“I’m thinking about those deposits that keep showing up in my account.” She drilled her big blues directly into his greens. “Are you or are you not behind them? I’d like a straight answer.”
“Does it really matter one way or the other?”
“Uh, yeah.” She flicked his forehead.
“Ow!” He rubbed at the spot. What was with the women in his life abusing his head? Without warning, he flipped her on her back and yankedher hands above her head. “You’re about to find out what happens to naughty girls who don’t mind their manners.”
“You’re trying to distract me,” she laughed.
“You bet your cute little ass I am. It’s sooo much fun.” He began blowing raspberries on her neck, and she exploded in a fit of giggles. The happy sound filled the room and his chest right along with it.
“Okay, okay!” she gasped. “You don’t have to answer. Yet.”
Good.Wrapping her up in his arms, he drew her against him and held her there, chest to chest, stomach to stomach as she curled into him, and he savored the way she fit him. Soon he drifted along a warm undercurrent overflowing with affection.
She pulled him from it when she murmured, “So what are we going to do?”
He didn’t need to ask what she meant. He understood, all too well, and she deserved an answer as much as he needed to figure one out. Problem was, he loathed the only practical solution facing them. “I don’t know what wecando. I’m in a shit-storm of my own making that I have to ride out. Unfortunately, I dragged you into it with me.”
“It’s not only your making. I was there that night too. I think I should shouldersomeof the blame.”
He didn’t bother reminding her she’d had nothing to do with his decision to move halfway across the country, which was arguably the part of the mess that bothered him most.
Ever eager to muscle down the nettles pricking him, he grinned down at her. “You sure were. And some damn good things came out of that night.”
Her lips curled into a sexy smile. “Such as?”
“Such as this.” He rose up on his side and with his other hand, gripped her chin and took her mouth. The kiss turned heated and hungry, like it usually did, as if they were two starving people who were trying desperately to get to a banquet they could see through metal bars but couldn’t reach.
He rolled her to her back and stretched out on top of her, letting his weight sink their two bodies into the mattress. Her leg slid up and hooked over his hip, her fingers biting into his scalp, urging him on. God, he loved how she melted into him, body and soul. One touch, one look, and fires lit inside her pretty blue eyes, igniting a lava lake of passion inside him that had been unknown and untapped before her.
With her intoxicating moans and mewls in his ears, he seized control and took them to that blissful state where the rest of the world dissolved away, where it was only her and him, in their impenetrable shell, shielded from every bad thing.
The following morning, Reecestood beside Shane and pointed up at the clinic’s eaves. “So you think there and there?”
“Yep. Between the ones in back and in front, we should have good coverage.”
They talked about types and brands and where Reece could get his hands on camerastoday.
“You’re going to have to go to Montrose or Durango, dude, but I’d call ahead to make sure they’ve got ’em. Then I’d pay for them and make sure they put them aside.”
They walked the perimeter once more, and Reece made notes on his phone. “Were you able to make out anything from the pictures Neve texted you?”
“No. Too dark, too blurry. I tried sharpening a few of the images, but it looked like the license plate was missing or blacked out.” Shane rocked on the balls of his feet. “So.”
Reece glanced at him. “So?”
“Why isn’t Neve here?”
Reece’s hackles went up. “She was sleeping when I left, and I didn’t want to wake her up after everything she went through yesterday.” Let Shane figure out which bed she was sleeping in and whether Reece had shared it with her.
Silence stretched between them; Reece ignored it as he completed his list.
“When were you going to tell me you two got married?”
Reece slid his phone into his back pocket and eyed his friend. “How did you find out?”
“You’re kidding, right? This is Fall River. It’s all over town, bro. People are buzzing about it at Mountain Coffee, Dell’s, the rec center, thevisitor’scenter, you name it. Hell, I even heard about it at Silver Summit the other day, but I said, ‘No way. He’s my best friend. He wouldn’t hold out on me with something that important.’” Shane lowered both brows at him.
