He fit her perfectly as her muscles quivered around his stiff length. Their breath mingled as he drove deeper and deeper toward her core.
And then she detonated around him, letting go of control as sensations rocked her body. With a primal groan, his release exploded inside her at the same time as hers. Chests heaving, he pumped his erection as she clasped her legs around him tighter.
A few seconds later, he caught her gaze.
Again, she expected to feel embarrassed but instead was overwhelmed with a feeling of the world being right.
It was fleeting. She knew it wouldn’t last. But in that moment, she held onto it. She’d never been able to let go with anyone before him.
Daniel didn’t seem to want to break apart any more than she did. So, he kissed her instead. And then he pulled back and caught her gaze.
“Are you ready for round two?”
Chapter 13
Daniel’s cell phone buzzed. He’d put it on silent after Clara had fallen asleep. Making love had changed things between them, at least for him. He had no idea what that meant yet. Hell, he didn’t have anything to offer her. But that conversation needed to wait…
Two people had this number, Jaden Orchard and Emmanuel Simon.
The message was from Emmanuel. He got a hit on the business center lead.
Daniel stepped onto the balcony of the hotel that overlooked the Dallas skyline and an expanse of wide-open sky, and returned the call.
“What did you find?” Daniel asked after perfunctory greetings.
“I got a lot of hits on a social media account on those dates set up by someone calling themselves ArtsyGrl,” Emmanuel said.
Daniel heard the click of fingers on a keyboard in the background. Clara had mentioned early on that Ashlyn carried a sketchbook almost everywhere she went.
He walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned forward, balancing his elbows on the railing.
“I hacked into the account. I’m sending the link. Follow it and you’ll see everything I did,” Emmanuel said. “But, dude, I gotta warn you. The posts stop on the date you mentioned. Based on what I saw this ain’t gonna be good news.”
Daniel clenched his back teeth as he took in the landscape. A few tall buildings made up the bulk of Dallas’s skyline with the round ball at the top of Reunion Tower breaking up the otherwise asymmetrical shapes. That’s what they were looking for. The round ball in the midst of all those tall buildings.
“You should have it now,” Emmanuel said.
Daniel’s phone buzzed in his hand, indicating he’d gotten the text with the link.
“She’s been gone a while,” Emmanuel said, his voice was low.
“We’re going to find her and bring her home.” Daniel felt the need to add, “No matter what that means.”
“She’s young. I could tell from the texts.”
“Thirteen.”
“I gotta cousin that age,” Emmanuel continued, his voice sounded heavy.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them.
“I don’t want to hold you up,” Emmanuel said before adding, “You sure you’re cool with this job? I mean, it’s not your typical gig.”
“Time to make a change,” Daniel admitted.
“We’re have you been, man? I thought you were dead.” Emmanuel was a decent guy and Daniel knew that his contact cared. They were closer than a business association. Caring for people who had his back was habit, ingrained in him from his days in the military.
“For a long time, I have been.”
Another moment of silence—not awkward but respectful.
“Welcome back to the living,” Emmanuel finally said. “It’s good to hear from you again. Keep in touch.”
“Yeah. We should have a beer sometime.” Although, they both knew that would never happen.
Emmanuel said, “Sounds like a plan.”
The two exchanged goodbyes and Daniel had the feeling this wouldn’t be the last time they spoke. As hard as it was to pick himself up and move on, this case had given him something to get out of bed for. The feeling was something he hadn’t experienced in too damn long. It felt a lot like purpose.
Ashlyn’s family deserved to know what had happened, he reminded himself. Clara deserved to know. And he had a feeling the news was close.
He let his thumb hover over the link in the text message from Emmanuel.
Daniel issued a sharp sigh and dropped this thumb.
The picture on the social media page was of a young girl in a swimsuit as she walked into the ocean. The long blond hair that reminded him so much of Clara’s told him the girl was Ashlyn even though her back was to the camera, which also told him she hadn’t taken the photo. The pic looked recent, as she hadn’t changed from the photos her aunt had shown him. He recognized the crystal water and beautiful scenery. Considering the fact that Makayla admitted she and Clara didn’t hang out on the trip Daniel made the assumption that the photo was snapped by a new—and dangerous—friend.
He skimmed the handful of posts. Not surprising, most of them were selfies taken at various spots on the resort. Oddly enough there were only two likes on each pic. One was hers and the other one came from someone who went by the screen name, BadAss_Bandit.
Warning bells sounded loud inside Daniel’s head as he scanned a handful of mostly innocuous messages.
Until he scrolled down to the last exchange underneath the selfie captioned: Last night in paradise.
BadAss_Bandit: Meet up 2-night?
ArtsyGrl: Idk.
BadAss_Bandit: Scared?
ArtsyGrl: Sneaking out. Duh!
BadAss_Bandit: Chickn?
ArtsyGrl: Me?
ArtsyGrl: I guess.
ArtsyGrl: No.
ArtsyGrl: NVRmind.
ArtsyGrl: I’m just being weird.
BadAss_Bandit: Wear the white bikini?
BadAss_Bandit: Come on.
BadAss_Bandit: I like it.
Emmanuel was right. Daniel freakin’ hated this. Because the implication here was that she was lured away and taken. Again, thoughts of human trafficking and the girl being sold to the highest bidder struck him. He studied the screen as his grip tightened around his phone.
ArtsyGrl: I probably shouldn’t do this.
ArtsyGrl: I mean, my folks are always getting on me about strangers.
BadAss_Bandit: Are we?
BadAss_Bandit: Strangers?
BadAss_Bandit: Cuz I thought--
BadAss_Bandit: I like U.
BadAss_Bandit: I thought we had a
BadAss_Bandit: Cu-nek-shun.
BadAss_Bandit: Just me?
ArtsyGrl: See you at midnight.
Her last message had
