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“All of the Vances. But I can’t find anything odd in their accounts. No incoming or outgoing payments of large sums of money. Carver is looking into hidden accounts to see if the money could be coming from overseas. And both William and Greg are big enough to do what’s needed. Except Greg’s wife alibied him for the night in question. There’s nothing more we can do tonight until we get a chance to talk to Wormy and we see what Carver was able to dig out.”
“Nothing more we can do?” I said wide-eyed. “I’ve heard a man slows down in his thirties, but I never thought it would happen to you.”
He arched a brow, the sensuous curve of his mouth quirking slightly. “Are you trying to seduce me, Doctor Graves?”
“Because that’s been so hard up till now?”
“I’m glad to see you got your smart mouth back. I was starting to miss it.”
I sighed, putting my hands on my hips. “I didn’t realize you were going to be all philosophical tonight. Here I am trying to get some action, and you just stand there. I think your reputation was overblown for all those years. The Jack Lawson I used to know wouldn’t have ever let me get dressed in the first place.”
“I’m not being philosophical. I’m being nostalgic.” The half-smile turned full blown, and I was taken aback by how gorgeous he was. I scooted back a step when he stepped forward, and his smile got even bigger.
“Worried now, are you? You’ve got to be able to put your money where your mouth is, sugar. That’s why you’re so lousy at poker.”
“Hey, if I want to be ridiculed I can go stay with dozens of other people.” I turned around and headed for the stairs, and I laughed when he caught me before I could even leave the room.
“I hope you had your Wheaties this morning,” he said. “If you’re going to call my sexual prowess into question then I’ve got a hell of a lot to prove in a short amount of time.”
“Maybe we could start in an actual bed this time. I don’t mean to complain, but my knees and back can only do walls and stairs twice in a day. We’ve already reached our limit.”
Before I knew if, the Giants jersey was pushed above my breasts and we were rolling around on the floor of the office, both of us laughing.
“Don’t worry,” he said, biting the lobe of my ear and sending shivers down my spine. “I’ll be on bottom this time. I care about your health and safety.”
“Oh, well then,” I panted. And then I moaned because he was sliding deep inside of me and all I could do was hold on for the ride.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jack’s phone rang a few minutes before six, and I groaned and threw my arm over my eyes when he flipped on the light. We hadn’t been asleep more than twenty minutes.
“Sheriff Lawson?” Jack said by way of answering the phone.
I was still struggling to adjust my eyes to the light when Jack hung up and threw off the covers.
“What’s happened?” I asked, following the gesture. It took me about thirty seconds to realize that all my clothes were still in the other room. Jack hadn’t been kidding about proving his point. My legs felt like Jello.
“That was dispatch. A 911 was just called in reporting a fire. George’s shop is up in flames.”
I ran into the other room and pulled on fresh jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. I pulled a sweater on over that because I knew it would still be cold until the sun came out.
“How bad is it?” I asked as I simultaneously tried to stick my feet in my boots and go down the stairs at the same time. Jack caught me before I tripped on the bottom stair.
“Pretty bad. They’ve at least kept the blaze contained so it doesn’t damage the surrounding buildings, but it’s a complete loss at this point. We’ll talk to the fire chief once we get there.”
***
“Chief Edwards,” Jack said, holding out his hand to the fire chief.
Larry Edwards was a fit man with a graying crew cut in his late fifties. He’d been the fire chief for at least twenty years. I’m not sure I’d ever seen him in anything but his uniform of starched black pants and a white shirt with the fire department emblem sewn over the heart.
“Sheriff,” he answered. “Doc Graves.” He nodded to me, but turned his back to face the fire, effectively shutting me out of his conversation with Jack.
I could decisively put Chief Edwards in the camp of people who thought I was just as crooked as my parents. I rolled my eyes and went to stand on the other side of Jack so I could hear what was being said. Jack moved back a little to include me, and if it hadn’t been completely unprofessional I would’ve given him a hug. Or at least a pat on the ass.
“The 911 came through at 5:42 AM,” Edwards said. “My men were here with the trucks three minutes later. Easy enough trip since we’re only a block away. It was already an inferno by the time we arrived. Went up like a tinderbox. All they could do was run the hoses on the surrounding buildings to keep it from spreading. Place like this is full of accelerants. There were a couple of small explosions, so we’ve set the perimeter back farther than normal.”
“Arson?” Jack asked.
