The Cave

by Amanda McKinney

  “Okay” He inhaled deeply. “Since we’re not bullshitting here… I don’t know if it’s Ray or not, but I’ve got someone looking into it.”

  Doris took a deep breath, nodded. “Good. Glad you didn’t let it drop. Never did make sense. Not like Ray to be that irresponsible.”

  “Seems to be the general consensus.”

  “Not general enough for Chief McCord to call it an accident and close the case.”

  “Can’t argue with you there.” He reached into his pocket and fingered the small, gold ring. “Hey, let me ask you something.”

  “Anything, son.”

  “Do you know anyone named Peg?”

  “Peg?”

  “Yeah. Peg.”

  “Like Peggy?”

  “Maybe.”

  Deep in thought, Doris bit her lip. “Peg… peg… Peggy… ah, yes, the lunch lady at the elementary school. Peggy Herbowitz.”

  “Peggy Herbowitz,” he repeated. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “Probably because she died eight years ago. Heart attack. Right there in the middle of the damn lunch room, can you believe it? Poor kids saw it all.”

  He blew out a breath. Not his Peg.

  “Why you asking?”

  “Oh, nothing—”

  “Don’t you dare oh, nothing me, my dear. Why are you asking?

  Owen glanced out the window where a blue truck packed with canoes was backing into the parking lot. He looked back at Doris, took a step forward, and lowered his voice.

  “I’m asking because of Ray… do you know if he knew anyone named Peg? Or perhaps the initials, P E G?”

  “Ray?”

  He nodded.

  Her furry brows knitted together. “Well, let me think… you know Ray had a lot of… friends that were female, right?”

  “I do.” Which made the fact that he had a ring with the name of one even more interesting.

  “That was one of the things that always bothered me about the man. Ray was good looking, charming, with an ass as ripe as a Georgia peach—”

  Owen scowled.

  Doris winked. “Sorry. Anyway, never did understand why that guy wouldn’t settle down. Instead, he just slept his way around town.” She snorted. “Weren’t for that, he’d would’ve made a good husband.” She chuckled, “Or, hell, what do I know? I married three and look where that’s got me. Anyway, a Peg or Peggy could have just been one of his many conquests.”

  Owen nodded and glanced out the window again, where Amos was walking up the hill from the river.

  Doris followed his gaze. “Well, there he is now. Told you he was around somewhere.” The coffee pot dinged simultaneously with the front door. “You go get the folks who just walked in, I’ll bring you some coffee.”

  “Thanks, Ms. Doris.”

  “Hey, Owen?”

  Owen stopped, turned. “Yeah?”

  “You could learn a lesson from Ray, you know.”

  “Never go caving alone?”

  “No. Don’t die alone.”

  The words lingered in the air like lead weight.

  “Go get those customers, I’ll be right there, son.”

  Owen walked into the shop still contemplating Doris’s blunt advice. Truth was, when he was at the base, having a family life never entered his mind. Hell, having a serious relationship never even entered his mind. He was always busy and the few times he wasn’t, Owen either played cards with the guys, or went to the bar where he rarely went home alone, celebrating every woman who kept their strings in their pockets. They all did. It was life on the base, and it wasn’t half bad.

  But there was something about being back home. Something about his small, country hometown that made the thought of having the comfort, friendship, trust, and partnership with a ball and chain creep into his mind more than ever before. Something about the way he watched men open the doors for their wives of fifty years—the respect, routine. Something about the kids playing in the river while their parents stole the few moments of alone-time with a kiss.

  Something about being in his father’s house that had made his stomach clench. Is that what life would be like without a woman? Without a strong woman to handle life’s ups and downs? There was no energy to the house, no vibrancy, no femininity. No love. Just empty beer bottles and three inches of dust.

  Since he’d been back, he’d catch himself thinking of his life in ways he never had before.

  And it threw him the fuck off. God, he needed to get back to life on the ocean, where things were simpler.

  But first, he needed coffee.

