STORY EXCERPT

Detective Matthew Calico took the steps two at a time to the second-floor apartment, wondering what he was going to find when he arrived at the crime scene. The ten eighty-four call—a dead body—had come in that a victim had been found murdered in one of the apartments in this building.

Matt knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to walk into when he saw a rookie cop in the hallway tossing his cookies. He knew it was going to be bad. That was never a good sign.

Matt nodded at the crime scene unit as he entered the apartment to an array of uniforms standing around the room, either talking to other cops or standing there looking at the dead body. He spotted his partner, Valentine, standing off to one side, talking to one of the uniformed men. The medical examiner was also there, already diligently at work.

Matt cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the odor of death that was hanging in the air, threatening to make him queasy. He refused to end up in the hallway next to the rookie. He would never live it down if he got sick at a crime scene. But as Matt fought the foul taste in his mouth, he picked up a faint, underlying odor all around him and recognized that it was the same scent he had detected at the last crime scene.

Matt stored that information away for later.

As he crossed the room, he tried not to inhale too deeply. Matt always hated the way a scene smelled when it involved murder. The odor was a stench he could go the rest of his life without smelling and be a very happy man. The taste always seemed to linger, even after he left a crime scene.

That was one part of the job he truly hated taking with him.

Matt swallowed a few times, trying his best not to lose his lunch as he glanced down at the victim on the floor lying in his own pool of blood. The ME was examining the body as Matt stepped around Liza. She would fill him in just as soon as she was done with her preliminary findings.

The woman was nothing if not meticulous.

It was mid-August, and the windows inside the apartment were closed, keeping in the sweltering heat and making the dead body roast. With Matt’s sense of smell being on a higher level, he was about to join the rookie whether he wanted to or not. The smell was noxious and reminded Matt of raw meat lying out in the sun too long, in a Dumpster.

Valentine crossed the room when he spotted Matt squatting by Liza, shaking his head with his hands on his hips, a look of resignation on his tired face. “It looks like the same guy again. This is the second victim with his hands tied behind his back and on his knees, with his throat cut.”

Matt scratched his chin, wondering if investigating a serial killer was in his near future. If what Valentine was telling him was correct—and he didn’t doubt the seasoned detective—then he knew they were in for a gruesome case. Homicide was his job, his life, and a career he enjoyed for the puzzles it presented. But Matt always hated the bodies that came along with the puzzle.

He hated death.

But solving puzzles kept his mind working, and kept his life organized. And it kept him from going batty as well. He had one of those minds that constantly worked, even when he lay down to sleep. It never shut down and never shut up. Solving crimes seemed to be the avenue to take, but he hated the bodies—always hated the bodies.

Matt studied the victim. He could tell the man had been on his knees from the slight bruising on the kneecaps. He could also tell from the angle of the cut, the killer had been standing behind the victim when he sliced the poor guy’s throat. Matt knew he had seen one too many sliced throats when he could tell just by looking what angle the knife was held.

“Hey, hon,” Liza said with a wink as she rested her slim arms on her knees. “It seems we have another one.”

“It seems,” Matt mumbled as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his shirtsleeve. “What can you tell me?” He glanced at the man’s body, giving it a quick once-over and seeing nothing that would help him. His skin was flawless, except for the clean slice across the guy’s throat.

The ME shook her head, pushing back a strand of dark brunette hair from her face with her arm. Sweat was glistening on her, in a fine sheen. “It’s hot as hell in here.”

Matt gave a short, tight nod. “Midsummer will do that. I’ll have a uniform open a window.” The place was sweltering. Matt wouldn’t mind a nice cool breeze right about now, but knew that wasn’t happening in mid-August. “What can you tell me about the body?”

Liza looked grimly at Matt. “Same MO as the last victim we found. It was a reach-around knife assault. The killer sliced open all the major blood vessels in the neck. The poor guy didn’t have a chance.”

After so many years as a homicide detective, Matt had grown a thick skin to the depravities of man, but it seemed no matter how many years he investigated murders, it always sickened him to see the young die. The guy lying in his own blood couldn’t be any more than twenty-one. He had been in his damn prime. It was a waste of life.

ADULT EXCERPT

Matt stood and carried Phoenix to his bedroom. His mate sitting in his lap was too much. Matt needed to be buried inside his mate’s tight ass.

