Free Borderline by Chase T. A. Page B

brought their lips together. Mac tasted the tang of the barbecue sauce mixed with the hops from Tanner’s beer. He slid his hands around to grip Tanner’s ass, and Mac deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue in to tease and duel with Tanner’s.
    Tanner cradled the back of Mac’s head and caressed the skin at his nape. Matching moans filled the air as they pressed their groins together. Shit ! All he’d thought about the entire day was how tight Tanner’s ass had been around his cock, and those thoughts appeared at the most inappropriate times.
    Easing back, he rested his forehead against Tanner’s and breathed. “You’re like a drug I’m becoming addicted to totally by accident.”
    “I know.” Tanner rubbed his thumb over Mac’s bottom lip. With a sigh, Tanner stepped away. “We do need to work. Tell me how your talk with Billingsley went. He didn’t seem too upset when you showed up at my office.”
    Mac grimaced. “He wasn’t happy, but he let me stay on the case. Actually it wasn’t Cap I had problems with this morning. Sorensterm threatened to out me to the others.”
    “The bastard. What’s his deal?” Tanner scowled.
    “He’s homophobic, and after you showed up with me at the last crime scene, he made some comments about you. I told him to never use those words around me. I also said I didn’t care who you slept with as long as you did your job.”
    Tanner squeezed his shoulder. “Of course, saying all of that means you’re fucking me, because a real man would agree with him. I’ve run into a few guys like that in the bureau. For the most part, though, they accepted me. I don’t flaunt my personal life in their faces.”
    Mac nodded. “But you can see why I hesitate to come out, right? I’m not willing to risk my career and my life to tell the truth. I’ve never lied about dating women. Most of the other rangers assume I’m very private. They know better than to ask me about my personal life.”
    “Sometimes it’s easier to say nothing and let them think what they want.”
    Tanner led the way to the living room.
    After sitting on the couch, Mac glared at the folders on Tanner’s coffee table. “I’m not looking forward to this. I’ve gone through those files so many times I think I have them memorized. I’m not sure looking at everything again will make any difference.”
    “It can’t hurt.” Tanner joined him and bumped their shoulders together. “There has to be a connection between them. We just haven’t found it yet.”
    “Of course there is. We have to figure out why he picks the girls he does. What is it about them he wants to kill? Is it really them or what they represent that he’s killing?”
    Tanner grabbed Marissa’s file and leaned back against the cushions. “I’ve been working on that. To be honest, I haven’t quite figured out why he kills them the way he does, aside from the fact he likes knives and is comfortable with them.”
    Mac frowned. “Does he need another reason than that? I would think slicing a woman until she bleeds is usually done because her killer wants her to suffer a rather painful death.”
    “If this was a crime of passion and just one victim, I’d say yes. Our perp wants the woman to be frightened and struggle. But there are five victims and nothing I’ve seen of the crime scenes says this is a crime of passion. He coldly stalks and takes them without any fear of getting caught. That means he knows what he’s doing.” Tanner snatched up a pencil and a pad of paper. “I think I’ll search the database to see if there are any unsolved crimes fitting this pattern.”
    “We already did that when we realized we had a serial killer on our hands. Nothing came up but some drug-related killings. We’re pretty sure none of these women were involved in drugs or had anything to do with that business.” Mac steeled himself and picked up Linda Happleston, the first victim. “I wish they were all blondes, or all Hispanic, or something like