Chapter 18
What the hell had she gotten herself into? Ashlyn found herself wondering sometime later as she stepped out of the shower and grabbed the large gray towel that Marty gave her off the bathroom counter.
When she found out that Detective Black pulled Julia’s file along with eighty-eight other files, she had a bad feeling that they might be looking at a serial killer, but nothing could have prepared her for this.
A serial killer with two different MOs.
When he was hunting in the city, he preferred women of any age, ethnicity, and background and was able to take them without being seen and made sure that no one ever found their bodies.
It was to the point, a clean grab, less risk of getting caught, and allowed him to take his time with them, something that turned her stomach just thinking about, but when he was hunting in tourist spots. ..
The rules changed.
He hunted young, happily married women, whose husbands openly doted on them. He didn’t grab them and take them away so that he could savor the kill. He killed them on the spot and received instant gratification from the kill.
And that was going to be his downfall.
With the women he kidnapped, there was no pattern, no way to predict his next move, letting them know that he was most likely grabbing whichever unfortunate woman happened to cross his path, but with the resort murders, there was a pattern that they could predict.
For the past twenty-two years, their killer had been targeting high-end resorts that hosted romantic weekends, balls, and couples retreats and could be linked to more than one hundred unsolved murders.
All of his victims were young, newly married women with long hair and appeared to be in love with their husbands and every single one of them had somehow been lured out of their hotels and away from their husbands to a secluded spot, and no one had any idea how he managed to do it.
He’d also managed to stop anyone from figuring out that all the murders were connected.
Until now.
Thanks to the rocks, they now knew that he’d been targeting eighteen towns, focusing on high-end hotels and resorts that catered to newlyweds on a rotation that changed every year.
The eighteen towns were grouped by six, which they’d labeled Group A, Group B, and Group C.
He focused on one group at a time, killing every two months before he rotated to the next group the following year until he’d rotated through all the groups and it was time to start all over again.
This year, he was back on Group A and he’d already killed two women.
It had been a month and three weeks since his last kill, leaving them with four towns to focus on.
They were able to narrow it down to three possibilities after looking at the remaining four towns for this year’s cycle and discovered that there were three hotels hosting a special romantic getaway for couples next weekend.
Out of the three hotels, two of them were hosting balls targeting newlyweds, and one of them was hosting a two-week long romantic fesitval.
As soon as they realized what was about to happen, Tristan was on the phone with his father-in-law, explaining everything.
That was followed by Hank coming over, a lot of shouting when Tristan announced that he was going to try to catch the asshole, which was followed by even more shouting when Marty decided that she was going as well.
Tristan, Hank, and Shayne quickly shut that down, pointing out that she was pregnant and there was no way in hell that she was setting foot within a hundred miles of any of those hotels.
When she went to argue, Tristan threatened to spank her ass, which resulted in Marty grumbling to herself as she reluctantly agreed not to go.
After that, they started making phone calls.
They called the local police departments of the four remaining towns on this year’s rotation and filled them in on the situation while Marty set to work, filing a potential serial killer report with the FBI and with ViCAP.
Since they didn’t have DNA evidence or a suspect, there wasn’t much that they could do at this point except put out a warning.
Right now, with only the rocks to tie it all together, along with the killing pattern, the best they could hope for was added patrols around the hotels.
It was too early to alert the public. They didn’t want to scare people or tip off the serial killer that they were on to him before they had more to go on, which meant that she was going away for a romantic trip alone for the next two weeks.
She should have left as soon as they figured out the killer’s next target, but since it was late at night, Marty decided that she should crash in Shayne’s room and since she was apparently pathetic, Ashlyn agreed.
God, what the hell was she doing here? Ashlyn wondered as she made her way into Shayne’s room and took in everything from the large bed to the flatscreen television mounted on the wall, and noted that other than a video game system and a few games, there wasn’t anything personal in the room.
She should be home figuring out which hotel the killer was going to hit instead of making her way to his closet and helping herself to one of his shirts.
There was definitely something wrong with her, she decided, once again confirming her earlier theory as she grabbed a pair of panties from the overnight bag that she kept in her trunk for emergencies and pulled them on along with his shirt.
As she took her time buttoning the light blue dress shirt, she took in the small selection of toiletries on the bathroom counter, absently noting that everything looked new as she found herself thinking about Shayne, that kiss, and even that moment in the living room, where she apparently lost her mind and found herself leaning into his touch, unable to resist this pull that he had on her.
God, she was pathetic, which was why she never planned on seeing him again.
He scared the hell out of her and she had no idea why.
None of this made any sense.
She’d only met him a little over a month ago and had only been around him a couple of times since, but for some reason that she couldn’t understand, the idea of being away from him left her feeling like her heart was about to break.
When they were apart, she couldn’t stop thinking about him and felt like a part of her was missing, leaving her struggling to fight the overwhelming urge to go to him, and when she was with him, it wasn’t enough. But when he touched her...
A sense of peace like nothing she’d ever known before washed over her and she wanted more.
She wanted him.
Every time they were together, this pull that she felt towards him only grew stronger and that absolutely terrified her. She couldn’t do this, couldn’t risk falling in love with him only to have him break her heart and leave her.
She just...
She couldn’t do this.
And now that she finally had answers, she wouldn’t have to.
After this, she would never have to see him again.
She was going to pretend that he didn’t exist, move on with her life, and bury herself in her work until she was too exhausted to do anything more than pass out every night.
