Page 34 of Smoky Mountain K-9
He kept walking until he was within touching distance. “Do you want me all night?”
The heat in her eyes grew, and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
Carter’s pants grew tight as he swelled behind his fly. “Then, yeah. You get me all night.”
She held his gaze a moment longer, before quickly spinning away and marching over to the fridge. “Well, then, let’s get you fed. You’re going to need the energy.”
He bit his tongue to stop himself from telling her to forget the food—that he’d eat later. But he didn’t want their relationship to be all about sex.
Clearing his throat, he pulled out a seat at the island and sat down. “So, did you get your feed situation sorted out?”
Mara grimaced as she dumped the ingredients for his sandwich on the other side of the island. “Kind of. Brooke got her dad to donate enough to get us through the next few days. I put in calls to all the other places I order from. But it’s the weekend, so no one has called me back yet. We’re good until Tuesday. After that—well, I’m trying not to think about how many calls I’ll have to make and the overnight shipping charges I’ll have to pay if I can’t source grain and hay locally by then. Although, hay isn’t really the problem. I know I can get that once I can get someone to call me back. But I have a few horses that really need the grain or they drop weight quickly.” She slathered butter on two slices of bread as she talked, then laid one in a skillet before adding cheese and the other slice of bread.
“Did you contact your insurance company?”
Mara turned, leaning her back against the counter and bracing her hands on either side of her hips. “Yeah. The claims process is rolling. Hopefully, it won’t take too long. Did you hear any more about who may have done this?”
Carter blew out a breath. “No. All the facility cameras caught was a hooded figure picking the lock on the back door. The person was slight, so they think it might have been a woman.”
“What? A woman? Seriously?”
He nodded. “Have you fired anyone lately? Or had a disgruntled patient? Or the parent of a patient?”
“The officer in charge of the scene asked me the same questions. No. I can’t think of anyone who would have it out for either the center or for me, personally, except Scott Sears. But he’s not slender enough or small enough to be mistaken for a woman.” She pushed away from the counter and opened a drawer, taking out a spatula. Using it to lift the edge of the bread, she checked the bottom, then let it back down.
Carter watched her, mulling over the case. It struck him as odd that three vandalism incidents in the same week were random. Especially when two of the three involved Mara. Even the paint incident could involve her, since it was in the same location as another one.
Like a hammer to the head, it hit him that the common denominator might not be Mara. It might be him. But he didn’t have any better of an idea about who could be out to get him than she did. He was certain there were people out there he’d put away on the job who would love to do him harm, but no names were coming to mind. Not that fit the description of the person in the video, anyway. Tomorrow, he would go through his old cases and talk to Ben. Maybe they could figure out a suspect pool. Something needed to give before someone—namely Mara—got hurt. If this was about him, she was caught in the crossfire—a place he didn’t want her to be.
“What’s that look?”
“Huh?” Carter snapped out of his thoughts.
She held up the spatula and pointed it at his face, waving it in a small circle. “The look on your face—what is it? You looked like you were thinking hard about something.”
“Oh. Yeah. It just hit me that this might be about me.”
“You?” She frowned. “Why would they target my horses, then?”
“I don’t know. But the first two incidents happened at my house. One of them you weren’t even there for.”
“Right, but you weren’t at the equestrian center, either.”
“No, but I visited there.” He paused as he thought about his previous visit. “Did your stable hand make bail?” Even if he was too large to be the person on camera, it didn’t mean he wasn’t there, or that he hadn’t convinced someone else to break in.
Mara’s eyebrows dipped. “I don’t know. It could be him, but he doesn’t fit the description.”
Another thought struck Carter. “And the first incident was before I busted him.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Never mind. I guess he’s not our guy.”
“It’s possible that one is unrelated. It could have just been a local kid, out causing mischief.”
“Maybe.” She lifted the corner of his sandwich again, then flipped it. Butter sizzled as the other side heated. “I just hope someone figures it out before more happens. I’m worried next time someone will get hurt.”
He walked up behind her and curled his hands over her shoulders. “I’ll do some digging tomorrow. See if I can’t shake something loose. But tonight, I refuse to think about it anymore.”
She turned her head, bringing her lips within inches of his. Carter couldn’t resist the pull and kissed her. Somehow, he held onto his restraint, and gentled the kiss. Lifting his head, he sighed. “That sandwich almost done?”