Chapter Sixteen
Rafe turned in his sleep and cuddled against the softest, warmest skin he’d ever felt. He let his arm drift around her. He breathed deeply, smelling sex and musk and Laura’s own sweet scent. He inhaled it, letting it surround him. Then he opened his eyes because he wanted to make damn sure who he was cuddling.
Laura lay beside him, her beautiful face peaceful in sleep. Her blonde hair was spread across the pillows, tickling the skin of his neck. Soft light filtered in, making her look so lovely. The night before crashed over him. It had been everything he could have hoped for. She’d given them everything. And he was a greedy bastard who always wanted more.
He would never get enough of her.
The smell of coffee wafted in.
“That smells so good,” Laura said, the little smile on her face telling Rafe she’d been awake for a while.
“Cam is up.” And that meant maybe he could get in a little alone time with the most beautiful girl in the world. Not that he didn’t like sharing her with Cam. He liked it more than he would ever have dreamed imaginable, but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have her to himself. They would be having a lot of date nights.
“You know how Cam’s appetite is. He’s cooking breakfast.”
“If I remember correctly, breakfast is just about the only thing Cam can cook.” Laura stretched, the sheet slipping from her breasts revealing creamy-white skin tipped with the dusty-pink nipples he loved to play with, to suck on.
A deep sense of peace fell over Rafe. He’d agonized over this decision, but it was the right one. This was where he belonged. Close to her. He caressed her cheek, loving the feel of her skin against his hand. Even the fact that Cam was puttering around the kitchen gave him a deep feeling of belonging.
He didn’t have a job. Every single day since he’d turned sixteen, Rafe had gotten up and gone to work. He’d been a twenty-four-seven obsessive workaholic, and now he was thinking about fishing.
He was definitely thinking about never leaving this bed again. He let his hand find the curve of her hip.
Laura moved closer, cuddling against him. “I guess I won’t need my electric blanket this winter. You and Cam are like furnaces.” She turned her face up to him, her blue eyes sleepy in the early morning light. “You really want to stay in Bliss?”
“Yes.” He wanted to figure this place out. It was a weird little mystery—part hippie, part pure True Grit western. But he did have a few demands of his own. “You can’t keep working at the gas station.” Her mouth turned down. “What else am I going to do? Nate is full up on deputies.”
“Not for long. Cam is working on his facial recognition software.
What if the three of us specialized in missing persons cases? You know people. You know why they might run. I know how to track down a criminal. Between the three of us, we could really help some people.” He’d thought about it long after Laura and Cam had fallen asleep. It was work that could be meaningful.
Laura settled back down. “I could get into that.” And he could get into her. He rolled her on her back, making a place for himself between her legs. “But we don’t have to go to work just yet.”
He was just about to press his lips to hers when there was a loud knock on the door.
Rafe cursed and rolled off her. It had been easy to forget that there was a whole world of shit out there that he had to deal with.
“I’ll handle this, bella.” He reached for his pants. “You can stay in bed. We’ll take up where we left off.”
“Not on your life, mister.” Laura wrapped a robe around her body and got to the door before he could. “I’m willing to discuss decisions with you, not allow you to make them for me.” Rafe rushed out behind her, not bothering with a shirt.
Cam had the door open, and Nate Wright filled the doorway. He’d taken his hat off. Fuck. That couldn’t be good. The sheriff had a deeply somber look on his face.
“Laura,” Nate began. “I have some bad news.” Cam took a step back, and it was obvious that he knew what was going on. He took Laura’s hand. “They found a body dumped behind town hall with a note for you.”
Rafe’s stomach turned. He’d known that the Marquis de Sade was out there. He really had. But this made it all too real. And proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Laura was right. He knew it deep in his bones. Not only was the killer law enforcement—he was on the same team that was trying to catch him. God, one of his coworkers, one of his friends, was the same man who had nearly killed his woman. Rafe looked at his partner, and he could see they were thinking the same thing.
“Who?” Laura asked, her voice smaller than usual. She’d paled, her complexion turning a chalky white. Rafe reached for her hand. He would do anything to spare her this.
Nate held her eyes. “It was your friend.” Laura stumbled, her body crumpling. Rafe caught her before she reached the floor. A sob tore out of her throat. “No. No.”
“Nate? What’s going on?” A feminine voice called out. Rafe looked up and saw Holly rushing from her doorway where the big, sullen doctor stood fully dressed with a bag in his hand.
Laura looked up and was on her feet before Rafe could stop her.
She ran toward Holly, throwing herself in the other woman’s arms.
She ran her hands across Holly’s face as though she had to prove to herself that Holly was still there.
“Damn it,” Nate cursed, stalking toward the women. “Laura, I did not mean Holly. I am so sorry. Nell is fine, too. She and Henry are still holed up with Cassidy and Mel.”
“What happened?” Holly asked, wrapping her arms around Laura.
The doctor stepped forward. “Logan found the body of a woman outside town hall when he went to file the paperwork to hire Deputy Briggs. I was just leaving to head to the scene.”
“Who?” Laura asked.
Rafe had a suspicion. If he was right, then the Marquis de Sade had taken care of some old business. “It was Jana, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. The victim was Jana Evans,” Nate replied.
Laura choked back a sob.
It made sense. Now that the fact that the killer had a connection to Jana had come out, he would have to deal with the reporter. “And you said there was a letter addressed to Laura?” Nate nodded gravely. “Yes. It’s in evidence at the station house, but the gist was that he’s coming for her. He called her his sweet little rabbit and promised that their game would be over soon.”
“Motherfucker.” Cam always had the right words to sum up a situation.
They had to figure this out and soon. It was time to take a close look at all their coworkers. “You won’t find anything on the body.
He’s very careful, though this is a change in his MO. He usually leaves the bodies where he kills them.”
“I’m looking for his kill site,” Nate said.
“Look for someplace remote,” Cam advised. “He likes to take his time with his victims. At home he used abandoned warehouses and storefronts. You should look for empty cabins. And we need alibis on everyone. I mean everyone. I want the whole team’s time last night accounted for.”
“That won’t be easy.” Nate frowned. “According to your coworkers, they were all in bed by ten-thirty. No one is sharing rooms, and the Movie Motel doesn’t have keycards, so we can’t tell when someone leaves or accesses their room.” That was a dead end. If Rafe thought for one second he could convince the higher-ups that this BAU team should be pulled, he would call the director himself, but no one was going to listen to him.
He’d quit.
Nate shook his head. “The feds are finishing up forensics. They’ll transport the body to the morgue, and then I’m sure they’ll bring in their own expert. Sorry, Caleb. I know you don’t like other doctors in your clinic.”