Especially when he and his brothers still needed to find his father’s killer.
His phone buzzed on the coffee table. He stretched enough to snag it and checked the message.
Liam. Have information on Bouldercrest. Meet me in an hour?
Ginny shifted against him, and he struggled for control as her hips rubbed against his sex.
“Griff?”
Jacob’s voice jerked him from his lustful thoughts.
He texted his brother in return. Stop by here. Don’t want to leave Ginny alone.
A second passed. Then two. Liam responded that he’d be there in half an hour.
Griff eased himself from Ginny and laid her head on one of his throw pillows, then grabbed the afghan from the couch and draped it over her sweet body. Then he shuffled over to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee to brew while he hurried to take another shower.
A cold one to kill his morning erection before his brother arrived and started asking questions.
* * *
THE DELICIOUS AROMA of coffee brought Ginny out of a deep, exhausted sleep. She blinked to orient herself, then realized she was asleep on Griff’s couch. The memory of his arms around her all night and his warm body pressed against hers taunted her.
She wanted to burrow into that place where she felt safe and...cared for.
Something she’d never felt with Robert. She had been a possession to him, someone to fill his needs. Hers hadn’t mattered.
Footsteps from the kitchen brought her to a sitting position, and she saw Griff’s back as he poured coffee into a mug. Firelight played off his broad shoulders and dark hair making him look sexy and tempting.
She had no business thinking about Griff and sex. “Coffee smells great,” she said softly.
He turned to her with a small smile, then gestured to the mug. “Cream? Sugar?”
“Just black,” she said. “I need something strong this morning.”
“Me, too.” He poured a second mug, then walked over to join her. He offered her a cup, and she took it, warming her hands with the hot mug.
“Liam is going to stop by in a few minutes. He has information on Bouldercrest.”
Her pulse jumped. “Any word on Mitzi?”
“Not yet. I texted Jacob, and he said they’re still combing the town and woods.”
Ginny sipped her coffee. Every hour that passed dimmed the chances they’d find Mitzi alive.
“I’d better freshen up then.” Suddenly self-conscious wearing the sweats Griff had given her to sleep in, she stood and carried her coffee with her to the guest bathroom. She closed the door, then studied herself in the mirror.
Hair tousled, eyes a little foggy from sleep, pale skin. What did Griff see when he looked at her?
A woman in trouble. One he was helping. That’s all.
She splashed water on her face, then finger combed the tangles from her hair. Her color was starting to fade, her auburn roots showing through. Time for another dye job.
She needed another shower, too, but that could wait. Getting naked in Griff’s bathroom with him and his brother nearby seemed too intimate. After they talked, she’d go to the inn, shower and change clothes. She needed a little distance between her and the handsome firefighter who made her suddenly want things she could never have.
She quickly dressed in the clothes she’d worn the day before, smoothed out the wrinkles on her shirt, then sipped her coffee as she returned to the den. Griff set a plate of cinnamon rolls on the coffee table.
“You made these?” she asked, impressed.
He chuckled. “They’re from a can.”
She laughed, which sounded foreign to her own ears.
The doorbell rang interrupting the moment, and he hurried to answer it while she refilled her coffee. His brother Liam appeared, solemn faced as he entered. Griff offered him coffee, and the men filled mugs then joined her in the den.
Liam spoke to her, then set a file on the table.
“Any word on Mitzi?” Ginny asked.
“Jacob thinks they found a cabin where Bouldercrest might have been staying, but he’s gone. No sign of Mitzi at the moment, but Griff called in the SAR’s dogs to track the scent.”
Griff retrieved the baggie holding the river rock and Mitzi’s hair and handed it to his brother. “This came last night. Somehow he found out Ginny was here.”
Liam cursed beneath his breath, then reached for the file. “Let me tell you what I learned about Bouldercrest.”
Ginny tightened her fingers around the mug as he opened the folder. “It took some digging, but I think this is the man you called Robert.” He showed her a photograph, and Ginny confirmed that the image belonged to Robert.
“His real name is Ansel Holmes,” Liam said. “His parents were Louise and Jimmy.” Liam laid out a photograph of the remains of a burned house and then a picture of a small auburn-haired woman. “This is the mother. When Ansel was five years old, she died.”
Ginny pressed her fingers to her mouth to stifle a gasp. His mother’s hair was auburn...
“What happened?” Griff asked.
“Apparently the couple had marital issues,” Liam filled in. “Neighbors reported domestic violence and police visited the house twice. According to a neighbor, the mother planned to leave her husband and take her son with her.”
“But the father wouldn’t let that happen,” Ginny murmured.
“Right,” Liam said. “Neighbor overheard Holmes tell his wife she’d never leave, and she certainly wouldn’t take his son.”
Ginny set her coffee on the table and twisted her hand in her lap. The conversation sounded too familiar.
“Then what happened?” Griff prodded.
“One night about a week after that incident, neighbors reported a fire at the house. When police arrived, they found the mother’s body inside.”
“Let me guess,” Ginny said. “She was strangled?”
Griff cleared his throat. “And police speculated the fire was set to cover evidence?”
“Right again. But it gets even more disturbing,” Liam said. “Police believe the son witnessed the murder.”
A tense second passed. “Did they arrest the father?” Griff asked.
Liam shook his head. “He disappeared with the boy. That’s when they became the Bouldercrest family.”
“He learned to kill from his father,” Ginny said under her breath. “And when I tried to leave him, it triggered the memory of his mother trying to leave.” Because she had auburn hair.