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T hey had rushed back to the apartment, pretending to the deputy on duty in the station that the reason they’d hurried back was the dropping temperatures and not their heated desire. Luckily, he’d been too busy binging a show on Netflix to notice anything about them. It was turning out to be another boring, quiet night in Harper.

Except for Lulu’s bedroom.

Once inside her apartment, she’d thought about stripping Kai’s clothes off in the living room but then had a brief moment of sanity. If Henry came home, she didn’t want to give him an eyeful of two buck-naked people doing naughty things to one another. He was a cool dude, but given their brother-and-sister relationship, it wouldn’t be pleasant for either of them to see the other engaged in sex.

Especially the really dirty kind, which she was hoping to have tonight.

Stumbling into her bedroom, Lulu shrugged her coat off while Kai did the same, tossing them carelessly on the floor. She ought to be freezing from their walk, but instead she was steaming hot, wanting to shed her clothes as quickly as possible to get some relief.

Kai must have felt the same, because his fingers were working at the buttons of his shirt before practically tearing it off in his haste.

“Easy,” she said, reaching for the button on his jeans. “I don’t want you to rip anything. We’ll get there. I promise.”

It was a promise she intended to keep.

Clothes were discarded without a second thought, and they fell onto her bed, kissing and exploring one another’s bodies. She was fascinated by how his skin felt under her palms, so different from herself, rougher and warmer. She loved how she could hear his swiftly indrawn breath when her fingertips brushed against him, already hard and ready.

His own questing fingers were busy cataloging her sighs and moans when he kissed or caressed an especially sensitive spot. His hands left a trail of fire wherever they went, amping up her own arousal until she thought she might scream from the overwhelming pleasure.

Her abdomen tightened as he pushed her already damp thighs apart and traced a pattern on the quivering flesh with his tongue. He continued his travels lazily, taking his sweet time despite her pleas.

“Now, Kai,” she whispered, her voice rough with need. “Now.”

Not waiting for him to react or reply, she pushed at his shoulder so that she could roll him onto his back. He didn’t protest in the least, a grin spreading on his far too handsome face. He raised his arms and pillowed his hands under his head, making himself quite comfortable.

“Tell me what you need,” Kai said. “I’ll make sure you get it.”

“Too much talk,” Lulu said, running her hands up and down his muscled torso before cupping him in her hands, drawing a tortured groan from his lips.

The first time with someone new was always a bit awkward.

Should I move my leg there? Should I play it cool? What if he thinks I’m a freak, and not the good kind?

With Kai, Lulu didn’t feel the pressure to be someone she wasn’t. She didn’t muffle her moans of pleasure, or even worse, pretend that she was feeling something that she wasn’t to bolster his ego. He wasn’t afraid to change up what he was doing based on her reactions, and she didn’t play orgasm games trying to win an Oscar for best actress while performing in a bedroom scene.

When they came together, it was tentative at first. Bracing her hands on his chest, she moved experimentally, watching his reactions when she swayed her hips to the left, then to the right, and back again.

Their breathing grew more ragged as they found the tempo that was going to launch them into the stars. Their groans and moans filled the steamy room, as X-rated shadows mimicked their movements on the wall with the moonlight peeking through the drapes.

The scent of sex hung heavy in the air as they drove closer to the edge of the cliff, just suspended there for what seemed like forever but was probably only seconds. The plunge was imminent, and she held her breath as she waited, the roaring in her ears sounding like a freight train in her tiny apartment. Everything froze for that split second, the world ceasing to exist outside of this room and this bed. She tried to hold on to that delicious feeling of exquisite pleasure just a moment longer, but the inevitable climax was even sweeter.

Clutching Kai’s shoulders, she surrendered to her orgasm, riding each wave until she was wrung out from the pleasure. His own orgasm had hit him as well, and they clung together afterward, fidgeting in the sheets until they found the perfect position - Kai’s larger frame spooning her, his arms wrapped protectively around her body.

“You pack a punch,” he said softly into her ear, his breath warm on her cheek.

A shiver ran through her, and she chuckled at his praise.

“You, too. We might have to do this again.”

The two of them just might be on to something here. Was this simply a one-night stand? Or the beginning of a…relationship?

