Page 23 of Outlaw Ridge: Hayes

The staring continued for several long moments before she mouthed the words. He smiled. She didn’t. In fact, she huffed and would have turned away from him if Hayes hadn’t taken hold of her shoulders.

“I do square roots in my head,” he confessed. “Trust me, I was doing them right before I broke down that door in the escape room.”

Now, she smiled, and he was so relieved to see it that he did something stupid. He hauled her to him, and he kissed her.

Yeah, a mistake.

She tasted like Christmas morning and dirty sex, and that shot right through him, claiming his common sense and that brainless part of him behind his zipper.

Jemma made a silky sound of pleasure and sank right into that kiss. No objections. No hesitation. She was all in, and that wasn’t good. Because of the heat. It was there. Right there. In full force. And now it was mixed with the taste and feel of her. A heady combination that had certain parts of him clamoring for more, more, more.

So, he deepened the kiss.

While he inched her closer and closer to him.

His body liked that, too, having her breasts pressing against his chest. Having her in his arms. Taking her mouth as if there were no tomorrows. But there were tomorrows.

And consequences.

A kiss, no matter how good—and this one was damngood—changed the rules of the game. And that shouldn’t happen. Not when they were in the middle of an intense investigation.

Hayes eased back from her and didn’t bother going for an apology or a lame assed attempt to tell her they wouldn’t do this again. Because they would do this and more. That kiss had been a metaphorical kicking down the door of an escape room. There’d be no turning back.

Well, not permanently anyway.

They would have to put the pause button on the lust though and catch a killer. Hard to land in bed, or against the wall, or the floor when someone was gunning for you.

Thankfully, Hayes didn’t have to rely on his willpower to prevent him from diving right back in for another kiss. That’s because Molly came into the kitchen, and it was obvious from the woman’s expression that she had something to tell them.

“I printed this out for you,” Molly said, handing him several sheets of paper. She volleyed glances at them, probably picking up on that whole kiss vibe. “It’s the deep background check you started on Royce.”

“Thanks,” Hayes told her. He certainly hadn’t forgotten about it, but it’d sort of gotten placed on the back burner when they’d been attacked.

Molly shifted to Jemma. “The courier just now picked up the phones from your stepmom and dad, but I had a look at them while you two were searching for the sniper.” She shook her head. “I didn’t see any red flags, nothing to indicate that either of these two phones were used to set up the murders and attacks.”

Clearly, that didn’t surprise Jemma. Both Stefano and Cordelia had volunteered the phones, and they wouldn’t have done that had there been anything incriminating on them.

Molly headed out of the kitchen, and Hayes took a look at the background check on Royce. Jemma looked, too, but she stopped when her phone sounded with a text.

“We got the warrant to search Duane’s school and residence and to test him for gunshot residue,” she relayed.

The latter was probably an empty victory since Duane would have had plenty of time to shower, but that had been a long shot anyway. If the man was truly the killer, he would have likely taken precautions such as wearing gloves or long sleeves and then would have discarded those items.

Jemma checked the time and groaned softly. “Maybe we can execute the search warrant after we’ve finished talking to Cordelia and Brooks.”

Maybe. But considering that was where Owen had been shot, Hayes was betting Owen would want an entire team going onto the school grounds. That team might or might not include Jemma, especially considering it would be a good opportunity for a killer to go after her again.

Hayes didn’t point that out. He just continued to read the background on Royce as Jemma and he made their way back to the dining room.

“Royce Henry Bolton, aged forty-eight,” he muttered, doing the mental calculations. Fifteen years older than Jemma. While that wasn’t a huge age difference, it was still enough to make Hayes wonder why the man had pressed so hard in pursuing her.

But he immediately rethought that.

He was attracted to her, big time, and he shouldn’t be. Not considering his past. No way did he want to risk losing someone else close to him. Yet, he’d just kissed her and was still lusting after her. Maybe Royce hadn’t been able to shut off his feelings for her either.

“Owner of Bolton PI Agency,” Hayes continued aloud, forcing his mind back on the investigation and not this heatfor Jemma. “Current address is…” He stopped and looked at Jemma. “He lives in one of the most expensive areas of San Antonio.”

She nodded. “Royce got a large inheritance from his grandmother about a year ago.”

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