It’s still early evening by the time I get back to Honey Hollow. I feed Pancake and pet Dutch’s underbelly until his hind legs beg to thump right off his otherworldly body. I build a fire and stare at my phone, wishing my boyfriend wasn’t so busy with his wife.

A knock erupts on the door, and I pick up my first line of defense, Pancake the menacing Himalayan.

I glance through the side window and spot Noah’s familiar frame and instantly I’m giddy.

“Who is it?” I bite down on a smile as I decide to play it coy.

“Prom committee. We’re taking votes for king and queen.”

A giggle rips through me as I swing the door open and take him in, tall, arrestingly handsome, and all mine—sort of. “I’d vote for you and me, but I doubt your wife would approve.” The smile glides right off my face.

“Ah, you paid Brenda Lee and her magic fingers a visit, I see.” He takes a step inside, and I close the door behind him. “Let me guess, you brought your fiancée along for the ride?” His lips purse. Noah looks decidedly unhappy about this development.

He heads over to the coffee table and lands a picnic basket on it that I hadn’t even noticed he was carrying.

“What’s this? Did your wife prepare what will undoubtedly be my last meal?”

“If she only knew the things you do to me behind closed doors.” A devilish grin glides over his face as he opens the lid and begins extracting the contents.

I wrap my arms around him and land a kiss to his scruffy cheek. “They are nothing compared to the things I’m about to do. What’s in the Mary Poppins’ bag?”

“Candles.” He holds up a candle in a jar before pulling out six more. “And sandwiches from Mangia. Did you know they make a mean eggplant?”

“You better believe they do.”

He pulls a couple of champagne flutes from the basket, and that wicked grin of his glides up one cheek. “Sparkling cider for tonight.” The grin glides right back off. “Neither of us needs a hangover to deal with.”

“Touché.”

“What’s the occasion?” I ask as he sets up the candles in a large circle over the hardwood floor and proceeds to light them despite the fact Dutch is mercilessly barking and skipping through the tiny flames.

Noah fiddles with his phone, and a slow song bleats out of it before he turns out the lamp in the living room.

“It’s prom night, Lottie.”

“You remembered!”

Noah pulls me by the fingertips until we’re standing inside the candlelit circle, our bodies moving slowly in time with one another. His rock-hard body presses over mine, and I take in his woodsy cologne and moan with delight. For a blissful moment in time, Eve Hollister, that horrid circle of suspects, all of Honey Hollow, the world dissipates to nothing. It’s just Noah and me, our very own universe. The beating of his heart echoes over mine until they beat as one.

His lips find mine, and Noah blesses me with deep, dark, heartfelt kisses that transcend the investigation, that have the power to transcend space and time. His strong hands make their way up the back of my sweater, and I groan as soon as his skin hits mine. This moment, right here, is bliss with Noah—prom night in my living room, slow dancing with nowhere to go, nothing to do but enjoy one another.

The two of us engage in an awkward shuffle to the bedroom. The tugging of clothes, the bumping of teeth as we find ourselves lost in a spastic tango. Noah lands me horizontal and warms my body with his, and Dutch lands on the bed right next to us. I shoot the fuzzy phantasm a look that says don’t you dare—and, miraculously, he tucks his tail between his ghostly legs and trots on out of here.

Noah’s hands begin to knead me far more proficiently than anything I received earlier this evening, and I wholeheartedly approve of his very happy hands. Noah leaves no stone unturned as he lavishes his love over me. Noah and I are so hot together, the room erupts into proverbial flames. Noah is mad with passion, every one of his moves dangerously delicious. Noah never disappoints. He is a perfect gentleman, as much as he is a beast who can never be tamed. And I enjoy his wild side many, many times until we both collapse over one another, glowing from the exhausting exhilaration of it all.

Noah does a sandwich run, and soon we’re cuddled up in one another’s arms feeding the appetite we just worked up.

“Who’s next on your list?” I ask. “And don’t you dare tell me your wife had you take a vow of silence on the matter.”

A laugh bullets from him, and I can feel his body rumble against mine. “The brother—Daphne, too. Honestly, if we don’t come up with something soon, the case could grow cold.”

“That would be terrible. Eve was one of my mother’s very best friends. A cold case can’t be the end of her story. We need to bring it to justice.”

“We?” He jostles my arm and lands a kiss to my forehead.

“Yes, we—as in you and me. We should team up. I bet we’d be a powerhouse. We took down Ned Sweeny, remember?” Ned was the one that officially killed Tanner Redwood. His stepdaughter thought she did it with an ice pick, and Ned mistakenly thought it was his paramour who attempted the ice pick slaughter so he finished the job. It was twisted.

“That’s because we had remarkable motivation—each other.” Noah lands a heated kiss just above my ear, and it makes me shiver.

“True. But Eve’s killer is causing us just as many problems. Like, for instance, we should be doing this on a daily basis, and instead we’re—”

“Spending the night with other people.” Noah’s forest green eyes darken at the mention of that foible I had with Everett. “Do you realize that Mack has called me twice wanting to go out?”

“What did you say?” A bite of jealousy rips through me. Mack is beautiful, and something tells me she could still have her pick between Everett and Noah.

“I said no. I told her I was seeing someone very special, and that I was indeed very much taken. Just FYI, she doesn’t think you and Everett will last. She still thinks she has a shot with him.”

“What?” I laugh at the thought, and just as quickly another spike of jealousy shoots through me. “Mack and Everett would never work. She’s far too pretentious for him.”

“True, but she’s one hundred percent Fallbrook born and raised. You can’t blame her. Pretentious is steeped in the water.”

“Maybe so, but if Eve’s killer was caught in the first place, I would have never gone out to Fallbrook—and along with Everett’s plan to begin with.” Wait, that’s not entirely true, is it? My head is still blissfully dizzy from the joy ride Noah just took me on.

“If it means you’ll stop sleeping with my stepbrother, then I’ll throw this investigation into overdrive. Who do you think I should focus on?”

A part of me wants to say Valerie and Connie, but another part of me says if he gets to them first, they’ll be stale by the time I arrive.

“Just do as you’re told. I hear your wife can put a drill sergeant to shame.”

“I don’t take orders from her, sweetheart.” He gives a sly wink as he places our empty plates onto the nightstand. “I only take orders from you.”

Noah flicks off the light once again, and Dutch bounds into the room and onto the bed with those bright crimson flashlights he once called eyes, but I don’t let them distract me.

Noah touches his finger gently to the tip of my nose. “Give me an order, princess.”

“Kiss me.”

And he does.