Page 51 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

A moan issued from Orlando’s throat. “That’s it,” he praised. “Beautiful.”

The tempo of his thrusts increased, and he rubbed rapid circles over her clit, exerting more pressure on the tiny organ. Isabelle moved in rhythm with him, their combined sounds of pleasure now filling the room, the time for words gone.

Their bodies moved as one, and it might as well have been Orlando’s hands that caressed her breasts and turned her nipples hard and aching for release. She heard only one heartbeat, because their hearts now beat in sync with each other. She felt Orlando’s fangs rub over the sensitive skin of her neck, but she knew he wouldn’t bite her again, not tonight. But the knowledge that he wanted to filled her with excitement. She wanted to bite him just as much. The thought alone made her clit vibrate to prepare her for her coming orgasm. She took one more breath, before her pussy spasmed, and her climax buried her under a wave crashing against the breakwater only to come back with the same force moments later.

Orlando’s cock jerked inside her, and a groan burst from his lips as she felt the warm spray of his semen fill her and make his movements even smoother.

“Baby,” he whispered on a sigh and pulled her closer to his chest. “That was… wow…”

“Better than wow,” Isabelle murmured and turned her face to look at him.

His eyes were shimmering golden, and a contented smile sat on his lips. He brought his face to hers and kissed her, his lips soft, his mouth warm, and his tongue gentle and loving. She kissed him back with the same tenderness and wished that the kiss would never end.

27

Cooper entered Samson’s office, where his boss was pacing in front of the window.

“Samson, we found her car. She parked it in a public parking garage near the Embarcadero.”

Samson turned to him, looking impatient. “And Isabelle? Any sign of her?”

Cooper shook his head. Behind him, Thomas appeared, and Cooper made space to let him pass.

“Thomas?”

“We picked up Isabelle’s cell phone in the Outer Sunset,” Thomas reported. “She’s stationary. We have to assume that she’s staying somewhere out there.”

Cooper shook his head. “She wouldn’t be so stupid as to keep her phone on while she’s trying to hide from us.”

Samson cast him a look. “But what if she isn’t hiding from us? What if she went to meet Orlando after she warned him that we were on to him? And then realized that he’s guilty after all, and he’s keeping her somewhere? She could have managed to switch on her cell phone, knowing we would be able to track it.”

Cooper knew that Samson was grasping at straws. He exchanged a look with Thomas. “I thought you guys checked whether she was communicating with Orlando after she left the office, and found nothing.”

“We did, but she could have used somebody else’s phone to warn him,” Thomas explained.

“I should have never let her out of my sight.” Samson nodded. “Thomas is right. My daughter is a lot of things, but stupid she isn’t. She knows how to evade us if she doesn’t want to be found. And clearly, Orlando somehow managed to get her to trust him enough that she would even give him an alibi.”

“I don’t wanna speak out of turn,” Cooper started, careful not to upset his boss. “But did anybody check Orlando’s other alibi? The one for the murder of Hong? He was on duty at the Mezzanine, when Hong was killed.”

Samson’s jaw tightened. Apparently, he was still not ready to consider other opinions. Maybe Cooper should have kept his mouth shut and investigated this lead himself.

“He could have easily left the Mezzanine for an hour and gotten back, without anybody knowing he was gone,” Samson claimed.

Cooper didn’t contradict him. “All right, so what do we do about the signal in the Outer Sunset? You want me and Benjamin to check it out?”

“If she’s with Orlando, we need more manpower than just you and Benjamin. I’m coming with you. Benjamin can ride with Amaury and Haven. Let’s go.”

Minutes later, two SUVs were shooting out of Scanguards’ underground garage. Cooper was driving with Samson next to him, the GPS location of Isabelle’s phone blinking on the map.

Samson was still agitated. Maybe this was the right time for Cooper to finally figure out why Samson was so convinced that Orlando had killed two people.

“Ahm, Samson, may I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“I’m working on the Hong case, and I saw all the evidence that we collected, and of all the things that we found, nothing pointed to Orlando. And from what I heard about the Vuber driver, Orlando was her last ride, but, with all due respect, that doesn’t automatically make him a suspect. So why—”

“Orlando is a stone-cold killer.” A low growl accompanied Samson’s words. “He’s killed before.”