CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“What time is your flight due in?”
Shae had awakened to the sound of a morning dove calling out to his mate right after sunrise. All the windows were closed and locked due to the central air and an overzealous security guard, but the dove’s melodic cry was still able to penetrate the single pane of glass.
Unfortunately, Shae had tossed and turned for hours before falling to sleep, although it was a fitful one. It wasn’t anything she wasn’t used to, but last night’s events had left her mentally exhausted. She was sure it must be the same for Jace, because he’d been talking to someone on the phone for the last five minutes—regardless of the fact that it was six o’clock in the morning.
“Dad’s holding the meeting with the mayor and the other town council members at lunch today, so it should be official by this afternoon.”
Shae figured his conversation had to do with Mitch coming home to take over Sheriff Percy’s responsibilities. Detective Kendrick had spoken with the oldest of the Kendall siblings, seemingly surprised by the unexpected phone call. Regardless, he indicated that it would be nice to work with someone who had inside knowledge on the town and most of its residents. She was relatively sure this new development was prompted by a call Jace made in the bar while she was distracted.
“Brynn said she kept a copy of the security video feed, but there wasn’t a single stranger in the Cavern yesterday. It’s someone we know, Mitch.”
And that was what Shae was afraid of most of all—that Emma had been killed by someone she knew and trusted. Someone who had helped out on the search parties, maybe even someone who had been in their home eating dinner with their family.
Shae wasn’t ready to finish where she and Jace had left off last night, so she tiptoed across the dining room floor to the wooden staircase. They first argued on whether or not she would even accompany him to his new house, but Detective Kendrick was the one to help her see reason. It was hard to do with Jace acting more like a possessive lover than an old friend.
She never should have told him the reason she’d gone to Nick’s in the first place. He had totally lost his mind.
What’s done was done, and she couldn’t change the past. But she could manage this.
That didn’t mean Jace got to change the dynamics of their new relationship. It was why he’d slept on the couch last night, and she’d tossed and turned in his bed for the remainder of the evening.
“Going somewhere, Doc?”
Damn it.
Shae had just taken the first step upstairs when his question stopped her from lifting her bare toes off the hardwood floor. The whole Doc thing was getting rather annoying. She resigned herself to having another confrontation before her first sip of tea. With a fortifying breath, she turned around with her hand on the banister to find him standing their holding a cup of pure heaven.
“Is that tea?”
“English breakfast tea, to be exact.”
Okay, maybe she could tone down her irritation just a smidgen.
Jace was leaning a shoulder against the doorframe of the kitchen, a little more relaxed than she would have expected given the circumstances. It didn’t look like he intended to come to her aid. She found she was analyzing every expression and gesture he made, and it was driving her bonkers.
Shae pressed her lips together, resigned that he was making her take the first step. The only reason she was giving in was because of what he held in his hands—no other reason.
“I didn’t want to interrupt your phone conversation.”
Shae gave a brief explanation of why she had not entered the kitchen earlier. It was clear he’d known she was downstairs the entire time. She slowly crossed the hardwood floor until she was close enough to take the cup of tea from his hand. She permitted herself to take a sip before saying another word. The sweet warmth practically curled her toes.
“I take it I got the right amount of sugar?”
Shae studied him over the rim of her cup, but she couldn’t find any evidence that he was making fun of her.
“Yes, thank you.” Shae took another fortifying drink. She had quite a lot on her to-do list today, and she didn’t want another confrontation. “I take it that Mitch is coming home today?”
“Yes, he is.” Jace crossed his arms as if he had all the time in the world. “I thought we could head over to my dad’s house this afternoon. It’s kind of a welcoming home tradition that we all get together for things like this.”
“I’m actually meeting up with some of Emma’s old friends this afternoon, but please give my best to Mitch. I’m sure I’ll see him around while I’m in town.” Especially if she was staying with Jace, but she didn’t add on that sentiment to her statement. It would only cause another argument. She didn’t intend to be at his house for very long, anyway. “Thank you for my tea. I’m going to—”
“Faded mojo?”
Arousal shot through her with the same exact combo of words he’d questioned her about last night. It was more than apparent he wasn’t willing to delay this battle of wills when it would have been the best thing for both of them. She had no choice but to lay out all her cards.
