“To my place.”
“You sure that’s wise? I’ll know where you live, might get the wrong idea.”
“How else did you think we’d get there?”
Magnus’s smirk was wicked. “I was thinkin’ black hood over my head, trussed up in the trunk of a car.”
“I drive a truck.”
“That works, too. As long as you tie me down.”
Trey grinned. Yeah, he could like this one.
Simply because he could, Trey gripped Magnus’s jaw, leaned in, and kissed him. This time, he didn’t amp it up; instead, he leisurely explored his mouth, lightly licking his tongue, his teeth, letting his other hand glide down Magnus’s side, then dipping his fingers into the waistband of his jeans, jerking him closer.
“I will shred you,” Trey whispered. “That’s a promise.”
“Do your worst, cowboy.”
Trey pulled back, stared into his eyes. “I plan to.”
Chapter Nine
“Tesha, was that the right thing todo?” JJ asked the sleeping dog a short time after Baz walked out the door.
Watching him leave had been more difficult than she’d thought it would be. For whatever reason, she’d thought he would fight for her. For them. Instead, he did the same thing everyone else in her life did: walked away.
And fine, perhaps she was having a mini pity party in the here and now, because yes, he’d left at her request, merely doing what she wanted, so it wasn’t his fault. It was just that, deep in her heart, she’d hoped he would ignore her pleas for space and distance. Just once she wished someone would push back, demand that she listen to reason rather than walk away.
“It’s the right thing. Makin’ him leave … it’s the right thing to do,” she whispered, more to assure herself than to continue the conversation with Tesha.
JJ glanced at her computer screen one more time, sighed. No way would it benefit her to sit here another minute. As it was, her thoughts were elsewhere, her focus for shit, and every attempt she’d made to find Juliet Prince today had failed.
Maybe she should go to Moonshiners, have a couple of beers with Brantley and Reese. It would be the only way to avoid ringing in the new year alone.
Or perhaps she’d just go home, have some wine, and go to bed early. What did celebrating the new year get her, anyway?
JJ glanced at the full bowl of popcorn and the opened can of Orange Crush. She suddenly wasn’t in the mood for those either.
“All right, girl,” she finally said, pushing to her feet. “Let’s get you in the house.”
It only took a couple of minutes to gather her things, another few to let Tesha do her business then get her into the house and settled.
It wasn’t until she’d locked the front door and was off the porch that she realized Baz’s truck was still in the driveway, the detective sitting in the driver’s seat.
Son of a—
Her heart skipped a beat, but she ignored it. Thiswasfor the best. She had absolutely no business bringing Baz down, which she would do if she let him hang around any longer. It was inevitable. She brought everyone down with her mood swings and her self-loathing. Her father said it was her superpower.
As she clicked the key fob to unlock her little SUV, she wondered whether her father actually believed that made her feel any better about herself. Then again, she seriously doubted Joshua James cared. He did hate her. Both of her parents did. For whatever reason, they blamed her for her brother’s death. For years, they’d accused her of letting Jeremy down, not bothering to help him in his time of need, and because of that, according to them, he’d had no other way out, so he had taken his own life.
They couldn’t have been more wrong. About all of it.
Without looking at Baz’s truck, she reached for the door handle, fully intending to jump in and speed off. No sense making this night worse than it already was.
His window lowered. “JJ.”
She sighed, fingers curled under the door handle. So close.
