Ethan scoffed. “You’re the closest friend Hanna had, right? Maybe she told you something, dropped a hint about him… anything. Then you moved back here after she went missing, you’ve been questioning people, talking about Hanna, not letting the situation sleep when the rest of the town would like to forget there could be a monster among them. You’re a threat.”
She dropped her forehead to his chest and squeezed her eyes shut. She’d been so focused on finding Hanna, so damn consumed, that she hadn’t once thought about herself. Ethan’s knuckle found her chin and he lifted her head up for her eyes to meet his. Fog swirled through her brain. For the life of her, she couldn’t recall Hanna hinting about anyone. But if she had… and his identity lay in one of their conversations…she’d never forgive herself for not listening.
“It’s all right, you’re safe. Whoever he is will have to go through me first.”
Warmth spread through her and she curved her lips into a smile. While she had chugged a cup of coffee waiting for Joe to arrive, Ethan had dressed and shaved. The stubble that had adorned his jaw this morning was now gone. She reached her hand up to coast her fingers on it, revelling in its smoothness. He turned his face to press a kiss on her palm. Heat scorched her.
“Do you think Joe will be able to locate the owner of the truck?”
Ethan grimaced. “I think he doesn’t want to acknowledge that the person behind this or Hanna’s disappearance lives right here in Beaufort. On top of that, he wasn’t sold that the driver of the truck could be related to Hanna’s disappearance or your break-in. I don’t believe in coincidences.” His fingers skimmed under the hem of her shirt, his thumbs smoothed over her belly. A tremor rippled down her spine. “I’ll do some of my own digging.”
His gaze moved over her face, then dropped to trail down her body and back up again.
“I think we should talk about your ex and that guy who lives above you. What’s his name, Michael?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What do they have to do with anything?”
“Brian was an old boyfriend. He could still have interest in you or—”
She shook her head and a scoff rumbled over her tongue. “I seriously doubt it.”
Ethan’s shoulder lifted and dropped. “You could be right, but the possibility is there. And Michael is in close proximity to you. He’d easily be able to watch your comings and goings.”
“Brian, maybe. But Michael? He’s older and he’s been a prominent resident here for years.”
His mouth came down to hover inches above hers. “As far as I’m concerned, everyone is a suspect.”
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But can we discuss it later?”
His fingers flexed on her back. “Of course.” His lips inched closer to hers, hovering. Her pulse hammered against her throat and she closed the gap between them. His mouth curved against hers, his tongue gently licked her bottom lip. Her breath stalled in her lungs as pleasure surged through her body. Last night, he’d pulled the plug on their hot and heavy moment in the shower, making her question his attraction.
Now there was no denying it.
His thigh slipped between hers, pressing against where she wanted him most. His hand fell to the small of her back, crushing her to him.
Her fingers tunneled through the hair at the back of his head, pulling him closer, wanting more. He lifted her in his arms and set her on the kitchen counter. His tongue moved through her teeth, taunting hers to mingle with his. A deep throbbing tore through her.
“Mmm…Ethan,” she moaned. His smile moved against her. His mouth left hers to trail down her throat, and over her collarbone. He pushed the top of her shirt and bra aside, exposing her breast. His hot, wet mouth closed over her nipple, his tongue moved around the tight hard nub until a sob broke through her throat.
“God, Riley. I want you.” The blues of his eyes darkened to deep indigo, desire ebbed through her. His thick hands coasted expertly up her thighs, his thumbs grazing the insides of her shorts. Her skin tingled with need. She dug her fingernails into his scalp. His mouth pressed to hers again, taking her tongue in his and gently suckling. Her toes curled and her back arched as his index finger slid into the leg of her shorts, his fingertip moved aside her underwear. Her teeth nipped into his tongue, craving more. His free hand held her ass, pressing her closer to the edge of the counter while his finger swiped over her wetness.
Her body jolted and she cried into his mouth. His body turned rock-solid against hers, his erection strained against the inside of her knee.
