Page 97 of All the Missing Pieces

“He made her feel like the whole thing was her fault. That she tempted him into cheating on his wife, into starting a relationship that could’ve gotten him fired.”

I stared out at the forest around us as we drove, trying to take on its calm. “Now she can let it out, finally process what she needs to.”

Colt’s gaze flicked my way. “Excising the wound.”

I shifted in my seat so I could really take him in. “What do you mean?”

“Took me a while, but I realized that’s what you do. You find where the hurt and sick is and cut it out. It means reopening the wound, but it also means healing.”

I stared at him for a long moment. “That’s incredibly morbid and kind of gross but also…beautiful.”

Colt chuckled as he made the final turn toward his cabin. “It’s also accurate.”

That thing inside me shifted. The one that cared a little too much that Colt saw what I was doing asgood. That he got me. I forced my gaze away, toward the cabin. “Did she corroborate his alibi?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Colt said, pulling to a stop in front of his house.

We both sat in silence for a long time, letting the weight of the day settle in. “I wanted it to be him,” I finally admitted. What a horrible thing to wish on a person, even someone like Bryan Kerr.

Colt stared straight ahead. “Me too.”

I could feel his pain calling out to me for comfort. I wanted to take his hand, to weave my fingers through his. But there’d been too much of that today already. Physical acts but emotionally intimate. Not the sort of thing enemies with benefits did.

“Come on,” I ordered, shoving my door open. I hopped out of the SUV but didn’t head for the front door. Instead, I took the path around the side of the house, hoping Colt would follow.

A door slammed behind me. “Where are you going?”

I turned, walking backward, and grabbed the hem of my flowy tank top. It was almost four, but the sun had been warming everything for hours. I tugged the shirt over my head and dropped it on the steps to the back deck.

Those deep-brown eyes heated to warm amber. “What the hell are you doing?”

My lips twitched. “What I’m good at. Creating a little chaos.”

Colt barked out a laugh. “You are damn good at that.”

I jogged up the steps and my fingers locked in my shorts, my gaze cutting to the man following me. So damn gorgeous with that dark hair and those dark eyes. The angular jaw and scruff my fingers ached to run over. I didn’t look away as I stood on thedeck and pulled my shorts down. I waited there in nothing but my bralette and thong and watched those eyes turn from amber to gold fire.

“Ridley,” Colt growled.

I grinned, climbing up onto the deck’s railing. “Come on, Law Man. Live a little.”

And then I jumped in.

39

RIDLEY

The water hitme with a shock of cold, the kind of freezing that stole all the air from your lungs. I burst to the surface with a stream of curses, only to be greeted by Colt’s smirking face.

“That water is pure snowmelt this time of year.”

I treaded water, my body getting used to the arctic temperatures. “Just a second of pain for a world of bliss.” I flipped to my back, taking in the sky, the way the clouds floated across the blue in cotton puffballs. It was almost hypnotic. “Come on, Law Man. A little cold never hurt anyone.”

I twisted my body so I could watch him out of the corner of my eye. That muscle in his jaw began to tick, but then he disappeared. A second later he was back, the gun at his hip gone and his fingers going to that uniform shirt that should’ve been ugly but somehow managed to be hot as hell on him.

Tugging myself upright, I treaded water again so I could take in the show. I didn’t often let myself watch Colt like this. When we came together, it was usually a fever pitch of need. There were no slow stares and lingering touches. But now, I let myself watch.

Colt’s shirt slid from his body. Then he grabbed his white tee from behind his head and tugged it up and over. As it fell to thedeck, I couldn’t have forced my gaze away if I’d tried. That chest and those shoulders could do me in. All warm, tan muscles with a dusting of hair across his pecs. Hair I’d felt as he took me but hadn’t let my fingers trail through.

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