Not gonna happen.
Images of him standing in the rain ... rivulets of water sliding down his chest as he reached out to her ... the way those sweatpants hung low on his lean hips kept flashing in her brain. The feel of that powerful body under her now ... all of it was just too much to resist.
She banished the warning voice ... pushed away the propriety vying for her attention. Right now she wanted to feel ... all of him.
He tugged her jersey upward. She reared back and pulled it the rest of the way off, then tossed it to the floor. His mouth found hers once more. Those lips ... God, she had missed his lips. Full and firm and always hungry for more. He left a trail of kisses along her jaw, down her throat. Her body responded to his every touch.
She wanted him. All of him.
Now.
They made love, lost themselves in the sensations.
Later, spent, she lay against him. His arms felt so good around her. Safe.
Home.
The word echoed inside her. She tensed.
As if sensing the change in her, he rolled her onto her back. Cradled her face in his hands and kissed her hard. Not slow and sweet like before. This was desperate, turbulent.
When he finally drew back, he murmured, “I’ve missed you, Addy.”
The words sent confusion and fear roaring through her.
She wasn’t supposed to feel this anymore.
She wasn’t supposed to be here.
How long would it take this time to exorcise Wyatt Henderson?
You’re next.
Then again, if the perp had his way, she wouldn’t have to worry about the future at all.
26
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office
3104 Magnolia Street; 10:00 a.m.
Wyatt turned the floor over to Detective Sullenger to recap for the benefit of Detective Ferguson of Hattiesburg PD and Detective Cummings from Wiggins.
“The two victims share a few characteristics,” Sullenger began. “Both in their thirties, blond hair, blue eyes. Petite, though Arnold is a couple inches taller than Prescott. Other than being career-oriented women, that’s where the similarities end.”
“Detective Cooper,” Wyatt added, “fits that somewhat ambiguous profile and, according to the messages she has received from the perp, she is his current focus.”
At the other end of the table, Addy met Wyatt’s gaze but quickly looked away. He was pretty sure she’d purposely chosen to sit as far away from him as possible. What they’d shared this morning only appeared to have put more distance between them. As soon as they’d rolled out of bed, she’d mentally taken several giant steps back.
Something they would both have to deal with eventually whether she wanted to or not.
“And that’s it?” Detective Cummings said, obviously frustrated. “Two women are missing and there’s no evidence. No nothing. Two crime scenes, a dozen cops and techs, and this is it?”
The two letters sent by the perp to Arnold had been discovered in a drawer in her bedroom. There was no way to know when or how she had received them. Her husband hadn’t seen the letters. Forensics had confirmed the letters were a match to both the ones Prescott had received as well as those sent to Addy.
Those knots of dread he’d been ignoring clenched hard in Wyatt’s gut. How could they have two victims and not a single shred of usable evidence?
Womack nodded. “Unfortunately.” He picked up one of the numerous documents he’d brought to the conference table. “According to the cell carrier report your office faxed over, the call Penny Arnold received early yesterday morning came from the pay phone at a convenience store on Highway 29 just outside Wiggins.”