Chapter 16

SETH

He enjoyed having Indie with them for the occasion, and he loved the cake she’d made them.

He especially loved the fact that it held elements of both Sarah and himself, two individuals who were bound together by something stronger than blood.

The cake was also a representation of Indie’s creativity and artistic flair.

As the women chatted, he took the opportunity to study Indie.

Her heart-shaped face was glowing with an inner radiance that drew him to her gentle personality even more.

She was an amazing mix of contradictions: the way she flirted with him but was shy in the bedroom. The quiet way she stood up for what she wanted.

He especially loved how strong she was, not allowing her past to make her a victim. She loved her life, and she wasn’t afraid to live it.

“Come with me,” he whispered to her as he took her hand. Without hesitation, she followed him, and he felt his heart melt at her trust.

He led her to his bedroom and pulled her into his arms as soon as he closed the door, kissing her without restraint. And she met him halfway. Completely.

Indie wrapped her arms around his neck, stretching her body against his, and he knew that she was in no doubt about how much he missed her as her hips cradled his growing manhood.

She absorbed his groan as their tongues tangled, and he pushed her against the door.

She sighed when their lips broke apart and he laid a trail of kisses down the column of her throat, following the taste of her vanilla flavor to the crease between her breasts.

“Seth,” she gasped as he plunged his tongue into the crevice, and he lifted his mouth back to hers. Her chest heaved with her panting.

He laughed softly when she pulled his head up by his hair, and he was disappointed to see some of her good sense returning to her eyes. “Our families are in the other room—”

“Then we’d better be quiet,” he retorted, sucking her bottom lip hard. The soft whimper that escaped made his knees weak even as his erection grew harder.

Seth could feel their hearts beating in sync as he lifted her legs around his waist and pushed the hem of her skirt up.

He slid his hands up Indie’s silky legs until he reached the barrier of her panties…the very ~wet~ barrier. The discovery made him groan.

“Quiet, remember?” she admonished as she nipped his earlobe.

He turned his head and took her mouth in a hard kiss as he plunged his fingers into her wetness, swallowing the cry that left her lips.

Indie reached between them and unzipped his jeans, slipping her hand into his boxers, and took hold of his throbbing manhood.

“Indie…,” he hissed as she circled her thumb over the sensitive head.

“I’ve always wondered about doing that with—”

“You can do it to me whenever you want,” he ground out between his clenched teeth as she repeated the action.

He slid his fingers deeper into her until he felt the raised spot high in her tunnel and teased it.

Her hand tightened around him even as her silky warmth tightened around his fingers as he thrust them into her.

“I guess not any time…if you don’t want an inquisitive five-year-old running in here and asking all kinds of unwanted questions.”

Her laugh changed to a moan when he inserted another finger, his movements imitating the up-and-down sliding of her hand on his raging-hard member.

Her free hand curled into his hair as her orgasm drew nearer, and he could feel his body preparing for his own climax.

Seth roughly tore her panties as he put his hands on her hips.

He held them still when he plunged his eager length into her wetness, his mouth catching her scream, his own groan mingling with her tongue.

Her legs grasped his hips as he slid deep and hard into her.

He cupped her head, careful not to untidy the intricate braid as he rocked into her, his movements becoming faster and more frenzied.

He laid his forehead against hers as he carried them to fulfillment.

“Oh, Seth!” she gasped and then sank her teeth into his shoulder to smother her scream as she came, drawing his essence deep into her as he fell into ecstasy with her.

***

“What the fuck happened to your back?” Felicity demanded as she sat next to him on the bench in the deputies’ changing room, pulling Seth out of his reverie.

He smiled as he glanced in a mirror at the scratch marks and the newly acquired bite mark on his shoulder.

“It was a civil conversation with a worthy cat.” Seth pulled his black T-shirt over his head to cover the scars.

He wasn’t ashamed of them, but he wasn’t ready to share his happiness with the world yet.

“Does this cat have golden eyes and a smile that could burn down the city of Troy?”

“Go fish in another pond, Rhodes, you’re not catching anything in this lake tonight.” He pulled his shirt on and started buttoning it.

“It seems that my birthday gift will fall way short after that one,” she pouted as she tossed a small wrapped box at him, nodding at the Casio ProTrek on his wrist.

He laughed as he shook Felicity’s gift. “Indie gave it to me. She noticed I wasn’t wearing one.”

“Does she know that the last one saved your life?” Felicity asked, reminding him of how he had lost his previous watch.

“I don’t think she needs to know that.”

He picked at the ribbon as he remembered the knife glancing off his watch when it was thrown by a disgruntled wife.

The watch deflected the blade from his neck when he and Felicity responded to a domestic violence call a few weeks ago.

“Are you going to open that thing before it becomes too late for your birthday?” He smiled at Felicity’s method of disagreeing with him without saying so explicitly.

“I still have ten minutes to midnight,” he teased, pulling the paper off. In the box was a snow globe with a tiny bobcat lying in a tree.

The flakes were tiny leaves in different shades of gold, and when he shook it, the scene resembled a field in fall.

The one detail that caught his eye was the color of the cat’s eyes—it was the exact shade of gold as Indie’s eyes. He stared at Felicity. “Felice…this is beautiful.”

She gave a self-conscious smile. “I saw it at the farmers’ market over the weekend and it reminded me of Indie.

“I figured that she had a quiet strength about her that could be quite dangerous if she was pushed.”

“It’s very accurate,” he agreed, looking at the snow globe again.

“By the marks on your back, I see that,” she laughed as she got to her feet, pulling her Kevlar into place. “Come on, Marshall, we’re going to be late for roll call.”

He stood up, tugging his own vest over his head. “Thanks, Rhodes.”

She turned at the door. “And Marshall?”

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.”

“It is one of the best,” he murmured as he followed her into the briefing room.