“How long did you work? With the headphones on?”
I get why he’s asking. I heard them say something about the time of death; it was between the time I saw the redhead and two or three hours after that. “I worked for a few hours. I tend to work late into the night.”
“So did I wake you this morning?” He’s sliding the notebook back into his pocket along with his pen. I guess we’re done with the questioning portion of the morning.
“I was awake.” I say it with a smile. “Barely.”
“Sorry.” I do believe Mr. Golden is blushing. “Since I’ve taken over the investigation—”
“You’re in charge now?” I don’t know why that surprises me. He’s probably the best officer on the Ames police force.
“I am.” More blushing, and it’s adorable.
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Clearing his throat, he continues. “I usually work nights, but now that I’m doing this, I’ve got to be in early.”
“I get it.”
“So, my apologies if I woke you.”
If he only knew how much I’d like him to wake me upeverymorning…. “No worries. My sleep patterns are all over the place.”
“Mine too.” Gage chuckles, and I want to grab him by his collared shirt and drag him to my bed, but I can’t. Not today. I’ve got too much to do.
His eyes move from me to somewhere behind me. “Wow, you’ve really cleared out the place.”
I look back at my relatively sparse living room. “Yeah. I got rid of my mom’s stuff.” Most of it.
“It looks nice, Daisy.”
And there it is again. My name. Holy hotness, my panties just melted.
“Thanks.”
And we’re back to the staring at each other thing. If I didn’t need to be somewhere in less than an hour, I’d keep right on looking at this man with his blond hair and pretty smile. But I can’t. “Well, I need to get going.” I jerk my thumb backward. “I’ve got to shower and get out of here.”
“Right.” Gage runs his fingers through his wavy hair. My fingers itch. I want to do that for him. “I’ll, uh, talk to you soon.”
“Good luck with the investigation.” Because the sooner he solves this thing, the sooner we can eat together.
Wow, did that sound as anticlimactic as I think it did?
“Thanks.” Gage waves, turns, and walks down the hallway.
Shutting the door, I lean my back against it and sigh. “That man is going to be my undoing.”
Chapter Twelve
Gage
“That woman is something else.” When she opened the door in that little tank top, I nearly passed out. Not only that, her hair was down and sort of messy from sleep, and her glasses were long gone. I was right. She’s all curves and softness. “Damn.” She might be the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. Sliding it out, I see a message from another very pretty woman.
Quinn: We’re back in Ames. Can we meet?
I’ve been expecting her call. According to Cooke Thompson, they were due back about now. Since Tayler’s out on bail, I’m sure she wants an update. I just hope I can give her news she can live with.