Lulu was making coffee in the kitchen the next morning when the door swung open, and Henry walked in. He closed it behind him and gave her a look practically daring her to ask where he’d been all night.

They’d been friends for too long to wait until he’d double-dog dared her.

“I was worried about you.”

“You know I can take care of myself.”

She did know that. Henry was always overprepared for any situation.

“Okay, let’s say that I was wondering where you were,” Lulu replied. “Does that sound better?”

“Yes.” Henry sat down at the tiny kitchen table, playing with the keys in his hand. “I was with Lisa.”

Lisa? From the sports bar?

“You were with Lisa all night? I guess we were right. She does like you.”

Henry wasn’t smiling or laughing. He just sat there, staring at his keys and making them jingle every few seconds.

“You know, for a guy who spent the night with a beautiful woman, you don’t seem all that happy. Was it weird or something? Is she into something awful?”

Henry rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“No, it was not weird or awful. She’s not into anything bizarre. We had a nice night. She’s a terrific woman. Nice, funny, intelligent. She’s going to school to become an actuarial.”

The coffee finished, and Lulu poured two cups, sliding one in front of Henry.

“Have you told your face that you had a nice time and liked her? Because I don’t think it knows. You look miserable.”

“I’m thinking of backing off.”

“Henry,” Lulu sighed, knowing exactly where this was going. They’d been down this road before. “If you tell her, she might understand.”

Henry didn’t have time to respond, however, when Kai strode out of the bedroom while pulling on his shirt. His hair was damp from his shower, and he smelled amazing even from a few feet away. He stopped abruptly when he saw Henry, still dressed in the clothes from last night, sitting at the table.

“Good morning,” Kai said, his gaze darting back and forth between Lulu and Henry.

It appeared that he didn’t quite know what to say. It had suddenly become rather awkward.

“You were worried about me?” Henry asked, his face lit up with a grin. “Right. I doubt you gave me a second thought. Hey, Kai. Nice to see you. Let’s not let it get weird, okay? No judgments. I just came from a woman’s house, too.”

Kai’s shoulders relaxed, and he pointed to the coffee pot.

“That sounds like a good plan. We’re all adults here. I don’t suppose I could get a cup of that?”

“You can,” Lulu said. “And then you can help me talk Henry out of doing something stupid.”

“What does Henry want to do?”

“I can speak for myself,” Henry said with an exasperated sigh. “I went out with Lisa last night. As you can see, we got along great. One thing led to another. Anyway, I may not be cut out for a relationship with…a human being. I have issues. Lots of them. Did you tell him?”

That question was directed at Lulu who shook her head.

“It’s your story to tell. Not mine.”

“Maybe you and I can go out for a couple of beers, and I’ll tell you the more detailed version,” Henry said to Kai. “But the short version is that I’m pretty fucked up from what happened in my childhood. I was taken hostage by a kidnapper. A family friend, no less. To this day, you might say I haven’t worked through all the issues this episode left me. I like Lisa a lot, and I don’t want her to have to deal with my fucking baggage. She’s too nice a person for that.”

Kai glanced at Lulu, his brow raised, before turning back to Henry.

“I didn’t hear you ask for any advice so I’m just going to shut the fuck up.”

“Henry and I have a pact where we don’t wait to be asked. We just tell each other what we think. It was his idea,” Lulu said, shaking a spoon at her best friend. She loved him like a brother, but sometimes he acted like an idiot. Today was one of those days. “Henry, you are one of the smartest people I know, but you’re making a big mistake. I don’t want you to be alone in life. You deserve to be loved.”

“Are you planning to ditch me?” Henry joked. “Because I have you.”

She didn’t want to say it out loud. She didn’t want to remind him that they were still young, but someday, she might get married and have kids. She’d be busy working and parenting. She’d seen her own mom and dad juggling kids, jobs, family, and friends. It wasn’t easy, and there was always someone who was getting neglected at some point.

From his sad expression, he knew what she hadn’t wanted to say. It was the elephant in the room as they each grew older with more and more responsibilities.

