Amaryllis sat up slowly. She stayed close to him, fitting her body against his hip. “No, they actually paid cash. Marie told me because it’s extremely unusual. They paid for a month’s stay for the three of them.”
He heard the sudden concern in her voice and it spurred his alarm even more. “So, if they paid cash, did one of their friends give them up to Tag? If so, why?”
“What are you thinking, Malichai? Are they in more danger? What?”
“I’m thinking I don’t like anything I don’t have answers for, that’s all. I didn’t mean to alarm you, babe. I’ll just take a look around, maybe contact my brothers and see what they’ve seen watching the place. Fortunately, no one knows they’re close by.”
“You really think something’s wrong, don’t you?” she challenged. “You still haven’t told me what happened when you went swimming. You’ve been avoiding talking about it.”
He sighed. He’d known he was going to have to tell her and she was going to freak out on him. Instinctively, he reached down and pulled her up and over him so he could roll over and pin her beneath him. Immediately, suspicion etched a little frown into her face.
“So, it’s bad.”
“Yes. I think so. Very bad. Dozer got something right. Diver tried to kill me. We got him in our trap and took him to a place Zeke rented to talk to him.”
She made a face. “I can imagine.”
“Zeke can be intimidating without having to touch anyone,” Malichai assured. “I didn’t get anywhere near the jerk and it was a good thing. He was a local. A hit man. He didn’t do Anna and Bryon, but he happily told us of several others he’d done for the same people, all over the last two years. He was also contracted to create a diversion for those same people by killing the owner of a bed-and-breakfast, her daughter and her manager. Then after the cops were inside, he was to burn the place to the ground, drawing all the cops and fire engines there.”
He felt the breath leave her body. Her face went white there in the darkness, so she looked almost transparent.
“You’re talking about here. Us. Marie, Jacy and me. He’s supposed to kill us and burn this beautiful place down.”
“And he didn’t even so much as flinch talking about killing a child when he’s married and has children of his own,” Malichai said.
“You should have told me right away.”
“There’s no immediate threat. We’re setting up a sting.”
“You can’t know there’s no threat.”
“He’s dead. He was stupid and made a try for Zeke. Rubin is going to be arrested on suspicion of killing Anna and Bryon, and then released because he didn’t do it, but there will be a write-up in the paper portraying his past as being murky. Whoever these people are that hired Henry Shevfield will need another local fast. We’re hoping they’ll contact him, especially because he’s staying here.”
“They won’t fall for that. It’s too easy.”
“Sometimes, easy is best.” He brushed kisses in her hair and then dribbled more down the side of her face.
“Stop trying to change the subject.”
Malichai rolled her over fast, so she was on top again, his mouth on hers, creating fire, igniting a storm between them. He felt it in his belly, hot and wild, in his groin, rising like the tide. She tried to sit up and he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down over top of him again. She landed, chest to chest, her breasts pushing against his bare skin. He loved the feel of her. He could lie there all day with her body sprawled out, arms and legs on either side of him, surrounding him with her heat. Her softness.
She lifted her head, her blue eyes colliding with his. There was laughter there. “How easily you distract me.”
“Clearly I haven’t distracted you properly.” His mouth took hers again, his palm curling around the nape of her neck. He loved kissing her and he took his time. A slow assault on her senses. On his. Building the fire until it poured down their throats into their bellies. Until it spread like a wildfire out of control through their veins. Until he could almost—almost—ignore that warning that had ratcheted up a notch and nagged at the back of his mind.
He broke the kiss and once again found himself staring into her eyes. “I love kissing you.” He rubbed the bare cheeks of her ass. He loved that as much as, or more than, staring into her eyes.
“I know you do. The feeling’s mutual.” She shifted her weight and casually reached for her tank top. “Babe, I can tell when you’re uneasy. You’re a soldier. You think something isn’t right, we don’t ignore that.”
“Are you feeling it at all?”