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She pauses briefly, knowing she probably ought to look away. But she found his frame... fascinating.
Besides, he was still wearing a towel.
The distraction of the handsome ranger in nothing but a towel helped to ease her mind a bit.
"Find anything?" he called out from the other room, his voice tinged with curiosity as he rifled through his duffel bag for a change of clothes.
"Nothing concrete yet," Rachel said distractedly, watching him in the reflection.
Ethan stepped aside, likely for modesty's sake. But her back was to him, and so he didn't try very hard to hide.
Rachel's gaze flicked to the reflection of the open doorway that separated the two halves of the shared room. A glint of light caught her attention, and she found herself drawn to the image of Ethan undressing by the mirror. She couldn't help but watch him, curiosity piquing as he removed his shirt, revealing a toned, sinewy physique.
God, he's...fit,she thought, swallowing hard. Her heart thudded in her chest like a caged bird, and she felt a blush creep into her cheeks. Yet she couldn't tear her gaze away.
As Ethan stood before the mirror, Rachel noticed long, jagged scars along his waist, their appearance resembling those from a mountain lion attack. The sight of them sent a shiver down her spine, and she wondered about the story behind them.
She knew that Ethan came from a large, close-knit family, and she couldn't imagine how they must have felt when he sustained such injuries.
The soft creak of the floorboards jolted Rachel out of her reverie. Startled, she realized that Ethan had caught her staring at him in the mirror. Her face burned with embarrassment, and she quickly looked away, pretending to be engrossed in her computer screen. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, a mixture of guilt and curiosity making her feel uncomfortably vulnerable.
"Sorry," Ethan said quietly, his tone neutral but tinged with an edge of awkwardness. "I didn't mean to put on a show."
"Ah, no problem," Rachel stammered, forcing a casual laugh. "I was just... um, researching." She gestured vaguely towards her laptop, hoping Ethan would take the hint and not press the issue any further.
"Right," Ethan replied, clearly unconvinced but willing to let it go. He turned off the light near the mirror and headed towards his bed, the darkness swallowing him up. The sound of rustling sheets reached Rachel's ears as he settled in for the night, relieving her of the tension that had been building in the room.
She let out a faint breath, shaking her head slowly.
She then got to her feet and moved over to her own bed, slipping under the covers.
The hum of the air conditioner filled the room, its white noise doing little to ease the tension that had settled in the pit of Rachel's stomach. She lay in bed, her eyes open and staring up at the water-stained ceiling as she tried to piece together the puzzle before her.
Who had killed those two women?
And why on the Clark's land?
"Tomorrow," she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible above the drone of the air conditioner.
As if on cue, a gust of wind rattled the window, casting eerie shadows across the walls. The motel's neon sign flickered outside, casting an unsettling glow across the barren room.
She opened her mouth, wanting to call out to Ethan.
To ask him...
What?
Just to hear his voice?
Why?
She frowned at herself... She was being silly, and she wasn't even sure why.
She frowned to herself, shook her head, and then closed her eyes, determined to retreat into the embrace of sleep before the hunt commenced tomorrow.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The afternoon sun glinted off the windshield as Rachel and Ethan pulled up to the unassuming building that housed the brothel in Longview, Texas. Dust swirled around the car like a heavy fog, coating everything in its path with a fine layer of grit. The sign above the door simply read "Paradise" in faded neon lights, an ironic name for a place where dreams were more likely to die than come true.
