The Rogue
Chapter 28

Ryan had gone through every emotion possible over the past three days. Burning-hot rage at both Jimmy and Bishop. Sheer relief that Addison had been able to get Jimmy to cooperate, then even more relief that the Intelligence Unit had a solid plan in place to take Bishop into custody at tomorrow’s meet. Heightened fear for Chloe’s safety in light of what Addison had uncovered about the women Bishop had previously stalked.

But above all, the feeling that had buried itself in the center of Ryan’s chest, the one that calmed him even when he thought he’d certainly lose his cool, was by far the strongest.

As brash and impulsive and downright crazy as it was, he was in love with Addison. And there wasn’t a single part of him that wanted to fight it.

“Hey,” she said, coming into the living room after having changed from her work clothes into a pair of sweatpants and one of his RFD T-shirts, and yep, there was that feeling, front and center beneath his breastbone as she sat down next to him on his couch. “Sorry I ended up staying at the precinct so late. I know you wanted to hang out a little tonight, but things have just been really crazy with this case.”

“Are you kidding? You don’t need to apologize,” Ryan said. “I’ll take whatever time with you I can get.”

With the exception of the time he’d spent on shift at Seventeen, Addison had been right here with him all week. They’d video-chatted with Chloe, distracted themselves with conversations that went on for half the night, then distracted themselves even further with incredible se*x for the other half. Falling asleep beside her and waking up with her in his arms had been one of the only things keeping him sane as the case against Bishop grew more serious and more gruesome.

Ryan’s throat tightened. “Did you make any more progress on the cold cases?”

He couldn’t bring himself to call them rape/murders, even though the search for the five women Bishop had asked Jimmy to look into had led to five bodies. Shelby Kenner, Julia Ortega, Aliyah Dalton, Morgan Schwartz, and Bryn Meredith, all rape victims who had been strangled, all five cases dead-ending a few weeks after they’d each been found. The person of interest in each one had a different name, a man whom the victims had reported harassing them, but had then disappeared entirely from the radar, gone as if he’d never existed.

All five names linked to Bishop’s past identities.

“Some, yeah.” Addison’s voice brought him back to the moment. She reached for his hand, although whether it was to comfort him or because she was seeking comfort for herself, Ryan couldn’t be sure.

“We got the last of the police reports today, and thanks to the intel Jimmy gave us, we were able to start definitively tying Bishop to all five victims.”

F*****g Jimmy. “I know he gave up the information you needed, but does that guy really get a deal? He gave Bishop everything he needed to hurt these women and didn’t even bat an eye. Not to mention that scam, and who knows what else.”

Addison nodded. “Oh, he’s gross, no doubt about it. And the short answer is no, Jimmy won’t get off completely. He’ll still be charged. The long answer is that it’s really up to Roman and the FBI as to what those charges will look like.”

It was a necessary move, Ryan knew, but God it really pissed him off. “At least the intel paid off.”

“It did. We’re still sifting through everything, and it’s going to take time to get all the answers,” Addison said. “But as best we can tell, Bishop stalked all five women for months before he attacked them. There were multiple complaints in each case file, but some of them were lost in the shuffle, and others not taken too seriously. Like Chloe’s, the concrete proof of threat was hard to prove. By the time their bodies were found, Bishop was long gone.”

“Jesus,” Ryan breathed. “How did he get away with it so many times?”

Addison sighed, but her composure remained in place, calming him by default. “Because, in addition to being a diabolical cold-blooded rapist-murderer, Bishop is also smart. Judging by all the evidence we’re uncovering, he spent months choosing these women and learning everything about them before he ever made contact.” She shook her head. “The fact that he methodically committed each crime in a different city, under a different alias, while leaving no trace of forensic evidence at any of the scenes made them impossible to link. No one had any idea these were serial crimes.”

“Until now.” The fear that Ryan had been trying to tamp down turned over in his gut. “God, Addison. What if you hadn’t caught this case? What if Chloe’s complaint had been like the others, sitting at the bottom of a pile on some desk for weeks while Bishop watched from the shadows. Tapped into her socials, her email. Then…”

“Hey. Hey, look at me,” Addison said, her green gaze firm and so, so sweet. “There’s no what if. I did catch this case, and my unit is going to take Bishop down. He’s never going to get anywhere near Chloe. She’s safe, hidden at Master Ah-lam’s under twenty-four hour protection.”

Sergeant Sinclair had authorized two undercover patrol units for round-the-clock security at the dojang as soon as they’d realized Bishop wasn’t just a serial stalker, but a rapist and murderer. Addison had been there every step of the way, giving Chloe enough updates to keep her informed but delivering them with care to keep her as calm as she could feasibly be.

Just like she was doing for him, now, and Christ, he loved her.

“We have a great plan in place for tomorrow, Ryan,” she said, placing one hand over the center of his chest. “I know it’s hard not to be rattled. But this is all going to be over really soon.”

The Intelligence Unit was the most elite group of detectives in the city. They had every base covered. Every plan had a backup. These were all things that Ryan’s brain knew.

But his heart wasn’t exactly one to take a back seat when the rubber met the road.

“You could still get hurt.” Reaching up, he skimmed his fingers over the bandage still covering her healing scrape from the night she’d chased Jimmy. Ryan knew she could take care of herself, and that danger was an inherent part of her job. But f**k, the thought of her getting hurt still settled in his gut like a ball of rusty razor wire.

“I could,” she agreed. “But I’m going to take every precaution against that happening, and I have the very best team backing me up.”

“I know,” Ryan said. “It’s just that I…”

The feeling in his chest put the words right there within reach. But for as at-ease as she now seemed around him, moving this fast was his speed. The last thing he wanted to do was freak her out, especially the night before this bust.

