Judge arrived before I finished sending the full file, his motorcycle announcing him from the driveway. He came into the office carrying his tablet beneath one arm and watched the footage twice, understanding the meaning without either of us needing to explain. “Combine this with everything else and Raines should have enough for a warrant on Kessler’s yard.”
“Should?” Jacqueline asked, slipping her hand into mine as she looked from Judge to the image frozen on the monitor.
“Judges enjoy making simple shit sound complicated.” The hard satisfaction in his face said he already believed the evidence would clear the threshold. “Raines still has to lay it out cleanly, but this gives him the direct connection he’s been missing.”
We met the sheriff at Black Castle later that evening, keeping the conversation brief while Judge organized the notebook entries, camera footage, recovered loader, and evidence from the attacks into an affidavit the county attorney couldn’t weaken through incompetence. Raines confirmed that he would contact the on-call judge and hopefully have authorization to execute the warrant in the next couple of days.
Jacqueline sat beside me on the drive home with her hand resting beneath mine on the console, quiet but no longer carrying the restless frustration that had followed every dead end. I told her exactly what Raines planned because I’d promised to keep her informed, and she squeezed my fingers while the lights from the ranch appeared beyond the next rise.
18
JACQUELINE
Ihadn’t stopped looking at the clock all day. After everything Wade had already pulled, I felt like we were waiting for more bad news from Bex’s dad, and it had left me on edge.
Brogan finally stood and wrapped his hand around my wrist to gently tug me to my feet. “C’mon.”
“Where are we going?”
He led me away from the couch and toward the bedroom I had come to think of as ours. “Gonna give you something else to think about.”
A sensual shiver raced down my spine. “That sounds like a great idea to me.”
My focus was wholly on Brogan when he spread me out on the mattress, his big body covering mine completely. He braced himself on his forearms so he wouldn’t crush me, but I still felt surrounded by him. The solid weight of him settled between my thighs felt so right that I couldn’t help the soft sound that slipped from my throat. “There’s my good girl.”
“Brogan,” I whispered.
“I’ve got you, baby.”
He kissed me until I was breathless, his mouth moving over mine as his tongue stroked between my lips. I arched up into him, my fingers sliding into his short hair. Every time I made a little noise, he answered with a low rumble in his chest that vibrated through me. By the time he finally lifted his head, my lips felt swollen and I was aching for more.
He stared down at me, his steel-gray eyes filled with something softer than lust. “I hate that Otis is gone. That I’ll never get to thank him properly for the man he helped me become. But I’m also lucky as fuck to have you in my life now. Never thought I’d have something this good.”
I lifted one hand and traced the line of his jaw, feeling the faint scrape of stubble against my fingertips. “I think Grandpa would be happy for us. He always wanted me to find someone who would love this place as much as he did. A man who would want to take care of me.”
Brogan’s lips tilted into a crooked grin. The expression softened the hard angles of his face in a way that made my stomach flutter. “As much as Otis liked me, he probably would’ve aimed that old shotgun of his at my chest for daring to touch his beloved granddaughter.”
I twined both arms around his neck and tugged him a little closer, teasing, “How about we stick to me touching you then?”
His eyes flashed with heat. “Hell no. I can’t keep my hands off you.”
To prove it, he glided one big palm down the center of my chest, right between the valley of my breasts. The slow drag of his hand sent a delicious shiver racing through me.
I arched into his touch. “What about your mouth?”
Brogan’s grin turned wicked. After quickly stripping us out of our clothes, he dipped his head and tugged one of my nipples between his teeth with just enough pressure to make me gasp.The sharp little zing shot straight through my body, directly to my core.
My back bowed off the mattress, and one of my hands flew to the back of his head. I held him close as he soothed the slight sting with the flat of his tongue before closing his lips around the tightened peak and sucking.
Every pull of his mouth sent another ripple of pleasure rolling through me. He switched to the other breast, giving it the same attention, and I felt myself growing wetter. My hips shifted restlessly beneath him, seeking friction, but he kept me pinned with the weight of his body while he took his time.
When he started to kiss his way down my body, both of my nipples were tight and glistening from his mouth. He dragged open-mouthed kisses along my ribs, then across the quivering plane of my stomach.
Every so often, he paused to suck a small mark into my skin, making me gasp and squirm beneath him.
“Look at you, all flushed and restless for me already. Fuck, baby, you’re so damn perfect.”
I couldn’t form a coherent reply. My fingers were tangled in the sheets, body tightening with every inch he traveled lower. When he finally wedged his shoulders between my thighs, the intensity of his stare made me even wetter.
