Thatas what he wanted. Anna engaged, listening to the needs of her body instead of walking through the motions of s.e.x as if it was a road map. She had a lush, beautiful body that was made to be loved, and he knew shead either had lousy lovers in the past or she just hadnat allowed any man to take his time and give her the attention she deserved.

He was going to give that attention to her, by sweeping his hand over her rib cage, her belly, watching her stomach ripple as he dipped a finger into her belly b.u.t.ton, then palming the spot just above her s.e.x, letting his fingers dangle right there, but going no lower.

Her eyes shot open and she watched him warily as he danced around the spot he knew would give her pleasure.

aDammit.a He was propped up on his elbow, his fingers dancing around her s.e.x, and she was giving him death glares. He had her right where he wanted her, not at all trying to control him, instead focused on his next move.

So instead, he leaned over and gave her a deep, soul-penetrating kiss at the same time he laid the palm of his hand over her s.e.x, then dipped his fingers inside her.

Her body clenched around his fingers as her tongue wound around his. His d.i.c.k pounded, demanding release.

He could wait. This was all about Anna, about her release, her satisfaction. He wanted her limp and relaxed, all the tension squeezed out of her before he slid inside her.

aYou b.a.s.t.a.r.d,a she whispered as she broke the kiss, reaching for his wrist to guide his movements, to show him what she wanted.

aYeah,a he answered her. aShow me what you want.a She lifted against his hand, searching for more. He gave her more as he pleasured her with his fingers at the same time. Her mouth fell open on a soft cry as she released, the spasms of her body tight around his fingers, her nails digging into his arm.

But it was the way her body bowed that he found so d.a.m.n hot, the way she put everything into her o.r.g.a.s.m that made sweat break out on his brow as he held on to her, his fingers inside her while she rocked through it for what seemed like a full minute until her body relaxed against the carpet.

Yeah. When she let go, she really let go. He wanted to be inside her when that happened, wanted to feel her sweet release surrounding him. He was d.a.m.n near shaking with the antic.i.p.ation of it.

So much for retaining his own cool.

He dragged her off the floor and pulled her onto his lap, leaned against the sofa, and swept her hair away from her face, pulling her down for a kiss.

Her mouth tempted him, always had. Besides the sa.s.sy things that came out of it when she spoke, she had full, sweet lips and she knew how to kiss. She wasnat tentative about it and shead always thrown herself fully into a kiss. He loved a woman who did that. Back when they were together before, it had taken every bit of restraint he had to keep from getting her naked and taking her. For some reason, head had scruples then.

Now he didnat, and she wasnat sixteen anymore. He could have her, and he intended to.

Right now.

Anna had barely caught her breath, certain Dante was trying to kill her.

Could a woman die from too many o.r.g.a.s.ms?

She might like to try to find out.

She was at war with herself, still making an attempt to keep that part of herself locked tight despite Danteas a.s.sault on every square inch of her body and soul.

But the way his mouth took possession of hers, the deep relentless kisses that made every part of her throb with need, it was as if he knew her game and he was making sure she fully understood he wasnat going to allow her to hold back.

And how could she when his lips brushed hers like that, when the velvety softness of his tongue rasped against hers, demanding she give him everything?

How could she hold anything back when he used his mouth and hands on her in ways that made her cry out in wild abandon, and yet her body still throbbed in antic.i.p.ation, wanting even more of him?

And now she sat on his lap, the tender, throbbing part of her rubbing against the thick, hard part of him, and he wasnat even attempting to push her into moving to the next step. Instead, he was kissing her again, as if they had all night to do this, which wasnat at all the usual way she approached s.e.x. By now it would have been over with and the guy would have been long gone.

And she would have been frustrated, wholly unsatisfied or busy satisfying herself.

She sure as h.e.l.l wouldnat need to be satisfying herself tonight. Clearly Dante wasnat the kind of man to leave a woman to see to her own needs. Since shead been with him shead had multiple o.r.g.a.s.ms. Head had none.

