Destroying Angel, page 9
“I like it.” She took another sip. “Mmm, I really do.”
“I’ll send you with a few K-cups for the precinct,” Emery promised.
Julia laughed. “The police department has shit coffee, don’t bother. We all go to the little coffee shop across the street when we need a hit of caffeine – I think we’re the café’s entire raison d’être.”
Emery took a drink from her own mug, then sat in the chair beside Julia. She seemed to be enjoying it, the dynamic suddenly flipping from Julia being in charge to Emery taking the lead. “So, why did you want to come here? Just to spend time with me?”
Julia nibbled her lip. Dare she just come out with the truth like that?
“I figured it’d be a good idea to be here as soon as you had the lab results,” she chickened out. “And I have some questions.”
All of which was true. None of which required her to follow Emery to a closed university in the middle of the night and cozy up in her office.
“What are your questions?”
Okay… work first, play later.
Julia set down her coffee cup, growing serious. “The two cases have to be related, right? What are the odds?”
“It’s possible that it’s a coincidence,” Emery said, “but if my lab results come back with A. bisporigera, I’ll say that the probability that Hawthorne and Brogan consumed the same toxic mushroom three weeks apart in the same city with no connection between them is very low.”
“Could it be environmental?” Julia asked. “Like how people get sick when they’ve been living in a house with black mold? Could Brandon have inhaled the spores?”
Emery shook her head. “Again, the odds are astronomical. When consumed orally, a very low dose of amatoxin can prove fatal, but it’s a myth that you can get sick from mushrooms – any kind – simply by absorbing the toxin through your skin or inhaling it. It just doesn’t work like that.”
“So they both had to have ingested it.” Julia sighed. “We just don’t know the connection between them.”
“How do you figure that out?” Emery asked.
“Well, we know Kyle ate it in a casserole, and based on his reaction, he seemed to know what made him sick, even if he was claiming it was accidental,” Julia said.
“But you don’t believe it was accidental,” Emery said.
“Like you said, the chances that he accidentally poisoned himself and another man in the same city accidentally consumed or was dosed with the same poison three weeks before? Let’s just say Kyle Brogan has suddenly become suspect number one in the Hawthorne case. I guess I’m just glad my number one theory is no longer accidental poisoning from a restaurant.”
“Sounds like your job isn’t all glamor and drama like they make it appear on TV,” Emery said, then snorted. “Nobody ever accuses a mycologist of having a thrilling career.”
“Oh, investigating is so much more paperwork than anyone expects,” Julia laughed. “Whenever someone asks me what I do and I don’t want to get into it, I just say data entry and it’s not technically a lie.”
“I say I study fungus,” Emery answered. “Then all of a sudden I have an extra seat between me and whoever asked me the question.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Julia shot back.
Emery smirked, her dimples making an appearance. Heat radiated in Julia’s body, and it wasn’t because of the coffee.
“I can tell you one time when I don’t make a point of mentioning my job,” Emery said. “When I’m trying to flirt.”
The smile fell from Julia’s face – did that mean she wasn’t flirting now? Was she reading this situation all wrong?
But then Emery hurried to add, “Present company excluded… it’s pretty much impossible to avoid the topic when it’s the only thing I have to tempt you with.”
“Tempt me with?”
“To get your attention.”
Julia squirmed in her seat, the warmth spreading through her. “You can have my attention whenever you want it.”
17
EMERY
“Is that so?”
Emery couldn’t help herself. She leaned forward in her chair. All the while, a little voice in her head asked, What are you doing?
But Julia leaned in too, and now they were mere inches from each other in the softly lit quiet of Emery’s office.
“You bring women here often?” Julia asked.
“If you’ll recall, you invited yourself.”
Emery moved closer, and watched a muscle in Julia’s neck flex as her breath caught in her throat. It was arresting, and she had a sudden strong urge to run her tongue along that line.
“I’m glad you let me come,” the detective answered, her voice all breathy and soft. The subtext lingered in the air between them until Emery closed the gap.
She threaded her fingers through Julia’s soft hair, nudging the ponytail holder down for the first time since they met. The warm, earthy smell of her filled Emery’s office, and she tilted Julia’s chin up to meet her gaze.
“You’re beautiful.”
“So are you.”
And then their mouths came together, tentative at first, exploring each other, testing limits.
Then the urgency took over. Julia stepped into Emery’s embrace, their bodies coming together. Her face tipped up further, eagerly seeking her, and her mouth opened slightly, inviting Emery in.
In a matter of seconds, all the tension that had been building between them since that first day in the forest bubbled to the surface and then boiled over. Their tongues danced over each other and Emery thrilled at the feeling of Julia’s hands roaming over her hips, grabbing onto her beltloops to keep her close.
“Touch me,” she murmured against Julia’s lips. “Like you did before.”
She could feel Julia smiling right back at her. “When I tripped?”
“Yes.” Too impatient to wait, Emery took Julia’s hands in her own and planted her palms firmly against her chest.
