Deadly Fear (Deadly 1)

Now that sounded like a warning, and it sure didn’t sound like the woman who’d caught fire in his arms hours before. “Let me be the judge of that,” he said.

Their gazes held. His fingers pressed against the satin of her skin.

A knock rapped at the door. He didn’t move. They were settling this first. “You backing away? Running?” He challenged, and he liked the way her eyes narrowed, just a bit, at that.

“I don’t run.”

The woman could be such a liar. She’d run from him but he’d finally caught her. Maybe.

The knock again. More of a pounding now.

Christ.

“I want you.” The words came out, bold, a little fast, from her lips.

And those words—they made him hard. Not the time. He gave a nod. “I’ll have you again.”

A real smile. Just a flash. For just a moment. “No, Dante, I’ll have you.”

Well, damn.

Then, because it sounded like the door was about to be knocked down, he left her.

But he’d be back. For her, he’d always be back. He yanked open the door, ready to confront one of the deputies. Someone who obviously didn’t understand that a closed door meant privacy, someone who—

“Hey there, Dante.” Kenton flashed him a wide smile.

Shit. Monica had said he wouldn’t be there until later.

“Good thing we got our own plane, huh?” Kenton craned his neck. “Nothing like flying first class. But, hell, is this our office? Figures.…”

Luke gave Monica one last, hard look.

“Uh, is everything okay in here?” Kenton’s gaze swept between them, lingered on Monica. “You okay, Monica?”

“Just fine.”

“Right.” That stare came back to Luke, seemed to weigh him. “So why don’t you guys bring me up to speed and let me know just what’s going on here?”

Two hours later, Luke and Kenton returned from their interviews. The door to their new office stood open, and Vance had paused outside. His head was cocked, his focus totally inside that small room.

“Always wanting what they can’t have.” Kenton said to Luke. “You had that same look on your face when you walked in and saw her.”

Luke’s jaw locked. He strode forward, and, blessedly, someone called out for Kenton. Luke could see through the doorway. Monica had pushed away from the desk. She’d worn a skirt today, and he caught a quick glimpse of her calves, then her smooth thighs as—

“Don’t even think it.” He muttered the words in the deputy’s ear. “You don’t want to mess with her.” But I so do.

Vance jumped and his face flushed nearly as red as his hair. “No… no, I—ah, shit, uh, I gotta—”

“Go.”

“Right.” And he shoved past Luke.

Luke’s eyes narrowed as he watched Vance hurry off. Right. Keep moving, buddy.

“Dante.” The chair squeaked as she rose, shaking her head. She came toward him, a file in her hands. “I don’t need you handling baby-faced deputies for me.”

“I know.” He should step back, and he would, soon. But that sweet scent—lavender—filled his nostrils—and he really liked lavender. Before her, he hadn’t even known what the hell lavender smelled like.

After her… he’d never been able to forget.

“What we do, what we’re gonna do, that’s just between us.” Her chin came up, and she stopped inches from him. “Same rules, remember?”

“Maybe it’s time for the rules to change.”

When her lips parted, he knew he’d caught her by surprise.

And, just for the hell of it, just because her lips were so red and soft, he thought about kissing her.

Her hand pushed against his chest. “Five deputies and a really pissy local sheriff are watching us right now.” Her voice came slow and soft. “What you’re thinking—don’t.”

She brushed by him. “Sheriff! I’ve got something you need to see here.” Just for an instant, Luke’s gaze dropped to her ass.

Ah, damn.

Monica glanced back at him. “Ready for a road trip?”

“What?”

“We’ve got an early kill. Samantha did it. She found another of the perp’s victims.”

The ticking of the clock on the sheriff’s desk was loud. Loud and annoying, and if Davis didn’t hurry up and say something, Monica was pretty sure she might scream.

That’d blow her ice image to hell.

She cleared her throat. “Uh, Sheriff?” He’d been staring at the data she’d compiled for ten minutes.

His bushy brows rose. “What does this have to do with that ass**le hurting women in my county?”

Kenton shifted beside her. Luke didn’t move. He simply sat as steady as a rock in the chair to her left.

Monica leaned forward. “I had a special agent at the home office do a search, matching some specific criteria I’d set up.” She tapped the grainy black-and-white photo of Saundra Swain. “The man we’re looking for likes to attack women. Young women, in their twenties to early thirties. He sets them up to face their greatest nightmare.” While he got off on their fear and pain.

She took a breath and shoved aside the mental image of Laura’s still body.

His gaze dropped to the photo. “This… this here’s just an animal attack. Snake bites—folks get bit all the time down here in the summer.”

“Yeah, but most folks aren’t tied to a tree when the snakes are biting them.”

His eyes met hers.

“When the victim was discovered, she was still bound to the tree. Someone tied her up and left her there to die.”

He shook his head. “You’re sayin’ this guy killed some girl in Louisiana—”

Monica gathered her patience as quickly as she could. She was explaining all this to him as a courtesy. Hyde had already given her the go-ahead here, but Davis—he’d lost three women. He’d known two of them. He knew their families. The way she figured it, the man deserved to know how they were hunting the killer.

So sure, she could have pulled Bureau rank, run right over him, and done whatever she wanted.

But then she’d find herself with zero backup from the sheriff’s office.

She took a deep breath, then said, “Last summer, Saundra Swain was tied to a tree by an unknown assailant, and after she was bound, I believe the perpetrator wrangled the snakes and set up the attack on her. With the right prodding, he would’ve had them ready to bite—and she would have been kicking at them, fighting…”