Wilde Fire (Forever Wilde 3)

I fumbled on my bedside table and dialed the chief.

“Evan Paige,” he answered.

“Hey, Chief. It’s Otto.”

“Hey, Lieutenant. How’s it going? You hanging in there?”

His voice sounded sincere and concerned.

“Yes, sir. But I’m bored and restless as you can imagine. I was wondering if it would be okay if I went down to Dallas to visit my sisters this weekend or if you thought I needed to stick around here for any reason,” I began. I didn’t want to ask straight up if I was allowed to leave the county, but that was sort of my intention.

“I don’t see why not. You wouldn’t have been on the rotation this weekend anyway. Go and have a good time.”

“Thank you. Ah… any developments on the case?” I had to ask since being in limbo was killing me.

“I’ll be honest, Otto. We got a tip that John Walker may have had something to do with the fires, but it turns out he had an alibi for the big one at your parents’ house. So, unfortunately, that was a nonstarter.”

“What? What kind of alibi? I thought he was home alone.” My surprise popped out before I could stop myself.

“That’s what we assumed when Beth told us about being at Jolie’s house with the kids. But it turns out he was called out that evening to be at a meeting first thing the next morning in San Antonio. Left Hobie around dinnertime and checked into the hotel outside of San Antonio around eleven. Was at the meeting at seven thirty the following morning and drove back right after. Since the fire was at two in the morning, he couldn’t have done it.”

My stomach dropped. That meant the arsonist was most likely Seth’s thirteen-year-old nephew.

“Oh,” I said. “Well, I’m glad John didn’t do it.”

“Don’t worry, Otto. We haven’t stopped looking at other options. Hang in there.”

“Yes, sir.”

When I ended the call, I noticed a couple of missed texts and calls from the night before from Walker. I dialed him back.

“Thank god, baby. Why weren’t you answering my calls? I would have come over there if I hadn’t had Tish,” he said in a rush when he answered. Just the sound of his voice made me want to cry or scream or beat my fists against the mattress. Why couldn’t things be easy for us for goddamned once in our lives?

“Sorry. I was at the lake with West and Sassy and them,” I explained. “I must not have heard the phone or accidentally had it on silent. I drank too much.”

His chuckle came over the line like a soothing balm. “Aww, you have a sick head this morning? Poor baby.”

“I’ll drive through for some grease and knock it right out. I’m, ah…” He was going to flip when I told him I was going to Dallas. “I’m going to run down to spend the weekend with the girls.”

He knew I meant my sisters MJ, Hallie, and Winnie. Hallie and Winnie shared an apartment next door to MJ. They didn’t live too far away from Hudson and Saint’s places, so it would be a weekend of gathering my sisters and brothers around me to take my mind off the shit here.

“Oh. You are? You’re… wait.” I heard the muffled sounds of him talking in the background, probably to Tisha. When he came back on the line he seemed rushed. “Otto. Can we talk first? Before you leave, I mean?”

I ran my free hand up over my head while the two sides of myself warred with each other.

“You want to come over?” I asked when the horny, lovesick side came out ahead.

“Yeah. Let me drop Tish off at Jolie’s and I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Okay. See you then.”

Before I had a chance to hang up, his voice boomed over the line at me. “Do not leave before I get there.”

My face split into a wide grin at his bossy tone. “Yes, Sheriff.”

I got up and showered, cleaning everything thoroughly in case he was in the mood to play. I had no idea what his mindset was, but I knew I was craving his naked skin on mine and his tongue in my mouth, if not in other places.

By the time he got there, I was revved up and ready to go. I had half a mind to take him in the damned driveway before he even had a chance to get in the house, but I forced myself to stay in the doorway and wait for him to come inside.

It turned out I didn’t have to guess at his mindset. The minute he walked through the door, he slammed it behind him and shoved my back against the wall.

“Oof,” I grunted, grabbing for him. He was all over me, hands and mouth, a knee pushing between my legs and then a thigh shoving up underneath my balls. His hip rode across my hard length and horny shit started spewing from my mouth. “Yes, fuck. God, Walker, what’s gotten into you? Do it. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”