He shook his head. “I guess all that ‘what if’ has me too far up in my head. That’s all.”

“I get that,” Addison said. “But we can’t get tangled up in what if. We’ve got to focus on what is, one minute at a time.”

Scooping up his hand, she placed it over the top of her chest, her heartbeat steady and strong beneath his fingers. Her own hand was still pressed against his sternum, linking them in that familiar way that belonged to only them, and his calm became desire in less than a breath.

“So, you want to focus on this?” Ryan asked, his hand sliding up to cup her face. “Just us, right now?”

Addison’s pupils darkened, her gold-tipped lashes framing her stare. “I do.”

Angling her chin up, she k!ssed him, just the barest hint of her l!ps on his. It was a tiny gesture, little more than a whisper of skin on skin, but Christ, he wanted to hold it between them for hours just to learn the taste of her by heart. The need burning through him made him deepen the k!ss, his tongue slipping past her parted l!ps. Normally, Addison met him with the same intensity he was offering up, the give and take between them equal, like a dance.

But now, as if she could somehow sense the need burning through him like a current, she held steady, letting him take control. A sigh drifted up from her chest, and Ryan coaxed the pleasured hum into a m**n. Pressing deeper into her mouth, he k!ssed and l!cked and stroked her l!ps and tongue, leaving nothing unexplored. The k!ss was more needful than urgent, and Ryan lost himself in every nuance.

Finally, his desire won out. He pulled Addison close, waiting until her arms were around his shoulders before reaching down low to lift her off the couch. The move put the seam of her body right above his c0ck, close enough to be a wicked suggestion but eluding that friction he desperately wanted. That was probably a good thing. Any direct contact might drive him over the edge, and he wanted to savor every second.

Ryan made his way to his bedroom and set Addison down beside the bed. There were little signs of her everywhere—a hair tie abandoned on the nightstand, the covers that were still pulled all the way over to the side of the bed where she slept, her abandoned work clothes draped across the chair in the corner. The realization sent a curl of rightness through him that made his heart pound.

He didn’t just want her right now. He wanted her forever.

Reaching out, Ryan let his fingers coast over her cheek, her mouth. Addison stood firm, her eyes on his as he met her gaze, then let his stare follow the path of his hands. Just enough light spilled in from the hallway to outline everything in gold and shadow. The dip of her collarbones where they met above her breastbone.

The tight fit of her shoulder muscles, strong and lean. The taper of her waist, the curve of her a*ss, both firm and lush. Ryan touched her everywhere, taking his time, undressing her as he went. T-shirt, sweatpants, bra, then—God help him—panties. Through every caress and stroke, Addison just watched, letting him take in every last inch of her with his hands, then his gaze.

“This is what is,” she whispered, the words velvety and thick between them. “Me and you, just like this.”

Ryan’s hands coasted up, hooking at her waist to guide her flush against his body. He placed his forehead over hers, wanting nothing more than to suspend the moment between them forever. Her mouth met his, sweet but unyielding now, and f**k, he could drown in this woman and die happy.

Addison’s hands found his chest, sliding down the length of his rib cage for just one torturous stroke before she grasped the hem of his T-shirt and lifted it an inch at a time. Her own fingers went exploring then, sending shivers up his spine and sparks under his skin as she touched him, feather-light.

She pressed up on her toes to k!ss him just once, but it was everything.

“Just like this.”

Between them, they made quick work of the rest of his clothes. Ryan palmed her shoulders and turned, walking her backward until her legs bumped gently against the bed. She grabbed his waist to pull him down to the mattress with her, parting her thighs to accommodate his body in between. He knew he should go slow, to use his hands and mouth to pleasure her until she shook and screamed. But when she looked at him in the soft light and simply said, “I want you,” Ryan was powerless to do anything other than give himself over. His only hesitation was for a c0ndom, and then, he was back in the cradle of her h!ps, pressing deep. Addison gasped even though he’d slid home with ease, and oh, hell, Ryan was right there with her. Her inner muscles gripped his c0ck, her p***y so hot and we*t, he nearly lost his breath.

“F**k,” he bit out, his heart already racing from the need pumping through him. “You feel…”

She rocked against him, and nope. His brain wasn’t going to comply enough to form the word “perfect”.

“Oh, God,” she murmured, angling her h!ps so the base of his c0ck brushed her clit with every thrust. Her body tightened, her breath hitching as she moved faster still. Seeing her pleasure, the wide-open way she chased it with each rise and fall of her h!ps, sent sparks across Ryan’s vision. Gripping the bed sheets on either side of her, he anchored himself in place to let her take what she wanted. All too quickly, his own pleasure rose up, his balls tightening as she rode him from beneath.

“Addison,” he warned. Or maybe it was a plea. But then, she arched up on a cry, her whole body going bowstring tight except for her p***y, which clenched around his c0ck in waves. The sensation sent him over the edge, his o****m slamming up from the base of his spine. For some period of time he couldn’t measure, he was weightless, absolutely lost in the intensity of his release. Then, he came back to his body and brain, and Addison was right there with him.

Ryan folded himself over her body, taking care to balance his weight on his forearms so he didn’t hurt her, but still holding her close. They lay like that, skin on skin, breath to breath, until they had no choice but to untangle. Neither one of them spoke, the silence somehow sacred as it settled around them. It lasted until they’d curled beneath the covers together, Addison tucked firmly to Ryan’s side, his arms circling her tight. Her breathing was slow and rhythmic, and he dropped his mouth to the crown of her head as he broke the quiet by whispering, “I love you.”