A/N: Howdy, folks! Sadly, I'm back from the warmth and sun of Florida, and I miss it. I'm ready to be back on that beach. *sigh* Anyway, a huge thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing, and an even bigger thanks to my beta for her massive help on this chapter. I suppose I should tell you this chapter has a lemon, so on you go.
Bella
"When was your car stolen, Mr. Denali?" Emmett asked.
Mr. Denali, wearing a suit that probably cost more than my monthly salary, sat down in a chair across from us and steepled his fingers under his chin as he stared at us.
"Sometime last week," he said in a dismissive tone. "I filed a police report once I realized it was stolen. I assume you've found it."
"Possibly," Emmett replied. "It was seen outside of a store that had been burglarized."
"Well, you can't possibly think I had anything to do with that, can you?" Mr. Denali asked with an incredulous tone.
"Of course not," I told him with a fake smile. Although the truth was, I thought he was very much involved. My gut was telling me so, and I never bet against my gut.
"Do you have any idea who may have taken your car?" I asked him, and he told me no.
"You don't have security cameras?" Emmett then asked, and Denali told us that the cameras had been compromised.
I was a bit suspicious about the whole thing. If you're going to break into someone's garage, why not steal the Ferrari that Emmett had informed me was worth well over a million dollars. And for that matter, why not break into the house that was connected to the garage and steal more things of value.
"Was anything else taken besides your car?" I asked Mr. Denali.
"Nothing. Just the car. If that's all, I have a conference call I need to make," he said, standing up and basically dismissing us.
We thanked him for his time, and the second we were out the door, I told Emmett the guy was lying.
"Yeah, I think so too, but how do we prove it?"
That was the question. The local police had been nice enough to let us investigate the guy even though we were out of our jurisdiction, but I wasn't so sure they'd allow us to tail him, and we didn't have probable cause to tap his phone or search his house or computer. For now, we were out of luck. Although, I did have a trick up my sleeve, I just hoped it wouldn't cost me much more than a fancy coffee.
"I don't know, but I'm going to have Archie do his computer guru magic and see what he can find out about Mr. Denali. Maybe his search will tell us something."
Once we were back in the car, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and smiled when I saw I had a text from Edward. He was in Seattle at some auction, but he wanted to know if we could get together for dinner, and I was totally onboard with that.
I sent him a text back, but by the time we had arrived back in Port Angeles, I hadn't heard from him. I wasn't too alarmed because we both tended to get busy with work and lose track of time.
"I'm gonna go see Archie real quick," I let Emmett know once we were back at the station, and he nodded his head to let me know he'd heard me as he opened up a document on his computer. The man was a methodical note taker and kept backup notes in his computer. That was probably a smart idea and something I should probably start doing since my notes always ended up scattered across my desk or tucked away in a drawer somewhere.
After tossing my jacket on the back of my chair, I made my way down the stairwell to the basement that housed the lab and the computer division.
"Hey, Archie. You got a minute?" I asked him as I made my way over to his desk which was just as messy as mine. Although, Archie's desk was covered in bobble heads and toys from Star Wars and Star Trek, not to mention Doctor Who. Edward would probably get along great with him.
"What's up, Swan?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.
"I was wondering if you could run a deep background on a suspect for me?"
"It's gonna cost you," he said with a grin. "And I want more than a venti caramel macchiato."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine. What do you want? And don't say a date."
He let out a snort. "Unless you can hook me up with a hot single guy, a date's not what I'm after."
"Okay, then what?"
"I need more of those Funko Pop toys," he said, pointing at the large headed toys on his desk.
"Deal," I told him.
"Sweet! So, who am I looking for?"
"Eleazar Denali. He lives in Portland."
"I'll let you know what I find," Archie told me, and I thanked him before making my way back up the stairs and to the bullpen.
"What's it costing you?" Captain Banner asked before I could take a seat, and I saw him standing next to Emmett's desk, and I could only assume Emmett had filled him in.
"Some toy called a Funko Pop," I replied as I sat down.
"Those things are pretty cool," Banner said, and I just stared at him.
"My son collects them," he replied, and I nodded my head as if to say I got it. I'd totally forgotten Banner had a kid.
Emmett and I spent the next thirty minutes doing paperwork and following some minor leads when I realized it was almost seven, and I hadn't heard from Edward. Surely, he was back from Seattle by now. I called his cell phone, but there was no answer.
Frowning, I hung up and tried calling his store, thinking that perhaps he had picked up some inventory and was cataloguing it.
"What's wrong?" Emmett asked.
