Page 9 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

Kissing Abril to silence her protests had seemed like a good idea when it struck Crispin. Actually, it had seemed like a good

excuse to be able to kiss her, which he’d wanted to do since joining her at the window. But he’d meant it to be a quick kiss

before he left to tend to Lilith. Unfortunately, he hadn’t accounted for life mate attraction. Of course, like all immortals,

he’d heard of life mate attraction; about how powerful it was. That it was all-consuming. Overwhelming even. But having never

experienced it himself before this, he’d assumed the stories were exaggerated.

They were not. Crispin couldn’t stop with a quick kiss.

He did try to end it and raise his head, but the moment he did, Abril let out a breathy little sigh and he was lost. His mouth returned to hers at once, catching the tail end of her sigh in his mouth as he covered hers again.

He did manage not to overwhelm her with his suddenly raging passion.

He had just enough self-control to slow himself and give her a long, lingering, very deep kiss.

But that control snapped when Abril moaned, slid her fingers into his hair to clasp his head, and arched her body into his invitingly.

Groaning, Crispin let Lilith’s leash slip from his fingers so that he could slide his hands around Abril; the fingers of one

spreading on her back, while the other grasped her bottom to urge her closer. Once he had her plastered against him, Crispin

held her there with the hand on her ass, and brought the other around to find one breast through her clothes as he thrust

his tongue into her mouth.

It felt amazing. Her body was hot and soft against his, her mouth eager and welcoming as she kissed him back with as much

hunger as he was experiencing, and that was doubling by the minute as it bounced between them. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted

more. He wanted all of her. He wanted to rip her clothes off, kiss every inch of her, lift her onto the washing machine and—

The acrid smell of urine interrupted his thoughts and had Crispin freezing, his mouth breaking from hers as his brain struggled

to think clearly enough to sort out an explanation for the unpleasant scent. Surely, she hadn’t—

“Lilith!” Abril gasped with horror and was suddenly twisting out of his arms.

Releasing her, Crispin watched blankly as she ran to the dog, grabbed her leash and tried to pull the Labrador from where

she was presently relieving herself... On Abril’s muddy clothes.

Thoughts suddenly clearing, Crispin cursed himself and crossed the room.

Taking the leash from Abril, he hurried Lilith toward the door, saying apologetically, “This is my fault. I should have taken her outside right away as intended. Leave the mess. I will put your clothes in the wash when I get back.”

He didn’t wait for a response, but hurried Lilith through the house to the front door and outside.

“There you are. I was just coming in to talk to you.”

Crispin paused on the steps at those words from his partner, and then followed Lilith down to the walkway. The Lab immediately

tried to head to the left, toward the excavation site, but he reined her in and instead made her go to the right and the undisturbed

grass waiting there.

“What were you coming to talk to me about?” Crispin asked as he walked Lilith toward that side of the house, as far away from

the muddy hole as possible.

“They have finished with the preliminary report and pictures and have started on uncovering the skeletons,” Roberts informed

him. “While doing so, they’ve uncovered part of what might be a fourth skeleton if the hands are not from it and the first

skull.”

“So, there are either two skeletons that have been cut into pieces and strewn around, or four skeletons,” Crispinus said solemnly.

He considered that briefly and then said. “It will be four skeletons.”

“Yes,” Roberts agreed. “The bones are all five feet down. It’s hard to imagine anyone digging several holes that deep just

to bury hands here, skulls there, etc. We either have a mass murder here, or the victims of a serial killer.”

Crispin nodded and glanced toward the excavation site as someone climbed out carrying a medium-sized plastic drum he knew would contain the dirt and particulates from around the skeletons they were working on. “Do they think four will be the end number?”

“They do not yet know,” Roberts admitted, glancing back as well.

“Do they have any idea how long the bodies have been down there?”

Roberts shook his head. “Not yet. Bill says he will not know until he gets them back to the lab.”

“According to the sales contract, the house was built in the late nineties,” Crispin told him.

“Then the bodies went in after that,” Roberts decided. “They usually dig out wider than the foundation when building a house,

and all the bones Lilith dug up were close to the wall.”

Crispin grunted agreement.

“Where is Abril?” Roberts asked suddenly.

