Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Since I was probably a dead man either way, I regretted that I hadn’t at least followed through on all the things I’d wanted to do to JJ in that bed before we’d fallen asleep.
I hadn’t kissed him again.
I hadn’t touched him.
I hadn’t even spoken to him when he’d taken my hand in his and led me to the bed.
Nothing had been said as we’d slid our still damp and very naked bodies beneath the sheets. It had taken only one move after that to know JJ regretted what had happened.
He’d turned his back on me. He’d gotten in that bed and faced the opposite direction. His message couldn’t have been clearer.
It had been a mistake.
All of it.
From the moment I’d kissed him after he’d confronted me on that canyon road to the second our bodies had slid beneath the covers just a handful of hours ago, JJ regretted it. He’d turned his back to me, so I’d done the same.
That hadn’t been the case when I’d woken up a little while later. Since we’d lain down in bed while it was early in the morning, it had still been light outside when something had stirred me awake. It’d been JJ draping his upper body over mine, his warm breath drifting over my nipple and both his arms wrapped around my body as far as they could reach.
Holding me.
So I couldn’t leave him.
I’d fallen back to sleep more quickly than I would have liked and now here I was.
Empty bed.
No naked JJ.
No arms snaked around me because I was wanted right where I was.
I forced myself to swing my legs over the side of the bed. My clothes were sitting neatly folded on a small nearby table. I tried to tell myself to take my time getting dressed because JJ was still in the house, but shards of doubt were invading my thoughts.
What if he’d left? I doubted he could have figured out the code for the wall safe that held my gun and the satellite phone that would be the only way to get reception in the area. What if he’d left on foot even though I’d warned him not to? I’d grown up in these woods, so I knew them like the back of my hand, but JJ didn’t. He’d get turned around in a matter of minutes, and it would take him days to find his way back to the cabin or reach the road for help.
I quickened my pace as I pulled my clothes on and then I rushed down the stairs. I nearly slipped on the linoleum floor when I reached the kitchen but managed to catch myself before I landed on my ass.
“Sorry,” I heard JJ murmur distractedly. He was sitting at the table, his eyes glued to a file. “When you got that pack of frozen vegetables for me, I think you forgot to close the freezer, so water leaked all over the floor. I toweled it dry but apparently not dry enough.”
His voice was disinterested at best, but it wasn’t the tone of someone trying to shoo another person away as if they were a pestering gnat. Instead, he sounded like someone deep in thought but also at the ready.
He definitely had his cop hat on.
Before I could even respond, JJ rose to his feet and with the file still in his hand, he went over to the kitchen door and opened it all the way before returning to the table.
“There’s coffee,” JJ remarked as he pointed in the direction of the coffee machine. I wanted to laugh at the irony since I’d said the same words to him less than twenty-four hours earlier.
“What time is it?” I asked carefully as I moved toward the coffee pot.
“Three o’clock in the afternoon.”
We’d only been asleep for a handful of hours? How was that possible after the events of the night before and, more importantly, what had taken place in the shower this morning?
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Fine,” JJ said simply. He didn’t seem angry or embarrassed. In fact, he acted like the events of this morning had already become a distant, if not completely forgotten memory.
It pissed me off even though I had no right to be. I should have been glad he was focused on the case files scattered all over the top of the table.
“How long have you been up?” I asked as I sat down in the chair across from JJ.
“A while,” was all he said. Now he sounded curt, even a little angry.
“Do you want me to leave you alone?”
“Can’t really interrogate you if you’re not in the room, can I?” JJ responded snidely.
“Fine,” I said as I settled into the chair. The little spark of hope that maybe something meaningful had changed between us was snuffed out just like that.