  “Morning.” He greeted two men in overalls and fishing vests as they searched the tackle tower.

  “Morning,” the first man said.

  “Good morning for fishing.”

  “Yes, sir,” the man replied. “Rain last night stirred the fish up. They’ll be biting like crazy before the next round hits.”

  Owen looked out the window. “Storms coming again today?”

  “’Cording to Dan the Weatherman, yep. Supposed to start up later this afternoon and through the night.”

  He thought of Sadie as he slid behind the front counter.

  “We’ll take these, and a ride down to Crawdad’s Point.”

  “No problem. I’ll have Amos take y’all down as soon as he gets up from the river. Should be just a sec.”

  As Owen rang up the fishing tackle, the older man cleared his throat. “Sorry about your daddy, son.”

  He sniffed. “Thanks.”

  “He’s a good guy. Who cares if the man drinks? He served our goddamned country. Let him do what he wants.”

  Owen forced a half-smile. “That’ll be twenty-six-seventy, sir.”

  After bagging up their loot, he watched the men take a seat on a bench outside.

  He’s a good guy.

  “Here’s your coffee, son.” Doris padded across the shop.

  “Thank you.”

  “You let me know when they ID those bones, alright?”

  He nodded, and glanced at the clock.

  “Go.”

  He tilted his head. “Where?”

  “To whoever the woman is that’s got you all off kilter.”

  He narrowed his eyes.

  “Oh, now, don’t give me that. I saw the look on your face when I told you not to die alone. You thought of someone.” She slid a hip onto the counter. “Owen, ever consider the fact that you might be back in Berry Springs for a reason? That everything happens for a reason. Sometimes, when your world gets thrown upside down, there’s a reason for it. Be open to seeing why.” She stood. “Go. And you let me know if you need anything, okay?”

  “No, Ms. Doris, I’ll stay until—”

  “Git.” An oven dinged from the kitchen. “That’ll be the biscuits.” She started across the store. “Talk soon, son.”

  As Owen slid behind the wheel of his pickup truck, Doris’s words echoed in his head.

  Everything happens for a reason…

  He thought of Sadie, and a zing of nerves swept over him.

  Dammit, what the hell was this girl doing to him?

  Chapter 16

  What felt like hours of sifting through rocks and bat crap later, Sadie sat back on her heels, grabbed a water from her pack and chugged half the bottle.

  She stretched her neck from side to side. Her back was in knots, her head hurt, and her stomach felt as hollow as the cave she was in.

  She’d found a distal phalanx of what she assumed to be the middle finger of their Anarchy skeleton, and a colorless, beady five-inch millipede that shaved ten years off her life. Other than those two surprises, nothing.

  It had been quiet all morning in the cave, other than her carousel of thoughts dominated by a certain rescue swimmer. No matter how many times she’d pushed his face and that tall, muscular body out of her mind, he’d found his way back, not five minutes later.

  Some thoughts gave her butterflies, some made her sick. Why didn’t she kiss him? Did he know about her nasty billio
naire beau breakup? Did he care? Or, heck, maybe she’d misread the whole thing and maybe Owen Grayson wasn’t interested in her at all. Maybe she was just one of many women that swooned over him. Wouldn’t surprise her.

  With that thought, her stomach soured for the umpteenth time.

  She lifted the bottle to her lips for another sip—

  “Heck of a way to spend a morning.”

  The water slipped from her hands, tumbling onto her lap and splashing everywhere. She swallowed the knot in her throat and waited until her heart started beating again before saying, “Especially now that I’m wet.” She turned as Owen slid through the tiny opening in the cave wall and lowered himself into the room.

  He landed with a thud. Two-hundred plus pounds of muscle usually did. The dim light of her flashlights caught the strong curves of his face, the small smile on his lips. The five-o’clock shadow that was darker than the day before. The crazy-sexy rugged handsomeness.

  Sour gone, butterflies back.

  “Good lord, you scared me.”

