Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 Karen Whiddon (best fiction books to read TXT) 📖

lasts a year. For now, I’ll stay and keep working the case. Besides, Travis Cooper should be sheriff, not me. He put in the time with the department. I’ll do what I can to make sure he finishes out my appointed term.” She took a bite of pizza, nodding while she chewed. “This is really good, by the way.” After washing down her pizza with a swallow of beer, she continued, “Besides, the school term already started. I’d have a lot to do to get enrolled for the spring semester—see if my grades and scores will transfer. I haven’t looked into everything I need to do. Maybe reapply and retake any tests. I don’t see being able to leave until the end of November.”

So that was it? She could be gone by Thanksgiving. He couldn’t let her leave, not without fighting for her to stay. “I don’t want you to go,” he said. “Jinxy would miss you.”

“Jinxy?”

“And me. I want you here, with me.”

Julia looked up from her meal, her gaze meeting his. “Oh?”

Had his tone betrayed him, communicating what he’d felt since forever, but never had the balls to say?

He should be the good guy. The one with restraint. But, damn it. He wanted Julia now. He wanted to kiss her, to lose himself inside of her.

Was it wrong to let go, especially if it was just for one night?

“I want you,” he said. The truth was as simple and complicated as those three little words. And now that he’d said them, what would she do?

She stood.

Luis’s pulse started to race. Damn it. It’d been the beer talking. How could he ever take his words back and make things right with Julia?

Holding out her hand, she said, “Let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER 15

The street was dark, save for pools of light cast by streetlamps. The shops along Main Street were closed and only a few cars had parked along the curb. The tangy scent of pine filled the night air. Julia walked next to Martinez. Neither one of them spoke.

Despite the cool night, Julia began to sweat as her pulse hammered, echoing in her skull. Too soon, they stopped in front of the door that led to Luis’s third-floor apartment. Luis got out the keys and fumbled with the lock.

She’d gone to his home dozens of times, and yet now, she was nervous—unsure of herself and her rash decision. Turning, she scanned the street, and something caught her eye. There had been movement across the street. Had a face been peering out from one of the upper windows? She took a step forward and peered at the building.

Nothing. But she had seen something. Or had she?

Still, she asked, “What’s across the street?”

“Businesses on the bottom two floors. The top floor is an apartment, but it’s been empty for as long as I’ve lived here.”

Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the long line of windows.

Luis placed his hands on her shoulders. He massaged her tense shoulders and leaned close. His breath washed over her neck. “I want you,” he said, his whispered words dancing across her skin.

Julia forgot about the building across the street. She turned to face Luis and placed her palms on his hard chest. Her heart began to race, reminding Julia that she was not simply surviving—she was very much alive. “Kiss me, Luis.”

His mouth was on hers as they stepped deeper into the shadows. Julia gave a gasp of surprise and delight. Her lips parted and Luis began to explore and taste and conquer. Julia wanted to be overwhelmed and taken. She pressed her body to his. His arms and shoulders were strong.

His hands skimmed her breasts, and she sucked in a breath. Through the fabric of her shirt and bra, he found her nipples and rolled them between finger and thumb. A fire, long forgotten, sprang to life inside of Julia. The blaze consumed her. And she had no intention of taming the inferno.

“Luis...” she said between the kisses.

He rocked into her. He was hard, and she groaned with want and need too long ignored. Pressing her back into the brick wall, Luis worked his hand down the front of her pants. She was wet and only wanted his touch.

It was as if they didn’t capture this moment and bend it to their will, then it would escape and elude them forever. He placed his thumb at the top of her sex. A charge shot through Julia, and she bucked against the newest sensation. He moved his touch in a small circle, and her pulse thrummed as she was carried away by a current that led to a sweetness of oblivion.

Julia’s world broke apart. Luis’s mouth on hers. Lips. Tongues. Teeth. The sky was nothing more than a curtain of black velvet. The cool night air caressed her skin.

Yet, there was more to the physicality of the moment. She was with Luis. He was her best friend and knew her better than she sometimes knew herself. Despite the fact that Julia had decided to be rash, it didn’t mean she was without emotion.

Except she couldn’t help but wonder how their relationship would change.

As her pulse slowed, he kissed her again. This time it was more chaste than passionate.

Luis said, “If we were that hot together here, I just wonder how much better it will be when we have a bed.”

Could Julia imagine a future that included Luis as a lover, as well as a friend?

Looking up, she met his gaze. But there was something else that caught her attention. A pop of light shone from across the street. It was almost as if lightning had struck one of the deserted rooms...yet, she knew better.

Luis turned. “What the hell was that?”

“There was a flash—like from a picture being taken—on the third floor.” Slowly, she searched every window.

“Like I said, that apartment has been vacant for months.”

“It’s not now,” she said.

The silence was split in two with a sharp crack. Gunfire?

“That’s a door,” said Luis. “It