Lifting the Veil (15 page)

morning-after you men try to avoid?” she asked as she pulled out a chair and sat down.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Life is too short for regrets, Sophie.” He went to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of creamer, and sat it down in front of her. “It might not have been the wisest thing to do when a killer is after you, but I don’t regret what happened. It was inevitable.”

“Inevitable?” Her lips quirked. “You’re pretty sure of yourself.”

“I always go after what I want.”

She gave a slight nod, and he was unsure if she believed him or what the hell might be going

through her mind. Was she going to be the clingy type and think now that they’d slept together they were in a relationship beyond their working one? Damn, he wasn’t looking for anything permanent; he should have made that clear from the beginning. His goal was to keep her alive and keep her in his bed for as long as she wanted to stay. “Listen…I think we should talk about this.”

She shook her head. “No need.” A blush appeared on her cheeks. “I’m a big girl. It was a tension

reliever, what we both needed.” She tilted her head. “Right?”

Like a jerk he remained quiet. He didn’t know what to say.

He could read the disappointment in her eyes as she rose from her seat. She quickly covered it and pointed over her shoulder. “Right, well, I’m going to take a shower, and then we can go hunt down this psychopath so I can get back to my normal life.”

“Soph…”

She’d made it to the archway before she turned around. “Yeah?”

“You and I…are just getting started.” Going against his better judgment, he rose from his chair and closed the distance between them when he should have done the opposite. He was going to regret his next actions in more ways than he cared to admit, but it had to be done. He placed his palm on her cheek. His lips were mere inches from hers. “You were great.”

He cupped the back of her neck and kissed her one last time with all the true desire he felt,

including every ounce of the feelings he was starting to have for her. He pulled her close and kissed her long and hard until he heard the little moans in her throat. He pulled back, his forehead resting against hers. This was as close as he’d get to having her again. Things were about to change and rightly so.

“I’m a bastard. I care more about my job than my girlfriends. I’m hardly ever politically correct and your brother has been looking for a reason to fire me for months. And I’m pretty sure screwing his baby sister did the trick.”

“At least you’re honest.” Her lips pulled into a fine line.

Time to ram his point home. Dread filled his veins. He would never intentionally piss off a woman

he’d just screwed, but he needed Sophie focused; and there was only one way to accomplish that. “If I’m going to hell, I might as well go balls to the wall.” He hoisted her over his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes and headed down the hall back toward his bedroom.

“Is that what I am…a means to an end?” She wiggled in his arms until he stopped in the hall, letting her slide down his body. He released her and she immediately stepped back. “Screw you, Jack.”

Playing the part of heartless prick came easy to him. She glared at him with anger in her eyes. This was the Sophie he needed right now. The pissed-off woman without questions about where they stood.

“You were about to, honey.”

She narrowed her eyes and he could see her mind racing. “Nice try, hot shot.” She smirked with

new ire. “I know what you’re doing.”

Leaning back against the wall, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Really, and what’s that, Sophie?”

She waved her hand, encompassing his body. “The day I met you, I might have believed this game,

but not now.” She shook her head and a smile spit her lips. “You can continue to act like an ass, but we both know the truth. You want me; I want you; and we have the same goal. Let’s just enjoy it why we can.” She patted his chest before she walked into his room and closed the door behind her.

****

wood, holding in the tears that threatened her eyes. He was good. Real good, almost had her believing his bullshit, but she was smarter than he gave her credit for. It might be just sex between them, but she could live with that. They had a killer to catch, and that was going to be hard to accomplish from beneath the sheets, from beneath his body. Her days were going to be spent with the chase, but her nights were her own. She had every plan to take full advantage of it. She chuckled as she slid out of her clothes, turned on the shower, and stepped in beneath the stream of hot water.

Sophie pushed his games to the back of her mind, hurried through her shower, and dressed, ready

to the start the day. She had a killer to find if she was ever getting back into her apartment.

