Judge & Jury - James Patterson [67]
“Oh, Jeez.” Andie collapsed into me, her hair damp with perspiration, her body drenched and spent. “That was long overdue, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said exhaling, agreeing, rolling onto my back. “Overdue.”
The second time it was a lot more tender. We moved into the bedroom, with a bottle of Italian Prosecco on the night table, Tori Amos on the CD player. This time it was slow and much more romantic, at least my idea of romance. It was like slow dancing. We found this nearly perfect rhythm. Both of our bodies were slick with sweat. I loved it.
The third time, we went back at it like numero uno. Couldn’t control ourselves. The hottest yet. Probably the best. I guess it was something we were dying to do for a long time.
The fourth . . .
All right, there was no fourth. We were too empty, too spent. We just lay there, coiled together in each other’s arms. Andie’s heart was racing against my chest. I loved that too.
“Don’t get the wrong impression,” she whispered. “I’m not that easy. I usually don’t give it up until the second trial.”
“Me either,” I said, breathing heavily. “Unless we’re unable to reach a conviction.”
We stayed like that for a while, entwined and exhausted. It took all my remaining strength just to caress the curls of her hair with one finger.
“I meant what I said before, Nick,” she whispered. “I know how much you want Cavello. And I know how much it hurts after what happened the other day. I know what it feels like having the thing you want most in the world taken from you.”
“I know you do,” I said, squeezing her tight.
“What I’m trying to say is, I want whatever happens between us to be in spite of that, Nick. Okay?”
“Andie, I’m not going back to some bullshit job at the Bureau policing corporate tax returns. I can’t. I’m gonna get Cavello. With their help or without. For you, for me . . . it doesn’t matter. I can’t be right until it’s done, until it’s over.”
“And me?” She shrugged. “Am I wrapped up in that, too?”
“You?” I leaned on my elbow and smiled. “I think we’re sort of wrapped up in each other right now.”
“I’m serious,” she said. “What happens now?”
“Now?” I didn’t have an answer. I was a little scared by this incredible magnetism between us. In fact, I felt myself come alive again. All of a sudden we were at it again—my hands massaging her, Andie making ever-descending circles with her nails just above my crotch.
“Now”—I rolled on top of her again—“I guess we go for four.”
Chapter 84
ANDIE AND I MADE LOVE a lot over the next couple of days. Four turned into seven, seven into ten, but neither of us was really counting, nothing as rational as that. A couple of times we even got dressed and went out in the neighborhood for a meal or some coffee. But all it took was a look. That look. And we’d rush back.
Maybe both of us just needed the thrill of feeling excited again. After our long, inward thaw, I couldn’t take my hands off Andie. I couldn’t wait to feel her body next to me, merged with me. I didn’t want to be separated from her. Cavello could wait for a while, just this once. It was like the tap was wide open and the water kept pouring out. We both needed it. But the reprieve didn’t last very long.
I hadn’t checked my messages for days. When a call came in, we’d listen to the voice on the machine and pretend it was a million miles away.
Until this one call. The caller’s voice froze me with surprise.
“Hey, Pellisante.” The smirking Jersey accent was about the last one I expected to hear.
I spun over to the side of the bed and fumbled for the phone. “Frankie?”
“Nicky Smiles.” Frank Delsavio acted as if he were talking to a long-lost friend. “You know that postcard I was talking about, from that mutual friend of ours?”
“I know who you’re talking about, Frank.”
“Well, wouldn’t ya know, I got one after all. How ’bout that?”
I stood up. “Where is he, Frank?” It was more of a demand than a question.
“Where is he?” Delsavio chuckled, clearly finding amusement in twisting me on a string. “He’s at the end of the earth, Nicky-boy! He told me to