"Nothing," I told him, setting my phone aside and getting back to work.
We worked in silence, well, as silent as a police station could be, until Emmett's stomach let out a rumbling and mine followed suit.
"I'm starving!" he declared, and I let out a small snicker. He was always hungry.
"Grab something from the vending machine," I suggested.
"I don't have any cash," he pouted before informing me that he was going to run to the diner real quick and grab a burger to go. I told him to pick me one up as well with extra mayo and pickles, and then he left.
While we sat around eating our burgers, I heard my phone ringing, but I had a greasy fingers, not to mention that my phone was buried underneath some files on desk, so I let it go to voicemail.
Once we were done eating, I wiped my hands on my napkin and dug around for my phone. Eventually, I found it and saw that I had a voicemail.
I hit play and sat up straight when I heard Edward's voice telling me that he'd been in an accident, but that he was okay.
I jumped up from my chair, grabbing my coat, as I listened to the message again.
"What's wrong?" Emmett asked as I frantically dug around my desk for my keys.
"Edward was in a car accident," I told him, cursing when I couldn't find the keys to my car.
"Is he hurt?"
"He left me a message, saying that he was fine, but I need to see him," I told him as I finally found my keys.
"Let me drive," Emmett insisted, holding out his hands for the keys, and I didn't even try to argue, I just tossed him the keys as I told him that Edward had said he was on his way home.
Not much later, I was knocking on Edward's apartment door, and it was opened by his sister who welcomed us in.
Edward was sitting on the couch, and I rushed over to him, sitting down next to him after giving him a gentle hug. I took a good look at him and noticed the red, rash-like burns on his arms and winced. It looked like it would sting a lot.
The four of us sat around, discussing the situation, and by the time Emmett and I left, I was convinced that Eleazar Denali was definitely involved, especially since his daughter was Edward's ex.
I spent the rest of the night doing some research of my own on this ex-girlfriend of Edward's. I wasn't jealous that he'd dated someone before me; I'd dated before Edward, so that wouldn't make any sense; however, I did feel a slight bit inadequate when I saw her picture on her Facebook page. Tanya Denali was stunning. She was tall, statuesque, and beautiful, like, stunningly beautiful. Now, I was pretty enough, but I sure as hell didn't look like I should be gracing the pages of Playboy magazine.
Her Facebook page wasn't set to private, so I was able to do quite a bit of snooping, and I noticed that while she didn't mention her marriage, she did mention that she was living part-time in Italy and part-time in Chicago. Her job was listed as with the Volterra Corporation. Bingo! That was the major connection that I needed.
She had been on my suspect list the second Edward had told me her dad was Eleazar, but now, she was rising quickly to the top. We needed to have a talk with her, and I had a feeling that I might be taking a trip to Chicago soon, unless of course, she was in Italy. If she was in Italy, then I was going to have a problem getting ahold of her.
Two hours later, I was done scouring the Internet for information on Tanya, so I turned off my laptop and got ready for bed.
I woke up early the next morning and sent Edward a text, asking him how he was feeling, before getting ready for the day.
Once I was dressed, I made my way out the door to pick up some blueberry muffins from Lucy's along with two large cups of coffee and a cup of tea for Edward, leaving early enough to give myself time to stop at his place before going into work.
Balancing his tea and muffin, I climbed the stairs leading up to his apartment and knocked on his door.
I heard shuffling and a muffled "ow" before the door was opened, and I was greeted with a rumpled, but adorable, Edward.
"Bella," he said with a smile before leaning in to place a quick kiss on my lips. I returned the kiss before handing him the tea and muffin for which I got another kiss and a thank you before we walked over to the couch to take a seat.
Looking at him now, I could really see the bruises forming on his beautiful face and his arms.
"You don't look so hot," I told him, and he barked out a laugh as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Oh, I know. The bruises are really starting to shine, aren't they?"
I nodded before asking him if he was going to work today.
"No, I'm going to give myself another day to recover before opening the shop. Not to mention, I'm sure my parents will be calling any minute now, and my mother will want to fawn and smother me from afar."
"Well, I know that if Sue saw you right now, she'd do the same."
Edward wrinkled his nose.
"I'd rather not be fawned over," he told me.
"Well, I'll leave you to your soap operas while I get to work. I need to see if Archie has any new info for me," I told him, leaning over to place a kiss to his lips.
It was meant to be a quick goodbye kiss, but it quickly turned into a heated kiss filled with passion and moans.
By the time we separated, I was a mess who could barely remember her name, much less what I was supposed to be doing.
