"I--" She licked her lips. She hadn't meant to give so much away. "Yeah. Yeah, it was that bad."
Slowly, he nodded. "Me, too."
Their eyes met, and for a moment, it was just the two of them. No victim. No detective. Just Taylor and Landon and this thing between them that they shared.
She shook herself, forcing the moment to evaporate, then cleared her throat and pushed on. "Being in Austin made it that much easier to lose the accent. Not much of a Texas twang here."
A brief hesitation as he watched her, then he inclined his head, as if acknowledging the change in tone. "And yeehaw to that, little lady."
She laughed, feeling better.
For a moment, he studied her. "Okay, Beau is on the list. What's his full name?"
"Beauregard Clement Harkness."
He double checked the spelling with her, then typed that into his phone. When he looked up at her again, his expression was as serious as she'd ever seen it. "I want you to make me a list of anyone else you think it could be. Could. I want comprehensive. You're in theater. You like theater. Anyone who knows you, knows that. Which means anyone might use the theater references."
"Okay." The task was daunting, and not one she wanted to undertake.
"Don't worry about ranking them." He pushed off the bed and stood. "We'll talk about that later."
"You're leaving?" She heard the panic in her voice and wished she'd kept her mouth shut. She stood, then continued, hoping she sounded calmer. "That's all we need to talk about?"
He reached out, his fingers closing on a fold of the robe. There was no physical connection, and yet she felt it. Felt him.
"You're safe right now. And I need to get to work. I've got calls to make before we visit Reggie tomorrow."
"Right. Of course. I just--"
He released her robe, but took a si
ngle step closer. "Do you want me to stay?"
Yes. Oh, dear God please, yes.
She shook her head, the potency of that thought freaking her out. "No," she blurted. "I have Mina, right? We're going to wallow in a girls' night."
"Just like college girls do."
She lifted a brow. "In case you missed the memo, Mina's out of school. I'm in grad school, and I'll be done at the end of this semester. Then me and my adult ass are hightailing it to LA, where I'm going to make a huge splash in Hollywood. And not as the next Black Dahlia, thank you very much."
"Because I'm going to nail his sorry ass for you."
"Damn right."
He held out his hand, and she took it without thinking, with no time to prepare for that overwhelming sense of connection. That intense craving, like a wild hunger curling inside her.
"Give me your key." His voice sounded husky to her, and she blushed. Not because of the heat in his voice, but because she'd so completely misread the purpose of his extended hand.
"I--why?"
"Nobody but me comes in without a code word. Do you understand? Room Service, friends, nobody."
"A code word?"
"You give it to them when you call. They say it to you when they arrive."
"Oh." She drew a breath, then slowly released it. "You really do think I'm in trouble, don't you?"