Page 25 of The Unseen

F OR S EAN’S SAKE , L UCAS SLEPT IN THE BOY’S BEDROOM, WHERE COLORFUL posters of race cars covered the walls: Bugatti Chiron, McLaren Speedtail, Bentley Continental GT, and Porsche Spyder.

Sean’s dad had been a high-end auto mechanic.

The kid knew plenty about cars and speed, clearly the reason the bad guys were pressing him so hard to steal for them again.

Nicole insisted on putting clean sheets on Sean’s bed as Lucas grabbed his overnight bag out of the Jeep.

He settled in, turning on the bedside lamp and cracking open a Harlan Coben novel.

He read till midnight, then set the book aside and turned out the lamp.

Grabbing his robe, he padded down the hall.

He didn’t bother to knock. He had waited too long already. He turned the knob and pushed open the door, expecting Nicole to be asleep. Instead, he caught the gleam of her eyes in the darkness, open and watching as he walked into her bedroom.

“If I’d known you were waiting, I would have come sooner.”

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

One of his eyebrows went up. “Why not?”

“I need to think of Sean. And Aunt Rachel is getting weaker every day.”

“As long as I’m here, I’ll help you with both of them.”

“I know. But you won’t always be here. We both know that.”

“Do we?” He walked toward her. He’d been aroused since he’d heard the sound of her voice.

It was warm in the room, the ceiling fan rotating slowly, stirring the air. The frosted glass lamp beneath the blades cast a soft yellow glow over the room. Lucas drew back the covers, leaving Nicole naked in the middle of the bed.

He smiled at the erotic sight. “I’m glad to see you were waiting for me.”

“No, I just … It was warm in here.”

He felt the pull of a smile. “ Cher, you have no idea how much it pleases me to know you desire me.”

She said nothing as he stripped off the robe and climbed into bed beside her. “I’m happy just to hold you. I know you must be still hurting.”

She made a little sound of disappointment in her throat and his mouth edged up. “Looks like I’ll just have to be careful.”

He gently pulled her up on top of him so she sprawled over his chest. A long, hot kiss followed, wringing a response that had both of them squirming.

He’d been replaying the last time they were together, remembering how good it was.

When he caught her hips and positioned her over him, he felt the rush, the fierce need to be inside her.

Kissing led to touching, caressing her beautiful breasts, stroking her damp flesh until she was begging him to take her. She was every bit as fiery as he remembered, but she was injured. He was determined to let her set the pace.

“Please …, ” she whimpered.

“Anytime you’re ready. Tonight I’m leaving it up to you.” He usually preferred to take charge, but he didn’t want to hurt her, and he wanted to boost Nicole’s confidence, give her a chance to experiment with her sexuality. He understood his own all too well.

Casting him a long, uncertain glance, she sat up over him and adjusted herself. Her nipples were taut as she eased his hard length inside. “Okay?”

He couldn’t hold back a groan. This was taking far more willpower than he had imagined. “Better than okay.”

Nicole began to move, rising, then lowering back down.

Lucas clamped hard on his control until she was moaning, her head tilted back, the fiery strands of her hair shifting around her shoulders.

He held on as long as he could, but the moment he felt the start of her climax, the tightening of her body around him, he cradled her hips in his hands to hold her in place, surged deep, and let himself go.

Nicole moaned as she came again, her body shaking with the force of it. Slowly her tremors began to fade, and she slumped over his chest. Lucas smoothed a hand over her soft curls as the rush of pleasure slowly faded. Lifting her off him, he settled her on the mattress beside him.

“I didn’t hurt you?”

“No.” She gave him an impish grin. “But if you had, it would have been worth it.”

He smiled into the silence and tucked her a little closer against him.

His smile slipped away. He was getting in deep with this woman.

It occurred to him that for the second time in his life, he was risking himself, risking the heartache he had felt after losing Marie.

He was fearful yet determined to follow the path God had put in front of him—unlike what he had done before.

Or perhaps it had been God’s will for him to leave the priesthood, which had led him to the work that seemed to fit him so much better.

Lucas smoothed a hand over Nicole’s hair. He wanted more of her, more of everything. But she needed her sleep to heal. The night was long. He closed his eyes, hoping he’d be able to sleep as well.

He was still awake when he felt her hand on his thigh, small and warm, a little uncertain.

