And he would lose her. He had no doubt about that.
The past would eventually catch up to him. Either that or the guilt for keeping secrets from her.
But lying in the dark with her warm soft body spooned against him, he couldn’t help but savor the moment. Though fear tied his stomach in knots.
This new case… he knew more than he’d said. For a minute, when he’d seen that body and where it had been found, he hadn’t been able to breathe. He’d been swept back to the horrific life he’d led. To his mistakes. To his reckless self when he’d dared death to claim him.
He’d thought Ellie might have seen that fear, that he was hiding something. Her all-knowing eyes detected things about cases that others didn’t see.
Saw things about him that no one else had ever been privy to.
She’d seen good in him. Good, for fuck’s sake.
Looking into her strong face and hearing her tell him she cared about him made himwantto begood.
Made him want to keep her here tucked in his arms, safe from the world and the pain he feared he’d cause her.
She turned and her long lashes fluttered as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Morning,” she whispered.
Emotions clogged his dry throat, but he forced out a smile. “Morning.”
She licked her lips and traced a finger along his jaw, rousing his body with a need so fierce that his blood felt hot.
But her cell phone burst to life, the shrill ringtone of her boss piercing the silence.
Her lips turned down into a frown as she answered.
Cord felt a sudden loss as she slid from bed, butt naked, a glorious sight.
Then she disappeared into the bathroom, and he heard the shower kick on. A second later, she popped her head around the corner. “We have to go. We can save time if you join me.”
A seed of flirtatious hope softened her voice, and he wanted to comply. To watch the water cascade over her sensuous body.
But he reached for his shirt and jeans. “I’ll meet you at the station.”
Disappointment darkened her expression, but he shrugged on his shirt as he considered how much worse that disappointment would be if she saw the ugly truth about him.
She watched him a minute and he knew she was hoping he’d change his mind, but she’d promised not to push him. And hewasn’t ready to give up this dream, to destroy her illusion of him. Not yet.
Maybe tomorrow he’d get up his courage and confess his sins.
Maybe.
But not today. Today, he wanted to hold onto her for dear life and never let her go.
FIFTEEN
Crooked Creek Police Station
Ellie met Cord, her boss and deputies Shondra Eastwood and Heath Landrum in the conference room at eight a.m. While they helped themselves to coffee and pastries Landrum had picked up from the Corner Café, she tacked pictures of Green Gardens Cemetery on the whiteboard then added shots of the area locals called No Man’s Land where their victim’s body had been discovered.
“Morning, everyone. Our quiet reprieve has ended. Yesterday, female skeletal remains were found by a travel photographer named Emanuel Black who claimed he grew up in the area and was in Brambletown to see the memorial honoring victims of the coal mountain fire. According to him, his family died in the fire and he sustained burns himself. I asked him not to leave town in case we needed to speak to him again.”
“Is he a person of interest?” Deputy Eastwood asked.
Ellie gave a small shrug. “At this point, it’s difficult to say. But it’s possible he committed the crime then returned to watch us investigate or distract us.” She glanced at Landrum. “Deputy Landrum, see what you can dig up on him and his past.”
“On it,” the deputy said, making a note on his pad.
