Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
His mouth was warm.
Surprise froze Laney in place the moment Jonah kissed her, but in the next heartbeat, it was consumed by a fierce hunger she'd never experienced before.
Need coiled in her belly. Her fingers curled into his shirt, pulling him closer, and she kissed him back with a desperation that matched his own.
The world narrowed to the taste of rain on his lips and the solid warmth of his body pressed against hers.
The intensity of it tilted her world on its axis. It also set off alarm bells.
With a sharp inhale, she broke the kiss. Chest heaving, fear slicing through her, Laney shoved away from Jonah, forcing him to break his hold. Oh, God, what had she done? What had they done? Numbness spread through her limbs as a rising sense of panic narrowed her vision.
“Laney.” Jonah’s voice was husky and more than a bit shaky.
She couldn’t. Couldn’t look him in the eye. Couldn’t talk about this.
“We…” Her brain scrambled to find a safe topic to cling to.
“We should call this in. The sheriff’s department might be able to get someone out on the water quickly enough to spot the boat.
The shooter was wearing all black. He’s fit.
A quick runner. I didn’t get a good look at him, but I fired off two rounds.
Between your shots and mine, he might’ve been hit.
Deputies should alert the local hospitals. ”
Her body shook. An aftereffect of the adrenaline or from the intensity of the kiss, Laney couldn’t tell. She brushed a lock of tangled hair from her eyes. Water dripped onto her lashes. The rain fell softly, and suddenly she felt the chill from her soaked clothing.
“Laney.” Jonah stepped forward, his hand lifted as if he intended to touch her.
“Don’t.” Her voice was hard. Unyielding. Harsh.
He froze. A flash of devastation swept over his handsome features before he tucked it away.
She couldn’t do this. If he touched her, she’d kiss him again, which would only make things worse. But she also couldn’t take the hurt that would follow from this horrible mistake. “Let’s just focus on the case, okay? We’ll deal with this…later.”
He was quiet for a long beat. “I’ll call it in.”
Laney nodded, and without looking at him, started the trek back to the cabin.
Tears filled her eyes, and she battled them back.
Her tennis shoes beat against the damp earth.
Branches and briars tugged at her soaked pajamas, and she slipped on muddy patches.
Her mind couldn’t process anything that’d happened in the last half hour.
Not the shooting, or chasing the suspect.
Or the kiss. Definitely not the kiss.
Her cabin came into view. Bullet holes riddled the entire back side.
The window on her back door and the one over her sink were busted.
Laney raced up the porch steps. Inside was more chaos.
Broken glass littered the floor. A bullet had slammed into her refrigerator.
Another had broken the doggie cookie jar on her counter, shattering it.
Scout! She’d checked immediately after the shooting to ensure her dog was okay, but then she’d abandoned her to take off after the perpetrator.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Scout suffered from PTSD and reacted badly to flash bangs and gunfire.
She must be terrified. On shaky legs, Laney crossed the kitchen. “Scout!”
The Labrador didn’t bark, nor did she come running.
A new wave of worry snapped her focus into place.
Laney burst into the living room, her gaze sweeping the room in search of Scout.
The dog wasn’t there. Raindrops dripped off her pajamas and hair, leaving a trail of water in her wake as she headed for the bedroom. “Scout, sweetie, where are you?”
There was no sign of her dog. Her bed was empty, the frame too low for Scout to crawl under.
Laney ran into the bathroom, searching, but Scout wasn’t there.
A wild thought struck her. Had there been two perpetrators involved?
Had someone snuck into her house while she and Jonah were chasing the shooter and taken Scout?
She couldn’t fathom the reason for doing so, but then she also couldn’t understand murder.
Or unloading dozens of rounds on two members of law enforcement.
Laney raced back into the bedroom. In her panic and fear, she nearly missed the half-open closet door. Her pulse skyrocketed. She crossed the room in three strides, yanking the door open wide.
And her heart shattered.
Scout was balled up in a corner in the back of the closet. Her entire body trembled, and when she looked at Laney, her sorrowful brown eyes held sheer terror.
Laney dropped to the floor and wrapped her arms around her dog. “I’m here, sweetie. I’m here.” Seeing Scout in such distress unlocked her own. Tears ran down her cheeks and dripped off her chin as she whispered words of comfort. Scout crawled into her lap. Gradually, the trembling subsided.
As her dog relaxed, Laney’s own frantic thoughts settled. She stroked Scout's soft ears. Exhaustion set in as the adrenaline faded. For the first time, she could think clearly about what she'd done.
Chasing an armed suspect through the woods had been…
reckless. Yes, she knew every tree and trail better than anyone, and yes, her fury at seeing Scout terrorized and Jonah threatened had driven her forward.
But that hadn’t justified her actions. She'd left her traumatized dog alone and put herself—and subsequently Jonah—in unnecessary danger.
Jonah had been right to be angry with her.
She screwed up.
“I should have stayed with you,” she whispered against Scout's fur. “I’m so sorry, girl.”
Scout’s answer was a kiss on her cheek. She nuzzled her dog, wishing they could stay hidden in the dark closet forever. A part of her wanted to be angry with Jonah. How could he have kissed her? What possessed him? But she was humble enough to see her part in it.
She'd kissed him back. Passionately. A momentary hormonal blip that had probably cost Laney her best friend.
Because there was no going back. Oh, they'd built a friendship after dating for a month in college, sure.
