About That Kiss Read online

  The muscles in his neck were corded, his head thrown back in pleasure, and his eyes, locked on hers, sent her right over. She felt him go too, his mouth at her throat as he shuddered along with her . . .

  They were still gasping for air, still lying tangled together where they’d collapsed. From somewhere in the dark room, Joe’s phone buzzed. The nature of his job and the story of their lives. He ignored it but Kylie was barely able to recognize this fact. She was that far gone in what they’d just done. It felt as though he’d peeled back all her layers and broken into her heart. There were feelings, oh so many feelings, and she knew, dammit, she knew, she wasn’t alone in this.

  Not that she was going to wait around for him to realize that. As she worked at putting air into her lungs and waited for the feeling to return to her extremities, she realized the pillows were gone. Her lamp leaned drunkenly against one wall. The blankets and sheets had disappeared and the fitted sheet had been pulled loose, lying twisted and damp beneath them.

  The only thing moving was Joe’s hand, slowly stroking up and down her damp back as she continued to struggle to regain her breath and some semblance of control. Only when she was clearly relaxed, boneless, and very near a pleasure coma in fact, did he go for his phone.

  When he did, she pulled the blanket off the floor to cover herself. Joe glanced over at her, clearly amused by her sudden modesty. But as he listened to a message, his smile faded.

  “What?” she asked when he’d disconnected.

  He didn’t answer, just began pulling on his clothes.

  She sat up. “Joe.”

  He paused with only his jeans on, low-slung and sexy even now. “Remember the cowboy apprentice, Eric?” he asked.

  “Of course. What did he want?”

  Joe looked pained.

  She stared at him. “Joe.”

  “He found the imposter’s card. He’s got a number for the guy.”

  Chapter 28

  #CarpeDiem

  Kylie’s heart took a good hard fast leap at the first real progress toward getting back her penguin. Finally, they were getting somewhere. Except . . . She met Joe’s gaze. “Tell me something.”

  “What?”

  “Were you going to fill me in on Eric’s call if I hadn’t asked?”

  He hesitated and she felt the shock roll through his system. “Seriously?” she asked.

  “Okay, hold on a second,” he said, shoving his fingers through his hair in a rare tell of frustration. “Yes, I did briefly consider not telling you . . . yet . . . but I knew you’d get all up in arms over that. I was going to tell you, Kylie.”

  “But maybe not until you’d checked it over.”

  That one he didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. The truth was in his eyes.

  Stunned, she shook her head and stared at him, unsure how to feel. She’d never thought about trust being a premeditated, calculated thing before, but apparently it was. She didn’t like it, not one little bit. Jumping up, she pulled on some clothes before grabbing her phone. “What’s the guy’s name and number?”

  “Kylie—”

  “Joe.”

  He didn’t sigh but he looked like he wanted to. “We don’t have a name,” he said. “Just the business—Wood Specialties—and a number.”

  “Fine. Just the number then.” She made the call on speaker. The voice mail was a brusque male voice saying one word. “Beep.”

  “I’m interested in your work,” Kylie said. “Call me back.” She left her number and disconnected.

  Joe was finishing getting dressed. He grabbed his keys. “I’m going to the office to do a search on that number and get an address.”

  “Great idea.” She slid her purse over her shoulder. “I’m going with you.”

  “It’s the middle of the night.”

  She just looked at him and he blew out a breath and lifted his hands. “Fine,” he said.

  “Fine.”

  Half an hour later they were in his office and had the address of Wood Specialties, located on a houseboat in the marina. They also had a name for the guy who owned it.

  Kevin Baker.

  Kylie sat down hard in Joe’s office chair.

  Joe was watching her carefully. “You know him?”

  “I used to,” she said. “He’s one of my mom’s old boyfriends. One of the few I actually liked. He was nice to me. And he liked my grandpa. He did a little work for him now and then, although he took off right around the time of the fire.”

  Joe took his eyes off his computer screen and looked at her. “And you didn’t think he should be on the list of suspects?”

  “No, I didn’t,” she said a little testily, hugging herself. “I never would’ve considered Kevin for taking the penguin. He wasn’t an apprentice. And out of all of my mom’s boyfriends, he was my favorite. He’s a nice guy and the only one who bothered to be even halfway nice to the daughter of his crazy girlfriend.”

  Joe blew out a breath, which spoke volumes. They both knew she hadn’t had a lot of nice guys in her life who’d put her first. And she had the feeling that Joe believed they were about to ruin the memory of one of the few. “It’s not him,” she said. “No way.”

  “Maybe not,” Joe said. “But it’s time for a whole new list called The Boyfriends, and Kevin goes right to the top. He’s a woodworker?”

  “Kind of, but he preferred painting. He wasn’t great at either.”

  Joe was quiet for a second. “That first night after I agreed to help you, I got ahold of the official notes on the fire. I talked to the arson detective who’d worked the case.”

  She stared at him. “Why?”

  “You’d asked for my help,” he said. “I never go into anything unprepared.”

  “No, I mean why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “Or share the notes?”

  “Because there wasn’t anything in there that you didn’t already know.” He paused. “And I thought reading about it all over again would upset you.”

  She took that in for a moment and nodded.

  “Kylie.”

  She met his gaze.

  “You weren’t in any way blamed for the fire.”

  “Only because there wasn’t enough evidence.”

  He shook his head. “You’re not at fault.”

  “You don’t know that. It could’ve been my fault.”

  “It wasn’t,” he said firmly, calmly.

  Something about his unwavering belief in her while still holding back his heart made her mad. “How do you know?”

  “Because I know you,” he said. “Maybe even better than anyone else.”

  Seeing as this was very likely true, she didn’t respond. And also because she wanted to say, If you know me so well, why won’t you let yourself love me? But that was way too desperate and needy and she was done with that. “What do you think you know about me?”

  He gave a small smile. “That you’re crazy stubborn, crazy smart, and crazy careful.” His smile widened. “You’re also crazy OCD when it comes to your work. No way did you leave the soldering iron on. Someone else must’ve come along after you and done it. You had nothing to do with that fire and I’m betting that when we get to the bottom of this, I’ll be able to prove it to you once and for all. Now tell me everything else you know about Kevin.”

  “He never really got anywhere with his art,” she said. “He ended up working for an art dealer and learning the ropes. Haven’t heard about him for a while, but last I did, he was working independently for several galleries across the country. I need to talk to him.” She stood up and headed to the door.

  He caught her by her purse strap.

  “You’re not leaving me behind,” she said tightly, knowing that’s exactly what he wanted to do. “I’m going to see him.”

  “I get it,” he said. “And I’m with you. But not at two in the morning. It doesn’t feel safe. We need a plan and backup.”

  She crossed her arms, both believing him and also doubting him. “We never needed back