Page 11 of Homicide in Water Creek

She batted her lashes. “Whatever do you mean?”

He started to read. “I was joined by the town lawman. He looked like he belonged on the set of a Hollywood western rather than in a dusty junkyard. With a scruffy five o’clock shadow and an ass-hugging pair of Wranglers, he could have convinced the dead woman to talk. Unfortunately, as soon as he opened his mouth, rattlesnake venom oozed out.”

She worked hard to keep a straight face. “You did say not to forget any details.”

He shook his head and handed it back to her. “Sign at the bottom, please.”

The added "please" dripped with sarcasm, but she just smirked as she gave it her John Hancock. He snatched it from her fingers and signed his name to it, too.

“Thank you for fulfilling your civic duty. You may go now.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “Aren’t you going to open the envelope from Boone?”

“Yep,” he said, lifting it and shaking it a few times. “But not when you’re here. Believe it or not, this is an official murder investigation. Civilians don’t get the details.”

“Do you know how she died?” she asked, ignoring what he’d said. It was that damn cat and its curiosity.

He stood, then walked around his desk. “Exsanguination.”

She reared back in surprise, holding his gaze. “She bled out?”

“It appears so,” he agreed, leaning on the desk with both hands. “Just not here.”

“She was already dead when they stuffed her into the trunk.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

He tipped his head as an answer.

“Gunshot wound?”

He rocked back on his heels, thumbs hooked in his belt loops. “You just signed the paper that removed you from the investigation, Jacks. Go home. You have enough to deal with there. Let me deal with the dead bodies.”

“Are you implying I can’t handle more than one thing at a time?” she asked, advancing on him until he was pressed against the office wall. “I can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

“I have no doubt,” King agreed, his eyes locked on her lips. “But you aren’t an employee of The Water Creek Sheriff’s Department, so I can’t share more information until it’s cleared for public release.”

“But I found the body,” she said, walking her fingers up his chest. He grabbed them in his fist and held them, his brows raised.

“Jacks,” he warned, his head dipping lower. “You will have nothing to do with this beyond your current involvement. I already got an ass-chewing from my granddaddy, followed by yours, for letting you within ten feet of my mother.”

Rolling the eyes God gave her, Jacks’s swore she heard him moan. When he coughed, she was sure of it. “How long are you going to let those two old bulls run your life? Talk about a ball and—”

Her words died by suffocation. Suffocation from his lips on hers. What the hell? She pushed against his chest with her palms, but instead of backing away, King dug in deeper, his tongue searching her lips for a weak point. His hand slid to the nape of her neck, and she whimpered, giving him the opening he wanted. His tongue darted in, the tip stroking hers until she sighed and opened wider, giving him an all-access pass to her playground. He pulled her into him with a groan, and her leg wound itself around his without conscious thought. She was pressed against him, all of him, and he was hard everywhere. That brought her back to her senses. She jumped back, breaking the connection between them. While his breathing was even, hers was ragged. She hated him for his cool-under-pressure response.

“What was that?” she asked, her fingers hovering near her lips. “What the hell, King?”

He pushed off the wall and stalked toward her. “The next time I kiss you, you will moan my name.”

“If you try that again, the only thing you’ll hear is my gun cocking!” she exclaimed, shoving him in the shoulder. He didn’t budge, but it made her feel better anyway.

“Are you threatening a law enforcement officer?” he asked, his hard body pushing her against the opposite wall of the office.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he braced a hand on each side of her head and leaned in.

“Taking my life in my own hands.”

His head dipped, and right before his lips came down on hers, she caught a glimpse of absolute, fiery desire in his eyes. As much as she wanted to fight him, his lips were far too tantalizing after all these years of dreaming. They were full, soft, wet, and warm, all things she liked on a man's lips. King lost patience quickly, refusing to wait for an opening. He forced his tongue into her mouth and wreaked havoc on every sense, every emotion, and everything she believed to be true about her world. He stripped it all away and left her emotionally naked before him. She realized, as his hands held her face and his thigh pressed into her belly, that the game had just changed, and not in her favor.

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