Oh god, she needed him.
He pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. Her breath came out in throaty gasps as his finger continued to explore, taunting her clitoris, and finally sliding deep into her.
She cried out as he stretched and filled her with his finger.
Ring, Ring!
Her eyes snapped open and his finger stilled. Hot, starving blue eyes slammed into her. Her breath spiraled from her lips, mixing with his. She swallowed and wiggled against him.
“That’s my phone, I should get it.” Dammit, she didn’t want to stop. But it could be the police…or Hanna’s parents.
His head dropped back and he groaned, but he pulled his hand out of her shorts. A low chuckle sounded in his chest. “You’re going to kill me,” he moaned. She laughed and hopped down from the counter and raced for the bedroom. The ringing stopped before she crossed the small house and the ding of a voicemail alerted her when she scooped her phone up from the nightstand.
Her pulse slammed into her throat. She closed her eyes and forced her heart rate to slow down. Fear dug its claws into her heart. It could be him…
She sucked in a deep breath and unlocked the device. A new text from her sister Bailey flashed across the screen right above the missed call notification. Shit. This morning she’d seen a missed call from Bailey last night, and a text this morning asking her to call. That had been hours ago. Not bothering to read the text, she hit the call icon on Bailey’s contact name and waited. Bailey answered on the first ring.
“What the hell is going on?” she growled into the phone. Riley cringed at her sharpness. Bailey’s normally gentle nature rarely got riled. “I haven’t heard from you in over a week. I was worried sick when you didn’t get back to me this morning.”
“I’m sorry, a lot has been going on.” She ran her hand over Ethan’s comforter, his warm, musky scent flooded her nostrils, calming her.
“Yeah, I know, Rye. But—”
“No, you don’t,” Riley said slowly. She lifted her fingers to tangle in her hair and let out a slow breath. “Someone’s been after me. My car was run off the road last night. It’s totalled. I’m okay—”
Bailey’s sharp intake of breath pierced her ear. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this.” Then after a breath, “Are you sure it wasn’t just an accident? Were the roads bad?”
“It was raining, but his intent was clear. He slammed into the side of my car repeatedly until I went off the road and hit a tree.”
“Oh my god,” she hissed. “Are you okay?” Concern weighed down her voice.
“I’m fine. The man had pulled over, but took off the moment a vehicle came down the road. Ethan found me minutes later.” She ground the heel of her palm into her eye socket. Maybe by some stroke of luck Bailey hadn’t caught that.
“Ethan? Who’s that?” Her voice raised an octave. Nothing got past Bailey. Riley massaged the bridge of her nose.
“He’s a…friend. An ex-FBI agent, actually. He’s helping me with Hanna’s case.”
“You’re seeing someone?” Bailey’s disbelief rang through her ear.
“Is that all you heard?” She focused her gaze on the ceiling above her, Ethan’s voice droned on from the living room. He’d taken a call, but the last thing she needed was for him to come in and pick up on their conversation.
Bailey snorted. “Well, it’s the most shocking.”
Riley crossed her ankles beneath her. “Yes, I’m seeing someone, okay? But the man that’s been harassing me has been doing freaky shit, and we need to catch him.”
“Holy shit, you’ve been leading some kind of double life.” Bailey’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“I’d hardly call it a double life. I’m trying to find Hanna, that’s my only goal.”
A beat passed. “Wait a minute. You think the person who ran you off the road is the man who took Hanna?”
Riley explained the events that had happened over the last couple of weeks.
“Riley, you need to let the police do their job. Why didn’t you tell me this?”
Guilt curdled the lining of her stomach. She and Bailey didn’t agree on everything, but her sister had always been there. She took a deep breath and ran her palm over her bare knee.
“I’ve been so involved in Hanna’s disappearance I didn’t want to let anyone in the bubble I had created. I didn’t mean to shut you out.”
“I bet Ethan burst the shit out of that bubble.”
