by Em Petrova
Aiden stilled. Heart thumping with fury. “What the hell are you talking about?” And why hadn’t she mentioned it to him?
She didn’t even look his way let alone answer him. “I did some digging on the guy we apprehended two days ago at auction. And a name kept coming up in association with him.”
Latchaw sat forward. Aiden wanted to punch something. Why hadn’t he discovered any of this information? It was his fucking case, his fucking county. Hell, his state. Amaryllis was hijacking everything.
“Give me the name.” Latchaw drew a sheet of paper toward him.
“Fitz. Michael J Fitz. From Rock Springs.”
Aiden searched his mind for memory of that name. Nothing.
“Do you have any reason to issue a warrant, Amaryllis? I can’t just send you off on a wild lead.”
She looked at Aiden and gave a single nod. “I have record that he just sold nine hundred pounds of beef to a butcher in Rock Springs for pennies on the dollar. When I spoke to the butcher, he told me Fitz said he had to unload it quick, needed the freezer space.”
Latchaw nodded, the grin back on his face. “That’s a credible lead.”
“And turns out he rents an old building outside of Crossroads.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes. “Which one is that?”
“The grocery store. Willy’s. My guess is there’s a big walk-in freezer and plenty of coolers to store trafficked beef. I need a warrant to search the place.”
“You got it, little lady. I’ll got the magistrate on it. Consider it done.” Latchaw smiled.
She dropped Aiden a sweet smile. “Comin’ with me, Roshannon? I’ll drive.”
Chapter Eight
Aiden’s low growl seemed to vibrate all the way down Amaryllis’s spine. Somehow she kept walking, each long stride across the parking lot a step toward her goal. She had to keep her eyes on the prize, and right now, it was finding the people involved in committing these crimes.
She didn’t have time for hot cowboy lawmen with hidden tattoos or lips that could seduce the Virgin Mary.
His stomps crunched the gravel parking area like he was determined to smash the rock to dust. “What do you think you’re doing, investigating without me?”
She kept walking. “Just found out. I don’t for a minute believe if you’d gotten a taste of this that you wouldn’t have investigated right away, too.”
“You should have called. Texted. Dropped by my place. I’m sure you know where I live.”
She did. Crossroads was small and people knew everything. She’d driven by his place, wondering at how a man like Aiden Roshannon was content with the small rental house and postage stamp-sized yard. He seemed like a man who needed to roam.
Reaching the truck, she clicked the key fob to unlock the doors. She had to admit, the monster truck was more perfect than she’d hoped for in a rental. When she’d called ahead for a vehicle and told the business to provide her with the biggest pickup they could wrangle up, she’d never pictured this.
She reached up for the door handle. Thank God it had running boards, but she still had to lift her leg high to reach it.
“Jesus, woman. You’re a piece of work.” She knew Aiden was shaking his head even if she didn’t see it. “Let me drive.”
“No way, Roshannon.” She opened the door and launched inside. He could come with her or drive himself. Either way, she was getting to the abandoned grocery store in this beauty.
A heartbeat later, he whipped open the passenger door and landed in the seat, glare hot, fists clenched on his knees.
She smiled at him. “You know what they say about girls and their trucks.” She looked at lifted trucks the way men looked at her ass.
“Uh-huh. Diesel makes her clothes fall off.”
She gulped midway through starting the engine. How the hell was she supposed to come back from that comment when her mind was completely blank? Wiped clean by his words and images of them naked in the monster truck bed?
He reached out and tapped on her lower jaw, snapping it shut. With a huff of irritation, she faced forward and drove out of the lot. Careful not to lay on the gas and spray gravel over the vehicles there. Aiden’s she wasn’t so concerned about, but she didn’t want to do damage to the sheriff’s or deputies’.
“Turn right,” he ordered.
“I know, Roshannon. Spent half the night figuring out most of the roads around here.” She didn’t tell him it was because she couldn’t sleep. Or how her body had been so keyed up that she’d pleasured herself several times.
She kept her gaze on the highway and navigating the twisty roads around the base of the mountain range.
“You didn’t tell me you looked into Fitz.”
She threw him a look. “Anybody who knows crime would.”
“We had Latchaw running the information.”
“Sometimes you gotta do things differently.”
“Outside the law you mean.”
“Maybe.”
“How’d you do it? Did you call Judd?”
She stumbled over that name. “Your twin?”
He was fuming so bad she swore steam was raising off his skull underneath his hat. “The very same.”
“No. I have strings I can pull. I made a call to a bounty hunter I know.”
At that, he gripped the console so hard she thought he might leave finger dents. “Wes?”
She racked her brain for that name, and it came to her after a couple seconds. “Not your cousin. I’ve got a friend who works the entire West, from north to south. He only needs a name most of the time, because he has access to a massive data base.”
“I can’t believe you, Amaryllis.”
He didn’t sound too happy about her making the discovery without him. Then again, Roshannon didn’t seem like a happy man in general.
“What’s your middle name?”
