“We need to go.” Checking the rearview, Jack eases into traffic.
“Don’t say anything, Sin.” Dahlyla shoots bullets at me over the front seat.
“Now, now. That’s not very nice.” Sighing heavily, I take Sienna’s hand. “We had an agreement. No more lies.”
“I didn’t lie.” Sienna appends her statement with a barely audible mutter under her breath. “I just omitted a few things.”
“Did you really lose your memory or was that all lies, too?” That might have come out as a shout but hey, enough is enough.
Dahlyla reaches for the door handle but before she can exit Jack engages the child-locks. He shoots her a stony look with his right hand tucked in his vest, close to his holster. I guess he’s had enough of the shenanigans, too.
Sienna’s eyes grow wide as it finally dawns on her this isn’t a fucking game. Then, she closes them under my scrutiny. “Listen, it’s no big deal. My microphones are still in the woods and I need to get them back. Dahlyla said she’d help.”
“At this hour?”
“By the time we get up there, the sun will be up. It’ll only take a moment to get them out of the trees… Hey, they’re really expensive.” She bites her lower lip, a clear tell there’s more she’s not saying.
“Sienna?” I tuck my finger into her mouth, free her lip, and wait for those big blues to open. When they do, my stupid cock twitches and I want to kiss her, not interrogate her.
Her glance wavers and shoots toward the floor. “I may have hung the mics on posted land.”
“Oh, fuck me all to hell. Don’t tell me. You hung your mics on the Olafson’s estate, didn’t you?”
Her heart-shaped chin juts out. “Peter told me his family never goes there. Besides, if heisalive, I’m not trespassing, am I?”
I roll my eyes. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
Dahlyla turns from the front seat. “You’re not that stupid, Quinn. We need proof Peter’s alive.”
“What if he’s already seen the mics and that’s why he’s after her. Ever think of that?” I just about lose it.What the fuck were they thinking?
Sienna touches my arm. “No, no. If he saw them, Peter would’ve taken them down and I’ve checked the live audio feed. There’s been nothing but gurgling brooks and croaking bull frogs since that night.” She shrugs and looks out the window.
Jack glances across the seat at Sienna, impatience beginning to show. “So, where is this place?”
“Give me your phone. I’ll put the location in.” Still worrying her lower lip, Sienna fingers in the address, sighs, and hands the cell phone over the seat to Jack.
“Don’t do that.” I free her lip again. “You need to trust me, okay?”
She exhales, shoulders dropping. “Okay. Peter’s company has a few hundred acres of woods in Tuxedo. He used to take me there when we first started dating. He said they don’t use the land for anything other than a tax write-off. There’s a deer path next to a stream that no one uses. I figured it would be a great place to capture natural sounds. He’s been dead for two years. It’s just… weird… to think he’s been alive and didn’t even try to contact me. I mean, I was his wife. You know?”
I take her hands in mine, not knowing how to answer as I try to imagine what Peter Olafson put her through. Quiet for a while, we stare down at the Hudson as we drive over the upper level of the George Washington Bridge.
My arm slips over her shoulder. “No one in their right mind would let a woman like you go.” I’m taking a chance by telling her this but when she sang tonight, something inside me snapped.
Deep pools of blue stare up at me, surrounded by smoky, sexy make-up. Her lips are red and her cheeks tinged with blush. As beautiful as the fake shit is, I long to wipe it all off and find the sweet girl underneath.
I lean in slightly, wondering if she’ll let me kiss her. When her chin tilts up and her lids lower, my cock crams my jeans and shouts,Do it, man, go for it.
Unlike Peter, I’m not stupid.
Gently, my mouth caresses hers. When she responds by pressing back, my hands slip into her hair and I hold her there. She lets out a little sigh, and opens her eyes, almost as shocked as me.
Pure fucking electricity laced with some kind of girl-next-door cherry flavor makes me want to rethink my whole life. If it weren’t for the two people in the front seat, we’d be tearing off each other’s clothes. Instead, we just stare, mouths wide, gasping for breath.
That was one hell of a kiss.“Damn.”
“You got that right.” She smiles and touches the roughness of my light beard, then a fingertip goes to my mouth. “These are nice.”
