Page 75 of Fatal Mistake
She loved his playful look, so in opposition to the large-and-in-charge guy sitting next to her. She didn’t think, but took his hand. “I’m glad you were with me when I found the journals. No one else would have handled it so sensitively.”
“Sensitive!” He gaped at her. “Me? Now don’t go telling the team that, okay?”
“Mum’s the word.” She smiled back at him.
Their eyes connected, and she forgot all about the cookie in her hand and got lost in the deep brown color.
He shifted to face her more fully. “What are we going to do about this?”
“About what?” she asked, though she knew full well he meant what was happening between them.
“This…us.” He let go of her hand and gestured between them. “You may not want to hear this, but I can honestly say I’ve never felt this way before.”
“Me either.” She couldn’t believe she admitted it.
His gaze darkened, deepened, and he reached up to cup the side of her face, his fingers lingering for a moment before he slid them into her hair, drawing her closer to him. He was going to kiss her, and with her gaze locked on the eagerness in his eyes, she could think of no reason why he shouldn’t. Not even his team standing in the driveway. If he didn’t care about them witnessing the kiss, neither did she.
He leaned closer, his lips inches from hers, his breath fanning softly over her skin.
His cell phone rang in the tone all his team members used to communicate with each other. A shutter dropped over his eyes, and he sat back to grab his phone. “I have to take this.”
“Of course.” She could honestly say she was disappointed in the interruption, very disappointed, and yet relieved, too.
“What’s up, Max?” Cal stared ahead.
She could hear Max’s fast-talking voice echo from Cal’s phone, but she couldn’t make out the words. She nibbled on the cookie and watched a rush of emotions race across the wide planes of Cal’s face as he listened. He ground his teeth, and his fingers curled into a fist on his knee.
She lost interest in her cookie and waited for him to share additional bad news.
“We’ll be right there.” He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the dash so hard he’d likely broken the screen. He slammed his fist into the dash, leaving a dent and breaking open the skin on the knuckles he’d injured in the explosion.
“What is it?” Afraid to hear the answer, she held her breath.
“Another bomb.” He cranked the engine and revved the motor.
“But it’s not the first of the month.”
“I’ve been thinking Keeler would take out his frustration over not getting to you by reducing the time between bombs. He’s hurting, and he needs his fix to relieve his pain. Not uncommon for a serial killer.”
“But you said last night that we had until the first of the month.”
“Yeah, for the women on his list.”
“So this wasn’t someone on the list?” Nausea threatened her stomach. She’d been so naïve to think they had weeks to find him before he killed again. “Where did the bomb explode?”
“In Oregon. Your fire tower. The new fire lookout is dead.”
Tara’s heart plummeted and all the warm feelings from June, from the cookie, from Cal’s almost-kiss evaporated, a hollow ache replacing them. The poor, poor young woman who’d filled in was dead. Dead! At Oren’s hands.
Tara circled her stomach with her arms as if she could protect herself from further anguish, but the pain rolled through like a bowling ball racing down a lane, bent on destruction.
Cal shoved open his door, jumped from the car, and strode over to Shane. Tara watched, not only because she was interested, but because it kept her mind occupied. Cal spoke, his shoulders rigid, and Shane’s mouth fell open. Cal said a few more words, then pivoted and marched back to the car while Shane jogged up the drive to Rick.
Cal settled beside her and clasped the wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I should have thought to ask for a man to replace you at the tower.”
“You couldn’t know Oren would do this.”
“No! Don’t make excuses for me. I failed. It’s my job to know things like that.” He revved the engine and pointed the car up the drive, gravel spitting under their tires.