It was his turn to be caught off-guard. “What?”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Why?”
“I thought it might be Grumpy.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” His tone was a low oath.
He didn’t tell her his middle name, and she thought pressuring him might make his hat combust. She settled against the leather seat and drove.
The small suburb of Crossroads was basically a ghost town, stamped on the map with disappearing ink. She looked at the one main street. A few houses still had flags out front, waving in the mountain breeze. But nobody was around.
“What happened to this place?” she asked.
“You mean you didn’t already ask around and find out?”
“Roshannon,” she warned.
“Fine. Classic tale of a bigger road going in. Easier to drive, especially in winters. People stopped coming this way and the few stores went out of business, which meant people had no conveniences and they moved away.”
“It’s a pretty place. For a ghost town.”
“I always liked it. Store’s on the left if you don’t know.”
She didn’t and passed it. Aiden snorted but said nothing as she backed up and parked in the lot. The pavement had a network of cracks with weeds growing in them.
Aiden placed a hand on the door handle. “So when’s the owner meeting us to let us in the building?”
He wasn’t going to like this part.
“He’s not.” She jumped out of the truck before she could hear his response. But as soon as her boots were on the ground, he came around the vehicle, cussing.
“What the fuck do you mean he’s not coming to let us in? We have a warrant but that doesn’t mean breaking and entering.”
“Who said anything about that?” She only took a step toward the small hometown-style grocery store when Aiden wrapped his fingers around her elbow.
She stopped at the warmth seeping into her skin. And how it reminded her of being in his lap, his hands on her body making her burn hotter as he kissed her.
No way was she going to look at him. She didn’t want
to see what was in his eyes, what might have been between them that night in the B&B.
He hovered close. If she tipped her head back, their hats would brush. She focused on the buttons of his chambray shirt. Earlier, she’d noticed how the faded blue made his gray eyes stand out like thunderclouds, but she couldn’t look at them now.
“Amaryllis, we are not entering this building without the owner letting us in.” His tone brooked no argument.
“We won’t need to.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about, woman?”
“You know, some ladies would be offended at being called woman. You’re lucky I’m not one of them.”
He made a sound that was almost a chuckle. Liquid heat pooled low in her belly. A spark of arousal made her pussy clench.
“We’re just going to walk around the perimeter first.”
He released her arm, and she felt cold air claim the spot where his fingers had been. “Let’s go.”
The building was shut tight, the front door sprouting rust in spots but securely bolted. The big glass windows were lined with butcher paper that said OUT OF BUSINESS. They walked around to the side and found a door where employees might have come out to have smoke breaks. A few old cigarette butts still littered the parking lot.
Aiden knocked on the door.
Amaryllis almost laughed out loud but bit it off. This man was a stickler for the rules and a martyr of politeness. She doubted he’d fart in his own house without asking his cat if it was okay first.
If he had a cat.
He walked ahead of her, and it was impossible not to admire the man’s broad shoulders and torso that tapered to his waist. Worn jeans barely clung to his hips and the denim stretched across his hard thighs with each step he took.
If he wasn’t her partner, she’d think he was hot.
Hell, who was she kidding? She thought so now.
And he was a damn fine kisser.
Stop it, Amaryllis.
“You have a girlfriend, Roshannon?”
He skidded to a stop and looked around at her. Eyes blazing under the brim of his hat. “What?”
Shit, she shouldn’t have let that question slip. Too late to go back now.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
He gave her that slow once-over that was like sliding an ice cube over her searing hot skin in the heatwave of a Texas summer. Her nipples peaked and her pussy throbbed.
“No, I don’t.”
“Oh.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Just figured we should know each other better. And if you have one, I should meet her. Sometimes women don’t like me working with their significant others.”
He grunted. Dang, if grunting was a language, he was a freaking master.
They rounded another corner of the building and saw the muddy tire tracks at the same time.
Aiden bent to inspect them more closely. “Someone was off-roading to get this much mud on their tires.” He followed the tracks with his gaze out to where the parking lot ended. “I’d say he drove across the fields to this point.”
“ATV?” she asked, leaning over.
He nodded and scooped up a crumble of mud. He crushed it into dust in his fingers and let it fall. “Bringing butchered meat in the back door.”
“That’s my thinking.” She walked up to the building and yanked the door. It was locked. But a small line of windows on the side of the building surely were opened for ventilation now and then. One could be accidentally left unlocked.
She started down the line, pushing and pulling. Two wouldn’t budge, but the third had a glass pane that rattled in its metal frame.
She threw a look over her shoulder at Aiden.
“Don’t you dare, Amaryllis.”
“Don’t worry, Roshannon. Nothing’ll get broken.”
* * * * *
How the damn woman knew how to pop a pane of glass out of a window frame without breaking it, he didn’t want to know. She probably doubled as a cat burglar when she wasn’t out hurling herself at cattle rustlers.
She set aside the glass, leaning it against the building.