“Inside.” Seeing the question in his partner’s gaze, he explained, “Her coat was in the washer and needed to go in the dryer

before she could wear it. She was going to bring out Lilith herself anyway, even without a coat, but I insisted on doing it

rather than see her out here in the cold, coatless.”

“Ah.” Roberts hesitated, and then asked. “What are you going to do?”

“About what?” he asked warily.

“About her being your life mate.”

Crispin gave a half laugh. “What do you think I am going to do? I am going to woo her.”

“How?”

“How?” Crispin echoed with confusion, and then simply stared at his partner, because honestly, he had no answer to the question. He hadn’t dated in centuries, millennia even. He had no idea how modern women liked to be wooed.

“I am not sure,” he confessed finally, and then added, “Suggestions would be appreciated.”

Alarm crossed his partner’s face and then Alexander shook his head. “You are on your own here, my friend. I have not wooed

a woman in more than two centuries and have no idea how to go about it myself in this modern era. I have no advice to give.”

“Great,” Crispin muttered, thinking that he was screwed then.

Abril stared at the empty doorway Detective Delacort had disappeared through and forced herself to take deep breaths. Her

body was in complete chaos at the moment; tingling, wet, and wanting. And it was all Delacort’s fault. The man was one hell

of a kisser. In fact, she couldn’t recall a single experience in her past where a simple kiss had affected her as much as

the two or three minutes in Detective Delacort’s arms had.

She frowned to herself at the thought. Detective Delacort? Dear God, she didn’t even know the man’s first name. Closing her

eyes briefly as she squirmed inwardly with shame, Abril counted to ten to try to calm herself, and then counted to ten again

before giving it up and picking up her coat. She had apparently dropped it while he was kissing her.

She tossed it into the dryer. A fabric softener sheet followed. She closed the door and turned the machine on, then surveyed the muddy clothes in the corner that Lilith had abused.

Part of her just wanted to throw the items out, but good sense made her open the washer door and cross the room to collect

the pile of soiled clothes. Nose wrinkling with disgust at the acrid scent coming off the items, she straightened her arms

to hold them as far away as she could, and picked up speed to get them in the washer and away from herself as quickly as possible.

Abril slammed the door closed and was just putting the laundry detergent into the dispenser drawer when the house phone began

ringing. She quickly closed the drawer and turned on the washer before hurrying out of the laundry room and rushing up the

hall to the living room to answer the phone there with a breathless, “Hello?”

“Oh, thank heavens! I was starting to worry. I tried your cell first, called twice and didn’t get an answer, so tried the

house phone. If you hadn’t answered I was going to call the police for a wellness check.”

“Gina,” Abril breathed, dropping to sit on the couch. “Sorry. I was in the laundry room and my cell phone is in the kitchen.

I didn’t hear it ringing.”

“The laundry room?”

She wasn’t surprised at the query in her boss’s voice. Gina had only left the morning before, and Abril had only stayed since

the night before that. It would seem odd that she’d need to do laundry already, and what else would she be doing in the laundry room?

“Yeah,” she said now. “I let Lilith loose to run around the yard while I was talking to you earlier and she decided to explore the excavated area. It had rained after the men left, the ground was muddy, she was digging and was filthy by the time I got off the phone and found her there. Then she... dug up a bone,” she finally settled on.

It was the truth, just not the whole truth, but would do for now.

There was no sense upsetting Gina during her vacation, she told herself as she continued, “Lilith wouldn’t come when I called and I fell in the mud while trying to get her.

In the end, we were both chocolate brown all over, both needed a bath, and my coat and clothes needed washing. Hence why I was in the laundry room.”

“Oh no! You poor thing,” Gina said sympathetically. “Well, there’s nothing urgent that needs taking care of today. You take

the rest of the day off, make yourself a tea, put your feet up, and watch a movie cuddled up with Lilith on the couch.”

Abril glanced at her watch to see that it was only 3:00. She usually worked until 6:00. Actually, she usually worked until

well past 6:00, but the point was she’d already wasted two hours today with the police and whatnot—she blushed as she recalled

the “whatnot” she’d enjoyed with Detective Delacort in the laundry room, and then pushed the memory aside and said, “Thank

you, Gina, but that’s not necessary. I still have a couple of things I wanted to get done today and—”