Eventually, the dreams would stop and she would forget all about him, Ashlyn thought when someone knocked on the bedroom door.
For a moment, she debated pretending that she was asleep only to find herself biting back a sigh as she headed for the door, unable to resist seeing him one last time.
She should probably seek professional help for this, Ashlyn thought as she opened the door only to have her earlier assessment confirmed that she was indeed pathetic when she found herself running her eyes over him.
God definitely brought his A Game when he made this man, Ashlyn thought as she took in everything from his damp hair, letting her know that he just took a shower, to the light whiskers on his face that somehow made him even sexier before noting that he was once again shirtless, revealing perfectly sculptured muscles and a thin trail of dark hair that disappeared behind the waistband of the low-hanging grey sweatpants that he was currently wearing.
Every woman’s one true weakness.
“We had a deal, lass,” Shayne said, drawing her attention to find him running his eyes over her and-
Did he just groan?
“And tonight, you fulfilled it,” Ashlyn said, watching as he took in everything from the shirt that she’d helped herself to, to her bare legs before he looked up and met her gaze only to linger on her lips.
“I believe the deal was that I’d tell ye everything that I know if ye went with me today ta check out the faire and I did that, but I wasn’t talking about that deal, lass,” Shayne said, folding his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the hallway wall, the action drawing her attention to the cut that Tristan left behind when they were decided to test their new swords.
“I’m drawing a blank,” Ashlyn said with a helpless shrug that had his eyes narrowing on her.
“We made a bet.”
“By ‘bet,’” Ashlyn said, pausing to do air quotes, “are you referring to that time when you hustled me at axe throwing?”
“Is that what I did?” Shayne asked casually as he made a show of examining his fingernails.
“What would you call it?” Ashlyn asked, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned against the doorway.
“Sweeping ye off yer feet,” he drawled, dropping his hand away.
“Does that usually work for you?” she asked, feeling her lips twitch.
“It’s been a long time since I went on a date,” Shayne said, taking her by surprise.
“How long?” Ashlyn asked, knowing that most women would probably fall at his feet just for that brogue alone.
“Ye wouldn’t believe me if I told ye,” Shayne said as his gaze once again took in the shirt that she was wearing, the same one that she’d decided that she was keeping.
“Probably not without some compelling evidence,” Ashlyn said, watching as he seemed to think that over as he looked up and met her gaze again.
“I want a raincheck for tonight,” Shayne said, and was it wrong that she actually had to stop herself from saying, “God, yes!”?
“Was our date not good enough for you?” Ashlyn asked with a pitying look that had his eyes once again narrowing on her.
“We spent it hunting down a serial killer with my brother and his wife,” he pointed out.
“I saw it as a double date, where we worked as a group to solve a puzzle,” she said dryly, watching as he slowly nodded and-
“Tomorrow night.”
“I’m washing my hair,” Ashlyn said, blinking up at him.
“Looks like yer ahead of schedule,” Shayne said with a pointed look at her wet hair.
Shaking her head, Ashlyn said, “Tonight was just a test run. Tomorrow night is where all my years of hard work pay off and I break out the shampoo.”
“And the night after that, lass?”
“Is when I break out the conditioner.”
“If I didn’t know better, lass, I’d think that ye didn’t want ta go out with me,” Shayne drawled.
“Because I don’t?” Ashlyn said, making his lips twitch.
“Then, I’m afraid that ye’ve left me no choice but to cash in that raincheck,” he said with a heartfelt sigh as though it pained him to do this.
“You mean the one that we’ve already established that I don’t owe you?”
“That would be the one.”
“Don’t you think that we’re all going to be a little busy for a while with this case?” Ashlyn asked even as she found herself wondering how he was going to react when he found out what she had planned.
“I’m willing ta make the time,” he said, shooting her a wink that had her biting back a smile.
“Look,” Ashlyn said, releasing a shuddering sigh as she let her shoulders drop, “it’s not you, it’s me. I just can’t do this knowing that I could do better.”
“I can see how that would be a problem, lass,” Shayne said, nodding solemnly.
“Then, I’m afraid that this is where we say our goodbyes.
It will be difficult to move on, but I’m sure that with time and therapy, you’ll eventually get over me,” Ashlyn said with a sad shake of her head, and just for the hell of it, added a heartfelt sigh as she moved to close the bedroom door only to have him push away from the wall and place his hand on the door to stop her.
“Before I mentally prepare myself for the pain ahead, lass, I’m afraid that there’s the matter of the goodnight kiss,” Shayne said, making everything in her go still as she thought about the last time he kissed her and-
She would never survive another kiss.
“You’re joking, right?” Ashlyn said, hoping beyond hope that he would take pity on her and let it go.
“I would never joke about a goodnight kiss, lass. I take those very seriously,” Shayne said with a sad shake of his head as he dropped his hand away from the door.
“How about an awkward handshake goodnight?” Ashlyn asked, sounding hopeful even to her own ears.
“If ye can live with yerself knowing that ye went back on a bet...” Shayne said, letting his words trail off as he held his hand out to her.
“That would be wrong,” Ashlyn mumbled after a moment, releasing a shuddering breath and a sad shake of her head that had his lips pulling up as he started to lean down and-
“But thankfully, I’m okay with that,” Ashlyn said, shrugging it off as she reached over and shook his hand, watching as his eyes narrowed on her before she pulled her hand back, and with that, she said, “Goodnight!” as she closed the door in his face.