  “Sorry,” he grinned. Wearing an olive green pair of tactical pants, and a gray T-shirt that stretched in all the right places, Owen walked across the rocks and squatted down next to her. He pulled a red bandana from his back pocket and hovered the fabric just above her lap.

  She cocked a brow.

  His smiled widened. “Here you go.”

  Taking a mental inventory of herself, Sadie took the bandana and wiped herself down. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, grime covered her KT Labs T-shirt and jeans, and undoubtedly, her face, too. She probably looked like a train wreck.

  “I didn’t expect to see you today.”

  Owen simply smiled, then said, “Find anything?”

  “A distal phalanx.”

  “Sounds ominous.”

  “Not nearly as ominous as the bugs I’ve found.”

  “Creepy crawlers in caves.”

  “Understatement of the day.”

  “I’m assuming a distal… whatever… is a bone?”

  She wiggled her fingers. “Part of the middle finger.”

  “A very important one, then.”

  She laughed, feeling a rush of pep all of a sudden. Happy. Excited. Owen’s mere presence had brought a lightness into the dark room. The energy had shifted, and she liked it.

  Shit, she liked him. Really, really, really liked him.

  “Does the finger belong to our skeleton?”

  “I’m assuming, but I won’t know for sure until I get a better look at the lab.”

  “Have you heard back on the ID yet?”

  “Not as of six this morning.”

  “Not long after I left.”

  She cocked her head. “Left?”

  “Yeah. I slept in my truck last night.”

  “What?”

  “What?”

  “Why?” Her eyes rounded… no way in hell did he—

  “Just testing out my backseat.” He winked.

  …stay the night just to make sure she was safe. Her mouth dropped. This six-foot-something military man slept in the backseat of his truck just to watch over her.

  As if she needed any more reason to fall head over heels for this guy.

  “You didn’t have to do that. Geez, why didn’t you let me know, or hell, you could have slept in the camper or something.” The moment the words came out, she felt a flush on her cheeks. And she knew why he didn’t. Because she’d sent him mixed messages when she’d pulled away from him.

  “Trust me, I thought about it,” he said with a devilish grin. “But then I thought anti-social women probably aren’t fans of strangers barging into their sleeping quarters.”

  She was at a loss for words. This guy had witnessed her paralyzed with fear within the first few hours of meeting her, and helped her through it, not once, but twice. Then, he’d voluntarily stayed the night in the middle of freaking nowhere to make sure she was safe.

  “Thank you doesn’t feel like enough… but… thank you.” She wanted to grab him and kiss him right there, but—

  He gave a swift nod, then changed the subject. “When do you think you’ll hear back from Perez?”

  She tore her gaze away from him, otherwise, not a single word he said was going to register through her shock. Shock of him, shock of her emotions.

  Shit, Sadie, pull it together.

  “I’m not sure. What time is it?”

  “Close to eleven.”

  “Wow, really? Geez, no wonder why I’m so hungry. He might know something by now, especially considering he already has your uncle’s dental records.” She glanced toward the cave entrance. “Were Griff and Kimi still in the cave when you came through?”

  “Saw Griffin outside, not Kimi. By the way, the kid looks like the walking dead.”

  She frowned. “Yeah, I know. I think he and Kimi stayed up late last night. Did you hear or see them?”

  “Nope, not a thing. Honestly, I expected them to come knocking on your door at some point.”

  “Me, too. But, they didn’t.” Her thoughts went to Griffin’s story about Kimi sneaking around last night. She wanted to get the whole story.

  “Okay, let’s head out. I’ll see if I’ve got anything from Perez.”

  “Ladies first.”

  “You just want to stare at my butt as I try to squeeze through this hole again.” She smirked, turned and placed her hands on the rock wall.

  He leaned into her ear, his breath warm against her skin, “Anything wrong with that?”

  A ripple of goosebumps flew over her skin as she turned her head to the side.

  His hand swept down her arm, grabbed her hand, and gave a little tug. She turned around, butterflies bursting in her stomach. His eyes twinkled behind a flicker of a flame that confirmed he was feeling the exact same thing she was. He pulled her closer, interlacing his fingers with hers.

