Turning, I waited as he turned back into the hardass that would kill me if I looked at him the wrong way. “Yeah?”
“This stays between us. If this gets around town?—”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m well aware of how gossip can ruin your life.”
Shutting the back door,I strode into the kitchen, nearly getting bowled over by Wes as he grabbed an apple off the counter and headed for the stairs.
“Hey, dinner’s in ten!” I shouted, not sure if that was true.
I sniffed the air, glancing around for any sign that Blake had cooked something, but the counters were disturbingly empty. It was as if she hadn’t even come into the kitchen all day.
“Babe?” I called out, heading for the bedroom.
As I wandered through the living room and past the floating staircase, I glanced up to find Wes’s door shut. I expected to find her in our bedroom, spread out on the bed with her investigation, but that was empty as well.
“Babe!” I called out again, wondering where the hell she was.
“Here!”
I rolled my eyes. That was a rather vague location descriptor. Here could literally be anywhere in this gigantic house. The guys may have gone overboard when they built it, but I wasn’t going to complain, seeing as how they blew up the last one.
I wandered down the still unfamiliar hall to the laundry room, sidetracking at the spare room to the right. Shoving open the door, I found what could only be described as a murder wall, complete with strings pinned from a gigantic hand-drawn map taped to the wall.
And sitting in an office desk chair in front of it all was my tenacious wife. Swiveling back and forth, she studied it like it would give her answers if she waited long enough.
“Is there a reason you moved in here?”
“Um…needed more space,” she muttered, not bothering to look at me.
“To create a murder wall?”
“Timeline,” she answered, again, not turning to face me.
Sighing, I walked around her and rested my hands on the arms of her chair, finally snagging her attention. “Babe, when was the last time you ate anything?”
Little frown lines appeared between her brows as she finally looked out the window and noted the darkness. Shoving to her feet, I stepped back, giving her ample space.
“What time is it?”
“Time for you to stop staring at this creepy layout.”
I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room, down the hall, past the living room, and into the kitchen, where I hoisted her up onto the counter. “Stay.”
“Yes, sir,” she mocked.
“Seriously, when was the last time you ate?”
“Jeff brought me food around noon,” she grinned. “Did you think I wasn’t taking care of myself?”
“I think you’re so wrapped up in this case that you forgot basic things like eating, brushing your hair, taking ashower…”
She raised her arm and sniffed, grimacing at the smell. “I brushed my hair this morning.”
My eyes drifted to the ball of messy hair on top of her head.
“Okay, I pulled it out of my face. What’s your point?”
“Nothing at all,” I grinned. How the hell could I be mad with this infuriating woman when she was so damn adorable? Instead, I pulled out a frozen pizza and preheated the oven.
