Page 20

"I hate Spokane," Nora complained yet again. Every time we managed to find ourselves tumbling about the city, she voiced her disdain for it.

I laughed when I emerged from the bathroom while toweling off my hair. "Do you hate Spokane because of Spokane or because of all the work you need to do on this case?"

"A little of both." Nora flopped her hands down on the stack of papers piled on the desk in the hotel room beside her computer. "Analyzing behavior of an unsub with only two victims isn't easy. How can we stop them from getting to three if I've got so little?"

"Don't ask me. You're the fancy psychologist, Doctor Brody." I clapped her on the shoulder after tucking my towel around my waist. "Hand me my bag from the table there, please?"

"Sure." She snatched the toiletry bag off the nightstand closest to her then gave it to me.

"Thanks." I accepted it, then smirked when I watched her do a double-take when she saw me topless. Her gaze flickered down my front then back up again. "Like what you see?"

"What?" She gulped and drew her eyes back to the computer screen.

"You heard me." I tugged out the piercing retainers from my bag and began poking them through my nipples after relieving them of the steel. "Forgot to take out my piercings this morning."

"Oh." Again, she gulped, though this time she didn't look away when she watched me. "Does that hurt? Your poor nipples."

"No." I laughed and moved on to the second. "They're comfortable. The metals hurt if I take a hit to the tit though. I always change them for work."

"That seems like a lot of work."

"Not as much as my clit piercing," I said, grinning at the shocked look on her face. "You never noticed?"

"I've never directly looked at your clit, asshole." She laughed at me. "Are you lying?"

"Why would I lie about that?" I rolled my eyes at her, though smirked through it.

"Because you like shock value sometimes." She narrowed her eyes at me, then folded her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, when I'm running a scene with hot submissive women. Not when I'm talking about piercings," I said, gesturing down the front of my towel. "Don't believe me?"

"No." She turned her back on me and pretended to work again. "I don't."

"Fine. Don't." I pulled my towel off and tossed it over her head. "I came in the shower and left my jizz on that."

"Caroline!" Nora squealed, yanking the towel off her head, and tossing it back at me. "You're like a gross…" She floundered, dropping her fist on the desk. "A gross…a gross dude sometimes!"

"And yet, you doubted my clit." I cracked up at her while fastening my bra behind my back. "It's right here, plain to see."

I watched her war with herself for a good few seconds before she turned around to look at me, glowering the whole time. "Fine. Show me."

"You just want to see my clit." I walked closer to her to allow her to look while I adjusted my bra. "See? Proof."

"The hood or your actual clit?" Her eyes widened as she stared at my pussy. Not with desire, but with innocent curiosity that brightened her expression.

"Hood." I flicked the little ring and smirked. "Best thing about it is when it hits me just right, I come pretty fast. I get off nearly every time I change it."

"Do you?" Nora's eyes softened while she looked at me, probably for the first time in that way. She didn't try to hide it as she drew her gaze up to meet mine.

"Yeah." I smirked and turned away from her to finish dressing. "Are you staying here all day or coming with us?"

"Staying here. I wanted to stay back in Seattle, but Wilkinson insisted."

"Because he knows you get a little wary about in-the-field stuff sometimes. It's good experience," I said while pulling on my boxer-briefs, followed by black jeans.

"I know. I'm just really tired after that last case. I still haven't finished my reports."

"Because you've been stressed out." I tugged the polo shirt over my head as I walked up behind her. I ran my fingers through her hair once and she looked up at me. "Anything I can do?"