My face flaming, I flopped on the floor and did my first burpee.

I kept doing them until the judge screamed that I was done.

I blinked. Looked around. Then smiled huge.

Because we’d won.

We’d won by a lot.

I flopped over onto my back and felt my head whirl.

It whirled even more when I was hauled to my feet by big-grin-wearing Taos.

“You did it, baby.”

Then he picked me up by the waist and kissed me.

CHAPTER 14

If I pass out, write my time on the board.

-Coffee Cup

TAOS

It was way later that day when we finally made it home from the competition.

“I’d have sex with you,” she whispered. “But I don’t think that I could bend my legs and do anything right now even if I wanted to.”

I would’ve smiled, but even my cheek muscles hurt.

Instead of saying a word, I pulled her into my arms, then led her to the shower.

No foolery went on in that shower.

We barely had enough strength to make it to the bedroom before both of us collapsed.

“In just a minute, I’ll get dressed and leave,” she whispered.

I grunted as I rolled, not stopping until she was tight to my side.

After wrapping my arms around her, I said, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Her beautiful eyes opened and they glowed with mirth.

“I’m not?” she teased.

I shook my head. “No. You’re staying in bed with me.”

She closed her eyes and said one word, “Okay.”

Was it always that easy? Was that all I’d had to do this entire time? Tell her she wasn’t leaving?

As the woman fell asleep in my arms, I thought about how easy it was to get her to stay.

That meant that she’d wanted to.

Had she wanted to all this time, but forced herself to leave?

I didn’t quite know the answer to that, but what I did know was that I was more than willing to ask her to stay, all the damn time, if it was what it would take to get her to sleep in my arms every night.

I was just drifting off to sleep when my cell phone rang.

The particular tone belonged to the chief, and I knew without answering the phone that I wasn’t going to like whatever he had to say.

I was right.

“Hello?” I answered, sounding just as groggy and tired as I felt.

“We had another one.” He paused. “Well, technically, we had one a while ago, and we just found it.”

I felt my head throb with unease.

“What’s the problem?”

I moved to place my hand on the woman’s leg that was next to mine, but ended up placing it more on her ass, causing her to squirm.

I moved it upward toward her back, pulling her in closer for a quick kiss, before letting her go. “It’s the chief.”

She sighed against my lips, then let me go, just before I heard her groan as she started to get up.

I once again caught her by the hip, pressing down so she would know to stay.

“Please stay,” I said, tilting the phone away from my mouth as I spoke.

She looked at me with reluctance.

“I want you here when I get back,” I rasped.

She blinked and then nodded once before settling back down in the bed.

I got up then and headed for my closet. “Text me where it is, Chief. I’ll get there when I can.”

When I got dressed and came out of the closet, it was to find Fran fast asleep using my discarded pillow.

I felt a pang inside of my chest at seeing her where I wanted her—for the rest of our lives—and then went to the lights and shut them off before leaving the room.

The text came, and I went frozen solid as I saw the address.

My heart beat hard in my chest for a few long, crazy seconds before I snatched up my keys and hurried out of the house and closed the front door behind me.

When I arrived, my eyes went to the familiar minivan that was in the driveway next to the one I was to be meeting at.

I stared at it for so long that I didn’t realize the chief had come up to my car until I heard the knocking on my window.

I got out and my eyes went to him.

“What is it?” he asked.

I placed my hand on my chest and rubbed, as if that would help the throbbing.

“That’s my girl’s place,” I said, gesturing toward the neighboring house that didn’t have the police tape surrounding it.

The chief followed my gaze.

“We possibly have a witness then,” he mused.

I felt my stomach sour. “Possibly.”

She might not have seen anything. Or, it was possible she had seen something, and might not have realized that she had.

Whoever had done this was good. Came and did his dirty deeds at odd hours, then escaped without anyone the wiser.

Obviously, this particular murder he’d done in a populated neighborhood. Meaning he’d been even more careful and quiet than he had at previous murders.

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