They were warm and soft, and unlike the first time, they lingered there. Julia cupped and kneaded Emery’s small breasts, making her nipples stand at attention and ache to be touched without all that pesky fabric in between them.
“Is that nice?” Julia asked, abandoned Emery’s lips to kiss a trail down her neck, hands still teasing her breasts.
“So good.”
“What else do you want?”
“You.” Emery’s brain was barely functioning – all she had left were single-syllable words. “All of you.”
Never mind that they were in her office, with not so much as a couch to lie down on. Never mind that even though it was early in the morning, there was always the possibility of being caught.
Never mind that they’d just met last week.
Who was this new version of Dr. Emery Ellison?
Her fingers went to the buttons of Julia’s cotton shirt, working them open as quickly as she could. She didn’t just want Julia – she needed her. Like she never had with any other woman before.
“Take me,” Julia whispered into her ear, sending a thrill down Emery’s spine. Then she stepped back, hopped up on Emery’s desk, and stared her down with a challenge in her eyes.
“Oh damn.” Emery bit her lip.
“When you do that, your dimples pop.”
“Yeah? You like my dimples?”
“I love them,” Julia said, giving her an irresistibly sultry look. “Come here.”
Emery obeyed. In that moment, she’d do any damn thing her detective asked of her, and she was pretty sure she would have the very first time they met, too.
“What is it about you?” she mused. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Then she stepped into the space between Julia’s spread knees, grabbing her hips and pulling her to the edge of the desk. Julia let out a groan as her core made contact with Emery’s hips, and she immediately started to grind against her. Fuck, that was going straight into Emery’s long-term memory because that feeling was heaven.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you either,” Julia said while Emery finished the job of unbuttoning her shirt. “I secretly hoped this would happen tonight.”
Emery pulled Julia’s shirt open and a fresh wave of desire coursed through her as she took in the modest white bra and the supple curves of Julia’s breasts spilling over the cups.
“I didn’t see this coming, but I’m so glad it did,” Emery admitted before lowering her head to kiss the tops of Julia’s breasts. Her skin was sweet and fresh-smelling, as if she’d come straight from a shower.
“I have a confession,” Julia murmured as she ran her hands over Emery’s hair, keeping her attention on her chest.
“Yes?” Emery looked up between Julia’s breasts, taking a second to try to memorize the view.
Julia paused for a moment, conflict written on her face. “I didn’t expect to meet anyone in Fox County so soon… but I’ve thought about you… about this.”
Emery stood up. “Really?”
Julia nodded eagerly. “I couldn’t help myself.”
Emery’s body pulsed with need, an ache beginning between her legs. She tried to redirect the feeling, her hand sliding up Julia’s thigh. She stroked her softly through her pants, feeling heat and wetness growing there, even through her layers.
“You couldn’t help yourself what?” Emery teased, and as soon as Julia canted her hips in her direction, seeking more of her touch, she increased the pressure. “Did you touch yourself and imagine it was me?”
Julia bit down on her lip again, trying and failing to suppress a moan. “I did.” Her big brown eyes flitted up to meet Emery’s gaze. “Was that bad?”
Instead of answering, Emery brought her fingers to the button on Julia’s pants. She popped it open, then slipped her hand inside. Her panties were soaked, her pussy already throbbing with need. Julia wrapped herself around Emery, her head going over Emery’s shoulder as she clung to her.
“I only wish I’d been there,” Emery said, “so you didn’t have to pretend.”
“Well, you’re here now–“
She let out a gasp on that last word as Emery swiftly hooked Julia’s panties aside and sank a finger into her wetness, then two.
“Oh fuck!” Julia groaned into her ear, immediately starting to ride Emery’s hand. “Yes, right there. Oh my god…”
She really was close, the scent of her arousal filling Emery’s head and making her dizzy with lust. Her palm was soaked after just a few thrusts, and she could feel Julia’s muscles contracting against her fingers.
“More?” she asked, poising a third finger at Julia’s entrance.
“Can you rub my clit too?”
Emery considered for a second. “Not with your pants on.”
She yanked Julia off the desk, back on her feet, and Julia wasted no time in shoving her pants and her underwear down to her knees. “I’m close already. Kiss me,” she said the moment she was bare, grabbing Emery by the collar of her shirt and pulling her in.
She would have liked a chance to glimpse the wetness she was responsible for, or better yet, taste the gorgeous, confident, slightly bossy woman in front of her. But Julia was shoving her tongue into Emery’s mouth and reaching blindly for her hand, pawing it back between her legs. She was begging Emery for release, and damn if that wasn’t the sexiest thing ever.
She plunged two fingers back into Julia’s core, and used her thumb to drag some of that slickness up to her swollen clit, circling around and around and matching the motion of Julia’s tongue in her mouth.
“Good?” she asked.
Julia used one foot to drag Emery’s office chair closer and propped her foot up on it, opening herself wider for her. “More,” was all she said. “Deeper.”
Emery shivered, her own body throbbing with the most intense arousal she’d ever known. She’d do anything for this woman – now she was positive of that fact. And so she gave her more, plunged into her harder, fucked her with everything she had.
