She looked at him. “I’ll try if you will.”
Addie leaned in and brushed her mouth over his. It was one of those barely there kisses that packed a solid punch. Then again, any contact with Addie always did that to him.
“I’ll stand a better chance of getting some sleep if you’re right there next to me,” she muttered. With her mouth still hovering over his, she fluttered her hands toward the bed.
Hell. There it was again. That rush of heat and need. But Judson didn’t think of sleep and rest when he glanced at the bed. He thought of sex, and while it would feel damn good to be with Addie like that again, he had to throttle back and stay focused. Not focused on her and great sex, either. But on trying to figure out the puzzle of this blasted investigation.
It took every ounce of his resolve to ease away from Addie. “I want to go back through all the reports again,” Judson let her know. “Not just the ones that have come in tonight but those from the moment babies were taken. There might be something in them I’ve missed.”
She nodded, and while the disappointment came through loud and clear, she straightened in the chair and pinned her attention to his laptop screen. “Then I’ll go over the reports with you.”
Judson sighed and then decided to play a little dirty. Not by kissing her, though that’s what certain parts of him wanted to do.
No.
He played the baby card.
“Lily and Rose will probably be up soon, looking to be fed, and they might not go right back to sleep.” He’d personally witnessed a few episodes of that when one or both of them wouldstart crying and need some rocking and soothing. “You have to rest to be able to deal with that.”
Of course, he would help if the babies were fussy and didn’t settle. Heck, he’d help with just a routine feeding, but Judson was hoping that Addie would see the logic in at least one of them getting a little shut-eye.
And she did.
She stood and then did her own version of playing dirty by bending down and kissing him. This wasn’t one of those pecks. It was long, deep and hot. And when she finally stepped away from him, they were both smiling. Both aroused, too. But Judson forced himself to stay put at the desk as she made her way to the bed.
Addie kept her gaze on him as she lay down and threw the quilt over her. He began rereading the reports, but he also volleyed some glances at her. Judson smiled again when he saw her eyelids drift closed. Maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to sleep without the nightmares taking over or any interruptions.
But that didn’t happen.
She’d been asleep less than ten minutes when Judson’s phone vibrated not with a text but a call. He muttered some profanity under his breath, but when he saw Rory’s name on the screen, he got up, hurrying into the bathroom to answer it.
He didn’t even manage to get the door shut before he heard Addie bolt out of the bed and make her way to join him. Since Addie was obviously awake and would insist on hearing what his fellow deputy had to say, Judson went ahead and took the call on speaker.
“We might have a problem,” Rory said, and Judson heard the concern in his voice. “One of the hands, Calvin Hawkins, is patrolling near the front fence, and he says he saw a light in the barn across the road.”
Hell. That was the spot where the sniper had set up for the first attack against Addie and him.
“I checked with the CSI head just to make sure it wasn’t one of his guys returning to have another look around,” Rory added a moment later. “And it’s not. It’s also not any of the other deputies. Of course, it could be some lookie-loo poking around where they shouldn’t, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“What do you need us to do?” Judson asked.
“Just stay put for now…” Rory stopped. “Incoming text from Calvin.” A second later, Rory cursed. “Take cover,” he blurted. “Calvin says there’s someone in the barn, and he’s pretty sure the person has a rifle.”
ARIFLE.
The words punched through Addie and had both her heart and her body racing back into the bedroom to get the babies. She had to get them to the bathroom before the shooter started firing.
Again.
It would be like the earlier attack. Bullets slamming into the house and possibly tearing through the walls. And just like before, the babies would be in grave danger. She had to protect them.
The girls were still sleeping, but she scooped up Lily anyway. Addie had reached into the bassinet to do the same to Rose just as there was a frantic knock on the door. That set Lily to start crying, and Judson hurried to the door to answer it. The moment it was open, Etta Jean rushed in.
“I heard Bennie say there could be a shooter in the barn,” Etta Jean blurted. The panic and fear were evident in both her expression and her body language. She rushed to the second bassinet and gathered Rose up in her arms.
“There is,” Addie confirmed. But she had to guess that the person was still getting in place since there hadn’t been any shots fired yet.
“Rory and Calvin are moving closer to the barn,” Judson let them know when he finished his call with Rory. “They both have rifles, too, and they’ll see if they can get a visual on the person. And maybe take him or her out.”
