“Yeah. And this is something that can wait. If Miranda is involved, she doesn’t know we’re on to her, so she’s not going anywhere.” I shook my head. “I still can’t see her as a killer. Sure, she’s a sneaky, lying bitch, but a killer?”
Luke shrugged one shoulder, using his other arm to rein Betty back in. “People do crazy things for money.”
They did crazy things for a lot of reasons.
That thought sparked another. “What if it wasn’t about money?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What if it was motivated by something else? Like, love.”
“You think Miranda was in love with Rich Stevenson?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. We never really explored that possibility, did we?”
“No, not really. I guess it could be true. They’re the same age and are from the same small town.” He looked at me with a smile. “I guess we add it to the list of things to discuss with Ozzie.”
I chuckled. “Yeah.”
A comfortable silence fell between us, broken only by the shuffle of our feet, the dogs scurrying through the detritus littering the trail, and the birds flitting through the pines. We were far enough from the beach, and the forest was thick enough that only the muffled sound of waves hitting the shoreline reached us.
I cast a side-eyed glance at Luke as we walked. Should I bring up our relationship status? Did I need to? I mean, he introduced me to his family.
Yes, my inner voice whispered.For your own peace of mind.
I let out a quick puff of air through my nose.Fine.
“So, you know how you’ve been introducing yourself as my boyfriend?” I tipped my head to the side and looked up to see his face.
His mouth quirked. “I wondered when you would bring that up.”
I huffed a short laugh. “So, is that what we are, then? Also, why do I feel like a high schooler asking my homecoming date that question?”
Luke laughed and hooked an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his taller frame. I gripped his backpack and let out the slack on Pebbles’s leash, so I could rest my other hand on the front of his shirt.
“New love has a giddiness to it. I think it makes us feel youthful again.” He kissed the top of my head.
I barely felt it. One word reverberated around in my head.
Love.
Is that what this was?
I mulled it over, turning the word and the feeling coursing through me this way and that. But the concept was too new. Too fresh. I couldn’t land on an answer just yet.
Instead of dwelling on it and trying to define it here and now, I shelved it for when I was alone and could properly think about it. I feared if I tried now, I might upset him by not having the answer he wanted to hear straight away.
“You’re feeling youthfulagain?” I asked, smiling. “How is that possible when you’re still a spring chicken?”
“I’m hardly fresh. You’re not that much older than me. We’ve had this conversation.” A smirk hovered on his lips and a bit of mischief danced in his eyes.
It was my only warning before he slipped my hold and had me plastered to his front, his mouth hovering millimeters from mine.
“Want me to prove how young we both still are?”
Delight skated along my nerve endings, pricking the skin on my head and neck. Need pulsed deep within me. It was on the tip of my tongue to say yes when Pebbles barked and tugged at her lead.
Chuckling, I backed away. “Later. Once we’ve worn these two out and they’re down for the count all night.”
Heat shimmered in his eyes. “We still have strawberry syrup left. And chocolate and whipped cream. I’m about to have the best sundae I’ve ever had in my life.”
A need so intense I felt it to the ends of my hair roared through me. I tugged on Pebbles’s leash, picking up the pace.
