“Check this out,” Grimm said from somewhere down the short hallway leading to the back of the trailer.
“What did you find?” Dezi asked, following the sound of his voice.
“In here,” he said.
She turned at the first door opening off the hallway. Inside was what appeared to be an office.
On the wall hung a contour map with colored pushpins jutting out of the paper with no regard to the holes made in the wall behind it.
Grimm pointed to a spot on the map. “That’s Eagle Rock.” He drew a line with his finger to a red pushpin. “That’s the lodge’s location.”
“What are all the other pins?” Dezi asked, amazed at the number of colored pushpins scattered all over the wall. “He liked using colors, didn’t he?” She ran her fingers over the red, yellow, green and white pins jutting out of the map. “I wonder what the one blue pushpin indicates.” She frowned at the green map with the brown elevation lines. “There isn’t a water feature at that location. But then, what do all the red pins mean and the green and yellow.” She shook her head. “We need a map legend.”
Grimm pulled out his cell phone and took several pictures of the map. “I’m going to send these to Hank Patterson. He might know what the pins indicate and give us a good guess as to color coding of the different locations.”
“Smart. I understand he has a team of guys working for him, including a computer expert.”
Grimm nodded. “He wants me to go to work for him.”
“Why don’t you?” Dezi asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t want to get back into the protection business. I just finished a gig as a mercenary, escorting businessmen and contractors inside hostile territory. I’m done with that business.”
Dezi’s lips twisted. “And here you are, doing the same damned thing. You should’ve said something. Had I known you had no desire to be a bodyguard, I would’ve taken Hank instead of you.”
His hand closed around her arm. He gently turned her to face him and cupped her cheek. “I would’ve insisted on coming over Hank. After what happened in your room last night, I wasn’t comfortable letting you go without me.”
She stared up into his eyes, her heart thumping hard against her ribs, her breathing shallow and breathy. “That’s funny because I felt the same way. After you came to my rescue, I didn’t want anyone else to come with me today.” She smiled, her pulse pounding so hard she could barely hear herself think. He stood so close the warmth of his breath feathered across her cheek. “How is that when I’ve only known you less than a day?”
“Beats me,” he said and bent to brush his lips across hers.
Her eyes widened. “Why did you do that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I want to do it again.” And he did. This time, he deepened the kiss, claiming her mouth in a kiss that sucked the air out of her lungs and made time come to a complete standstill.
When he raised his head, she remembered to breathe. But she had no words. Just awe for the way he made her feel. No man, especially after knowing him for such a short time, had ever elicited the rush of desire Grimm had wrenched from her in just one toe-curling kiss.
He lifted his head and straightened, dropping his hands from her arms. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“But you did.”
“I won’t do it again…unless you want me to,” he assured her.
She stared up at him, willing him to lose control all over again. When he didn’t, she did. Dezi slipped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down while she leaned up on her toes, pressing her lips to his. She wanted him and wouldn’t take no for a response.
She traced his lips with the tip of her tongue and then pushed past his teeth to take his tongue in a long, sweeping caress.
His hands rose to grip her hips and drag her up against him.
By the time they both came up for air, Dezi’s body was on fire. If they weren’t standing in her dead uncle’s home, looking through his belongings… If they were anywhere else…
Grasping at what little control she could muster, she stepped back and smoothed her hands over his shoulders and down his arms before letting them fall to her own sides. She sighed. “We should be going.”
“Yes,” he said, his voice gravelly. “We still need to check out the bus and train stations.”
She nodded and stepped past him to walk to the end of the hallway where her uncle’s bedroom was. The room was barely large enough for the neatly made, full-sized bed and the built-in dresser. The only decorations in the room were the framed map of Montana and three photographs lined up on the dresser.
Dezi gathered the three photographs, pausing to stare down at the last one with a sad smile.