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“I didn’t give him a chance, but I’m sure he’ll remind me at our next meeting.”
Finn asked, “Are you going to visit Dermott in prison? At least he confessed to all the slayings, and he’s working with the authorities in Europe and Asia to solve some of those cases.”
Disentangling her fingers from his, Jessica put her feet on the deck and stroked Bodhi’s back. There was a reason people used dogs for therapy. Petting Bodhi calmed her nerves enough to answer. “I don’t know if I can ever forgive him for taking Tiffany from me and killing allthose other women. It makes me ill to think we have the same mother.”
“But different fathers. Sounds like Dermott’s bio dad was a piece of work. Sometimes nature is stronger than nurture.”
She rubbed her tingling nose. “I’m not sure his adoptive family was all that nurturing.”
Finn snorted. “If you believe Dermott. He’s just like Plank, blaming everything on his upbringing for sympathy and understanding.”
She glanced up, her hand still on Bodhi’s back. “You’re still writing the book, even though your link to Plank, finding Tiffany’s body, has been blown out of the water?”
“That was an important hook, for sure. That’s how I got my agent interested in the book, but I’ve got an even better hook now—how I saved Tiffany’s sister from the Kitsap Killer who let Plank confess to his crime.” He laced his fingers together. “The stories are linked. My agent is happy—if you can be happy about murder.”
She drilled a knuckle into his biceps. “Oh, isthatwhy you’re dating me?
“Dating?” He placed his bottle on the deck and shifted his chair to face her. “Is that all we’re doing?”
A smile played over her lips. “Well, we keep getting interrupted. I think we’re destined to circle the flame.”
“Come over here.” Leaning forward, he lightly clasped her wrists and tugged her toward him. “I think I’m ready to jump into the fire.”
She stepped over Bodhi, who barely lifted his head, and sat in Finn’s lap, her legs swinging over the side of his chair. As he pulled her close and kissed her mouth, she feltthat spark she’d always felt for him. But this time there was nothing between them.
She murmured against his lips. “Let the inferno begin.”
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