Riley threw her head back and laughed, the sound mingled with Bailey’s giggle and just like that, the weight that had been crushing her chest lifted.
“I can’t wait to meet him. I’m going to embarrass the hell out of you.”
“Yeah, well, it’s nothing serious.” A sliver of unease settled in her stomach. When all this was over, Ethan would be gone and so would she. For right now, the only thing keeping them together was this case.
Bailey grew silent and the amusement from their conversation ebbed away. “I wish you’d stop this, Rye. What about your job? Your life? You can’t put all that on hold forever.”
A lead weight pressed against her chest. “Just until we find Hanna.”
Tension crackled over the line. “And what if you don’t?”
The bedroom door creaked open and Riley snapped her head up. Ethan’s vivid blue eyes searched her face and his brow dipped into a frown.
“Who’s that?” he asked softly.
Riley gripped a strand of her hair and rotated it around her finger, and then mouthed, “My sister.”
Bailey’s voice screeched through the air. “He’s there isn’t he? I want a picture of his—”
“Call you later.” Riley disconnected and slowly met Ethan’s gaze. He stepped farther into the room.
“Everything okay?”
Riley dropped the phone beside her and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just had to tell my sister what’s been going on, that’s all.”
And Baily thought what everyone else did, but Riley couldn’t accept that Hanna was dead. Not because she was holding onto blind hope, but because a furious voice in her heart screamed at her that it wasn’t so. The bed dipped beside her and her weight tilted against Ethan’s side. His arm slid around her shoulders and she let her cheek fall to his chest. She didn’t care about statistics, didn’t care that there wasn’t a single lead. She couldn’t be dead. Hanna’s voice echoed through her mind, a mantra she’d spoken since they were kids.
Never give up, Riley.
A true optimist, Hanna had been the pressing force behind everything Riley had accomplished. When she didn’t get accepted into the first two colleges she’d applied at, Hanna had urged her on.
It wasn’t the right one. She had said. She’d been right. The right one had been Boston University. As much as Boston wasn’t her first choice at the time, it had been the best one. She’d been happy there, but she’d also been alone. She’d had friends, and close coworkers, but no one compared to Hanna. And the dating had been brutal.
When her parents had pressured her to stay closer to home, Hanna had fueled her, insisting she went even though it had been hard on both of them.
Follow your heart, it will never lead you wrong.
And now, she had to do the same for Hanna. She wasn’t dead. If not for the simple reason that Hanna would refuse to give up.
Ethan’s knuckles dragged over her shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and his chest lifted on a deep inhale.
“I think we should go to your place so you can grab some things.”
Goose bumps prickled her skin. “Are you sure you want me to stay here?” She lifted her chin to look up at him and he tilted his head, his gaze skimmed over her face.
“I wouldn’t want you to be anywhere else.”
Her toes curled beneath her and she clamped her teeth together to avoid smiling too big. “Fine with me.”
Chapter 13
Ethan shot his hand out to catch her arm. “Give me the key and wait here.” He took the heavily decorated key chain and edged her away from her front door. Last night’s rain had left the sky thickly overcast, but the late morning sun peeked through the clouds. They’d just picked up her rental car and once she got what she needed from her place, she’d have no reason to come back until this was settled.
Her brow furrowed at him, but she did as he asked. “Do you think he’d come here again?” She hissed. The delicate skin on her forehead crinkled and her eyes clouded with worry. Shit, he hadn’t meant to scare her.
He jabbed the key into the lock and mustered his best nonchalant shrug. “Better to be safe. I’ll have a quick look around and then come get you.”
“Wait, you’ll need the alarm code.” She rattled off four digits and he moved his hand to the Glock at the small of his back. He slipped inside and the keypad near the door beeped in warning. He entered the code, silencing it. The cool air conditioning blasted over him when he walked into the entryway. He kept his gun low and his finger near the trigger.
