the news of his arrest would be out, and reporters might be skulking around.
She woke alone, afraid he’d left. The bathroom door was ajar, the light off. After throwing on a robe, she nearly ran out to the living room—no Raleigh—and then the kitchen. She stopped, taking a breath when she spotted him leaning against the counter gazing out the window, looking at nothing in particular. She guessed he was a thousand miles away. Or perhaps at the lake where the truck was found.
She came up behind him, sliding her arms around his waist. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Just trying to think of anyone who could have wanted my father dead that Rose might have missed. I didn’t have much to do with him in the last few years, so I don’t know what he was up to. Once in a while, the bartender at Shady’s called me to haul his ass out of there. And I did, but more for the bartender, who’s an old friend from high school, than for my father. I should talk to him.”
“Did you come up with any suspects?”
“Only me. Sullivan didn’t tell me time of death. It may be hard to tell with the condition of the body.”
“Did you see it?”
“He showed me pictures, hoping for some kind of reaction. Guilt, maybe?” He lifted a shoulder. “All he got was shock. I hated the man, but that was a gruesome way to die.”
She poured two glasses of orange juice and handed him one. “We only know when he disappeared.”
“Or the last time anyone saw him. When was he missed? He could have been lying low at his trailer for a day or more before he was killed.” He swigged half his glass, shaking his head. “I’d like to think the sheriff’s office will be running that down, but I doubt it.”
“Then we can.”
He winced, then touched his lip where it was cut.
“I bit you,” she said. “I should feel ashamed, but I don’t. We needed to blow off steam.”
He leveled a sly look at her. “Next time it’s my turn to bite. And scratch.” He turned to show her the nail marks on his upper back.
She traced the marks. “Look what I did to you!” God, she’d been an animal! “Okay, maybe I do feel a little ashamed.”
“No, don’t. It made me crazy. It was all I could do to hold back. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Don’t hold back, Raleigh. Never hold back.”
She pushed off her robe and snaked her arms around his waist, looking up at him. “Brand me. I want to feel you, too.” She drew her fingers down his bare chest, though not hard enough to break skin.
He did the same down her back. “I don’t have nails.”
“Then use your teeth.”
He tilted her head and lifted her hair. His teeth scraped the skin, pinching where he nipped the flesh between her neck and shoulder.
“Harder.”
He pulled back. “I can’t. I can’t hurt you.”
No way was this man a murderer.
“It’s okay, Raleigh. You’re imprinted on me anyway. My body. My soul.”
He trailed his hands down her back, squeezing her ass and pulling her hard against his body. She melted against him. How had she lived without him all these years?
His phone rang from the counter. With a reluctant sigh, he released her and picked it up. “Yeah…oh. Sorry about that…no, that’s all right. I understand.” He disconnected and dropped the phone back on the counter. “That was Peter at the garage. A couple of customers called to see if I’m working today. They’re uncomfortable. He thought I should take a few days off until this passes.” He braced his hands on the counter.
She came up behind him, pressing her cheek against his back. “It will pass. Why don’t we eat and see what we can find out?”
An hour later, they were at the Three Oaks Mobile Home Park. Raleigh parked in front of a white structure that was badly in need of washing.
“Is this where you lived?” she asked, watching the shadows in his eyes.
“The last few years I was with him. Before that it was a van. Or someone’s couch. Their back porch.”
“God, Raleigh. Have you ever told anyone about your life?”
“It’s not something I tell the chicks, to impress them.” He gave her a wink that soothed her troubled heart. “Doesn’t work as well as the ex-con thing.”
“Well, I’m impressed. Again, that you came out so well.” But he didn’t see it that way. She remembered how he’d wanted more