A small smirk perked her cheeks up. “I don’t know babe, but I feel thesame.”
* * *
Pulling off my shirt,I threw it over to Jess as she sat on the end of the bed in the guestroom. “You can sleep in that if you want. I’ll take the couchdownstairs.”
Her brow furrowed as she held her hand out for me. “Why wouldn’t you sleep in here withme?”
I walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist. “To be honest, I’m going to be up all night checking this damn house. I don’t want to keep youup.”
She sighed. “Well, if you’re going to be up, I might as well keep youcompany.”
I walked up the side of the bed, pulling the comforter down. “One of us needs to get some sleep, and I would much rather it be you thanme.”
“You don’t think the idiot would come here with a squad car out front and a house full of people, would you? How would they even know where Braydenlived?”
The bedsprings cried under my weight as I sat next to Jess. “They were able to figure out where Gavin lives, and an LLC technically owns that condo, so it is very hard to trace it back to him. I think she was following one or both of them. Who knows if it’s a dangerous person or not, but I am not going to let Myla and Gavin find out the hard way—not to mention, we have a baby in the house, and the woman Ilove.”
The word permeated the air. I tried to take it back, but it was too late. I had said it. It was the truth, but it was toosoon.
Jess put her hand on my knee. “I get it,” she said softly as she looked me dead in the eyes. “I love you too. I know this entire thing is messy. We jumped into the middle of a relationship. It’s not going to be conventional. This is going to be different. We aren’t going to go through the beginning stages of dating, the awkward getting-to-know-you questions, the weird meeting the family shit, theis it too soon to have sexbullshit, and I am so beyond thrilled because the middle is the best part. It’s when you get comfortable, when you get to be goofy and have fun and not worry if you look fat in those jeans or if I should wear makeup to bed. You’ve already seen me at my worst and best and you’re still here, choosing this. That’s what matters.” Her hand landed firmly on my leg. “Now that’s enough of the sappy shit. Put your shirt back on and let’s go do a legit stakeout. I’ll make thecoffee.”
I cracked my neck. “Jess, pleasesleep.”
“Do not tell me what to do. We’re partners, remember? You ain’t gonna get rid of me that fast. Besides, it’s about time we had some action on thisjob.”
* * *
With big thermosesfilled with hazelnut coffee, we sat in the front of the cop car in the driveway of thehouse.
“Do you have any ideas who it could be?” Jess asked after slurpingloudly.
I glanced over at her. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of Gavin or Myla, but I have a weird feeling that it’sMarsheila.”
“Gavin’s ex that left him at the altar?” Jess’s eyes were wide as the nameregistered.
I nodded. “I know I’ve seen that handwriting before. The day she left Gavin, there was a note, and I’m the only one other than him who has ever read it. I burned it the night after she left him. I didn’t want him to ever read itagain.”
“Why?”
I hung my head. “He was already in pain, and he’s my friend—I wanted to spare his feelings. I know it wasn’t my place to do that, but at the time, I felt like I was doing the rightthing.”
Her dainty hand landed on my forearm. “I think it was very thoughtful ofyou.”
“Thanks.” I ran my index finger over the back of her hand, up her arm, and down hercollarbone.
“You know only one of us has to be alert at a time.” Jess had a devilish sneer as her eyesnarrowed.
I chuckled. “With how crowded it is in the front seat with the computer and everything, I don’t think we can pull thatoff.”
She sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.Dammit.”
“But…” A light bulb went off, but I was scared she was going to think I was fucking insane. “That doesn’t mean you can’t take care of yourself, you know, with mehere.”
She sat up a little straighter, shifting to pull her left knee up to her chest. “Would you like that, babe?” Jess unzipped her jacket, pulling her tank top neck down below her beautiful, full breasts, revealing that she wasn’t wearing abra.
I chewed my lip as I watched her tease her perky nipples. Low moans started as I glanced from her out to the road. Not being able to give her my full attention was kind ofexhilarating.
“How do you do it when you’re alone?” I asked, reaching over to run my thumb over her lower lip right after she lickedit.