He finally pulled his lips from hers and as she stared down at his incredible blue eyes, her heart lurched. She traced his lips, her fingers wandering over the stubble of beard across his jaw, remembering what that felt like rubbing against her inner thighs. She s.h.i.+vered.

aCold?a he asked while at the same time sweeping his thumbs over her nipples.

aNo. Hot. You make me hot.a Hot and slick and wet and so ready for him.

His lips lifted, which only made him look more dangerous.

aGood. I like you hot. Now climb on and ride me.a Dangerous and wickedly bad. aIam not sure I like you ordering me around.a He gripped her hips and lifted her. aYou can order me around later.a She slid down on him and grasped his shoulders, biting her lip at the feel of him as he entered her.

It was heaven and h.e.l.l as he filled her, stretched her, and she wasnat sure shead ever felt anything that made her body tingle with so much awareness. She kept her gaze glued to Dante, and this reminded her why shead always kept herself disconnected during s.e.x. This intimacy, the way Dante moved inside her and looked at her, forced her to connect with him.

There was no way she could rock against him, filled with him, and not be affected. This wasnat a quick coupling in the darka"it was no-holds-barred, lights-on, open-eyed lovemaking with a man who wouldnat accept anything less than her total surrender.

He drew her forward and grasped her hips, dragging the most sensitive part of her against him.

aYouare torturing me,a she whispered as she braced her hands on his shoulders.

aThen torture me back.a He lifted, burying his c.o.c.k to the hilt inside her.

She let out a gasp, then curled her fingertips into the crisp hairs of his chest, determined not to let go, not to shatter completely.

aEverything I am is here for you to see, to touch, to taste,a he said, rising up to meet her again as he took her hands in his. aI wonat hold anything back from you.a d.a.m.n him for his honesty, for letting her see the naked truth in his eyes. His fingers dug into her hips and he dragged her against him again, taking her so close she had to bite down on her lip to keep from catapulting over the edge.

aItas only fair to give me the same, Anna. Let go.a Sweat slickened their bodies as they glided over each other. Anna lay on top of him and he grasped hold of her hair in one hand, tugging until it hurt. She liked his possession of her, thrilled to it in a way she couldnat explain.

aLet me have you.a He flipped her over onto her back and plunged deep inside her, his mouth grinding against hers the same way his body did, taking full control now.

She lifted her gaze to his, her hands sliding over his skin. aGive me all of it, Dante.a There was such power, such pa.s.sion in his eyes, but this time, she refused to look away, refused to do anything but meet that power head-on as he lifted up and slammed against her. She reveled in it as the force of his thrusts sent her over the edge. She climaxed with a wild cry, and he went with her, groaning and taking her lips in a hot kiss that shot her o.r.g.a.s.m even higher. Shead never felt sensations like this, borne of pa.s.sion that met emotion.

Breathless, she could only hold on as the waves continued to pound at her from every part of her body until she had nothing left, until she fell, lax and boneless. Dante lifted off and lay next to her, panting as hard as she was.

He grasped her hand and laced his fingers with hers. The contact was so sweet she didnat know what to do with it, so she lay there, staring up at the ceiling, unused to this brightly lit aftermath. Usually it was dark and whatever guy she was with would be in as big a hurry to dress and get away from her as she was to get away from him. There would be no words, no cuddling, just mumbled pleasantries and a quick escape.