“You’ll always have me, but you need your own person,” Lulu pointed out. “You need a partner in life. Lisa is a lovely person. If you told her, I’m sure she’d understand.”

“I’ll eventually run her off,” Henry said. “She’ll get tired of me being well-armed, or that I scream when I sleep sometimes. When I have a bad day and don’t want to leave the house, she won’t like that. She’ll start to resent me.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Lulu replied. “Maybe she has her own issues that we don’t know about. Hell, maybe she screams in her sleep even louder than you do. You don’t know. And you won’t know unless you give it a chance.”

The frustration in her tone was evident, and she wasn’t trying to hide it. She’d seen this happen half a dozen times. The outcome was always the same - Henry was unhappy and moped around for months, and the poor girl involved was confused as hell as to what she did wrong. The last time, Lulu had forced Henry to tell the woman so she wouldn’t blame herself.

“What do you think, Kai?” Henry asked. “You might as well dive on in here and give your own opinion.”

“I don’t think I know you well enough to give any life advice,” Kai said with a shake of his head.

“That’s why your advice might even be better,” Henry argued. “Because you’re not biased in any direction. You don’t know me well, and it sounds like you don’t know Lisa well either since you haven’t lived in Harper very long. You’re standing outside the situation and looking at it from a stranger’s point of view. I’d like to hear what you have to say.”

Kai didn’t make eye contact with Lulu, instead taking a long drink from his coffee. He settled into a chair at the table while she squirmed, waiting to hear what he was going to say. She’d been pushing Henry to get out there more, and Kai might just tell him that she was crazy and not to listen to a word she had to say.

Fair enough. She was well aware that she might be pushy and wrong. It was simply that she didn’t want Henry to live half a life because he thought something was wrong with him. He wasn’t broken or defective. He was a good and wonderful human being who deserved to have so much more in his life. He was just afraid of rejection.

Aren’t we all? It’s a normal human response, especially after what he’s been through.

“I think,” Kai replied slowly and carefully, his expression sober. “I think that I understand why you might not want to put yourself out there. You’re probably right that many people wouldn’t want to deal with whatever baggage that you have. I don’t know all the details of your situation, but it sounds like it was traumatic as hell.”

Times a hundred and then add ten.

“But sometimes a person needs to step out of their comfort zone and take a chance,” Kai went on. “I took a huge chance quitting my job and moving here to take over my grandpa’s newspaper. I think that’s worked out pretty well. I’m a hell of a lot happier now than I was a year ago. I also recently took a huge chance, and I’m glad that I did.”

Kai was looking at Lulu when he said the last part. She could feel the heat in her cheeks, but she smiled back at him. She was glad that they’d both taken that chance. It was good to think ahead, but sometimes a person needed to get some courage and just…jump.

If it didn’t work out with Kai, at least she’d tried. She didn’t want to be one of those people that had lots of regrets about things they didn’t do and chances they didn’t take.

“So, you think I should take a chance with Lisa?” Henry asked. “That I’m making this decision from my comfort zone.”

“Only you can answer that question,” Kai replied. “I’m just giving you my take on it. If you really like this woman, tell her. Tell her that you’re imperfect, that you have that baggage you talked about. And then let her make her own decision. Don’t make it for her.”

“I’ll think about it,” Henry announced, draining his coffee cup. “You’ve given me something to think about. I do like Lisa, but I’d never want to be a burden on anyone.”

“You are not a burden,” Lulu exclaimed. “You have a few issues. We all do.”

“Wait until you find out what they are,” Henry joked to Kai. “She’s a barrel of monkeys to live with, but she hogs the bathroom. And don’t even get me started about her long hair in the shower drain. It clogs it, you know.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Who wants scrambled eggs and toast? I have interviews at nine so let’s get going.”

It was about time to change the subject. She didn’t need Kai wondering about the pipes in her bathroom. She could snake her own drain. She didn’t need a man to do it.

She could handle her own business, and that included finding Dana’s killer. She had another jampacked day of interviewing people in Dana’s life. The more she knew about the victim, the better chance she had of catching a murderer.

First up, the ex-husband Jay and his girlfriend Allie.

Allie might not have been able to pull this off alone but with Jay’s help?

They were at the top of her list of suspects.