He slid his hands down to her waist, wrapped them around the heavenly curve of her hips, and encouraged her as she moved onto his lap in the crowded space. His pulsed spiked to the point it hurt.
With the blessed warmth of her body on his, Andie came in for a series of lingering kisses, the silky heat of her mouth luring a moan from deep in his chest.
Showing.She was showing him how she felt instead.
This was a language he could speak. Trenton cupped her face as he returned her passion, consumed by the alluring touch of her tongue, the addictive taste of her lips, and the aching desire he sensed in every move.
Just as he began wishing they weren’t cramped up in the seat of his truck, Trenton realized it was probably better that they weren’t somewhere more comfortable. With their emotions as high as they were, who knew if they wouldn’t jump the gun and take things too far?
In the back of his mind, Trenton knew that a world of uncertainty awaited him. He wasn’t sure what lay in his future and he was even less certain of what lay in his past, but here and now, he had an incredible woman in his arms. Trenton would sink into the moment for a while longer, and try to forget about the rest.
Chapter 16
Andie’s heart raced to the point it hurt. There, resting on the coffee table before them, sat Trenton’s laptop. They’d opted for the floor—a rather thin rug resting over the hardwood while the fireplace warmed their backs.
“I’m doing it,” Trenton declared as he stared at the screen. The wordsBrewster, Missouriwere typed into the search bar, followed by the year of his birth. His finger hovered over the return key for a blink before coming down hard for one quick tap.
A small, gray circle appeared at the center of the screen.
A second later, the fresh data popped up on demand, filling the screen with dozens of bold print suggestions. Andie sped over the top heading, then the second one down, before dropping to the third, finding one common word in each headline:Murdered.
She scanned back up to the top line and read that one in completion.Young Couple Murdered In Their Brewster Missouri Home. An ache seeped into her racing heart, nearly bringing the rapid beat to an abrupt halt. So that was likely his parents. How awful.
She dropped her gaze to read the small print below, looking for any mention of the baby they left behind.
“Carmichael,” Trenton breathed. “Their names were Danny and Jill Carmichael. At least, I think that’s them. It must be. But why would Milton have a different last name if we’re supposed to be family? He said we’re related through my dad, so the last name should be the same.”
An answer shot to Andie’s mind like a bullet. “Maybe it’s a fake name. Maybe he was hiding.” That would explain his affinity for the relocation program too, not that she could mention that.
Trenton darted a look at her, his brow furrowed for a blink or two. “Maybe.” He turned his gaze back to the screen, scrolled slowly as he read over the article, and then slid the cursor up to the arrow and gave it a click. There, Trenton selected the next article down and began to read.
Andie did the same, remaining quiet as she took in as many details as she could. Inwardly, she was cautioning herself to be careful. This was delicate ground, after all. To her, it was all very clear; the man who’d raised Trenton had been hiding, the same way she and her brothers were now.
And hiding from dangerous people wasn’t a temporary thing—at least it wouldn’t be for them—and it must not have been for Milton McGrath either.
“Here’s a follow-up one,” Trenton blurted. “Uncle with criminal past might have inadvertently caused couple’s death.”
Andie followed along as he mumbled through the rest of the article.
Jack Carmichael, Danny’s older brother of fifteen years, had prior arrests in connection with the same Las Vegas drug ring officials tied to the crime scene. Further more, Sheriff Parson had this to say on the matter regarding the couple’s missing infant. “We originally suspected that the cold-blooded killers had run off with the infant as a possible ransom ploy, but after further investigation, we believe a third party stepped onto the murder scene before authorities arrived and fled with the baby. Whether or not that third party was the deceased’s older brother, we can’t yet say. But we can say that both the child and his uncle have gone missing, and that Mr. Jack Carmichael is a person of interest.”
“Person of interest,” Trenton said. “My mind is blown right now. If Jack is Milt, then he’s actually my uncle, not my granddad.”
Andie recalled a detail that stood out to her. “Your parents, assuming this is about you, were older too, for someone having a baby. It said they were thirty-eight and forty years old.”
Trenton’s brow furrowed. “And his brother was fifteen years older.” His fingers tapped against his knee as he counted under his breath. “That means he would have been fifty-five when I was born,” he said with a nod. “It matches. It’s twenty-eight years later, and Milt was eighty-three when he died.”
“Wow,” Andie said, digesting the detail for herself. “He was your uncle.”
He looked back at the screen, a guarded set in his features. “A person of interest. Does that mean they thought he did it?”
Andie shook her head. “Not necessarily. It could just mean that he had inside information that could help them find the killers.”
Trenton slid the cursor down to the next article. And then the next.
Andie couldn’t help but feel a special connection to Milton. A man who, as it turned out, used to be Jack Carmichael. In her mind, the story was unfolding quite clearly. He’d rescued Trenton and given him a good life.
But there was still one thing that didn’t make sense. Something that must have been bothering Trenton too.