She fastened her hair into a ponytail and stepped out of the bathroom to find Jack sitting on his bed with a towel in his lap. Eye contact was brief as she went about putting her things away in her bag and waiting for him in the living room. She’d walked around the living room in an attempt to explore but didn’t want to pry. The last thing she needed was him thinking she was a snooper.

She fiddled with her cell phone, scrolling through her contacts, as she waited. She found Marshall’s number and dialed.

“Good morning, Sophie.” His scratchy, gruff voice just screamed morning-after orgasm.

“I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Mmm,” she heard him reply. “Just rolling out of bed, although I might be persuaded to sleep in if you were spending the night with me instead of Jack.”

“I’m sure it won’t be too long before I start wearing on Jack’s nerves and he’s ready to kick me out.

Who knows? He may just pawn me off to you sooner than you think.”

A beeping sounded in the background. “I highly doubt that.”

“I wouldn’t place that bet if I were you. I can be obnoxious and annoying and the worst house guest in the history of house guests.”

“You called him on his shit, didn’t you?”

She could hear the smile in his voice.

“Let’s just say we have an understanding, and I don’t think he cared for my point of view.”

“Come stay with me.”

“I can’t, but thanks for the offer. If I continue to get on his nerves, you’ll be my first choice.”

“You’re not only smart but sexy as sin, and I wouldn’t mind waking up next to you for as long as

you’d have me. Hell, if you insist, I could even be a gentleman and let you sleep in the guest room. You can stay with me anytime, Soph.”

Sophie cleared her throat, letting his comments slip in one ear and out the other. He was teasing

her, probably to aggravate Jack, but nonetheless, she’d never take him up on the offer. “I bet the girls just love you. You’re such a charmer.”

Jack walked out of his room fully dressed, rubbing a towel over his head. He raised a brow when he heard her comment.

“I can be, Sophie.”

Sophie couldn’t stop the blush as she cleared her throat. “Listen, Jack just walked into the room so we’ll have to discuss that later. I was just calling to see if you were able to get the bank records we talked about.”

Marshall chuckled. “Ah…Jack’s standing there, isn’t he? Is he pretending not to listen?”

Sophie glanced up from beneath her long lashes to find Jack sitting in the recliner holding a fresh cup of coffee. “Yes.”

“Does he know you’re talking to me?”

“No.”

“Have you slept with him?”

Sophie’s mouth parted, stunned that Marshall would even ask.

“Your silence tells me everything.”

Sophie’s head drooped forward to cover her embarrassment. “Was that necessary?”

“No, but it was fun.” She heard the laughter in Marshall’s voice.

“You’re a bully when you go after what you want.” She glanced up to find Jack staring right at her.

“Just like Jack.”

Jack rose from the chair and walked over to her. He held out his hand. “Let me talk to Marshall.”

“Who says I’m talking to Marshall?”

He reached for the phone and slipped it free from her fingers. “You’re blushing like a school girl, and you just called him a bully. That’s got Marshall’s name written all over it.”

“I also said he was charming,” she corrected.

Jack pressed the phone to his ear. “Tell me you’ve got something on the account.”

“Wait how did you know about that!” Sophie exclaimed.

“I know all.” Jack covered the speaker and answered before winking at her.

Sophie listened to the second-hand conversation; a little irked he’d taken her phone. He’d reverted back into cop mode in a split second. She was getting used to his many mood swings, getting to know exactly what buttons she needed to push to get what she wanted. Jack was at the top of the list. It was her birthday after all. He was just the present she wanted.

He ended the call and tossed her the phone before grabbing his keys. “We’ve got a lead. Let’s go.”

She hurried out the door after him. “What did he say?” she asked while stuffing the phone into her pocket. “What did he find out?”

“We have to meet him at the range.”

“The shooting range?”

Jack held her door open before climbing in the other side. He waited for her to click her seat belt into place before he pulled out of his driveway and started down the long road back into town. Sophie leaned against the headrest. Her gaze drifted to the peace of the trees and the open fields, so like the place in her dreams. The familiarity of the flowers made her pause.

