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“Keep going,” he told her when she stopped with a huge sigh of relief. “Straight to the shower. The hot water will help. In fact, I think you should just soak in the tub for a while. There’s bound to be Epsom Salts here.”
“God, that sounds good,” she agreed as she started forward. “Shower first though. I’ve got three pounds of dirt and manure and God knows what clinging to me. No way I’m soaking in water with that kind of debris floating in it.”
It made him chuckle again. Her wit was a welcome revelation. Seemed like everything he learned about her just made her all the more alluring. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re still holding my butt. The only reason I’m not saying anything is because I’m a little afraid it’s going to fall off if you let go.”
Yup. Adorable. Luke let her hear his chuckle that time and reluctantly dropped his hand. They’d reached the bathroom anyway.
“Hey,” he said, stopping her before she opened the door. Andie turned to look at him over her shoulder. Hair a mess, dirt and God knows what dusting her from head to foot, and she still looked as beguiling as a Disney princess. “Those papers I brought to go over with you? I made up a new offer. This one is just for the back forty. You’ll get to keep the house, farm, and most of the spread. I think it’s a good fit for both of us. Why don’t I come back tomorrow, and you and I can look it over during dinner?” He let her see his interest. In his expression and by reaching out and using his thumb to wipe away a smudge from one plump cheek.
“Dinner?” That cheek flushed a lovely pink, and her white teeth caught her bottom lip as she regarded him with wide eyes. “Are you sure that’s smart? We could just look over your offer. We don’t have to sit through a meal together. It’s just business.”
Ouch. But Luke knew he had that coming, so he tried to keep the sting of her words from showing. “Even in not-so-big cities, business and dining go hand in hand. Us country folks can be just as civilized as you city slickers.”
“You’re sure we can be civil?” There was a spark in her eyes that charmed and challenged him.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay then.” She was still tugging on that lip with her perfect white teeth. “Is six too early for you?”
“No. Six works just fine.” It took a lot for him to resist leaning in and nibbling on that lip himself, but instead, Luke took one giant step back. “I’ll see you then, Andie. Be careful tomorrow. And stretch. Stretch tonight and first thing in the morning, even if it hurts, all right?”
“Sheesh.” Now she looked disgruntled. “What are you, the fitness police? Yes, sir, I’ll stretch.”
“Good,” he said with a smirk. Then he smacked her on the ass, because he couldn’t help himself. Her yelp was entirely satisfying.
Exasperation was just as charming on her as every other emotion he’d seen her express, and as Luke made his way out of the house and into his car, he felt something for a woman he hadn’t felt since he was sixteen years old. Hopeful.
Chapter 5
Tiffany Lewis was only twenty-two years old when she died. She was a cute and bubbly college girl who loved to dance. That’s what she had been doing the last time any of her friends had seen her alive. Dancing the night away in her pink camisole and stretchy jeans.
As the coroners got the okay from Rachel—the desk clerk who doubled as the police photographer when one was needed—to remove the body, they lifted her slight frame from the ditch. Covered in filth and blood, Tiffany was unrecognizable, the beautiful girl gone forever with only this butchered and empty shell left behind.
Sheriff Derek Anderson watched the proceedings with the weight of her death weighing on him like Sisyphus’s boulder. “Useless, meaningless waste of life,” he muttered to no one in particular, but his deputy answered anyway.
“Sure as hell is. What the fuck?”
Craig’s voice was choked with emotion. He was a good kid and had the makings to be one hell of a good cop with some time and seasoning. “That’s what we’re going to find out. And watch the language. Keep in mind you’re looked up to when you put on that uniform.”
“Yes, sir.” Craig was still young enough that the reprimand brought a flush to his cheeks, and he tried to hide it by adjusting his hat before following Derek back into the ditch.
“Now, let’s take a deeper look down here. I want you to bag any and every thing you see, even if you think it might not be relevant. Let’s just get it all to the lab and let them sort out whether or not it’s related,” he told Craig as the muddy ground oozed over the tops of their shoes.
“Do you think this is the same guy who did the last girl?” Craig asked as he crouched down to pick up and bag an empty box of cigarettes.
“Can’t say. But it sure as hell looks that way. Both young, pretty girls. Both out clubbing when they got attacked. And both stabbed multiple times. Too many coincidences for me.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Craig nodded, bagging a beer can next.
“But we can’t make assumptions,” Derek cautioned as he too bagged the offal that littered the ditch. He never let himself forget Craig was green and in need of his guidance more than his other deputies. “This could be a copycat. Some guy who wanted to get rid of his girlfriend and the last murder gave him the perfect excuse and cover. We gotta look at each one individually no matter what our gut is telling us.” He looked at Craig until the younger man met his stare. “They deserve that from us. We can’t change what happened to them, but we can put whoever is responsible for this away. That’s all we can do, so we’re going to do our best by them. Right?”
“Right, sir.” Derek liked what he saw in the deputy’s face. He saw a kid ready to be a man, and more than that, he saw integrity and honor.
“Right, then,” he told him. They both set to work with renewed determination, and neither of them spoke again for a very long time.
* * *
Andie was in the orchard,riding the fence. She liked this job, because she got to ride the quad. As the barbed wire bit through her glove and drew blood for the twelfth time that day, she amended that she liked getting to ride the quad part of this chore, but the fence could eff-off as far as she was concerned.
