Authors: Melody Snow Monroe
Her long hair lay in a heap across his chest. “That was amazing.”
She patted his shoulder. “Uh-huh.”
He must have waited five minutes before he slid out from under her. He wet a washcloth and returned to wipe both Jessie and himself down. He never knew lovemaking could be
so
wonderful. The only negative was that Shane hadn’t been there to enjoy it all.
He slid next to her and propped himself up on his elbow. Her perky nipple was standing at attention, and he had to touch her. “Did I say you had the most perfect tits in the world?”
She swatted his hand away. “You’ll get me excited all over again.”
That was his plan. While he had her this vulnerable, he wanted to ask the question that had bothered him for years. “Why didn’t you go out with me in high school? I mean, no one but you ever turned me down.”
She rolled onto her side. “You are conceited, aren’t you?”
“No, well, maybe a bit, but tell me. Didn’t you like me at all?” Having one girl turn him down shouldn’t have bothered him, and it wouldn’t have, except it was Jessie.
“I liked you all right. Didn’t you notice how I just happened to be in the hallway every time your class was getting out?”
“Not really.” Maybe he was more of a jerk than he thought.
“Did you ever question why I transferred into your physics class a few days into the semester? Did I seem like the type to take science?”
He did seem to recall he was surprised to see her there. “Maybe, but you did okay.”
“That’s because I had Karen Langford tutor me every day after school. I didn’t want you to think I was stupid.”
“Aww. You suffered through Mr. Williams’s class for me?” He leaned over and kissed her. Something wasn’t right. “If you were so hot for me, why did you turn me down?”
She rolled onto her back, acting like being face-to-face would be too difficult. “It’s hard to explain. I wanted you, but I knew I never could have you. I was poor and you were rich. We came from two different worlds.”
“There were times when I wished I hadn’t been handed everything.”
She looked at him. “No one is willing to give up wealth. Besides, you had a loving family. I knew Sam pretty well, and she seemed happy.”
“Being the second oldest was hard. Dustin, the oldest, was the golden child. Dad was hard on me and a bit unforgiving at times.” She ran a tender hand down his arm. God, had he really told her that? “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade anyone in my family for the world, but it wasn’t always the bed of roses everyone thinks it was. You were an only child. I bet you had your mom’s undivided attention.”
“When she wasn’t working, she focused on me. That’s true.”
“I had six other kids to compete against.”
He was in bed with the hottest woman, and here he was complaining. “Enough of the pity talk.” While he hated to bring up anything practical in this perfect environment, duty did call. “In case you forgot, we need to chow down something then find Shane. I bet he texted me.”
She sat up and shot her gaze to the direction of the kitchen. “The water! I bet it’s boiled down to nothing.”
“Don’t worry. I turned off the stove.”
“Thank goodness.”
They both got dressed and somehow managed to get into the kitchen. In companionable silence, they boiled the water, cooked the spaghetti, and made a salad. While the meal wasn’t fancy, he enjoyed working with Jessie.
Shane called as they were sitting down to dinner.
“Yeah? You finished with the investigation?”
“Just about, but the lab called about something the cops found in the ashes at the Tanner house. It’s big.”
“We can be there in twenty minutes. We’ll bring you dinner. Okay?”
“Perfect.”
He hung up. Jessie hadn’t moved a muscle. “Shane has news, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. Finish eating.”
“He didn’t give you a hint?” There was almost pain in her voice. She was like a kid at Christmas who wanted to know what was under the tree.
“No.”
They both scarfed down their food. While she put the dishes in the sink, he found a Tupperware dish and placed the leftovers inside for Shane.
“Why don’t I follow you to the crime scene?” Since she had to be at work the next day, it might make things easier when they headed home. Too bad she couldn’t spend the night at his place. He would love to explore more of her luscious body.
“Sure.”
She grabbed her coat, and they were on their way to find out about this new secret.
* * * *
When they both arrived at the burned-out farmhouse, it was getting dark. All the fire trucks had gone, but a smattering of cops was searching through the rubble. The wood must have cooled sufficiently if they were walking on it.
They found Shane sitting in his truck with the overhead light on.
“Hey.” Cody leaned an arm over the edge of the door. “What did you find?”
“Just a sec.” Shane finished writing something. “I got a call about the Tanner case. The cops found a cell phone registered to Rhonda. There was a message on it.”
Jessie edged her way in. She needed to hear the information. “What did it say?”
“It took some pretty sophisticated equipment to get the information off the chip, as it was damaged, but the message said,
Tell and you die
.”
Cody looked at her then turned back to Shane. “Do they know who sent the text?”