“Stop the car,” she screamed. Jack slammed on the brakes and she hurried out of the car.

“Sophie, what are you doing?” she heard Jack call out to her as she made her way to where Will,

her guide, and she had met in her dream. It was the same place that had a patch of sunflowers, where Valerie had been killed, and where they’d found Beatrice.

She dropped to her knees in the middle of the sunflowers.

“Sophie, what are you doing?” She heard the agitation in Jack’s voice.

She picked a flower and handed it to him as Will had done to her. “I’m smelling the flowers.”

He dropped to his knees beside her. “Have you lost your mind? Are you feeling all right?”

His words hit her like a ton of bricks. She laughed a full belly laugh. No, she wasn’t all right. She’d never be all right again. She was in the middle of a damn field smelling the sunflowers, as if they would whisper the secrets she was looking for.

Sophie picked another one and then another. “Last night I had a dream that I’d met my spirit

guide.” She glanced up to see that Jack’s face remained expressionless. She didn’t care if he believed her. “I know this sounds corny, but he told me it was important to smell the flowers, and that doing so would show me the way.”

She picked another handful of them and cradled them together in a bundle. “Will told me that not

only were they important, they were more than a pretty landscape.” She glanced over at him. “Did you know that this is the place where the bodies were found? Valerie was just the first, but Beatrice was dumped here also, and discarded as trash. This is the place I went to when I passed out.”

“Sophie, we don’t have time for this.” He gestured to the field. “I’m sure Kingston and the forensics team would have found any clues left behind.”

She picked three more sunflowers to add to her bundle and was about to push to her feet when

she paused. The glint of the morning sun hit the surface of a shiny object, almost blinding her. “Yeah?

Well then why did they leave a knife behind?”

She pointed to the object, not wanting to touch it.

“What the…”

Sophie stood. “I thought Will was talking in riddles, but he had given me a clue.” She grinned. “That little shit.”

Jack squatted beside the flowers and pushed them aside to get a better look. “I’m pretty sure you

shouldn’t be using spirit guide and shit in the same sentence.”

Sophie chuckled. “I don’t think he’d expect anything less from me.” She held the sunflowers up to

her nose and inhaled while Jack lifted the object, barely touching it by the corners. They walked back to the SUV, him holding the object as if it was about to burn him and her holding the flowers to her nose, letting the fragrance consume her. She slid into the seat and grinned around the flowers while Jack looked for something to wrap the object in.

“He was right.”

“Who?”

“Will. I really should stop and smell the roses more often.”

“Those aren’t roses.” Jack pointed out.

“Well, the flowers. I should stop and smell the flowers more often.”

Jack slid into the driver’s side and hit the gas pedal, creating a cloud of dust and sending rocks flying as he peeled away from the scene.

“Sophie.” Jack glanced over to her. “How did you know you’d find something in the field?”

“I didn’t. I was just doing what Will suggested.”

He gave a slow nod. “Did he tell you anything else?”

Her smile slipped as she remembered the point he’d made about exit points and a long road ahead

of her. A hard road if she recalled correctly.

“He did, didn’t he?”

She nodded. Her voice became marginally quieter and her mood more somber. “Yeah, but it wasn’t

about the case.”

She glanced over at him, hoping that he’d drop the conversation. He remained quiet and lost in

thought as they pulled into the gun club. Sophie slid out of the car and followed Jack into the

establishment. She pulled one of the freshly picked flowers free from her bundle and handed it to the guy behind the counter.

“For you.” She smiled.

“Thank you, Ms. Masterson.”

Jack leaned in to whisper into her ear. “You must have made an impression if he remembers your

name.”

She glanced up at him, unsure of how to respond.

“I’m sure he only remembers because Marshall sponsored my membership.”

Jack’s eyes widened, his brow lifted, and his mouth parted.

“That I did,” Marshall said, walking over to where they were. He placed his palms on her arms and