“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Buck, rubbing his hands together.
When we left Barb’s apartment a few hours later, I didn’t have much more than when we arrived, other than circumstantial evidence suggesting that Nancy was being paid to spy on my aunt for years.
“You wanna head back to your place? I think it would be safe to at this point since we know who we’re looking for. Or, I could book a hotel room if you’d feel more comfortable.”
“My place. Definitely. If you think it’s okay.”
Bucked nodded and broke out into a wide smile.
“What?”
He stepped closer and nuzzled against my ear. “You wanna know how many fantasies I’ve had about sleeping in your bed, Stella? Thousands. Literally.”
“We’ve been here almost twenty-four hours, Buck,” I said on the way from Barb’s place to mine.
“We left the ranch at twenty-three hundred Colorado time, so we’ve actually only burned a little over twenty hours. As long as we’re in the air by six tomorrow night, East Coast time, we’ll be fine. It even gives us a buffer.”
“What if something goes wrong?”
“We’ve got support here with us, Stella. If anything goes wrong, we’ll fix it.”
Despite all his unfulfilled fantasies about sharing my bed, the only thing Buck did was hold me until I fell asleep. Perhaps he somehow sensed that was what I needed more than anything else.
It was rare I woke before him, but since I had, I took the opportunity to study the features of his face. I’d never seen Buck without a beard but would bet he had the quintessential baby face.
Every moment I spent with him, I loved him more. I had no idea what our future held other than I wanted to spend as much of it with Buck as I could.
“You’re awake,” he said, propping himself up on his elbows. “Everything okay?”
“I was just thinking how much I love you.”
Buck pulled me into him so my breasts pressed against his chest. “That’s about the nicest thing that’s ever been said to me right when I woke up.”
“We have so much to do today.”
Buck ran his finger over my furrowed brow. “We’ll get as much as we can done.”
“I just thought of something.”
“What’s that?”
“Did anyone search the piano last night?”
“I don’t think so, but I’ll ask.”
“How could I have forgotten to look inside the piano?”
“Hang on,” he said, typing something into his phone. A few seconds later, he received a reply. “Rock says he doesn’t think anyone did, but he’s sending Vex and Ink over there now.”
Buck got out of bed and pulled me with him. “Which first? Coffee or a shower?”
“You are a heathen. Coffee before anything.”
“Even making love?”
“You didn’t put that on the table.”
“What do you think I planned to do in the shower?”