Instead, Dante s.h.i.+fted and pulled her leg on top of his body, then laid his palm on her stomach, tracing invisible patterns over her skin. He didnat seem in any hurry to escape.

aYouare thinking again.a She turned her head to look at him. aYeah.a aCanat you just take a minute to enjoy the moment without a.n.a.lyzing what it means?a aIt would be a first for me if I did.a He drew circles around her navel. aTry.a aEverythingas changed now.a aBetween us, you mean.a aYes.a aItas supposed to. When this happens between a couple, things change. You canat avoid it.a She turned on her side to face him. aI wasnat ready for it.a His lips quirked. aYou canat plan for everything, Anna. Sometimes things happen.a aI know that. In my line of work, I react to the unexpected.a aBut this isnat work. This is your life. And you like your life to be orderly and planned out because itas the one aspect you can control.a She frowned. aI hate when you do that.a aWhat?a aSeem to know so much about me when youave been gone so long. Am I that easy to figure out?a aNo, but you arenat so different from before. You think you are, but you arenat. You always liked your life orderly, and you liked controlling the situation. That much about you hasnat changed. Everything about who you were didnat change that night twelve years ago, Anna.a Huh. Interesting.

She thought it had. She thought everything about her had been altered by that one act. Shead always felt her entire personality had undergone a radical transformation, that shead become someone completely different. aReally?a aReally. Youare still the same Anna now as you were back then. Yeah, you grew up. We all did. And parts of you changed. You have to because of what happened. But who you are in herea"a He laid his hand on her chest, over her scar. aThe soul of you. Thatas still Anna, the same Anna Iave always known.a Somehow, that gave her a great deal of peace.

Seventeen.

Anna and Dante worked diligently the next day on the list of Tony Maclinas friends. Several were clean-cut, average students who were so far away from the drug element that after running a diligent background check they were easy to eliminate from the suspect list. A few had moved out of state, one lived out of the country, and two had died together in a car accident during college.

That left four who were questionable and who lived locally. Anna brought Roman in on the list of names.

After the three of them ate lunch in one of the interrogation rooms, they divvied up the four names and decided to head out separately to do interviews.

aI donat think Anna should go alone,a Roman said. aWhoever is doing these killings might be tailing her.a She bristled. aI refuse to have a watchdog or bodyguard. You two should be more concerned about yourselves.a aAnd you need a partner,a Roman argued. aNeither of us had someone leaving us love notes and flowers.a They walked out to the parking lot and Anna turned to stop them. aThe notes and flowers were left when I wasnat around. Whoever it is doesnat want to face me.a aRight now he doesnat,a Dante said. aBut that could change anytime.a aWeall get through this list faster if we split up. And I donat want to change routine.a She knew Dante warred with his protective, Neanderthal instincts, but she lifted her chin and refused to back down.

aFine, but you stay in touch at all times.a She hadnat realized how tense she was until he gave in. aAnd Iall take two of the names on the list,a Roman said, s.n.a.t.c.hing two files.

aFine. Weall meet back here afterward.a aAt least check in with me when youare on the road?a Dante asked.

She nodded, surprised when he came over to her and yanked her against him to press his lips to hers. aTalk to you soon.a She blew out a breath and laid her hand on his chest. aWas that absolutely necessary to do in public?a His lips curled. aYeah, I think it was.a She watched him walk away, enjoying the fine view of his a.s.s before turning to see Romanas quirked brow.

When Dante drove away, Roman turned to her.

aA change in your relations.h.i.+p?a aI donat want to talk about it.a She walked toward her car, but Roman followed, so she stopped, turned to face him.

aI trust Dante,a she said before he asked the question.

aWhy?a aWe talked, got some truths out.a aYeah? What did he tell you?a Things she couldnat tell him. aI just do. You know me, Roman. I donat lay my trust on someone easily.a He shrugged. aI guess you know best. I still want you to be careful.a She laid her hand on his arm. aI know you do, and I appreciate you looking out for me.a aI always will, Anna, no matter who it is. But just because you trust him doesnat mean I will.a aFair enough.a aYou be careful out there.a aI will.a Evan Amarola, the guy on her list to check out, apparently had moved out of his familyas home in the Kirkwood area and now lived with three of his buddies in a four-family flat off Grand, which was a far cry from the suburbs.

These were older homes, some in disrepair, and not a lot of trust in the faces of people as she drove by and parked.