And just seconds later, Julia was coming loudly and almost violently against her hand. Her fingers dug into Emery’s shoulders and her moans were most definitely carrying all the way down the hall to the empty lab, and her pussy spasmed hard, again and again over Emery’s fingers. Julia bucked her hips, wringing every last drop of pleasure out of the moment, and at last collapsed back against the desk.
Emery just stood there, momentarily forgetting her own arousal as she drank the detective in.
Her hair was wild, her shirt flung open with one nipple starting to escape over the top of her bra cup. Her knees were wide, one leg still propped up on Emery’s chair, and her pussy was swollen and dripping with the evidence of her desire.
Her desire for me, Emery thought, nakedly admiring the woman in front of her. I did that.
When she finally succeeded in dragging her eyes back up to Julia’s face, she saw color in her cheeks and she watched as Julia brushed the wild strands back behind her ears.
“Wow,” she said, reaching down to pull her pants up. “That got wild kind of fast.”
“Too fast?” Emery asked.
“No,” Julia answered, too casual. “Just right. Now let me return the favor–”
There was a beeping down the hall, and Julia’s head wrenched toward the door. They hadn’t even bothered to close it – anyone could have walked in and seen them, provided someone else was in the building.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Mass spec is done,” Emery said with a sigh. “I need to go check the results.”
18
JULIA
They went down the hall to the lab.
Julia followed in Emery’s wake, her head swimming with what just happened. Not even twenty-four hours ago, she’d been panicked by the idea of her coworkers finding out her real name, her real story.
Thinking Fox County might only be a pit-stop on her flight from Samantha.
She was still afraid of that, and yet here she was begging Emery Ellison to fuck her in her office.
Damn if she hadn’t needed that, though. She had barely even touched herself, even in a mechanical just for stress relief kind of way, since she left Michigan. Until Emery, she thought she wouldn’t want another woman to touch her for a very long time.
But when she was around Emery, the desire came over her like a flash flood. Unexpected, maybe even dangerous.
When they got to the lab, Emery switched into professional gear. She handed Julia her safety goggles and mask and donned her own protective gear, then went to the mass spectrometer to read the results.
“Well?” Julia asked, attempting to read over her shoulder even though the science speak meant nothing to her.
“Amanita bisporigera,” Emery confirmed, “same as Brandon Hawthorne consumed.”
“I’ll call the hospital.”
Her phone was still in Emery’s office. Julia went down the hall to retrieve it, and when she was finished talking to the ER doc, she found Emery leaning in the doorway.
“They’re going to start liver dialysis,” Julia said.
“Good.”
“Do you think we caught it soon enough this time?”
“I hope so,” Emery said. She took a step toward Julia, who shouldered her bag and took a step away.
“I should really get going.”
The feeling of Emery’s body against hers had been just as incredible as she imagined it, but now that the high of her orgasm was gone, it just seemed foolish to keep going down this road. Get attached, get her heart smashed into pieces all over again? No thanks.
More importantly, there was the danger she could be putting Emery in if Sam did track her down only to find her with a new woman.
No, it was better for everyone if she kept her distance, pretended tonight’s little indulgence hadn’t happened.
“I need to take that casserole dish to our evidence techs, see what they can find,” she said by way of an excuse.
“Right,” Emery said. She checked the time on her watch. “Well, it’s past four – not sure if there’s much point in going back to sleep now.”
Julia smirked. “Early bird, huh?”
“The early bird finds the good mushrooms,” Emery winked back.
19
EMERY
“What is going on with that look?”
“Hmm?” Emery looked up from the microscope where she was finally getting back around to the research project that had taken a backseat to all her new duties. Monica was staring at her. “What look?”
“You look like you’re having the best damn day of your life, but as far as I can see, this is just an ordinary day and those are just ordinary spores you’re looking at.”
“They’re Armillaria ostoyae,” Emery explained. “I finally had a few days in a row without any community outreach on my schedule, so I’m excited to get back to my research. That’s all.”
“Bullshit.”
Damn it. Why did best friends have to come with x-ray vision? Emery could get nothing past Monica, even on days when she was distracted with morning sickness.
“It’s not bullshit, I am happy I have time for my research,” she tried to insist.
“I know you are,” Monica said, “but I know your ‘happy nerd’ face, and this isn’t it. I can see that there’s more to it. Besides, weren’t you in here at like, four a.m. running tests for the hospital?”
“Three.”
“Ugh. You should be falling asleep at your desk, not grinning like a fool.”
Emery attempted to shrug off her friend’s questions again, but Monica just kept staring at her, waiting for an answer. And suddenly, it erupted from her like a baking soda and vinegar volcano experiment.
“Okay, okay, you know that detective I’ve been consulting for?”
“I knew it!”
“You knew what?”
“I knew it had to do with her,” Monica said, self-satisfaction practically vibrating off her. “So, what about her? Did you hook up?” A split second later, she gasped, reading the truth on Emery’s face. “You did!”
