Page 101 of See You There

Luke arched an eyebrow at her.

“I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts. I don’t have much of a social life.”

Luke shook his head. “That is slightly terrifying.”

“True crime is the number one growing hobby in this country.”

“Really? Is that a verifiable fact?”

She scrunched her nose. “Probably?” Luke squeezed her. “They are very informative. If he was being poisoned with antifreeze, they would probably have caught it. It’s very popular with poisoners these days. People put it in sports drinks or smoothies because it’s so sweet. But this other lady was being poisoned by her husband with thallium. It’s this heavy metal poison but you can buy it on the internet. It’s nuts. Anyway, he did it slowly, putting it in her food so it looked like she had some sort of stomach problem.”

Luke tensed beneath her.

“One of her doctors apparently specialized in thallium poisoning, and that’s the only reason the guy got caught. It’s hard to detect, and because it kills so slowly, it’s often mistakenfor a virus. There is an antidote… blue something—but it’s so rare they couldn’t get it in time, and his wife died.”

“What?”

Luke was staring at her with a horrified expression.

“I’m sorry. I was rambling, and you were talking about your dad. I shouldn’t—”

“My father’s illness started with stomach problems,” Luke said, his face going pale. “Our old housekeeper told Declan that our father wouldn’t eat or drink anything unless she prepared it.”

Dahlia’s heart pounded. “He thought he was being poisoned?”

Luke nodded. “That’s why my sister Cara confronted Dr. Keller at her mother’s wedding a few months ago. It was just after that Mrs. Woodson, the housekeeper, was killed in a home invasion. Then, Dr. Keller said he wanted to talk to me. I think he was afraid Courtney was killing people to cover her tracks.”

“So, hewasn’tthe one poisoning your dad?”

Luke didn’t answer. This time, when his hands gripped her hips, he was successful in setting her on the sofa next to him.

“I need to call my brothers.” He looked back at her as he grabbed his phone from the kitchen. “And Brady. Don’t worry about Victor. I’ll handle him. What did you say those poisons were?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The next morning,a crashing sound awakened Luke and he bolted upright on the sofa.

“Dahlia?” he yelled.

“I’m fine.”

Luke followed the sounds of Dahlia’s cursing to the closed bathroom door. He heard loud rustling, a bang and then more cursing.

“Do you need help in there?”

He heard a loud groan, and the door suddenly swung inward, and all the moisture disappeared from his mouth. Dahlia stood in front of him in a pink camisole and boy-shorts, her nipples clearly visible through the thin fabric. Her hair was sleep tousled, her creamy skin flushed. Their eyes locked and electricity flowed between them.

Luke had a vision of plunging his hands into the thick auburn mass and kissing her plump coral lips. Her tongue flicked out to wet her lower lip, her gaze falling to his groin. Dahlia’s cheeks flamed even as her nipples pebbled, and Luke hardened under her perusal.

“I… um… it…” She jerked her eyes away and motioned over her shoulder to where the bar and shower curtain had fallen.

“I’ll fix it,” Luke said, doing his best not to stare at her delicious curves.

Dahlia stepped back to let him pass, but the door was too narrow. For a second, they moved in an awkward dance until Luke took a step back, and Dahlia moved past him, studiously avoiding his eyes. Luke would have laughed except he made the mistake of turning to watch her walk away, the sleep shorts hugging her ass.

He swallowed hard and stepped into the bathroom. Concentrate on the shower curtain. Don’t think about…

“I barely touched it,” Dahlia called from the doorway.