Page 33 of Sinister Secrets

Surprisingly, she stands a little straighter, giving a determined nod as we reach the front step. “So what now?”

Opening the door, I lean in and grab the keys to Butch’s old truck off the hook. “Now we’ll drive over to the trailer and get you settled for the night. You can follow in your car.”

“But it’s so early.”

“Like I said, we’ve got to be out at the barn by six.”

“Yeah, but… I mean, you really go to sleep so soon? Don’t you watch TV or something before bed?”

I think of Jake, nowhere in sight, which means he’s probably already waiting for me in our room. “Not tonight.”

“I can’t sleep a wink if I don’t.”

I decide not to tell her that there’s no TV in the trailer. Maybe she has her own. Too bad there’s no cable or Wi-Fi out there yet. “I can lend you a book to read.”

“That’s okay. But can you at least help me carry my things inside?”

“Of course.”

“And…”

“What?”

“Never mind. I don’t want to be a pain. You’ve done enough already.” I pin a patient smile on my face, waiting. After what seems an insanely long minute, she says, “It’s just that, I’ve never lived anywhere so remote before. How long does it take the police to respond if you need them?”

I’m afraid to tell her the amount of time it took Sheriff Kingston to get here the last occasion I called.

“I mean, we’re safe out here, right?”

I think of the abusive boyfriend she just left. Images of home intruders, snipers, Gordon’s body floating face down and naked in the pond out back quickly follow. Before I know it, I’ve caved and given her the code to the keypad on the front door in case there’s an emergency. It’s not that I’m expecting one, but that’s never stopped them from showing up unannounced.

CHAPTER 19

It feels like I’ve just fallen asleep when the alarm goes off early the next morning. With a groan I reach over to turn it off. In an instant my outlook for the day gets better, a smile spreading across my face as I feel Jake scoot across the bed behind me.

By the time I got back to the house last night after helping Chelsea, he was already asleep. My smile grows as he kisses my shoulder and wraps an arm around me, proving he’s very much awake now.

“Have I told you how much I love waking up next to you?” he asks, nuzzling my ear.

“There’s only one thing better than waking up beside you,” I say. Turning to face him, I thread my hand beneath his arm and wrap it around his shoulder, giving him my naughtiest grin.

“And what’s that?”

Using my grip as leverage, I roll onto my back, pulling him on top of me. “Waking up under you.”

“Or on top of me?” he asks, returning my grin with a hopeful wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Mm. I’m pretty sure this early in the morning it’s only fair for you to do all the work.”

“I can handle that responsibility. Do we have time?”

“I set the alarm twenty minutes early.”

With a soft growl his mouth melds to mine. I run my hands over the muscles of his back, slip my thumbs inside the waistband of his boxer briefs, collecting the fabric in my fists. Our kisses deepen as I give them a tug, his hands caressing my body until he finds the hem of my shirt, fingers trailing soft and hot against my skin as he lifts it over my head.

Soft lips trace down my neck, my breasts, my stomach as he guides my underwear over my hips down to where I can kick them the rest of the way off and he settles on top of me again. I wrap my arms tight around his body, savoring the weight of him, his warmth, the way he makes me feel as his eyes lock on mine.

My breath catches, his deepening, growing low and husky in a way that elicits an immediate response from my body. The rest of the world falls away, my anxiety momentarily forgotten, the thoughts that usually race through my mind blessedly still. Then the door opens.