“Thanks,” he said. “I’m okay for now.” Though he could certainly use a little false courage. “I just . . . I wanted to talk to you about what happened last time.”
Her cheeks flushed prettily. With her dark hair and big blue eyes, Brittany was a beautiful woman. Sweet, too. A schoolteacher. He had known her since college, had always liked and respected her.
“Would you like to sit down?” she asked.
He couldn’t look away from those pretty blue eyes. He opened his mouth and his brains fell out. “I’d like to take you to bed. That’s what I wanted to do the last time I was here. I haven’t thought of anything else since I walked out the door that night.”
“Oh,” she said, and suddenly he felt like a fool.
“Damn, I’m sorry. Really. I don’t know why I said that. I shouldn’t have come. I apologize for being so forward. I hope you’ll forgive—”
Her kiss cut off his words. Britt looped her arms around his neck, went up on her toes, and just kept kissing him.
A low groan escaped as Cole hauled her against him and deepened the kiss, tasting the sweetness that seemed to pour right out of her. The smell of spring flowers drifted up and his arousal strengthened. He’d been a fool to leave before. No matter what happened, he wasn’t leaving again.
Lifting her into his arms, he carried her into the bedroom and set her on her feet next to the bed. “I want you, honey. I want you so damned much.”
“Oh, Cole, I want you, too.”
“Are you sure? If . . . if it bothers you, I’ll understand.”
She cupped his face between her hands. “You have no idea, do you? You have no idea what an incredible man you are. Take me to bed, Cole Wyman. Put me out of my misery.”
Cole felt his mouth edging into a smile. It was the last thing he’d expected. “You sure?”
“Are you kidding?” She kissed him again and he kissed her back until both of them were breathing fast and he was so hard he ached.
After that, everything just seemed to fall into place. Two cogs fitting perfectly together, two people made just for each other.
Everything is going to be okay, he thought as he lay beside her, words that hadn’t entered his head since that terrible explosion in the desert.Everything is going to be okay.
And as Brittany snuggled against him as if she belonged there, Cole believed it.
Chapter Thirty-One
Linc was worried. His brother was in considerable danger and there wasn’t a lot more he could do. He’d called Quinn Taggart and pressed him for details on the murders of Josh’s two marine buddies. Quinn had broken protocol and reluctantly filled him in.
Linc had also talked to Deke Logan. He had used the spec ops soldier turned security pro when he and Carly had been threatened by a drug lord. Linc trusted Deke, hired him to set up a security team around the property twenty-four /seven. But two thousand acres was a big chunk of land. There was always a chance the killer could get through.
He couldn’t do much more about protection, but he could do something about Damon Bridger. This morning he’d phoned Ross Townsend, the PI he had working in Phoenix.
According to Ross, Bridger’s alibi held up. There was nothing to connect Damon to the abduction of Lisa Shane or the murder of the redheaded waitress, no reason to believe he had anything to do with either of them.
But as Linc suspected and Townsend was soon able to confirm, Tory Bradford wasn’t the first woman Damon had abused.
Townsend had convinced one of Bridger’s victims to come forward, a cocktail waitress who had met Damon at the nightclub where she worked, a place called the Peacock. Suzy Solomon had agreed to talk to Aaron Guinness, the attorney Nate Temple worked with in Phoenix. Guinness was filing a civil suit for assault and battery on her behalf.
According to Suzy, Damon had seemed like the man of her dreams when they’d started dating, but after the first few weeks, he’d grown more and more possessive—and more and more violent.
Then late one night he’d shown up at her apartment. They’d argued and Bridger had used his fists to prove his point.
Suzy had refused to see him again and Damon had written her a five-hundred-dollar check to keep quiet. Afraid to go against him, Suzy had let the matter drop.
Apparently, she regretted her decision. With assurances that she would be provided with protection, she had agreed to the lawsuit. Townsend had found another woman who could probably be convinced to file charges, as well.
If things went according to plan, she wouldn’t need to bother.
Linc smiled as he leaned back in the chair behind his teakwood desk in the Dallas office.
