Page 127 of Fire Fight

Completely fucking ass over boots for this woman.

I loved her.

But I didn’t think I could tell her, not yet, not if I wanted any chance at keeping her.

“When you got home, we got…distracted before you could really fill me in on the call at the Lees.”

Home.

I loved the way she said it, like this place was hers as much as it was mine. Like we were building something here together. And goddamnit, I hoped we were. I wanted that more than my next breath.

I snuggled her closer. After driving her to her third orgasm—though I’d teased her long enough that the force of them probably made her body feel like she’d climaxed three hundred times—we cleaned up and tugged on comfy clothes before crawling back into bed. I had yet to sleep, but we did need to talk about the fire first.

“Have you told anyone besides me who contacted you?” I asked.

She shook her head, her hair scratching against the stubble on my chin. “Not that I can think of. I’ve spoken to Ginny a decent amount about the victims, but nothing in detail. When Lane asked, I told him it was privileged information. Do you think…”

Her body stiffened, and she jolted upright.

“What is it?”

“Do you think the killer has my phone tapped or something?”

My breath stalled in my chest, and I rolled my lips between my teeth as I considered that.

“Where’s your phone?” I whispered.

“The living room,” she replied at a normal volume, and I relaxed.

The last thing I wanted was some creepy fucker listening in on Aspen and I having sex. But…this was only one of many times, and her phone hadn’t always been in another room.

A shiver wracked my body, a matching one racing through hers as she came to the same conclusion. Fuck, what a disgusting invasion of privacy.

“I’m going to call Trey,” I said. “Have him come check it out.”

Aspen nodded, seeming a million miles away as I got off the bed and sifted through the abandoned clothing on the floor in search of the pants I had on earlier. I found them, and thus my phone, and dialed my brother.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Trey asked.

“I needed to unwind after a long night first.”

My brother snorted. “Right,” he said knowingly.

I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of confirming his suspicion, not when I was still irritated with him for making a pass at Aspen. But I needed his help, so I bit the bullet and plowed ahead.

“Can you do me a favor and come over? There was a fire at the Lees’ place last night, and, well…it’s a lot to explain. I’ll fill you in when you get here, but we need your tech skills.”

“Sure. Give me thirty.”

When I turned back to the bed, I blinked slowly in confusion to find Aspen wasn’t there. Instead, she paced back and forth at its side, gnawing on the skin around her thumb.

A habit she reverted back to when she was extremely stressed, and I only knew because she’d told me so, not because I’d ever witnessed it firsthand. Things had never been this bad, not since I’d pulled her out of the fire. Her car was replaceable, the dumpster an obvious taunt, but burning down the Lees’ family home was on a whole new level.

This fucker was escalating, wearing both of us down, my girl most of all.

Crossing the room to her, I placed my hands on her shoulders to stop her.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on?”