Black Tie Event

Chapter One

With my eyes shut, all I could feel was warm all over. As badly as I wanted to look at her, she'd evoked this response in me. The things she was doing to me were taking my actions out of my control; my body was no longer my own, but clay for her to manipulate.

My mind was completely focused on the pleasure she was bringing as she traced intricate pictures with her tongue. In awe of her skill, I breathed more heavily. "Baby," I exhaled, "You are so, so..."

That's when my phone rang.

She paid no mind, and just kept going. It was hard for anyone to understand that I always had to answer my phone. Grace had never been opposed to my work, but she had never fully understood it either. The erratic hours and high demands of law enforcement were two of several reasons why my relationships were short, few, and far between.

"Baby, I..." I tried to start lightly. "I have to get that."

I awkwardly tried to wriggle out of bed, which was hard with someone else's head between my legs.

"You have to what?"

"I have to answer my phone," I explained, struggling to put some clothes on.

"While we're having sex?" she demanded, incredulously.

"I'm sorry, honey, it was really fantastic, but this could be work. Just give me a minute," I implored.

She sat back absolutely blindsided, and none too pleased.

I got to the phone right before it would have gone to voicemail.

"Hayden."

"Kim," demanded the other voice, who I immediately identified as Captain Harwood. "We need you for an investigation."

"At one in the morning?" I questioned, which was imprudent because it was my boss I was speaking to.

"Crime doesn't have a curfew, Kim."

"What kind of crime is this?"

"It's an assault," he said. "I'm on my way to the scene, but I need you and Beckett. Gear up and meet me there."

He gave me an address which I rushed to scribble down, hardly able to keep my eyes open. I barely explained to Grace before I was out the door.

***

I pulled up outside Shaw Towers, the largest office complex in the area, as soon as my car would get me there. What Collin Shaw even did was enigmatic to me - something or other with real estate, though I had no idea what his office building was for. All I really knew was that the complex was huge, and a strange site for an assault. I walked on to see the Captain as well as Detective Allison Beckett, talking to a motley crew of police personnel, all surrounding an unconscious body. There was an ambulance on the scene, and even if I hadn't gotten the address on the phone, I had the feeling the congregation outside would have spoken for itself.

Beckett was from the sexual crimes bureau, but more and more often, we were getting put on investigations together; investigations that rarely had anything to do with me. I'd worked in the homicide unit for several years, but had since moved to the department of white collar crime, where the biggest busts I worked on involved money and paper work. I didn't know why I was continually being put on assaults as of late, but it wasn't the time to question it, so I dove in headfirst.

"What's the story?" I asked Allison, amid all the chaos that was ensuing in every direction.

"The body was found in the alley behind the towers," she began, not looking me in the eye, taking notes on something. "Cliche."