“Yes, but I’d rather not discuss it here. I need to go home and shower.”
Judging by his bloodshot eyes, poor Shane was exhausted. “I have dinner for you.” She handed him the spaghetti and the salad container.
He smiled, probably for the first time today. “I can really use this.”
Cody tapped the top of the truck. “We’ll meet you at home.”
“I’ll be right there.”
While she wasn’t happy he didn’t say more, she understood his unwillingness to discuss anything in the presence of others. Getting to spend a few more hours with them both was a huge bonus.
“Follow me, okay?”
She knew the way, but she didn’t mind staying close behind. “Sure.”
When they rolled into Cody’s house, Shane pulled up behind them. He was a little ripe from having fought the fire, but that almost made him more appealing. He had a hard day, and she wanted to soothe him somehow.
“How about I shower and you heat up my dinner?” He smiled, but it looked like even that motion took effort.
“Sure.”
She was tempted to glance at Cody to see if he thought jumping in the shower with Shane would be a good idea, but she decided to leave the poor man alone.
Cody slipped the meal from her fingers. “I’ll heat up the spaghetti.” She’d put the salad in a separate container.
“Good idea. Got any wine?” While she should keep her head clear, after the exhilarating day she’d had, she’d never sleep unless she relaxed.
“Sure.”
“Do you mind if I pull out my laptop and send my material to the station?”
“Not at all. In fact, I’ll join you.”
A wonderful sense of belonging descended on her. This is what she’d dreamed of. Being at home with these two men while all of them worked on their careers. She finished her short story, but before she turned it in, she wanted to pass it by Cody.
“Can I read this to you to see if I missed anything?”
“Go for it.”
Her story was all of two paragraphs and basically stated that a neighbor called in the Shepley house fire. Mr. Shepley couldn’t be reached for a comment. According to his daughter in Arizona, he was driving to visit her and never turned on his phone. “What do you have?”
“Pretty much the same thing. I’m hoping Shane can add a few additional comments.”
“About what?” Shane said as he walked into the living room in only jeans. He was rubbing his hair dry with a towel.
Her eyes stayed glued to his chest. The man was quite beautiful. He had two tattoos, one to the right of his happy trail and the other on his shoulder. Both were symbols of some sort, though if she had to guess, they both resembled flames. “We, ah, were wondering if you knew what started the fire at the Shepley place.”
“Someone used an accelerant. Place didn’t stand a chance.”
Cody leaned forward. “I’m guessing you don’t think the two fires are connected because the method of starting the fires is different.”
“When do I ever guess?”
She wanted to know his opinion. “Off the record, if you had to hazard a guess, could this fire and the Tanner fire be related?”
“Don’t know. Normally, I would say no, but I’m thinking, or maybe even hoping, that if the Tanners were murdered, that the murderer is trying to cover up his tracks by setting other fires. The cops will be looking for a serial arsonist and not focus on the murder.”
She leaned back in her seat. “I like that theory.”
Shane plopped down just as Cody got up and headed into the kitchen. He exited a moment later with Shane’s dinner. He placed it in front of him. “Beer?”
“Yeah. That would be great.”
Cody had brought in a soda and a beer. He handed the beer to Shane and popped open the top of the soda for himself. While Shane was busy scarfing down his meal, she wanted to ask Cody about Samantha. “As I was going through the police reports, I came across Sam’s case. I saw she was shot.”
Cody’s gaze looked downward for a moment. “Yeah. I was scared to death.” He gave her some more details about the shooting.
“How is she doing now?”
He grinned. “You won’t believe it. She married the Watson brothers, Heath and Wade.”
Those two had gone to school with them. “No shit. That’s awesome.”
“The best part is that my sister actually looks like a real woman now.”
In high school, Sam hadn’t gone all out in the girl department. “Is she happy?”
“Incredibly so. She was running her own ranch, but after the rustling, she decided to turn it into what I would call a dude ranch. People from all over come and learn about riding, roping, and living the cowboy life for a few days to a few weeks. She has mostly women running the place.”
“That’s so cool.”
“The best part is that she is really happy. She has everything just the way she likes it.”
Shane put his plate down. “That was good. Thanks.”
Cody picked up the dish and brought it back into the kitchen. She never expected him to be such a neat freak. If there were nine people in his house, maybe he’d been trained well.
He came back and sat. “So tell us who sent Rhonda the message,
Tell and you die
?”
“It came from Harman Security.”
Her heart dropped to her stomach. “That’s the station’s largest sponsor.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Are the police going to investigate? Do they think Rhonda and Greg Tanner were murdered?”