"I'll see you tonight?" Edward asked as he walked me toward his door, and I nodded my head, still brain addled.
.................
"Talk to me, Sanders," I said over my phone.
"You need to see what I've found," he told me, and I held back a sigh. It had been a long ass day, dealing with a string of car thefts that had left Emmett and me with no leads and a major headache.
My head was throbbing, I'd had way too much coffee, but I was eager to find out what Archie had found.
"Be right there," I told him, hanging up the phone and shoving away from my desk.
I made my way down the stairs to the computer lab and found Archie sitting at his desk with what looked like a million windows open on his computer monitors.
I propped my hip up on the side of his desk and stared him down, waiting for him to speak.
"Well, hello, sunshine," he said with a smile, and I scowled back at him.
"Al lright then," he muttered before angling the monitors a bit so I could see them better.
"Your friend, Eleazar Denali, has his fingers in a bunch of pies. The man has bank accounts in the Caymen Islands, Switzerland, and Italy. He's a shareholder in over fifty different corporations, including one Volterra Corporation."
"Anything illegal?" I asked as I tried to make heads and tails of what the screens were in front of me.
"I've found a few court records that were sealed from his teenage years as well as a few police reports that are mysteriously empty."
"What do you mean empty?"
"Just that. A police report was filed at some point, but now there's nothing in them. They are empty. The only thing indicating that he had a run in with the police is an empty case file. All the information has been deleted."
I set down the bobble head I'd been fiddling with and asked Archie if he could recover the information.
"Of course, I can. Have you forgotten to whom you are talking? I can recover almost anything," he told me with a smug look. "But, it's going to take time. I'll let you know once I have something."
I nodded my head before thanking him and making my way back upstairs.
I didn't even know what to make of this whole case. It was the largest case I'd ever worked on, and there was so much going on, not to mention the man that I was dating was the victim, and I was feeling completely lost and overwhelmed. I was also worried that if we did find out what was going on and made an arrest, that everything I had done would be called into question because I knew the victim. I wondered if I should recuse myself from the situation, and I decided I'd better talk to Banner about it.
He wasn't in his office when I got back upstairs, so I made a mental note to remember to talk to him later about it and then informed Emmett of all that I had learned.
"I knew that guy was sleazy," he said around a mouthful of gum. "Don't worry, B. We'll catch the scumbags."
"I hope so," I told him, but I wasn't feeling too confident about it. Eleazar Denali had money as did Aro Caius, and money could buy just about anything. It could buy people's silence and their death. Hell, it could buy someone a new life somewhere else under a new name. These guys could disappear on the turn of a dime, and we would have no way of finding them.
"Go home, Bella," Emmett said a few minutes later, and I looked over at him.
"What? Why would I do that? We have a ton of work to do."
"You're distracted, and if we get called out, you would be a liability. Go home, go see Edward, go do something. Get your head on straight and then come back. I'll cover for you," he told me, and I tried to argue with him but to no avail.
Sighing, I gathered up my stuff and left the station, heading for home.
I spent an hour, sitting around and staring at some crime show on TV but not really paying attention, and then I thought fuck it. I wanted to see Edward, so I gave him a call and asked what he was doing. He told me he was just sitting around, so I offered to grab us food and some movies to which he was agreeable.
Thirty minutes later, I showed up at Edward's with a bucket of fried chicken and some horror flicks. I was in the mood for violence and gore, and I hoped that he wouldn't mind.
"What's wrong?" he asked me a little while later as we ate at his dining room table.
"Nothing," I said after swallowing a bite of food.
"Please don't lie to me," he said softly, and I let out a heavy sigh.
I went on to tell him how I was feeling about the whole case and that I was worried we wouldn't catch the person or persons who had hurt him and wrecked his store. Everything just came spilling out, and I couldn't have contained it if I tried.
"Breathe, Bella," he said as he came over to my side and rubbed a gentle hand against my back.
I nodded, trying to do what he had asked, and I finally began to calm down.
"I'm sorry," I told him. "I don't normally freak out like that."
He shook his head as he told me there was no need to apologize. Feeling as though I had ruined our evening together, I offered to leave, but Edward was adamant that I stick around, and honestly, I wanted to be near him.
We cleaned up dinner together, before making our way into the living room where we cuddled on the couch to watch some of the movies I'd brought over.
At some point, all I could focus on was Edward's fingers stroking the skin on my arm, and I found that I needed to feel more of him.
I moved my head from his shoulder where it had been resting and leaned up to give him a long, deep kiss.