But back then, they hadn't had the foundation of a fifteen-year history.
This time, things were different. The rejection would cut deeper.
And there would be rejection. There always was. Nothing lasted forever, and Laney always cut and run before things got too real. Deep romantic connections were messy. Confusing. Heartbreaking. Jonah was a forever kind of guy. And she didn’t believe in happily-ever-after.
Her mother hadn’t gotten one. Why should Laney be any different?
The thought of going out there…of facing Jonah…she didn’t know how she was going to handle it.
But she had to. Laney couldn’t hide in the dark closet forever.
Gathering her courage, she pushed to her feet and, on rubbery legs, went into the bathroom.
She washed her face, combed her hair, and pulled on a fresh ranger uniform.
With her armor in place, Laney went back through the house and outside.
In the fifteen minutes she’d been in the house, deputies had arrived.
So had Ryker. He stood assessing the back of the cabin with Jonah.
And it was Jonah she couldn’t tear her eyes away from.
Like her, he’d changed out of his wet clothes.
A cowboy hat cast shadows over his eyes, and his sleeves were rolled up, revealing powerful forearms. She tried not to notice the way the fabric of his shirt stretched across his broad shoulders, tried not to remember how solid those muscles had felt under her hands.
This was Jonah. Her best friend. Her rock. The one person she could always count on through deployments, career changes, her mother's illness…everything.
She couldn’t—absolutely refused—to think of him like this. Not if they stood any chance of salvaging their relationship.
As if he’d felt the call of her thoughts, Jonah’s head swiveled toward her.
His blue eyes locked on hers. She suddenly felt very warm and incredibly self-conscious.
Ignoring the flare of heat in her cheeks, she squared her shoulders and forced her feet to move forward.
Scout stayed at her side. The rain had lessened to a faint misty drizzle.
“Bad start to the morning,” Laney joked as she drew closer, keeping her attention on Ryker. She purposefully kept from looking at Jonah, knowing that if she did, it would deepen her blush.
Gosh, this was so awkward. She wanted the earth to swallow her whole.
“You can say that again.” Ryker gave her a brotherly, one-armed hug. “Glad you’re okay.” He reached down to pet Scout. “All of you.”
Laney’s cabin looked like a slice of Swiss cheese.
A tremble shook her insides as she gauged just how close she’d come to being shot.
Jonah too. There was a concentration of bullets near the corner of the house where he’d taken cover.
It was a miracle they all survived, and she sent up a prayer of thanks to the Good Lord.
“Whoever did this wasn’t messing around. ”
“No.” Ryker’s expression was grim. “Jonah said you chased the shooter through the woods.”
Regret stabbed her. “It wasn’t a smart move on my part, but yes.
He knew exactly where he was going and had no trouble navigating the woods even at a full-on run.
I didn’t get a good look at him, but his boat was a silver dinghy with a black motor and rust spots along the left side.
He took off westward.” She paused. “Deputies were monitoring Garrett, right? So it couldn’t have been him. ”
“Actually, it may have been.” Ryker planted his hands on his hips but kept his voice pitched low to prevent the deputies who were stringing up crime scene tape from overhearing.
“Chief Deputy Williams informed me that Garrett’s lawyer demanded they remove the deputy sitting outside Garrett’s house.
He threatened them with a harassment lawsuit.
She was forced to comply, but tried to manage the situation by having frequent patrols, but—”
“Garrett got past them,” Jonah growled.
Ryker nodded. “He slipped out of his house this morning, and hasn’t shown back up yet. No one knows where he is.”
What were the chances that Garrett evaded the deputies on the same morning her house was shot up? It could be a coincidence, but if so, it was an unlikely one.
Laney took note of the rabbit still hanging from her porch. Mindful of the crime scene and the broken glass, she ordered Scout to stay in the grass and then climbed the porch steps to take a closer look. The poor creature’s neck had been broken, likely from being caught in an animal trap.
Be careful, little bunny. Be very careful.
“He used it to lure you outside.”
Jonah’s footsteps had been silent, and she jolted at the sound of his voice, so close to her.
The hair on her arms rose as her pulse kicked up a notch.
It felt like every cell in her body was attuned to him as he came to stand next to her.
She kept her gaze on the rabbit, unwilling to look him in the eye.
“Hunting and poaching in the park is illegal…” Her voice trailed off as a memory niggled.
“I doubt this guy cares about what’s illegal. Killing wildlife is the least of his crimes—”
“The raccoon.” She inhaled sharply as her mind connected a clue she hadn’t known was important.
“Excuse me?”
“On the day that Ava and Tyler were killed, I came across a dead raccoon in a remote part of the park. The animal had been shot.” She turned to look at her house.
The shooter had used a high-powered rifle.
Different weapon, but he’d lost his handgun in the weeds near the lake while killing Ava.
And most gun owners had more than one kind.
“I forgot about the raccoon, but…” She gestured to the rabbit. “Maybe it’s connected after all.”
“Can you tell me where you found it?” Jonah asked, his voice carefully neutral. Professional. As if they were just colleagues discussing a case. As if he hadn't kissed her less than an hour ago.
Laney hesitated. Being alone with Jonah right now seemed like the worst possible idea.
But they couldn't avoid each other forever, and they certainly couldn't solve this case without working together.
If there was any way to save their relationship, they would have to talk about what happened.
And that conversation…it needed privacy.
Bracing herself, Laney forced her gaze to meet his. “I’ll take you there.”