“Now what?” He wanted to haul her over, strip her pants down to her ankles and flog her good. Then make her scream with pleasure.
She surveyed the opening she’d made, about chest high on her. “I might need a boost.”
“Only boost you’re getting from me is when I toss you back into that monster truck o’ yours and drive your ass back to Crossroads.”
She gave him a shake of her head as if disappointed in him. “Fine, I can shimmy up and in.”
“Then what? I can’t let you go in there alone. What if Fitz has someone in there?”
He pictured scenario after scenario, each involving gunfire, Amaryllis taken hostage and Aiden going ballistic on this side of the wall trying to get to her.
“I don’t think anybody’s in here. Sure you won’t give me a leg up, Roshannon? Just like you’re helping a woman into the saddle. Not that I believe you’ve ever done that in your life.”
He pushed out a forceful breath through his nose. “Fine. Gimme your foot.” He crouched and cupped his hands together. She placed a boot in his palms and pushed upward. She caught the window frame with her hands and pulling herself the rest of the way up and through.
The windows were too grubby back here to see through, but he heard her hit the floor.
“You all right?” he called.
“Peachy.”
He rolled his eyes. Fuck, she was killing him. Each throb of his heart counted for two subtracted from his life.
He pulled off his hat and scraped his fingers through his hair. He was sweating. She was breaking all the rules and he was standing here watching h—
Thoughts breaking off at the sound of a door opening, he turned immediately toward the noise. Prepared to see a gun held to Amaryllis’s temple and a crazy fucker with his finger on the trigger.
But she stood there alone, perky breasts riding high and a grin on her beautiful face. “C’mon.”
Jesus, he was as nuts as she was. After knowing her a few weeks, he was ready to retire.
Or fuck her the way he needed.
Her curvy backside disappeared into the dark space, and he followed. Inside, it was dim with the only light shining through the bank of windows. Big shapes loomed up, metal containers with wheels used to move slabs of meat and shopping carts in a corner. She bumped into something and he ran into her from behind. His groin crushed against her sweet little ass.
He groaned and reflexively grabbed her by the hips.
He heard the breath trickle from her. “Aiden.”
“Just making sure you’ve got your footing.” He didn’t let her go. The fucking urge to buck against her ass was tooth-grindingly real.
“I… do,” she said on an exhalation.
He released her and clamped his fingers into fists to keep from spinning her into his embrace. Lifting her against a wall and fucking her brains out. Surely there was some rope in here somewhere. Hell, he could fashion one out of old plastic grocery bags.
She took out her phone and used the flashlight app. She waved it around, letting him see the other objects they could trip over.
Distracting himself was key right now. He used his phone’s flashlight too and ran it over the floor. Sure enough, blood striped the tile from the door to a meat cooler. He followed it with Amaryllis at his side.
Damn if she wasn’t right about Fitz. There was a lot going on with this case, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, Aiden probably wouldn’t have gotten this far without her. Having the extra body on the job meant double the effort.
Without a trace of fear in her body, Amaryllis strode up to that walk-in and jerked open the door.
“It’s empty,” she said in surprise.
“But you can see there’s been beef hanging here. Now all we need is a clue as to whose beef it was. Look around for a tag or some hides.”
After several minutes
of combing the freezer and old butcher shop around it, they were no closer to solving the case.
Aiden did have a huge case of blue-balls, however. Something about being in the dark with Amaryllis made him forget she was a pain in his ass.
He clicked off his light and faced her. Damn if he didn’t want to taste her again.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” Her voice trembled.
He took a step toward her.
“Aiden, I don’t think—”
“Then don’t.” He caught her around the middle and yanked her against his body. Her soft breasts molded to his chest, his cock snug against her belly. He cupped her face and claimed what he wanted.
Her lips, for a start.
He’d work on her trust later.
* * * * *
Aiden’s mouth blazed across Amaryllis’s neck and down to her collarbone. Then he kept on going. Tugging down the material of her T-shirt to spatter kisses over the tops of her breasts.
She clung to him, her breaths harsh in the silent space. She still gripped her phone and had no idea where to put it, but she wanted to slip her arms around his neck and draw him closer.
This attraction needed an outlet, and if it only happened once, then it was probably for the better. At least they would have satisfied their longings.
He took the phone from her hand and set it aside on a metal table in the middle of the room. Then he raised her arms and stripped off her top. Her bra followed, and her skin prickled as air struck her nude flesh. A brief second later his lips landed on her skin, peaking it until she was shivering with need.
“I’ve been fucking wanting you for days.” He took her hand and plastered it over his cock. The bulge made her suck in a sharp breath. He was hard—and big. And she wanted him inside her.
“I thought you didn’t like me,” she managed to squeak.
“You’re a hard woman to get along with. But we do this just fine.” He walked his fingers down her spine to her lower back. She wanted to yell at him to stop teasing her already and get on with it. But he seemed to rob her of breath and something inside her wanted to see what he could do without being told.
Aiden’s sure touch told her he knew exactly what he wanted from her and how to get it.