Page 55 of Peak Suspicion
“I’ve been carrying these around for weeks,” he said.
“These? Plural?”
“You said something about ‘until we couldn’t see straight,’ didn’t you?”
She fell back, laughing, but the laughter died as she watched him roll on the condom. Then he moved over her. “You’re so beautiful,” he said. “I want to know every part of you.”
She closed her eyes and lost herself to sensation. She had spent so much time thinking and analyzing, it was freeing to just feel. She focused on the way he smelled—like pine soap and washed cotton and male musk. His fingers were calloused and dragged against her skin, sending shivers up her spine. Thenhis mouth closed around her, warm and silken. He tasted of citrus and salt, and she told herself she would never forget that combination.
And then they slid together, shifting and rocking, slow, then fast, friction and flow, tension building. She gripped his shoulder and arched her back and he thrust up to meet her. Her climax shuddered through her, and he held her tightly until her body relaxed. Then he thrust again, moving more deliberately, winding up the tension, until she came a second time, just as he found his release.
They lay together for a long moment, still connected, unspeaking. Then he slid from beneath her, got up and disposed of the condom. When he returned to bed, she cuddled against him. “I learned something about you just now,” she said.
“What’s that?” His eyes were closed, his breathing slowing.
“Talking isn’t the only thing you’re good at.”
Wednesday morning Carterwas still at Mira’s apartment when her phone rang, the blare of Banda horns jolting him awake. “When did you turn that back on?” he asked, one arm draped over his eyes to shield them from the dawn light that streamed through her bedroom window.
“Right before we went to sleep,” she said. “Remember. You turned yours on, too.”
“Obviously, I was distracted by you.” He reached for her, but she swatted him away. She finally found the phone beneath their discarded clothes. “Hello?” she answered.
“Mira, this is Sheriff Walker.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped the blanket around her. As if the sheriff might see her through the phone. “Hello, Sheriff.” She looked over her shoulder and met Carter’s eyes. He sat up, expression alert.
“Have you received any more messages?” he asked. “Any letters or other threats?”
“No,” she said. “I thought Ed Anders was sending those letters.”
“Ed confessed to sending letters to many people in town, but he denies responsibility for yours. We feel the tone of the ones sent to you is different—and given the message on your classroom whiteboard and the attack on you on Gold Lake Trail, we think your harasser is someone else.”
In the back of her mind, she had suspected this, but having the sheriff confirm it unsettled her. She could no longer tell herself she had nothing to worry about now that Ed had admitted guilt.
“The reference to David Ketchum’s murder makes us believe whoever wrote to you has a connection to Santa Fe and your past,” Travis continued. “We’ve learned that Mitch Anders was born in Santa Fe. Do you remember running into him while you were living there?”
“No! Hasn’t he lived in Eagle Mountain for years?”
“He has, but he could have gone back to visit family.”
“I’m sure I never saw Mitch before I came here,” she said. “And he’s never said or done anything to make me suspicious of him.”
“Some people are very good at hiding their true intentions.”
She knew that too well. “Please let me know if you learn anything else,” she said.
“I will. In the meantime, be careful, and alert us to anything suspicious, even if it seems insignificant.”
She ended the call and rested the phone in her lap. Carter scooted closer. “I heard most of that,” he said. “Now they think Mitch is the one who targeted you?”
“Why would he do that?” She shook her head. “I can’t think of any connection between us.”
He rubbed her shoulder. “I don’t like knowing that someone is still out there who tried to harm you.”
“If Mitch is responsible, he’s in custody,” she said. “And I’ll be careful, I promise. I’m only going to go to school and my night class and to see you.”
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to stay here when I can,” he said.
