Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

"Me, too."

He lifted his head and kissed the side of her smiling mouth. "How do you feel about seconds?"

She ran her hands down his back, cupping the very taut cheeks of his ass. He had an incredible body. "I don't know," she said and almost laughed at the disappointment in his eyes.

"Okay," he said although it was clear it was anything but.

"It's just that I don't know where we'll find any more… you know… protection."

His eyes gleamed and he reached out and grabbed a handful of foil packets and dumped them on her head. "I think we've got that covered, Jenna."

"Then yes, please. Seconds would be very nice. But I suppose we have to leave room for dessert. You owe me after all."

His brows snapped together. "How so?"

"You left my Rocky Road to melt all over the table."

His eyes crinkled at the edges. "I'll buy you another pint."

"Make it a gallon and we'll talk thirds and fourths."

"Jenna, are we talking about ice cream?"

She smiled up at him. "We're talking about anything you want."

Sunday, October 9, 6:30 A.M.

They snuck into Steven's house through the laundry room, holding hands like teenagers late for curfew. After the night they'd shared it was small wonder either of them could still walk. They'd made love twice more in the night, dozing until four a.m. or so. They planned to shower and get back to Steven's house so Jenna could get Jim and Casey's truck and be gone long before sunup.

Jenna squinted in the semidarkness. The sun had just started to come up. They were arriving home later than they'd planned, through no fault of her own. Steven had instigated the delay in the shower. She grinned to herself. She just helped. A lot. Her body still tingled from all the helping. She'd helped all night long. Altruism certainly had its benefits.

"What are you grinning at?" Steven murmured, looking down at her with a tender smile that made her heart do crazy things in her chest.

She lifted a brow and said nothing, which made him grin, too. "You're a pervert, Dr. Marshall."

She gave him her prim look. "And this is a problem how?"

He laughed softly. "Who said anything about a problem? Come on, let's find your dog and get you guys out of here before one of the boys discovers us. Or even worse, Helen."

"You're already trying to get rid of me," she grumbled playfully, following him through the door into the kitchen where she abruptly ran into his back. Because he'd abruptly stopped. Jenna peeked around his shoulder and immediately saw why.

"Oh, little boy," she murmured, experiencing a rush of something that felt suspiciously maternal. Nicky sat at the kitchen table, eyes closed, one freckled cheek plastered to the wood veneer, clutching something in his fist, next to his cheek. He was guarded by two hairy soldiers, Cindy Lou at his feet and Jim behind his chair. Jim lifted his head and Jenna swore the dog smiled.

Jenna took a tiptoed step closer to see what Nicky held in his hand and frowned. It was a rubber worm. A fishing lure. She turned around to find Steven looking stricken.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Last Friday I promised I'd try to take him fishing this weekend," Steven replied, his eyes glued to his little boy. He swallowed hard. "But I can't. I have a staff meeting at eight."

Jenna could practically touch the tension coming from him, and thought about all the responsibilities on his head. Three teenaged girls, two gone forever, one missing. A serial killer out there somewhere, still stalking his victims.

On the other hand, his own little boy was just starting to show sparks of life again after his own traumatic experience six months ago. His own little boy who he was going to have to disappoint. Feeling a bit like Solomon, Jenna put her arms around Steven's neck and hugged him hard. "Go to your staff meeting, Steven. Do what you need to do to keep our girls safe. I'll take Nicky fishing. When you're done you can come and meet us at the lake." She pulled back to find doubt written all over his face. "Don't worry, I am a very capable fisherman." She smiled up at him. "We might even catch something."

He shook his head. "Of that I have no doubt. There isn't much you can't do, Jenna. But are you sure you want to take an active boy fishing? You don't have to."

Jenna looked back to where Nicky sat sleeping. "I know I don't have to. I want to." Then a disturbing thought seized her. "But if you don't want me to, I'll understand. I know you're worried he'll get attached too fast."

Steven crooked his finger under her chin and pulled until she looked up at him and her disturbing line of thought was squashed by the look in his warm brown eyes. "He already is, Jen. So am I." He covered her mouth with his. so gently, so… lovingly, her heart clenched. A wave of wanting hit her, so intense she felt paralyzed in her tracks. Not sexual want-ing. He'd more than satisfied her in that way. This was more, this was a wanting of everything he represented. The man, the children, the instant family.

A family who would need her as much as she needed them.

A family she could love. A real family of her very own.

She wanted it, wanted it all so intensely she could only stand there, her heart pounding as he kissed her in his kitchen, as if she belonged there. When he lifted his head, his eyes narrowed slightly in concern. "Are you all right?"

Jenna drew a trembling breath, feeling the literal earth moving under her feet. "I'm fine. I'll be fine." She made herself smile at him. "Go get ready for work. I'll make you breakfast."

Sunday, October 9, 8:05 A.M.

He should have been exhausted, Steven thought, but he wasn't. In fact, his skin still tingled from her good-bye kiss. There was certainly something to be said for the rejuvenating powers of sex. He felt like he hadn't felt… ever. But playtime was over. His team had assembled themselves together early on a Sunday morning to find a murderer and hopefully to keep him from raising their tally of dead teens to three. Steven wasn't sure how close they were to doing either. "Good morning," he said and the murmuring quieted. "What do we know?"

Harry opened his notebook with a yawn. He'd been responsible for following Rudy all night. "Well, Rudy had quite an evening. Three parties, none of them keggers." He looked up with a baleful glare. "I really wanted to arrest him for underage alcohol consumption."

"That would have been too simple," Steven said dryly.

Harry shot him an amused look. "He left the last party with a girl who looked a lot older than high school. They went to her place and Rudy didn't come out until three a.m. Looking very rested I might add. The girl dropped him off at his house just before four a.m. and he didn't leave again."

Steven looked over at Davies who looked frustrated but said nothing. "He's had Alev Rahrooh for two days now," Steven said thoughtfully. "He kept both Lorraine and Saman-tha just under a week. I doubt Alev's already dead, so he'll have to go to her sooner or later. That's still assuming Rudy's our man. Sandra, how far did you get with the list of athletes with priors?"

Envies now looked both agitated and frustrated but still said nothing.

"About three-quarters of the way," Sandra answered. "No obvious connections. But I did check the cheerleading schedules of each of the vics' high schools. All three played Roosevelt High at Roosevelt within a week of each girl's disappearance. That makes a pretty strong case for Lutz."

Davies's smile was just the tiniest bit smug. "It's him. I know it."

Steven pushed back fiorn his chair and walked over to stare at the photos on the bulletin board feeling his own frustration grow. "Davies, any progress on the tattoo design?"