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The bad thing was that my brothers had looked on just as hungrily, watching just as avidly as I had.
I couldn’t blame them.
They were red-blooded men just like I was. And I would’ve watched the show just like they did.
When I pulled back, her taste was on my lips, and I had a feeling that if I didn’t get her to her front door soon, then this night would be ending a whole lot different than what either one of us intended.
“That still” —she drew in a deep breath— “doesn’t really answer my question.”
I grinned and stepped away.
“I’ll help you move this weekend after meeting your parents,” I told her. “I want to meet them, at least officially as your man. I want them to know that I have true intentions aimed your way. And I want you to know that I’m serious about you. Plus, since I’m sure your family drops by just as much as mine does, I don’t want them thinking that we’re trying to hide it from them.”
She scrunched up her nose. “You do have a point. My brother, sister-in-law, friends, and family stop by a lot unannounced. Just today, my sister-in-law dropped in with her kids. So… that wouldn’t be a bad thing, for them to know.”
I curled my hand around her neck, loving that she leaned into me upon my touching her.
“What about tonight?” she asked.
“Tonight, I drop you off at your door, because I have a few things to do with Lynn before I go to bed,” I admitted. “There was a little girl that went missing this morning and they believe that foul play was involved. It’s all-hands-on-deck.”
Her face went sad for a moment.
“I heard about it. Do they suspect trafficking?” she whispered.
I squeezed her neck slightly before dropping my hand and gesturing toward the front door with a jerk of my chin.
She sighed and followed my chin jerk, looking up at me a few times as she did.
“What about tonight?” she asked. “Will you be there all night?”
“I honestly don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m still in the planning stage. We’re gathering information, following up on leads. If I do get home, it’ll be late.”
She climbed the two steps that led to the porch, then turned to look at me. “When you get home, if you want, you can come over. I’ve got a pot roast cooking in the crockpot. There’ll be plenty.”
My insides warmed. “I’ll do that.”
When I climbed the first step, her eyes went wide.
With me down a step from her, our eyes were almost level.
“Call me if you need me,” I breathed against her lips, moving in until barely an inch separated us. Pressing my lips to hers, I made sure it stayed chaste before pulling away and looking into her eyes. “Or even if you don’t.”
Then, without looking back once, I was gone, leaving her on her front porch staring at me in shocked surprise.
• • •
“What were the parents doing while the kid went missing?” I asked curiously, sitting back in my chair and placing one foot up onto the wrung of the chair beside me. Bruno’s.
He glared at me to remove it, and I grinned at him before leaving it there.
“Parents were both at work. It was the babysitter that was watching her. They were at the park. Kid went onto that huge jungle gym thing. She saw her go up, but she never came down the other side. When she moved to that side to look, the kid wasn’t there.” Lynn passed around a few photos of the girl.
She was cute.
Very cute.
She had long, curly brown hair, bright blue eyes, and mocha cream skin that looked beautiful against her bright white shirt with chocolate stains.
“Any access to this park other than the front entrance?” Bruno asked, scooting his chair over so that my foot was forced to drop to the ground.
“No,” Lynn answered. “Park is completely and totally fenced in. There are no other entrances or exits except for the one that leads to the parking lot.”
“Anybody else see anything?” I wondered, moving on from the photo of the girl to the photo of the cars in the parking lot right before the abduction.
“No,” Laric was the one to answer this time. “I talked to all of the parents—there were four there—and none of them saw a thing. They all started looking for the child as soon as they realized she was missing. She was nowhere to be found.”
“Why was this photo taken?” I asked curiously, showing him the photo of the cars in the parking lot.
“Parents ask for hourly updates. This was their first child. They were nervous parents, so the babysitter sent them the updates to help soothe their nerves,” Lynn explained. “This particular photo was taken by the kid, though, according to the babysitter. She was playing with the phone when they got out at the park.”
