Page 21 of Slay Bells

“You mean besides finding a dead body and being attacked by a man who wants my camera?”

“Yeah,” he murmured.

Stopping in her tracks, Gabriela looked first up to the sky and then around. “It gives one time to appreciate life. It’s like I can breathe deeper here. The landscape is breathtaking, I can’t imagine how beautiful it must be in the spring.” Her lips curved. “However, I am not sure I could live without Starbucks, Korean food and a Nordstrom’s nearby.”

“Our backgrounds are so different, aren’t they?” He met her gaze. “It would be difficult to find a common ground.”

Her brows lowered. “Common ground? What do you mean?”

“If let’s say I wanted to get to know you better. Spend time with you and pursue a relationship.”

When her eyes widened and mouth fell open, Jeremy seized the opportunity to kiss her. Unlike the night before, she immediately clung to him, dragging her fingers through his hair and pressing against him.

She was amazing. The chemistry between them was definitely off the charts by the way his heart threatened to burst out of his chest. He took her shoulders and pushed her away, but only a bit. He didn’t break the kiss, needing to move slowly…ever so slowly.

“You are a great kisser,” Gabriela informed him with half-closed eyes. “Damn.”

“What?”

“I hate that we live so far from each other.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Yeah, it makes it hard to ask you to a movie.”

Gabriela laughed and they continued on to find the snowmobile.

Chapter Eight

The police station was tiny, at least compared to the ones she’d seen in San Diego. Gabriela had dated a police officer once, and she’d enjoyed stopping by the station every once in a while. Something about all those men in uniform made her girlfriends go ga-ga always insisting they stop by and see what “the guys” were doing. She had to admit, it had been a fun season of her life. Too bad the guy had turned out to be a bit too friendly with other women.

She’d hoped to have time to doll up a bit for the dinner date with Jeremy, but at the rate they were going, they’d be lucky to grab something at an all-night diner.

Once again both Williams and now Jeremy asked her questions about the day she’d found the body.

It was unexpected to find she remembered more details. Although admittedly, the fact she’d observed some sort of furry creature scurrying away wasn’t exactly useful to the investigation.

“There must be a reason, Rutledge wanted your camera. Maybe something that incriminates him,” Williams said.

Gabriela studied the man and handed over the memory card. “Did he confess to killing the other man?”

“Nope, just to attacking you because he feared for his life.”

Her mouth fell open. “That makes no sense.”

Williams shrugged. “People say strange things when they can’t come up with something that makes sense.”

“Let’s take a look at your pictures. Will you please help by describing locations and where you stood when taking them?”

There was a rough map of the ranch sketched on a white board and she sat across from it with Jeremy next to her. Williams manned a laptop computer.

A picture of Jeremy on a horse. Neither asked her anything, so she remained quiet.

A picture of Jeremy on the front porch.

A picture of Jeremy on the snowmobile. Williams cleared his throat.

A picture of Jeremy standing next to the festival building. Williams coughed and Gabriela groaned.

Finally, there were pictures of the festival building, the groups gathered to work and the family going on about their business. When a picture of Henry flashing a goofy grin popped up, the men chuckled.