The old hardwood floors creaked beneath his shoes. To his left was a warm family room adorned with dated furniture and a ratty oriental rug.
Aside from that, the house was clean. Nothing appeared out of place or tampered with, but his concern was someone waiting for her to return home. In the kitchen, an abandoned glass of water took residence on the counter next to a bowl of fruit. Other than that, and the full dish rack of clean dishes next to the sink, the cream laminate surface was free of clutter. He stopped at the laundry room off the kitchen, and peered out the navy-blue curtain at the back door. A wooden fence with a gate at the rear and extra parking secured the good-sized yard. His fingers twisted the cool metal of the dead bolt. That too, was untampered with.
He weaved down the narrow hall and around to the two bedrooms and bathroom. The master bedroom held a queen-sized bed and overlooked the backyard. Like the rest of the house, it was clean and tidy. On his way back to the front door, he peeked into the empty spare room and immaculate bathroom.
“All clear.” The screen door creaked in protest as he opened it. His free hand returned his firearm to the waistband of his pants. Riley entered, her palms pressed firmly to her flat stomach, her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and her eyes round. Her usually sun-kissed skin was now pale. His insides curdled at her obvious discomfort. She slipped her sandals off on the doormat, and inched past him.
“Nothing is amiss?”
His hand rested between her shoulder blades and he kept her close to his side. “Everything looks good to me.”
She moved away from him and drifted through the living room and into the kitchen, her arms folded tightly across her chest. “I should turn the air conditioning off. It’s freezing in here.” She stopped at the window and hit a switch. The constant rattling of the running fan stilled. “That’s better.” She dragged her fingers through the end of her ponytail and looked around. “It feels different in here.”
Ethan lifted his eyebrows. He rested his back against the counter and kept his gaze on her. She was so damn uneasy, he didn’t doubt something would feel off. “How so?”
One shoulder lifted slightly and her eyes met his. “I don’t
know if it’s just me, but I still feel his presence here. And it feels more intense with what happened last night.”
He nodded. “Your privacy was violated. That’s a hard feeling to shake. Why don’t you look around some more as you pack a bag, be sure nothing is missing?”
She took a soft, audible breath. “Good idea.” Slowly she turned and headed toward her bedroom. A minute later, she came back out, her face white.
“Ethan, can you come in here please?”
His body tensed and he pushed away from the counter and met her in the hall. “What’s the matter?”
She wrung her hands in front of her and the smooth alabaster of her cheeks hollowed out. “Nothing. I—the room feels funny. I’m being ridiculous—”
“Don’t be silly.” He pulled her to his side, her hip nestled into the palm of his hand. He led her back into the room “I checked it out, but how about I stick around while you pack?”
She turned in his arms, rested her head on his chest, and her shoulders heaved on a sigh. “I don’t know what’s shaking me up.”
He smoothed his hands down the gentle curve of her back and pressed his nose to the top of her head. The faint scent of strawberries filled his nose. “You’ve had a hell of a month, that’s what. Now pack some stuff and let’s go.”
She nodded, turned from his arms, and straightened her spine. She scooped an overnight bag from the floor of the closet and began selecting some clothes. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled a leather bound book from the shelf in the closet.
“Is that her journal?”
Riley dropped down to her heels and tucked the journal in her bag. Her cheeks were tense, her jaw firm. “Yeah. I still have a lot of it to read.”
“You’ve had a lot going on. How about you relax once we get to my place and try to finish it?”
Her eyes lifted to his, which were crisp and bright with enthusiasm. “I plan to.”
Ethan winked and folded his arms over his chest and paced the room, taking in every nook while she continued to pack. A paisley comforter covered the bed, and a nightstand held an alarm clock and bedside lamp. The room was simple with an old dresser against the wall and the comfortable, worn rocking chair he had sat in and watched her while she slept the other morning. Another old, wooden chair with a blanket folded on it sat in the corner. Three picture frames crowded the top of the dresser.
Bait Page 13
