Colton's Killer Pursuit

Darkness had fallen, making it night. But he was not going anywhere near her. He’d never wanted a woman more in his life. Not even when he’d been a randy teenager and hadn’t been with one yet. A fact proved out by how quickly his penis became erect when the knock came at his office door just before nine.

Damn!

He’d pegged her for going quietly upstairs if he didn’t show himself.

“Come in.” He wasn’t standing up from the shield his desk offered his lower body.

“I don’t want to interrupt while you’re working, but I have something I need to discuss with you.” Everleigh came into the room as invited, standing in front of his desk like some recalcitrant schoolkid. Still in the jeans and sweater she’d had on all day. Her curves were stunning.

“I’m going to my place tomorrow to go through Fritz’s den like we intended to do today,” she told him. “You’re welcome to come if you’d like, but I’m going.”

She wasn’t. Not until he knew she could do so and stay alive at the same time.

“I’d go now, but it’s dark out, and that would be plumb dumb.”

He nodded. He could give her that one.

“Either I’ll find something that will let us know who’s doing this, or whoever it is will see that I wasn’t intimidated by the warning and will show herself when she comes after me.”

Right. That last part. That was why she wasn’t going.

“It would be best if you were there, because of that second option, and better still if we had some police backup close by. But no matter what, I have to go. Sitting around waiting for something to happen... It’s not good.”

“It’s better than being dead.” He wasn’t pulling any punches. Her life was at stake.

“The plan’s solid,” she said. “Use me as the decoy and we find the killer.”

He met her gaze. Didn’t like the quiet resolution he saw there. She should be afraid.

“You honestly think you’re going to walk back into that house and take on someone who not only murdered your husband—if we’re even right to assume it’s the same person who killed Fritz—who’s managed to ransack your home numerous times, almost ran you down, shot at you, and never left a trace for anyone to find? You think you’re going to win that fight?”

“I just know I have to try. I’m not only our best shot. It’s beginning to look like I’m our only one. This person’s determined. He or she isn’t going to stop and isn’t following any rules that anyone in your business can figure out. It’s like they’re possessed.”

Her calm tone got to him, the words she spoke even more so.

He hated them to his core. But she was right.

“If we do this, and that’s a big if, then we do it my way,” he told her.

She nodded. Eyes open wide, staring straight at him. She had no artifice. Nothing to hide. Another thing he loved about her.

Loved. Whoa. No. Just an expression.

One he wouldn’t use again. Not in his private thoughts. Not in his dreams.

Never. Ever. Ever again.

He’d known Everleigh only a couple of days. Of course he didn’t love her. He needed to get his head together. Quit making an issue out of an expression.

“I’ll get organized with my sister, make sure we have backup. You’ll need a bulletproof vest and a wire. I choose the time of day. The entrance. And you agree to follow every command I make while we’re engaged in this endeavor.” He sounded like an ass. On purpose.

“Fine.” She turned to go.

He was home free for the night. Free to worry about taking her home to a possible death trap the next day.

And then she swung back, agitating his penis all over again. “Thank you,” she said. She didn’t smile, but he saw the softening in her gaze. In her features.

He nodded.