“I thought you had to get back to the station?” Phoenix asked as Matt kicked the bedroom door closed behind them. They were kissing in a lust-filled frenzy, Matt trying desperately to stick his tongue down Phoenix’s damn throat. He needed his mate, needed to be inside of him. It was a crazed feeling that was burning Matt alive. He needed to touch Phoenix, touch every part of his exposed skin. His hands slid under Phoenix’s shirt, playing with the delicate skin of his sides. It wasn’t enough. Matt needed more.

“Station can wait.” He tossed his badge and gun up on the dresser after clicking the safety into place. They landed on the full-size bed, Phoenix scrambling to get rid of his clothes.

Matt leaned back on his knees and took in the creamy nymph lying beneath him. He knew Phoenix was going to be gorgeous naked, but damn, the man was a work of art. He lay on the bed, spread out so prettily for Matt to feast on.

Dragging his gaze back up Phoenix’s body, Matt met the smaller man’s eyes. “Fuck, you’re so damn perfect.” He leaned down and licked Phoenix’s pretty pink nipple, watching as it tightened to a peak under his tongue. Matt blew a tuft of air across the moist skin and then sucked it back into his mouth and rolled the peak with his teeth.

“Matt…hell…fuck me.” Phoenix begged as his weeping cock ground into Matt’s stomach. Matt released Phoenix’s nipple and started to work on the other one. His mate’s nipples were small, pink, and downright perfect. Matt wanted to consume the small man, because it sure as hell felt like Phoenix was consuming him. Matt felt a connection that bordered on madness.

“Patience.” He grabbed Phoenix’s cock, squeezing it lightly as pre-cum seeped from the slit and dripped down the side of Matt’s hand. Matt released Phoenix’s nipple and then paused to kiss Phoenix, whispering his love for each part of his mate’s body.

Phoenix’s breath came in one long, surrendering moan.

Matt pushed down the bed, situating himself between Phoenix’s thighs, and licked the head of his mate’s cock while his eyes stayed locked on his lover’s. Phoenix reached down and ran his hand through Matt’s hair then under his chin and held it there. Matt’s chest surged at the intimacy of Phoenix’s touch. The man may have been hesitant when he found out Matt was a cop, but he was totally surrendering to Matt now.

And Matt loved it.

“Suck it,” Phoenix pleaded softly as a bright flare of desire sprang into Phoenix’s blue eyes.

Matt opened his lips and took the head in, still watching his mate as a gust of desire shook him. His cock throbbed as he tasted Phoenix for the first time. He moaned at the bitter sweetness on his tongue. Instant addiction.

Matt circled his tongue around the head of his mate’s cock, and then using his tongue, Matt laved the tender depression beneath the swollen crown. He tongue-fucked the tiny slit, licking away the salty taste of Phoenix’s desires.

He watched Phoenix’s eyes slant down, his chest rising and falling a little more quickly now. Matt could feel his cock leaking onto the bed. He pushed against the mattress for friction as he sucked Phoenix’s cock further down his throat, groaning around the hard shaft. Matt’s free hand spanned across the flat planes of Phoenix’s abdomen, feeling it quiver and flex. Matt couldn’t imagine being any other place than where he was right at this moment. It was pure heaven between his mate’s legs.

He swallowed his mate’s cock down to the base, smiling around his mate’s shaft as Phoenix cried out. Phoenix yanked at Matt’s hair, and Matt gave a low growl of approval as electricity seemed to arc through him.

Encouraged by his mate’s cries of approval, Matt sucked harder, moving his head back and forth rapidly. He added a tight suction as he pumped the cock with his hand and felt Phoenix’s stomach muscles tightening. His mate was close.

Matt doubled his efforts and his mate cried out, his back arching off of the bed, which made his cock lodge down Matt’s throat. Ropes of seed splashed the back of his throat, and Matt swallowed until Phoenix went boneless and the hard flesh in his mouth began to soften.

He released the cock, licking down the length to his mate’s balls. Matt pushed one of Phoenix’s legs back as his tongue circled the tiny puckered hole. Now this taste he remembered, and Matt couldn’t seem to get enough. He sucked and licked, determined to make Phoenix beg again.

Matt licked his lips, still tasting Phoenix’s seed. He watched his mate’s cock come back to life, and he grinned. Oh yeah, he was going to have fun with his mate. He reached down and stroked Phoenix’s renewed erection.

“Matt…please…I’m begging. Fuck me.” Phoenix pulled both his knees to his chest, his hips rocking back and forth as he moaned. Damn. Matt didn’t have to be asked twice. He reached into Phoenix’s side drawer and grabbed the lube, slicked two fingers, and pushed into his mate’s tight hole.