“You really think this woman has Kate?”
“I do,” Brantley replied, his voice firm. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Reese. That woman wasn’t simply at the state capitol yesterday because she had business there. If I had to guess, she’s been keeping close tabs on Travis for some time.”
“Because she blames him?”
“Exactly.” Brantley cut his eyes to Reese quickly, then turned back to the road. “She’s pissed her husband left her. Maybe because he’s got another woman, maybe because he left her with nothing. Regardless, she needs someone to blame for that. Probably had some plan to get back at Travis all along. Then she lost custody of her daughter…”
“Insult to injury,” Reese muttered.
“This woman’s at the end of her rope. Heartbroken, angry. Then she realizes she has the perfect opportunity to put the hurt on the man she believes is responsible and solve her emotional crisis at the same time. If she can’t have her own daughter, she’ll get a substitute.”
“You don’t think that’s a stretch? I don’t see normal people just jumping up and stealing someone else’s kid because someone took theirs away.”
“Normal people don’t usually have everything ripped away from them in the blink of an eye. Her husband, whether she loved him or simply appreciated him for what he could afford her, was supposed to be hers. We know that he was into kinky shit, otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to the resort.”
“Maybe it was her idea,” he replied, playing devil’s advocate.
“Possible but doubtful. And that’s not a sexist statement. I’m sure there are plenty of women who’re the dominant in their relationship. I figure if she’d been the one to suggest it, they’d still be together. My guess is, he brought up the idea, convinced her it would spice up their marriage. They went, did whatever it is that’s done there. Had some fun, swapped partners in the heat of the moment. Juliet probably enjoyed it until she realized her husband’s attentions had strayed elsewhere.”
“Swapped partners?” Reese chuckled. “Is that what they do there?”
Brantley glanced his way again. “I don’t know. Ever been?”
“No. Not into that.”
“No?”
Reese shifted his gaze to the window, stared out at the road in front of them as he thought about Cyrus and Brantley. “No. I don’t like to share my toys.”
Brantley chuckled. “Is that what I am to you?”
He could hear the teasing in the man’s tone, knew Brantley was simply trying to lighten the mood despite the gloomy situation. Though they hadn’t talked about what happened this morning, it was definitely sitting between them. Would be until they addressed it. And God knew Reese had spent more than his fair share of time thinking about it. In fact, he’d done little else for the past couple of hours.
“You think she’s still in Austin?” he asked, wanting to get them back on the reason they were here now.
“No.”
Reese’s head snapped over, his eyes locking on Brantley.
“I don’t think she’ll go anywhere her ex might find her.”
“Makes sense,” he said, mulling over that information. “If she plans to keep Kate as a replacement for her daughter, she’ll go somewhere no one knows her.”
“But she’ll need to feel safe,” Brantley noted. “Wherever she goes, it’ll be someplace she can blend in, but she’ll be familiar with it. Or close to a place she is.”
“Which means we need to know who this woman is,” Reese said, holding out his hand.
Brantley glanced over at his hand.
“Your phone. Let me call JJ, have her start diggin’ up as much info on this woman as she can.”
“You sure you can handle lookin’ at my phone again?”
Reese snagged the phone. “Depends. Were you thinkin’ about Cyrus when you kissed me this mornin’?”
Brantley chuckled. “If I recall correctly, you kissed me.”
“Is that a yes or a no?” he demanded, surprised by his own need for clarification.
That handsome face sobered when he looked at Reese again. “Cyrus who?”
There was a strange warmth that settled in Reese’s chest, but he ignored it. Right now was not the time to venture down that path. Despite his denial, he still wanted to kiss Brantley again to see if it had been as good as he thought, but there was a time and place for shit like that.
Here and now was certainly not it.
Chapter Twelve
The thirty-minute drive to west Austin was done mostly in silence after Reese had placed the call to JJ.
Brantley had listened with half an ear as Reese talked, his mind bouncing back and forth between the encounter in his bed that morning and what was going on now. It wasn’t easy to stay in the moment even if he knew it was where he needed to be.
Problem was, every time he thought about that kiss, his body hardened. His cock was rigid, his hormones rioting just from the memory of Reese’s mouth. Firm, hesitant, eager. Not to mention hot. So. Fucking. Hot. He longed for the next one, found himself praying Reese would want to explore this, all while recognizing the man had already started to pull back.
