oh, God.”
