Page 149 of Broken
When they returned to the kitchen, he inhaled the delicious aroma of homemade fries, baking in the oven. Burgers, waiting to be grilled, sat on a platter. Buns at the ready, a salad made, and carrot and celery sticks for Ethan.
Pulling her into his arms, he said, “Thank you for doing this.”
She leaned up, dropped a soft kiss on his lips. “I love grilling in the summer, so I did this for me.” Her adorable smile touched his heart.
Simply by existing, she’d become a top priority for him. “I couldn’t wait to come home to you.”
“I wish I knew the feeling,” she said with a gleam in her eyes.
He chuffed out a laugh. “After you changed your mind this morning, I had my doubts you’d be here. Did you get moved okay?”
“No problem, and Loki did great in the mudroom.”
“You belong here, with me, Jacqueline.”
Smoldering eyes stared into his for an extra beat before she broke their steamy connection. “Can you show me how your grill works?”
“I want to take you upstairs,” he murmured.
“Small, helpless creatures are waiting for us to feed them.” She palmed his ass before sashaying toward the deck.
Two easy strides and he pulled up alongside her. Being around her changedeverything. Every-fucking-thing was better because she was in his life. She grounded him, excited him, gave him something bigger than himself to live for. She’d left him once—because of him—but there was no way in hell he’d let that happen again.
Things were moving fast, but Prescott couldn’t slow down his feelings, even if he’d wanted to. In a matter of weeks, so much had changed. This new normal felt so damn right.
At ten past eight—after dinner, playtime, a bath, and a bedtime story—Prescott tucked Ethan in, then found Jack working in his office. He loved that she’d made herself at home.
“Make any progress?” he asked, easing onto the love seat.
“I eliminated Bert’s and Gloria’s spouses from my suspect list.”
“Nice.”
“Looks like Bert’s wife is having an affair. While her boyfriend had motive to kill Bert, he was out of town when Bert was shot, and I found no connection with the boyfriend and Gloria.”
“Could Gloria have found out and confronted Bert’s wife?” he asked.
“The boyfriend’s body type was different from the man at the gas station. I haven’t ruled out murder for hire, but I couldn’t find anything that linked the wife and her lover to either murder.”
“Gotcha.”
“I’m tackling the former Ops next.” Her gaze floated over his face. “How’d your day go?”
“I got the autopsy report for my sister, Sally. She didn’t die of a blood clot. She was suffocated.”
Jacqueline’s eyes widened.
“And she was pregnant.”
“Wow, okay. How far along was she?”
“Eleven weeks.”
“That’s even more tragic.”
He nodded. “My gut’s telling me that the person who shot her wanted her deadbecauseshe was pregnant. It had nothing to do with ALPHA, and Addison got caught in the crosshairs.”
“When she didn’t die, he went to the hospital to finish the job,” she added. “I’ll request Sally’s phone log. What’s her number?”
