A few moments passed in silence before Sunny slid open the back door and stepped onto the deck. The moonlight caught her stygian hair, outlining her body like a mystical nymph beckoning to me. Like one of her dogs, I crossed the room, following her. The woman had a way of hypnotizing people, creatures, into hanging onto her every word, following her every move. It was like a special power.
And my kryptonite, apparently.
37
JAGG
Ifollowed Sunny down the bridgeway to the small dock at the end. Aside from the beam of moonlight down the center, the lake was as black as ink. The air had cooled, and the stars seemed even brighter by the water.
I watched her walk, slowly, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
I would have followed her into the water if she jumped. The woman was like a drug to me. More than pills or booze had ever been.
“It’s beautiful out here.”
“Yes,” I said, my eyes locked on hers as I met her at the end.
The water danced below us, lapping against the posts.
She sipped her beer, then rested her elbows on the railing and looked into the water below. Sadness, the weight of the evening, washed over her face.
“I’m sorry about your house,” I said.
“I’ll repaint. The furniture can be replaced. I’ll fix it back.”Like I always do.She didn’t say it, but I knew that’s what she was thinking.
“I’ll help.”
She looked at me. “I don’t understand why you’re helping me so much.”
I looked away. I knew exactly why I was helping her so much, but God help me, I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I wasn’t ready. Wasn’t fucking ready.
“Do you go this far with every one of your cases?” She asked, and I knew the question was loaded.
“Do you think me kissing you was part of the investigation?”
She shrugged, looked out to the water.
I lightly grabbed her chin and turned her face to me.
“Would that have bothered you?” Loaded, perhaps more so than hers.
“Why don’t you just call me a liar about the third person so everyone can move on? Say that I killed the pastor’s son in self-defense and close the case. The town can move on…” Her eyes locked on mine, her chin lifted. “And so can you.”
“Listen, Sunny, I kissed you because I wanted to. Was it smart? No. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. But I want to make one thing clear. I wasn’t manipulating you and don’t insinuate otherwise. If you don’t want me to do it again, tell me. Tell me.” My fingertips tightened around her chin. “Tell me not to do it again.”
She stared at me, wide eyes searching my face.
“Tell me,”I ground my teeth. “Dammit tell me not to touch you again.”
“I’m not worth it, Jagg,” she whispered.
Colson’s warning about losing my job echoed through my head, followed by Haddix’s warning about her powers of seduction to get what she wanted. And the way I seemed to stumble since the day I met her. Yet while I should have been reminding myself that my past experiences told methatnowoman was worth it, I found myself wondering why she thought she wasn’t.
Sunny had more emotional baggage than she led on.
Possibly more than I did.
She jerked her chin away, her face suddenly hard like granite.