“Cher,” he said, and turned to her, thankful she wanted him again.

Nicole cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast on Saturday morning. Last night, the subject of the sheriff’s visit hadn’t come up. Both Sean and Lucas were focused on solving Sean’s problems.

This morning as they shoveled in fluffy scrambled eggs and crisp maple bacon, Nicole told her brother the reason for the sheriff’s visit, news that the man whose bones had been found in the cedar box had been murdered.

“Aunt Rachel believes the murdered man is Francois Villard,” Nicole said. “His grave is in the Villard side of the family cemetery.”

“Wow. Aunt Rachel thinks he’s the guy who’s haunting Belle Reve?”

“Something like that,” Lucas said.

“Do you believe it’s true?”

“I think it’s possible.”

“Cool. Maybe we’ll get to see him.”

Lucas smiled. “Not unless he wants us to.”

Sean’s cell rang just then. Swallowing the last bite of eggs on his plate, he pulled the phone out of the pocket of his jeans, jumped up from the table, and headed for the living room.

Nicole flashed Lucas a glance. Even from a distance, they could see the color draining from Sean’s face. The call ended abruptly, and her brother walked back into the kitchen.

“I take it that call came from your friends,” Lucas said.

Sean’s head came up. “They aren’t my friends.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. What did they want?”

“They said I needed to be ready. The cars will be there the end of the week.”

“Did they give you a location?”

“No. I’m supposed to call them on Wednesday night.”

“You’ll have to use the phone on the wall in the hallway. If the police get involved, your cell phone could show a connection between you and the guys in the car theft ring.”

“I know. They don’t care if I go to jail or not.”

“I care,” Nicole said. “Lucas, what are we going to do?”

“If I’m going to help you, I need more information. I need to know their names and everything you know about them.”

Nicole was sure Lucas had read the police file before Sean arrived at the youth center. But Sean had told the police as little as possible, hoping to end any future trouble. Clearly, that hadn’t worked.

Her brother scrubbed a hand through his dark hair. “I don’t know that much. Artie said he would handle things. He told me which cars to steal and where to drop them. It went smooth for a while, but then everything fell apart.”

“What happened?” Lucas asked.

“I think Artie gave me the wrong drop site on purpose. The cops were waiting. Artie was nowhere around when I got there. He stole the money, I took the blame, and Artie disappeared.”

“What’s his full name?”

“Arthur Whatley. But maybe he lied about it.”

“You mentioned a guy named Mickey Dugan and there’s someone named Bruno. What do they look like?”

“Mick’s a tall, skinny guy, with stringy brown hair and a bald spot on the back of his head.”

“I think we’ve met,” Lucas drawled.

Nicole looked at Sean. “He was one of the guys who attacked me in the parking lot.”

Sean’s lips thinned.

“What about Bruno?” Lucas asked.

“I’ve never seen him, but he’s got a reputation as a real bad dude.”

“There was another guy in the parking lot,” Lucas said. “Short, muscled, a sleeve of tats on each arm.”

Sean’s eyes widened. “That’s Ollie Martinez. I only met him once. He was cleaning his nails with a switchblade. It was Mick’s way of telling me I’d better do my job and keep my mouth shut or bad things would happen.”

“I need details,” Lucas said. “How you knew where to find the vehicles and where you dropped them.”

“Artie told me where to find the cars. He gave me a device that opened the car door and started the engine.”

“There’s such a thing?” Nicole asked.

Sean nodded. “You can look it up on the internet. If you have the right tech, you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to steal a car, even one that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“Okay,” Lucas said. “After you got the car, where did you take it?”

“A different place each time, but usually somewhere a few miles out of town, down a dirt road somewhere. There was a moving van parked there. I drove the car up a ramp into the van, and when I came out, Artie was there to pick me up. He drove me back home and I waited until he called me for the next run.”

“Anything else I need to know?”

“These are bad people, Coach. I was crazy to ever get involved with them. I was almost glad when I got arrested. I thought at least I would be out of it.”

“But that didn’t happen,” Lucas said.

Sean looked down at his feet. “I guess not.”

Lucas clamped him on the shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”

Sean just nodded.

“In the meantime, we have some work to do this morning.”

Interest flashed in Sean’s green eyes. “What kind of work?”

“We’re going to dig up a grave.”