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“I want to be good on my own,” Lyric half whispered. “And with someone else. I want to let myself feel something again.” With her eyes locked on his, she took his hand, weaving their fingers together.
The gentle but firm contact radiated all through him. He held her hand tighter, letting her know her confusion didn’t scare him off. “Let’s not try to define anything right now. We’ll keep our cover. But there’re no strings, no obligations, no expectations on my side.” He only wanted to keep spending time with her.
The start of a smile chased away the traces of worry on her face. “Okay.” She shuffled her toes closer to his. “But if we’re keeping our cover intact, we should probably work on our kissing. I’m not sure we convinced Kyra the first time.”
Thatch accepted the invitation and set his hands on her waist. “I’m all about practicing.” He lowered his mouth to hers, following her eyes until they closed, and then started with a slow brush against her lips.
Lyric sighed against his mouth, enticing him with the scent of cinnamon.
“How was that for convincing?” he murmured, breaking away for only a second.
She made a noncommittal noise. “I mean, it was a start…”
He cupped her jaw with his hand and guided her face back to his. This time, he let his lips linger over hers, teasing her by kissing her and then pulling back slightly.
She uttered a groan of frustration and moved her hands to the back of his head, holding him there. Maybe he’d been trying to tease her, but that had backfired because he was the one sinking into her, suddenly intoxicated by the softness of her lips, the feel of her curves against him. He was the one pulling her closer, unable to stop himself. He was the one opening his mouth to taste more of her. He was the one finding it hard to breathe, but maybe she did, too, because she was holding on to him tighter, her chest rising against his so she could probably feel how hard she had his heart pounding—
A crash sounded somewhere down the hall.
Lyric jolted back. “What was that?”
“Dunno.” Right now, he didn’t care. He pulled hercloser, studying the mystery in her eyes. God, she was pure magic, those dark eyes, and the soft contour of her lips—
More clatters came from the reception area. This time, Thatch woke up.
“No one’s supposed to be here right now except for us.” Lyric darted away from him and rushed out of the studio.
Thatch caught up to her in only a few steps. They made it to the reception area and found the front door standing wide open.
“What the hell?” He scanned the room.
“Oh, my God. The safe.” Lyric pointed to the small box on the floor behind the reception desk. She knelt down and typed in a password combination to open it, and then rifled through the contents.
“Is anything missing?” Thatch lifted the safe onto the desk.
“I don’t know.” She pulled out checks and cash. “I’ll have to call Kyra. She was doing the books this week. We alternate.”
Well, damn. This night just took a turn. “We should call the police too. Get Natalie over here.” Though could it technically be considered a break-in if the front door had been unlocked? It didn’t matter. He typed in the number for the station and talked with the chief herself. “Natalie will be right over,” he told Lyric after hanging up.
“I texted Kyra too. She’s on her way.” Lyric sank into the chair behind the desk. “Who would break in here at nine o’clock at night?” She shoved the cash and checks back into the safe and closed it up.
Exactly. This didn’t make any sense. Especially in a place like Star Valley. “Maybe it was a client or a patient who forgot something earlier today?”
She seemed to consider the possibility. “But then why would they take off running out the front door when they heard us coming?” Lyric started opening drawers. “And none of our clients would touch the safe. It doesn’t look like they messed with anything else.”
So the person was only after money? “We should walk through Kyra’s exam rooms. Just to be sure.” He led the way down the hall opposite from the studio, but they didn’t find anything that looked out of place. Even the locked medicine cabinet hadn’t been tampered with. When they went back into the reception area, Kyra was walking through the door.
“Are you sure someone broke in here?” She looked around the space. “Everything seems fine to me.”
“We’re sure.” He might’ve been dazed from kissing the woman, but they’d heard the safe fall. “The door was standing wide open, and I know I closed it when I came in.”
“You need to check the safe.” Lyric hurried to punch in the code again. “I looked, but I didn’t know what all was supposed to be in there.”
“You found it on the floor?” Kyra went to the desk and collected the contents, looking through every paper, check, and dollar bill.
“Yes. It was on the floor right here under the desk.” Lyric pointed out the spot. “But it was still closed."
The front door opened again, and Natalie entered, looking as confused as Kyra. “You need to report a break-in?”
