closureâÂjust like he said.â
Closure was one thing. Lies were another. âHe knows she was screwing around on him, Viki.â
âBecause of a few marks?â She pulled away and motioned dismissively with her hand. âMaybe those were just from her workout, maybeâÂâ
He laughed. He couldnât help it.
She glared at him. Victoria pushed up her glasses. Did she know that the glasses made her eyes look even darker? Sexier? Probably not.
Her hair was up in a ponytail again today. He knew she meant the style to be no-Ânonsense, but it just accentuated her high cheekbones and the elegant curves of her face. She didnât have to ditch the glasses and let her hair down to be hot to him.
She kind of . . . just was.
âWade . . .â
She was also back to sounding annoyed with him.
His hand lifted. She tensed. Still not past that, are we? One day, she wouldnât tense when he reached for her.
Keeping his eyes on hers, he slowly pushed back the collar of her shirt. His fingers brushed over her soft skin, right along the base of her neck. âThereâs a big difference,â he told her softly, âbetween the mark that comes from clothes rubbing against you and the mark that a lover makes.â
Her lips parted.
His fingers stroked over the faint mark heâd left on her skin. âI can look at this and tell it was made from my mouth.â
She backed away from him.
âAnd Iâm betting,â he said, as his hand dropped to his side, âthat when Lucas Branson saw the marks on Kennedyâs body, he knew another man had left them.â
She touched her neck. âI didnât even notice it!â
Now she looked horrified.
His lips twitched. âDonât worry. Your shirt covers it. No one else will know.â Just me and you, baby. âBut if you had another lover . . .â And that thought sure as hell pisses me off. â. . . heâd notice. Heâd notice any marks left by my mouth or by my hands.â
âHer hips,â Victoria said. âHe said there were marks on her hips.â
Wade nodded. âIf she had bruising on her hips, it could have come from a lover holding tight during an, um, delicate moment.â
âAnd thatâs why you believe he was lying. You think he had to know about the other man.â
âI believe he knew of him, but I donât think Lucas knows who the guy was.â That was where they came in. âAnother lover could be the key to finding her.â
She paced away from him, to stand in the shadow of the tower. âYouâre good at reading people.â
âIâve had to be, in my job.â
âBut are you ever wrong? Do they ever fool you?â She turned back toward him. âIs there anyone that you just canât figure out?â
âYes.â He waited a beat. âYou.â
Her gaze quickly cut away from him. She sure seemed to be paying a whole lot of attention to that bell tower.
But he wasnât done. âYouâve got so many secrets surrounding you. Other people at LOST, they think that Sarah is the one with the dark past . . .â
âHer dad is a serial killer,â Victoria pointed out. âOne who is still out there, and no one knows what he is doing or if heâll strike again.â
That thought had kept him up plenty. He knew exactly how dangerous Murphy Jacobs was. The guy hadnât earned the name of Murphy the Monster for nothing.
âAnd I think everyone at LOST has a dark past,â she continued quickly. âIsnât that why we take the cases we do? Why we do the job?â
Maybe. Or maybe there was more to it.
Maybe some of them were trying to atone for the sins of the past.
I know I am.
âSo you believe,â Victoria said, her gaze seemingly still on the tower, âthat Lucas Branson is a liar, but not a killer?â She sighed and looked