Zeke wished Demo, Chaos, Preach, or Wolf were here. They could give him a pep talk like he’d given them before missions.You’ve got this. We’re tougher than steel. Nobody can best SEALs. Hooyah.
He eased down on the left side. She was still too close. Her arm brushed his, and he could swear sparks shot into the sky. They both had long-sleeves on. Hers was a thick sweater thing. This was ridiculous. He didn’t like touch.
Keep telling yourself that. You sure like hers.
He liked her smell, too. Dang lemon candy.
Zeke yanked his phone out and clicked on the email icon. Pulling up Joseph’s email, he opened the files attached. Should he read them aloud? Clicking on the first one, he tried to hold it so she could read too. She eased closer and her lemon candy scent about overwhelmed him. Then her silky hair brushed his neck, and he jolted.
“Pardon.” She eased back a little, but her voice was stiff. She was probably offended that he acted so off by the softest of connections. Her hair? He really couldn’t handle her hair?
“It’s fine,” he grunted. He skimmed through the file, gleaning any information that was new or useful.
To her credit, she didn’t disturb him or try to touch him, but she was so close and smelled so good it messed with his ability to focus.
He scrolled through each of the nine files. There was a lot of information, but not much that was helpful. When he was finished, he jumped to his feet and strode away from her. She stayed on the chair, looking up at him.
“Did you find anything useful?” she asked. Why were her eyes so bright? She wasn’t going to cry again, right? Was she scared by what she’d read? Most targets of a brilliant and accurate criminal would be. He should offer to hold her.
No!Focus.
He racked his brain. What had he read? What had he learned? “Well … the stalker always goes for blondes.”
She nodded.
“He likes women who are accomplished and somewhat well-known.”
“True.” She tucked her feet under her. When had she taken her boots off? Oh yeah, when they were in the closet and he’d been shocked that her feet didn’t stink like most of the men he was around. Her dress tugged up above her knees and he found hecouldfocus. He could absolutely focus on the smooth length of her calves and her feet. How could even her feet be intriguing to him? They were small. He could easily cup one of those feet in his palm. Would that be weird?
Women liked foot rubs. Rachel had told him that. He’d gritted his teeth through the few times she’d asked him to rub her feet. But he actually wanted to touch Mia’s feet. He could hold her foot and gently rub it, and he doubted he’d grit his teeth at all.
Focus!
“What else was useful?” he mused, not looking at her and pacing as he talked out loud. “He’s never taken more than a few days to capture any of these women. It’s a game for him. At first, he’s in no hurry and he stays hidden, sends love notes in the mail for a month or more, and then when he puts that final note on the pillow, always the same one, it’s game time. He wants the woman to run, and he wants to have to find them. He’s a sicko and obviously an expert in disabling security systems, taking out security guards, and tracking down his victims.”
Zeke didn’t even want to think about what the man did to the women after he captured them. None of the nine had been found, though there had been a few sightings with mafia leaders. It had to be trafficking to extremely wealthy and well-protected clients or a body would’ve turned up somewhere. Unless he disposed of the bodies in an untraceable way.
He would not let the stalker get to Mia. He let himself look at her beautiful face. Her golden-brown eyes were worried, and her face was tight. He wished he hadn’t said any of that, and he wished he was that guy who could drop to his knees, clasp her hands in his, and promise he would keep her safe. Hewouldkeep her safe, but he didn’t know how to be all romantic or dramatic about it.
What was he thinking?
He rubbed at his neck and muttered, “But none of that is new knowledge. It doesn’t help us at all.” He started pacing again and thought of the one different angle for this case. The one they’d talked briefly about with Charlie. “Two of your old boyfriends disappeared just last night.”
“Not boyfriends,” she insisted. “Men I went on a few dates with.”
“Okay. Two men you’d previously dated disappeared last night. That can’t be coincidental, and I didn’t see that in the other cases.”
She nodded warily.
“So either the stalker is changing or upping his game, trying to throw the police off their game, this is a copycat to the Sneaky Stalker, or … it could be Thomas or Alden as a copycat. Do you think Thomas or Alden could be capable of stalking and threatening you? They disappeared so the police couldn’t question them. Alden looks very similar to the man on your security cameras, but Thomas is also tall. He could’ve had a wig on to make it look like it was Alden, then he took Alden out and is after you now. Could it be one of them?”
She bit at her lip as if she were thinking, but it was such an enticing move Zeke had to close his eyes so he wouldn’t stare at her and let her know exactly how interested he was in her.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
His eyes flew open. “Fine.”
She lifted her eyebrows but didn’t comment. “I suppose Thomas or Alden could be copying the stalker, but honestly ...” She shook her head. “Who am I to say? I only went on a few dates with each of them, but they were both such nice and respectful gents. I just can’t see one of them being some demented stalker and kidnapper who could evade the bobbies this expertly.”