Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

of marshals had been to keep what’d happened between them in Delaware between them. There hadn’t been any discussion, no hope of seeing if those passion-filled nights would lead to something more, and under no circumstances an encore. He set his bowl on the counter. “What would you call it?”

Remi stared at her dinner, pushing it around with the prongs of her fork. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t realize you thought so low of me that you believed I could use you like that.”

“I didn’t see it as you using me, Sheriff.” He shifted his weight between his feet, his serving of mac and cheese forgotten as the hurt in her voice resonated between them. “We both got what we wanted out of our arrangement, and you made it clear as soon as you’d left Delaware that we were through. I didn’t automatically think because I came to Oregon that we would start up again.”

“Are we through?” Her mouth parted as though she couldn’t believe she’d said the words herself, and he froze in anticipation. “I know what I said when you signed on to work in my office. I know I’m your direct superior and anything unprofessional between us could lose us our jobs, but right now, Dylan, I need—”

He slid his hand behind her neck, pulled her into him and crushed his mouth to hers. Lightning struck behind his eyes as everything he’d fantasized about became reality. The kiss rocked him straight to his foundation, hungry, eager, desperate. A potent mixture of citrus body wash and Remi went straight to his head faster than the best-tasting whiskey and brought a low growl from his throat. He fit her against him, careful of their injuries, and deepened the kiss.

She arched into him, and every reason he shouldn’t push for something more between them evaporated. The investigation, the fact she’d become his chief deputy, the past—none of it mattered. Remi matched his fierce desperation. They’d denied themselves for so long, but damn it, he didn’t want to wait any longer. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. There was only Remi.

She pressed her hand into his chest and increased the space between them, breaking the deliriously addictive desire twisting in his tender gut. Eyes closed, she settled back and smiled.

Opening her eyes, she pinned him with her bright blue gaze and fisted a handful of his shirt. “What I was going to say was that I need you to forget our professional titles tonight and sit with me to keep me from falling asleep because of the concussion, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy that.”

“Oh, good. I was worried there for a minute you actually wanted me to kiss you.” A laugh escaped up his throat as the truth of that statement burned between them, and he extracted his hand. Pulling the hem of her T-shirt in place, he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “But remember, I let you go once, Sheriff. I’m not letting you get away a second time.”

CHAPTER TEN

I’m not letting you get away a second time.

Moonlight beamed through the windows high above the large sectional she’d commandeered for the night. The light from the television cascaded around her, but she didn’t care what program was on. Dylan’s words still echoed in her head. As did the heart-pounding kiss he’d pulled her into in the kitchen. He’d taken lead in clearing the perimeter after he’d piled their dinner dishes into the sink, but the desire under her skin had yet to dissipate.

Remi studied the photos pinned to the makeshift board they’d created before the attack and brushed her finger against the pattern of scrapes across her knuckles. Dylan had saved her life. She’d been indebted to him the moment he’d pulled her from those caves. But if she was being honest with herself, kissing him back, letting him claim her from the inside, had nothing to do with repayment and everything to do with craving that human touch he’d offered. It’d been so long since she’d trusted someone the way she’d trusted him, and she hadn’t been able to turn away. She hadn’t wanted to turn away.

The front door sighed open, and the alarm panel on the wall beeped with two short bursts. Dylan’s familiar footsteps echoed into the living room, but she still found herself sliding her hand around her sidearm beneath comforter that covered her. She’d been taken by surprise once and nearly died because of it. She wouldn’t let it happen again. Familiar steel-gray eyes settled on her, and the pressure behind her sternum released.

“Perimeter’s clear. No footprints in the mud. No fresh tire marks or evidence someone has come within two hundred feet of this place.” He holstered his weapon at his hip and leaned against the wide opening between the entryway and the living room. He nodded toward her. “You moved the murder board in here.”

Relief washed through her. No matter how long she’d stared at this board with their two suspects pinned in the center, she couldn’t focus. Not on clearing the perimeter. Not on finishing her official statement to Gresham PD and Captain Paulson. Not on their next move. There was only Dylan. The private investigator who’d somehow managed to leave a piece of himself inside her before she’d left Delaware.

He’d been right earlier. What they’d had together had started as a conduit to release the stress of the New Castle case, but over a few short weeks had become something so much more. And that kiss... It hadn’t merely been a biological reaction from adrenaline and danger. Not for her. It’d reminded her of everything she’d lost, everything she’d left behind. Everything she’d cared about. And it had changed everything. “I thought if I stared at our suspects’ photos long enough, one of them would pipe up and tell me who killed Del Howe in that cabin.”

“If they start talking, we’re going to have to go back to the hospital.” A warm, genuine smile