Sophie Oak - Lost in Bliss

“It has to be the gorgeous man of South American heritage,” Nell said. “He’s very international.”

“He’s half-Cuban, Nell, and he was born in Miami. He speaks very little Spanish.”

Holly leaned forward. “And I, personally, think that hot hunk of all-American beef is better looking. He’s huge.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Laura said without thinking.

Holly grinned at Nell. “Told you it was the linebacker.” She could be honest with her girlfriends. “The only man who matched him was Rafe.”

Nell’s whole face lit up. “And that was before you came to Bliss.

The universe led you here.”

No, a bus had led her to Alamosa and then a handsy trucker had left her in Bliss when she wouldn’t crawl into his cab to pay for her ride. But if Nell wanted to believe some hand of fate had led her here, she would let it go. “But it was just a fling.”

“Not for you it wasn’t,” Holly said. “You were in love with them.”

Laura shrugged. There wasn’t anything else to do. Holly knew her way too well for Laura to lie. “It doesn’t matter. They’re just here to update me on a case.”

If de Sade was back, then they probably wanted to grill her on what had happened. God, she wasn’t ready for that. She’d spent five years trying to forget. She’d given them everything she could remember from the hospital bed she’d recovered in. She’d spent hours with Joseph Stone going over the incident from the time she’d been knocked out to the moment she’d managed to break free and run.

“Did they know you were in Bliss?” Nell asked.

Laura was a little surprised that they had found her. She’d been using her granddad’s name. She’d tried to stay hidden. Maybe she’d been fooling herself and they had known where she was all along.

“No, but they’re members of the BAU. They’re smart guys.”

“They track serial killers,” Holly said, obviously impressed. “I guess I always thought you were like a secretary or something.” Laura knew that was what Holly had thought, and she’d encouraged the mistaken impression. She didn’t want Holly to think she’d had a high-powered career. Holly had several insecurities, mostly revolving around her lack of an education. Holly was incredibly well-read, but she felt her lack of a higher degree.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide it anymore. Rafe and Cam had seen to that.

“I was a profiler. I had just moved up into the BAU when I met Rafe and Cam. They were partners before they joined the unit. They flirted with me. A lot. We got to be friends, and then we had a slight disagreement over a case and we weren’t friends anymore. That’s all.”

Holly’s eyebrows had crept up her forehead. “Is that how the serial killer found you? Because you were hunting him?” Laura had only mentioned her career a couple of times before.

Nate and Zane knew about it. Rye Harper knew. She’d always offered her experience to law enforcement, but she’d only mentioned it to the general population once during a town hall meeting. Still, it had made the rounds. It was a testament to Holly’s and Nell’s patience that they hadn’t asked her about it until now. “I wrote a profile of a serial killer the newspapers named the Marquis de Sade.”

“He doesn’t sound nice,” Nell said.

This wasn’t a world Nell could even conceive. Laura groped for gentle words. “He wasn’t, Nell. He killed a lot of women. I was new to the unit, and I had a radical theory. I thought the killer was a member of law enforcement or maybe in the military. There were things about the killer’s MO that led me to believe he was intensely disciplined and knew some forensic procedures. Anyway, everyone in the unit, including Rafe and Cam, thought I was wrong. There was another profiler, a more senior profiler, who bought into the stereotypical ‘highly intelligent, socially awkward, abused child’

profile. No one wanted to believe one of our own could do it.” They had refused to believe her to such an extent that Laura had been ridiculed. She’d felt so horrible about all of it that she’d made the biggest mistake of her life. She’d talked to a reporter friend who had written a story, and the next day she’d been fired for talking to the media. She’d topped off that wonderful day by nearly being murdered. She’d been taken, right outside her own apartment.

He’d worn a mask. When she closed her eyes, she still saw that dark, beaked mask, like doctors wore during the black plague. It had covered his whole face, and he’d placed dark mirrored circles over the eyes so she saw herself when he looked down at her. The nose of the mask had been elongated, making him look foreign and far from human. Of course, he wasn’t really human at all. No human being could have done what he’d done to her. The mask, he’d explained to her, was because she was dirty and diseased. He had to protect himself. He’d talked a lot about how smart he was. He’d talked as he’d tortured her.

“Holly, could you please?” Nell asked.

