Cooper flashed her a sexy smile. “You’ve made my day. How does seven sound?”
“Perfect.”
“There’s a good steakhouse, but if you’re vegetarian—”
“I like meat,” she hurried to say. Then she giggled at how dirty that sounded.
By the look in Cooper’s eyes, he had heard the double entendre, as well. “Shall I pick you up?”
At this, she hesitated.
“No worries,” he said. “We can meet.”
“Actually, I think I’d like you to drive. I’m staying at the local motel, room 110.”
He wrinkled his nose. “That’s not in the greatest part of town.”
“Unfortunately, a lot of where I go isn’t in the best parts of towns. I’m used to it. I used to be a cop.”
“Right.” He paused as if debating something internally, then he winked at her. “I’ll see you at seven.”
“Seven,” she agreed and waved at him.
As she drove away, she couldn’t stop smiling. Even after their not-so-great first two encounters, he still wanted to be around her. At least now, she knew it wasn’t to get information from her regarding his friends. No, she believed he genuinely liked her. And when was the last time that had happened?
“Ugh. Don’t even think about it,” she told herself.
As she pulled onto the road, she turned up the music when a song came on that she liked. For just a few minutes, she wasn’t a PI searching the country for kidnapped and missing babies. She was just a woman who had been asked on a date by a very handsome, very charming man that she wanted to kiss.
The mere thought of that had her thinking about sex, which of course, made her think of the last time she’d had a lover.
“Just stop,” she chided herself. “I’m in a good mood. If I keep going down this thought path, I’m going to ruin everything for tonight.”
The moment she got to the motel, she bolted the door and jumped into the shower. It was time she actually made an effort with her appearance.
And she might need all the time she could get.
Chapter 14
“Well?” Caleb asked when Cooper walked into the house.
Cooper looked between Caleb, Brice, and Naomi and shrugged. “Well, what?”
“We know you,” Brice said. “More importantly, we’ve all seen how you look at Marlee.”
“I think I should take offense,” Cooper said.
Naomi was beaming when she said, “Don’t. What Caleb and Brice are trying to say—badly—is that they know you’re going to help Marlee.”
Cooper shrugged in an effort to not say anything. He hadn’t intended to tell any of them what he and Jace were up to. Then again, the four of them rarely kept secrets from one another.
“You might as well give it up and tell us everything,” Caleb said with a grin. “By the way, where’s Jace?”
Cooper sighed loudly. “Did y’all ever stop to think that maybe I wanted to keep you out of it because of Nate?”
“No,” the three answered in unison.
Naomi finished stirring the soup and looked his way. “Whether Marlee came today to take Nate from us or to give us the news she did, I’d still want to help her. Because what she’s doing makes a difference. Nate might not have come from my body, but I love him as if he did. If anyone took him, I’d be devastated.”
Brice brought Naomi’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “My wife’s right. So, go ahead and tell us what you’ve got.”
“Not as much as you think.” Cooper shrugged as he leaned against the counter. “Jace and I have been marking locations on a map where pregnant women were killed and their babies taken.”
Caleb crossed his arms over his chest. “And? What have you learned?”
“That our county is in the middle of it all,” Cooper stated.
Brice ran a hand down his face as he shook his head. “Damn. I’d heard a few news stories, but that’s it.”
“Some cases don’t make the news.” Cooper shrugged. “Jace and I are still trying to get a handle on it. That’s what we were doing last night. We got a new map, but before we began marking it, we wanted to find all the news stories we could.”
Naomi started to cut up some carrots. “Is this just in Texas?”
“That’s what we began with, but we’re thinking it’ll need to be extended to the entire country.”
Caleb shook his head. “Not just America. Worldwide.”
“We don’t have the resources for that,” Brice said. “Hell, I’m not sure we’ll be much help for Texas.”
Cooper removed his Stetson and slapped it against his leg. “I feel the same, but something brought Marlee here. She might have gotten it wrong with Nate, but what if the location is right? The simple fact that these kidnappings and killings are happening all around us makes me wonder what’s in this county. And if there is something here with us, why haven’t any of us seen it?”
“Because we don’t want to,” Naomi replied.
Brice lowered his gaze to the floor. “When we began looking into adoption, there were so many agencies to choose from. So many children waiting to find homes. And that’s only here in the US. Even more children are adopted overseas and brought here. The sheer amount of paperwork we had to do just to be considered is mind-blowing. They did background checks on us multiple times. I didn’t once think the place might not be legitimate.”
“You had no reason to. The process was long and arduous, and you two waited months for Nate,” Caleb said. “You always hear of black-market things on the news and television, but no one ever thinks it’s happening near them. Marlee mentioned that some of the babies cut from their mother’s wombs might be illegal immigrants.”
Cooper set his hat on the counter. “That means whatever statistics are out there, we need to raise them.”
“No, double them,” Naomi said.
Brice looked at his wife and nodded. “Damn. This is an epidemic that few even know about. What little is on the news isn’t enough.”
“What is ever enough?” Cooper countered. “No matter how much you tell people, how much you warn them to be wary, at least half of them will discount it.”
Caleb made a sound in the back of his throat. “I don’t care. Everyone needs to know about this danger.”
“Is there a chance I’ll get into a wreck the next time I’m in a car?” Naomi nodded her head. “That risk is there every time any of us gets in a vehicle. If one of you are riding, the horse could step in a hole and break its leg, throwing you in the process. You could die. A woman can die in childbirth. Yes, it’s horrendous that pregnant women are being killed for their babies, but it’s not like this has only just begun. It’s been going on for decades, no doubt.”
Caleb scratched his chin. “Even if we want to help, I don’t think Marlee will welcome it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Cooper said with a shrug. “I plan on talking to her about it tonight.”
It was the wrong thing to say because suddenly, all three were very interested in the fact that Cooper was seeing Marlee later. They bombarded him with questions, but he refused to answer. Thankfully, little Nate woke and gave him a reprieve. Brice hurried from the room to check on his son.