However, when headlights whipped around the corner making their way toward us, it all became moot.
She and I watched as a dark pickup truck parked on the curb in a shadow in front of a neighboring house. Our visitors were early.
“That’s got to be them.” We both scrunched down in my cab, watching two men get out.
Both were sizeable. One wore a baseball cap, the other had the hood on his sweatshirt flipped up. It was a bit warm for a sweatshirt this time of year. The truck was hard to see, too. Maybe black or navy blue...
I squinted. “Damn it. They don’t have a plate on the front.”
Both men walked up the drive, the one in the cap ringing the doorbell while the other hung back several steps.
He looked in our direction, then at the back of his partner.
Followed by another turn in our direction as if he were staring right into the cab.
His attention shifted to Kate’s SUV sitting across the street before refocusing on my truck.
“Something’s wrong,” Lily whispered.
“Yeah, the guy hanging back seems spooked.” I didn’t think he saw us sitting in the truck...besides, it was a neighborhood. There were other cars on the street, too.
A beat later, the guy tugged on the jacket of the man in front of him and they were cutting through the front yard back to their truck. By the time Melissa opened the door, the one who had watched my truck was sliding in the driver’s seat.
High beams hit my windshield, and an equally bright passenger side spotlight turned toward the rental house. Lily and I both shielded our eyes. I would find out later, Melissa had too, but it was enough. With quick efficiency the driver whipped a U-turn and I caught a quick flash of orange on the truck’s quarter panel before they took off the way he came. I also thought there was something written across the tailgate, but my field of vision was filled with white dots.
Lily grabbed my arm. “Can you see the plate?”
“Fuck. No, they blinded us on purpose.”
“We should follow.”
I was already ahead of her, turning over the engine as they made their turn around the corner, but by the time I got to the corner, the truck was gone.
We drove all over the growing town for the next two hours looking for any signs of them, but it was the proverbial needle in a haystack. Pickup trucks were a dime a dozen around here. I was fairly sure it was an F-150 and I was ninety percent sure about the orange coloring and lettering on the tailgate. But the main road was lighted and was a hive of activity. Off the main road were lots of new neighborhoods, old ranches, and dark country roads.
We got nothing.
As we drove back to the rental house, Lil stared out of the side window. “What do you think spooked them?”
Glancing in my own rearview, I shook my head. “No idea. I couldn’t see their faces, so I know they couldn’t see us all scrunched down. Maybe it was a feeling.”
She dropped her head against the window. “This didn’t stand a chance. We don’t know these roads like someone who lives here, or say, runs a puppy mill on one of these ranches.”
I nodded. “Maybe, but I think we’re on the right track, Lil. It was a solid plan. Otherwise, why would they run off like that?” A tear glistened against her creamy cheek. I reached across the seat to take her hand in mine.
She studied our joined hands but didn’t let go. “I wasted time doing this. A lot of time—the dogs are the ones that will suffer for it.”
“No, you didn’t. This isn’t your fault, darlin’. It was a good idea. We couldn’t have possibly accounted for every variable.”
Pulling to a stop in front of the rental house, I lifted my arm across the back of the seat. “We’ll have to rely on plan B is all. I promise we’ll find them.”
Without prompting, Lily slid across the seat under my outstretched arm, resting her head against my shoulder. I wrapped her tight. It felt so perfectly...right. Her hand on my chest. Her heartbeat against my side. I brushed a kiss across her hair meant to comfort that I had no right to give. When she turned her face up to mine, those sad eyes squeezed my heart.
I dropped my mouth in the direction of hers, just short of touching, letting her choose.
She chose to meet my lips in the softest, most tender kiss of my life. Our mouths slid against one another in feather light brushes with warmth and affection, feelings—on both sides—that were as clear as the ache that developed in my chest.
This woman.
Taking her chin between my thumb and index finger, I pulled back to see her face was a reflection of everything I was feeling. The same pull and recognition, the same desire and affection.
The same unease, too.
Lily
We were playing a dangerous game with both Brody’s career and my heart. In truth, I was as much at fault as he was. More so. He didn’t try to dry-hump me in his kitchen, after all.
I sat up and he ran a hand over his face. Throwing a wrist over the steering wheel, he stared out the windshield into the night.
I studied his profile. Inky hair curled around his ears from underneath his ball cap. The powerful line of his neck, the dark scruff on his sharp jaw. Longing erupted in my stomach as I remembered pushing the tip of my tongue against the hollow of his throat, my fingers threading into the hair at his nape. What it felt like to have his big arms around me. The single thick vein that ran up the length of his forearm and over the mound of his bicep before disappearing into a gray T-shirt pulled tight over his shoulders.
“We need to talk about what happened.”
“I’m right here listening.” His voice was deep, warm, that little bit of Texas Southern curling around my ears the same way his woodsy scent teased my nose.
I mentally hit the reset button, pinching the bridge of my nose and clearing my throat so my voice did come out husky. “I, uh, I drank too much, as if you didn’t already know that. I shouldn’t have done...what I did.”
The dimple in his cheek made an appearance. “What? You mean make out with me?” His chuckle was easy. “Didn’t mind that part at all. You’re an adorable drunk, by the way.”
Ugh. “I dumped my shit on you and you had to put me to bed and take care of my dogs—”
“Didn’t mind that, either. Didn’t even mind sleeping on your couch.” His tongue peeked out to roll over his lips. “But not calling me? That, I minded. And don’t tell me the dogs ate my note.”
Wait, did I hurt his feelings? Truthfully, I didn’t think he’d even notice I hadn’t called. “I found your note. Thank you for everything.” I put a hand on his bicep. “You’re a really good guy, Shaw. And a good friend.”