  Her heart started to pound.

  With his other hand, he trailed his finger down her cheek, paralyzing her where she stood. The tip of his finger lifted her chin, and without a word, he pressed his lips to hers.

  Shivers ran over her cool skin as his tongue found hers, gentle at first… until his hand wrapped to the back of her head, entangled in her hair. Her thoughts evaporated, her knees weakened as he took her with his mouth, commanding, greedy.

  Unapologetically.

  “Sadie?” A distant voice behind them.

  Owen slowly pulled away, leaving her spinning and her lungs depleted of air. She opened her eyes, focusing on the man in front of her, his eyes rounded, his chest rising and falling heavily.

  Yeah, she felt it, too.

  She opened her mouth to say something—anything—but was a frozen mess of surprise, lust, desire—shock.

  “Hey? Sadie!”

  Kimi’s voice yanked her from her daze. “Yeah?” She yelled back through the rocks, her voice cracking like a prepubescent boy.

  “Lunch is ready!”

  “Okay!… Coming…” she whispered breathlessly.

  He grinned.

  She smiled back, her heart like a jackhammer.

  “Need help in there?” Kimi’s voice called out, getting closer.

  Sadie whipped around to face the rocks. “No! I’m on my way.” She took a deep breath, slid her toes into the first foothold, then the next, then felt Owen’s strong hands around her waist as he helped her the rest of the way.

  Dammit.

  She had it bad.

  *

  Forty-five minutes and a stomach full of sausage veggie frittata later, Sadie and Kimi helped Griffin secure the remaining food and trash as Owen and Crawly finished their plates.

  The afternoon had brought dense, steel-gray cloud cover and cooler temperatures. It had sprinkled at some point during the morning, leaving a shiny gleam over the rocks.

  “You feeling okay?” Sadie frowned, noticing Griffin’s skin was still as pale as earlier this morning.

  Griffin glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah, just tired is
all.”

  “You look like crap.” Kimi grinned and stuffed a water bottle into her bag.

  “Thanks.”

  “Why don’t you go in your tent for a bit and lay down.” Sadie took the trash from his hands. “We covered a lot of ground this morning. We’ll finish up within a few hours. Just come back out when you’re ready.”

  “I might just do that. Thanks, boss.”

  “Good. I’m going to check email in the camper for a quick sec, I’ll be back.”

  “Sounds good.” Griffin grabbed the SAT phone from his bag and tossed it to her. “In case I fall asleep.” He winked.

  “Try. Really, you look like a zombie.”

  Sadie met Owen, who had been chatting with Crawly, at the tree line and they both set into the woods.

  “Where’s Aaron and Kyle?”

  “Ran into town for lunch. They’ll be back in an hour. And I’ll say, they missed out. Who makes frittatas at a campsite? That’s what those things were called, right?”

  She laughed. “Yes. And Griff does. He loves to cook. Never breakfast though. He hates mornings, so, we always do brunch for lunch, then a kick-ass dinner.”

  “Not exactly roughing it.”

  “Apart from the ravine and bridge made of dental floss? No.”

  He smiled. “Joking about it is the first step, you know.”

  “So is having a bodyguard around all the time. I still can’t believe you stayed in your truck last night.”

  He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. “Maybe tonight I’ll make it into the camper.”

  “We’re leaving in a few hours.” She glanced at him. He kept his gaze forward. Stone cold, except for a twitch in his jaw.

  “You live, what? Two hours away?”

  “An hour and a half,” she quickly spat out. Desperate, much?

  “Not too bad.”

  They walked in silence a moment, both thinking about the kiss, and contemplating where to go from there.

  “When do you go back to Louisiana?”

  Owen kicked a rock from the path. “Pretty soon. Gotta shore up some family stuff then I’m gone.” He cleared his throat. “But not today.” He looked at her. “Let me take you to dinner before I leave.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. She looked at him and smiled. “Yeah?”