Page 138

I’m half-crying by the time I come again. He unties me only after I ask, and even as he reaches around me to do so, he presses a kiss to each side of my neck in the process, delaying my release.

He cleans us both up and kisses me one last time before he fixes my clothes and straightens his shirt.

“Back to work?” I ask breathlessly.

He smirks. “Eventually.”

I rest my head against his chest, my body melting into him, warm and sated.

His hands are clasped at my lower back, and mine finally roam free, smoothing over the back of his neck, the line of his jaw, the place between his shoulder blades where I know he holds all his tension.

I kiss him once more. Softer. Slower. Just to say thank you.

And then I lean forward again, forehead pressed to his collarbone, and let myself rest. Let myself be held.

This is what everything led to.

The peace in the aftermath. The knowing. The ease.

His fingers trace idle lines up my spine.

“So,” I murmur, cheek pressed to his shoulder. “Think we’ll get fired for that?”

He hums. “I’m tenured. You’re brilliant. We’re fine.”

“Besides,” I add, “we’ve solved some murders together. That has to count for something.”

He turns his head, rests it against mine, and says into my hair, “yeah. Something.”

Lila: Theo just suggested a date night where we each research a historical murder and then present our findings over wine. Is this foreplay now?

Calla: 100% yes. Peak forensic kink.

Serena: Please tell me you’re calling it Dead Sexy: A Presentation Series.

Lila: Oh my god. I am now.

Calla: You better send screenshots. I want fonts. I want citations. I want blood spatter analysis.

Serena: If you don’t end it with “and that’s why I’d get away with it,” what are we even doing here?

Lila: He said he’s genuinely concerned I could get away with murdering him, and that you’d help me cover it up, and then immediately launched into a five-minute lecture about chain of custody violations. Romance is alive and well.

Calla: Tell him to relax. None of us have been arrested… yet.

Serena: Speak for yourself. I got detained in an airport once because I forgot I had bone fragments in my carry-on.

Lila: Completely on brand.

Calla: This friendship is held together entirely by morbid curiosity.

Serena: And memes. Don’t forget the memes.

Lila: And questionable coping mechanisms.

Calla: We’re like a support group, but hotter.

Serena: And with better case notes.