The grandmother of one of Evanas buddies owned the fourplex. She was a suspicious old woman with pink curlers in her hair, a faded flowered cotton housecoat and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She left the screen door locked when she answered the door.

aWhat do you want?a aIs Evan here?a Anna asked, flas.h.i.+ng her badge.

The woman, Mrs. Baker, squinted as she read the badge. She wrinkled up her leathered face even more. aWhatad he do now?a aNothing, as far as I know. Iad like to ask him some questions about a friend of his.a aOne of these other losers who lives with my grandson?a aNo, maaam. Someone he went to high school with.a aEh. I guess you can come in. Heas still in bed. Let me go kick him.a Anna opened the screen door and stepped in.

The house smelled like cat pee, cigarettes and not-recently bathed old woman. Anna was grateful for her strong stomach, because the three together were a lethal combination.

Three cats wound their way around her legs, and she saw evidence of a few more skirting in and around the furniture.

aYou can sit down if you want,a Mrs. Baker said, the cigarette still clenched between her teeth.

Given the stench in the room, there was no way in h.e.l.l Anna was going to sit on the furniture. aI donat intend to stay long, but thank you.a aWant some coffee?a Annaas stomach lurched. aIam good, thanks.a Mrs. Baker shrugged. aSuit yourself. Iam going in the kitchen to work my puzzles. The kidall be out in a minute.a Anna stood in the center of stink central and waited, trying to hold her breath.

Fortunately it wasnat too long before a barefoot guy in jeans and no s.h.i.+rt yawned and headed down the hall. His short hair stuck up in all directions and he looked like h.e.l.l.

aYou wanted to see me?a aYou Evan Amarola?a aYeah.a aI need to ask you some questions about Tony Maclin.a Evan c.o.c.ked his head and frowned. aTony? That was like, ten years ago or somethina.a aTwelve,a Anna corrected.

aI didnat have nothina to do with that.a aDidnat say you did. What Iam interested in is who he was hanging out with at the time of his death.a aOh. Well, s.h.i.+t, I donat remember. Tony had lotsa friends.a aAny sell him drugs or get him involved in drug dealing?a aDrugs? Probably. Tony was pretty stressed about college and it started to freak him out. He was different senior year.a aHow different?a aNervous. On the go all the time. Started missing school. He was always really good with his cla.s.ses, but they didnat seem to matter to him anymore.a aYou ever see him do drugs?a Evan looked hesitant.

aWhatever you have to say isnat going to hurt the guy now,a she reminded him. aHeas dead.a aYeah, I saw him do some c.o.ke and E at some parties. And before school he smoked a little pot to relax.a aWould you say he was doing drugs every day?a Anna asked.

aMaybe.a aWho was his dealer?a aI donat know.a Anna wondered what Evan did know. According to the information shead been able to dig up, he and Tony were close. Closer than Evan was letting on based on his answers. aDid he seem to have drugs on him pretty regularly?a aYeah.a aDid someone at school deal?a aI donat know. I didnat do drugs.a Anna gave Evan a sidelong look. aYou know, considering youave been in and out of jail for the past twelve years, and all of them on drug and theft charges, Iam going to have a hard time believing that answer, Evan. Want to try again?a aOkay, maybe I did party a little. But I wasnat dealing.a aIam not accusing you of being his dealer. Iam also not trying to pin anything on you. What I need is to figure out who Tonyas source was back then.a aWhy?a aYou donat need to know the answer to that,a she said. aBut Iad sure appreciate the help.a She could see the wheels turning in Evanas mind.

aYeah? What could I get for this information?a aNothing. Other than me not coming back here every day to ha.s.sle you.a His face fell. aOh.a aYou either know the answer to the question or you donat. If you do, Iall keep coming back here, or bring you down to the station, until I get the answer Iam looking for. Itad be a lot easier to get it now. Then I leave and you donat see me anymore. Trust me, you donat want me getting familiar with you and what you do in your leisure time.a aI donat remember his name,a Evan said in a hurry. aHe was a college student though, some guy who graduated from our high school a few years ahead of us. All the kids used him.a aDo you know what college he went to?a aWash U. He was a med school student there.a Evan grinned. aI think he was paying his way through medical school by dealing at some of the high schools.a It shouldnat take much investigating to figure out who the guy was.

aThanks, Evan.a For the first time since this whole nightmare began, Anna had a speck of hope. She climbed into her car and headed out.