Holly nodded. “They are sons of bitches. Assholes, motherfuckers, and I hate them.”

Nell nodded solemnly. “What she said.” Laura had to laugh. Nell didn’t curse, but she didn’t mind when Holly did. “They’ll be gone in a day or two. Don’t worry about it.

They just want to see if I remember anything else. Please, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. It’s over. Talking about it won’t hurt me.” She wasn’t sure of that. And she wasn’t sure this would be over in a day or two. Why was Cam here if he wasn’t in the FBI anymore?

She had a million questions, but she couldn’t ask them without looking like an idiot.

“All right then, we’ll play along with the whole ‘you’re marrying Wolf’ thing,” Holly said, getting to her feet.

“I’ll stay perfectly silent around them. Henry will want a vow of silence in lieu of lying as well.”

Laura gave Nell a thumbs-up.

Her friends got dressed and promised to help in any way they could, but both seemed to understand she needed a minute. The curtain closed behind Holly as they left, and Laura was alone.

The only two men she’d ever loved had turned up in the only place she’d ever really felt at home.

It was a recipe for disaster. Laura couldn’t help it. She closed her eyes and thought about that night. The best night of her life, that led to the worst day.

The world receded, and she was loved again.

Five years before

Laura Rosen pulled the cork out of the second bottle of wine of the night and poured two glasses. Cam wasn’t a wine guy, but Rafe liked it. After dinner, he would invariably switch to Scotch, but before they ate, Rafe always drank wine with her.

What a fucking day.

Her shoulders were bunched and knotted from twelve hours of pure stress. Looking at pictures of dead girls was no way to make a living. Why had she thought she could handle this?

If she thought today was rough, what was coming for her tomorrow? When Edward Lock read her profile, he was going to flip.

Laura knew she was in for a fight, but she owed it to those girls.

Edward might have years of experience over her, but he was just flat wrong this time. She could feel it. At least she could count on Rafe and Cam to back her up. She hadn’t showed them her profile yet. She didn’t want to ruin the night, but after a year of depending on those guys, she was sure they would back her up.

“Hey, bella.” Rafe’s hands slid along the muscles of her neck.

Laura could feel the heat of his body behind her. “You’re so tense. It got to you today.”

“Victim number five was barely nineteen,” Laura replied. And Rafe was wrong. It hadn’t just gotten to her today. It got to her every day. Despite herself, she shivered as Rafe’s skin pressed against hers.

It’s just friendly. Slow down, girl. This is not a place you should even think about going to.

The trouble was, she had thought about it far too much. She’d started to think of Rafe Kincaid as way more than a friend and a colleague. She hadn’t missed the way he looked at her. He ate her up with his eyes, and it was killing her. She would have jumped into bed with him in a heartbeat if it hadn’t been for one little thing—Cameron Briggs.

How could she have been stupid enough to fall for two men?

“We’ll catch him, bella.” Rafe’s hands rubbed down her back, soothing the muscles there. Every inch of skin he touched came alive.

“I’m not sure about that,” Laura murmured.

God, his hands felt good. How long had it been since she’d been physically close to another human being? She hadn’t dated for a year and a half. She’d been far too involved in her career, and then she’d been far too involved with Rafe and Cam to think about other men.

She’d kept it friendly. She was the only woman in her unit. She was playing with fire just by spending time outside of work with them, but she couldn’t help it. They were funny and kind. Rafe was her gentleman, constantly smoothing the way for her. He opened doors and gave her his umbrella when it rained. They could talk about gourmet food and wine and books.

Cameron. Cam was her protector. Cam was a huge hunk of granite that got between her and anything that came her way. Cam was the one who called her at night to make sure she’d locked the doors. He was the one who insisted on installing a security system in her apartment. Cam was the one who got pissed at her when she walked to her car alone at night because she didn’t want to bother him.

She couldn’t help but remember a case they’d worked in Detroit just a month after she’d joined the team. It was a serial rape case, and they’d been put up in a motel that was seedy to say the least. She’d locked her doors, but when she’d emerged the next day, Cam had been sitting outside, his back against the moldy wall, a cup of coffee in his hand. His eyes had been so tired. He’d sat there all night because she had fit the profile, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to her. The next night, both he and Rafe had slept on the floor of her motel room.