“Jace, you’re acting like we were intimately involved in high school. We were only friends. Nothing more.” Shae raised her left hand when he attempted to speak. He wanted to talk about this, so he had to hear what she had to say on the matter. “You never would have known about…well, you wouldn’t have known about my change of heart had I not told you the reason I went to Nick’s house that night. I was seventeen years old and wasn’t thinking about anything else but boys back then. That doesn’t negate the fact that I was selfish, which is why I told you. I took the car that night knowing full well that Emma wanted it to go to the bonfire with her friends.”
Shae left out that getting something of that magnitude off her chest was something she would have told a patient to do as part of his or her therapy. Confronting one’s guilt was important in any patient’s recovery. She’d done exactly what she would have recommended as a psychiatrist, yet his body language told her it was backfiring into something ten times more explosive than had she maintained her silence.
All the air in her lungs expelled as he closed the distance between them.
“I know about it now,” Jace murmured, somehow taking the cup of tea from her hand without spilling a drop. He held it to the side with his left hand as he used his other to palm her cheek. Could he hear how hard her heartbeat was pounding against her chest? “And it’s not something I want to ignore any longer.”
The world ceased to exist for one singular moment.
The instant that Jace’s warm lips covered hers, all that was faded into nothingness. There was no past or future. There was only the here and now.
He tilted her head in order to taste more of her, but it was his flavor that blossomed on her tongue. He was a mixture of mint and dark Arabian coffee. His tongue brushed over her lower lip, leaving behind a coolness that turned scorching hot with another swipe. She couldn’t resist the temptation to play.
Shae took control and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stood on her tiptoes and deepened their kiss. His back hit the wall behind him so that the front of her melded to his chest. She didn’t stop to think about how he had the use of two hands, but his left arm was now tightly bound around her waist.
It wasn’t nearly enough.
She needed more of his touch, his taste, and his—
“Anyone home?”
Shae was grateful that one of them still had their senses, because Jace managed to stop what they were doing and push her behind him before a stranger peered through the screened door she hadn’t noticed before. Jace had previously opened the inside door and was obviously expecting the man.
“Yes, we’re home,” Jace answered, stepping forward and hitting the black lever with the palm of his hand. Shae turned so that the visitor couldn’t see that she was still in somewhat shock. What had she been thinking? “I take from the uniform that you’re from the security company. My brothers spoke very highly of your system. I apologize we didn’t hear your knock, but we were discussing our afternoon plans.”
If that was Jace’s way of saying he thought they’d spend the rest of the day in bed, he was sorely mistaken. Their kiss had been a mistake. Maybe she’d always subconsciously desired to know what he tasted like or how warm and soft his lips would be against hers. Well, she’d just experienced it and her mind was blown.
That didn’t mean she had lost all rational thought.
She was in Blyth Lake for one reason only—to find answers about her sister’s disappearance.
Shae caught sight of her cup of tea on a side table she hadn’t even realized was located to the right of the kitchen’s entrance. She needed the calming beverage now more than ever, so she made sure to grab it before heading for the stairs.
“If you’ll excuse me a moment,” Jace said to his new guest before Shae had a chance to disappear. He caught hold of her arm right before her foot hit the second step. “Shae, it’s not safe for you to be in town on your own. I’ll go with you wherever you want to go, but please come to my dad’s house this afternoon. If not for your safety, then do it for my sanity.”
Had Jace called her by some foolish nickname or tried to bring their kiss into the conversation, she would have told him exactly what he could do with his sanity. But all he did was stand there using his thumb to casually stroke her forearm while staring at her way too patiently with those blue eyes that had a way of prying into her soul—a part of her she wasn’t willing to share with anyone.
“I don’t want you to think I’m unappreciative. I’m not,” Shae replied, slowly moving her arm from underneath his hand. She wasn’t so sure why it was so hard for her to finish what she’d set out to say. “But you and I both know that I was in a bar filled with people I grew up with, and yet someone still managed to leave me the boots my sister had on the night she disappeared.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t be running around town by yourself.”
“That’s exactly my point, Jace.” Shae glanced over his shoulder as a reminder to him that his presence was required elsewhere. She didn’t have time to waste, either. “This psychopath can get to me with or without someone around. Why shouldn’t I try and make it easy for him?”