The wind kicked up, warm and full of the scent of summer, catching her curls and brushing them across her cheek like fingers made of sunlight.
I reached up, slid my hand to the back of her neck, and pulled her to me.
And I kissed her.
Not gently.
Not politely.
Mine.
The kind of kiss that left no room for doubt, no room for gossip to fill in the blanks. The kind of kiss that drew a line in the sand and dared anyone to step over it.
Possessive. Fierce. Honest.
In that kiss, I gave her the truth I hadn’t been able to say aloud—I was in this. All the way in. Right or wrong, complicated or not.
And for the first time in years, I didn’t care who saw.
Sunny Harper had a grip on me that no one else ever had.
And God help me, I wasn’t letting go.
41
JAGG
“Afternoon, Detective.”
Darby stepped into the room, dark circles under puffy, bloodshot eyes. His hair, usually combed perfectly to the side, was mussed, his skin pale. I observed him closely as he crossed the office, tapping a yellow manila folder against the palm of his hand. He looked tired, but he was definitely amped up about something.
After officially staking a claim on Sunny Harper by laying a minute-long kiss on her in front of the entire station, I assumed his drop-in had something to do with that. Or, perhaps he was going to come clean about following me. Or maybe he was going to ask about the German Shepherd that was currently tied to my Jeep, snoozing in the shade.
I was wrong on all three counts.
He didn’t sit. “I’ve got a few things for you.”
“Make it quick. I’ve got a meeting in ten minutes.”
“With who?”
“What’ve you got for me, Darby?”
“I just got off the phone with Wesley Cross about theballistics analysis. The gun used to kill Julian Griggs, the pastor’s son, was a Glock nineteen.”
I could practically feel the relief washing over me. “So, not Sunny’s, then. Sunny’s gun was a Ruger.”
“Right.”
I continued, verbalizing my thoughts so that the rookie would have something to my benefit to spread around the office that afternoon. “So, according to Wesley’s analysis, this verifies Sunny Harper’s story that she didnotkill Julian Griggs. That someone else did. Most likely this mystery third person from her attack, which also verifies she wasn’t lying about that. What about the casings from the Cedonia Scroll heist and Seagrave’s murder?”
“Also shot with a Glock nineteen.”
My eyebrows popped up. Sunny was all but cleared from both shootings.
“Does he know if the same Glock was used at both scenes?” If so, that information would be huge and suggest the same person had killed both Griggs and Seagrave.
“He hasn’t confirmed that yet.”
