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Jasper released her hand, but she did not lower it.

She didn’t pull away. Leo grazed her fingertips against his cheek, touching the scruff that he would shave come morning.

Her fingers drew down, lightly over his healing split lip, to the tip of his chin.

He remained motionless as a statue, his dark green eyes locked on hers.

He closed the scant inches remaining between them, and with a heady rush of wonder, Leo raised her mouth to meet his.

Gently, Jasper’s lips touched hers. He paused, lingering against her mouth, leaving her a chance to change her mind.

For the barest moment, she considered it.

But at the first true stroke of his lips, at the pressure of his hand at the nape of her neck, Leo leaned in.

She’d once endured an unskilled and uninvited kiss from a police constable, whom she had escaped by promptly stomping on his foot.

But this … This kiss was poles apart from that.

Jasper’s mouth moved slowly against hers, the spice of whisky on his lips and his familiar scent of oakmoss and cedarwood enveloping her.

Leo wanted to sink into it, let it consume her.

Why hadn’t she kissed him before now? Why had it taken her so long to realize she wanted to?

With a desperate tug, Jasper drew her body flush against his.

The hard wall of his chest and abdomen set off a firestorm of sensation inside her, and the sparks were as exhilarating and dangerous as their kiss.

The tender nudge of his mouth became more persistent, and a faint warning struggled to be heard from the back of her mind.

Such a galvanizing kiss wasn’t proper. Not when they were in his home, entirely alone.

Before, it hadn’t mattered if they were unchaperoned.

But now, the impatient fusion of their lips changed everything.

Especially since Leo did not wish to end the kiss at all.

It was the very reason why she pushed against his chest and broke away.

Jasper’s unfocused eyes snapped to attention, and he blinked, clearing the banked desire from them. “I’m sorry,” he said reflexively. “I’ve offended you, I’m?—”

“No.” Leo backed up, colliding with the arm of the Chesterfield. Her mouth felt swollen and hot. She touched her lips with her fingertips and found her hand was trembling. “You haven’t, not at all. I just…I didn’t realize…”

At her hesitation, he took a stride toward her, bringing him close enough for her to touch again. Leo, however, kept her hands behind her, braced against the arm of the sofa. “What didn’t you realize?” he whispered. “That I wanted to kiss you?”

She lost her breath, and the momentary lack of oxygen was surely the reason for her shameless reply. “No. I didn’t realize how much I wanted you to, until you were.”

Jasper reached for her, but with a hard thud of her pulse, she moved to the side. “I can’t. We shouldn’t.”

Disoriented, she turned to find her coat and hat. Her legs had the odd feeling of being attached to her body incorrectly.

“I’m sorry, Jasper. I need time to think,” she said haltingly, her voice trembling in an unfamiliar manner. “I want to forgive you, and a part of me already has, but…”

But she’d just barely reopened the door to him as a friend, as someone she could trust again.

“Of course. I understand,” he said, his voice hoarse as she collected her things from the chair behind the Inspector’s desk. Jasper’s desk. This was his home now. The urge to stay, to set aside her uncertainty and kiss him again, was both foolish and perilously enticing.

“I’ll hail you a cab,” he said, but Leo shook her head on her way toward the study’s door.

“I’ll be fine on my own,” she replied, her heart racing and her lips tingling.

“Leo.” He followed her into the corridor where he gently took her elbow. “Wait.”

After a steadying breath, she turned to face him. Her mutinous eyes went straight to his mouth. He pressed his lips together, then softened them in hesitation.

“You may not know what to think right now, but I do. Kissing you wasn’t a mistake.” Jasper’s fingers slipped lightly from her forearm to her hand. “Take whatever time you need, but may I ask one thing?”

Leo’s resolve flagged under the ache of his yearning gaze. Her pulse continued to sputter, and when she nodded, the motion was stilted.

“These last few months not talking to you, not seeing you have been hellish. Can you find it in your heart not to take as long this time around to speak to me again?”

A small grin teased the corner of his mouth, and she met it with a bashful smile of her own. She tensed her fingers around his in a reassuring squeeze. “I won’t, I promise.”

When Jasper released her hand and took a long step backward rather than closer to her, she didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed.

“Goodnight, Leo.”

Releasing her pent-up breath, she walked swiftly to the foyer and out the front door, shutting it behind her. Spring evening air cooled her flushed cheeks as she hurried in the direction of the cabstand, her mind whirling.

Exactly how to feel about Jasper Reid eluded her, but she knew one thing for certain: She’d never again be able to set foot inside 23 Charles Street without reliving that kiss.

Thank you for reading Courier of Death , the third book in the Spencer & Reid Mysteries!

Please leave a rating and review on Amazon to help other readers discover the series.

Leo and Jasper’s next book, Cloaked in Deception , releases in September 2025.