When she pulled onto the street, she noticed another car pulling out from the curb, going in the same direction as her. Normally she wouldnat think that strangea"probably someone who lived in the area, except when she turned north, so did the car. When she changed lanes, so did the car behind her.

To test her theory, she made a right turn at the next stoplight.

As did the car behind her.

She kept her movements normal, didnat speed up or slow down or appear to be looking in her rearview mirror. She wanted to make sure she wasnat simply being paranoid.

d.a.m.n Roman and Dante for putting those kinds of thoughts in her head, but it wouldnat hurt to be careful.

It was a greenish-colored Jeep, older model, kind of beat up. She wasnat going to call it in until she knew for sure, because if she did and it turned out to be nothing shead be ribbed for being paranoid.

Then again, there was a killer on the loose, and she was a possible target. She probably wasnat being paranoid enough.

She made another turn, this time right again, doubling back to where shead started out.

The car, which had managed to stay within a few cars of her, made the right turn again.

She turned left next time onto a.r.s.enal and headed west.

He followed.

At the first street she could she turned into Tower Grove Park, figuring if this was coincidence head go straight.

The two cars between them pa.s.sed, and he turned into the park.

She pulled over. So did he.

Heart pumping, she called it in, including his tag number, then got out of her car, her hand on her gun.

He was already getting out of his car. When she recognized him, her heart rate sped up.

aStay in your vehicle.a aI need to talk to you.a aGet back in your car, G.o.ddammit.a He kept coming toward her. Why the h.e.l.l was Sam Maclin following her?

aSam, get in your car or Iam arresting you.a He stopped, held his hands up. aFor what? For wanting to talk to you? For asking you why you came to my house to hara.s.s my mother?a aTurn around and put your hands on the hood of your car.a aJesus Christ.a He laid his hands on the hood of the car. She came up behind him and kicked his legs apart, grabbed a wrist and slapped handcuffs on it, then the other. Then she turned him around to face her.

He was just as angry now as he had been when she and Dante had come to see him and his mother.

aWhy are you following me?a aTo tell you to back the h.e.l.l off my mother.a aYou could have handled that with a phone call.a He smirked at her. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d. aItas more effective in person.a aIs that a threat?a aIam not threatening anyone. You upset my mother by dredging up Tonyas murder. Sheas not sleeping again, taken to wandering the house at night. Leave it alone.a She studied him. aAny particular reason you want me to leave it alone?a Could he be the one leaving notes on her car? Could he be the killer?

aYeah. I just told you. It upsets my mother. When sheas upset she canat paint.a She stepped closer. aHow long have you been following me?a aI came to the station to talk to you, saw you leave, decided to follow.a aUh-huh. Like I said, a phone call would have been easier.a aAnd like I said, itas not as effective. Figured I could talk you out of reopening my brotheras case if I talked to you in person. A phone call just wouldnat do it.a He had att.i.tude coming out his ears, and a demeanor she just didnat like. aYouare a real smart-a.s.s, Maclin.a A black-and-white screamed into the park and slid to a stop in front of them.

Sam caught sight of the squad car and shot a glare at her. aGreat. So now youare going to arrest me for what? For wanting to talk to you about my mom and my brother?a aThere are friendlier ways to have done it, Sam. And you were the one hara.s.sing me. You donat follow a police officer.a aYou want us to take care of this creep?a one of the uniforms asked.

She studied Sam. He had no fear in his eyes as he glowered at her, ignoring the uniforms. If head exhibited even one ounce of fear, shead have let him go with a warning. But without that, he freaked her out.

Killers showed no fear.