Tongues slid against one another as hands roamed, and I let out a moan as Edward sat up and pulled me over and onto his lap to straddle him. I was more than willing to oblige, and I felt like I couldn't get close enough to him.
I slid my fingers through his hair as his hands held my hips tightly against him, and I couldn't help but move against the hard bulge that I felt below me.
"You are driving me crazy," he growled as he tore his lips away from mine only to trail them along my neck.
His teeth nipped at me, and I let out another moan, loving the way his teeth felt against me, and I began to rock in earnest against him, but it wasn't enough. We had on too many clothes, and I pulled away from him just long enough to pull my shirt over my head and toss it on the floor.
"Gorgeous," I heard Edward murmur as he traced the straps of the boring blue bra that I was wearing. Oh, I had some sexy and frilly bras, but they weren't really me. I was much more of a simple kind of girl, and I hoped Edward didn't mind.
Although, judging by the way he was staring at me, he didn't seem bothered that I wasn't decked out in some sexy lingerie.
"This needs to come off," he whispered against my lips, and I felt his fingers slowly unclasping my bra, and then he was pushing the straps down my arms.
With my bra gone, Edward leaned back and took a good look at me, and I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks. I was pretty well endowed, and I was in fairly good shape, so I wasn't too worried about what he saw, but it was still unnerving being naked for the first time.
Edward's hands ran up my arms before moving across my shoulders and down to my chest where he cupped my breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze before teasing my hard nipples with his thumbs.
His hands felt so good, but his lips felt even better when he brought them to one of my nipples and began to suck gently. But, I didn't want gently. I told him I wanted it hard and a bit rough, and he was only too happy to comply.
He sucked harder before biting my nipple just hard enough to have me moaning and rubbing against him.
I was beyond wet and ready for more, but I wanted to see and play with him as well.
"I want your clothes off," I told him as I began to tug at his shirt, but I paused when I saw the bruise going across his chest that he obtained the night before.
"I'm fine," he told me as he picked up both my hands and gently kissed them.
The man sure knew how to melt me into a puddle of goo.
Pretty soon, we found ourselves in his bedroom with a trail of clothes behind us, and I couldn't help but ogle him a bit. He wasn't overly built, but he had a nice lean build to him with some muscle, and his cock was gorgeous. It wasn't huge, but it was above average, nice and thick and more than adequate to get the job done.
Reaching down, I grasped him in my hand and gave him a gentle squeeze, watching as his eyes closed and his head tilted back.
I stroked him from the base to the tip, squeezing a bit as I went before dropping to my knees in front of him and kissing the tip.
His hands found their way into my hair as he mumbled that I didn't have to do this, but I told him this was what I wanted.
I wanted to drive him crazy with lust and began teasing him, licking him from base to tip and swirling my tongue around the head. I took him into my mouth as far as I could, fisting what wouldn't fit and pumping him as he began to move in and out of my mouth. I sucked harder and faster, loving the feel of him in my mouth.
"Oh, God!" he moaned, and that only made me work him harder. I wanted him to come, but Edward had other ideas.
Gently, he pulled me off of him and tugged me toward his bed, tossing his glasses on his nightstand.
"Lay down," he said, and I did as he asked.
He knelt between my spread thighs, running his hands up my legs until they get to my apex, and I watched as he dragged a finger through my folds.
Spreading my thighs wider, Edward leaned down and gave my clit a light kiss before running his tongue around it in circles. Edward kept up a steady rhythm until my body bowed and his name rang from my lips.
With a satisfied grin on his face, he kissed his way up my stomach and eventually placed a gentle kiss on my lips.
"Condom?" he asked, and I shook my head. I was on the pill, and I was clean. I knew Edward hadn't been with anyone since Tanya, so we were safe.
We both moaned as he slid home, and I ran my fingers through his hair, gripping his shoulders and back as he began to thrust.
Our movements started off slow, getting used to the feel of one another, but soon, we both wanted more, and I gripped him tighter as he began to pound into me.
My legs were around his waist, my nails digging into his skin, and he slipped one hand between us to rub my clit, sending me over the edge.
Almost as soon as I came, Edward's thrusts became faster and more erratic, and moments later, he came with a roar. It had to have been one of the sexiest sights I'd ever seen.
We lay there in silence, our breathing ragged, as fingers stroked over skin, and I didn't want to move.
"Stay?" Edward asked a few minute later.
I didn't have any clothes with me, but I didn't care.
"I'd love to," I told him, tilting my head up for a kiss which he granted.