She glared over her bruised shoulder. “Nope. Not at all.”
“We’ll see what we can do about that later, then.”
* * * *
Ronni finished dressing in a thick sweater and her faded jeans after a very hot shower, her entire body aching with an annoying set of tingles. Every time her legs moved, her sex clenched, and she fought a moan.
There wasn’t an inch of her that hadn’t been caressed, licked, or explored by Jared. The man, themale, had found nerves she hadn’t known existed.
Everywhere.
Her breasts felt heavy and full in the bra, and she wanted nothing better than to shrug out of the thing.
Instead, she slapped a smile on her face and gingerly made her way downstairs to the main living room. Mabel and Lance sat on the sofa, Olivia shared the love seat with Chalton, while Jared leaned against the doorframe, distrust darkening his features. Papers and manila files were scattered across the sofa table.
Mabel looked up, her blue eyes lightening with her smile. “Hi, there. Feeling better?”
Ronni caught herself. Heat filled her face. “Ah, well—”
“From the poisoning,” Olivia hastened to say. “I was just telling Mabel that it looks like your body fought the poison, and you’re going to be all right.”
Oh. Of course Mabel didn’t have a clue about the sex marathon. Ronni’s cheeks hurt, but she forced her smile wider. “Yes. I’m feeling much better.”
Lance narrowed his gaze in his detective look. “Are you sure? You’re moving funny.”
Jared coughed into his hand.
Ronni shot him a look. “I’m fine. Slipped on the ice earlier.”
“Come sit down.” Mabel patted the place next to her. “You’re not going to believe this. I found the original autopsy report on Walt, and there were contusions, showing he fought somebody right before death.”
Lance hissed out a breath and plunked his badge on the sofa. “Not going to need this.”
“Yes, you are,” Mabel countered, shoving her dark hair away from her pretty face. “We’re doing this the right way. You put that back.”
Lance stared at her for a moment and then slowly retrieved his badge.
“Good. There was also a puncture wound under the detective’s neck,” Mabel said, pointing to a series of pictures scattered on the papers. “He was definitely murdered.”
“Dr. Counts is in on it. Or he was bribed,” Lance said, fury in his voice.
Olivia nodded. “That makes sense, right? I mean, as a coroner with a medical degree, he’d know plenty about exotic poisons. Well, probably.”
Ronni gulped. “Yeah, and he hangs out at the cop bar as well as in our office sometimes. If he really wanted to poison me, it wouldn’t have been too difficult.”
“What does he have to do with missing drugs from lockup?” Lance asked grimly.
Who knew?
Chalton reached for a stack of papers. “We’re going through all the financials now, trying to find any sort of link to anybody. Nothing yet.”
Ronni grabbed a yellow pad of paper. “All right. I’ll go through this stack.”
Jared straightened. “The weather has finally let up, so I’m going to scout the property for threats.” He gestured for Ronni to follow him.
She frowned and did so, reaching the kitchen.
He brushed hair away from her face, his eyes warm. “You are moving stiffly. Are you all right?”
